Common Causes for Emergency Shower and Eyewash Non-Compliance

According to the law, industrial and chemical workplaces are expected to take all the necessary precautions and the installation of safety showers and eyewash stations are highly recommended. But, even though some establishments meet this requirement, others don’t. Today, let’s discover some of the common causes for emergency shower and eyewash non-compliance.

1. Insufficient Water Flow

Did you know that with not enough water flow, the safety shower and eye face cannot be considered efficient and usable? Reason why? Well, because they would not be able to supply adequate flushing capabilities to a user with chemicals or harmful substances on their body. For example, an improperly maintained safety shower will not be able to provide 20 gallons per minute while a faulty eyewash cannot provide 3 gallons per minute for 15 consecutive minutes.

This is why it is recommended to get all emergency safety showers and eyewash stations tested by the National Concrete Scanning and Coring.

2. Injurious Water Pressure

What does it mean? Simple: the water pressure is too high.

Sometimes, when the pressure in the supply line exceeds 90 pounds per square inch (PSI), then it results in the emergency washing units to forcefully shoot water like a typical pressure washer. And, of course, this can severely damage a person’s eyes.

3. Improperly Maintained or Missing Dust Covers

Dust covers that fit over the top of the eyewash heads are essential as without them, the nozzles or outlets are exposed to airborne contaminants and debris that can consequently make their way into an individual’s eyes and cause infections and other serious injuries.

4. Do Not Provide Tepid Water

Since 2004, the ANSI Standard implemented the tepid water requirement. However, even though all safety showers and eyewashes must supply tepid water in between 60-100 degrees Fahrenheit or 16-38 degrees Celsius, there are many units that fail to comply with this requirement.

5. Flow Pattern Issues

The following includes when the pattern of water coming out of the shower or eyewash heads is considered not consistent:

When safety showers do not have a column of water 20 inches (50.8 cm) wide at 60 inches (152.4 cm) above the surface floor.)
When eyewash stations are not 33 to 53 inches (83.8 cm – 134.6 cm) from the surface floor of user and a minimum of 6 inches (15.3 cm). This means that the eyewash is not able to provide flushing fluid to both eyes simultaneously.

If you are wondering what impact can these flow pattern issues cause, let me tell you that a person who has been exposed to a chemical hazard will not be able to receive the effective water stream and pressure that is required for proper first aid treatment.

6. Lack of Proper Signage on the Equipment or Lack of Acceptable Lighting

Even if this does not affect the unit’s ability to perform or the victim’s condition, trust me, an eyewash or safety shower station, not installed and positioned in a location that is well lit and free from obstruction on the ground, can be tagged for non-compliance.

In addition, the one element that plays a huge role in the effectiveness of these systems is their accessibility. However, if people are unable to find the emergency units, then the consequences can be life-threatening. Signs and labels are extremely important as, for example, in an industrial building, it is difficult to spot eyewash units among all the other piping and machinery.

7. Inoperable Valves

Here, either the mixing valves that are used to provide lukewarm water are not working correctly or the activation valve is completely broken (and you cannot turn on the shower at all).

8. Inadequate Testing Frequency

As per the ANSI Z358.1, if you are not activating your safety showers or eyewash stations at least once a week for inspection, then this could get you into trouble.

Firstly, the water that stays too long in the pipes can acquire a build-up of bacteria and dirt. As a result, the water the comes out will most likely pose a threat to the user. Moreover, think about how with time, the valves can rust and the pipes can freeze, ultimately affecting water flow.

If you think your emergency units are at risk for non-compliance, contact National Concrete Scanning and Coring immediately!

Posted by : Paul
10 May 2021
Construction

Tips for Advertising Your Online Platform – Part 3

Hello one and all, welcome to part three of our ongoing series on advertising your online platform. We’ve already covered content marketing and influencer marketing in previous articles, and this time, our friendly experts at Linkeo Ltd. will be covering the basics of a few techniques.

How to Promote a New Online Store with Email Marketing

Analysts have noted that email marketing generates a higher ROI than any other acquisition channel, since the algorithms that power social media, Facebook and Google have resulted in an ever-rising cost of doing business and reaching customers for online retailers. Email allows retailers to intimately connect with and address their most loyal customers while enabling budding startups to develop armies of influencers. Something all experts advise is to focus on your database. Emails are the only thing without an algorithm at play.

Even if you don’t focus on social media marketing alongside email marketing, you can start building your email list on day one. Building a database of emails is as simple as including an email subscriptions form somewhere on your website. Capturing the contact information of your earliest visitors lets you engage with those visitors over time and leverage that engagement to drive conversions. It’s a great way to maximize value on a sustainable basis.

How to Promote a New Online Store on Social Media

Right from the beginning, it’s important to go live with your social media marketing efforts. This includes building a following and also making sure you have a presence on all major global platforms. The genius behind social media marketing is that it is designed to spread ideas and news like wildfire. As a result, it should be one of the first channels for new companies to get exposure and bring traffic to their stores.

And while it’s possible to grow your social following organically, you may also want to consider running paid ads.

Tips for Succeeding with Paid Ads on Social Media Channels

Below is a curated selection of tips for succeeding with paid ads on social media.

The key to social media advertising is the accuracy of your demographic targeting. You can use interests, hobbies, followed pages, ages, job titles, etc. to get incredibly granular with who you show your ads to.
Create an engaging video that educates or entertains your audience. This will allow you to get a gauge for your potential strongest supporters.
Retarget the portion of the audience who watched the video past the halfway mark with a promo ad.
Retarget the users who didn’t make a purchase with a special offer. Make them enter their email addresses to claim the offer.
Send out an email blast towards the end of the campaign with a follow-up message that sends out a separate promo built around social proof and an emotion-tugging CTA.

Even if you don’t hit your sales target after the campaign, you will have developed long-term content resources and generated an email list of interested users to target again in the future.”

However, you may need different approaches for organic and paid social campaigns. For instance, most customers will treat your social media feed like a brochure, going through your wide range of options before inquiring or going to your site. The content for this purpose is very much traditionally styled shoots and flat lays.

However, for paid acquisition campaigns, the content needs to be much more emotive. Re-marketing content, including video and stills, must be more focused on conversion messages regarding your unique selling propositions.

So Which Promotion Tactic Should You Choose?

After exploring the many options presented in our last three articles, you should now hopefully have tons of ideas for new ways to promote your online store. But where should you start?

Building your email list is a great place to start because you can do it on a tight budget, and you can use the email addresses you gather in every other campaign you run in the future.

Plus, email marketing is effective no matter what you’re selling. And that’s key because the best way to promote a new store really depends on your audience and your product—more specifically the cost.

On a budget, we recommend influencers, blogging, and email. Once you’ve hit comfortable numbers and you have the funds to really invest, the best long-term strategy will be dialing into advertising profitability.

Posted by : Paul
5 May 2021
marketing

Tips for Advertising Your Online Platform – Part 2

Welcome back to our series on advertising your online platform. Our first look was at Content Marketing, where we explored the benefits of creating blog posts and other content to raise awareness for your e-shop. This article looks at a second marketing technique that might help you connect with the younger crowds.

How to Promote a New Online Store with Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the most powerful ways to promote a new online store, according to the experts at Linkeo Ltd. The best part of influencer marketing is that it’s easy and inexpensive to get started. All you need to do is identify relevant influencers and send them your product to test and review.

Sending your products to influencers leads to two big benefits. First, it helps you gain exposure through the influencer’s audience. Second, it acts as quality assurance for consumers who like to study reviews before making a purchase – as most people do.

This second point is key. In order to start producing online revenue, the most important thing is to build trust with your audience. Having a relevant influencer promote your product not only increases your traffic, but it also helps you start to build a relationship of trust with your audience.

However, when it comes to influencer marketing, bigger isn’t always better. Don’t work with influencers with millions of followers right from the get-go. Start small, with what certain market analysts like to call macro-influencers—those who have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers—in your niche. Make sure their followers are engaged and correspond to your target audience.

Then, build a relationship with the influencer and start building and promoting content together. After that, analyze your campaigns and optimize. Remember, sending your product to a few Instagram influencers isn’t going to be enough. There are three things all successful entrepreneurs do that make their influencer collaborations successful:

They have a great product that was unique and new in the market. Influencers were excited to try it out.
They emphasize the need for ‘real’ responses from these influencers. All they asked for was feedback and a share on their Instagram page if the product resonates, which it hopefully will. This shows a trend away from ‘polished’ influencer posts and towards a more authentic sharing of our experience with a product.”
They combine their influencer campaigns with a customer-focused, user-generated content campaign, leveraging the same hashtags and style for the imagery. This ramps up the believability of the influencer posts.

So, what’s the actionable takeaway? In a nutshell, don’t just aimlessly send out products to influencers and expect to go viral. Focus on those who have influence over your narrow customer group, emphasize the ‘one thing’ that you do better than anyone else, and make the whole experience believable by backing the quality of your product.

How To Choose Influencers to Partner With?

While this in itself will be a subject for a later article in our overarching series on digital marketing and building an effective online presence, there are a few tips we can share about how to choose the right social media influencer for your purposes. The biggest one being: Do your research. Remember that these influencers are individuals, not faceless corporations with PR gurus on speed-dial. Review their existing content to see if they have ever produced content that might affect your own image. Also, check how they interact with their community – do you have a similar approach to your own customers?

Influencer marketing can be an effective method of building a buzz around your products, and also provides you with a relatively constant customer base. We hope the information in this, and future posts will help you harness the power of these techniques to grow your business. Be sure to check back for part 3, where we will look at more methods of online advertising.

Posted by : Paul
5 May 2021
marketing

Common Accounting Mistakes To Avoid

Accounting is a fundamental part of businesses. Even though accounting mistakes can happen occasionally, but wouldn’t it be better if you could avoid some common mistakes? Here’s a list of some accounting mistakes that you can avoid with proper planning and preparation.

#1. Lack of Organization

Do I really need to mention how accounting requires excellent organization skills?

As an accountant, you will have to record every single transaction, store (or now digitize) receipts for future use, calculate taxes and so on. However, if these pieces of information are not stored properly, it is obvious then that you might miss a crucial transaction or lose an important receipt. And, what happens when the tax season comes? You could get in deep trouble, obviously!

#2.Not Following Bookkeeping Procedures

Nowadays, it is recommended that even small enterprises, self-employed persons and freelancers should make use of formal, detailed and documented methods to manage accounting procedures and also to perform other routine tasks.

One effective procedure is to set up standardized forms and checklists to complete so as to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Let me give you a simple example: You can put up a process for setting up new vendors and for that you will need the vendor’s name, address, telephone number and Employee Identification Number (EIN) and other crucial documents such as insurance certificates, letters of recommendation and signed contracts might be required. And, after entering these pieces of information into your accounting system, payments can be processed.

Remember that it will cost you a significant amount of time to develop such a standardized form or checklist as you will have to gather information from your vendors and then have a sort of written policy for your employees to follow.

#3. Failing To Be Accounting Software Shrewd

Did you know that in the rush of setting up a business, many business owners do not get enough time to correctly learn the accounting software that they have chosen to use?

And, of course, when you don’t know what an accounting software is capable of doing, it is evident that you would make some mistakes or miss out on some vital functionality. Additionally, some incomplete or wrong information can lead to bad business choices.

#4. Mixing Professional and Personal Finances

By mixing your business and personal finances, you are making one of the most common accounting mistakes that most business owners make. Therefore, it is essential to keep them separate and to keep a detailed track record of what really happened in your business and what is specifically related to your personal use only.

#5. Throwing Away Receipts

Receipts still count today and even though they have become digitalized, there are some specific cases where they need to be recollected as they can provide solutions to mistakes or fill the gaps in bookkeeping records. Besides, during tax time, receipts can provide additional deduction opportunities.

#6. Making Maths Mistakes

I often wonder who are those weird people who love mathematics (apart from mathematicians, of course).

Let me tell you that despite using automated accounting solutions, many people often tend to make maths mistakes (especially when they are in haste to get the job done after a long tiring day). But, remember that these mistakes (even if they arose from typos) can prove to be very costly.

#7. Failing To Reconcile Accounts

Reconciling is a critical process that involves checking an account balance as recorded on your books is correct and accurate and ensuring that it matches the actual bank account balance. And, if there is a gap between the two accounts, this means that there is an error and if you want to prevent this small issue from worsening, you need to give immediate attention to this problem. Moreover, if you review and reconcile your business bank accounts on a regular basis, it will help you to catch any fraudulent transactions that may have occurred within the organization.

#8. Not Backing up Data

How would you feel if the device on which you stored all your business’s financial information was hacked or stolen? And, worse: what if you didn’t have it backed up at all?

Well, this issue often happens with many accountants who feel as if their lives have been turned upside down. However, good news is that there are some pretty good backup options available nowadays that can save you from this crisis.

Will you follow these tips? Please share your comments!

Posted by : Paul
4 May 2021
Accounting

Should You Refinance Or Modify Your Mortgage?

Have you ever wondered why do some homeowners refinance and others do a loan modification? There might be a lot of reasons driving their decisions. In this article, we identify some of the key differences between a loan modification and a mortgage refinance. They both can be beneficial to someone with a high mortgage payment, and so they need help with one of the two options to lower their mortgage payment. They have similarities and differences alike. Let’s check them out!

A refinance simply completing the process of acquiring a new loan for financing your current mortgage. When you do a refinance, you will have to run your credit to meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for the new mortgage loan you are requesting. You will have to provide proof of employment, meet a minimum income requirement, have a good payment history, in addition to other conditions. When you refinance, you are paying off your old loan with a new loan and starting over again. You can take out equity in the property or leave it in. You can often do a 15yr or 30yr mortgage. You might want to do a refinance with a cashout and pay off another high-interest loan such as a credit card, revolving store card, other loans, finance college, buy a new car, among other things. When doing a refinance, your credit score and payment history will be weighed heavily in the final determination to grant you credit or deny you.

Most refinance will take anywhere from about 2-4 weeks to complete, and your old mortgage lender will be paid off. Homeowners will often refinance when the interest rate is at least one percentage point lower than they are currently paying. It’s good to refinance if you intend to stay in the home for at least another 5yrs. The reason why it’s not a good idea to refinance if you don’t plan on staying in the property for at least five more years is due to the fees and closing costs associated with doing a refinance. It is like getting a new loan – in fact, that is exactly what you are doing.

A loan modification is similar to a refinance because it is actually lowering your mortgage interest rate to give you lower house payment. However, there are some key differences. A loan modification is not focused on your credit score or credit history as much, if at all. Some loan modifications don’t ever check your credit history, a small number of lenders do check, but your credit is not weighed much at all for granting you a loan modification. When you do a loan modification, you will rarely get charged anything, and if you do, they are minor changes that are rolled up in the mortgage balance, unlike a refinance. Many people that apply for a loan modification are often in deep trouble with their mortgage payments. They commonly have a poor credit history and will usually not qualify for a refinance.

Not to say a refinance is better than a loan modification, but many homeowners who do a loan modification do it as a last option. Homeowners who refinance do it because they choose, and they can try to use their good credit history to their advantage by getting a lower mortgage payment. Ironically, a refinance and a loan modification will often give you a much lower mortgage interest rate over your initial interest rate. Yet, the requirements for getting them can be so different. One of the disadvantages of a modification is not having a cash-out option whenever the homeowner does it; With a refinance, a cash-out possibility exists. Once the loan is modified, the loan will start over again, with good credit reporting showing up with the credit bureaus.

So you are having to pay the closing cost that will take a few years to recover from before you actually start seeing some actual savings. You will not need to refinance if you are not going to get a lower interest rate of at least 1 point. It would not be worth it in the short term. If you need to cash out without refinancing or selling the property, you might want to consider a Home Equity Line Of Credit(HELOC). It’s like a kind of revolving credit that your home serves as collateral for that loan. You can get access to the funds all at once or over some time. So keep in mind that it is not so much whether you did a loan modification or a refinance because the results are often very similar. The key is to get your mortgage payment lower. Get in touch with the professionals at DLC ESTATE MORTGAGES for all your mortgage needs in

Posted by : Paul
3 May 2021
Business, Insurance

Effectiveness of Cigarette Filter Tips

People who have smoked cigarettes with and without a filter can understand the difference between both experiences. Nowadays, there is a variety of filter tips available on the market from which a user can choose from. So, for now, let’s take a look as to why you should have filter tips in your cigarettes.

What Are Cigarette Filters?

Also known as a filter tip, a cigarette filter refers to that significant part of a cigarette that was specifically designed to absorb vapours and to provide a sort of mouthpiece that will not collapse as the cigarette is smoked. Let us take a look at the components of cigarette filters:

Acetate Cellulose:

It is said that 95 % of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, which is usually thinner than sewing thread. For example, a research conducted by the New York State Department of Health, Cornell University and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute indicated that there are approximately more than 12 000 white fibres in a cigarette filter.

An inner paper wrapper and glue:

The paper that is used to wrap the acetate cellulose plug for regular cigarettes is impenetrable to air, while the one used for light cigarettes is ventilated and very porous, hence allowing more air to enter the smoke mix.

An outer paper (tipping paper):

The outer paper is often printed to resemble like a cork and is used to cover the filter plug and attach the filter to the column of the tobacco.

Other filter components:

There are some cigarettes that also contain charcoal as an extra filtration agent.

What Are the Benefits of Cigarette Filters?

#1. Saves From Harmful Tar

This is undoubtedly one of the major benefits of using a filter tip at the end of your cigarette. When burnt, a cigarette generally produces tar and it contains several substances that have been identified as carcinogens, which refer to agents that can cause cancer in humans. These can react directly or via breakdown products, with DNA in epithelial cells to produce mutations, which are the first in a series of change that leads to the development of a malignant tumour.

However, using a filter can prevent a large amount of tar from going inside the body and can save you from having harmful diseases.

Besides, at Rollo Tubes Australia Trust, you can find more refined filters that can stop maximum tar and nicotine and make sure you inhale only a small quantity from the smoke.

#2. It Makes the Smokes Milder

Usually, without a filter, a smoke can feel a bit heavier and much stronger in terms of essence and aroma. However, with a filter in place, many strong and harmful contents are removed and therefore, it becomes much smoother and milder to inhale. In addition, if you want a lighter smoke, I recommend you to choose a filter tip that has a finer grain that can filter your smoke properly.

#3. Holds the Cigarette

Imagine you are holding your cigarette without a filter tip, especially when you are smoking the bottom part of it. There are easy possibilities of burning your finger and inhaling strong and hot smoke that can cause rashes to your throat.

However, a filter tip is an essential part of a cigarette strength (especially in self-rolled ones) as it provides a base to the entire cigarette and enables the user to handle the cigarette without any chances of burning their hands.

Moreover, filter tips are responsible for sealing the cigarettes from the bottom so as to ensure that the tobacco does not come out from the bottom.

#4. Filters Are More Hygienic

It is noted that these filters can help increase airflow and are hence considered as more hygienic.

If you can’t decide or need advice on finding the perfect filter tip for your favourite style of smoke, then you can contact Rollo Tubes Australia Trust!

Posted by : Paul
26 April 2021
Products

Learn About Business Reports

Reports are documents designed to record and convey information to the reader. They are usually part of any business or organization – from credit reports to police reports and they serve to document specific information for specific audiences, goals, or functions. So, today we will learn more about business reports.

What Are Business Reports?

Reports are often analytical or involve the rational analysis of information. Sometimes they simply “report the facts” with no analysis at all, but still need to communicate the information in a clear and concise format. However, some reports summarize past events, present current data and forecast future trends.

While a report may have conclusions, propositions, or even a call to action, the demonstration of the analysis is the primary function. For example, a sales report is not designed to make an individual sale. It is, however, supposed to report sales to date and may forecast future sales based on previous trends.

Hence, business reports refer to a type of assignment in which you analyze a situation (either a real problem or a case study) and apply business theories to produce a range of suggestions for improvement. It can also be defined as an impartial, objective, planned presentation of facts to one or more persons for a specific business purpose.

Purpose of a Business Report:

A business report has several purposes such as:

Examine available and potential solutions to a problem, situation, or issue.
Apply business and management theory to a practical situation.
Demonstrate your analytical, reasoning, and evaluation skills in identifying and weighing up possible solutions and outcomes.
Reach conclusions about a problem or issue.
Provide recommendations for future action.
Show concise and clear communication skills.

Classification of Reports:

Formal reports: These are carefully structured reports that stress objectivity and organization, consisting of much detail. In addition, they are written in a style that tends to eliminate elements like personal pronouns.
Informal reports: They are usually short messages with natural and casual use of language. For example, the internal memorandum can be described as an informal report.
Regular and Routine Reports: These are reports that are written regularly. They include sales reports, maintenance reports, financial reports, progress reports, health and safety reports etc.
Occasional Reports: These are reports that are produced to deal with particular incidences that may happen in a job. They include accident reports and disciplinary reports.
Specially commissioned reports: These are reports that are written for special purposes and for a particular review. These include market research reports, personnel reports, policy reports, investigatory reports and market forecasting reports.

Business Report Structure

Business reports usually adopt the following style:

Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendations

Introduction

This is the first section of the report and is the easiest to write. The purpose of the introduction is to:

State the purpose or aim of the report, which may include who has asked for it.
Provide background details relevant to the situation, such as a brief overview of historical developments.
Summaries the problems and recommended solutions.
Clarify any limitations, restrictions, and assumptions made.

Discussion

The discussion section is generally the only section where you are able to support your analysis and reasoning with ideas and, concepts available within the course. Moreover, it is the only place where you can actually provide evidence to back up your conclusions and recommendations. As a result, evidence must be drawn from the literature, course materials, as well as your own observations from the actual case or organization.

Conclusion

Arrange each point in order of importance, rather than necessarily in the order found in your discussion.
Match each point in sequence with the list of recommendations.
Each point provides a summary of one of the problems outlined in detail in the report.
Ensure each point links with the report’s objectives.
Write each conclusion in the present tense.
Each point needs to be specific and clear.

Recommendations

Each recommendation should appear in sequence with the order of points in the list of conclusions.
Each proposal should provide a response to each problem identified in the list of findings.
Each proposal should be action-oriented, concise, and clear.
Each proposal should also be realistic and feasible within the social, economic, and political climate.

What do you think about business reports? Please share your comments!

Posted by : Paul
23 April 2021
Business

The Qualities of A Good Professional Trainer

In a professional setting, trainers are expected to deal with all levels of staff, imparting new information or brushing up on desirable work skills. In reality, there is no single metric to assess how good a trainer is, since the answer will vary depending each polled individual. However, there are common traits that the best trainers share, no matter where they are or their field of expertise. These qualities include:

Continuous Learner

Good trainers are always open to new learning to ensure participants the latest information. Trainers need to be equipped with enough information or the ability to reach information to guide and learn answers. They invest in learning to better understand the difficulties a learner might encounter by reflecting on their own challenges. The learning process for a trainer is a continuous affair, with every new subject and student posing a different challenge. Good trainers will channel the knowledge obtained and focus on continuous improvement in their training methods. It can be an experience with a learner or opening up to innovative ways to conduct a lesson, a trainer with an aptitude for learning has more potential to be an excellent trainer.

Focuses on the Trainee

For a trainer to successfully understand the requirements of those that they train, developing a relationship is essential. Good trainers lay emphasis on developing a professional relationship with their learners to better understand their difficulties, their learning methods and styles, and their reasons behind learning. Great trainers are completely focused on tailoring their approach to deliver a more meaningful and personalized learning experience.

Pleasant Personality

The ability to listen, to be patient and to care about the learner and the job at hand are essential traits of a good trainer. Learners respond to characteristics such as kindness and empathy as they believe it makes the trainer more approachable. The sensitivity displayed by trainers makes it clear to them that no problem is too small or too big and the trainer is always ready to receive them. When trainers have effective listening skills, the learners feel more comfortable approaching them.

Good Sense of Organization

For a trainer to be successful, good organizational and planning skills are necessary. Training involves preparing lesson plans, setting targets and helping the learners achieve them. A structured approach to training ensures the trainer is focused on the tasks at hand, the learners have an outline of what to expect and both parties are able to measure the progress made. A well-prepared trainer has a greater ability to adapt to the changing needs of a learner. A well-organized trainer will also ensure the learner feels confident and builds trust, knowing the trainer has everything planned out.

Adaptable

With the development of technology and particularly training tools and software, there are more means than ever to creating innovative training sessions. A good trainer quickly adapts to the changes and can utilize the technology to create impactful lessons. As learners are diverse and the training methods can vary, adaptability is a quality that good trainers should definitely possess.

Good Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is a quality seen in the most successful trainers. Communication is not just about language or vocabulary; it is also about engaging the learners in the discussion and developing a two-way communication path. This enables a trainer to convey information easily and accurately and properly respond to questions or comments from learners. Communication is also necessary to develop an atmosphere of sharing without barriers so that the learners do not hesitate to share problems and communicate feedback.

Supportive

Good trainers are able to understand the challenges experienced by their learners and find ways to encourage and support them. Veteran trainers have the ability to motivate their learners by analyzing the learning methods and suggesting tweaks to make learning more effective. Learners can always rely on good trainers to help them overcome setbacks and humility and compassion of trainers go a long way in helping the learner grasp the training.

How many of these traits do you feel you have yourself? Are you passionate, compassionate and willing to help people learn and improve their work skills? If so, why not become a trainer yourself. Contact the experts at Tusk Group today for placements and advice.

Posted by : Paul
23 April 2021
Career Guidance

How to Recognize That Your Online Platform is Failing

I read a statistic recently that said 90 percent of new online businesses fail in the first four months. Four months! The reasons for this? There are many. Having spoken to the experts at Linkeo Ltd recently, here are the top 7 reasons people seem to fail at starting their own online business, and how you can overcome each one.

Lack of commitment

You talk about how much you want to start your own business with your family or friends, but you never really commit to getting started. You keep waiting for the ‘right time’ or continue to ‘think about it’ without ever getting started. The solution to this one is quite simple: decide to do it and commit to doing it.

Poor planning

You finally get started but you didn’t plan well enough for the financial, emotional, mental and physical implications. You didn’t save enough money, you didn’t do enough research. As a result, you run out of money and ideas very quickly with no plan of how to get yourself back on track. Dealing with this issue boils down to planning ahead and doing your research. Connect with other entrepreneurs in the same field and ask them for advice.

Lack of action

You simply don’t take enough (or any) action. Or if you do, because you’re new at business your actions aren’t properly aligned to your business so you waste a lot of time. What you should be doing is taking consistent action that is aligned with your business. Who is your ideal client? Where can you find them? What problem are you trying to solve for them? How can you monetize what you are doing?

Not having an idea who you are marketing to

Feeding off the point about lack of action, if you don’t know who your target clients are, or where to find them, setting up a shiny new website, Facebook page and business cards won’t solve your complete baffled as to why new customers aren’t queuing up out the door (so to speak)). Solving this issue is not that complicated however. You simply need to get clear on who you want to help before you do anything else. Choose your audience, research it and promote yourself accordingly.

No Marketing Skills

If you have no idea about copy, SEO or sales, no matter how fantastic you are at what you do, you won’t be able to sell yourself, and you’ll get very little business. So either learn sales, or partner with people who do. You’ll soon find that marketing and promotions will attract clients to you. Sales is all about matching their problem with a solution. Your solution.

Trying to do it all alone

You decide not to enlist the help of professionals and instead try to figure out everything on your own. You spend hours each week on non-money making tasks, such as fixing annoying tech issues with your website or mailing list. You end up scared, overwhelmed and lost, and frustrated at your lack of results. Don’t be afraid to seek professional advice and support with anything you are struggling with. Sure, money can be tight when you’re in your first year of business, but you can still shop around. Just get started with some sort of support and upgrade things as you can afford to.

Comparison to others

Looking at what everyone else is doing and getting overwhelmed by their results can spell new online business disaster. Comparison crushes your creativity and feeds self-doubt, worry and concern. In the words of that famous Disney song, let it go. Avoid getting caught up in the hype of others peoples success and results. Everyone is on their own path, stay focused on your own journey and keep yourself moving forward step by step.

Being an entrepreneur is tough, mentally and emotionally, especially when the results in the first year are often inconsistent. But you can do it. Learn from your mistakes, try new approaches, and most importantly keep showing up. Sometimes obstacles can slow your progress (sometimes a whole lot at once can really throw you off track) but you’ve just got to deal with each one as it arises, keep coming back and showing up. You can do it. You can make your new online business a success.

Posted by : Paul
23 April 2021
Business

As we all know, there are numerous ways that you can spend time and effort trying to promote and grow your online business. However, for more small e-commerces, trying out every method at the same time is a guaranteed waste of resources. After all, it’s hard to do anything really well when you’ve spread yourself too thin.

Instead, you should pick a few methods to focus on at the beginning, then gradually work your way down the list, eliminating the methods that aren’t producing results, and finessing the ones that are proving to drive your sales figures. The question is, where should you start?

In this series of articles, we’ll be exploring various means of promoting an online store, as recommended by the experts at Linkeo Ltd., starting with:

How to Promote a New Online Store with Content Marketing

When it comes to online store success stories, you’ll find that content marketing has the biggest impact, since it gives you the chance to explain what sets you apart from your competition. Also publishing regularly builds a body of content that fuels a stronger social media presence as well. How? Well, producing free, valuable content creates trust in your brand, keeps people informed, and helps you rank in search engines. You’ll see the power of content marketing via social shares, increased visibility in search engines, and increased traffic.

Here are a few tactics you should start with:

Publish More Than Just Blog Posts

While running a blog is one of the best ways to create a loyal fanbase and build your brand awareness, you can and should take it further. Consider producing and giving away valuable and in-depth content pieces like e-books and courses. Another underrated, yet valuable promotion mediums is to create high-quality video content that shows what a certain product does and how it benefits its users. And once you’ve published the video, promote it heavily on social media.

Don’t Neglect SEO

Combining content marketing and SEO is particularly effective when you’re marketing a product that has high search volume for generic terms (e.g. “wedding invitations”).

Here are a few strategies with a proven track record of driving traffic with content and SEO:

Foundational Content: Many customers that come to your site are in the very early stages of the buying process and may need further education on the product or how to use it. Having good foundational content will lead to better time on site and better engagement is one of the signals used by search engines to validate keyword accuracy.

Remarketing: This works like a charm if you have a blog that is geared towards the early-stage researcher. When someone visits your blog, you can track them using remarketing cookies, then serve specific content and messages to them over the following weeks as they browse the web and social. Remarketing is much cheaper than buying the acquisition and offers a return on investment to a factor of 8 – 15 times more.

Outreach: Outreach using content marketing is all about creating brand awareness. If we take the wedding card example from before, contact all the major wedding blogs and magazines with fresh content you’ve produced. Often, sending unsolicited content works, but at other times you need to go further. For example, if you’re contacting a major outlet, you may need to tailor your content to their creative direction.

Rich Snippets: Rich snippets allow search engines to better understand what information is contained on each web page. However, many miss the content marketing opportunity of using snippets. You need to include a clear, concise description of a product, not a keyword-laden signal to the search engines.

Consider Paid Search for Short-Term Growth

It’s important to remember that while the tips above are proven to work, they are still medium to long-term solutions. You still need to create that initial boost, which is where paid advertising comes in. Consider getting Google Ads—Google Shopping ads and some display/video branding ads—set up for the new store immediately to help get the new business name out there.

Then, have these running while implementing ongoing SEO. This strategy will draw attention straight away while also laying the foundations for long-term organic growth. The added benefit of PPC advertising through search engines is that you can choose what specific keywords your ads—and therefore your content—display for.

We hope the information in this article has proven useful to you developing a marketing strategy for your new online store. Be sure to check back soon for the second part of this series.

Posted by : Paul
23 April 2021
Business