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A freight broker organizes transport facilities at the behest of shippers. Then the shipper pays freight brokers a percent for their efforts. This typically involves locating a transporter, establishing pricing, and scheduling for cargo pick-up and delivery.

The procedure of becoming a certified freight broker requires the completion of a few steps. We’ll walk you through those steps so you know what to anticipate. After completing all of the requirements, you can begin your own business.

Step #1: Create a Legal Structure

Establishing a legal framework can assist you in encouraging investment or collaborators by providing them with a solid picture of the firm and its position. Moreover, establishing a corporate entity can help with business management and compliance with federal regulations.

In the event of damages or legal action, a legal framework also affords you limited liability protection. This implies that your personal wealth will be safe if the company is sued.

Additionally, a legal structure can help a freight broker form partnerships with other companies. This is significant because, to thrive, you will need to develop relationships with transport companies, merchants, and other enterprises.

To this end, you have the option of forming a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or even a limited liability company (LLC). Your decision will affect your tax payments to the degree of liability you individually undertake. Before reaching a choice, consult with a corporate attorney and a certified public accountant.

Step #2: Obtain Your Motor Carrier and DOT Number

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the regulatory body overseeing the trucking sector. This entity mandates all new freight brokers to acquire an MC code and a DOT identification.

Your MC designation is the unique ID for your firm, and you need to post it on all of your corporation’s vehicles. The DOT number is the unique identifier for each of your firm’s drivers. In other words, your firm’s operators must all have a DOT ID and exhibit it on all the trucks they drive.

Moreover, the FMCSA’s rules ensure that trucking companies and drivers follow federal safety laws. These restrictions are significant because they aim to safeguard the public from the hazards posed by dangerous trucks and drivers.

The FMCSA can track and monitor truckers’ and drivers’ activity by requiring freight brokers to get MC and DOT numbers. This data assists the FMCSA in identifying and investigating safety issues and taking action to improve trucking safety. The FMCSA can take up to four to six weeks to provide your MC and DOT number.

Step #3: Obtain Your Freight Broker Surety Bond

A freight broker surety bond is a license and permit bond freight brokers need in order to acquire or renew their licensing. The freight broker surety bond ensures accountability to establish credibility and avoid fraud or late payment to truckers or shippers.

Suppose freight brokers or forwarders breach FMCSA laws, resulting in injuries or consequential damages. In that case, the affected party has the right to sue for the whole balance of the guarantee. With the resolution of the claim, the liable freight broker or shipper will compensate the surety for the entire amount of the losses, as well as any attorney expenses incurred.

Freight brokers get the choice of putting $75,000 into a trust. However, they must pay the full payment in advance. This also necessitates having that amount on hand even while handing out claims.

Freight broker securities are also known as BMC 84 bonds or FMCSA bonds. Your freight broker security payment is calculated as a proportion of the bond amount of $75,000 as decided by a surety firm.

Step #4: Get Liability Insurance

Freight brokers and third-party logistics providers liaise between relevant parties and transit systems such as rail, trucks, ships, and planes. Brokers may be held accountable if a shipment fails to arrive. Therefore, getting commercial insurance can be a huge help in times of crisis.

The first type of coverage is general liability insurance. This is an insurance plan for responding to liabilities that a freight broker may incur, including cargo damage or harm resulting from driving a vehicle. For instance, if a third-party trucker or warehouse employee is hurt when merchandise is being lifted from a truck, the freight broker is named a defendant in a lawsuit.

Contingency cargo insurance is the second type of coverage that freight brokers ought to have. This policy safeguards a transportation broker or freight forwarder from the responsibility incurred when arranging to convey cargo to someone else.

Step #5: Designate Processing Agents

A process agent is a specialist who serves judicial procedure in the instance of a complaint brought against a trucking company, shipper, or brokerage. The FMCSA compels all motor operators to employ a designated process agent within every state in which they are authorized to function and each state through which they traverse.

To establish your authorization, you should submit the BOC-3 form for agent registration with the FMCSA. You must return all BOC-3 forms to the FMCSA electronically and post the content to the FMCSA files daily.

Form BOC-3 establishes a registered agreement for motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders in any state in which they conduct business. A trucking business selects the process agents that promote them in each state where their vehicles move freight by submitting the BOC-3.

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Step #6: Obtain Your Unified Carrier Registration as a Freight Broker

You must now file with the FMCSA via the Unified Registration System. This approach incorporates all the forms necessary to register into a single, simple online application form.

The FMCSA uses this system to control and regulate statewide and/or global freight operations. Freight dealers must enroll on the UCR website and pay a processing fee of $76.

The trucking industry is forecasting growth in profits each year. Therefore, getting a freight broker license can come in handy in the near future to establish yourself as a legitimate businessperson.

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A Freight Broker Is an Essential Part of the Economy

Freight brokers are essential in transportation because they connect shippers with carriers who can convey their goods securely and effectively. Obtaining a freight broker license is not a complicated process. You can complete it with just a little knowledge and effort.

Once you get your license, you can run your own business and contribute to the smooth operation of the economy.

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Website design has come a long way since its very earliest days just a few decades ago. Of course, there are plenty of business owners out there who still remember the days before websites. But let’s not overlook the fact that the principles and practices that go into website design have gone through countless changes in that time. Moreover, there are many different ways that various industries make effective use of website design.

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Local Contractors Make Effective Use of Modern Tools

There are many different types of websites on the internet. You can find news sites, shops for products from large and small retailers, and engage in social media. However, contractors for various local services hold a big chunk of websites today.

This category includes plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies, carpenters, landscapers, and similar local services. The common thread here is that they’re professionals for some kind of service. These types of contractors can leverage the design of their website as an effective tool to reach customers.

In the early days of online small business promotion, a website would be little more than a digital business card. The company’s name and phone number were the most important part of the site’s design. Today, small companies such as these can implement a wide range of design features to help them advance their business.

These design features center largely around conversion. Once someone arrives on the website, the goal of the site’s design is to direct the user toward a service or purchase. They use prominent calls to action (CTAs) to do so.

The site should therefore make it easy to call the business or request a call back with a simple contact form. The best of these sites also incorporate mobile compatibility with click-to-call functionality. This makes things simple for customers when they’re on their mobile devices.

Casino Industry Implements Impressive Visual Design Principles on Websites

When developing a website, there are two distinct categories to consider. The first is information. That is, what content does the website deliver?

The second is visual design, perhaps the most important element of website design. In the highly competitive online casino industry, for example, websites must apply the appropriate visual design principles to engage their visitors.

One prominent example of effective casino website design is that of www.truebluecasinos.org. The website’s recent redesign incorporates visuals in a way that engages and presents information in an intuitive and effective way. The visuals draw visitors’ focus to specific areas to impart information quickly and entice further action. This is much the same way that media like news sites utilize headlines.

The core principle behind this type of website design is visual hierarchy. This practice uses a combination of the size, color, and arrangement of elements to indicate the importance and draw focus in a particular order. Clear visual elements provide immediate context to each element. This technique allows users to understand navigation quickly so they can move around the website with no trouble at all.

Social Media Offers Seamless Browsing

Nearly all internet visitors use social media in some capacity. For example, residents of many countries in the world get much of their local news through social media websites. Through the sharing of text posts, videos, or other content most social media websites today incorporate particular design principles to easily display information. The goal is to give a more seamless experience than conventional websites.

In contrast, more conventional websites use rigid navigational structures based on pages. Most websites still work this way, although more and more industries are beginning to incorporate more flexible navigation and design structures.

But on social media sites the concept of the “infinite feed” is widespread. When scrolling through posts, videos, or anything else, there is no need to go to a second page. The page will instead continue to extend as long as the user continues to scroll.

This removes one barrier to engagement by allowing users to simply continue their activity. Very few actions on social media websites take the user to another page. Instead, the focus is on opening posts or sections within the page. This concept allows the user to resume their experience seamlessly once they’ve viewed specific content. Many online shopping platforms are also adding similar features and are increasing their sales by doing so.

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Keeping up with Website Design Can Be Challenging

So much goes into website design, both upfront and behind the scenes. Many businesses and individuals don’t actually understand the principles behind website design, relying on templates and automated tools to put together a website.

However, those tools are based on the fundamental principles of website design. Moreover, one of those principles is that design itself should always be in flux. We’ve seen website design change so much in recent years, and there is no sign that this will stop anytime soon. The way that different industries make use of website design is therefore also constantly shifting, and there’s no telling what tomorrow will bring.

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One of the most significant snags entrepreneurs face when starting a business with an innovative concept is the lack of funding. Investing their personal savings and borrowing small amounts from friends and family can only take them so far. Founders need an influx of capital to get their startups off the ground at the seed stage. Venture capitalists, angel investors, and incubators are the best sources for these fundraising initiatives.

However, these investors need some kind of assurance for their money, and safe notes are the key. Read ahead for detailed information on how safe notes work and how to use them to get ahead in your fundraising efforts.

What Is a Safe Note and How Does It Work in Fundraising Initiatives?

A safe note is a contract entrepreneurs and investors enter into for funding their seed-stage startup. The safe note concept was first developed in 2013 by Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley initiative that provides startups with accelerator programs. Safe notes are a version of conversion notes but ensure that founders maintain control over their companies.

Essentially, the safe note offers investors the opportunity to convert their loan into equity in the mature business down the line. At the same time, the contract includes several clauses that allow founders to work out the amount of equity they want to offer along with specific terms and conditions.

Safe Notes Are Good for Founders

Startups at the pre-revenue stages find it harder to acquire capital since they are unable to provide the typical metrics like profits, revenue, and sales, especially when they have yet to start production and sales. Safe notes provide an easy way out. Here are the advantages for founders:

• Investors providing the funding offer unsecured loans without any maturity date or payable interest.
• The loan remains outstanding as capitalized amounts in the company’s balance sheet for as long as it is not paid back in full or converted into equity.
• Founders can use the funds to build their new company with minimal interference from the investors. They need not reveal business secrets, offer board seats, or cede any voting or decision-making rights. This makes safe notes an ideal fundraising vehicle.
• Most importantly, entrepreneurs can sell safe notes to get funding while skipping the valuation process entirely. Most conventional investors will want to value the startup before offering money.
• Founders can take their time using the funds without worrying about accumulating debt and making interest payments, especially when there are no revenues.
• They need not push for the next fundraising rounds before they’re ready simply because it’s time to pay back the seed funding.
• Loans and funding a startup acquires through safe notes are not debt, per se. Further investment rounds won’t be a problem because of loans that appear as company debt.

Safe Notes Are Good for Investors

When investors sink money into startups’ fundraising efforts, their focus is on long-term gains. They are likely to vet the entrepreneur, the business idea, the operating model, and the products carefully before lending support. The backing they offer is for the long-term growth potential they see.

Since the new venture is not in a position to give interest payouts, investors defer returns. Instead, they understand they will be getting equity as the startup matures. Safe notes ensure these returns. Here are some of the added benefits for investors:

• Safe notes streamline the funding process and help with quicker negotiations. These contracts are typically simply worded, two-page documents without complex terms and conditions.
• Safe notes usually convert into preferred shares at discounted rates. As a result of the high valuation cap, investors stand to earn five to ten times the capital they initially invested in the new startup.
• Investors always have the option to enter into a “pro-rata” safe note agreement. Accordingly, they can invest more money into the startup to maintain the percentage of the equity they stand to own. Of course, they’ll pay higher prices for new safe notes to match upgraded values during equity fundraising rounds.
• The “pro-rata” right raises the value of the safe notes during equity funding rounds down the line.

Thus, safe notes are a win-win option by which founders can get the funding they need. On their part, investors can look forward to acquiring valuable equity in the company once it grows and is capable of making substantial profits.

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Choose the Right Kind of Safe Note for Your Fundraising Efforts

Founders can choose from four kinds of safe notes, depending on their fundraising needs and investor expectations:

1. Safe notes that only have a valuation cap but no discounts.
2. Those that have no cap but contain a discount when the note is converted.
3. Safe notes that have both a valuation cap and discount.
4. Safe notes that have no cap or discount. However, the funds remain in the company when these notes convert into equity.

Founders looking for funding for their new ventures can safely rely on these contracts to get the money they need. This applies particularly to terms and conditions that will permit them to run their company just as they envisioned.

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About the Author

Alejandro Cremades is a serial entrepreneur and the author of The Art of Startup Fundraising. With a foreword by Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran and published by John Wiley & Sons, the book was named one of the best books for entrepreneurs. The book offers a step-by-step guide to today’s way of raising money for entrepreneurs.

Most recently, Alejandro built and exited CoFoundersLab, which is one of the largest communities of founders online. Prior to building CoFoundersLab, Alejandro worked as a lawyer at King & Spalding. There he was involved in one of the biggest investment arbitration cases in history, with $113 billion at stake.

Alejandro is an active speaker and has given guest lectures at the Wharton School of Business, Columbia Business School, and NYU Stern School of Business.

Alejandro has been involved with the JOBS Act since its inception and was invited to the White House and the US House of Representatives to provide his stands on the new regulatory changes concerning fundraising online.

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Regulatory change can be frustrating at best and nearly impossible at worst. Every company deals with regulations and compliance. Changes to those regulations can throw a wrench in the works as you run your operation. Policies and compliance regulations are in a constant state of flux, making it a full-time job to stay up to date with everything.

Fortunately, there are plenty of digital tools available to help you remain abreast of any potential regulatory changes and adapt to them quickly.

Whether this comes from enforcement, auditing, or updating, never underestimate the power of using an AI solution to get the job done. Today, we cover how to stay on top of regulatory changes at your organization amid the hustle and bustle of today’s modern world.

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Understanding Your Obligations

A significant part of managing compliance is understanding your obligations. Therefore, when a change occurs, you need to find out what it is and how it affects your operations. Then you need to figure out where and how to implement the change across the board at your company. After that, you’ll need to do a thorough assessment of how the changes will affect you.

Having a full action plan in place is also a good idea. Then, after you implement the changes, you need to follow up on them and ensure they’re being enforced at all times. Basically, it’s your company’s obligation to ensure they’re keeping up to date with changes and complying wherever possible.

Keeping Track of Regulatory Changes

It’s critical to keep track of any regulatory changes. Next, identify a framework for how you’re going to enforce them and create both monitoring and enforcement guidelines for your company. Good quality software can help you keep track of changes. It can also provide relevant insight into the regulatory changes that apply most to you.

If you want to automate processes, you’ll need a good software solution. Automation helps take a lot of the guesswork out of compliance management. Moreover, it’ll help you manage your workflows better. You’ll be better able to allocate resources and plan more efficiently.

By keeping track of these changes at your organization, you can stay on top of any potential new regulations. This will help you avoid costly penalties or other issues that can occur from not performing your due diligence appropriately.

Ensuring Compliance with Regulatory Change

Compliance is one of the most critical parts of regulatory change management. Using regulatory change management software enables you to stay up to date with industry regulations. Such tech-based solutions make it easy for you to track the changes. They help you make informed decisions whenever a new regulation comes up that might affect your industry.

It’s absolutely imperative to keep your business in complete compliance with any laws and regulations that can affect your organization, its operations, its data, and its customers.

Powerful regulatory change management software ensures that your organization can implement all changes within your organization. In this way, you can avoid any penalties, fines, damage, or other issues.

The best regulatory change management software lets you stay on top of the latest regulations, automate compliance processes, and ensure everything operates smoothly 100% of the time.

Analyzing the Effects of Regulatory Change

One of the most important aspects of using regulatory change management solutions is how they can help you measure the effets of compliance in your organization. Compliance impact analysis identifies potential impacts on the organization’s resources. These might be as varied as time, workforce, and finances. Then the software calculates and estimates how much effort will be needed from different departments within the organization to ensure the success of compliance effort.

These factors are then weighed against each other before deciding whether or not implementing changes proposed by regulators is worthwhile for your company ahead of their implementation date. If it isn’t worthwhile then there’s no point wasting time working toward this goal. Another big part of impact analysis is finding ways to avoid privacy breaches. You also need to protect the company’s reputation and measure how new compliance measures are going to affect the company now and in the future.

Gaining Insights

Using compliance software can give you valuable insights into everything from new regulations to how your company is handling them. Its built-in dashboard tells you everything you need to know and puts vital information at your fingertips. Therefore, you’ll never have to worry about misunderstanding data. It can help spot gaps in your regulatory sheets, assist with training staff, and help to automate certain processes.

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Another key benefit of automation is that it will identify your obligations. It will help you understand third-party risks, assess the impact of current regulations, help annotate your regulatory framework, and provide general insights into how your organization can remain compliant as regulations change throughout your industry. With such a powerful tool on your side, you should be able to stay ahead of any regulatory issues. You will be able to continue running your business without running the risk of failing to adapt to regulatory changes.

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Featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Although many small companies now use computers more often, their storage and backup strategy hasn’t kept up. This can be the result of a lack of understanding regarding the numerous storage possibilities. Or it could simply be business leaders’ failure to recognize that the outdated paradigm of the occasional batch backup is insufficient.

Meanwhile, businesses today produce more data than ever. In that context, IT services are now more important than ever to a small business’s success. Fortunately, hard disk drives and related storage technologies have never been more affordable per gigabyte. Moreover, the emergence of technologies such as cloud storage present even more opportunities to accomplish more with less.

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This post highlights the most popular storage approaches and demonstrates how you can use them to create the ideal storage strategy for your small business.

Rely on Cloud and NAS Backup Solutions in Your Storage and Backup Plan

Recent years have seen a significant increase in cloud migration. More businesses than ever are turning to cloud providers for data storage. Whether a major company is trying to preserve data in the cloud or a small business is, cloud backup services have proven essential.

With cloud backups, you can rest easy knowing that you have stored all of your crucial corporate data off-site. Data is easily accessible in case of a disaster thanks to the added protection and redundancy provided by cloud backup services. But because some cloud backup services provide limitless capacity for unlimited users, they can be rather pricey.

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However, you might still not be convinced about going all in on cloud backup services when it comes to delegating your storage and backup strategy. In this case, you can also utilize the so-called network-attached storage devices, or NAS cloud backup systems. These will provide you the ability to back up your data using a local area network. If you decide to go with a NAS cloud backup device, you will get double the protection. That is, all your docs and data will be backed up both in the cloud and locally.

Use Portable Hard Drives for Backup Data Storage

Many businesses’s backup procedures depend heavily on high-volume external hard drives, particularly when used in conjunction with archiving software. This kind of software reduces your critical data recovery time (RPO) to only a few minutes by enabling users to recover files from an external hard drive.

But a single hard disk won’t be sufficient when data quantities rise. What’s more, RPO climbs along with greater demands for your services. In these situations, IT professionals frequently rely on redundancy a more intricate data backup approach.

Carry out Manual Backups on Portable Media

Using portable data storage media such as USB sticks, DVDs, and Blu-Ray disks is one of the most common and straightforward ways to do manual backups. This approach accommodates the simplest processes. However, larger data volumes necessitate progressively larger drives. This makes the recovery procedure more challenging. Additionally, you must ensure to keep data backups in a secure place to prevent loss in the event of a disaster or on-site theft.

Identify and Protect Your Vital Information in Your Backup Plan

Any data backup plan should start by determining which data is most crucial for company continuity. Without this data, including contacts, papers, emails, images, calendars, and more, your business would be unable to run. Most firms store all of this important data in one or two shared files across all network devices. However, this strategy leaves data particularly exposed.

Store Backups of Your Data in a Remote Location

You should make sure that data backups are limited regardless of the kind of storage device or backup solution you employ. Make sure to maintain them in a separate or distant spot that is inaccessible to all but the most trusted personnel. One of the reasons for this is that malware may frequently move quickly to storage that is connected physically or over a local network.

Employ Online Storage

With the bulk of email servers and several websites now utilizing the cloud, cloud services are being utilized more and more frequently every year for online backup. This eliminates the need for purchasing expensive gear. Meanwhile, it retains your backup storage in a separate, off-site place that is simple to access.

Image by Siyuan Hu via Unsplash

Businesses can often store a modest number of off-site backups in the cloud for free. Then, when a small organization needs premium services with bigger storage capacity, they can obtain it at a reasonable cost.

Think About Using Service Providers

The industry is currently quite developed, and the majority of cloud providers provide reliable affordable solutions. It is usually best to work with IT experts to put up an unfailing data backup strategy. Navigating bundles and packages without their assistance may result in your business having to pay more in the long run.

Establish a Recurring Backup Schedule

Last but not least, you must develop an incremental backup process to guarantee that any data you need to restore is current. Data backup solutions that can be automated are a good option. This is because manual backups may be time-consuming and offer too many possibilities for human mistakes. Backup automation saves you time. Moreover, it works while ensuring that you always have the latest copies of your data.

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Final Thoughts

When you’ve finished defining your strategy, the next step is to put it into action. Next, regularly monitor how well it’s performing. A large number of businesses have gotten themselves into a bind because they wrongly believed their approach was successful. As a consequence, they have lost insurmountable quantities of data.

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Sending bulk emails can be tricky, especially when you’re new to marketing and email. It’s essential to understand how the process works so that you can send emails without landing in spam.

Without proper information, many marketers and businesses stumble when they send their first email. Oftentimes it’s a learning curve that they have to traverse. That is why we’re here to help with our step-by-step guide on how to send bulk emails without landing in spam. Here are ten tips to help you get started.

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1. Avoid Using “no-reply” in the Address for Bulk Emails

If you’re sending an email to a prospect or potential client, don’t use the “no-reply” email address. Instead, use a clean, professional email address that is not considered “bulk.” For example, if you’re Joe Smith selling widgets, your email should not be [email protected] Instead it should be [email protected]

Using a clean, professional email address will make you stand out to your prospects. This it will make it more difficult for your email to be mistaken for spam.

2. Use an Email Deliverability Tool

The best way to test if your email address is deliverable is to use an email deliverability tool. These tools will tell you how many actual emails you’re sending, how many people are opening your emails, and which recipients are failing to open your emails. This is the gold standard for spam testing.

By downloading and using an email deliverability tool, you can ensure that you’re sending a clean, professional bulk email that isn’t landing in spam. If you’re considering sending a bulk email to your entire list without first making sure that the email address is deliverable, we recommend against it. You’ll just be wasting your time and effort.

3. Use a Professional Email Signature

Add your “From” name to your email signature so that people know who you are when they receive the email. Then, in the signature, include your company’s information, such as your phone number, website address, and location.

Also, add a disclaimer noting that it’s okay to opt out. Some marketers feel this doesn’t look professional or looks like spam, but these act as extra defense mechanisms to protect you from getting into trouble with spam filters.

4. Write a Catchy Subject Line

You want to keep your subject lines short and to the point. Be sure your subject line is clear so that at a quick glance your prospects will know what the email is about. Avoid getting too wordy or being too clever because it will backfire, and your message could end up in spam.

You also want to ensure that you include keywords in your subject line. This will increase the likelihood of your emails being read.

5. Keep Your Messages Short and to the Point

Ensure all your emails are as short and to the point as possible. Doing this will save people time. Then they’ll be more likely to open up your email. They will be able to see at a glance that they won’t have to waste their time reading a novel just to know why you’re emailing them.

Make sure that all of your paragraphs are short and concise. Get right to the point about what you need or what you’re offering in your email. Some clients do not have the patience for lengthy emails. So if you want to make a good impression, you need to make sure that your emails are short and sweet.

6. Use Alt Tags for Images in Bulk Emails

When you add images to your email campaigns, use alt tags so the reader knows what the image is about. These not only act as a defense mechanism for spam filters but also for readers who may be visually impaired or have disabled images.

The alt tags act as a guide for the reader. They let readers know what the image is so they can read it instead of clicking on an image that looks spam. Doing this will ensure that your messages are read and that people know what it’s about.

7. Include a Plain Text Version of Your Email

Including a plain text version of your email is essential. This way, recipients can easily understand what you’re offering. Even if the reader doesn’t want to take action, they’ll at least be able to see what you’re offering and make an informed decision.

Some marketers feel that they need to send an HTML version of their emails since it’s easier to read. But this can confuse recipients and cause them to think that you’re trying to trick them into sending you something in return.

8. Avoid Using All Caps and Excessive Exclamation Points

This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when emailing a prospect or potential client. They may think they’re being super assertive and exciting. But in reality, using all caps and excessive exclamation points comes off as spammy. It makes the email look unprofessional.

It’s essential to use proper capitalization and not overuse exclamation points or all caps. Your emails should be clean, concise, and to the point.

9. Use a Reputable Service Provider for Bulk Emails

Make sure you use a reputable email service provider such as Mail Chimp or SendGrid for your email campaign. Doing this will ensure that spam filters will not flag your messages because the messages will have come from a legitimate email service provider.

It’s important to ensure you don’t use unsanctioned services such as Gmail and Yahoo since these will cause your messages to be flagged and filtered as spam.

10. Test Your Email Before Sending it to Your Entire List

You must test your email before you send it to your entire list. If there are any problems, you can modify them and try again until they’re perfect. It’s also essential to include a disclaimer at the bottom of every email, reminding people that they can opt out of your emails anytime. This will prevent your emailing some people who don’t want you to contact them anymore or who didn’t give consent for you to contact them in the first place.

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Follow These Tips for Better Results with Bulk Emails

By following the ten tips above, you’ll be able to increase the likelihood of your emails being read and your messages being viewed as professional. By being consistent with your “From” name, using a professional email signature and crafting short and to-the-point subject lines, as well as short paragraphs with bolded headings (with proper capitalization), people will be able to know what you’re offering in your email. Also, don’t forget to test-run all your email messages before sending them to ensure they work properly.

Pick up more tips and tricks to help you with your marketing efforts by browsing our blog regularly.

Study after study has found that advanced education enhances your earning potential. Therefore, you know you should pursue a bachelor’s degree to increase your yearly earnings. But which of the bachelor’s degree programs should you enroll in?

In truth, not all degrees are created equal. Overall, certain bachelor’s degrees will almost automatically qualify you for an exponential pay raise. For example, we offer suggestions for some of the best ones here.

A Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration

A bachelor’s degree in business administration provides an outstanding foundation for launching a successful career in business. This degree program equips you with the general knowledge and skill you will need to succeed as a leader within a business organization. It allows you to quickly climb the executive ranks to unlock greater responsibility and higher salaries.

What’s more, this bachelor’s degree can feed directly into a master’s of business administration (MBA) program. In fact, this is a degree which can catapult younger professionals into higher positions earlier in their careers.

Software Development

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that opportunities for software developers will grow more than 26 percent over the course of the next decade. Surprisingly, this compares with only about 5 percent for all other jobs.

Online degree programs for software development will certainly equip you with the technical skills necessary to build and test digital applications. For example, you will gain experience with various programming languages, operating systems, and security tools.

Though a degree in software development is not necessary to secure employment in the tech industry, it demonstrates your qualifications and commitment. These qualities can give you access to more enviable positions and pay opportunities in your field.

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A Bachelor’s Degree in Economics

Economics is a complex field. Even some economists struggle to explain what it covers. At its core, economics strives to understand why and how individuals and groups allocate their resources. The study of economics has a particular focus on financial resources.

In an online degree program, you will gain essential economic knowledge and skill. These will allow you to guide decision-making processes within companies to boost profits and reduce losses.

Usually, economics students continue through graduate-level education. However, a bachelor’s degree is enough to qualify you for lucrative entry-level positions in business.

Cybersecurity

As more and more organizations transform their operations to adopt digital technologies and processes, more of them are becoming prime targets of cyberattack.

Because data breaches are so expensive to recover from, most businesses are investing more heavily in their cyber defenses. This means the demand for trained cybersecurity professionals is on a steep rise. Pursuing a cybersecurity degree could qualify you for IT management positions and put you on a fast track to executive leadership in this field.

Database Management

Another effect of the rapid adoption of digital technology is the sudden wealth of data organizations now hoard.

Unfortunately, data in itself is not particularly valuable to business leaders. Most of them cannot utilize raw data to improve their decision-making. Thus, all manner of data professionals are in demand.

One of the best data-related career fields to pursue via an online degree is database management. This field involves building and maintaining systems that keep data organized on business networks.

A Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management

Over the past few years, the global supply chain has experienced disruption after disruption. These upheavals leave businesses and consumers wanting greater reliability in resources and inventory.

Experts anticipate major turmoil in the supply chain industry, with shifts away from global suppliers. This could mean more opportunities for younger, newer supply chain managers.

In online supply chain management programs, you will learn the complex art and science of transforming raw materials into finished products and getting them into consumers’ hands. Because this role is so critical to business success, supply chain managers can command substantial salaries.

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Animation

Animation is one of the more fun degree programs on this list. You might be attracted to this option if you are drawn to creative skills and careers that allow you to imagine and explore.

Gone are the days when drawing skill was essential for animation success. Now, you can be an effective animator using digital tools that allow for outstanding realism in computer-generated graphics.

Many online animation degree programs will guide you through every step of the animation process, including storyboarding and character modeling. This will ensure you are equipped for any role in animation studios across the country.

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Change Your Life for the Better with an Online Bachelor’s Degree

Starting today, you can enroll in one of the above online degree programs to improve your earning potential and find meaning in your career. What’s stopping you from changing your life for the better?

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A hybrid event allows attendees to participate from either a remote setting or in person. Hybrid events are becoming popular as a practical means of online collaboration. Over the years, there have been significant improvements in how these events take place, allowing convenience and flexibility to cater to various needs. Although more events are now shifting back to face-to-face interactions, there’s still an increase in the number of hybrid events. 

Today, hybrid events provide several benefits. For example, a hybrid event can allow you to reach a wider audience with greater accessibility and more affordability. A hybrid event can be a workshop, tradeshow, or conference. In fact, it can be any type of meeting where some of the participants gather in person at a specific venue while the rest join online using their devices.

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If you’re planning a hybrid event, there are things to consider to ensure everything flows smoothly. Here are several valuable pointers to keep in mind to ensure the success of your hybrid event:

1. Establish the Objectives of the Event 

When planning for an upcoming hybrid event, one of the main objectives is to define your goals and the event’s purpose. Think of ways you can provide your audience with value. 

It’s best to utilize specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goals to aid with goal setting. For example, one of your goals could be to boost engagement on social media by 10% during and after the event. 

When the success of an event is important, but you don’t have time to organize it yourself, you can consider teaming up with event planners or hybrid event producers to ensure a good start.

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2. Identify and Understand the Target Audience 

The next important factor to consider is your target audience. If you fully understand your target audience, your hybrid event is more likely to succeed. Make it a priority to gather information about the participants, especially their preferences, needs, and expectations, to name a few. You should know how to draw them in and persuade them to attend your upcoming event. 

3. Plan the Event Basics

After identifying the objectives of the hybrid event and your target audience, you can proceed with planning the basic aspects, such as the following:

• Time and date of the event, which can usually be adjusted before deciding on the final one later
• The number of participants
• The event type, which can be a one-day or multi-day gathering
• List of potential venues 

The outline of the basics will serve as your guide in the planning process. Additionally, creating it ensures nothing is left out. 

4. Prepare the Budget for the Event 

Once you have an outline of all the basics for the hybrid event, you can start thinking about an estimate for the budget. Although the basics to include in your budget are likely to vary depending on various factors, you should include the following:

• Rental of the venue and furniture
• Catering 
• Audio-visual equipment along with live-streaming tools 
• Event technology such as a virtual event platform or event management platform
• Marketing or advertising campaigns

Remember that you need to prioritize a clear budget right from the start. You can use a budgeting tool to ensure a clear perspective of your company’s finances. Although these are only the basics, expect additions to your budget list as your planning progresses. Doing so will allow you to assess your needs and negotiate with different vendors to ensure you get the best services.

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5. Set the Venue and Date for the Hybrid Event 

When hosting a hybrid event, choosing a venue that can readily accommodate the virtual aspect is important. Make sure you consider the location, audio-visual equipment availability, size of the venue, and on-hand facilities. 

The location is an important consideration. You should select one that’s accessible to the attendees. However, don’t forget to maintain a balance between accessibility and cost. Remember that venues in premier spots are likely to fetch a higher price tag. 

As for the audio-visual equipment, you need to know ahead of time if the current audio-visual equipment in the venue will seamlessly integrate with the virtual event platform you’ll use. Don’t forget to check if there’s enough space for your live streaming equipment. Take note that you might need to collaborate with specific audio-visual companies in some venues, which will add to the cost. 

The venue space and available facilities must also be a consideration. The venues you shortlisted must have reliable internet connectivity, storage space for audio-visual equipment, adequate space for attendees to interact, and an area for food and beverage services. 

6. Choose the Right Technology for the Hybrid Event 

If you want a seamless hybrid event, you should be able to accommodate the virtual aspect by choosing the right virtual platform. This ensures that your attendees stay engaged throughout the entire event. Today, you have various platforms to choose from. So make it a priority to identify your specific technology needs and outline the must-have features you require from a virtual event platform.

The key is to go for a virtual platform that allows you to navigate its features with ease. The right one will not only enable you to host your event successfully but also allow you to carry out your goals. Depending on the hybrid event you’ll be hosting, you should invest in additional solutions such as a mobile event application, live streaming platform, registration platform, or engagement tools.

Final Thoughts on Ensuring the Success of a Hybrid Event

Organizing a hybrid event involves taking into consideration several crucial elements. The key to hosting a successful one relies on fully understanding your target audience—both in-person and remote participants. Aside from knowing your target audience, taking into account the valuable pointers in the planning process will help ensure a successful event. A well-structured hybrid event will play a role in driving awareness and potentially boosting your revenue.

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Many companies today use business automation software to increase efficiency and productivity as well as reduce costs. But a lot of individuals also use this kind of software, as it provides an efficient way to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

According to research, more than 75% of companies use some kind of automated software. This is proof of how much modern technology can help companies focus on their growth and progress instead of repetitive, time-consuming tasks. The following article illustrates how business automation works in modern businesses today.

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Tasks That Businesses Automate the Most

Businesses cannot automate every process in their companies yet. However, they are trying to automate administrative tasks. For example, they use efficient software for payroll, human resources, invoicing, and accounting. They also use automation in marketing to send out email campaigns or direct mail.

The benefits include increased efficiency and productivity for employees, better customer service, and lower costs for the company.

Daily or Weekly Reports via Business Automation

Automated software can send you daily or weekly reports. These alert you to any changes that are happening or remind you of deadlines on the horizon. This is important for companies with lots of clients, as keeping track of all of them can be a time-consuming process.

For instance, if you own a real estate business, automated software can send you reports on your real estate database. With this software, you can keep track of any changes to your database, as well as the current volume of data and the amount of space remaining.

Moreover, if a lead reactivates, you’ll be the first to know. Additionally, automated software can send emails and birthday cards to your clients, improving your customer service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZBmtBy_xQ

Automated Hiring Process

Automating the hiring process benefits both the company and the candidate. The company can increase its hiring success rate as it can eliminate candidates that don’t fit the criteria. Meanwhile, the candidate doesn’t have to wait for a response for months.

This is because automated hiring software uses an algorithm that evaluates a candidate’s skills and personality. This informs you whether they are a good fit for your company or not. It can also learn from previous mistakes. Therefore, over time, it gets better at predicting who will be successful in your company.

Automated Employee Analytics

Automated software can help you track your employees’ efficiency and productivity by providing records on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

The software will track the time your employees spend on different tasks and what they are doing at any given moment. It will provide you with reports on their performance. This is important for managers who are looking to improve their team’s efficiency and productivity.

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Email Automation

Your employees spend a good portion of their eight-hour shift receiving, reading, composing, and sending emails to coworkers and clients. This is sometimes completely unrelated to the current task and decreases overall productivity.

Email automation is the use of software to automatically generate and send a series of emails. These are often used in marketing campaigns and customer service operations, but they can also be used in other ways.

Email automation has been around for a while, but it has evolved with the advent of new technologies. With email automation, you can save time and resources by automating repetitive tasks like sending out newsletters or responding to customer inquiries.

This saves time because you don’t have to manually put information into an email template every time you want to send an email campaign or respond to a customer inquiry.

Automated Meetings

Automated meetings save time and money by automating the meeting process. The first step is to create a meeting template where you can add all the necessary information, such as the agenda and attendees list. This will ensure that everyone who needs to know about the meeting receives a notification in advance.

The next step is to set up an automated conference call or video call for your meeting. You can also use an online chat for this purpose. However, this is not as effective as a phone call or video call.

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Business Automation for Savings of Time and Money

Having automated software can be a great investment for your company. The main reason is that you can save time and money by automating your processes. This will enable you to maximize your team’s efficiency. This in turn will lead to greater productivity and more chances of beating your competition.

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In the digital world, businesses are competing with each other. And search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the main and most effective ways to ensure the success of your project. So what are the most important things to pay attention to in SEO?

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If you are considering SEO as an opportunity to scale your business you are probably looking for the most essential aspects to pay attention to. Notably, it is crucial to understand that this optimization is an ongoing process. If you are not aware of Google’s updates and their constantly changing policies, you will find it difficult to reach high positions in the search engine results pages (SERP).

So consider entrusting your project to a professional SEO firm like SeoProfy. Then you can focus on the improvement of your product or service.

Keep in mind that attracting potential clients does not ensure that you will achieve your goals. To effectively improve your bottom line, you also need to keep clients satisfied and eager to recommend you to others.

Nonetheless, here are several crucial aspects to pay attention to with regard to SEO in 2022.

E-A-T: Website Authority Matters in SEO

The abbreviation E-A-T stands for expertise, authority, and credibility. The term is taken from Google’s recommendations for webmasters and site owners.

The search engine, based on assessments and its own algorithms, evaluates the quality of all website pages. Therefore, it is necessary to focus your efforts on providing users with comprehensive information about the company. Provide sources of information for articles and confirmation of the expertise of the author of the material.

The main goal is for the user to be sure that your company is an expert in its field. It is necessary to ensure that the user has no doubts about the completeness and authenticity of the data. And above all, the information on the page should correspond to the purpose of the user’s search. Working on increasing the E-A-T indicator makes a significant contribution to the promotion of the site.

Post Unique, Expert, and Useful Content

The content should interest the user (as well as the search robot). Then it must satisfy the main goal, which is to provide comprehensive information that corresponds to the user’s search query. The content on the page should reveal the topic. It should guarantee trust in the information the site provides, confirming expertise.

The text should solve the user’s problem and give a comprehensive answer to their search. Content should include specific data, numbers, clear steps, step-by-step instructions, structured information, in-depth descriptions, images, and screenshots for a detailed explanation.

Below is a good example of content that confirms expertise and gives readers trust in a site:

Additionally, longer texts with a volume of 1,000 or more words work much better in SEO. The search engine seeks to see large and detailed articles. Such materials will always be in demand.

Therefore, the task of the copywriter and SEO specialist is to choose the right semantics and define the target audience. And always remember that you are writing for humans, not robots. Create only useful content and optimize the text.

Use synonyms and various latent semantic indexing (LSI), which means to provide words in the text that the search engines will recognize as being synonymous with your keywords. Additionally, strive to answer popular questions. And do not hesitate to look for ideas from successful competitors.

Text formatting is also important. In long articles, be sure to use formatting. Logically divide the content into sections with subheadings and paragraphs. Add lists and highlight words.

For promotional purposes, the semantic core of the article should be expanded toward low-frequency keywords. Of course, do not forget about the basics of SEO optimization. That is, use targeted keywords in the meta title, in the meta description, and in the text.

External Optimization: Link Building Is Still Essential

External links are still one of the important factors in promoting a site. However, they must be high-quality and organic or at least look organic. The presence of links from low-quality resources, spam sites, links from the footer, or masses of links with the same commercial anchor text will not only be useless but will also seriously harm the promotion of the website.

You should develop the reference mass of the site in a balanced and careful way. Search engine algorithms are getting smarter. Therefore, the SEO practice of buying links on platforms can play a bad joke on you.

In any case, you need to analyze the site’s backlink profile, monitor the dynamics and quality of donor domains, and make efforts to acquire organic external links. You can achieve this by exhibiting expertise and professional materials on your website.

Domain Age Is Important

One of the most popular myths is that older domains rank higher. This is not necessarily true. Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller confirmed that the age of domain is not a ranking signal.

However, the age of the site does continue to be relevant. Brand new websites (less than six months old) have trouble ranking. The age of backlinks also affects ranking. And site age tends to correlate with more backlinks. However, even a site that’s been around for 25 years won’t rank well if other websites don’t refer to it.

Micro-Markup Can Help

Micro-markup is not a ranking factor in Google search results, but it can help you improve your performance and increase your click-through rate (CTR). With Schema.org tags, you can display additional information on your site in search, including images, phone, reviews, ratings, time, steps for recipes or instructions, and more.

What’s more, you can get position 0 on the main search results by optimizing for a block of quick answers to frequently asked questions and top news.

So optimize for a block of quick answers to frequently asked questions and work on improving snippets. These are essential factors for those who seek to apply modern SEO strategies.

Getting organic traffic from search is becoming more and more difficult, so optimization aimed at increasing CTR and achieving position 0 is becoming a must-have element.

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Local SEO: Optimize Your Site for Local Search

Local SEO is another necessary element for site promotion. In recent years, queries with the words “near me” have increased several times, and the trend is not about to change. Of course, business owners who offer services in a specific location and have their own website should devote time to local SEO optimization. This is a must-do for those aiming for a highly localized and targeted audience.

Good SEO Requires Constant Vigilance

The above components of SEO promotion of the site are only part of the work that must be done to get to the first page of Google. These will be the key to success in 2022. However, don’t forget dozens of other SEO factors and constant work on the content and authority of the site. Of course, all site promotion activities should be accompanied by constant study of analytics data, tracking of positions on priority keywords, as well as constant investigation and expansion of semantics.

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