Chipp Thomas Business Blog

Eighty percent of people who have an iPad, iPhone, or android phone use their device when out shopping. They may be looking for lunch, coupons, or your location. Roughly 60 percent of these people will make a purchase that very day. These statistics are something to keep in mind when you are marketing your clothing website. You can reach more people and wider demographics with savvy use of mobile devices and branding.

Conversion

Shopping doesn’t make you much money unless the shopper is purchasing, too. They won’t be shopping with you if they can’t see your store online. This is even harder with handheld devices, because the webpage has to be optimized to resize for smaller screens. Sure, many people shop on their laptop and desktop computers while they are at work, but when you get an 80 percent conversion from handheld devices, its worth updating your website to adapt to those operating systems. Check with your web host to see about updates. This will help conversion rates and increase profits.

Brand Recognition

Optimizing the brands you carry in your clothing store can increase your profits. When it comes to the internet, the word “optimizing” takes on a technical meaning. This is the term used when content is designed to catch the attention of search engines. It usually involves a keyword – the word or phrase the shopper types into the browser. For example, “Sahara Clothing” is an example of brand recognition, optimization, and keywords. If you have known brands in your store, you already have brand recognition in your favor.

One way to optimize brands on your site is through the use of widgets. These little buttons on the page display the brand logo and name. When a potential customer clicks on the button, they get more information on that brand. You can also make money from the brand based on the number of click-throughs, if you have enough traffic on your site. Add these widgets to your social media sites, as well. This increases exposure for your store and spreads the word that you carry name brands.

Use the brand names as keywords in content, too. A blog post about how much you enjoyed your Prada pumps increases the likelihood that search engines will notice your site. Check into Google AdWords, too, because it can get you a lot of visibility on internet searches.

Social Media

Never underestimate the power of social media. You can not only promote your business through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites, but you can gain credibility with search engines, too. The broader your reach in the realm of electronic communications, today’s sophisticated search algorithms note all of this, and use it to determine whether or not you are a serious business or a spammer.

Marketing your clothing website is easier and less expensive than ever. Optimize your brand, and stay active on the internet, and you’ll find that business is booming.

Successful internet marketing is a matter of finding your target customers, and helping them to find you. This is done through quite a few tactics that can bring customers to your website and encourage them to make purchases. The key is to identify demographics that will be interested in your product or services, and place your information where they will notice it. In this example, you may want to market your website to enthusiasts of solid oak furniture. Here are some pointers for getting the attention of such people, and for encouraging them to engage with your business.

Keywords

Keywords are the words that people type into browser search fields to find information or answers to questions. There are a number of excellent, free programs on the internet that will tell you the most popular keywords for your content. For example, “solid oak furniture”, “oak furniture”, “oak tables”, “solid oak dressers”, and “antique solid oak furniture” are all examples of the different ways your important identifying words can be combined. Placing these keywords on your website will enhance your visibility to search engines.

Links

However, keywords are not enough. You need to build links, too, internally and externally. This means you put content on the internet with the keywords in it, linking back to your website. You’ve seen this – you are reading an article on the internet, and there is a word highlighted. If you click on it, it redirects you to a website. When you include links, you gain credibility with the search engines. You can even link pages on your website to other pages on your website, but external links are best. Just be careful not to link your visitors to competitive sites!

Social Media

You would be absolutely amazed at the effectiveness of social marketing. Simply building a Facebook page for your website not only increases brand recognition, it also gains the attention of many additional users if promoted correctly. Even being mentioned on social media gives you additional free advertising. Having active social media accounts with Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube give your entire internet presence credibility, and allow people to find and connect with you and your company on many different websites. Of course, you want to make the first page of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Firefox, and Opera, because most shoppers seldom click on page two of search results.

Use Social Media Data Bases

When you have an account with social media sites, you also have access to their tracking data. They record everything about people and businesses that use their sites, and can make it available to you. This is with the permission of the people who use the sites, who click on calls to action, sign up for newsletters, and provide their email addresses.

Each of these suggestions will help you find people who are interested in solid oak furniture. And, they will help them to find you.

Web designers often find that the biggest obstacle to successful web sites is the owners themselves. This is often due to the fact that the owners don’t realize just what the internet can do for their business. Internet marketing is the least expensive, most far-reaching exposure you can find for your company, and for the minimal cost of web hosting, you can promote your brand and expand your customer base. Here are some of the benefits of website marketing.

Conversion

Conversion is basically the process of changing shoppers into buyers. These days, shoppers do most of their shopping online. And, the majority of this shopping goes on with hand-held devices. This means that not only do you need a website, you need for it to be responsive to smartphones, iPads, iPhones, and other handheld devices. Imagine a group of friends who are out shopping, and decide to have a late lunch. They’re not going to go home and boot up the desktop computer to find a restaurant. They’re going to take their smartphones, type in “Mexican food restaurants near ____ street”, and make their selection there. The list of websites will determine where they eat lunch. If they tap your link, and the website takes forever to download, or they can’t read the menu on one screen, they’ll back out and find another restaurant.
80% of the shoppers who shop using their smartphones will convert within the hour. That’s a good enough reason to market on the internet. Or, you can advertise on TV, reach everybody who doesn’t mute their TV or fast forward through the commercials, and hope that they remember you the next time they’re shopping.

Print

There are still chances to purchase advertisement in newspaper and magazines. You can also print off brochures, and mail out newsletters. However, you’ll actually reach many more people by building up your email list. I’ve seen successful email marketing performed on a constant basis. Code 6 Timber have had many successful email campaigns. Social marketing encourages people to enter their email addresses on a secure form in exchange for free stuff. Your web designer can help you set up calls to action on your social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. In return for signing up, you can offer a free newsletter. This type of advertising is totally free, and reaches far more people than a print ad which costs hundreds of dollars.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is crucial for promoting your website. SEO is accomplished by content. Quality content is that which has proper placement of search terms, to catch the attention of browsers yet keep customers engaged. Well placed articles on the internet will draw in shoppers and improve your rankings with browsers such as Google and Yahoo. This, in turn, moves the link to your website up so that it shows up on the first page, rather than further back. This is success, in the internet world.
Website marketing, when properly done, will propel your business into a larger customer base, more sales, and greater success.

The phenomenon of the internet has created an entirely new way to market your business. It is now incredibly easy to sell services and products overseas, and developing brand recognition is relatively inexpensive. Here are some pointers on how to market your business in other countries.

Culture

It pays to be aware of the culture of the country to which you are marketing your business. There are, for instance, commercials that are perfectly fine in France, but banned in the United States. In addition, there are many cultural taboos that are not widely known, and even words and phrases have different meanings in various cultural settings.
For example, when Coca Cola started marketing in Mexico, it was not popular. Finally, someone figured out that the word “cola” meant “tail” – and nobody wanted to drink that! Thereafter, it was simply marketed as “Coke”. Do a little research on your own, and read up on cultural differences between your country and the country to which you will market.

Lots of companies have been successful in taking their products or services to other countries. Have a look at IOTA home and garden for instance, they have an Australian company aswell that does a lot of business.

It pays to enlist the services of a translator when you are planning your foreign marketing campaign. Whether you have an interpreter or translator on staff full time or on a consulting basis, you can get valuable information on the appropriateness of your product and service names, advertisement campaigns, or blogs. There are many translation services available – just be sure to get one with real people who speak the language naturally. Automated translation programs are designed to interpret one word at a time, often yielding gibberish as a result. If you try to translate your own correspondence using automated translators, you could end up in “a world of hurt”, as they say in my part of the country.

Language

While the generalization is that the whole world speaks English, the reality of this is that, to build your business, you need to speak the language of your potential clients. This is where it pays off to have your website offered in the language of the area. Hire a professional to translate or to interpret you website and its pages.
Basically, a translator takes what you have said and translates it into the target language. An interpreter will take what you say and translate it, but also interpret any cultural vernacular that might cause concern if strictly translated. A skilled translator is also an interpreter, familiar with the cultural norms to which you are trying to appeal. Have your translator rewrite your website so that you can communicate to your target audience more effectively.

Search Engines

In the United States and Europe, Google and Yahoo are the two most commonly used search engines, followed closely by Bing. As you plan your marketing campaign in a foreign country, find out which search engine is used the most often in that country. Learn its algorithms and how to catch the attention of that particular search engine, and you will have more success.

Basically, marketing your business in other countries simply means that you do some market research and know your potential market.

Online personal training is as easy as using an app. There are, now, many different workout regimens out there that are available via an app, and you can even have a personal trainer who will plan your regimen to suit your needs, just as one at your gym would do.

Take it With You

For people who travel, gym memberships and personal trainers may not be the most ideal way to stay in shape. Often, people will find out if a gym membership will give

them admittance to all the gyms in a chain, specifically because they travel so much. But, with personal training online, you can keep up with your regimen no matter where you go.

Your personal trainer can direct you to facilities in the area to which you are traveling, or to area parks or tracks. He or she can work on a routine for you while you are in that area, so that your physical exercise does not have to suffer.

Also, your personal trainer will also be able to give you advice on which restaurants to eat at while you are away. If you are not traveling, but still want a personal trainer, your remote personal trainer will be able to give you suggestions for when you eat out in your area, so that you can stay on your diet.

Online Personal Training

Online personal trainers do everything that your personal trainer at the gym does. He or she will plan your workout routine, make dietary suggestions, and supervise your progress through online data trackers. You may even find that you get nagged just as much by the online trainer as by the one at the gym.

One of the benefits of online personal training is that the scheduling will fit your lifestyle. You do not have to meet someone else’s idea of when or how long to work out. You also do not have to cut a meeting short because you are supposed to be at the gym.

Instead, you contact your personal trainer that you will be a little late, and he or she will go on with his life, because you are not in actually a physical meeting. If your trainer is unavailable, there will be someone on call who will be familiar with your regimen and who can coach you through the workout.

Feedback

In many cases, the app that connects you to your online personal trainer will also transmit your vitals during the workout. Your heart rate, respiration, calories burned, and even water level can be transmitted so that your trainer can make decisions about your workout. All of these things will be charted, so that you can view them later and discuss them with your trainer. It is this type of feedback that helps most people stay on track with their exercise and health routine, and the personal attention from your personal trainer online can be even more accurate than an in-person trainer.

Did you know that sitting can cause cancer? For reals – studies are now showing that even active people, who exercise 2.5 to 3 hours a week, are more likely to get colon or breast cancer if they sit for 8 to 9 hours a day. Sitting causes cancer – who knew? Now, look at what you do for a living, and what you do for entertainment. Do you sit while you do those things? Then you may be at an increased danger of early death and cancer.

Blogging

Take blogging, for instance. Blogging started off as a sort of online diary activity, in which private individuals shared their thoughts and opinions, their stories and experiences, with others on the World Wide Web. Now, blogging is a multi-million dollar business, with money to be made with affiliate advertising. Websites move up in ranking on search engines with well written blogs.
Secretarial Jobs

Other desk jobs, however, are just as deadly. Secretaries, engineers, CEOs, and anybody else who sits at a desk are in line to increased health problems, simply because they sit for 2,3, and 4 hours at a time. Even long-haul truck drivers face the same threat. Delivery drivers are not so prone to diseases, since they regularly leave the driver’s seat to deliver packages.

As Bad As Smoking

In fact, health professionals are now saying that sitting for 8 to 9 hours a day, whether you are a person who exercises or not, is as detrimental to your health as smoking. Even people who run but who have sedentary jobs, suffer from the same debilitations as those who do not exercise.

Illnesses

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are several different health problems that you can encounter from too much sitting. Colon and breast cancer have already been mentioned. Colon cancer rates increase for those with sedentary jobs. To put it bluntly, sitting for hours at a time is estimated to cause over 170,000 cases of colon cancer a year. And, that is even among those who are physically fit. Most of these are among men. Women more typically will get breast cancer.
Metabolic imbalances also occur with those who sit for long periods of time. Exercise does, indeed, boost the metabolism. Muscles continue burning calories even during rest. However, sitting, even for those physically fit, slows the metabolism, often leading to metabolic disorders.
High blood pressure, excess fat around the waist and abdomen, raised cholesterol, and high blood sugar will plague even the most fit of people who spend hours sitting.
Blood clots in the legs can also be a problem. We have long known that passengers on extended airplane flights need to walk around periodically to avoid blood clots. And, hospital patients are carefully guarded and receive therapy to keep blood clots from forming. However, few think about the risk of clots that accompany sitting for hours in an office chair.

Solutions

What are the solutions to this problem? Apparently, even someone in good athletic shape, who works out on a regular basis and who eats a healthy diet, can suffer from ill effects of a sedentary job, and sedentary hobbies.
Thankfully, the solutions to this problem are not as extreme as you may think. You can counteract the effects of sitting simply by – not sitting. As you write your daily blogs, stand to do so. That’s all you have to do. Standing will counteract the ill effects of too much sitting. If you work from home, place your laptop on the kitchen counter every now and then, and write one article there.
Can you work from a treadmill? Some people can do that, and it’s great if you can. You can get special equipment that will hold your keyboard while you stroll on the treadmill, and get your blood flowing again.
Simply taking a walk around the office can do wonders for your body. Recommendations are for you to stand for a few minutes every 30 minutes or so.

Improving Health In The Meantime

There are many things one can do to try to help improve your health if you are someone who sits for multiple hours in a row. For instance, it can always help you to practice a healthy lifestyle , and if you’re not feeling great in yourself, maybe try a detox retreat UK or something similar.

Counteracting The Effects

The key to counteracting the ill effects of sedentary work is to remember that it does not have to be strenuous movement. Simply walking to the refrigerator in the work room to get a bottle of water is enough to break the cycle of sedentary abuse. If you have room, and the boss allows it, keep a glider in your office space. Every 30 minutes or so, spend 2 or 3 minutes moving on the glider, while you make a phone call or two. If you work from home, do a load of laundry or unload the dishwasher.
So, the answer is, yes, blogging is unhealthy for us – if we don’t move around a little bit, too.

Office workers take a great deal of care to personalize their office space. Even the most lowly cubicle is carefully set up to function as an extension of the worker’s needs and to reflect his or her personality. For those who work out of their vehicle, the same personalization is equally important. The function of the vehicle is critical in helping the workman work quickly and efficiently.

Vans

Most contractors who carry any type of inventory need a van for security and storage. A panel van, for instance, can provide several cubic feet of storage for the plumber, electrician, or mechanic. Racks and bins keep inventory from getting lost or rolling around, while the door can be locked and bolted for added security from thieves. In some cases, you may find that van contract hire is the most profitable. You can often hire a van for your company use, saving money in the long run over buying a fleet of vehicles.

Trucks

Trucks usually differ from vans in that the cargo area is not enclosed. While this may leave equipment and inventory exposed to the elements or to potential thievery, there are many good reasons to use a truck as opposed to a van. A truck with the same sized engine as a van will still be more powerful, because it is not having to propel as much weight down the road.
While vans can be equipped with four wheel drive and off-road capabilities, you’re more likely to find this in a truck. This can be invaluable in the construction trades, considering that you may be called to travel on unfinished roads to reach worksites. Trucks, also, can be rented or hired.

Heavy Equipment

Most craftsmen will say, “Use the right tool to do the job.” This is true with heavy equipment, as well. If you need a dirt mover or a crane, very little else will do. In these cases, hiring heavy equipment is certainly a viable option. While you may justify purchasing a van or truck because of everyday use, specialized equipment is a different story. Most construction companies, for example, will hire a crane to come in and lift trusses on a number of different job sites. The short-term rental is far less expensive than purchase and maintenance of equipment that can cost upwards of a million dollars. Road graders, concrete trucks, and other such equipment are oft3en sub-contracted out for a reason.

Appearance
The appearance of your work vehicle can’t be overlooked. This is often more of a problem for the independent contractor who works for himself, and has no or few employees. You may feel comfortable riding your Harley up to a million dollar mansion to fix the plumbing, but will the residents feel comfortable letting you in the house?
Any businessman is wise to consider his company image along with the function of his vehicles when he makes such a big purchase. Your vehicle will reflect the type of job you do, so choose wisely.

One of the things that has really changed over the past 20 years, is my thoughts on travelling. At the beginning of my career, I really enjoyed the travelling that came with the job, it was nice to see different places, new sights new sounds, it was all very exciting. As soon as you have been around the country a few hundered times, that magic seems to wear off, and it becomes very much like a chore. There are times where I still find myself unable to sleep in those solid hotel beds, with the clinical feel of the room, but I found the internet here comes in handy.

When you know you’re going to have to travel, plan your route ahead of time, you don’t necessarily need to use a premier inn or a travel lodge, have a look on trip advisor and see what places are close with good reviews. I usually find that with a bit of research, I can find a place with just the right comfort level. It was only the other day when I had to pass through Crowcombe, I’d already pre-selected my venue, A lovely little bed and breakfast, http://www.thecarewarms.co.uk/. I’d booked in advance because as I’ve just previously told you, I like to plan in advance. When I got to the venue I’d had enough time to realise that I’d made the right choice. This little building was clearly a listed building with history, the windows were all lead lined and it looked just quaint and beautiful.

The staff were very helpful and the bar downstairs (which also served as a pub for the locals) was very cosy, with a nice warm fire roaring. I had a nice pub dinner, and ended up having an early night and departing to my bed. I was greeted with a professional wake up call, and I went down stairs for my breakfast. Breakfast was delicious, I gobbled it all down and went on my way. A delightful experience.

If you compare that experience with your usual travel lodge or premiere inn, where the staff are young and don’t really care about service or being polite, you’ll notice you can have a much more relaxing time in a B&B. You also get a much more homely feeling and a great atmosphere, none of this clinical and plain environment.

So there are advantages to planning ahead, make sure you look into it and don’t make the same mistake as I.

On a recent business trip it struck me how much I rely on my phone when I’m away from home.

Before my trusty iPhone I would plan well in advance or face being literally and figuratively lost. I would print out maps of the places I might have time to visit, research places to eat or just wander down the street and pick a restaurant based only on the menu in the window.

Only ten years ago my business trips were comparatively more like a leap of faith than the uber-organised journeys that they have evolved into since the phrase “there’s an app for that” came into being. Here’s a few of my favourite apps that I’ve come to rely on whilst away on business.

TripIt is the ultimate itinerary planner and the centre of my universe when I travel. It’s a free app, with an optional pro upgrade, that organises all of your travel plans, reservation numbers, flights in one place and syncs it back to your mobile device. I simply email my confirmation numbers (flights, hotels etc) to Tripit and they do the rest. I can even share my Tripits with work and family.

The pro version emails and texts you when flights are delayed, suggests alternative routes and gets you into 1,200 VIP lounges worldwide – not bad for under a fiver a month!

Jet Lag Rooster has been an invaluable app for me when travelling – particularly when I skip over the pond to head office in New York. Just pop in your travel details and the app will provide you with timely advice on how to sidestep the worst of the jet lag. Based on “real science”, the app will tell you when to sleep, seek sunlight and take melotonin before, during and after the trip. I’ve tried transatlantic with and without Jet Lag Rooster and I do think it made a difference.

When in the States I find Hopstop very useful for navigating the subway and when I need door-to-door directions in other countries such as the UK and Moscow. I’d use it for directions in New York City, but frankly once you understand the difference between a Street and an Avenue you know whether you’re walking or taking a cab. Apple’s recent acquisition of Hopstop does unfortunately mean that the support for Android has been withdrawn for the foreseeable future.

My least favourite part of going on business trips used to be the seemingly endless expense reports that followed, but since I started using Expensify, it’s been less of a drag. I’ve linked up my credit card so that my statements automatically import items into my reports and you can also take pictures of receipts and smartscan does the rest.
The best part is that terrible spreadsheet that our finance department created for reporting expenses is already uploaded into TripIt and I can import everything into the spreadsheet and send it to myself for a few tweaks before submission!

Finding free and paid for Wi-Fi can be tricky – especially when it always seems to be another wi-fi provider you need to register with and buy credits that you may not completely use. Skype Wifi is my saviour in this department, you can get online with over a million worldwide hotspots and only pay for the minutes you use. Of course the original Skype is also great for making video calls with my family just before the kids go to bed.

If you’re planning on eating out regularly then it’s worth having a dedicated app like Urban Spoon or OpenTable (TopTable in the UK).
Urban Spoon is the Magic 8 Ball of restaurant selection for travellers – whilst it’s not for me, one of my colleagues delights the randomness of shaking his phone and being sent to a mystery restaurant in the area.

TopTable is more my cup of tea as I can view the menu, search by distance and reviews and make my reservation online. I can even earn points on my business dinners and then use them to discount an evening out with the other half.

Saving the best for last is Around Me which is great when you’re looking for services when you’re somewhere unfamiliar. Just let the app detect your location with GPS and it will show you local businesses in many categories including banks, cash machines (ATMs), restaurants, cafes, cinemas, taxis, petrol stations and local healthcare. The locations are shown on an interactive map with Google reviews which have saved me from a bad meal on many occasions!
Around Me is a well established app and is available in several languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese.   So, unlike most of Utrecht, this isn’t a one way street.

Please comment below and share your favourite apps for travelling on business.

Welcome To Chipp Thomas, My name is James Mathews and I’m a keen business professional. I specialise in marketing and created my first business when I was only a young boy. I decided to take this website off the previous owners hands as it was mainly the home of useless articles. I’m going to build up this website into something big, and hopefully with my marketing expertise get this out there. People often look at the business world and think it’s too late for them to become an entrepreneur, “all the good ideas have been invented” this is entirely wrong. Getting into business might be the smartest move you ever make.
If your interested in hearing what I have to stay, stick around! I’ll have new and entertaining insights into the business world as well as useful advice.

Stay Tuned…

Business The Only Way We Know How.

Welcome To Our Business Blog

Marketing Your Clothing Website

Marketing Your Website Toward Solid Oak Furniture

Website Marketing: How Important Is It?

Marketing Your Business In Other Countries

Personal Training Remotely

Is Blogging Unhealthy For Us?

Why Using The Correct Vehicle Is Important

The Trick To Staying Away On Business

Business Apps For The Travelling Professional

Welcome To The New Chipp Thomas Business Blog