Starting Out

5 Unusual But Effective Team-Building Activities

February 12, 2023 Business Advice Starting Out

When it comes to team building activities there are many tried and trusted ones that invariably help team leaders achieve the desired results. However, if you are one of those team leaders, managers, or coaches looking for something that differs from the norm, you will be pleased to know that there are numerous unusual team-building activities.

One of the reasons that these unusual team-building activities are so popular is that, just as with activities that you might undertake with your family or friends, the more remarkable and out of the ordinary they are, the more they are enjoyed. For a team leader looking to provide activities to help build their team, if the members of that team are actually enjoying those activities, the more they will benefit from them.

The question that might be on your mind now might be ‘Exactly what are these unusual team-building activities?’. Well, for a start we going to outline 5 of them, but beyond that, a simple search online using the search term ‘team building activities’ preceded with any of ‘unusual’, ‘bizarre’, ‘unique’, ‘extraordinary’, or ‘unconventional’ is bound to provide you with loads of excellent ideas.

One thing that these activities must be to qualify as being unusual is that they must be as far removed from the normal activities that your team would normally participate in. In other words, if they are a sales team, do not use sales-related acuities or if they are a team of dancers, by all means, have physical activity, but not one which requires them to dance. Here are those 5 activities…

Axe Throwing

The bowling alley is old news so why not go to an axe-throwing centre, with lanes where your team can try to hit targets with an axe? It can be made more competitive by splitting the groups into teams, and afterwards, you can all sit and have something to eat or drink whilst discussing hits and near misses.

Importance Of Online Presence For Your Brand

May 19, 2021 Getting Online Starting Out

The traditional means of marketing have become quite dull to grab audiences’ attention. Digital marketing methods on the other hand are very impressive in bringing the audience close to any brand. Therefore, every brand that is part of the online world needs to ensure that they have maintained an appealing image in the eyes of the audience. Without a solid and easily recognizable online image, brands will be unable to attract customers and succeed.

Greater Business Opportunities

The world of internet is overflowing with opportunities for businesses to grow. A brand can easily reach out to its target audience through online platforms and even interact with their customers to build good relationships as part of its overall online reputation management. These opportunities cannot be utilized by traditional means, which is the reason a sound online presence is important for every brand.

Furthermore, due to the popularity of internet, consumers now prefer researching about a company online then go out and make the purchase immediately. If someone is looking for a good dine in place, they will first look for restaurants online. This provides business a great chance to entice customers with their appealing online image. Similarly, bad reviews on your brand can really mean losing business.

How Can I Avoid Common WordPress SEO Mistakes?

May 1, 2021 Starting Out

Search engine optimisat ion (SEO) is a crucial part of any WordPress website’s digital marketing strategy. SEO depends on hundreds of different factors, but some factors carry a lot more weight than others. This means that simply avoiding a few common mistakes when building and maintaining a WordPress website can go a long way towards improving your search engine ranking and making sure that you appear near the top of the search engine results for relevant keywords.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a short list of the most common WordPress SEO mistakes and the best ways to avoid them. They include:

Ignoring Meta Titles & Descriptions

Meta titles and meta descriptions never appear on your website design, so you might be excused for thinking that they aren’t important and ignoring them. However, to do so would be a very bad idea.

Both meta titles and meta tags are two SEO tools that play key roles in your website’s SEO score, and it’s very important to customise them for every single new page you publish. Try and write rich descriptions with keywords and a short summary of a page’s content, and make titles catchy and clickable.

Duplicating Content

A lot of people base their new website on a competitor’s site, especially if you’re working in tight niche. While this can work in your favour if you do it well, it’s important to ensure you don’t duplicate someone else’s content, otherwise you will receive significant SEO penalties. Make sure that every single piece of writing on your website is completely customised to prevent any SEO penalties or red flags.

Using Too Many Plugins

Now, don’t get me wrong – plugins are great! However, it is possible to use too many. Most WordPress plugins are resource intensive, and they can slow your website down a lot if you’re not careful. A slow website will perform poorly from a SEO perspective, so it’s important to make sure that you only use good quality WordPress web design plugins that are relevant and useful.

Top Tips For Managing Your WordPress Website

June 13, 2019 Business Advice Starting Out

So you’ve got a decent WordPress website with an attractive website design and all the content you want. It looks and works great, so you’re done, right?

Wrong. Running a WordPress website requires a lot of ongoing maintenance. Even if your site does work well, it’s a great idea to add new content and continue improving processes over time. Doing this will help improve the user experience for your site’s visitors, help you improve your site’s performance, and help ensure continued growth and success going forwards.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a short list of my top tips for managing a WordPress website. They include:

Update your WordPress software

WordPress regularly releases new performance and software updates. If you want to get the most out of your website, it’s important to make sure that you regularly update your software.

Luckily, the WordPress dashboard will usually tell you if your current version is out of date, and it lets you update with the click of a button.

Keeping your site up to date like this will ensure that you benefit from all the latest WordPress features and functions, letting you stay ahead of your competition.

Use a decent back-up plugin

There’s nothing worse than spending countless hours building a fresh web design, only to lose it all when your hosting provider’s servers crash. Luckily, there are ways to protect yourself against this.

Start by installing a decent back-up plugin. There are plenty to choose from, but try and find one with decent reviews that backs up your site’s content regularly.

Main Issues to Consider In a Commercial Lease in Australia

January 21, 2017 Legal Advice Starting Out

If you are thinking of setting up a business, then either you have your eye set on a property or are scouring the market for the suitable commercial setup. If you don’t have the finances to buy the property at once, then you must surely be looking through different leasing options on offer. Commercial leasing in Australia for small businesses is quite common, and that is why there are many options available to accommodate the needs of different businesses in the segment.

While commercial leasing is a good option for anyone trying to setup a new business, there are also some important issues and regulations linked with the process. If you want to make sure that there are no legal irregularities, then you need to pay close attention to meeting all the requirements without error.

Some of the important issues related to commercial leasing for small businesses in Australia, include the following,

Rights as a Tenant

The lease details all your rights and related obligations as a tenant. If you want to make any changes or add any adjoining space to the property, then make sure that you have the right to do it, under the negotiation terms made with your landlord. Some important rights as a tenant that you would probably want to include in your lease documents include,

Use of any common area
Access to all areas of the premises
Use of certain facilities like toilets
Putting up additional shelving and partitioning
Putting up any sign on the property

It is important that you discuss all the details before signing a lease contract.

The Fundamentals of Trademark Law

October 18, 2015 Starting Out

Customers Puzzled by Business Names:

According to commercial lawyers, “Trademark”- in simple terms, a brand indicator that lets customers know the basis of a good or bad service. Thus, a central role of concern in trademark lawsuit cases is played by the fact whether a customer is puzzled by the origin of a product or service.

The court came out with 7 factors in order to find out if customers were puzzled (or were expected to be puzzled) by the businesses’ names. The court carried out a balancing test to conclude if score was in support or in opposition to consumer confusion.

The 7 factors that they weighed which you might wish to think about when naming your business:

The Mark Strength

A mark is a business’s trademark (the name word, design or symbol that classifies the business, product or service) in trademark law. Marks could range from quite low and weak to very strong: generic, descriptive, suggestive and arbitrary. The more the mark is strong, the higher the protection it gets under trademark law.

Why You Should List Your Business on Local Search Directories

October 9, 2015 Getting Online Starting Out

In online marketing, the greater the visibility of your business, the greater the chances of conversions. As of today, nearly every company wants to leverage getting qualified leads more quickly and efficiently than their competitors. Other than online marketing campaigns and advertisements, business listings on local search directories are an effective way to get more exposure and are affordable, too.

Bright Local states that 31% of SEM activities are focused on building local SEO strategies. Despite that, SEO experts says that some businesses may fail to understand the ability of local search directories, even though 8 out of 10 people would look up those places when finding products, especially services such as electricians and plumbers. If you’re still unsure about local search directories, here are five reasons you should list your business today!

Improved Visibility

As mentioned before, most, if not all, internet users will look for local information in search directories. Hence, if your website is listed and gives the users the data they need, you have a great conversion potential. Following this, if your website is listed in several directories, then your online visibility increases.

Accessibility

With more visibility on local search directories, it will be easier for people to find out more about your business and contact you regarding products, services, and solutions. Effective content marketing and SEO will help you convert users into paying customers. In this case, local search directories are the gateway to your customers and vice versa.

Things You Need to do to Qualify for a Business Loan

October 7, 2015 Starting Out

Applying for a business loan is Australia requires you to follow a standard set of guidelines as issued by the local government. One of the preliminary requirements for a business loan is to have a detailed business plan and contingency plan prepared that informs the potential lender(s) about your venture.

While a contingency plan is not really necessary like the business plan, it can help increase your chances of being awarded a business loan. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to consider in order to qualify for a business loan in Australia.

Questions to Ask

Once you have created a business plan, you should ask yourself the following questions:

How much money do I need to borrow to start my business?
What type of loan do I need?
How long will I need the loan for?
Can my business repay the loan in the specified time period?
What interest rates, ongoing fee, and one-off terms are going to be associated with the loan?
What securities can I offer to the lender?
How will the securities affect the interest rate?

Steps To Set Up Your New Business

July 12, 2014 Starting Out

So, are you thinking of setting up your own business in the market? Have you planned out all the details and are ready to make an impact by making your entrepreneurial debut in the field of your choice?

No matter which segment of the industry you plan to enter, there are some very important steps you need to follow if you want your business enterprise to be legal and not have to face any problems in the future.

So, what are these critical steps you need to follow on all accounts in order to setup a successful business in the land of opportunity, Australia? Here they are detailed below. Make sure you don’t miss out on any one of them.

Choose a Suitable Business Structure for Your Enterprise

The structure of a company is of great importance as it plays a significant role in the growth and survival of the company in the industry. Not every business plan or structure suits every kind of company. You need to investigate all options very carefully before you make a decision.

Each type of structure has some advantages and disadvantages linked to it, and certain industries require a certain kind of company structure. The structure of your company also depends on the number of owners and type of organization being set up.

Choose from amongst a partnership enterprise, a company, a sole trader and a trust.

What You Will Need to Start Up Your Entrepreneurial Project

January 12, 2013 Starting Out

An entrepreneur seeking to make it big in the industry needs to know that there are some things that he needs to keep in mind before he makes an entry into the industry. There is a lot to see, do and organize, before you can actually think of taking a step forward and setting up your own company in the competitive Australian market.

As a young, energetic and ambitious entrepreneur, there are some important things you need to keep in mind before you start your own venture. Following is a list of some important things you will need and have to do, to have a successful entrepreneurial start-up.

A Concrete and Thorough Business Plan

The first thing that you will need is a thorough business plan which has all the details of how you aim to run the company operations, secure the finances and design a plan for future growth. Remember, a well constructed business plan is the first step in the long line of processes which are necessary for a successful business enterprise. Without a good business plan, you can say goodbye to all your dreams of setting up a new venture, and getting any investment from financial experts or institutions. Writing a good business plan.

Training and Help

Once you have crossed the first milestone with flying colours, it is now time to understand how difficult it can be to survive in the real and highly competitive industry. While a detailed business plan is an essential requirement for success, the most difficult and crucially significant part is the execution of the plan.

This We Know

Category: Starting Out