Tag Archives: network

What Does Passion Mean For Your Small Business

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Hosting

The post What Does Passion Mean For Your Small Business appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . “The best advice I could give anyone is to spend your time working on whatever you are passionate about in life.” – Richard Branson Passion is a big word in the business world, especially with the growth of online technologies that now make it much easier for people to follow their passions and turn them into a business. However, that doesn’t mean the process is going to be any easier. As you know running your business is more than a full-time job, but when it’s a labor of love it can make the process much more enjoyable. In this post we’re going to explore passion in the business world, what it means, and ways to become passionate about your business if it’s not quite there for you.   Why Start A Business In The First Place? People start businesses for a variety of reasons. It would be impossible to list them all here. It doesn’t even have to be said, but most people are in business to make money. Most people don’t go into business to go bankrupt. A lot of people start a business because they see a hole in the market that can be filled with their business or service. Sometimes people are serial entrepreneurs and bounce from industry to industry finding problems and building solutions for those problems. Other people take a more artistic sense and are looking for creative fulfillment. This type of person seeks creative fulfillment through their product or service. They look to flex their creative muscles and solve problems using their unique service or product. Passion comes in many forms, as many forms as there are people on earth. If passion is your root reason for pursuing a business idea, then by all means pursue it until the end of the earth. If you’re wired to start a business about what you’re passionate about then a part of you won’t be satisfied until you do. After all, when you’re doing something you’re immersed in it doesn’t really feel like work.   Can I Become Passionate? If you started your business to fill a market need and you really want to become passionate about your work there are a few ways to nurture passion, without selling your business and starting a new one from scratch. If you started a business for the money and now you want to become passionate about your work, first you need to have a deep understanding of what you like to do and what your strengths are. If you can adapt these to your current work day, or introduce new aspects into your business then you’ll be well on your way towards bringing passion into your work. Below you’ll find a few questions that will help you uncover your passion and strengths: What would you do every day, even if you weren’t being paid to do it? What do you think your core strengths are? What could you immerse yourself in for hours at a time? If you could only do one activity for the rest of your life what would it be? Once you find your strengths the key is going to be building a bridge between passion and your current work reality. You have to be creative to do this, but I have faith in you. It might mean adjusting your work priorities, daily agenda, or introducing a new service or product for you to manage. Passion is an important ingredient to have, not only for your business, but for your life. web hosting Continue reading →

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Time Management For Entrepreneurs

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Hosting

The post Time Management For Entrepreneurs appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . As an entrepreneur your time is sacred. You may marvel at those who seem to accomplish marvelous feats in the same 24 hours each day with which you both have to work. You might even start to believe that by some miracle they’ve been given an extra hour or two a day. There is no secret, it just requires taking an active approach to managing your time and seeing what needs to be changed. In this post we’re going to explore a simple process that will help you get more from your time, so you can do more every single day.   1. Understand How You Spend Your Time One of the most important elements of managing your time is understanding how your spend your time. Your time seems to either expand or contact based upon how you spend it, and chances are you waste a lot of your time with aimless activities you aren’t aware that you’re doing. For a week bring around a notebook, or piece of paper and record how you spent the last hour of your time. Over a week this will help to give you a realistic picture of how your time is spent.   2. Know The Most Important Activities For Your Business Once you have an understanding of how you’ve been spending or wasting your time you need to be equipped with an understanding of what activities are important for your business. There’s an old adage that essentially states 20 percent of your activities will be responsible for 80 percent of your results. It’s your job to uncover what these 20 percent activities are. Here’s a hint, usually they’re the ones you avoid the most. They’re the ones you could put off all day if you had to. Look where you have the most resistance and you’ll very often find the important activities.   3. Let Your Schedule Be Your Friend Your schedule and your to-do lists will now become your best friend. Your schedule will be your holy grail of how you’re spending your time. If you’re not used to using a schedule, then your time estimates for certain activities might be off. But, never let anything cross your mind without scheduling it, or adding it to your to-do list. To-do lists are effective in that they help clear your mind of precious mental space. This helps you to focus when you’re actually immersed in an activity, instead of trying to remember that thing you forgot to do. Another way to schedule is to schedule based on certain activities and actions, instead of hours on a clock. This can be helpful if your work is more creatively based, or artistic and less dependent on the clock.   4. Focus Will Extend The Time You Have To Work With As I’m sure you’re aware time seems to pass at different speeds depending on where we’re at and what we’re doing. If we’re waiting in line time seems to drag on forever, but if we’re focused and immersed in what we’re doing then time seems to stretch out a little. The key to having this occur more often than not is mastering your ability to focus. This means you’ll need to take extra care in cutting out any distractions, and making sure you have everything you need for the task at hand. This means no more multitasking. When you distract yourself from the task at hand you actually end up losing time, as it takes longer for your mind to get back to the task you were just doing.   5. Take Care Of Yourself Lastly, you need to make sure you’re in peak condition. If your mind and body are healthy it’s going to be much easier to focus. You know what works for you, but make sure you’re exercising regularly and giving yourself time to unwind. When you’re healthy and stress-free your mind works more efficiently, so you’ll be using less time for the same tasks. As the master of your time you’re going to be much more efficient getting things done if you actually feel good. Managing your time properly doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, once you stick with it for a little bit, it’ll become second nature. What are your best tips for maximizing your time? Let us know in the comments! web hosting Continue reading →

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Broad Language in Australian Online Infringement Bill Could Harm Consumer Choice, ISPs

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Hosting

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has raised some concerns in a submission this week to the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015. Among its chief concerns is the ambiguity “about what constitutes infringement in relation to the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to gain access to geo-blocked products and services.” Continue reading →

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Easy to Implement Local SEO Tactics For Small Business Owners

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Hosting

The post Easy to Implement Local SEO Tactics For Small Business Owners appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . If you operate a local small business that is dependent on sales from customers in close vicinity, then implementing a local SEO campaign is extremely helpful to your business. Benefits include: Increase your local brand awareness Target highly qualified traffic Drives more store visits Less competition than organic SEO All of these factors lead to an increase in sales and have an impact on your bottom line. Here’s a basic checklist for a successful local SEO campaign.   Your Checklist To Local SEO Success 1. Optimize Your Website Page Title Tags should: Include your business name, keyword, and your city. Not have the same title tag on every page. Not be keyword stuffed. Not be longer than 60 characters. Enhance/Update homepage content. Have separate product and/or service pages. Add a customized location page. One for each location if you have more than one.   2. Implement Schema On Your Website Add Schema Mark-Up to your website. Schema code helps search engines understand more quickly what your business does and where it does it. For example, make it easy for search engines to understand that you’re a lawyer in Chicago who deals in criminal law. Chances are you’re indexed faster and show up higher in the results.   3. Get a Google+ Local Listing & Optimize it Have you claimed your listing? Great! No listing = No local ranking results in Google so go get listed now . An optimized Google+ local page entices potential clients and stands out against competitors. Here are some best practices to follow for your Google+ listing: Business Name – Add your official ‘doing business as’ (DBA) name. Address – Format with U.S.P.S. guidelines. Contact Info – Primary phone number should be your main landline. Description – Create a unique and easy to read description of your business. Photos – Add a profile photo, cover photo, and a few unique images of your business.   4. Get Local Business Listings (Citations) Business directories (citations) are essential to your local SEO success. Make sure your NAP – Business Name, Address, and Phone Number – are consistent on all your listings. Search for citations in your industry and city, for instance join your local chamber of commerce. Incorrect citations have a negative impact on your ability to rank locally. Search for any old/outdated citations, duplicates, or incorrect business listings that require updates or removal.   5. Get Reviews! Positive online reviews not only help your business establish trust and standout from the competition, but reviews also help you connect with your clients, improve your services and build your reputation. Review sites available to consumers are Google+, Yelp, Facebook, and industry specific sites like UrbanSpoon and Avvo. Request customer feedback through: follow up emails, after you complete your service, on your receipts and invoices, or through a review management platform, place review site stickers in your store like, Find Us on Yelp , or Like Us on Facebook. Respond to reviews, both positive and negative reviews. This shows your customers you’re listening and value their feedback.   6. Create Local Content Create local content that is relevant to your business and the city you live in. For example, talk about local events you’re involved in or review local events. If you are part of a local charity, tell your customers about it, use images, and link to the charity. There’s endless opportunities when you use creative thinking about the events and businesses in your area of town.   7. Find Local Link Opportunities Positive local links that point to your website impacts your sites ability to rank well geographically. It may seem challenging at first, but there are many ways to acquire links. Not sure where to start? Brainstorm and evaluate what you already do as a company, for example: Do you have any local partnerships or business relationships? Are you a member of any business communities? Have you hosted an industry meet-up? Still stuck in the brainstorming department? Review this guide to local link building .   Finishing Up This checklist is intended to help you successfully implement a local SEO campaign for your business. This is a great starting point for any business owner looking to enhance their current online marketing strategy from a local standpoint.   ***** Whitespark is an online marketing company that builds specialized software and provides services to help businesses manage their local search. We constantly develop and grow our business to ensure our clients receive intelligent and viable marketing solutions. web hosting Continue reading →

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Vendors Push Telco Cloud NFVs Atop OpenStack

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Hosting

Brought to you by Data Center Knowledge A two pair of technology giants has teamed up on Network Function Virtualization offerings. Oracle is using Intel’s Open Network Platform, and Canonical and Ericsson are teaming up to target the telecom cloud space. Both pairings are focusing their efforts atop OpenStack. Network… Continue reading →

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