Delegation Skills – The Difference Between a Good Manager and a Great One

Of all the skills you’ll use as a manager, delegation is one of the most valuable. It’s also one of the most underused and underdeveloped management skills. Just 30 percent of managers claim to be able to delegate effectively – and of those 30 percent, only one-third have earned the praise of their subordinates regarding their delegation skills.

Delegating works

A Bachelor of Arts in Management can help you get your foot in the door career-wise, but if you aspire to be a truly great manager, polish your delegation skills while you study for your degree. Strong delegation skills help you make the most of your team’s resources.…

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5 Reasons to Exhibit at a Trade Show

Compared to direct marketing and online advertising, exhibiting at a trade show is far from cheap. From renting floor space to developing a great booth, the high cost of exhibiting at a trade show makes this form of marketing one that many small to medium-sized companies ignore solely due to its expense.

Trade shows are great places to generate fresh sales leads for your business

While exhibiting at a trade show can be expensive, the rewards can match – and in many cases, vastly exceed – the cost of developing a booth, renting floor space, and travelling to and from the event itself.

We asked trade show experts Display Wizard about the benefits and rewards of a great trade show exhibit.…

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3 Great Online Business Ideas You Can Implement Right Away

The idea of starting an “online” business is one that’s no longer the foreign concept it was less than a decade ago. However, with that said, so few of you have the intestinal fortitude to move forward and “leap into the fire” to become a “Webpreneur”. There are so many great ways to go ahead and start making real money online. All that’s required is the courage and resilience to do something that the other 95% of the world doesn’t (or did but failed miserably.)

Online business setup

Regardless of your current status; successful business owner, highly motivated career-person, recent graduate – or just unhappy and sick of working 9-5 for the boss(hole) and having “too much month at the end of the money” – quote from the original “Lifestyle Coach”, Business Philosopher, and professional mentor to Tony Robbins, Mr.…

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3 Tips for Managing Keyword Match Types in Google AdWords Campaigns

By dominating the world of keyword match types, the PPC advertiser can learn to make his or her advertising budget go a lot further. The careful management of keyword match types in any PPC campaign is essential. Using the available platform-specific tools can help you with that. For example, if you run AdWords campaigns, using AdWords management tools can help you a lot.

Indeed, it’s one of the best ways of saving on advertising costs and generating a much higher return on investment.

PPC management

Those new to PPC management should try implementing the following three tips as part of their general approach to keyword match type optimization.…

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Economy, the Government and Your SMB: What to Expect This Year

The economic situation in this country and various government reforms are two factors that you have absolutely no control over as a business owner. One could make the argument that you can’t control your customers either, but that isn’t really true.

Marketing and customer service can always be controlled. Most of us would like to have as many customers as possible, but you can limit how many you do business with too, if you like.

Both the uncertain economy and government changes are the two big issues facing us in the coming months.

Business and economic outlook in 2014

Leading into 2014, there’s a glimmer of hope for the first time in years.…

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Are You Managing Your Manager?

Setting a Strategy for Good Management

There’s significant research to show that disgruntled employees don’t leave their company, they leave their manager. Great managers are worth their weight in gold, and can be difficult to find. If you don’t already have one, perhaps it’s time to consider establishing a new strategy for both managers and your approach to management? Pondering these six key areas should help.

Managing managers

1. Understand motivation

Managers need to understand what motivates each member of their team.

By doing this, they can begin to align their team members’ interests and careers with what the business can offer them.…

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How to Take Advantage of Business Finance to Grow Your Company

As we all know, cash flow is incredibly important for all businesses, without a positive cash flow companies are very often forced to cease trading.

The early years of a company are critical, many companies aren’t concerned with growing the business and just want to keep it afloat in these early stages. With a bit of extra finance it can smooth the progress from start-up to a steadily growing company.

Business growth funding

Finance options

When starting out business owners have a few options when it comes to raising finance, they can go through formal routes such as banks or finding investors, or they can raise money through personal finance using short terms products like a logbook loan or credit cards.…

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Why You Should Consider Hosted Small Business Forms

As an SMB CEO, you are required to find the best solutions offering you the best value for money, as resources are scarce these days.

When you are running a full-fledge business website, you need to give emphasis to one of the most important – yet often neglected – features of your website: Your online forms.

Online small business forms

Your online forms – particularly your contact forms – need to be crafted in such a way that it converts well. Increasing your contact form conversion rate should be your top-most priority.

When you design online forms, you essentially have two options: design and host on your own, or design and host using a third-party service.…

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3 Ways to Take Advantage of Thanksgivukkah and Other Opportunities

It just so happens that Hanukkah and Thanksgiving both happened to be on November 28th this year. To celebrate this phenomenon, many decided to call this day ‘Thanksgivukkah.’ You can bet there was a huge marketing frenzy surrounding this day.

Thanksgivukkah

For example, there was a 9-year-old boy in New York City that created a “menurkey,” a turkey-shaped menorah, and actually got the funds to created it from a Kickstarter campaign. Or Dana Gitell, who decided to trademark the word after snapping up the Twitter handle and creating a Facebook page. Even Los Angeles geared up to create a festival around this holiday.…

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3 of the Hottest Office Locations for New Businesses in London

Establishing a new business in London? Finding the right space for your startup can be a challenge. Here are three locations to seriously consider.

King’s Cross: Google’s New Home

King’s Cross, together with the wider Midtown area, has been gaining increasing interest over the last year or two from larger companies within the tech industry. Google is due to open its new London HQ here in 2016/17, and between now and then we can expect the area to get plenty of attention from the media and developers alike.

But it’s not all about state-of-the-art business premises for large corporations. King’s Cross is home to a selection of business centres which are set up to accommodate small and new businesses.…

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