Image by Coffee Bean from Pixabay 

On your way to becoming the entrepreneur you aspire to be, you might need to work for someone else for a while. In that case, you’re going to need a top-notch resume. That’s because landing the job of your dreams can make all the difference in the trajectory of your career.

As you search through the online job
postings, there may be some opportunities that sound like a perfect fit. In
these situations, you need to make a strong first impression so you are
considered for the job. 

Traditionally, the first step in landing a job starts with a very important piece of paper: the resume.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO WRITE A GREAT RESUME AS A BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL

Brush up Your Resume

There is a lot riding on this document. And like it or not, much of the candidate qualification process is still heavily based on the resume. Of course, it is quite difficult to truly judge someone based on this piece of paper, especially considering the fact that many recruiters spend less than one minute scanning each resume.

If you are going to land the job of your dreams, you need to be sure that your resume impresses hiring managers so that you can pass this crucial first round of qualification. For this purpose, Resumonk is an online resume-building tool that helps job seekers create appealing and easy-to-read resumes. With a resume you create on Resumonk you will ace the initial qualification process. Here’s how.

1. A Good Resume Increases Qualifying Factors

Unfortunately, the smallest of mistakes can mean that even highly qualified candidates are passed up on. For example, if a resume is full of misspelled words, is formatted incorrectly, or is simply unattractive, recruiters will not hesitate to pass on it. In fact, 77% of hiring managers will disqualify a candidate right away based on a typo or grammatical error.

Mistakes like this happen all of the time, and even super talented candidates may forget the small details. Resumonk can help you avoid this. That’s because each template is formatted to avoid these mundane—yet game-changing—blunders. Also, Resumonk guides you to go into deeper detail regarding your past positions so recruiters can have a better idea of your work history and experience.

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Another common issue with resume
qualification often arises if a company requires a certain formatting for
application, such as a PDF file, Word Doc, or JPEG. If you send in the wrong
format and a recruiter cannot read the file, you will automatically be
disqualified. Resumonk allows you to save each resume in multiple formats to
ensure that it meets these criteria.

2. Create Optimized Resumes for Specific Opportunities

If you have an eclectic mix of work history, it can be distracting and confusing to the recruiters who are trying to qualify you. This is particularly true for a candidate who has a long and widely varied job history. Having various skills and experiences certainly doesn’t disqualify you. However, it can distract from the details that are relevant to the job you are currently applying for.

Therefore, Resumonk allows you to make multiple versions of your resume so they are optimized for whatever position you are applying for. For instance, say that you have a degree and job experience in marketing, but you have also worked in retail sales. In this scenario, your skills and job history are split between these two types of positions.

Using this tool, you can create multiple resume templates that are focused on the exact skills and experiences in both of these areas. This way, your resume will reflect that you are a qualified candidate for specific positions that may be geared toward marketing or customer service.

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3. Rely on Cohesive Formatting for Faster Qualification

Even for small businesses, it is quite common to receive hundreds of applications for a single position. In fact, the average number of resumes a business receives for an available position is 250, with only about five candidates being invited for an interview.

This leaves recruiters with massive piles of paperwork and lots of digital documents to glance over, a process that can take days or even weeks. Time is of the essence when it comes to the qualification process. Also, as a candidate, you want to hear back from them sooner rather than later.

As recruiters scan through these hundreds of applications and resumes, they are naturally looking for specific things. For example, they want to see job history, years of experience, degrees, and certifications, and so on.

Therefore, you can help to make the qualification process easier by formatting your resume in a logical and organized fashion with a Resumonk template. Although there are multiple formats to choose from, they are all designed for easy reading and skimming.

From a recruiter’s perspective, it can be quite frustrating to try and spot the information they need to qualify a person when their resume is set up in a non-traditional way. However, when resumes are formatted in a commonly preferred fashion, it’s that much easier for recruiters to find the information they are looking for.

4. It’s Easy and Quick

If you have ever created a resume from scratch, you know the task is quite daunting. Even on a template builder, manually filling in your information can take a lot of time. This is especially the case when you are applying for different titles.

Thankfully, Resumonk is designed to make it easy to create a resume from scratch or update your existing one on file. What’s more, you can convert your LinkedIn profile to a well-formatted resume using Resumonk in just a few minutes.

This means you can create a new resume with all of your skills and job history with just a few clicks, making it much easier to create specific versions for each job you apply for.

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Resumonk also offers some great resources to help you phrase your job history correctly. There are lots of tools and articles to help you choose powerful keywords that will catch recruiters’ eyes and help them get an understanding of your strengths.

Conclusion

Finding a new job and deciding which opportunity to pursue is a major decision. However, in order to get to the point of making that decision, you first have to get through the door and into the interview room.

You can make yourself a more attractive candidate by using Resumonk to optimize your resume for specific job postings. In short, Resumonk will help you to present a professional-looking document that stands out.

Online merchants running small enterprises are doubtless familiar with the challenges of getting a good return on their investment (ROI) from the advertisement platform Google Ads. There are usually two primary challenges to overcome. The first is direct competition from other online merchants vying for the same keywords. The second is optimizing for Google’s Quality Score metric, which is notoriously hard to do.

RELATED ARTICLE: PROMOTING YOUR COMPANY IN THE INFORMATION AGE

Google Ads Optimization and Why it Matters

All the same, Google Ads is an incredible resource for ecommerce merchants. The good news is that it provides easy access to a broad customer base, potential for high conversion rates, and a nice boost to your top line. However, the bad news is that it’s hyper competitive. The big fish usually eat the little ones because they have more money to spend.

Despite the bad news, though, Google Ads optimization tactics can still produce positive results on a budget. How? It starts by understanding the rationale behind Google’s sorting mechanisms.

Google parses the competition for ad placement using two functional metrics: keyword bid price and quality score. Optimizing for keyword bid price is relatively straightforward. However, it can quickly become expensive with a generalist’s approach. That’s because the cost of a bid is reducible with granular segmentation of search data. However, this should absolutely be part of your strategy already.

In general, though, merchants often spend too much time (and money) focusing on keyword bid price. Then they wonder why they are not ranking for keyword groupings despite raising their bid amount. The reason likely has to do with a lower-than-desirable Google Ads Quality Score.

What Is a Quality Score in Google Ads?

First of all, let’s clarify what a quality score actually is. A quality score is a composite score that estimates an e-merchant’s overall performance in Ad Auctions. Basically, Google uses this score to determine the overall relevance your Google ads provide to users.

How Does Google
Determine a Google Ads Quality Score?

There are several factors that go into
determining a Google Ads Quality Score, including:

• Expected
  click-through rate (CTR)
• Ad
  or keyword relevance
• The
  overall quality of a landing page
• Previous
  performance

As you can see, there is a close connection between the keywords you choose and the ad copy you want to promote. Google, acting as a proxy for what consumers are looking for, takes relevance very seriously—and so should you.

Relevance is absolutely crucial to your advertisement strategy. That’s because it helps consumers understand what it is you sell. For ad copy, this means using the keywords you want to rank for in the title and text in a direct, logical way.

For example, let’s say you are an ecommerce vendor of women’s running shoes and you’re targeting the keyword “best Nike running shoes for women.” In this case, you would want to include those search terms in the description.

However, you need to do more than just map keyword groupings to ad copy, although this is an important prerequisite to getting a better click-through rate. Other factors, like the quality of the landing page and previous performance, influence performance, too.

Why a Strong Quality Score Will Help Lock Down Returns

Keep in mind that while keywords have their own
individual quality scores, this is not the same thing as the overall quality
score determined at the time of each separate auction.

Quality scores of the keywords themselves do not factor into the Ad Rank position determined at Google auctions. However, real-time calculations of the same overall factors that determine a quality score do. In fact, a study by WordStream found high-quality scores don’t just translate into more clicks and better ad rankings. They also directly correlate to higher conversions.

Tips for Boosting Your Quality Score

So what can you do to optimize your quality score? In other words, how can you lock down better value for better rankings? Here are some helpful strategies to help boost your quality score and therefore maximize your returns.

Eliminate Keywords with Low-Quality Scores

Slicing out all keywords with a quality score
of one is an efficient way to lower costs and improve overall ranking
positions.

Design Targeted Campaigns

The more well-targeted campaign will result in an improved user experience. This is why it is worth it to take the time to parse out a relevant set of keywords for each ad group.

Focus on High-Quality Content

This tip applies both to the landing page and to the ads themselves. Avoid including any distracting information, and keep ads neat and concise. Focus ads on one product and one product only. In this way, you ensure that the ad is relevant to the user.

Don’t Forget About Your Landing Pages

Neglecting your landing page will have a negative overall impact on your Google Ads Quality Score. Also, be sure to integrate relevant keywords that are specific to the ad group they pertain to. Moreover, if it is practical, shoot to include a separate landing page for each ad group.

For example, here’s a screenshot of a well-executed paid search campaign in Google Ads, where the ad copy reflects the search term and is central to the landing page as well.

First the ad copy:

And the landing page:

The Takeaway

Developing a killer strategy for a Google Ads
campaign relies on a granular approach to developing effectively targeted
campaigns. The most effective way to optimize for a high Google Ads Quality
Score in an auction is to understand the intent of your target audience and
commit to endless iteration.

Big data and artificial intelligence, or AI, make it possible for industry leaders to make numerous decisions quickly in real time. Used together, these technologies offer actionable insights into customer behavior. Further, these insights allow companies to deliver customized products to consumers in optimized ways.

The Role of
Big Data and AI in B2B Marketing

Customer happiness is crucial for the success of any business. If you want to provide high-quality service to your buyers, you must learn your clients’ pain points. Thereafter, you must offer the proper solutions. For this reason, businesses collect large volumes of customer data. This frequently includes browsing history, likes, clicks, buying patterns, and so on.

RELATED ARTICLE: BIG DATA: 6 WAYS LEARNING TO USE IT WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS

As many as 80% of marketing experts believe that AI will transform digital marketing for B2C and B2B spaces in the next five years. What’s more, information from big data can be conjoined with the magic of AI.

These data collections reveal powerful insights into customer behavior, insights that are incredibly helpful for B2B lead generation. Moreover, using this information, marketers can flawlessly predict the correct action to take with any consumer at any moment.

How Smart Business Owners Use Big Data and AI

The chart above is from a study by Econsultancy and IBM. The study revealed that 35% of elite marketers agree that they need to have the right technologies for data collection. Moreover, they also stressed that they needed proper analysis in order to understand the data they collected.

AI Improves the Lead Generation Process

The partnership between big data and AI offers enormous benefits. However, it will only be useful to managers who understand how to properly execute the information they receive. For example, rich client insight can guide marketing managers to generate sales-ready quality leads. But this is true only if they have the right data and intelligent analysis at hand.

With quality leads, you’ll be able to focus only on interested prospects. This will reduce the number of hours your team will need to spend on mundane tasks. Instead, they will be able to concentrate on high-value tasks while electronic tools take care of routine functions.

AI Predicts Sales Quickly

Today’s AI tools can produce sales forecasts based on data you provide. Then, you can plan upcoming projects using these predictions. This will help you to efficiently manage your resources and your team’s efforts.

Wise Business Owners Call on Discerning New Marketers

Within this exciting new space, multiple B2B marketing vendors such as Blue Mail Media have begun to emerge. These companies are now implementing new marketing skills in order to leverage new opportunities. Using big data and AI, they target only the right customers. They aid with personalized campaigns and forecast sales. In short, these savvy marketers use big data and AI to bring you a competitive advantage.

AI and big data will continue to push the boundaries of creativity and interactive user experience, and companies that avail themselves of these possibilities will reap rich revenues. So be a part of this trend. Get your business ready for the partnership between big data and AI now!

About the Author

Emily Johnson is a marketing analyst and chief content writer at a leading marketing company in Irving, Texas. Emily specializes in entrepreneurship, small business, technology, social media, and content marketing strategies. Connect with Emily on Facebook and Twitter.

Content marketing was around even before the digital age began. Business owners in those days created written materials to promote their businesses through newsletters, magazines, and other materials.

Nowadays, however, content marketing more often takes digital forms. For example, content creators use videos, blogs, or social media posts. There are other forms of digital marketing, too. To get more information about other digital marketing strategies, click here.

What’s more, if you’re setting up a content marketing campaign for your business, the following tips will help.

1. Determine the Purpose of Your Content Marketing Campaign

Put first things first. That is, figure out the purpose of your campaign. Obviously, you want it to help your business. However, what type of content will you be creating? Will you use your campaign for brand awareness? Or do you want it to increase sales? Each form of content marketing you choose will require a different tone and form of material.

2. Make Sure You Know Your Audience

Once you’ve figured out the purpose of your campaign, you then need to understand the audience whose attention you’d like to catch. For example, the content of a blog for an older generation is far different from that of a blog that aims to reach a younger audience.

3. Pay Attention to Your Content Structure

Any audience will be more receptive to well-thought-out content that is free of grammatical and typographical errors. Also, use simple and catchy phrases in your title. And maintain a consistent structure throughout your article. To that end, make sure to consider these three things:

• Tone – Keep the tone light and friendly. Readers will stop reading content that sounds overbearing and stuffy.
• Flow – Make sure your ideas aren’t all over the place. Craft smooth transitions from one idea to the next.
• Format – Maintain a balance in your content somewhere between formal and casual. Moreover, it must match the taste of your target audience.

Above all, be conversational. Just talk to your audience. Present whatever it is that you want them to know without trying to force them to believe you.

4. Enable Social Media Sharing
Buttons

If people like your content, they are more likely to share it on their social media accounts. Therefore, make it easy for them to do so by enabling social media buttons on your post’s page. Without these, they may resort to copying and pasting. And when they do that, the link will not be attributed to your page.

5. Be SEO Conscious

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a big deal, as you probably already know. SEO-friendly content can go a long way in making your marketing campaign count. Therefore, be aware of how to use the keywords that can help the Google crawl bots discover your posts.

In addition, here are a few of the many factors that can help with SEO for your content:

• Substance – As we mentioned earlier, you need to produce content with high quality. That’s because this plays a decisive role in improving SEO.
• Authority – You need to be viewed by search engine crawl bots as an authority to get a better ranking on search page results. You can achieve this by guest posting on authority websites. Alternatively, you can have authority page posts mention your content in their posts. This is where linking and backlinking take place.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW CAN I GET MY BUSINESS TO RANK HIGHER IN THE SEARCH ENGINES?

6. Tap Social Media Influencers

As you build your followers by posting quality content, also take advantage of the followers of social media influencers in your industry. To do that:

• Reach out to the social media influencers who are in the same niche as you are.
• Ask if you can quote them in your posts.
• Be one of their sponsors in exchange for them sharing your content. Or work with them in some other way to get your content published on their social media page or website.

If you’re quoting social media influencers in your articles, they will be more likely to share your content free of charge. That’s because you will have promoted them first.

7. Make Different Versions of Your
Content

This is what is commonly called “repurposing your content.” For example, let’s say you create a video and post it on YouTube. Then you create a podcast version for your blog. This way, you get to reach more people through different channels using the same content.

8. Don’t Forget Your Call to Action

Creating educational content is your marketing strategy. Whether the primary goal is for brand awareness or to gather leads for sales, you’d want to gather those that you reached through your digital marketing campaign. Therefore, make sure to include a powerful call to action in each post.

Give Your Content the Royal Treatment

Content is king, so give your content the royal treatment it deserves. Use these tips from a digital marketing agency to jump start your marketing campaign. You’ll never know how effective a strategy can be if you haven’t at least tried it.

Image Source: Soumil Kumar on Pexels

In this post we discuss actions you can take to protect your business from cybercrime.

It’s a good idea for businesses to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital world. They can streamline their day-to-day operations and reach out to clients better when they do.

Perhaps you have launched an e-shop. Or maybe you host your database in a cloud environment. At any rate, if you’re smart, your company has a strong online presence.

Your Online Presence Makes You Vulnerable to Cybercrime

However, your digital presence also makes your enterprise susceptible to cyber threats. What’s more, cybercriminals are constantly coming up with new, more sophisticated ways to target businesses. With that in mind, here are some suggestions for protecting your firm against cybercrime.

Hackers
and Ransomware Target Businesses

Cybercrime is hardly a new challenge. However, for most individuals and companies it made the list of top priorities only when WannaCry made the news. WannaCry’s invasion served as a milestone for raising awareness when it comes to hacker attacks.

WannaCry was a ransomware worm. Hackers developed it to exploit a vulnerability in the Windows operating system, specifically on the Server Message Block protocol. Interestingly enough, the US National Security Agency (NSA) had already discovered this flaw. However, instead of disclosing it, they chose to develop code, dubbed EternalBlue, in order to manipulate it.

Hackers eventually stole the NSA’a code, though, and they used it to infect a large number of computers and networks in May 2017. After it was deployed, the ransomware took over the targeted device and encrypted the files it found on the hard drive. It then demanded the user to pay ransom in Bitcoin in order to allow the owner access to the files again.

Cybercrime Strikes Organizations Large and Small

Roughly 7.7% of all users targeted by ransomware encountered WannaCry. This made it the top encryption ransomware in 2017, ahead of Locky at 6.7% and Cerber at almost 5.9%.

Big organizations like FedEx, the British National Health System, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica, and Germany’s railway services provider Deutsche Bahn all took a hit in this high-profile cybercrime case.

Cybercrime Is Costly

According to research published on TechRepublic.com on March 28, 2018, the average cost for a business that has fallen victim to ransomware is roughly $900,000. As the same source reveals, 45% of American businesses paid the ransom requested by cybercriminals. However, only 26% of them saw their files eventually decrypted.

US enterprises paid an average of $57,088 in ransom, a bit higher than the global average of $49,060. Even more troubling is the fact that 73% of companies that paid the ransom were later attacked again.

Protect Your
Business Against Cybercrime

There is only so much you can do after you have been attacked by hackers. Therefore, a company’s best bet in the fight against cybercrime is to take a proactive approach. In other words, you must implement defensive measures to stop hackers in their tracks.

RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT IS A WHITE LABEL AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Data is what cybercriminals are after. Therefore, techniques like data pseudonymization are essential. Pseudonymization is the process that replaces sensitive data with fictional yet realistic information. Its purpose is to confuse hackers who will not be able to tell the difference.

Pseudonymized data is not anonymous. This means it can be used to identify an individual either by using the pseudonymization key or by combining the data with other, non-pseudonymized information. The most common technique to achieve pseudonymization is data masking. However, hashing can also be used.

Another tool in your cybercrime arsenal is data encryption. This also aims at rendering the data useless to anyone not privy to the encryption key.

Image Source: Makus Spiske on Pexels

Use Sophisticated Cybersecurity Tools to Protect Against Cybercrime

Besides manipulating data, there are also cybersecurity tools that can help make it harder for hackers to find a way in through your defenses. Especially in the case of companies with many employees, tools like firewalls and anti-malware software can work wonders. That’s because people will still make the occasional mistake and open a phishing email.

A firewall controls the flow of data into and out of your computer network. It will pinpoint unauthorized access requests and protect against hackers. Moreover, always combine it with a strong anti-virus program to prevent viruses from infecting your computers.

Many operating systems come with pre-installed anti-malware software and firewalls. But installing extra features to beef up a company’s security is a good strategy for protecting your company from cybercrime.

Make It Harder for Cybercriminals to Attack Your Company

Operating systems like Windows regularly release updates. Therefore, make sure your operating system is always caught up. Often, developers will identify vulnerabilities and release patches to fix them. This is precisely what Microsoft had already done in the case of WannaCry. However, most people hadn’t yet updated their operating system. This is why they were vulnerable to the ransomware.

Sometimes it is the little things that will make the difference. For instance, businesses need to make sure that every employee is adequately trained and prepared to spot hacking attempts. Setting up strict internal information security policies can sometimes be a hassle, though. So companies are better off installing software that will automatically create strong passwords for every employee log-in account—and change them often to make it that much harder for hackers.

Preparation Is Less Costly Than the Consequences of
Cybercrime

Preparing for potential hacker attacks takes time and money.
However, if disaster strikes, it will be that much harder to mitigate the
consequences. Being proactive is the smart thing to do for businesses of all
types and sizes.

Investing in foreign markets has never been
more accessible, especially for individual investors. But regardless of how highly
international investing is recommended by financial experts, many investors are
still skeptical when it comes to shipping their money overseas.

Many industry experts have come to the conclusion that the main reasons individuals fear international investment are the cultural barriers and foreign regulations. These are still issues that investors have to deal with at some point. However, holding at least a few foreign stocks helps with portfolio diversification. Moreover, it reduces volatility and raises the potential for financial growth.

Investing in foreign markets does not come free of risks. However, there are some ways it can turn into a profitable business.

What Are the Benefits of Foreign Investments?

The main rule of investing is finding the highest risk-adjusted capital return. Broadly speaking, an individual would seek to invest in a business where the profit is bigger than the overall risk taken.

This is why diversification has proven to be one of the best ways to enhance risk-adjusted returns. It is believed that a diversified portfolio should hold at least eight uncorrelated assets that are spread across multiple areas, both industry-wise and geography-wise. Uncorrelated assets are those assets that are in no way related and do not influence one another. This means that in the eventuality of one investment failing, it will not affect the entire portfolio. Investing in foreign countries adds to geographical diversification and improves stability.

Experts believe that one of the biggest mistakes investors make is to ignore the opportunities outside of their country. This includes small investors also, who don’t think they have portfolio sizable enough to include foreign investments. So index funds come to the aid of small investors by offering diversified foreign exposure.

Developing Countries Have Much to Gain

However, the advantages of foreign investment are not one-sided, as developing countries have a lot to gain from opening their gates to international investors. For example, they gain new job opportunities for locals and easier access to new technological advancements.

Consider the relationship between China and Israel, wherein Israel has become China’s third largest trading partner worldwide. Overall, both countries have had a lot to gain from this relationship.

The most important thing for a developing country is to understand the benefits a big investor such as China can bring. “Israel is far ahead of any other country … in recognizing the importance of Chinese investment and cultivating commercial ties inside China,” says Dorian Barak, private investor and CEO of Indigo Global.

Learn the Best Ways of Making International Investments

The key in foreign investments is finding the specific industries that one country is most focused on. For example, the Middle East is famous for its oil and gas industry. On the other hand, Chile is known for its rare minerals. There are multiple other industries that are constantly growing in all areas of the world. Therefore, investing in something that has a long history and growth potential in an area is more secure and lowers investment risks.

There are multiple ways of investing to diversify the financial portfolio. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are one of the most popular ways of investing in foreign markets. Along with mutual funds, ETFs add to portfolio diversity. That’s because they hold a basket of international stocks and bonds that investors can gain access to with just one transaction.

There are many different types of ETFs, depending on the area of the investments. For example, there are as international funds, regional funds, country funds, and sector funds.

International funds rely on investing broadly across multiple countries outside of the investors’ area of development. Regional funds focus on investing in specific regions, such as Asia or the Middle East. Country funds invest in specific countries, like Russia or Spain. Sector funds focus on investments in a particular sector, such as energy or gold, but spread across multiple countries that rely on that industry.

What Fund Type Is Best?

With all the available options for foreign investments, there comes the rising question of what fund type is the best. The answer depends on the objectives and risks an individual is willing to take.

Financial advisors usually recommend that younger investors choose funds that have a higher risk but offer the potential for bigger returns. Meanwhile, older investors should seek lower-risk funds that can provide them more stability. The general advice is that, no matter the choice, the funds should meet an investor’s objectives and risk appetite.

There are typically two ways investors can gain direct access to foreign stocks. One way is to open a global account with a broker in their country that provides the ability of buying foreign shares. Alternatively, they can open an account with a local broker from the targeted country that provides services for foreign investors.

The Risks of Investing in International Markets

All investments hold risks, and the foreign market is no exception. This is exactly why experts recommend creating a diversified portfolio. If, for example, the economy or currency of a country is starting to spiral downward due to poor governmental decisions, an individual’s other investments won’t be affected.

But just like domestic investments, foreign investments come with some risks. For example:

Currency Exchange Rate

Most foreign investments generate capital in their local currency. This means that investors need to convert these currencies at some point. With the exchange rate fluctuating over time, this can lead to substantial gains or losses.

Geopolitical Risks

Many developing countries face geopolitical risks, such as hostile neighbors or terrorism that can influence the country’s economy.

Economic Risks

While some countries have a stable economy, developing countries may face economic events that can seriously affect the companies that are operating within them. That’s because foreign companies often depend on their host country’s economy.

RELATED ARTICLE: STOCK MARKET INVESTING: THE BEST WAYS TO EDUCATE YOURSELF

Is Foreign Investing Worth the Risk?

With all the variables involving foreign markets, investors must ask themselves: Is international investing really worth the risk?

The answer depends on the area of interest. Some countries thrive in a particular industry and have remained global leaders throughout the years. For example, consider China in regard to technological development. China’s great strides in this area make technological investment decisions in China quite sound.

Other countries, such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway, have developed more toward the financial and healthcare industries. That makes these sectors more stable and easier to approach in those countries.

No matter the niche, experts recommend having at least 20% of your portfolio allocated toward international investments. Then you can increase the percentage over time, depending on market capitalization changes.

If you have ever wanted to work from home but haven’t yet found the right opportunity, we have a suggestion for you. Selling CBD edibles and other CBD-based products could be exactly what you have been looking for. What’s more, starting your at-home business has never been easier or more lucrative.

RELATED ARTICLE: 4 WAYS TO BECOME A MORE DISCIPLINED ENTREPRENEUR

But First, What Is CBD?

You might be wondering what CBD is, exactly. CBD stands for cannabidiol. This is a compound that comes from the hemp plant. Many people think that marijuana and hemp are the same, but they’re not. As a matter of fact, they’re two separate species of the plant Cannabis sativa.

Hemp’s trendy cousin, marijuana, produces tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. This is the cannabis derivative that’s known for its psychoactive qualities. CBD and THC are only two of the more than five hundred chemical compounds contained in cannabis plants.

So, THC gets people high. Cannabidiol, or CBD, on the other hand, is better known for its medicinal qualities. It won’t get your customers high. However, users say it provides them with pain relief, calms them when they’re anxious, and helps the insomniacs among them fall asleep when they need to.

That’s why CBD products in general are selling like hotcakes, and CBD edibles are among the most popular of those quickly selling items.

Are CBD Edibles Legal?

The legality of all cannabis products in the United States, including CBD edibles, is shifting rapidly. While most cannabis products remain illegal at the federal level, voters in multiple states have voted to decriminalize them or even legalize them for either medicinal or recreational use or both.

As a matter of fact, there is already one CBD drug in the US that has been approved at the federal level by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That drug is Epidiolex, approved for the treatment of certain types of epilepsy in children and available by prescription.

Accordingly, even in locales where CBD edibles and other CBD products are not yet fully legal, the US Drug Enforcement Agency appears to have relaxed their enforcement of the restrictions against CBD that still exist.

Choose the CBD Affiliate Program That Really Works

If you’re thinking of starting a home business with CBD edibles, you need to be sure you’re working with a trusted company. You want to work with a company, in other words, that treats its sales affiliates right. That’s why you need to take a serious look at Meds Biotech.

This company offers only the highest quality CBD products, all formulated from natural ingredients by trained pharmacists. Plus, their CBD affiliate program is state of the art. You’ll get support when you need it, as well as access to your sales figures around the clock, every day of the week.

Even better, they’ll do all the marketing for you. All you need to do is sign up, get your link from the Meds Biotech website, and then share your link. In only a short time, you will be earning a 25% commission on all your sales of CBD edibles and other CBD products.

Image from Pixabay on Pexels

How to Find CBD Edibles and Other CBD Products

To find
the CBD edibles and other CBD products to offer to your customers, go to the
Meds Biotech website. There you’ll find CBD gummies in a variety of flavors and
shapes. While you’re there, also check out their selection of capsules, oils,
and CBD products for bath and body.

Deep Discount for New Affiliates

Meds Biotech offers a sales affiliate program that is second to none. And it’s ideal for anyone who wants to work from home, earn a six-figure income, and have fun doing it.

What’s more, for a limited time, new affiliates can get half off their first purchase. Just enter the code MEDSBIOTECH50 and get 50% off any CBD product in the entire store, including CBD edibles.

We all know the story about the guy who woke up one day, got a really cool idea, and started a successful online business from his basement. For example, Apple, Amazon and Google come to mind.

Live Your Dream Life with a Successful Online Business

Nowadays, in this fast-changing digital environment in which we can’t imagine a day without the Internet and social media, starting a successful online business seems more possible than ever. You don’t need advanced technology, a big team, or expensive resources to offer a service or a product that will find its way to customers all around the globe.

Moreover, as more and more people work remotely and use online services no matter where they are located, online business is something you should definitely consider as your next career stop. Plus, this kind of business will allow you to join a constantly growing community of digital nomads who live their dream lives while traveling the world.

If you believe that you need a large amount of money or a huge investment to launch a successful online business, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, a good Internet connection, a computer, and an original idea are all you need to start.

The Internet is full of free resources, platforms, and tools you can use to turn your idea into a successful business story. For example, you can start a website or a blog for free. Or, sell any kind of products via Amazon or eBay with no inventory costs. Now, let’s take a look at a few online businesses you can start with little to no investment.

Have You Considered Drop Shipping?

No matter where you live or what kind of product you want to buy, you can do it without leaving your couch. What’s more, it takes only a single click.

In the last couple of years, traditional shopping as we once knew it has been redefined. Customers now use eCommerce platforms to order products that are delivered straight to their doorstep. This change brought drop shipping to the scene.

Basically, drop shipping is a retail method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a customer orders a product, the store purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped to the customer. This means that the merchant will never see or stock the product.

How Can You Use This Mechanism for Starting Your Own Drop Shipping Business?

First, list products for sale on your website or well-known platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. Then, when one of your customers makes a purchase, you buy that product from a third-party company for a price that’s lower than your sale price. Finally, your drop shipper (a manufacturer or wholesaler) sends the product to the customer.

The great thing about this process is that it can be completely automated. Therefore, you have plenty of time to focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing.

If you find yourself considering this business option, do your best to find a reliable drop shipper. This is how you will make sure the product is delivered on time and that it fits your customer’s expectations. As you can see, drop shipping can easily become a successful online business.

Try Your Hand at Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be another great opportunity to create a successful online business with zero investment.

In short, affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s product. As an affiliate, you promote a product and earn a piece of the profit whenever you help make a sale.

If you find this interesting, you can start by picking a profitable niche for your online business. Then, find an affiliate partner who offers products in that niche. Each product will have a unique link that tracks back to your account with your affiliate partner.

Thereafter, it will be your job to come up with creative ways to promote those product links. When a customer clicks on a link, they’re taken directly to your partner’s shopping cart. And once the purchase is made, you receive a commission.

It Requires No Shipping or Inventory

To successfully run this type of online business all you have to do is to handle the marketing to get your prospects to buy. You can spread the word via social media, email marketing, or blogging. The best part is that you don’t have to ship products or maintain an inventory. Also, if you don’t know where to find affiliate partners, start with Clickbank.com, Amazon.com or CJ Affiliate by Conversant.

Have You Ever Thought About Blogging?

Have a passion
for writing? Want to share your knowledge while earning money? A personal
blog is a great place to start. What’s more, blogging can lead, in time, to a
successful online business with little investment.

For example, with the WordPress platform you can start up your blog for free in no time. Simply choose your domain, secure hosting, and select your niche. Then, just start writing.

Here are a few things you should keep in mind if you want to monetize your blogging.

High-quality
written content is just the beginning. Also post photos, videos, or links to
other sites. The important part is to post on a regular basis and to create the type of content that is relevant to your target audience. This is the
best way to position better on Google and drive more traffic to your
blog.

Pair Blogging with PPC Ads and Affiliate Marketing to Generate Income

One proven
method for making money with a blog is advertising.
Pay-per-click ads are great options for a reason. Every time somebody clicks on
an ad on your site, you will make a few cents or more. While that might
not seem like much, it can accumulate over time. Just
get a code from Google and place it on your website. Then ads will
automatically appear on your blog.

Affiliate marketing is also a great option for bloggers. Simply include links to products related to your niche and wait for somebody to buy them. Before you know it, your commission will be on its way to you.

One way of getting people to click on your affiliate links is by writing product reviews. Let your readers know all the benefits of a specific product and then include a link to purchase it.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO USE INFLUENCER MARKETING TO BOOST YOUR BRAND

This is how many influencers earn a living: They collaborate with big brands. Doesn’t this sound like a really cool way to have a successful online business?

Creative Types Do Well with Online Videos

There’s a reason why video continues to be one of the most popular forms of content. Statistics say that 78% of people watch online videos every week. What’s more, 55% view them every day. As a matter of fact, by 2022, videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. This all means that videos are no longer simply a nice content option; they are a necessity. So, why not use this momentum? You could earn cash by creating original video content.

Thanks to platforms like YouTube, you don’t need any major investments to get started with this type of successful online business. Just find the niche in which you can share useful tips, knowledge, or any kind of advice.

Work on your concept and get good with storytelling. Finally, start uploading videos. Once you’ve got a good channel going, you can start making money with ad revenue. Simply enable monetization in your YouTube settings to let Google include short AdSense ads with your videos. Whenever your viewers click on these ads, you will get paid.

You Could Attract Paid Sponsorships

Another way of earning money with videos is through paid sponsorships. If you have a large enough community watching your videos, there will surely be some companies ready to pay you to promote their products and services in your videos. However, before you start down the path toward YouTube stardom, here are some tips for creating professional-looking videos.

1. Always make sure the lighting is good and the camera or smartphone you use has good resolution.
2. Make sure your audio is clear. The best way of ensuring good audio quality is by using a separate microphone (not the one on your camera or smartphone).
3. Edit your videos after filming. Cut out any excess material. Also, include titles, calls to action, and so on.

Build a Successful Online Business Around Information Products

A successful online business doesn’t have to be only about selling physical products. Instead, you can focus on digital information products. For instance, could you create tutorials, courses, and the like?

While making a quality information product generally costs next to nothing, it does take time and knowledge. But if you feel like you have talents and skills worth sharing, why not give it a try? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Audio: a recorded teleconference, interview, course, or audiobook
• Video: a recorded webinar, a how-to, an interview, tutorials, presentations
• Text: an eBook, an instruction booklet of some sort, a travel guide

No matter what kind of content you want to create, keep it engaging and useful. This is how you can make sure its popularity will grow and it will find its way to new customers.

Take Advantage of Endless Opportunities to Start a Successful Online Business

There are tons of opportunities for making money on the Internet. And thanks to all the free platforms and resources available, you can launch an online business with minimal upfront investment.

While it requires lots of time and effort, becoming a successful entrepreneur is far from impossible these days. Now it’s up to you to choose the approach that best fits your skills and personality. We wish you the best of luck with creating your successful online business!

Image by Robert-Owen-Wahl from Pixabay

A critical element in successful negotiations is emotional intelligence. But what is emotional intelligence and how can we use this key skill to ensure successful negotiations?

What Is Emotional
Intelligence?

In Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, he describes how this skill can be divided into two parts. Further, he asserts that in order to have a successful business deal you need to have self-awareness as well as self-control with your emotions.

What Are Emotions?

An emotion is a mental reaction such as anger or happiness. When you have an emotion, you experience a feeling that is connected to a thought.

Generally speaking, our emotions are usually directed toward a specific object or person. Moreover, they are typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

With self-awareness we gain the ability to read our own emotions. What’s more, we begin to recognize the role that those feelings play in our decision-making. As we grow in self-awareness, we begin to gain self-control. This is the ability to manage our emotions and impulses and to adapt to changing circumstances.

Emotional Intelligence Teaches You to Manage Your Emotions

Emotions play a vital role when we’re in search of a resolution. When we have not yet learned to manage our emotions, we find it harder to come to a peaceful resolution.

A good place to start is to understand yourself, your intentions, and your behavior. Secondly, make an effort to understand others, their feelings, their intentions, and their responses.

Why Is Emotional Intelligence So Important?

Understanding emotions is critical in negotiation. That’s because you are responsible, at least in part, for the feelings of those you are negotiating with. For example, if you are doing or saying something that is irritating to the other person, cooperation will be more difficult to achieve.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO PREPARE TO RUN YOUR OWN BUSINESS WHILE STILL IN SCHOOL

Are You an Introvert or
an Extrovert?

One of the basics of emotional intelligence is knowing whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.

Extroverts tend to be more communicative. Further, they tend to be more emotionally open people. They are more inclined to voice their views as well as their likes and dislikes. However, extroverts have a bigger challenge when they’re negotiating. That’s because extroverts may lack the self-control and self-discipline negotiation requires.

On the other hand, introverts lean toward being more deliberate in their responses. In other words, they are more inclined to reflect, weigh, and consider before speaking.

What’s more, these are valuable skills in negotiations. The more prudent your communication, the less likely you are to give away your position by saying too much.

Play Your Cards Close to Your Vest in Negotiations

As a matter of fact, the last thing you want to do during a negotiation is make yourself vulnerable to the other party. This you can easily do by giving them more information that you need to, making your actions easier for them to guess.

Curb Your Competitive Nature

Regardless of your level of emotional intelligence, successful negotiations in business can be challenging. Therefore, it is important to learn to manage your need to win.

For example, when you’re engaged in a negotiation, do you feel internal pressure get a better deal than the one that was originally on the table? If so, learn not to let ego and greed get in your way.

This tendency can be particularly difficult to manage. Although business is all about winning and outperforming your competitors, many people lose out on good deals because their desire to win is so high.

This is why some businesses turn to experts for negotiation consulting. In this way, they train their staff on the best negotiation tactics.

Learn How to Deal with
Rejection

On the other hand, some inexperienced negotiators start with an offer that they know the other party can accept because they fear hearing the word “no.”

However, if you learn to open with a position that asks for what you want and yet is realistic, you will hear the word “no” a lot. It is part of the process, though, and you should expect it.

Keep the Dialogue Open

Whatever you do, learn to keep the dialogue open. When you do, the other party will be less likely to walk away. To do this, invite the other person to tell you how close they can come to your offer.

This keeps the conversation professional, rather than emotional. And it allows them to talk about your position as well as theirs.

Additionally, effective negotiation depends on recognizing and managing non-verbal cues. You’ll also need to learn how to sense personal and social biases. All of this comes with emotional intelligence.

Use these skills to develop trust, an essential element in communicating, especially with difficult people.

Emotional Intelligence Helps You to Build Trust

When it comes to emotional intelligence and influencing another person, we must understand how the other negotiator is perceiving us. We also need to understand how that perception matches with her or his wants, needs, and desires. This is essential to building trust, which is a necessary ingredient to any successful negotiation.

Emotional Intelligence
Can Help You Succeed at Life

Emotional intelligence can help you to succeed in negotiations. What’s more, it can also help you to succeed in life as well. That’s because negotiations are a fundamental aspect of learning to live with other human beings.

So cultivate your emotional intelligence, and learn to use it to your benefit. It will take you far in business—and in life.

Every business wants loyal customers. It doesn’t matter if yours is big or small, old or new, offline or online—this fact holds true. Fortunately, there are a number of low-effort methods for retaining your ecommerce customers.

Read on to find out more about turning one-time buyers into loyal customers in the ecommerce realm.

What Is
Ecommerce?

What is ecommerce? Shopify defines ecommerce as “the buying and selling of goods or services using the Internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.”

Did you notice the part about transfer of data? in other words, ecommerce businesses can strategically use the data they collect from online shoppers to retarget and retain buyers.

How to Retain
and Retarget Your Ecommerce Customers

Therefore, without further ado, here’s how to keep ecommerce customers through retention and retargeting schemes.

Take
Advantage of Online Advertising

Targeted advertising is all the rage these days, and with good reason. Instead of merely buying ad space on a webpage or blog, which could be shown to anybody, you purchase the opportunity to remind specific users about your e-store.

For example, if a web user visits your store twice a day to view the same jean jacket, he or she will likely be shown an advertisement for that jacket on a third-party website through the use of cookies. This helps keep your ecommerce store top of mind. Moreover, it could motivate a purchase.

Harness the Power of Email Marketing

While social media is the talk of the town right now, you shouldn’t ignore the old standby—email marketing.

As a matter of fact, ecommerce email marketing has a reported ROI of $40 for every one dollar spent. Luckily, it’s easy to capture a customer’s email address. For example, just use email campaign subscription opt-ins or checkout forms.

However, don’t abuse this privilege. In other words, don’t send your ecommerce customers spam or other unwanted messages.

RELATED ARTICLE: 3 EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGIES TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS

If you want to harness the power of email marketing, there are a number of approaches you can take. The first is run-of-the-mill marketing announcements. These include store news, notices of upcoming sales, alerts regarding new product launches, and the like.

Get Personal
with Your Ecommerce Customers

The second type is personalized email messages. These should mention the shopper’s first name along with content specific to them. For instance, “Hey Jessica. Are you enjoying your new cookware? Find deep discounts on kitchen products in our clearance section!”

RELATED ARTICLE: BIG DATA: 6 WAYS LEARNING HOW TO USE IT WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS

The email starts by getting the buyer’s attention. Then it provides them recommendations based on their recent purchases. However, don’t get too specific. That’s because some of your ecommerce customers could find hyper-specific messages creepy.

Retarget Your
Ecommerce Customers

A third suggestion is to retarget shoppers who have inexplicably abandoned their carts before completing their orders. This doesn’t have to be a big to-do.

Instead, make it a gentle nudge reminding your customer about their pending order. For example: “Hi Tom. We noticed you had three items in your cart. Complete your order to avoid missing out on these exciting products. If you have any questions or need further assistance, see our contact page.”

A note like this one could make the difference between a successful sale and a missed opportunity.

Leverage Order Fulfillments for Retargeting Your Ecommerce Customers

Then again,
not every method of retargeting is digital. There are tactics to retarget
customers offline as well.

Consider your order fulfillments for a moment. A first-time buyer purchases something from your website and waits eagerly by their mailbox for its delivery. Once the package is in hand, she tears open the box and is delighted to see her merchandise.

She tosses the cardboard box into the recycling bin and forgets about your e-store. And this is despite the fact that she loves your product.

You just missed
an opportunity to retarget this customer.

How to Retarget This Customer

To retarget this customer, consider dropping limited-time coupon codes into the delivery box. For example, one could read, “30 percent off your next order. Good for 60 days.”

The idea is to offer the new buyer a personalized discount code that automatically reintroduces them into the ecommerce sales cycle within a short period of time following their first purchase. And since it’s a unique coupon code, you can track the efficacy of this program. Pretty clever, no?

Stay Front
and Center with Your Ecommerce Customers

As you can see, retargeting and retaining ecommerce customers is all about keeping your ecommerce website top of mind. This can be accomplished through digital advertising, email marketing, or even during the order fulfillment process.

Of course, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other methods out there. Therefore, feel free to experiment until you find what works best with your ecommerce customers.