PSPinc Official Company Blog

Setting up a Facebook business page is easy and can be done in a matter of minutes, either from a computer or your mobile device.

1. Start by going to www.facebook.com/pages/creation/.

2. From there, you’ll have two options to choose from: click on the Business or Brand option to get started.

3. Next, enter your page name and pick a category that best describes your page.

4. Upload a clear and high-quality profile picture and a cover image that best represents your business.

5. Congratulations! Welcome to your new Facebook business page. You just need to add a bit more information to finish up. Add a short description and complete the “About” section which you can find in the left-side menu.

Your page is really starting to take shape now! All you need to do is create your first post and start engaging with customers. You can also invite people -- friends, family and employees -- to like or follow your page and encourage them to share with others.

Your business page can also start following other business pages as well, particularly vendors, clients, business partners, and find a bigger audience to engage with that way.

Facebook is a great platform for sharing about new or seasonal products, services, promotions, tutorials and more. Use great photos and short descriptions for the best chance to reach people. You can also publish short videos or do a live video stream as well.

Once you get more savvy, you might want to explore setting a budget for creating Facebook ads or boosting posts that seem popular. This is yet another way to increase your reach and post popularity on Facebook.

When it comes to setting up a remote office for your employee, communication isn’t the only critical piece to consider. It’s also important to have a separate (or additional) work policy in place so expectations are clear for everyone, and business operations won't be disrupted.

Here are some questions to consider when formulating a new or additional telecommuting employee policy:

Devices. Whose computer and devices will your employee use – the company’s or their own? What if something breaks – what should they do? What kind of data protection program or anti-virus software should they install? Who pays for what?

Internet Access. What if the internet connection is slower at the employee’s home or remote office location? Will this affect work flow, communication, and employee productivity?

Office Supplies. Who will pay for general office supplies like paper and pens? Do you have a purchase approval or reimbursement policy in place?

Workstation/Office Setup. Will you care how your employee’s workstation is set up? Does it matter if it’s clean or messy, or if the equipment is in a secure location? Do you want to explore insurance options? Is the space a welcome place for clients, if meetings are needed? Would it make sense for you to provide your employee with an office space near their home instead of allowing them to work at home?

Accountability. Will you implement a routine for meeting, getting updates, and seeing work progress? When would you like to be updated? How often should you meet in person or over conference calls to receive updates?

Job Descriptions. Ultimately, what positions in your company will you allow to work remotely? Depending on the nature of your business, not all job descriptions may be a good fit for telecommuting. Have good and logical reasons to say yes or no if an employee asks to work from home.

Remember, the end goal by allowing people to telecommute is to gain more productivity and efficiency within your business. Don’t lose sight of your goal while coming up with a plan.

If you’ve been following our previous blogs on how to set up a remote office, you’ll want to keep reading because we’ve just scratched the surface. Today is all about communication and how to keep it seamless between headquarters and remote offices. Obviously, talking to your coworker across the aisle, desk, or even on the same floor is much easier than figuring out a time to talk remotely. Knowing email is not the best method of communicating when it comes to more detailed discussions, what’s the best way to get everyone on the same page?

Here’s what we suggest:

1) Implement a Chat Program

The next best thing to talking, chat programs can provide you an instant real-time line of communication, but it’s important to have the right tools to be most effective. For instance, do you have a chat program that can record a transcript of your communication, so you can look back on it for reference? Having that history of a prior conversation may be advantageous when you need to recall what was said. Choose a chat program that keeps a log of your conversations so you, the business owner, can keep record of conversations and important communication back and forth.

2) Confirm with Email

Yup. Good old email is still a necessity. It’s probably the best way to confirm decisions that were made or instructions that were discussed over a chat program. Think of it this way: chat rooms are where you discuss the nitty gritty, the strategies, and brainstorm together. Afterward, email is where you send the notes, and confirm the overall decisions that were made, copying all parties involved.

3) Call for Clarity

No matter how many forms of text channels we use to confirm business decisions, hearing someone’s voice is still best. You can’t always pick up a person’s tone, sarcasm, seriousness, or sense of urgency over messages. Email and messaging unfortunately don’t portray emotions clearly, which is why it’s important to follow up with a phone call or conference if there’s any question about your digital discussions.

When working remotely, the downside is not being able to walk over to your co-worker’s desk and have a conversation or check something on their computer screen. Fortunately, technology has brought us to a place where we can get pretty darn close to that kind of experience.

For example, with Skype, you can video conference as well as share screens. The best part – it’s free! You simply start the conversation via video or voice option, and click the “Share Screen” button. Other free conference systems exist as well, and they may be good enough for what you need. You might find, however, you want some of the paid upgrades, so it’s just a matter of evaluating your needs and your ROI to determine what makes sense.

Sharing computer screens probably won’t be the only thing your team needs to share. You will need to plan a way to share documents. When you’re in the office, it’s easy to log on to the network to access the drive for shared files, but that won’t work for remote office locations.

If you already have a file server, it may be as simple as installing a virtual private network (VPN) so you can allow secure access to the server from outside the office. You can also consider using a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive and share files that way.

A word to the wise – a service may claim to be secure, but I still recommend password protecting all sensitive files when you put them in the cloud. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry!

See our previous blog on setting up your remote office communication.

We’ve already determined that working remotely is beneficial for some employees and businesses, that is, if everything is set up correctly so the two can communicate seamlessly. Let’s talk about collaboration tools.

Consider how you work in your office: The important things include your computer or laptop, your cell phone and business line. If you work in a remote office, it’s easy to have all of those things, and you can keep the appearance of working at headquarters by getting a business phone extension using cloud technology called “hosted PBX” (private branch exchange). You don’t even have to have a physical telephone for it to work.

With hosted PBX your phone line is in the cloud. You can choose to use a handset, headset, or simply setup a “soft phone” on your computer, or thru an app on your cell phone. With your “hosted” telephone system, an answering system or receptionist can simply transfer a call to your preferred answering method over the internet via the cloud.

If you’ve already invested in traditional PBX, ask your vendor if they offer a soft phone option via the internet. Some companies may offer it as an additional feature, in the event you want to set up an employee to work remotely.

If you choose to go with hosted PBX, unlike traditional PBX in your office, you will not need to buy the hardware initially. You won’t even need a telephone line coming into your office. But you will end up paying more per month if you have more than a few employees on the hosted system. The hosted PBX will charge you per seat (meaning per user) and it can be expensive.

Asses what you need and how much you are willing to spend initially vs. annually (or monthly) on remote office locations. Before making any changes or commitments to your employees, determine whether the benefits of telecommuting outweigh the potential increase in operating costs.

In the Seattle area, and most other metropolitan cities, it seems the commuter traffic gets worse every day. Some of us are lucky enough to live on a bus line or have access to a train, but many people don’t have those options. Even carpools and vanpools are getting backed up. To make matters worse, housing is becoming so ridiculously expensive, many workers are choosing to find more affordable options further away from the city.

According to the US Census Bureau, if you commute more than 50 miles to work, or if it takes 90 minutes or more each way, you are in a group of “mega commuters.” The Seattle area was ranked third after San Francisco and San Jose for the fastest-growing mega-commuter metro area in the US.

In a 2015 census, the average one-way commute in Seattle was 30 minutes. Imagine how much time you could gain if you weren’t stuck in traffic for an hour every work day? If you work Monday through Friday, that’s 5 hours a week, or 260 hours a year, or 10.5 days. You could sleep an extra hour, spend more time with your family, exercise, or watch one more show.

More and more companies, like ours, recognize the hassle of commuting, not to mention the waste of time. By allowing employees to telecommute, companies can reduce employee stress, retain valuable hard workers, and generally improve the quality of life for a lot of people. You might even see an increase in productivity.

Like with most things nowadays, we are not tied to one location. Thanks to the power of the Internet and virtual systems, we can connect on professional levels at home or on the go with almost the same efficiency as being at the office. This month we will cover things you need to consider when setting up remote offices, so your business can keep running smoothly and efficiently.

1. Identify audience

Understanding who your target audience is will help you build a marketing funnel (read part 1) that drives people towards a conversion. Think about what solutions they’re seeking and how they’re searching for them. What are their interests? And what are some barriers that could keep them from moving down the funnel?

2. Enlist assets

Your business has assets that can be used in your marketing funnel to inform your audience about your company. Build a list that includes: your website, blog, newsletter, videos, graphics, free demos, coupon codes, and more; and identify which stage of your funnel each asset will be used.

3. Create content

After creating your asset list you may see some gaps in your funnel where there could be more information. This gives you an opportunity to create new or update existing content that can help fill in those gaps and add incentive for your audience to move towards taking an action. This could mean creating ‘How To’ videos, updating a piece of content that had high-traffic, or even hosting an event.

4. Generate traffic

You’ve identified your audience and you have all your assets ready to go, but what if you don’t have any traffic. Your next step is to generate traffic into the top of your funnel. You can do this through SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay-per-Click), social media ads, influencer marketing, or having guest posts on your blog. There is no one way that will bring you the most traffic, test a few and remember that these things take time, don’t expect immediate results.

5. Convert leads

You’ve found your audience, built your asset list, and driven traffic into your funnel. Hopefully, by this stage, your audience is ready to take a desired action, but they may still need a final push. A lot of people drop off at this stage so try to figure out any barriers that might stop them. Answer FAQ in an email marketing campaign, give out coupon codes or discounts, and try to give incentives for them to convert. Once they've become a customer keep in contact and keep offering value and they’ll come back for more.

You may call it by a different name: Sales funnel, Marketing funnel, or Conversion funnel. No matter what you call it, your business needs a funnel. So what is a marketing funnel?

Basically, a marketing funnel is the theoretical journey a person takes towards a purchase or action. The path from awareness to action is, in essence, the marketing funnel.

There are three main stages of any marketing funnel: top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU).

TOFU: Awareness

The top of the funnel must start with awareness. Unless you’re a household name brand, you have to get your business name or product out there. A person can’t become a customer without being aware of who you are and what you do. This is the largest part of the funnel; it’s not where you’ll make money, but it is where you get people to enter your funnel and begin nurturing leads.

You can do this through marketing campaigns, social media, blog posts, or events and trade shows. At this stage you want to focus on getting your name in front of as many eyes as you can. Once someone has entered your funnel you want to keep them there until they are ready to take some desired action, like a purchase.

MOFU: Evaluation or Consideration

The middle of the funnel is where you start to get more targeted in your approach. You have their attention and now you need to nurture them until they are ready to take an action. Provide them with value through free downloads, podcasts, email marketing, and educational resources like your company blog or YouTube channel.

Give them enough information and show them the benefits of your company or product. Your goal in the middle of the funnel should be to get them to the intent stage where they start to show interest in taking action.

BOFU: Conversion

The bottom of the funnel is the most important step. This is where people decide if they want to take action or not. This means the job’s not over; you still need to give them one last push in the right direction.

Some great ways to do this could be through coupon codes, free trials or demos of your product, showing them reviews, or inviting them to an event. This is the final bit of information or incentive they need to take a desired action. The bottom of the funnel is also where a lot of leads drop off. It could be because they weren’t nurtured enough and thus don't have the right mindset or enough information to take action.

Conclusion

Get people into your funnel with broad marketing strategies that focus on awareness and not so much on selling. Nurture your leads by offering value and information so they can research and discover the benefits of your company. Once they’re ready to take action, be there to give them the last nudge they need to pull the trigger!

1) Add Alt Text to Images

The alt text or “alternate text” is an attribute that is added to an image in case it doesn’t load. If an image doesn’t load or can’t be shown, the alt text will take its place. This is why it’s important to give your image a description as well as add relevant keywords in your alt text. When search engines crawl through your website, they will also crawl your alt text, which will make your images searchable and can help bring more traffic to your site.

2) Add Keywords in the URL

When creating a new page for your website it’s a good idea to put some extra thought into naming the URL. You want your URL to be short, memorable, and easy to spell, but you also want it to contain the most important keyword for that specific page. Consider the most important keyword relevant to the page content and try to insert it in the URL if possible. The rule is to keep it simple and make it count!

3) Utilize Anchor Text

What’s anchor text? Anchor text refers to any text, that when clicked, links you to another page on the same website or it can take you to a different website. It typically shows up with a blue underline beneath the text. You can utilize anchor text by adding links within paragraphs, headers, and more to direct visitors around your website.

4) Include Page Titles

All of the pages on your website should contain a title and a subtitle. Search engines crawl pages and organize their text by its importance to the page, almost like a text hierarchy. The structure of the page tells the search engine what the page is about and will help it rank your page correctly. Similar to the rules for URLs, try to include any relevant keywords in your titles without making them too complex.

5) Add Location Details

Is your company local? Do you serve certain parts of the city or state? Add location details on your website whenever necessary to benefit your local search results. When someone searches the web for something based on location, you’ll have a better chance of showing up on his or her radar.

Marketers and web designers have been talking about keywords for years now and there’s no doubt you’ve heard about it if your business is online. Keywords help companies target specific audiences and reach people at different stages of their search.

Keywords are NOT some magical tool that will boost your website to the top of the search result pages. But, if used wisely, and implemented into your website where they make sense, keywords can drive more of the right customers to find you.

So what are long-tail keywords?

When we say “keywords” we are referring to any word that has to do with a topic. If you’re a flower shop you would consider “flower shop” a keyword on your website.

Let’s take it a step further.

A long-tail keyword is actually a phrase that includes 3 or more words. In the example of a flower shop a long-tail keyword would be “flower shops near Pike Place Market” or “free delivery flower shops near me.”

See the difference?

These keywords do multiple things: They allow you to target a more defined group of people, they’re less competitive than shorter keywords, and they have a higher conversion rate. If someone needs to find a wedding florist in Maui, they may type in "flower shop" or "florist," or they may get more specific and type in something like "wedding florist in Maui." If you are a florist in Maui, it makes sense for you to target those long-tail keywords to attract people more primed to purchase.

Again, keywords are not magic; they are tools you can use to target your audience more directly. By implementing long-tail keywords into your website content, your pay-per-click ads, and your social media, you can increase your chances of finding your next customer.

Let’s recap. Long-tail keywords are:

• Easier to rank for.
• Have higher conversions.
• Allow you to target customers at different stages in their search.