So you’ve outgrown your one-man (or one-woman) shop. You simply can’t do it all yourself anymore. It’s time to start thinking about bringing on some help, to preserve not only your profits but also your sanity.

One of the most daunting aspects of evolving from solo gig to team effort is finding—and learning how to manage—additional workers. First, hiring “the right” person is an intricate undertaking in itself. Then you have to figure out the most efficient methods of directing and managing your new worker. What to do?

Contractor or Full-time Employee?

Generally, you have two options for expansion. You can hire an employee or bring someone in as a contract worker.

The legal ins-and-outs of being an employer are, indeed, complicated. For your best outcome, talk with an HR consultant to make certain you dot all your “i’s” and cross all your “t’s”. Be sure to visit the US Department of Labor where you can learn the rules and regulations that go along with being an employer.

If you do decide to hire an employee, you’ll be on the hook for payroll, benefits and taxes. To simplify these responsibilities, you may want to consider software, such as Intuit’s Payroll. It allows you to pay employees, calculate payroll taxes, make payments to the government and file tax forms with a few clicks.

On the other hand, the contract employee route can be a smart choice because it reduces overhead, is less complicated administratively, and gives you the ability to meet workload demands as they arise. But be very careful to make sure you understand and abide by the rules concerning the differences between hiring a contractor and an employee. There are serious consequences for employers who misclassify an employee as an independent contractor. You can learn more about this topic by visiting the SBA at http://www.sba.gov/content/independent-contractors-vs-employees.

Finding the Right Help

Whether you hire a new employee or an independent contractor, however, three key rules always apply:

1. Know what you need and what you are willing to pay. Clearly define the position and role. What do you need to offload? Do you need someone to pack orders, take calls, keep up with mailings or manage the books? Typically, you want someone to handle the kind of tasks at which you don’t excel, so you can focus on strategy that will make your business even more successful.
2. Hire attitude, not skills. Choose an applicant who is smart, eager, and open-minded, even if less experienced. Many managers will attest that having an enthusiastic and cheerful employee with a great personality but a less refined skill set is greatly preferred over a more experienced employee who is apathetic and despondent.
3. Above all, make sure your new hires are a good fit. If your company is structured around group projects, look for someone who is team-oriented. On the flip side, if the position requires a great deal of independent work and a high level of self-motivation, assess each candidate’s ability to accomplish tasks with limited supervision.

When it comes time to conduct a search for talent, try asking respected colleagues for referrals. If you have the cash you can post job listings at sites like Monster, CareerBuilder and LinkedIn.  If your budget is tight, give your local Craigslist a try.

Managing Efficiently

One problem with employees is that they cannot read your mind; you’ll need to have systems that will allow you unlock all that customer information you have been keeping in your head. Cloud-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools are a great way to make sure that you and your new employee are in sync from day one about what is happening with and needs to happen for your customers. Look for CRM solutions with built-in project management features, like tasks and milestones. Insightly is a terrific, highly affordable CRM solution specifically designed for small business. It’s free for up to three users and can scale with you as your business grows.

You’ve Made It This Far

The facts are you’ve already beaten the odds by launching and running a successful small business in today’s economy. The decision to expand from a one-man-show to a full production can be intimidating – especially now that you have so much more to lose. But with the proper strategy, research, support, execution, and the right tools, your newly expanded venture will be on the road to even greater success.

Scaling Your Business From Solo to Team is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

The post Scaling Your Business From Solo to Team appeared first on Brain Share.

Coming up with relevant, interesting, and current blog topics can sometimes be a challenge. This is particularly true if you update your blog often. If you feel like you are running out of ideas or fresh content for your blog, look no further than the Internet, of course!

There are two ways you can go when you are looking for current events or fresh content ideas for your blog.

1. You can look for news in your specific industry (i.e. retail, restaurants, cleaning services)
2. You can look for general news topics that are related to businesses or marketing topics.

Both of these approaches are great ways to keep your blog generating new ideas and gaining new readers. Using topics that are specific to your industry may drive more industry-specific traffic to your blog. This can be a great way to get more contacts and readers that are interested in what you do, and you can potentially turn them into customers. With more general topics, you’ll get more general traffic, but you also have the chance to catch their eye and get them interested in your industry and subsequently, your business. This blog also has a great article about how developers look at blog posts and how to generate new content.

Here are a few ideas of places to look to get inspiration for your blog posts:

• News websites – while this may seem like basic advice, news sites can be a wealth of information on many topics. Visiting local and national news sites can offer you a variety of current events. Read through them and see which ones are either relevant to your industry, or are written on a topic that you can relate to your business.
• Mashable.com – Mashable is a great news site that is geared toward the marketing, social media, and tech industries. Rather than report on international affairs, they report on trends in Internet marketing, social media trends, and much more. I get a lot of inspiration for my blogging from Mashable.
• Other blogs – Blogs that are related to your industry are also a great place to look for ideas. While copying them outright is plagiarism and a huge no-no, there is nothing wrong with finding an interesting topic that someone else has written and putting your own spin on it. Just make sure and credit the blog you got the idea from.
• Community/forum sites – Visit forums for sites that are related to your industry and see what current topics people are chatting about. If you choose topics that are relevant to people who are interested in the type of business that you conduct, those same people are more likely to discover your website and be interested in the content that you have posted.

Coming up with new content for a blog can be a tough challenge if you don’t take the time to check out other websites and current events. These tips are great resources for content inspiration that can really help your writing process and therefore your readers. I find that once I get on a roll with reading articles and browsing websites, the ideas for new content start to flow with very little effort.

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

How to Choose Killer Topics for Your Business Blog is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

The post How to Choose Killer Topics for Your Business Blog appeared first on Brain Share.

Over 50 percent of small businesses do not have a website online. In our home state of Ohio a staggering 56 percent of small businesses have no online presence. If you have a small business, you might be asking yourself, why do I need one? Currently, you may be generating new business through direct mail, local newspapers, phone books, etc., and those are all great ways to market your small business. However, did you know that more people get their news from the Internet than from newspapers, and more ad dollars are being spent on online outlets?

You need to have a website so you can expand your business to potential customers that other, more traditional media outlets might not have reached. Having an online presence for your small business can help generate additional revenue, refer new business, and collect new leads every month.

How will a website do this?

Just by having an opt-in form on your website to collect a visitor’s name, phone number, or email address will give your business new leads. These new leads can then be converted into buyers. A website is just another stream of income for your successful business!

Also, by being online you will be able to level the playing field with larger competitors. You will bring in new customers that you may not have acquired from larger corporations just by having a website and marketing directly to these people.

What about your current customers?

A website online will also keep your current customers engaged and show your customers the value in your products and services. You can create email campaigns, utilize social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, and endorse in-store promotions—the list goes on and on! A blog is also a great way to interact with your customers. Post blogs about new products and services, what’s new in your industry, or even some fun facts or anecdotes about you and your business. You’ll be amazed at the number of comments you will have coming through as visitors get to know you better.

You can keep your traditional ways of marketing along with adding an online presence for your small business. Creating a website for your business will become exceedingly important as more and more people flock to the internet every day. Be a part of this growing community and generate more revenue for your business. Think about getting your own small business website today!

Bringing Your Small Business Online is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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Don’t Make Me Think

Billboards are rarely compared to websites, and for good reason. However, they do have one thing in common: user/viewer attention span. Twenty-five percent of all users will exit a website if it doesn’t load within 4 seconds, similar to the 2 seconds a viewer has to see a billboard. The book “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug discusses reasons why people will exit out of your website—namely, a lack of engagement.

Do your users “Get It” at first glance?
Your company ID or logo and main message should be the first thing that a visitor to your site sees. It should be so readily visible that it passes the squint test—identifying this information even while squinting. No deducing, guessing, or even thinking should be required by the user.

People are in a hurry
Users are in a hurry when searching the web. Users often scan the information, rather than read large bodies of text. That is why bulleted information and bolded text can be used to your advantage. Also don’t be afraid to bold content text as well.

-When wording navigation items, people don’t want to think about each link. Therefore, if you want people to click on the jobs page, make sure the link doesn’t say “employment opportunities” but rather “jobs”.

-Another way to keep people’s interest is keep main text top heavy. Essentially, this is including important text first rather than “Click Here To…” before the important text.

Easy ways to fix your website
-Get Rid of Content
Including more visuals, and less text will always keep your user more engaged.

-White Space
If your homepage doesn’t pass the squint text, making items bigger won’t always do much good. Creating space around the main call to action or main headline will help to improve visibility.

-Use Headers and Bullets to Make Skimming Easy
Bold headers and clear bullets draw the reader’s attention directly to the information you want to highlight. This makes skimming much easier to do and allows them to quickly decide what information they will read.

-Take Yourself Out Of The Equation
By thinking what the customer wants to find out, you can identify the most important information to include ‘above the fold.’

Overwhelmed?
Contact our website development team for a fully customized website design services in order to generate sales for your business. We specialize in website design, website development, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), PPC advertising, domains, & web hosting.

Don’t Make Me Think is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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Sometimes, marketing yourself on the internet can seem like a daunting task. With big splashy ads and colorful emails, big companies make it look easy – even though we know they have a whole team of people who do nothing but work on marketing and advertising. So how is a small business owner going to be successful on the web?

The answer is, by creating a presence on the internet that can’t be ignored. It can be easier than it sounds to get your company noticed. Make it a goal to do something to market yourself every time that you get online. Here are some suggestions as to what you can do:

Update your business’ Facebook – update your company’s status. Many people think that they need to be advertising or posting photos, etc., on their company page. While this is definitely true, you can also post quick updates as to what is going on around the company. This gets your business on people’s radar.

Check out your own website – make sure that all of the information you have on your company website is up to date. There’s nothing worse than having very outdated information front and center on your site. Make it a habit to check in at least a few times a week.

Check for new LinkedIn connections – new people join LinkedIn every day. Check often for people that you know. Join LinkedIn Groups and make connections with people in your industry. You never know who might have a connection or job that is useful to you. You also may find people who are looking for services that you or your company provides.

Find ways to engage – when you are online think of ways that you can connect with more people. Consider joining forums that are associated with your industry. This way, you can chat with like-minded people and perhaps glean ideas from them.

Check out competitor’s websites – keeping abreast of what your competition is up to is a key element to having a successful business. When you are online, take a few moments to see what they are up to. You might get ideas for your own business, or you can see what you are doing better. The old saying, knowledge is power, is perfectly appropriate here.

These tips can help you to always have your business in mind when you are online. You can feel more prepared to market and sell yourself and your ideas by knowing that you are doing all that you can to make yourself successful. The internet can be a big scary world if you are a business owner. The repercussions a small business can face due to a strong reliance on the web can be good and bad. Small businesses today are under the microscope, but if you take the time you can make the online world work for you.

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

5 Easy Ways to Build Your Business Online is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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Most programmers I know don’t like to write. Our minds churn through logical processes all day and, like an atrophied limb, the parts of our brains responsible for creativity have long since withered. Or so we would have you believe, if it meant we could get out of writing anything – including documentation.

Thus, I offer up this brief guide for my fellow codemonkeys struggling to string together a series of words on the internet. If you, dear reader, don’t sling variables or functions for a living, you’re free to go play outside or whatever it is that your kind does.

Step 1: Choose Your Subject

So, what should you write about? I assume, since you’re writing for a blog, that the blog’s focal point will be your Main Topic. For example, I’m writing for the Brain Host blog, so my Main Topic is my lovely employer – Brain Host. If you write for a programming blog, your Main Topic will be programming. If you write for a cat blog, your Main Topic will be cats, but you should probably reconsider writing for a saturated market.

To begin, I created a diagram centering on my Main Topic (“Brain Host”). I then brainstormed several topics including some of my favorite things and how I might want to make readers feel. The trick to choosing your subject is to relate your seemingly-unrelated ideas together, as if they were tables in a database. In this case, I’d like to believe that you and I have met at the intersection of “Brain Host,” “coding,” and “funny.” If that doesn’t sound quite right, note that “Wet Blanket” is absent from my diagram.

Step 2: Generate the Content

Down to the nitty-gritty: populating those <p> tags. Usually, you rely on your customers or other departments to do this for you. Not so today buddy, and Lorem Ipsum isn’t going to save you either. Fortunately, writing for blogs can be as easy as crawling Stackoverflow for an open source piece of code. By searching the web for your subject, you can collate all kinds of data, ready to be re-factored and regurgitated in your blog post. As with any licensed code, remember to provide attribution and to make it your own – no plagiarism.

If your article is still feeling a bit light, a good trick is to pad your article with images, graphs, videos, or blockquotes. Multimedia can take up as much room as two or three paragraph tags, and that’s all the less you have to write. It’s as my good friend once said:

“Programmers are in the enviable position of not only getting to do what they want to, but because the end result is so important they get paid to do it. There are other professions like that, but not that many.”

–Linus Torvalds

“Versioning”

Blog posts, like software releases, can seem daunting. Remember: you’ll almost always get another shot. Each post can be considered a “software update,” building on and improving those posted before it. The trick is to write often and in small increments, if necessary, and to not alienate your audience by letting perfection hold you back. You can read books and online resources to become a better writer, just as you would with coding, so don’t sweat the small stuff now.

And remember: If all else fails, you can outsource.

Being with the gracious attitude, without doubt I am hoping you find this informational.

A Developer’s Guide to Blog Posts is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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Most people don’t know what an affiliate is or how affiliate marketing works. Well, being an accountant who handles all the commissions for affiliate marketing payouts, I am here to tell you how it works!

You can sign up with many companies including ours and become an affiliate. In order to do this, you will need to sign up on our affiliate page and we will supply you a website URL specific to your account. From there you will add this link to your personal website.

This helps promote our company, and when someone clicks on the link on your page to sign up for a hosting package, we will be able to determine that the customer originally came from your website and you will receive a commission based off of the customer purchase.

Not only does this build a relationship between you and us but it also allows you to earn some income on the side.  Once you are very familiar with affiliate marketing you can apply your skills to other areas also.  You can sign up for multiple programs and earn income through multiple sources.  Affiliate marketing is also free to sign up and there is no investment involved!  It’s simple and easy too!

I hope this helps you better understand what an affiliate marketer is and I hope to see you sign up soon!

Good luck!

Will You Be the Next Brain Host Affiliate? is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

The post Will You Be the Next Brain Host Affiliate? appeared first on Brain Share.

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word resume as a short account of one’s career and qualifications prepared typically by an applicant for a position. Depending on the nature of the company, prospective employers receive hundreds or even thousands of resumes. Many resumes will never be given a second chance, but an exemplary resume will certainly stand out from all of the rest.
With the tremendous amount of growth here at Brain Host, we have received an abundance of resumes lately. We have to go through the process of determining worthy candidates, which brings me to why I am writing about this subject. I’ve seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are some pointers to what hiring managers want see (and what they don’t want to see) on resumes.

The Good:

1. Quality of Paper. Presentation is everything. Investing in nice resume paper will definitely stand out against standard copier paper.
2. Relevant Experience. Employers want to see specific skills that are applicable to the position you’re going after. Having multiple versions of your resume is usually a good idea- don’t attempt a “one-size-fits-all” resume.
3.  List your Accomplishments. It is important to list your skills, but also include what you’ve accomplished with your previous jobs. Documentation of going above and beyond is appealing to potential employers.
4. Leadership and Volunteer Work: Studies show companies often fill positions with candidates whose resumes list leadership positions. It can suggest that you’ll be able to handle more responsibility upon being hired. Community service is sure sign you’re a team player.

The Bad:

1. Typos and Grammatical Errors. Resumes should be grammatically perfect. If yours is not, employers can draw some unflattering conclusions about you.
2. Visually too Busy. There is no need to use 5 different fonts or display graphics. Have someone review your resume to make sure it is accurate and attractive.
3. Too Long. Even though there are no rules to resume length, keeping it to a 2 page maximum is best.
4. Personal References. It is unnecessary to add references to your resume, as it adds length to document. One sentence “references available upon request” is all that is needed.

So, when creating your resume keep in mind these little tips and tricks to help guide you to creating an efficient and effective resume. While these tips may not cover all of the big do’s and don’ts for specific employers, they are general rules to follow to keep you on the right track.

Top 4 Do’s and Don’ts for an Effective Resume is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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Welcome to the world of WordPress. This Content Management System (CMS) is ideal for anyone—whether you want to have an online journal or you’re looking to build an online business.

So what makes this system so spectacular and your website so functional?

The main reason is because of plugins. Plugins add functionality, convenience, and much more to your site. While they are usually created by several different individuals and companies, they all have ratings and feedback that you can find on wordpress.org to help you determine if it’s right for you.

The types of plugins you will be interested in depend on the purpose of your site.

If you have a personal blog, you might be interested in the following plugin:

Floating Social Media Icon — This plugin will allow your social media pages to be linked to your blog in an easy and stylish way.

Creating a review site?  This may be the plugin for you:

Mingle Forum — This plugin allows a continuous conversation from visitors on your site. You can receive different opinions and views on products you review on your site.

Maybe you’re ready to start selling products online.  If so, you may want to check out this plugin:

Ready! Ecommerce Shopping Cart — This plugin will allow visitors to purchase products from the site directly.

While these plugins have high ratings, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best fit for you or your site. There are a lot of plugins similar to the ones mentioned above, and plenty that are completely different, but will give you the same functionality.

Because these plugins are created by numerous developers, they might not all be compatible with each other. Like any other product, you want to make sure it is compatible with your theme, other plugins, and coding, if you have any. I encourage you to test different plugins to see what works best for you, but try not to get overwhelmed—you may be surprised when you see just how many there are to choose from!

No matter what type of site you have, there’s sure to be a plugin (or twenty) that will help you to make the most of it.  These little add-ons are just one of the many things that make WordPress such an excellent platform for sites of all sorts.

Enhance Your Site Using WordPress Plugins is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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All businesses have felt a huge shift from traditional marketing strategies to more creative marketing outlets. In order for your marketing to work for your business, it is important to gauge your customer base and what kind of marketing they would be most receptive to. If you are a small business owner, you may need to get even more creative, as small businesses are more likely to have a smaller marketing budget.

Here are some ideas for creative marketing for small businesses:

Text campaigns – texting is arguably the most common form of communication for many people. While most people use texting solely for person to person communication, it’s a great way to get information to customers. Currently, I get texts from Pollo Tropical and Chick-fil-A. These companies send concise texts letting me know about sales or promotions. Small businesses could absolutely utilize texting in the same manner. Though at first the process may not show the results a business owner wants, make sure to tweak your texting campaign before stopping altogether. This new campaign has a learning process and can only get better. Besides, I would venture to say that people would prefer a quick text rather than a phone call, if the option is available.

Facebook sponsored posts – some of us who are posting on Facebook just for fun may find the new “do you want to make this a sponsored post?” question a little repetitive, but small businesses should take notice. These sponsored posts are an easy way to make sure all of your followers see what you are posting. This probably isn’t something that you would want to do often (the cost could add up), but it can be a good option.

YouTube – Many visitors are reading less these days and skimming over articles which can lead to misinterpreting information. This is why videos are considered one of the best forms of marketing. YouTube offers businesses several unique opportunities when it comes to marketing. One great way to use the site for your small business is to establish yourself as an expert on something that is related to your product or service. For example, a men’s clothing store in London called T.M. Lewin has a series of YouTube videos that offer tips on ironing dress clothes, how to match a tie to a shirt, and several others. My boyfriend showed this series to me and said he feels compelled to order dress clothes from this company after seeing the videos. I’d say mission: accomplished for the company.

Podcasts – having a podcast series for your business is along a similar line as posting on YouTube. It’s a great opportunity to let customers know what is going on with your business. You can also use this medium to establish yourself as an expert either in your field or on a topic that is related. Podcasts are particularly interesting because people can listen to them anytime, anywhere, if they have a smart phone, tablet, or iPod.

For small businesses in particular, it’s important to make the most of your marketing reach. Consider using some new and different strategies to see which marketing strategies work for your business. You are likely to see an uptick in sales or interest if people are intrigued by what you have to offer.

Marketing Opportunities for Small Businesses is a post from: Brain Host Web Hosting

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