Build Your Business Website – 7 Great Reasons Why You Should

How To Build Your Business Website

Do you think it is important to build your business website? The first websites were created in the early 1990s and they were manually written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser.  It is assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as Javascript to transform documents into multimedia web pages. 

You would need to know coding to build a website but came the 2000s and websites can be built without coding since the introduction of content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Wix and Magento etc. It makes the business website dream possible for all of us especially the non-techie folks. 

Now building your business website is as easy as eating cake and many business owners are doing it to showcase their products and services. You may ask, why do we need to build a business website? 

Here are top 7 reasons why you should build your business website:

 

1. A website makes you look professional

Though social media is the new norm for many business owners to promote their products and services, psychologically wise; 84% of today’s consumers still think a website makes your business look more credible than companies who only promote their products and services through social media. Your business website is also the perfect wall to display any professional awards or certifications your business has. Having a company email address adds on a second layer of professionalism.

How To Build Your Business Website

2. Attract customers through Google

As you all know, Google is our best friend when it comes to searching for any answers to the questions we have at any point of time. You might feel comfortable with the current business size but every company experiences customer turnover due to stiff competition. To ensure continued success, you will need to attract new customers and one of the best ways to do it is to make yourself visible on Google. A well-optimized website can help your business rank well on Google with search engine optimization (SEO) and attract a steady stream of new customers. 

3. Showcase your products and services

You can use your business website design to give customers a good customer experience when they visit your website, imprinting your brand upon their visual senses. You can provide important information about your products and services to make sure you are attracting the right customers. For example, if you run a spa, you might want to mark any massage services that are unsuitable for pregnant women due to properties of certain essential oils so mothers to be will know which type of massage to go for when they visit your establishment. 

4. Display your best reviews and testimonials

Displaying your best reviews and testimonials serve as a credibility booster and this might come in the form of personal customer testimonials. If your business has appeared or has been mentioned in popular local blogs or newspapers, it is good to feature those as this shows that your business has received public recognition. Doing this acts as a safeguard against third party review sites closing but customers will still have access to your testimonials. Now that’s definitely a very important reason to build your own business website!

How To Build Your Business Website

5. Integrate your business website with Google Maps

Since Google is the go to search engine for any queries, it is imperative to integrate your business website with Google Maps so customers can locate you easily. A website allows you to embed maps directly into your content. Some businesses have a map embedded directly onto their home page and makes it easy for people to locate your business especially for those who are not familiar with your area. You may also include bus or train services to better guide customers. 

6. Creating a website is easy peasy

Unlike the past, creating a website no longer seems daunting. You do not need to know coding because modern website builders like Wix and Squarespace have made it possible for many laymen like you and I. You can easily build an attractive and user friendly business website and even for WordPress, it has evolved and transitioned into a block editor where non techies can build a website by just dragging blocks and widgets.

7. A website ensures success in the long run

In 2020, almost 4.54 billion people use the internet; it proves that more and more people are going online, even our parents and grandparents. Without a website, your business is invisible and not known to these people. In the current digital era, not having a visible presence online is subjecting your business to high collateral damage and the probability increases as we advance further in technology. To ensure sustainability and competitive advantage, your business needs to go online. 

We hope this information has motivated you to start on your business website or make improvements if you already have one especially when the odds are in your favour now with modern website builders. You can build one easily or make changes on your website within a few days and your business is ready to roll.

 

Related topics –> Facebook Ads – How To Increase Sales In 2020

 

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Coronavirus will force more CPA firms to shift to distance learning

For years accounting firms have tried to realize the benefits of distance learning. The cost savings alone are a compelling reason to replace live seminar training with remote delivery.

The results to date have been largely disappointing. Many firms met the distance learning challenge by just streaming and recording their live seminars for a remote audience. Webcasting may be the easiest way to repackage live seminar training for remote delivery, but it’s also the least effective. Without the compulsion to focus and interact that comes from being in the same room as your trainer, many participants simply leave the webcast playing in the background while they catch up on other work.

Thanks to COVID-19, we find ourselves in a time when all learning is distance learning. Firms know that they must keep their professionals compliant, and the instinct for many will be to pull together a solution based on the familiar formats described above. It’s an easy and expedient answer, but is it the best option?

 

The argument for innovation

At some point, the “shelter at home” and social distancing rules will be relaxed, and a “new normal” will quickly evolve. One thing we learned after 9/11 and the Great Recession is that business following a transformative event will not be the same as it was before.

Many of the workarounds and innovations employed out of necessity during the upheaval will turn out to be preferable to what the firm did in the past. Client needs and expectations will change, and so will those of the staff. For example, if the firm has been shifting toward having more staff work remotely, that shift will accelerate in a post COVID-19 world.

There is no reason to expect learning to be any different. Certainly, remote learning won’t be the best answer for every situation, but for parts of the curriculum the argument for shifting to a distance learning model will become more persuasive. Firms that are prepared with a high-quality distance learning option will be far ahead of peer firms that just tick the box with recordings of live seminars.

Innovating your learning strategy in the current environment will not be easy, but as difficult as the current situation may be, this period also represents a window of opportunity that will close once lockdowns and social distancing are behind us and we have to focus on the essential client and administrative work that had been placed on hold.

Resistance to change is the biggest barrier to adopting innovation. The first rule of change management is to assemble a powerful team of leaders and champions to convince others of the need to change. Early communications efforts highlight success stories to demonstrate the benefits of change and overcome others who have little appetite for the risk inherent in innovation.

This year, right now, firms that innovate their distance learning will not have to answer the question, “Why are we moving to online learning?” The change is mandated. Your staff and professionals have no choice, which takes defending the status quo off the table.

Current conditions do more than neutralize the counterargument; they actually create a mindset that is ideally suited to innovation. They know that change is coming; the learning group is not to blame. Your learners recognize the unprecedented nature of the times and will be willing to set aside any negative bias they might have toward online training and give your offering a fair shot. They want you to succeed.

That reservoir of goodwill will not last forever. If the firm’s current distance learning model doesn’t really work, and it chooses to cling to that same model once the dust of this pandemic settles, that goodwill capital will evaporate. The goodwill may even be replaced by disdain from those professionals who took a virtual tour of the Louvre and watched their kids use Google Classroom in the midst of a global crisis.

Now is the time to invest in distance learning

Return to the vision described at the start of this article: a distance learning option that actively engages the learner, promotes interaction among colleagues, and achieves high level learning objectives. It sounds great, but how do you get there?

1. Commit to the vision. Having seen that vision in action, you know what is possible. That is huge.

2. Do something small. Pick just a handful of courses and create the distance learning experience you envision. Roll it out to a group of learners who are more tolerant of the uncertainties and false steps that come with innovation.

3. Learn something you can build on. You have many unanswered questions about how to implement your vision. Design this year’s limited rollout in a way that helps you answer the most important of those questions.

4. Constantly refine your vision. Whatever distance learning option you roll out this year will have its successes and its failures. Return to your vision and use your experience to make it sharper and your path forward more well defined.

It may seem counterintuitive to push for innovation in your learning strategy at a time when all norms have been upended. Consider the action taken by one state’s governor: On the same day he announced a 30-day stay-at-home order, he also announced the acceleration of construction of a major bridge and other road projects. Why take on a billion dollars of construction during a health crisis? To take advantage of the light traffic.

The conditions are ripe to make a first, bold move to innovate your learning. Whether it be weeks or months, when the threat of COVID-19 does pass, those CPA firms who have taken that step will be far ahead of those who have not.

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What are the Best Work from Home Practices Bookkeepers Should Follow?

Two of the primary concerns facing accountants and bookkeepers right now is how to keep employees accountable while they are working from home and how to make sure your clients’ – and your company’s – data stays safe.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve been thrust into a brave – or at least a strange – new world. Social distancing has meant we’ve had to change everything from how we work to how we spend our free time practically overnight.

At the same time, our clients need us now more than ever. Whether they need their books updated immediately to apply for a loan or a cash flow projection to determine how long their businesses can survive with reduced income, business owners are reaching out to their bookkeepers and accountants for immediate advice.

This means that while much of the country has sadly found themselves with a little too much free time, we – and our employees – are challenged not only with handling increased demand for our services, but also with managing remote working environments.

Two of the primary concerns facing accountants and bookkeepers right now is how to keep employees accountable while they are working from home and how to make sure your clients’ – and your company’s – data stays safe.

Employee Accountability

Under different circumstances, your employees might be thrilled by the opportunity to avoid the daily commute and work in their pajamas. Right now, though, they might be overwhelmed by the prospect of turning a part of their homes into office space, managing children who are suddenly being educated remotely, and the distraction of nearly constant updates about the state of our healthcare system and the economy.

Even your most focused and dedicated employees will appreciate some accountability to help them navigate these changes. Implementing these accountability suggestions will also help you feel more confident that client work is being handled effectively and efficiently.

Daily Meeting

Having a brief (15-20 minute) daily “stand-up” meeting helps keep everyone connected and accountable, even when you’re all working in the office. It also gives your employees some semblance of a normal workday start time while they are working remotely.

Schedule a meeting via Zoom or another virtual meeting platform at the start of each day, at the same time your employees would report to the office. Make it a rule that everyone will report on time – just like they would report to the office – and that cameras will be turned on. This ensures everyone is engaged and provides some “face time” with coworkers.

Start with giving an update on your business’s “big picture.” This can be deadlines that are approaching, new initiatives you want to launch, or anything else you would share with your team on a daily basis.

Then, give each team member up to three minutes to share:

  1. What they accomplished yesterday.
  2. What they will accomplish today.
  3. What’s going on with them personally.

This daily meeting (we call it a “Huddle” at Profit First Professionals) will help your employees feel connected to other members of your team. It will also help you keep an eye on which employees might be struggling with their new remote working situation, so you can reach out to offer a hand.

Create a Dashboard

First things first: DON’T GO OVERBOARD. Your dashboard doesn’t have to be fancy. A simple Trello board – or even a Google Sheet – will suffice.

The purpose of the dashboard is to give your employees a place to go to update you on the status of each project they are working on, without you getting inundated with dozens of emails every day. When all employees can see the dashboard – and when they know you’re looking at it, too – a little friendly competition can ensue. This helps keep everyone productive and accountable.

Set Up a Co-Working Environment

Some employees work well in isolation; others thrive on working around others. Open up a virtual meeting using Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, or any other video conferencing software, and encourage employees to log in to work with their team members. This will let everyone continue to collaborate and keep the office camaraderie intact, even while you’re all working apart.

Be Flexible

It might seem counterintuitive, but being flexible with your employees can help them be more accountable. When they know you are trusting them to get their work done, they will go the extra mile to make sure not to let you (or your clients) down.

Data Security

One area where you don’t want to be flexible with your new remote workers is data security. Unfortunately, there are some bad operators out there who see this increase in remote working as the perfect opportunity to steal data for their own uses.

I wanted to go beyond the typical “make sure everyone’s antivirus software is updated and that they are using a secure internet connection” advice, so I asked Chris Burns, owner of Techie Gurus in Sterling Heights, MI, for some tips on keeping data safe while working remotely. “The hardest part about the current climate is trying to bridge the gap between productivity and security,” Chris says. “This outbreak is going to fundamentally change the way businesses think about their IT and security.”

Here is how Chris recommends bridging the gap between productivity and security – both right now and into the future.

Have the Right Protection

Things like firewalls and antivirus are essential but they are not enough protection for most businesses. The single best security protection a business can put in place is Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). Microsoft claims 99% of most attacks on accounts can be stopped by simply having MFA. Nearly every cloud software provider provides a way to enable MFA either through a text message or through an app on your phone, and I can’t stress enough how quickly you should enforce this for all users at your company. With hackers trying to get people to click on links in phishing emails you should have it at least enabled on all email accounts. Both Google G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 offer MFA that are simple to implement and use.

Virtual Desktops

A common misconception is remote access via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solves everything. VPNs are great when implemented correctly, but they also create different issues. A misconfigured VPN can lead to severe security issues that can expose a private data to unauthorized people. Also, VPNs lack the network efficiency of other technologies so they put a strain on bandwidth that is so critical right now with everyone working from home.

A better solution for remote workers is moving to either a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or at the very least having a remote access tool to connect to computers that are on premise at the business. VDI is hosting virtual desktops on servers in a secure location like a data center or public cloud like Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure.  This allows users to connect from anywhere and work so they can be at the office or at home during the shutdown. Both VDI and remote access software are much more bandwidth friendly, because they only relay things like mouse movements and keystrokes. Both offer better security because data leak vulnerabilities like clipboard mapping and printing can be disabled. VDI takes more planning and offers better security because the data will be in a datacenter and not on premise. Remote access software is far easier to implement and preferable when deployment time is critical…like during a government mandated shutdown!

Seek Expert Advice

Chris has one more bit of advice: “I can’t stress enough how much you should seek out a qualified IT professional to discuss any of these choices during this time. Most of this can be implemented remotely to keep the risk low for your employees, you, and your IT provider. After the dust settles and we all get through this, everyone should really look at their IT overall and develop a better plan for your business to deal with situations like COVID-19 or even natural disasters. The better prepared the business is to handle situations like this the better off it is in the long run.”

As financial services professionals, we are the “first responders” for our clients’ businesses. Just like first responders in the medical field, we – and our employees – must be operating as effectively and efficiently as possible in order to care for our clients during these times. Making sure your employees are accountable and well cared for and that the data your clients trust you with is safe will help you focus more on your clients’ needs.

Challenging times are often the times of greatest opportunity. Even though things have been torn a bit asunder over the past couple of weeks, we’ll get through this stronger than ever before.

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7 Digital Accounting Trends That Affect CPA Firms in 2020

These 7 Digital Accounting Trends Will Affect CPA Firms in 2020
The always developing technologies and the advent of innovations in the world are boosting economic growth at a global level. Accounting trends, too, plays an important role in any business as well-organized accounting operations can provide accurate, relevant, and valuable financial information, leading to better business decisions and desired growth.

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