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For marketers, the Internet is a blessing. Never has there been so much information about consumers and how they think right at your fingertips. In years past, marketing firms and businesses had to rely solely on costlier, more time consuming methods like focus groups, surveys and other data-gathering methods. Online research offers some excellent shortcuts.

Whenever you start an online marketing campaign, the most basic step is to gather relevant keywords. Keywords are essential but they don't g…

Nickenamed "mobile-geddon" because of the huge effect it could have on many businesses, today Google changed their search algorithm.  Now when users start to search for something using Google on their phone the search giant will give priority to mobile friendly sites.  As the numbers of people using mobile devices increases this could spell disaster for small businesses who don't have mobile ready websites.  Is this you?

Mobile friendly websites will include features that make the page resize pro…

Much of my business has been shaped by previous experiences in my working life.

My first role after leaving school taught me the absurdity of measuring time rather than results. I was an office junior at a local sawmill. I tended to arrive early, and as I was never a big tea or coffee drinker I often had no breaks other than my lunch, which I often cut short. I can still remember comments from the team about how quickly and accurately I worked.

I recall one day as I finished all my work, stand…

Claire felt an enormous excitement wash over her as she sat at her desk.  This was the first day of the rest of her life.  Having recently been made redundant, Claire decided that the time was right to start her own business.  She had been in finance for a number of years, and with a new baby, bookkeeping seemed like the right choice for her.  She could work from home around little Lucy, and the startup costs were low.

After only a few days, Claire had her first potential client.  It was a friend…

A few weeks had passed since Claire had finished Stuart’s books.  She had expected to find her second client by now.  Surely someone had noticed all of those postcards she had put in the shops while out walking with Lucy?  Each day, while waiting for the phone to ring, Claire grew more and more worried.  Would she ever find another client?

Knowing that she would need to advertise, Claire called her local newspaper.  A small advert would cost her £80 a week.  It was quite a commitment for Claire, …

6 months on and Claire’s business was growing steadily.  She now had 7 regular clients all paying around £10 per hour.  Things seemed to be going pretty well, but having been so fixated with finding clients, she hadn’t really been keeping on top of her own bookkeeping.  As is so often the case, her own bookkeeping never paid so she would have to do it when she could fit it in.

Claire had kept the adverts running in the local paper, and with some other regular costs building up she decided that no…

As bookkeepers, we’re always looking to systemise our work, and do the same in 30 minutes as it used to take us an hour to do.  Here is a round-up of some of my favourite apps for productivity and organisation.

 

17Hats

This is a fantastic all round CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and workflow software.  With just a little time setting this up it’ll handle all of your quotes, invoices, contact details, workflows and much more.

www.17hats.com $29/month

 

Trello

Sometimes you don’t need anything a…

Blogging is a great way to take potential clients through the know, like and trust path. They can get a feel for not only you as a person, but also of your level of knowledge. It's a fantastic opportunity to show them that you're about more than just data entry.

One of the major problems of blogging is finding an appropriate image that wont break the bank. We've come to the rescue with 5 excellent sites of free photos. Most of these sites provide images that are totally free to use commercially, …

With the launch of the new dashboard, it looks like it'll be easier than ever to collect payments from clients.  Not just the monthly payments for your menu pricing plan, but one off payments for additional work too.

Here's a look at the video from GoCardless.