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Blogging + Business

Six Ways to Improve Your Career Prospects

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The global pandemic has resulted in many people finding themselves out of employment and while new business start-ups have increased during 2020, now may be the time to look for an alternative career. Using your time wisely to give your career a boost or to start on the career ladder, below are some tips to help you improve your job prospects.

Make Plan

While your career may have been pandemic proof, making a plan for the next 5 years will help you start on your journey of improving your job prospects no matter the financial outlook. Sit down and start mapping out your main goal and work back from that. Establish a timeline and note smaller goals on the journey. These smaller goals or milestones will help you assess if you are still on track to meet your main goal. This is a guide to help you on that journey and help you move forward.

Know the Industry

No matter the sector you are in or trying to break into, knowing what is happening is important. Take time to read up on what is happening, this is vital to show you understand the industry and use this when you are invited to interviews. This is a great way to show that you know what is happening and you are dedicated to the industry.

Increase your Productivity

We can all get in a rut at times. This impacts negatively upon our productivity. Set yourself goals and each day have a task list that you can work your way through. Keeping a focus on those tasks will help you increase your productivity.

Boost your Skills

Increasing your skill set is important to improving your job prospects. There are plenty of online courses you can take in your spare time, however, ensure you get as much information about the course before purchasing, for example reading the likes of Job Killing review or similar articles, will tell you all you need to know about a course in advance. Browse all the options available to you and make an informed decision about which course is right for you.

Improve your Resumé

Revamp your resumé by giving it a fresh look. Build up your current version by adding some skills and new courses you have undertaken and look at examples of how to lay it out. Ensure you display key information prominently so that potential employers can view the important information at a glance.

Get active on LinkedIn

Using LinkedIn is a great way to connect with businesses in the sector you are interested in. Set up an account and start making connections with people in the industry you wish to enter. 

Conclusion

Moving forward in your career can be a challenge but setting out with your goal and noting milestones along the way will help you on the journey. Keep your eye firmly on the goal and navigate your way thereby ensuring you increase your skills and engage with potential employers. Taking account of the above tips will help you on this journey.

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business

3 Ways To Boost Your Blog’s Traffic

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Having a blog is an amazing hobby which can eventually lead to a lucrative side hustle. Writing about your life and experiences helps you to relate to others in similar circumstances to you, create community, and provide a voice for yourself which resonates online. One struggle of blogging, which every blogger can relate to, is driving traffic to your site. You might be pouring your heart out into your blog, but with no readers, it can feel a little like you’re keeping a very time consuming diary. Successful bloggers have all sorts of tips and tricks up their sleeves, and it’s time to reveal three of those in today’s blog. So strap in and prepare for the top three ways to boost your blog’s traffic. Let’s go!

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  1. Specialize

Writing about your life and experiences is amazing, but if your blog is too generic, you might lose followers. Unfortunately there are thousands of generic lifestyle blogs out there, so it’s time to specialise in something you know best. This could be specializing in something personal, such as being a working mother, running a hospitality business, having a chronic illness or a particular passion you have cultivated over the years. Your special subject could be in a specific exercise or product, such as blogger Katie Rollins who writes about her experience and journey with ketones drinks. Whatever your subject, make sure you specialise and get specific – this will direct people more clearly to your site and peak their interest more easily. 

  1. SEO

If you don’t have an SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy, start today. SEO essentially works with search engine algorithms to help users locate sites which will satisfy their search request. If a user searches for ‘lifestyle blog USA’ they will be met with thousands and thousands of similar results, so how can your site stand out? SEO is the solution to this issue. 

So how can you implement SEO? This is achieved through keyword research, backlinks in your content and other means which can either be implemented yourself, or using a specialist SEO service who will help achieve your blogger dreams. An SEO strategy is far more cost-effective than pay per click advertising, and its success can be measured using analytics from your site to see how traffic increases over time.

  1. User-Friendly Layout

Creating your website without professional knowledge can be very hard, but it is important to get your layout right. Use a site design company such as Squarespace or WordPress (which is what I use for this blog) who have pre-set layouts to choose from, which are all designed with accessibility in mind. Your site might house amazing content and beautiful images, but if your visitors find it confusing or inaccessible, they are more than likely to just click away. Prioritise your site’s user-friendly layout and success will follow. 

To conclude: having an amazing and popular blog isn’t rocket science, but it does take some research and optimization skills. Make sure you prioritise increasing traffic using these three simple steps and achieve your blogger dreams in a highly efficient manner!

•How do you boost your blog’s traffic? What do you need help with the most?

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business Lifestyle

4 Ways To Unlock Your Strategic-Thinking Skills

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In this coronavirus pandemic period, many people have realized that they need some kind of stability in their lives. This means making the tough decisions now to yield favorable results later. Are you hard-hit by a myriad of challenges and feel stuck? Start thinking about how to improve and unlock your strategic thinking skills, as big problems demand big decisions. When you do so, you are empowering your brain to get better at making well-informed decisions. With that said, here are four practices that can help you harness your strategic thinking abilities.

  1. Learn, observe and stay up to date

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To be strategic means, you need to plan carefully, get your priorities right, stay focused, and be proactive instead of reactive at resolving issues when they arise. It will help to have in-depth knowledge in your area of interest and follow your industry’s latest happenings. Unlocking your smartest thinking skill also requires you to take self-improvement actions geared towards building your intellectual resources. One way to do that is to acquire knowledge through learning and observation. You should also try to explore your daily routines and pay rapt attention to the crop up issues. 

  1. Ask deep questions

After enhancing your knowledge in your field of interest, it is time to ask pertinent questions. Strategic thinkers ask strategic questions. For example, if you are a business owner who wants to think strategically, you may want to ask important questions such as these: What is the future of this business in the next five years? What negative factors could affect the company in the coming years? Is the probability of success more significant than that of failure? The bottom line is that thought-provoking questions trigger your brain to get better at searching for solutions. 

  1. Explore opportunities

Since good opportunities usually come once in a while, exploring more options is a good step towards improving your strategic thinking skills. Gauge the probability of different opportunistic scenarios and ensure that you have backup plans on how best to convert unexpected occurrences into gold opportunities. Successful people have the foresight to visualize make or break moments and respond to them accordingly.

  1. Protect yourself against depression and anxiety

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Anxiety and depression are not helpful to your critical thinking skills, as they deplete your positive energy and expose you to negative thoughts. Unfortunately, these can hamper your ability to make better decisions in the face of challenges. In the heat of the COVID pandemic, more than 2 billion people were staying in lockdown. As you stay safe from the virus, try to release some stress from being alone by being physically active and keeping in touch with your friends and family. You can also try some recreational yet helpful products from Bloom Farms CBD to release stress and regain your peace of mind.

Strategic thinking skills are crucial to many aspects of life, including self-expression. With the above tips, you will be on the right path to improving your quality of life!

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business

Could Your Reltionship To Money Change? Let’s Explore

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Whether you are in your 20’s right now, hitting the later years in life, or are looking back at that time in your life, the relationship any person would have had with money and their bank balance will more resemble a roller coaster right than stability. Wouldn’t you agree? It’s that whole desire to start being an adult and responsible for things, and bad decisions or choices can be made. Not saving money and investing it into a property. Getting into debt because you want the latest fashion trends or you just couldn’t resist that big night out that was planned at the end of the month. Many of us will relate to the somewhat frazzled relationship with money and find that the older we get, the wiser we can become. But, it is always worth it to try and change your relationship. So if you happen to be starting out your adult years right now, or want to educate someone younger, here are some of the top tips to help change your relationship with money in your young adult years. 

Image source – pixabay – cco license 

Is debt the answer?

Well, no. Credit cards and loans can be the right course of action if you need to make a big purchase, but it isn’t the right answer for you if it happens to be that you rely on credit cards or an overdraft to simply pay your bills and survive each month. Something’s got to give. This is why it is worth looking at your financial situation and making some changes. This is why websites like dtss.us/money-creation.html can be very useful and informative. Of course, debt sometimes is necessary, for example, we can get ourselves into debt through college and university. But even then, there are ways to ensure that you have a much better relationship with it once you leave and graduate. What we must always remember is that we only get the benefit of debt once, and then it needs to be paid off. 

Researching other ways to boost your bank balance

There has got to be different ways you can boost your bank balance. Some people like to sell unwanted things online and keep them home decluttered. Others like to fill out online surveys or perform mystery shops. People make and sell things on online platforms like Etsy, and even blog and use their own internet spaces to make money through advertising. The options are endless it is just a case of finding the right thing for you. 

Budgeting wisely to ensure that you stretch every penny

Finally, budgeting is something that we should be educated on from a young age as sometimes when you have a bank balance boosted by wages, it is difficult to ensure that bills get paid and what you can or can’t spend your money on. Budgeting is an excellent way to ensure that every penny stretches as far as it can do. Things like meal planning and regularly analysing your outgoings are great ways to reduce your bills. 

Let’s hope these suggestions help you to have a better relationship with your money moving forward! Good luck!

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business Health

How to Combat Healthcare Billing Fraud

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There are a lot of costs involved in healthcare these days, as we all know, but not all of these costs are justified. Because of the insurance system and the lack of involvement with the patients when it comes to insurance payments, many healthcare providers end up getting paid more than they are actually owed. This can happen both by accident or on purpose, but the result is the same: it has a negative impact on the cost of healthcare and patient trust in healthcare organizations.

There are times when the complicated healthcare system results in unintentional billing errors, which results in the insurers paying more. Sometimes, it’s more malicious. The hospital can end up billing for services that the patient didn’t receive. This is often easy to do because the bill gets sent directly to the insurer, without the patient confirming that everything in the bill is correct. The best way to confront the widespread fraud issue is to have the patient involved in the process; they are the first line of defense when it comes to identifying billing errors.

In a professional capacity, it’ll be accounting managers who are in the best position to help combat these problems. They can help improve internal procedures, encourage patients to engage with the billing side of healthcare, and can spearhead the use of technology to make the billing process more straightforward and transparent. 

To learn more about this, take a look at the infographic from the University of Alabama Birmingham outlined below. 


Infographic design by University of Alabama Birmingham University of Alabama Birmingham

 

This post was a collaboration. 

Blogging + Business

4 Ways The Internet Has Improved Our Lives

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The internet has benefited everyone’s life in some way or another. Researching, online shopping, comparing and purchasing, online learning and online banking, the list goes on. The internet has meant that finding solutions to problems has never been easier and quicker. If you have a question, you can search the web for an answer. You can also search online for health issues, get dispensary delivery and use “Doctor Google” to either confirm you don’t need to go to the doctor or that you do. The internet has also enabled collaboration and virtual teams which have meant that people could work together while being geographically all over the place. With online meetings and remote access, staff are now able to work outside the office and save time on travel.

Time has also been saved by checking daily information services such as the news, stock market, and transport timetables. Getting your story via the internet allows you to focus just on the items you are interested in, and perhaps the most significant use of the internet is email. But what else is new? What else can you use the internet for to make your life easier?

Counting Calories

There are several sites and apps for calculating your calorie intake, your protein, your carbs, and your macros as well as being able to track your weight and water intake. These tools are handy if you’re concerned about how your weight, then you can get the lowdown on how many calories a cookie or chocolate bar has. You can also plan your meals and pick the most nutritious and low-calorie foods to help you lose weight.

Finance Management

Personal finance management services are powerful tools for managing your expenses online. You can create budgets, and monitor your savings, and these tools are also free to use. You can even sync your bank accounts, so you have just one place for planning your financial present and future. Having tools like this can be invaluable if you value your money, and can help even the most confused people to become more financially literate.

Improve Your Writing

Grammarly and Polish My Writing are excellent if you want to improve your writing. Perhaps you have the knowledge about a specific topic, and you want to put it into writing but don’t feel like you can due to a lack of confidence in your spelling and grammar. These websites can help you to learn more about and become the writer you always wanted to be. Featuring tools for checking grammar and spelling, as well as other resources for improving your writing, you’ll be thankful you found them.

Improve Your Math

Lots of people have trouble with math, but it’s something that can’t be avoided in life, even if you think that it barely gets used. Trust me, I’m a math tutor. Whether it’s to do your taxes or even just working out whether there’s enough money for groceries, math is something you don’t want to struggle with. Whether you’re a student needing help with an exam or you’re just sick and tired of being inadequate at math, a website such as Mathway can help you become a lot less confused with numbers.

•How has the internet improved your life? Share in a comment below!

This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business

The Best Business Ideas to Create a Lasting Relationship With Customers

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Businesses are designed to make money–everyone knows that. If you’ve got a business, then it was likely started because you were looking for a better way to make a living. However, simply having a business isn’t enough even if you have a fantastic product. Companies like Apple and Google can afford to have a couple of vocal unhappy customers because it usually doesn’t affect the overall scheme of things. They still make excellent products that are sold in the millions all over the world.

However, if you’re a relatively small business then an unhappy review can negatively affect your business and it’s a good idea to focus on creating a lasting relationship with customers to help you grow your brand in a positive light. People often say that there’s no such thing as bad exposure, but if you’re a small no-name brand with lots of negative reviews, then it’s clearly a bad thing.

In this article, we’re going to talk about a couple of business ideas that are perfect for growing a lasting relationship with your customers.

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1. Choose a business that allows you to interact with customers

A business that is focused on interacting with customers is a great way to ensure that you can build a lasting relationship. For instance, consultancy is a fantastic business venture if you love working with clients and empowering their businesses or even their life. Coaching is similar to consultancy and is often used for areas such as fitness and there are even life coaching opportunities. If you can interact with your customers on a regular basis, then it’s a great way to ensure that your business will continue to grow and develop solid relationships with your clients.

2. Choose a business idea that improves the health of your customers

Health is always going to be a huge concern which is why health-focused business opportunities are a great way to solidify business relationships. However, health-based businesses are very common and it’s difficult to really get noticed unless you seek out a niche or growing health-based industries. For instance, the growing cannabis industry in America is a great opportunity and looking for the best wholesale company is much easier because there are fewer around. Alternatively, you could think about digital-focused health ideas such as online checkups and self-help advice.

3. Choose a business that makes your customers laugh or smile

Entertainment will always be a great business opportunity if you want to create a deeper connection with your audience. If your products are capable of making your customers laugh or smile then it creates a fantastic opportunity for you to grow your business relationships. For instance, if you’re in the business of making films, music, video games or even fictional stories, then there’s always the opportunity of speaking to your fans in person when they go to purchase your products in person and you can always have a blog which showcases your product’s development to keep them entertained and informed.

4. Choose a business that can be active on social media

Social media is a great way to interact with your customers and any business idea that can make regular use of social media is the perfect opportunity to build a lasting relationship. Almost any business can take advantage of social media, but there are a couple of business ideas that will make regular active use of it. For instance, any technology-focused company should be using social media to grow their brand, and you should also try to take advantage of social media for the purpose of customer service and feedback. It’s a brilliant way to give your customers a point of contact if they need assistance with your products or would like to offer positive feedback.

5. Choose a business that involves many public appearances

Public appearances are a great way for you to get brand exposure. This means that if you’re regularly able to make appearances at trade shows or even local malls to showcase your products, then it’s going to help you stay in the minds of your customers and will also give you the opportunity to interact with your audience in person. Virtually any business could make regular public appearances, but if there are plenty of excuses to do so (such as a tech business thanks to all of the tech-related trade shows) then it’s a positive for your business and you should take advantage of it when possible. More media and influencer coverage is never a bad idea and will help you create a much larger brand.

This post was a collaboration.

Blogging + Business

Career Focus: Choosing The Qualification You’ll Need To Succeed

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If you have decided to refocus your career path and move in a new direction, the chances are that you’ll need to re-enter education in order to do so. Whether you’re looking to make a dramatic change – for example, you currently work in PR but want to move into nursing – or more of a sideways move such as marketing copywriter to marketing campaign manager, you’ll still usually still need at least some form of training and certification in order to transition your career.

 

However, while you may know you need further education, knowing exactly what type of education you require or which qualification is suitable for your career aspirations can be tricky. Most educational and training courses are wide-ranging, which can mean narrowing down the right one for your specific requirements is a particular challenge. There are, however, a few tips you can follow when trying to decide which course is the right choice for you.

 

Ask Recruiters

 

 

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To do this, you’ll first need to have an idea of what specific job role you’re hoping to move into. So if you’re a copywriter looking to work in marketing, you’ll need to zero in on which specific marketing role you’d like to do in the future; for the sake of the example, we’ll say that you decide you’d like to be a marketing accounts manager. When you’ve got your job role in mind, you can ask companies who hire marketing accounts managers which qualification they most want to see on an applicant’s resume. It’s usually best to ask at least three different companies in order to develop a consensus, but when you’ve done so, you can be sure you’re choosing a course that recruiters genuinely feel is impressive.

 

Check Course Providers

 

Any reputable course provider will seek to ensure that their prospective students make the right choice as to which course they should pursue. As a result, it’s worth researching course providers, and then looking for further guidance on their website. You should be able to find in-depth guides that explain intricacies such as the difference between MSN and DNP for prospective nursing students, whether you need a foundation certificate or diploma in marketing, and similar topics related to your specific career choice on most course providers’ websites, though you can call to ask if you’re in need of further guidance.

 

Go with What Interests You

 

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In the above two examples, the advice is generally only suitable for people that have a specific goal in mind – but what if you’re more open to the different possibilities, and want to keep your options flexible? If this applies to your situation, it’s usually best to opt for whichever course interests you. Look for a course with a recognizable qualification, but otherwise, focus on the syllabus; the chances are that, over the course of your studies, you’ll begin to narrow your preferences and zone in on suitable future job roles naturally. While this approach does not lend itself to certain occupations – nursing, for example, requires rigorous training in adherence with regulation – but for marketing or other arts-based subjects, you can afford the flexibility of a more generalized course.

 

In conclusion

 

Hopefully, the tips above will help you to select the right course as you seek to change your career path and enjoy a brighter future as a result – good luck!

This post was collaboration.

 

Thanks for reading!

Blogging + Business

3 Ways to Make Your Blog More Professional and Profitable

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Blogging is a great hobby, or a way to make some extra money on the side. If you build a big enough following, you can easily make a full-time living out of it. If your blog has been going for a while and you’re thinking about taking it to the next level, you should look into finding collaborations with other bloggers and seeking out companies that are willing to pay you to review your products. But if you’re going to do that, you need to consider how you’re presenting yourself online.

If people don’t think that you’re professional, they’re not going to trust you to review their products. Having a big following is a part of that, but there are plenty of other things that you can do. These are some of the easiest ways to make your blog look more professional.

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Fast Loading Times

There’s nothing worse than a website that doesn’t load quickly. People are only willing to wait around for a few seconds before they’ll get fed up and go elsewhere. If you’re approaching people about collaborations or reviews, the first thing that they’re going to do is have a look around your blog. If they’re waiting for ages for it to load and it runs really slowly, that tells them that you haven’t invested much money in good web design or hosting. They’re also going to assume that you’ll struggle to get new readers because of the slow loading times. There are a couple of different reasons for slow loading times. Sometimes it’s because you’re not using a very good hosting service, but it can also be caused by the theme that you’re using. Some of them simply aren’t built very well and they cause slow load times. It’s worth trying a few different ones to see if it makes a difference.

A Virtual Office

There’s no need to rent out an office space if you’re running a blog, but it doesn’t look that professional if you’re asking people to send things to your home address. Luckily, you can get a virtual office with a mailing address and then have the mail forwarded on to you. This gives the impression that you’ve got a much larger operation than you have and gets rid of any stigma about running the business from home.

Proper Editing

This is such an important part of blogging, but you’d be surprised how many people forget it. If you’re posting articles that are filled with spelling and grammar errors, it’s frustrating for your readers. But more importantly, it shows a lack of care on your part. It doesn’t take that long to read through your posts a couple times and check for any mistakes. If you can’t even be bothered to do that, it gives the impression that you don’t put much effort into the blog. If you’re trying to convince people to sponsor posts and send you products to review, they need to be confident that you’ll write a well crafted, quality post that is going to help them sell more products. If you’re writing badly edited articles, that reflects badly on the company and they won’t want to work with you.

If you follow these basic rules, you can make your blog look much more professional, and find more sources of income!

•What tips or tricks do you have for bloggers trying to make an income? Comment below!

Disclosure: This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!