All posts by Jen Corre

10 Laws of Productivity

Posted by on September 11, 2016

“We often fool ourselves into thinking we are being productive when we are simply getting ready to get ready.”
-Intentionally Refined –

Let’s be clear on one thing: Productivity at work can never be achieved when you are not willing to cooperate. Whether you are aware of it or not, we all do procrastinate. Perhaps, we may not be noticed that we are already procrastinating since some of them are small. But mind you, these small things when frequently done, it will also give a great impact to your performance at work. How much more when you are working in an SEO Company? Slacking off is a no-no, to prevent receiving calls from disappointed clients. Procrastination is a struggle you need to beat!

But if you think that procrastination is the only reason why we can be productive, then you better think again. Our attitude towards our work also matters. When we tend to be passive, sluggish and lax, then we are also losing our productivity at work. And since we are already used to that attitude, it might be difficult for us to cope with the things around us such as meeting strict deadlines. Again, you do not want to entertain angry clients.

Productivity is a major factor at work. It gives a great impact to the growth of your one’s business. However, if you think that you or your employees are already slacking off, then you have to do something to prevent such. Below, we list down top ten laws of productivity that you might want to apply to your work or business.

1. Break the seal of hesitation

Whether you realize it or not, we tend to hesitate especially when we are not sure of the things that are going to happen next. Of course, we do not want to act impulsively that might pose risk to our business. However, this can also cause some delays in our plans. We tend to lose ourselves in planning (and dreaming) indefinitely. You should break the seal of hesitation and must challenge ourselves to take some action sooner rather than later. The minute you start acting, it will give you valuable feedback that will also help you refine your original idea.

2. Start small

Itis good to think big, especially when we already have a good concept on our mind. In fact, through thinking of a bigger idea, it can give us motivation to do and achieve such goal. However, there will always be some dangers when you tend to dwell on that “big idea” of yours. Achieve such would be impossible when you do not start from scratch. Perhaps, you can do some trial and error on your plan. One way or another, you will realize that there are flaws in it that you need to improve. With that, you will learn how to improve through your personal experiences.

3. Prototype, prototype, prototype

Every successful strategy will always have a plan. A trial and error is an essential part of any creative’s life. That simply means, you have to test each strategy whether or not it applies to reach a particular goal. If there are flaws in the process of planning, then you have to improve a particular tactic to achieve the outcome that you want. A prototyping and iteration is the key to transforming a so-so idea into an effective and successful outcome. Instead of being stuck on the failures, you have to move forward and try a new strategy to make it better.

4. Create simple objectives for projects, and revisit them                regularly

Whether you realize it or not, we usually have hundreds to thousands of ideas when it comes to a particular project – which leads to a bigger picture. However, if you want to have a higher possibility of success, then you need to create an objective what your project is all about. In this way, you will have a clearer view of the possible outcome.

5. Work on your project a little bit each day

When it comes to working on in-depth projects, it requires us to have a serious infusion of our creative skills – to develop an engaging business plan, or just learning a new skill. Having a momentum and the right focus is important to achieve a desirable output. But if you tend to do a serious project urgently without any assurance of success, you may not get the right result of a particular project. That simply means you have to make sure that whatever strategy you use, it should be the right one.

6. Develop a routine

Developing a routine is one way to ensure productivity at work. It is a part of being able to work on a specific project without any doing some other things that are not related to the project. Yes, having a routine can be dull and uninspiring, but it can create a founding for sparking true insight. Moreover, a routine is also helpful especially when it comes to strict deadlines to meet since there will be an assurance you will do that particular project.

7. Break big, long-term projects into smaller chunks or “phases.”

Whether you like it or not, you cannot achieve more major project when you don’t start with the smaller ones. That means you have to break the project into smaller phases for you to be able to accomplish each task faster and easier. This is also crucial when it comes to staying motivated and inspired to finish a particular project.

8. Prune away superfluous meetings (and their attendees)

There are activities such as unnecessary meetings that can drag down the productivity of one’s person. Perhaps, it is understandable why there are meetings. However, there should be a concrete reason as to why there is a meeting, and make sure that there is a clear objective on what the meeting is all about to prevent any delays with the projects.

9. Practice saying “No.’

It is nice to know that you can do anything for as long as it is related with the projected that is assigned to you. However, you also have to know that creativity is not infinite. To achieve a better outcome, you should be aware the right pacing when it comes to the tasks you are handling.

10. Remember that rules – even productivity rules – are made to be broken

Although you may have a daily routine of your work, always remember to be flexible enough when it comes to sudden changes. Your task would depend on the situation you are in. And whether you realize it or not, breaking habits offers a new perspective and helps you recharge to head back into the fray.

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Anatomy of a Landing Page That Converts

Posted by on August 10, 2016

Businesses create their official websites not just for the sake of displaying online credibility but more like attracting potential customers. Ultimately, the sale is the goal of any venture, and in this digital age, boosting your online presence has proven to be an efficient method to go about this.

However, attracting customers is a whole new, different challenge apart from the setting up of the website itself. It’s a combined effort of marketers and web designers to make sure that what they post online can captivate the eyes of their market.

Landing page exists to do just this. Hubspot defines this as ‘any page on the web on which one might land that 1.) has a form and 2.) exists solely to capture a visitor’s information through that form.’

Marketing experts have their strategies for creating this, but the following are the most common items that make up the anatomy of a landing page that converts.

Unique selling proposition (USP)

This is where you feature a single factor that you can give to your visitors. It includes a killer headline, the supporting statement of a product, offer, or service and a closing argument. It’s basically what gives your readers the needed ‘pull’ to continue looking into your promotion.

Specific benefits of your offer

Once you’ve successfully attracted people through your killer headline, you need something more concrete to convince them that yes, they must consider buying your product. This is where the list of benefits comes in handy.

Effecting landing pages make use of bullet form to highlight the best qualities of the offer and explain its details.

Captivating image / video

Even before one spots text, an image or video already serves as a determining factor whether or not your page deserves attention. This is because a human brain is wired to process images faster than plain letters or words.

Use an image that represents the item you are offering. It must have a high resolution and should ideally be able to present multiple sides of a product for your potential customers to examine. Remember that online shoppers have no way of examining the product in person so your featured image should provide ample of ways to get a grip of the product from their devices.

Testimonials

Featuring actual testimonials from satisfied customers will boost the credibility of your product. It’s a natural tendency for people to find some social proof before buying an item online. If they see a lot of individuals dropping positive notes on a service, then there’s a higher chance of converting them to buyers.

Trust symbols

This is more or less relevant to testimonials but more authoritative in nature. Any recognition from organizations, authority website and even the government belongs here. You can place the logo or badge of these agencies proving the specific recognition you received.

Map / Navigation

Now that it is possible to directly provide a Google Map link to your landing page, there is no reason why you should miss the opportunity. Some customers are very critical when it comes to online stores, and they want to check if you have some offsite office or shop that they can visit.

With this navigation section, they do not need to search manually for your location.

Review links

This is optional, and some marketers would not suggest this especially if your landing page is already packed. However, if the quality of the reviews posted on a different website will help boost your credibility then why not? Just make sure you do not flood your page so much with links.

Choose the best ones and provide two or three different links that customers could check.

Delivery options

This applies to landing pages featuring a particular product. Customers who prefer shopping online are either too busy to make an actual purchase from your shop or just want to rid themselves of the hassle by direct shipping.

It’s best to include the options available for them. Frequently asked questions like the turn-around time or fast delivery service should also be present.

SEO keywords & accurate grammar

No matter how captivating your landing page is, it will not be effective if your grammar and choice of words aren’t that powerful to promote the product. This is exactly why SEO company specifically hire content writers to craft convincing copies fit for the language of an individual target market.

By combining accurate grammar and optimized keywords, enterprises can reap the full benefits in the form of increased page visits from an organic audience.

Call-to-action

Last but not the least is a strong CTA (call-to-action). Now that you have already given the gist of what the product is all about, it’s about time that you help your customers decide on what to do next. Call-to-action is created for this.

Commonly used ones include:

•    Buy Now!

•    Get (amount) percent discount NOW!

•    Join FREE for a month!

•    Give (product) a try!

•    Claim your free trial!

•    Grab the template!

One thing that is also common among these CTAs is the urgency that they project. As a marketer, you  don’t want your customers to be putting you aside ‘for later.’ The landing page is designed to convince them that getting your item has to be done NOW or else….

Effective CTAs encourage customers to make the next move because they feel like if they don’t, they might be missing something very crucial. Experts say that if you can’t make your audience say ‘yes’ to your CTA, then they will most likely find someone else who can offer them something better.

Landing pages are more complicated than what you see on the outside. It requires a lot of planning and few trial and errors before one creates something that is fit for the message they wish to send across.

Moreover, you are not the only one fighting for the attention of your audience. If you don’t craft a knockout landing page, they will sooner or later find another option that could capture their attention.

Try to reassess the current on you have. Is it composed of the factors we mentioned above? Lastly, if you see the call-to-action, will you be encouraged to click?

 

 

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6 Ways Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Productivity

Posted by on August 4, 2016

“100,000 police-reported crashes are the result of driver sleepiness every year.” – National Highway Safety Administration
This and more societal issues has been linked to insufficient sleep among adults both male and female. Over the years, experts have conducted various researches to prove the direct relationship between the amount of rest one gets at night with that of their overall work performance during the day.

In a research conducted on 7, 428 employees across the United States, a stark 23% have been reportedly experiencing insomnia for at least three times a week. This was way back 2011, and considering the increased number of factors that distract adults at present, we could just imagine how the results would have doubled, even tripled in various business hotspots as of today.

People who have trouble sleeping eventually find themselves having some issues as well at work. Compared to employees who get sufficient amount of sleep, insomniacs are more likely to miss deadlines and even absent from work.

Below are 6 of the most common ways by which the lack of sleep can be detrimental to your job productivity:

It can potentially lead to headaches and migraine.

AHS (American Headache Society) President, David Dodick, MD once pointed out that sleep disruption is among the ‘most important migraine triggers.’ While no precise explanation directly links sleep to headache pain, research has proven that the two have a tendency to go together.

For employees who regularly work at fluorescent-lit cubicles, this can mean a terrible thing as headaches and migraines impede one’s ability to think straight and focus on the tasks at hand.

It impedes creative thinking.

Whether you work in a technical industry like an SEO company or something creative like web design and content writing, creative thinking is a vital thing. It’s the primary factor that spurs original ideas and is a huge requirement for any industry competing with tons of other ventures.

A person’s brain is wired to produce all of those brilliant thoughts, but only if it’s at its best. Lack of sleep, especially for consecutive days, tires the brain, eventually affecting its ability to create and innovate.

It affects your relationship with your colleagues.

“People who have problems with sleep are at increased risk for developing emotional disorders, depression, and anxiety,” says Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein, MD, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

This statement is backed up by the research of the University of Pennsylvania who had some subjects limit their sleep to 4.5 hours a night for whole week duration. The results showed these topics exhibiting increased feeling of stress, anger, sadness and mental exhaustion.

In any office setup, this finding could mean a significant blow to the healthy relationship exercised by the employees. Anyone who starts to feel distressed could potentially go off one someone, which can, of course, put a rift in the involved party’s professional relationship.

It impairs your attention and decision-making skills.

If you ever found yourself having serious troubles focusing on one thing, then putting off those distracting items such as social media and email could help. However, doing so isn’t much of a guarantee that you can automatically switch on your focus back to normal.

In a lot of cases, the reason behind the inability to keep one’s attention intact is the lack of sleep. Once focus is affected, decision-making skill is also compromised. If it continues, the result can be a rapid decline in a worker’s productivity – something which is a reasonable ground for termination on worst case scenario. Admittedly, we all don’t want that happening.

It impacts learning and memory in a negative way.

A human brain has this so-called ‘brain wave ripples,’ an event that is responsible for collating memories from the information received in your hippocampus. According to a 2009 joint American and French research, these ripples happen during the deepest part of your sleep.

In other words, suffering from frequent sleep disruptions is ultimately detrimental to your brain’s ability to store valuable information. At work, this is a tremendous setback considering the natural need to organize and remember tasks.

It reduces your immunity.

“The more all-nighters you pull, the more likely you are to decrease your body’s ability to respond to colds and bacterial infection.” – Diwakar Balachandran, MD, Director of the Sleep Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

A human’s immune system is rather complicated, and it functions to protect us from a lot of external invaders like viruses, which could harm our body. Research has linked sleep deprivation to the weakening of a person’s immune system, therefore opening you up to more harm. Unless you want to be flagged for constantly being absent at work because of sickness, getting sufficient sleep for about 7 hours in average is highly appropriate.

Companies across different industries require their employees to be as productive as they can while at work. It’s understandable considering the high market competition in business. For employees, this means being more responsible for their health and making sure they have ample of energy to deliver what the company expects from them.

Sleep doctors and researchers recognize that there are people who have troubles getting themselves to sleep, and it’s good to know that there are proven-effective techniques to help you become more comfortable during bedtime. For starters, we have the following:
• Dim the lights in your room.
• Turn off all electronics or devices that may distract you.
• Try aromatherapy.
• Take a warm bath before hitting the bed.
• Relax your body.
• Read a light resource like short stories. Even children’s book will do.
• Change to comfortable clothing.
• Invest on quality bedding.
• Be mindful of your sleeping posture. Be sure you have your whole body in a relaxing position.
Staying productive requires discipline, and it’s our responsibility to determine something that’s affecting it while we are at work. Keep your productivity level up by getting enough sleep.

Don’t undersleep, never oversleep, and settle for a healthy 7-8 hours night rest!

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Decoding Leadership: What Should Really Matter

Posted by on July 29, 2016

Hundreds of successful companies at present wouldn’t be at the height of their achievements if not for the people who stood up and lead the team to their goals.

Leaders and company executives matter not just because they firmly uphold the company’s visions but because they have the ability to influence employees to work their best and lead the business to success.

While good leaders can bring a venture to success, the opposite could contribute to the drastic decline of the corporate economy and business performance as a whole. This sentiment is echoed at a 2012 poll by the Center of Public Leadership at Harvard University. It showed that around “70% of Americans blame leadership crisis as a factor in the national economic decline.”

Truly, there is a direct relationship between the qualities of leadership a company has with that of its performance productivity.  Over the years, executives and management experts have been debating on the best methods to enhance the leadership skills of key personnel in any venture.

Below are considered to be among the top attributes every successful leader possess, and which aspiring executives should work on to develop.

Sincere support to colleagues

Aside from being the prime movers of any project, effective leaders are also very keen on empowering their people. They have an eye for excellence and seek to motivate the individuals in the team to help them progress and perform better.

They know that keeping people motivated is one way to maintain the high productivity within the company. As such, they continually devise strategies on how to show support and appreciation to everyone who deserve the credit.

Result orientation

People who are gifted with leadership skills value the step-by-step way of how a task is completed while at the same time keeping his or her eyes on the real goal. They know how to assess effective strategies from those that are only taking much of the people’s time.

Anyone who wants to nurture their skills in leading people has to have a result oriented mentality. This way, they wouldn’t have any problems making decisions when it comes to doing what and when. Effective leaders respect the process but are not entirely averse to the idea of improvising when the situation demands it.

They’re flexible at work and apply this attribute in or out of pressure.

Open-mindedness to welcome ideas

Employees respect leaders for their expert abilities in one field, but one thing that keeps them efficient on their roles is their humility or open-mindedness to accept ideas from colleagues.

If you’re a practicing leader yourself, you should know better that there are matters beyond your current expertise. A responsible manager knows when to step back and let other experts on their team take on the floor.

More importantly, they know who to tap for help. Aside from their rich network in the business, they use their personal experience to assess whether or not someone is capable of delivering the company’s expected result.

Efficient problem-solving skills

Among the major tasks managers and department heads are tasked to do is address business problems in the most effective way possible. This means arriving at a solution in the fastest method and preferably with the least damages to corporate assets and reputation.

Experts believe that to keep a venture’s operation well-grounded and efficient, their heads have to possess the ability to remain calm under pressure and be able to think straight in the face of any complication.

Rather than focus their attention and dread about the problem, real leaders set all their energy in finding the solution.

Acknowledging weaknesses but not spending time on them

At a more personal level, real leaders know how to recognize their weakness. They know the limits of their capacities and are willing to work with people who can fill in that gap. However, they are also wise enough to know that dealing with what they cannot do is a total waste of time.

Instead, they focus on using their strengths to its full extent.

Calm and confident demeanor

Once you become a leader, people start looking up to you. You automatically become a role model that members ought to emulate. One of the most important attributes leaders need to possess is the ability to exude confidence and calmness in tight situations.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that people in the managerial positions have to be totally insensitive to the problems experienced by the employees on the field. On the contrary, this talks about how they should be able to spot those issues firsthand and be able to address them with absolute control. In short, they should not panic.

Honest and critical perspective

Honesty is a major factor in any business and leaders always have to be at the forefront of exercising the quality. Otherwise, he or she won’t be able to set up a good example for the rest of the employees.

To complement honesty is a more practical skill which is critical thinking. It’s something not everyone has, but is highly necessary for keeping all things in order.  Having an analytical mind is also a key to an effective setting of priorities.

They say that there are people born with a natural skill and charisma to lead. However, it is also true that this skill can be learned over time through constant practice.

In this digital age, companies are in dire need of people who can lead the team of creative individuals such as those working for link building services. As employees dealing with a broad market niche and potentially overseas clients, they need all the support they can get from leaders who are there to guide and help them prosper in their careers.

Whether you are a practicing manager or someone who is eyeing for a chance to lead a team soon, it’s best to know the rules of the game beforehand. Get to know the specifics of what you’re expected to deliver. Ask experts for their inputs and be ready to learn the brass tacks of what leadership demands.

Several types of research already revealed the most important things that matter on this field. There’s no reason why you should count any of them out on your must-learn skills.

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Effective Ways to Stop Your Employees from Wasting Time

Posted by on June 30, 2016

Time is a created thing. To say, ‘I do not have time’, is like saying, ‘I do not want to.’ – Lao Tzu

Time is money.

Yet, we have often found ourselves wasting valuable time doing nothing necessary that would contribute to our work progress or do anything beneficial for our workload. Working in an office with people of diverse background may seem like a fun way to spend your time at work.

However, it is also an avenue for wasting valuable company time through the mindless chatter and gossip or activities that are in no way related to the workload.

More often than not, when employees waste time they tend to procrastinate work-related tasks and would have them pile up by the end of the week. As such, working overtime would ensue which would necessarily translate to employers being constrained to compensating them for the time they would not have needed to make up had they not wasted time in the first place. And yet, time wastage and procrastination remain as two realities in any corporate setting today.

Contrary to what most employees believe employers are well aware and privy to their time wasting habits. That is why they need to be inordinately creative when it comes to coming up with ways to prevent them from wasting any more time. This is because regardless of whether you are a retail conglomerate or an established SEO company (search engine optimization), any wasted time is potentially wasted profit.

So, if you are an employer looking for another alternative to put a stop finally to all the time wasted in your office, try and incorporate the eight strategies below into your daily work routine and see if you can make any significant difference.

Stop wasting time now

1) Work a daily huddle to your morning routine

If you want to see a spike in productivity in your workplace, work an office huddle into your everyday work routine. They do not have to last very long, but it is imperative that you outline the team’s primary objectives which you expect them to tackle for the entire day. Additionally, this is the ideal time to address any potential challenges your team may encounter, and it helps transmit necessary information your team may find essential. This ten to fifteen-minute discussion in the mornings would keep a team focused, ensure you are all working on the same page and would jump start a more productive day.

2) Manage conflict

Conflicts in the workplace may breed animosity within two employees. This can adversely affect a team’s productivity if two employees who are in conflict with each other are involved in the same group as they would want minimal contact with each other as possible. It is best if the problem is promptly mediated to avoid potential delays in workloads. Be diplomatic when it comes to managing conflicts and address them before they escalate into bigger issues. Take the resolution, find a way to have a healthy compromise and resolve the problems and then move on.

3) Terminate chronic problems

office problems

In any corporate setting, the 80-20 rule is effective in various instances and managing conflict is admittedly one of them. The reality is twenty percent of your staff would case approximately eighty percent of your problem. When this occurs, as an employer and as your employees’ primary supervisor, it is imperative that you confront the problem. If the problem persists, however, and an errant employee continues to stir up trouble consider letting them go.

4) Maintain an open communication

Do not always readily assume that the problem lies ONLY with your employees. Take a step back and contemplate that just maybe, you are the problem. Constantly solicit feedback from your employees regarding how you are doing as their spearhead. Their feedbacks, as well as the essential support you are giving them, are two pivotal components that would aid you in making changes before minor issues are given a chance to escalate. Lend a listening ear to your employees and while doing so, be reasonable as well as supportive.

5) Utilize your employees’ talents and skills

employee skills

Your office is composed of diverse individuals with different abilities and skill sets. In the same vein, they also have their inherent limitation. Know what your employees are capable of and what they are not. Take the time to observe them while they are doing their work. Placing individuals in departments wherein they cannot thrive drives them to waste time and stunt their professional growth. Instead, make sure you have employees working to their strengths rather than trying to overcome their weaknesses.

6) Trust your employees

If you are being constantly assaulted with inquiries from employees who are too anxious to proceed without your approval, you will be overwhelmed. It can also be a cardinal sign that your employees are tip-toeing on their every task and that the stakes might be just a little too high in your office. Acknowledge that mistakes can happen and that there is always room for improvement. Alternatively, you can afford your staff the opportunity for growth by allowing them to fix those mistakes. Trust your employees and do not instill too much fear in them or they will end up bungling event the simplest of tasks.

7) Give your employees a sense of ownership

employee sense of ownership

Give your employees an extra incentive in working by letting the profitability of the company become part of their personal benefit as well. They will be motivated to work better because it would mean that your success is their success as well. Whether the incentive granted may be in the form of a profit-sharing plan or a phantom equity is up to you, regardless, it will motivate them to work harder for you.

8) Praise your staff publicly

No matter what stage of life we are in, it can be universally gleaned that positive reinforcement goes a very long way. In the same way, it would work on your employees by reinforcing positive behaviors they have. Do not just stop at personal compliments and dole out public praises to them now and then. Praising employees publicly would likely encourage other employees to emulate that particular employee’s behavior making this situation a win-win for you. So, appreciate your employees where praise is due, and you see a significant positive change in their working habits.

Lastly, to ensure a productive day at the office, make sure your employees have adequate stimulating activities to enjoy. Provide a fun and enjoyable work environment with ample breaks in between to help them re-energize. Because wasting time boils down to how motivated your employee at work is, it is essential that they are provided with a workplace and work wherein, they can thrive. Incorporate the eight tips above into your daily work routine and see if there are any positive changes in your office environment.

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The Productivity Paradox – Hidden Costs of Being Productive

Posted by on June 3, 2016

 It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? – Henry David Thoreau

The answer of which highly depends on your very own definition of what productivity is all about. More often than not, we associate the term ‘being productive’ to something that means doing more. This is technically correct considering how the word ‘productive’ originate from the term ‘produce.’

Lots of people at present, regular employees most especially, believes that being busy – juggling lots of tasks in a day – means that they are producing enough. As to whether or not the output is satisfactory remains debatable.

Mr. Thoreau’s statement echoes the very question many workers have in this digital age. Where more is demanded, more is produced. Yet where is the satisfaction and purpose? Producing more does not always mean you are practicing productivity for the right reason. If any, what you are doing is only depleting your energy for things that do not help you achieve your priorities.

There’s a paradox at work here – one that is easy to understand yet often ignored by many. It’s the paradox that tells us to take a step back, stop what we are doing, and reevaluate the quality and motivation we have for the task.

Productivity IS NOT always doing MORE.

Experience and researches have proven that being productive could also signify increasing one’s efficiency in performing the same quantity of tasks. It’s not necessarily doing more things, but rather becoming better at what you already do.

For those involved in digital works however, adhering with quantity-based requirement at a regular basis may be the only option. People like those who undergo SEO training Philippines sessions know that for their company to be at par or be ahead of the market competition, constant production of output is a must. This is where mindfulness and motivation comes in.

To continually keep up with the numbers while keeping your motivation up, understanding productivity’s hidden cost will help you prioritize and make the necessary adjustments fit for the values you uphold. Let’s take a quick look.

Time

Whether your job demands you to be stuck at your desk for hours or something more physical and outdoors, deciding to be more productive takes time.

More of which is attributed to the fact that certain habits are difficult to change. If you want to add one more activity to your regular workload for instance, that could mean sacrificing some of the habits to get more time.

Increasing productivity doesn’t have a one-day, instant trick. It’s a process, and it takes time. Those who manage to deal with it are the ones who see progress in the long run.

Motivation (or willpower)

Taking into consideration the fact that productivity takes time, it’s easy to understand why many find themselves discouraged at the lack of any tangible progress. There may come a point when you feel like your motivation to continue is sucked away, making it difficult to continue doing any productive routine.

Decreased motivation over time is nothing new, and it remains one of the most challenging factors among employees who struggle on keeping up their high quality work consistently. There are some general tips on how one could boost his or her self motivation towards work. But at the end of the day, it’s something unique to an individual.

Regardless of one’s personal strategy, experiencing some ups and downs on your willpower level is part of the price you pay for becoming more productive.

Creativity

“The more you do it, the more you get better at it,” so they say.

However, there’s a direct antithesis to this statement that also holds some truth. It’s that one thing that says, “The more you do it, the more you get tired of it.”

Productivity demands you to invest time in doing the similar task on a regular basis. It’s the only way to get you familiar with the task. Sadly, routine is also one thing that usually gets in the way of your creative muse.

Routine demands a process, something you must follow to finish a particular task. Creativity signifies more freedom and flexibility. This can be a real challenge especially for creative people who need a more dynamic environment to work at. In developing productivity, one may find himself holding back from the usual creative process he is accustomed to.

Value

You may be inclined to multitask. In fact, you may find more satisfaction at the thought of doing more. However, randomly juggling different tasks only tires you more than actually focusing on things that matter.

To make every hour of work count, setting up priorities is vital. And how do you exactly do this? You identify the values that matter to you most. For instance, a person who values success, adventure and learning will most likely prioritize different things compared to someone who prioritizes relationships and social life.

Delegating your focus and energy on things that matter most makes work more rewarding. More importantly, it saves you time from going over tasks that will not help you achieve your goal.

Reevaluating your personal values takes time and your list of priorities could go as many as thirty. One cost you pay in wanting to become more productive is to cut off some of those priorities and reduce them to those that matters soonest.

Productivity can have a lot of connotation depending on who you ask. Some define it from the occasional motivation boost they have that makes them perform better than the usual. Others consider it as a fleeting ideal, present now, gone later.

For digital marketers however, being productive has to be a requirement. The online world is so dynamic and information is passed across different channels in a matter of seconds. It doesn’t wait for your dosage of inspiration. Speed matters and productivity is a constant.

It is a choice, and you control how you wish to inspire yourself to work. Overcome the paradox by trying out different strategies and enjoy quality productivity!

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Growing the ‘Growth Mindset’ – You Can Do It, Too

Posted by on May 6, 2016
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all.”
-Dale Carnegie-

As we all know, there is no such thing as overnight success. Perhaps, it can be an illusion that gives us the motivation to strive harder to reach that goal. But the real success would take you to a long journey of mistakes and failures before you can get there. Although challenges may be tough, this gives the opportunity to push ourselves to the limits. And mind you, only those people who have a “growth mindset” can overcome such process.

The crucial point in having a “growth mindset” is the positivity of a person. They have the tendency to learn and grow from their experiences, instead of making it as a barrier. For instance, whenever there’s a complaint from the client, growth-minded marketers strive for the better to have a guaranteed SEO. Yes, it is all in the mindset which brings a great impact to different aspects of an individual. And if one hits a setback, then a smart judgment will be made. But what really is a “growth mindset”?

There are actually two types of mindset – the “fixed mindset” and the “growth mindset”. According to Carol Dweck, a world-renowned research and psychologist from Standford University, the single quality that separates successful people from unsuccessful people is whether they think their intelligence and abilities are fixed. Moreover, she categorized people who think they have fixed abilities as having a “fixed mindset”, while people who think they can grow their mindset as having a “growth mindset”. Let’s try to break it down.

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset simply believes that the intelligence of a person is something that can be developed through hard work. They know that every challenge they encounter in life is inevitable. Moreover, they also expect that addressing that particular challenge may sometimes be a challenge on their part. Although they don’t intend to commit mistakes and fail, but they still strive to be better by learning how to approach such challenge later on. This mindset allows an individual to have their own development.

What is a fixed mindset?

Basically, a fixed mindset is the opposite of the growth mindset. These people believe that their talent and intelligence are static, and it cannot be changed. Instead of learning and growing from their experiences, they rather see challenges as an obstacle. They tend to devaluate their capabilities and are afraid to put an effort on things thinking that the way they were determines their success and not their hard work. You will know if a person has a fixed mindset since they are threatened by the success of others.

You definitely don’t want to go down to that path, right? So, scrap the idea of having a fixed mindset. Good news is, having a growth mindset can be developed. Here’s how:

How to develop “growth mindset”

Effort – first things first, you cannot achieve an outcome when you don’t make an effort to it. Take an action or the first step that you need to do. Perhaps, you can try focusing on the process most successful people do. Moreover, isn’t it amazing when someone praised your effort? There are studies shows that a praising effort has a long lasting impact and can enhance someone’s intrinsic motivation.

Different strategies – never implement the same strategy when you know it is going to fail again. Perhaps, there are flaws you need to address before you move forward. Or even you need to change the whole strategy for you to come up a better outcome. When one fails, then don’t be discourage to look for a better and effective strategy than the previous one.

Learning – everyday single day is a learning day. Whether you realize it or not, what you see, hear, smell and touch can give you a new learning experience. Although there are times it can be as simple as counting 123 or as hard as algebra, try to learn as much as you can without wasting such opportunities that pass once.

Asking for feedback – this is one of the things most people are hesitant to do. Yes, there are feedbacks that may hurt our ego. But do you know that through asking feedbacks from the people around you can make you even more productive? It is in their feedbacks where you can learn what and what’s not good when approaching situations. Moreover, it is also in their feedback where you will mostly strive not to commit mistakes just to have their good and satisfying feedbacks. Success also starts from getting negative and bad feedback from the people.

Persistence – being persistent is one factor that brings you to success. Without persistence, you might not stand the challenges you encounter each day. No matter what setbacks you are into, you can overcome such since you are persistent in achieving your goal. There are also studies that show that having a growth mindset can persist longer than those with fixed mindsets.
Choosing difficult tasks – just because one chose to do a difficult task, that doesn’t mean they want to show off that they have the skill and talent. By choosing to do such will help them develop more on their growth mindset. They will have a sense of courage and curiosity on how to achieve a better outcome on a messy mistake. Moreover, people who used to do difficult tasks will not be afraid of committing mistakes since they know they can handle such circumstances.

Setting high standards – being ambitious enough is not a bad thing at all. In fact, this will motivate you to exert more effort for you to reach a specific goal. Whether you realize it or not, there are risks when you tend to set your standards low. Perhaps, you will most likely not be motivated enough to pursue the things you need to do. Of course, you’re not going to get the desirable outcome like you want it to be.

Generally, developing a growth mindset is not that hard as you think it is. Yes, it is undeniable that it takes a lot of your time and effort for you to be able to achieve the right mindset. But you will eventually realize how important and helpful it is in our everyday lives. Moreover, having a growth mindset will lead you to a path where you want to be – success!

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7 Practical Tips to Rank Higher in Google’s Results Pages

Posted by on April 27, 2016

Rank your site higher and it’ll receive more traffic; obtain more visitors and it’ll rank higher on results pages.

Landing on the top positions in the results pages is becoming harder by the day. Or should be we say with each algorithm update? Some search engine optimization (SEO) consulting services try, trick and test Google. They do so using black hat techniques. But, these tactics only bring in immediate, short-term results. Also, that’s not the goal of optimization. Instead, the ultimate goal is to come up with strategies, techniques, and tactics that will produce long-term results. These results are higher ranking, bigger traffic volume, higher conversion rate and higher profits.

Interestingly, the traffic and ranking connection seems like a never-ending cycle. Rank your site higher and it’ll receive more traffic; obtain more visitors and it’ll rank higher on results pages. However, it often starts with appearing on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Now, how will you make your site appear on SERP? Here’s how.

tips to rank higher in google

The importance of backlink

Off-page optimization is as important as on-page optimization. In fact, some experts even think that the latter contributes about 80% to making the SEO campaign a success. Off-page optimization basically refers to the processes that allow getting the most number of backlinks possible.

A backlink is an incoming link from a website, web page to another website or web page. Just so you know, Google loves backlinks. For it, a website that receives lots of backlinks can be considered as an authority site. It’s because a backlink is deemed as a vote to that site. It means that the site contains unique and valuable information that can’t be found elsewhere.

The question now is – how will you earn more backlinks?

Ways to obtain backlinks

1) Competitor analysis

One of the simplest ways to earn backlinks is to copy what your best competitors are doing. Where do they get their backlinks? What sites are linking to them? Which of their contents are receiving the most backlinks? Why? When you do this, link building opportunities available to you will reveal themselves in the process. Perhaps, your competitors are not yet tapping the power of .edu and .gov sites. You can explore these opportunities to surpass their ranking results.

2) Guest blog

Guest blogging is not dead if you want to ask the question. But, the guest blogging that we are doing now is different from the guest blogging we do five years ago. Of course, we still write the content that will be published on a particular website or blog. The idea is to gain links from these established websites. Google gives more weight to this since these links are rather difficult to acquire. But, Google warns the content writers that if obtaining link is the sole purpose of doing guest blogging then, you are doing it wrong. This is the common pitfall. Instead, think of how you can add value to the readers of that blog. In this way, you’d deserve the backlink endowed to your website.

3) Web 2.0 sites

Web 2.0 sites publish user-generated contents. These sites often have social features. Examples of these sites are StumbleUpon, Reddit, and HubPages. Although Google constantly looks into backlinks created through these sites due to possible spamming, the links are highly Google-friendly. The best way to navigate through these sites is publishing 100% unique contents that target one keyword. Integrate multimedia like an image or video. Some sites only allow a backlink to your website once you reached the required number of published articles. Hence, write as often as you can.

4) Testimonials

Business partners and suppliers and other stakeholders that you do business with can also help you in ranking higher in SERPs. You may offer a testimonial to any of them. The beauty of this is that testimonials are published directly on the website. Often, a website allows the person to provide details of his or her company to show the visitors or readers that you are a real person. This means free backlinks for you. Double plus is the website where the testimonial will be published is already an authority site.

5) Link reclamation

From the name itself, it means reclaiming previously linked mentions that are no longer active now. The necessary first step is finding websites that mention your company and its products. Focus on those sites that don’t link back to your website. You may use tools like BrandMentions or Mention.net. Then, contact the website reminding its administrator to add the link to your company name, for instance. A friendly reminder will do. Remember, when contacting the website, give the full details. Include screenshots, so that the person may easily track the unlinked mention.

6) Blog aggregator

A blog aggregator is a website that lists blogs in various industries and niches. The majority of these aggregators offer a dofollow link for free. You need to submit your website for review, however, before the aggregator will include your website in the list. You will be given a unique HTML code to determine that you own the site you are submitting. Upon approval, you will see your website in its appropriate category. Also, there are blog aggregators that focus on specific niches. Make sure that you are submitting your website on the right aggregating site.

7) Broken link building

A broken link refers to a link that is not working, rendering a 404 error message (i.e. Page Not Found). When you find a 404 page that is relevant to your website, you may contact the owner of the site regarding the broken link page. Offer to write content for that page in exchange of a backlink. If you want to do this method in full swing, you might as well install the Check My Links Chrome extension.

A backlink is a strong ranking factor. Your website will not rank in Google without inbound links. If you are wondering if these will work, the answer is YES. Even the experts are doing these simple tactics. While backlinks are not the panacea, no one can underestimate the boost they can do for your ranking. It’s either you do it or your competitors will do it at your expense. It’s your call.

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Why Your Business Isn’t Growing

Posted by on April 11, 2016

Starting a business is not a piece of cake, or as easy as counting 1, 2, 3. Any entrepreneur will tell you how hard it is to make a name for a starter. Even an SEO company knows so well how hard it is to compete with big names in the marketing or business industry. Obviously, there will be a lot of thinking what strategies or techniques that are effective enough to achieve a successful business. Without productive brainstorming, running a business might not be your forte.

Going with the trend can also be a challenge to every entrepreneur, which is why not all businesses are able to keep up the pace in the business industry. Perhaps, they are still in the phase of catching up what’s new. However, running a business without any strategic plans on catching up quickly with your competitors, then you might not get desirable end results. Some entrepreneurs quit while others are still struggling with the hopes of reaching their goals for their business.

As an entrepreneur, running a business should not be taken lightly. If you lose, then you might lose big time. And I’m sure a lot of you here might wonder what factors that contributes to the failure of your business growth. Well, below are some reasons as to why your business isn’t growing at all.

Experiment over perfection

Aiming for perfection can also be a good idea for your business. But be careful, perfection can also cost you big time. Entrepreneurs who think that they should perfect one strategy cost them millions to billions of money. Perhaps, they have chosen the wrong strategy for a particular business. As a result, they were not able to achieve the said perfection they desire. The point is, entrepreneurs should not be paralyzed with perfection. Businesses should be driven by experimenting strategies that are effective enough to use.

In business, you are not bound to use only one strategy. Test all your ideas. You can be wise by incorporating strategies to strategies, forming a good and effective plan to have a successful business growth.

Few thoroughly think things through

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
-Benjamin Franklin-

We may have heard this a thousand times, but this makes so much sense especially for entrepreneurs. Obviously, you cannot run a good business when you don’t even know what really the core goal of the said business is. What kind of business do you want to put up? What does it do? Who your target audience? What strategies to use? What kind of resources should you use or take? Who are these people who are potential enough to help you with the business’ goal? Who are the participants? The location of your business? How much should you spend for a start-up business?

All of these questions above may be simple. However, if you fail to know and understand these things, then expect a loophole on your business. And sometimes a loophole can damage the entire business growth. That is why you need to be careful to think thoroughly each detail of your business.

Intelligent delegation

Trusting a person is like running a business – not a piece of cake to begin with. Especially when your business is still on the baby stage, then you might tempt to do all the things on your own to make sure everything is going to be smooth. However, that’s not always the case. Although your business is still starting, you should also practice intelligent delegation. Know the standard procedures when handling not just your business, but also the people behind the growth. Of course, there will be no successful business when there will be no consistency on how you organize things.

Intelligent delegation is not just about giving an assignment to your employees. It is also about how you make them understand the products, services and the overall goal of your business. When they have a deep knowledge about the business, it will be easier for you to disseminate tasks with their respective specialties or skills. Moreover, before you hire someone, make sure that you make things clear on what their roles in the business industry would be. And if you think they don’t fit in, then don’t force them to take them inside. Hire another one that helps contribute to the success of your business.

Making the wrong trade decision

When we talk about business, expect risks and compromises. Generally, you cannot expect a smooth flow of business all throughout the entire time – nope! Whether you like it or not, you will definitely experience ups and downs when running a business. There are even times you need to make a hard decision that would help sustain the business.

In business, mistakes are inevitable. But just because you commit mistakes, that doesn’t mean you won’t correct it. You need to think wisely on how you turn those mistakes into a positive one. Don’t make a move or any decisions impulsively especially when you are not sure of the plans or strategies to implement. Without any careful planning and thinking can lead to jeopardizing your business. That is why you need to think and evaluate what is best for the business growth.

Many are ego-focused instead of being customer centric

Business is for customers. Yes, entrepreneurs know that so well. But the real question is that, do your really understand your customer’s needs? Do you know what they really after and not just what they want on your products or services? These questions might be easy, but sadly, not all business are able to grasp the idea on how to deeply understand their potential clients.

Generally, it is not a bad thing at all to sell your company’s experience and expertise to your clients. But you also have to remember that not all people care about what you achieve, they want to be able to experience the best services you can offer for them. As an entrepreneur, you will know if your clients are happy and satisfied with the products or services you gave to them because they will be a repeat customer to your business. Who knows? That particular customer might be one of your loyal buyers in the long run. Right?

In this millennial age, more and more businesses are formed. That means you will also have a lot of competitors in the business industry. But what you should remember is that people will find you, your products and services, if you just gave them the best offer than any of your competitors can give. Again, don’t make any decisions impulsively. You have to think, evaluate, plan and implement – that’s the key to a successful business.

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Ways to Hold Meetings More Effective and Productive

Posted by on April 6, 2016

“Meetings are indispensable when you do not want to do anything” – John Kenneth Gallbraith

“A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost” –Unknown

Everyone involved in the corporate world has experienced attending a meeting on a regular basis—from various digital marketing agencies with seo consulting services to big retail conglomerates, meetings are essential in communicating what is working and what is not in a company. These are also incredibly effective in keeping every single person involved in your project or in your company updated on a particular job’s progress. It streamlines tasks and tackles pivotal points during every discussion. When various people convene to deliberate on imperative issues, critical and salient points, only then can they come up with an amiable solution to whatever is being discussed and once the minutes are recorded, people involved or absent can actually go over whatever is resolved during the discourse. However, this is only one side of the coin as more often than not, this common interruption of work is also one of the guaranteed ways to waste company time.

More often than not, people can go off tangent, deviate from the original discussion and are more often than not, incredibly tedious—most especially if a corporate member drones on and on about a soporific subject. When this occurs, not only would the meetings take longer than usual, they will become virtually useless and the time designated for it could have been appropriated for something else—like accomplishing one’s tasks for the day. Of course, we cannot eliminate holding meetings perpetually as these are also essential discussions that would open every employee’s communication pathway.This is why there is a pressing need for people conducting meetings to hold them wisely instead of eradicating meetings altogether. So, if you are planning to hold a meeting soon, take a look at the list below in order for you to find new ways to not only hold your meetings efficiently and productively, but to add a little fun into the mix as well.

HAVE A CLEAR AGENDA OF WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE BY THE END OF THE MEETING

Conducting a meeting without an agenda is like coming to battle without gear and weapons, it essentially translates to you being unprepared. Additionally, holding meetings without a clear agenda can easily make the people involved in the meeting veer off the topic at hand and would reduce what would be a corporate discussion to office-room chitchat. Outlining your agenda for the day’s meeting would help people involved come into your meeting fully prepared with their discussions. To ensure optimal results, start with an outline of topics to be discussed and make sure that all of the attendees are furnished with these a day before the scheduled meeting and provide the necessary background information for everyone’s convenience.

CONSIDER YOUR ATTENDEES

Before you call out a meeting, contemplate and take time to consider who are pivotal to the course of the meeting. If a supervisory personnel can attend in his employees stead then do just that instead of having the both of them attend the meeting. After all, supervisors and managers can relay the salient points of the meeting and delegate tasks to those under them and doing it this way would effectively give the employee uninterrupted time to finish his tasks. In essence, invite only people who would be directly involved with your announcement or discussion—do not invite any more than necessary.

GO DEVICE FREE

Consider banning tablets and smartphones during meetings unless they are completely necessary to the course of your meetings as this will only diminish your attendees’ attention span and would distract you from your primary objective. Remember, your gadgets are teeming with things that could potentially distract you from emails, notifications to phone calls—all these would make a meeting last longer should any one of your attendees attend to them.

STICK TO THE TIMETABLE CREATED

Once an agenda is laid out, cover everything in the meeting according to the time you have allotted for them. Do not spend more time than necessary on a singular item and end up extending your meetings for another half an hour or so, make an accurate timetable and stick to it. Additionally, it would help your attendees focus if you conduct your meetings this way, so it would be best if you email it to them in advance. This direct way of tackling meetings would effectually eradicate potentialoff-topic discussions and small talk that derails imperative discussions during the meeting.

ASSIGN A MEETING CHIEF

The person selected for this role will act as the meetings leader and would oversee the progress of a meeting. Select a meeting chief who you are sure is comfortable in setting up the meeting, is goal oriented and would actually do a great job at keeping the meeting on track. Additionally, choose someone who is well-versed on the salient issues or pertinent discussions to be deliberated during the meeting. Lastly, your meeting leader should be someone who is equally trusted and respected by the attendees and the team.

TAKE IT OUTSIDE

Whoever said that meetings need to be constrained within the four walls of your office? This inhibiting notion can cause many of your attendees to nod off or completely doze off during the course of your meetings. If there are no paper works involved, consider taking your discourse at the company garden outside or at a local café but be warned, make sure the place you choose has minimal distractions and would still be conducive for company meetings.

TAKE NOTES

There might be a person to take the minutes of the meeting, but they cannot necessarily jot down every relevant point made during the meeting and more often than not, this point may concern you. Jot down your own notes as this will serve as a record for you and will enable you to inquire further or to have a point elaborated on particular assignments that involve you. Additionally, take notes the traditional way: by using a pen and a paper pad or a notebook. This will effectively lessen the temptation to have multiple tabs open while typing down notes and helps you digest what is being gone over better (it also keeps the noise level during a meeting at a minimum).

USE THE LAST FEW MINUTES TO RECAP

To make sure you and your attendees are on the same page, it is essential that before you close every meeting, you gloss over what has been discussed during the previous hour or so. This is also the time for further elaborations and inquiries and it effectively wraps up a meeting. Make sure everyone understands what they are expected to do and when they are reasonably expected to do it and have everyone leave the room in complete comprehension over just what has transpired during your meeting.

If you conduct your meetings wisely, you would see how they can be very effective and productive. Additionally, holding smarter meetings expedites the delegation of tasks process as every attendee is not only aware of what he or she has to do, but understands the nature of what is expected of them as well. Remember, meetings may be a bane or boon, it all largely depends on the person conducting it.

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