The first thing Building Passive Income With Amazon going to require the effort, a lot more at the beginning than any other time right? Because you have to build it from scratch, but once you’ve built it and you built a product that’s ranking on Amazon for keywords, you built a product that’s got sufficient enough reviews – you have done it.
It’s got that Foundation where it’s not just making money once in a while. It’s sustainably making money, right? Maybe you even have some external sources of traffic that are automatically sending people to your listing as well. Maybe you got Amazon ads turned on you got different ways or funneling into that. And so therefore that product can now provide back for you without much maintenance and work required for that’s the process of how to make passive income on Amazon.
Now is there such a thing as a hundred percent passive income? Not really.
Let’s say you build up your Amazon product and it’s selling great, making you money. Let’s say you decide just to forget about it for a year. You’d still be making money by the end of the year, but if you’re not really proactively growing it and maintaining it, at least then in becomes either stagnant or slowly diminish and drop.
There’s more competitors that come in and they’re willing to put in work to compete with you or changes could occur on Amazon. And so that’s why and that’s by the way the case for most business models out there because there’s no 100% passive income that really exists. Maybe investing in stocks that pay dividends can help, just set it and forget it not this basically no maintenance in that whatsoever but still there are risks. So, Amazon business can provide that passive income, but here’s what I recommend is to maintain it right to check in on it to still, have certain things you do to help maintain it.
Now there are a few things you are going to have to actively do for this, either you do it or you can hire someone else to do it.
One thing is, you’re going to have to reorder your inventory. So if you’re running out of stock, running out of units to sell you’re going to have to reach out to your supplier. You’re gonna have to reorder that, create shipping labels and get that shipped to Amazon.
Another thing is customer support and shopify product research. This is something that is important, Amazon does handle a lot of customer support for you, but still sometimes customers will send you messages on Amazon or email you that it’s your responsibility and Amazon expects this of you to respond to people in a timely matter. In fact, if you don’t respond to people Amazon will, potentially shut you down. If you’re not responding to people and being responsible with that, they usually give you warnings and whatnot first. They want people to have a positive customer experience on Amazon. And if they don’t, then they know they’re not going to come back to buy from him. So they want to make sure their sellers are responding to customers.
This is something that I do recommend outsourcing. You can hire a customer service rep in countries like the Philippines, India other countries around the world, where you don’t have to pay them as much as you would versus paying someone in let’s say North America, but they can handle the customer support for you. They might have some occasional questions for you that require your answer which you might have to chime in for once a week or so, that might require a little bit of work not unless you hire a manager that can do that for you. Okay, but that is something that will also be an ongoing responsibility.
Other than that, the only other thing that could require your time would be marketing. There’s many ways to Market but there’s some ways that are more active other ways that are more passive. So, for example a more passive way of marketing your product on Amazon (I’m talking about outside of Amazon), is getting traffic from Facebook or Google or YouTube or whatever might be, so some of my favorite ways are having a Blog. A Blog is something you’re going to create content on, articles going to write them up related to your product and you’re going to learn how to rank them in the search engines and Google, and when you create enough of these articles, they’re also kind of like these seeds that you plant: At first nothing happens, you’re getting no traffic, no visitors, but as you nurture it, you build it up and they rank in Google and they consistently start attracting people from the search engines and you funnel and Link that to your product on Amazon. I for example, my business I’ve got thousands of articles that are published on my website and a lot of them, they rank. I’ve got hundreds at rank in Google, it consistently makes me thousands of visitors every month. I don’t do anything guys. It’s just set it and forget it articles, that I wrote five years ago – five years ago that are still getting traffic and making me money. Same thing even to my YouTube channel. I’ve got videos that reach over 11.1 to 1.4 million views per month and majority of that, 89% of that is not my new videos or videos that I published a year ago, two years three, four five years ago. You might think: “well, blog YouTube channel. I’m going to consistently publish videos”. Not necessarily, I could stop publishing videos and all those other videos published before are still going to get views and still make me money and still build my business if I want to grow. Yes, I have to publish more videos because otherwise it could slowly decline, but I don’t have to publish more videos or publish more articles. It’s pretty much, I planted the seeds, the seeds have flourished and blossomed into trees and I haven’t got a lot of these trees that keep providing for me. So content can be great for that.
Running ads like pay per click, advertising Amazon ads, Instagram ads. Those do require a little bit of active work because you have to optimize them. But the other way that you can look at this is – you can outsource a lot of this stuff, if you want to hire someone that could do this for you. They can run and manage that stuff for you.
Now, it is going to take time to plant the seeds and to water them and that’s the time you’re going to put in but you have to do so and believe in the vision, the potential of what it will therefore provide for you because you’ll be able to reap the rewards of the benefits later. You have to just be willing to do the work up front. And then just be willing to maintain it there after that. Okay, if you’re willing to do that, then you can be able to turn this into a great passive income model.
The data engineering industry, a critical field underpinning modern technology and business operations, revolves around building and managing the infrastructure and pipelines that collect, store, and process data, enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions and power advanced analytics.
Sainath Muvva’s work in data engineering and pipeline optimization exemplifies a blend of technical ingenuity and impactful leadership. One such accomplishment is the development and implementation of an innovative Dual ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) solution. This system addressed long-standing challenges in data accuracy, service level agreements (SLAs), and decision-making reliability, transforming the organization’s data infrastructure.
“The goal was to create a resilient, scalable solution that not only improved performance but also fostered trust in our data-driven processes,” Sainath remarked.
The introduction of the Dual ETL solution brought improvement in data accuracy, raising it from 75-80% to an impressive 95%. This leap was achieved through dual-stream verification, enabling real-time identification and resolution of data discrepancies.
“Data is the backbone of decision-making, and inaccurate information can derail critical operations. With this solution, we ensured that every decision was backed by reliable data,” he explained.
The enhanced accuracy enabled precise forecasting and analytics, which directly contributed to improved business outcomes.
Before implementing this system, the organization faced persistent SLA compliance challenges, with only 80-85% of commitments being met. The Dual ETL architecture changed this narrative, achieving 100% compliance by introducing parallel processing pipelines and failover mechanisms. The processing time was reduced by 50%, cutting batch runs from 8-10 hours to 4-5 hours. “Time is money, especially in data-driven industries. The quicker we can deliver accurate insights, the better our business agility becomes,” he noted.
One of the standout features of the Dual ETL solution was its automation capabilities. By integrating automated error logging, real-time monitoring, and self-healing workflows, the system minimized manual intervention. This shift not only refined operations but also reduced operational costs by 30%, saving the organization $60,000 per quarter. “Automation isn’t about replacing people; it’s about empowering teams to focus on strategic tasks rather than repetitive processes,” Sainath emphasized.
Beyond technical achievements, the solution significantly impacted the organization’s business performance. Enhanced data accuracy allowed the marketing team to execute highly targeted campaigns, resulting in a 25% increase in conversion rates within the first quarter. Improved demand forecasting minimized supply chain disruptions and better customer retention strategies pushed retention rates from 80% to 88%. “Seeing higher conversions and fewer disruptions reaffirmed the value of reliable data systems,” he said.
Sainath’s contributions extend beyond technical implementation. He played a pivotal role in fostering cross-functional collaboration and bringing together data engineering, operations, and business intelligence teams. Regular feedback loops and knowledge-sharing frameworks ensured continuous improvement of the ETL system. “Innovation is a team sport. The best solutions emerge when diverse perspectives come together,” he reflected.
However, the road to success was not without its challenges. Managing data inconsistency across multiple sources, ensuring scalability for growing data volumes, and maintaining system reliability were significant hurdles. He tackled these issues head-on by using cloud-native infrastructure, implementing elastic architectures, and establishing robust governance practices. “Challenges are opportunities in disguise. They push you to think creatively and build systems that stand the test of time,” he remarked.
One of his other major projects involved migrating legacy data pipelines from Teradata to Hadoop, a company-wide initiative that enabled efficient data handling and validation in a modern framework. This project underscored his ability to navigate complex transitions while maintaining operational continuity. Reportedly, a 15-20% increase in data accuracy, and a 50% reduction in processing times, were noted. This underscores the transformative impact of his work. Reflecting on his journey, he said, “These achievements are not just milestones; they are stepping stones toward continuous innovation and excellence.”
Through strategic vision, technical expertise, and a collaborative spirit, Sainath Muvva has redefined the benchmarks of efficiency and reliability in data engineering. His work serves as a testament to how innovation, when executed with precision, can drive organizational success and inspire trust in data-driven decision-making processes.
The Union Budget 2020 is all set to be announced on 1 February 2020. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to deliver her second budget speech in New Delhi. The Union Budget is the most extensive account of the government’s finances, in which revenues from all sources and expenses of all activities undertaken are aggregated. It comprises the revenue and capital budget. It also contains estimates for the next fiscal.
India’s economic growth has been sluggish over the last few years and the impact has been concerning. Despite India being the third largest startup nation in the world, many ideas crumble before they flourish owing to lack of supporting infrastructure, funding, profitability, skill gaps and ecosystem hurdles. Demolishing angel tax and reducing corporate tax were commendable initiatives in reviving start-up sentiments, however, a lot more needs to be done to empower them further.
From a startup ecosystem perspective, there is a need to promote priority lending and improve contract enforcement to aid ease of doing business. As per World Bank reports, solving commercial dispute in India takes 1,445 days, which is almost three times more than the average seen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Further, starting or closing a business is still a cumbersome process in our country.
Let’s hear from some startup leader regarding what they feel about this Union Budget and what more they expect from it.
Expectation for MSMEs
MSME’s have always been looked as the backbone of any economy and are a very important part of the entire ecosystem in terms of all aspects including job creation, acting as suppliers and promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship.
With more than 28 % contribution in GDP, 40% of exports and 45 % of manufacturing output, the importance of our 63.38 million MSME’s is self explanatory.
Whilst issues like increased access to credit, more budgetary allocation, creating a “Fund of Funds” (in the lines of suggestion given by former SEBI chairman U K Sinha headed committee on MSME), Extension of interest subvention scheme etc will help the MSME’s in the country.
Expectation for Real Estate
Commonfloor analyzed builder sentiment on the upcoming Union Budget 2020 from over 300 builders across India. Infographic given below has some insightful views and expectations from real estate builders.
Real Estate Expectation in UB
In the infographic you will find the builders views on :
Top solutions expected from Budget 2020
Factors that boosted real estate demand this year
Factors affecting home buyers sentiment
Expected reforms to help boost FDI in real estate
Key takeaways for Real Estate
Builders in Bangalore and Delhi are the most concerned about the liquidity of NBFC credit and are looking forward to increased support to the NBFCs in the Union Budget 2020.
Also, Builders say that government policies like higher GST on under-construction projects and the absence of single window clearances among others are some of the factors affecting homebuyers’ sentiments which can continue into this year as well if not addressed in the upcoming Union Budget.
Mr. Tanuj Choudhry, Chief Business Officer, HomeLane
From the sector perspective, government has introduced many policy level interventions in the past 2-3 years to boost the real estate sector which has a direct impact on the home designing segment. However, revival requires much more effort. There is a need to reconsider the personal tax bracket to give more liquidity to consumers, as well as better benefits under section 80C to encourage investment in real estate and home interiors segment. Furthermore, the Home interiors segment falls under 18% GST slab and we propose the government to consider this segment under 12% GST slab since interiors is no longer a ‘good to have’ item anymore. This will further increase savings for the end consumers.
Likewise, paper is crucial for making products like laminates and import duties on paper and other input materials is a concern for the home design and décor segment. To encourage ‘Make-in-India’ adoption there is a need to contain the cost of getting quality materials from the Indian manufacturers. Until then the import duties should be re-considered.
The home decor and interiors industry in India is poised to grow and it has moved from being the sole preserve of the rich. The concept of interior designing has made rapid inroads into the booming urban Indian middle class over the last five years. This has also coincided with the share of organized retail in this space doubling from 5% to 10% in the same period. For a $20BN market with an 8% CAGR, this is significant even as these are still early days. This sector has much to do, and a lot to grow.
Expectations for Edtech sector
Mr. Achin Bhattacharyya, Founder and CEO, Notebook
India may not be able to reap her rightfully due demographic dividend unless serious blue sky thinking and implementation is done to boost the quality of education which will make our youth more employable and in turn not only contribute in achieving our economic ambitions but also to sustain it.
GST reduction on online courses
In a country as huge as ours, on the ground resource crunch in terms of providing quality education to each and every child is a huge challenge. The only way to nurture this force of billion dreams is centralized content creation and efficient cloud based online distribution of the same, current 18% GST rate on online education needs to be seriously reconsidered keeping in mind the socio economic benefits of providing quality education to the masses and filling up the gap in terms of PTR (Pupil teacher ratio) and quality (as highlighted in PISA and ASER surveys in the past).
Large scale PPP project
It is high time that the infrastructures of state machinery and the innovation and entrepreneurial zeal of the private sector join hands to deliver the goods. Thus mass scale digitalization and on the ground implementation through smart classes is the need of the hour. Age old chalk and talk pedagogy need to be replaced by engaging digital content and serious budgetary allocation for the same needs to be made.
Focus on Research
In order to create a knowledge economy, it is very important to focus on research. As per WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) China made as many as 13.38 lac patent applications, with just 10% being made by non-resident Chinese, the USA made 6.05 Lac patent applications, while India made a mere 45K, of which non-resident Indians contributed over 70%. Thus Budget 2020 should adequately provide for research allocations.
Mr. Vivek Jain, CBO – Shiksha.com, Naukri FastForward
“Education expenditure as % of GDP has been around 3%. We are hoping education expenditure around 5% of GDP. If the government’s aim to become the education hub of the world is to be achieved, we will need more investment in education. We have seen investment in building top tier institutions like IITs, NITs, IIITs, AIIMS. Also, more seats for MBBS have been announced as well.
In addition, we have seen more approvals for distance education/online courses. We look forward to specific initiatives to promote research, incentives for more collaboration between academia and industry, and investment in new-age trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, IoT.”
Mr. Manit Parikh, Country Head India, ELSA Corp (English Language Speech Assistant Corporation)
It is reported that India has 250 million youth in the age group 13-23 out of which 90 million of them are in secondary & higher secondary schools and 140 million in colleges. This itself highlights that there is a need to make them more job ready. I hope the government announces some initiatives in this Budget to introduce English language to citizens especially those residing in Tier II, III ,IV regions and beyond. I also hope that more initiatives are proposed to create employment opportunities along with better language skills.
Expectation for E-Commerce and Internet Startups
Mr. Vishal Saurav, Founder and CEO of Xboom Utilities Pvt. Ltd.
India is at such a crossroad now that it can no longer keep the issue of women’s safety untended. With the rising numbers of crime against women, addressing the issue of women’s safety and security and allocating a portion of the budget in this regard is what we and other e-commerce startups like us who are working in the safety and security sector are expecting.
Lowering the GST rate on women safety products from 18% to 5% would be one way to go about it. We also expect few women safety products also get exempted from the tax altogether as safety these days is not a luxury but a necessity. The import and export duty should get a revision so that trading in international markets gets a boost. The transportation charges in the railway should see a decline too as these will cut costs and make those safety products more affordable.
To promote production in India, the women safety product manufacturers should be getting special benefits from the budget so that products become more affordable to the mass.
Mr. Sheshgiri Kamath, Co-founder & CEO Kapture CRM
The tax cuts implemented by the finance minister, combined with the new fiscal boost that was announced recently are sending the right signals to the markets about the government’s intent to address the economic concerns. We expect to see a cutting edge impactful budget this time around which focuses on landmark reforms.
With the recently announced RBI eKYC and other digital measures, the internet economy is going to witness some key reforms. 2020 should be an interesting year for consumer internet startups.
Mr. Ashish Bhatia, Founder & MD, India Accelerator
The startups are hoping that the budget will announce initiatives that could pull more foreign capital and boost growth. The reduction in GST charges will encourage more foreign investors to invest in Indian startups. Currently, the tax rate of long-term capital gains is 28.5% as compared to the same for listed equities to be 10%. This creates a significant tax burden on founders and employees of startups, as well as domestic angel and institutional investors.
Further, the relaxation of personal income tax rates will act as a booster shot. It will certainly help the startup companies and the Millenials to improve further and ease doing business.
At the outset, we would like to commend the Government for the several initiatives it has so far taken to encourage and develop the Startup ecosystem. As a three-year-old startup, Excess2sell.com’s phenomenal growth can be attributed to the Govt.’s efforts in consolidating GST with technology, ease of doing business, taxation on startups and various policy initiatives. It has allowed and encouraged first-generation entrepreneurs like us to take risks and be part of a developing ecosystem for Indians who always wanted to do something on their own.
We look forward to Union Budget 2020 with more focus on reforms, ease of doing business, system cleansing and easing up liquidity for honest tax-payers to spend. With the kind of thrust on technology build-up, easy tax policies and overall opportunities, our enterprise which focuses on the B2B segment is poised to grow at an even faster rate.
There’s talk that the government will create a Fund of Funds specially targeted towards SME clusters. While there is one for startups as well, there is still ambiguity in terms of how startups can really gain from it and actively seek for investment. So we would be closely watching not just how much allocation is made towards the FoF but also if any processes are simpler and more accessible.
Expectation for Electric Vehicle
Mr. Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers Of Electric Vehicles (SMEV)
For a nascent and disruptive industry like EV that is heavily dependent on the government policies, there needs to be one voice from the policymakers. The EV policy needs to be clear, supportive and long term.
We strongly believe that in the short to medium run, both the EV and IC sectors can grow and complement each other and policy statements should not give jitters to either of them. We hope there are announcements in the budget that give confidence to the EV industry and bring cheers to its users. Well thought through ‘Make in India’ policy backed up by logical import tariffs, accelerated infrastructure support, securing rare earth materials, the lithium cobalt minerals and priming up the science and research are some areas that need increased focus and support from the government.
The industry and the government needs to draw and implement firm plans for re-skilling the workforce. Moreover, the Science & Technology institutes under the umbrella of the government have to be pushed to do some deep research into the alternative energy to fuel spectrum needs of the automotive sector. There is a strong possibility of India playing a significant role in the global EV market with its “value for money” two, three and four-wheelers, provided we quickly reach a good scale in the domestic market.
We should make concerted efforts to remove the kinks that have inadvertently cropped up in Fame 2. The policy should be completely redrafted, if needed, so that substantial investments both from within and outside India can flow into the EV sector to push the exponential growth that everyone has been expecting for some years.
Mr. Amit Jain, Founder and CEO of Ashika Wealth Advisors
In our view, to generate employment, govt should increase fund allocation to new age startups through Niti Ayog. Also, startups should have some tax incentives proportionate to their employment generation in the Indian Economy. Investment in the equity market should always be from long term point of view, so to encourage long term investment in the stock market we should have three slabs for capital gains, which are as below- Short term Capital gain < 1 Year 15% Long term Capital gain 1 year to 3 years 10% Very long term Capital gain Beyond 3 years Nil
This slab of Capital gain shall courage and incentivize the long term investment in the Stock Market & subsequently reduce Volatility in short to medium term.
Mihir Mehta, Senior Vice President, Ashika Capital Limited
The proactive approach of the Government in building an ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs is laudable. The provision of funding and setting up an organized platform for the same is a much needed move because financial capital often becomes an impediment for growth and sustainability. I feel we have just touched the tip of immense entrepreneurship potential in India and support from the Government in terms of financial capital will be a major boost”
Expectation for Agriculture Industry
Dr. Bhushan Bhavsarv, MD, Vetphage Pharmaceutical
“With environmental degradation and climate change among major concerns of our time, the need to promote sustainable farming – both crop farming and animal farming – must be high on government’s agenda.
As an organization working in the field of sustainable poultry farming, we expect the government to lay down a clear policy for sustainable farming and animal rearing. These include healthy diets for poultry, medication free rearing, safe disposal and safe processing. The government must incentivize farmers to adopt the use of safe and healthy rearing practices that lead to a more sustainable approach to poultry production. The government must also encourage organizations working to devise sustainable farming solutions to animal farmers.
Falling consumption on a national level has emerged as a serious concern for different sectors as well as the economy as a whole. Poultry industry is no different. In fact, reports have shown that poultry farmers are struggling to cope with rising feed costs and falling consumer demand. Some poultry farmers have also been demanding duty free imports of maize (an important poultry feed) to help them tide over the high feed costs. We hope the government will pay due attention to the sector in the upcoming budget.
Expectation for HealthCare and Wellness
Dr. Prakriti Poddar, Managing Trustee of Poddar Foundation
Narendra Modi government ambitious National Health Policy 2017 remains an unfulfilled promise if the budget allocation for the health sector during the year is any indication. In India, approximately 18 crore people suffer from mental health illness – depression, stress, suicide. However, the amount of funds that the government has allocated for mental issues is only Rs 50 crore in its National Mental Health Program.
We expect a balanced doctor-patient ratio as the treatment gap makes it difficult for the government to manage the mental health of the working-age population, which is a key social and economic issues as they are integral to the functioning of the economy. The Mental Health Act made it mandatory that every insurer shall make provisions for medical insurance for the treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for the treatment of physical illnesses. In case of hospitalization during mental illness, the coverage will include analysis and diagnosis of a person’s mental condition, treatment as well as care and rehabilitation of such person for his mental illness or suspected mental illness.
However, making mental health a part of health insurance is not enough especially when the infrastructure and doctor to patient ratio cannot facilitate its smooth functioning. This is why the union budget needs to focus on mental well being in a wholesome way and emphasize the integration of mental health services in basic health care system in India to improve upon its affordability and accessibility. The government should raise more awareness by organizing campaigns and empathy classes wherein people share what is preying on their mind instead of agonizing over it by keeping it in.
Ms. Anika Parashar, Chairperson- Organ India, CEO- River Rock Ventures
The primary focus of the Union Budget is to promote inclusive growth in the country; however, women wellness – especially menstrual hygiene – is an area that needs to be emphasized.
To go green in the future, the government should ensure the use of biodegradable menstrual products over non-biodegradable ones. This one initiative could bring down the number of disposable sanitary napkins adding to the landfill, which currently stands at 12.3 billion annually. The government could support start-ups who are endeavouring to offer biodegradable products at affordable prices, keeping in mind the current condition of the environment.
Although the sanitary napkins are tax-free, the expenditure incurred in their production is still taxable. Decreasing import duty for raw materials could help such start-ups to stretch themselves in the market, meeting the public demand.
The government should also take measures on educating and teaching women the importance of hygiene during periods, pregnancy, menopause, Post-Partum depression, PCOD, mental health issues and other general health-related issues”.
Mr. Nikhilesh Tiwari, Founder & CEO, ColMed
At present, India imports nearly 80% of all medical devices and domestic manufacturing took more of a hit post GST as the imports became cheaper by 11%. As the imports went up by 24% in the previous fiscal, the government needs to take urgent measures to boost local manufacturing if it wants India to become a manufacturing hub.
For starters, tariff protection will boost the domestic industry and encourage competition, which will drive price stability. Secondly, we should increase the regulations to cover most medical devices and ensure responsible manufacturing and protect the interests of patients. Preferential pricing will promote quality in public procurement, and ensure that the patients who access the public healthcare system get the quality of treatment that they deserve.
These changes will ensure a level playing field and help put an end to the import dependence, which is vital if we want to achieve universal health coverage in line with the United Nation & Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, the Government should give export promotion scheme for local manufacturer. Custom duty refund in case of re-exports.
Expectation for Textile Industry
Ms. Mansi Gupta, Founder & CEO, Tjori
Mansi Gupta Tjori
The economy of the country in general has taken a dip of concern and textile sector has been suffering drastically because of this. The ongoing US-China war has led to drastic impacts on exports of Indian textiles. Incentives to make the exports better were schemed but were delayed while implementation. The world is at a technological era and advancement of the textile sector is still very slow. The need for better fund allocation is required towards the technological advancement of environmental friendly textiles. New incentive plans and schemes need to proposed in order to adopt global practice which in turn would increase production.
A fall in the outlay from 600 Crores to 500 Crores is a big dip that the industry will face and to help bridge this gap we need to promote and incentive Indian marketing platforms for sales in the country. The marketing funds on an e-commerce website drained by any company is drain of the countries fun as the top marketing platforms are all companies of the US. A strict tax regulation scheme needs to be imposed on them in order for the money to stay within the country.
I anticipate the budget of 2020-21 and hope that the textile sector has some beneficial fund allocation that would help boost the sector.”
You probably use a variety of different SaaS products every day. That’s because software as a service (SaaS) market is growing quickly, and spreading rapidly. But on the other side of the coin, if you’re a business leader or a customer success manager (CSM) at a SaaS company, you need to understand the different behaviors and strategies for earning new SaaS customers or else you’ll be one of many SaaS companies that don’t grow fast enough.
You don’t buy a SaaS product once and forget it. There’s no true autopilot or end of the journey, just a SaaS customer life cycle that continues to grow and evolve, generating the recurring revenue that you need to survive. It’s a cycle that seems very straightforward but proper execution requires a lot of smart timing and knowledge. In essence, you’re finding a customer, getting them to sign up for your SaaS offer, and then trying to keep them. In practice, there are a variety of considerations during and between each step that can lead to success or frustrated customers who leave.
SaaS growth funnel
The SaaS customer life cycle can be broken down into three stages – the acquisition, engagement, and retention of your customers. SaaS products are different than others because it’s not enough to get a customer to buy once, you need them to engage with your product repeatedly to see value so that they’ll keep buying from you every month, or every year.
During the acquisition stages of the customer life cycle, customers are looking for a solution to a problem they’re experiencing. Education is vital at this point: you need to help your customers understand their problem, and help them understand how your SaaS tool will help them solve it.
Traditionally, companies aren’t great at this – they have a tendency to sell too hard, too soon, and put-off prospective customers with an overly enthusiastic sales pitch when they’re in ‘research mode’, rather than ‘buying mode’.
Awareness
The start of the customer life cycle, whether you’re a SaaS provider or any other company, is when your customer first becomes aware of an issue they have. Through marketing, referrals, demonstrations, and other tactics, you also make them aware that your solution solves their problem. Think of this as the educational stage. You’re just trying to inform someone about your offering, and that can mean providing a lot of context.
Awareness stage
If you’re struggling on where to start with awareness, there’s one content trick that works with successfully with companies from start-ups to some of the largest cloud security companies in the U.S.: turn each question in your FAQ into an individual post, graphic, video, or other element. Answer the questions people have and demonstrate your capabilities, and they’ll be aware of you and what you do.
Consideration
By now, your customers will have a decent understanding of their problem, and will have identified several potential SaaS solutions that they’re considering.
Qualification
Building on awareness is the qualification of leads and customers. In this stage of the SaaS customer life cycle, you’re taking a potential customer and determining if they’re a good fit for your business. At the same time, the customer is looking through your materials or perhaps trying a demo to see if they think you’re a good fit. Your customers will narrow down their options to just a few solutions. They might start free trials, request a demo, or start a conversation with your sales team.
Qualification stage
If you’re in a new software category or have a very different take on functionality and workflows, make your support information and teams available to help. Treating the qualification stage as the start of your on-boarding will help your team deliver quality service that can boost conversions.
The engagement stages are key to the success of your SaaS company. It’s where your customers make their leap of faith, and start paying for your service. According to Intercom, 40-60% of users use a SaaS product once, and then never return. You then need to provide real, tangible value to the user as quickly as possible, to convince them that it’s worth their investment. Getting that first session right is essential for keeping your customers coming back for more.
Engagement Stages
Evaluation
Your customers are now in the final stages of their decision-making. They’ll be asking your sales team very usage-specific, or company-specific questions about the capabilities of your solution, to assess whether or not your solution will meet their needs and solve their problem.
Purchase
This is it – the magic moment when they part with their credit card details and officially become paying customers. Your customer has made it to the first major milestone, congrats! Carve out purchase decisions as their own step when you’re mapping your customer journey. This helps you test and validate the process as well as see why customers do or don’t buy from you. Closing the deal is also an appropriate time to evaluate your marketing and other efforts so far, plus perform audits on documentation and payment methods.
When the interested party becomes a paying customer, thank them. Introduce your team again and remind the customer of your dedicated support and services. Be helpful and ask for your first round of feedback so that you can make the qualification and purchase steps easier for potential customers to complete.
Activation
Now they’ve paid for your service, your customers are starting to use it. They’ll work through any on boarding processes you have, and (hopefully) start to get value from using your solution. After the purchase decision is made, the SaaS life cycle shifts. You’re dealing directly with fewer managers and C-Suite leaders. Your focus becomes the daily user. This is the person who needs training and support to figure out how to use your software.
The benefit to thinking about this stage as a shift in your target customer is that you and your teams will focus on making a good “first impression” with daily users. Actively listening to their needs and being responsive during the onboarding and training process can keep them happy. In many cases, SaaS contracts can be cancelled at any time. Competitors are also waiting to grab frustrated users from you. This is your first big customer filter and you want to get on the good side of users to keep their whole organization happy.
In these later stages of the customer life cycle, your focus should be on customer success: providing continuing value to your customers, and providing excellent support and information to help your customers maximize the value they get from your service, to reduce or prevent churn.
It’s cheaper to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones, but many companies often overlook investing in customer success, focusing instead on lead generation and customer acquisition to fuel their business growth.
Expansion
The next phase in the SaaS customer journey is when the customer and their teams become regular users of your service. You become part of their daily operations and need to treat this with the respect that it deserves. They may decide they need additional features or functionality available from higher-price packages, expanding from the initial package or service they signed up for.
For demonstrating that respect, your mission is here to give your customers the tools, information, and support they need to properly implement change management. By understanding customer workflows and how your product disrupts them, you can determine the best way to position your SaaS capabilities. Ask your customers what they hope to achieve with regular use and provide tips and guides for how to accomplish this.
Renewal
After you’ve become part of the customer’s new daily routine, you need to ensure that you’ve made the routine better. The months or year after first landing an onboarding is a big-time milestone and decision for many. Your customers’ initial contracted use period has come to an end, and they decide to continue paying for, and using, your service. Your customer is looking at their budget for the next quarter or year and questioning if you’re worth it. You’re doing the same and seeing if you need to change your pricing structure or what features to provide to keep people happy.
The purchase decision often relies on hopes for improved efficiencies and bottom-line gains: how will this help our business. The renewal decision, however, is focused on if those gains were achieved and how the customer felt about it. You have to not only be a benefit but feel like one. To put this in perspective, think about a time before you had one of your go-to SaaS tools, like a CRM. In your pre-CRM days, you did all that customer management in spreadsheets and hand-written to-do lists and called or emailed when you remembered and had the time. Some people just fell through the cracks, even if they were good leads and customers.
Adopting a CRM automated a lot of this and even gave you tools to weed out the less lucrative clients so you could focus on the big wins that made your business successful. You fell in love with the tech and what it could do, and now you had a name for the software: CRM. If the company was a pain to work with, the system crashed often, or its helpdesk never answered a question right, you’d probably not renew. Even if it made your marketing and sales better, you’d take this knowledge that “a CRM is helpful to me” and use it to find a different provider. The boom in SaaS means there are more providers and competition each quarter, making customer service a key differentiator when it comes to the renewal phase.
Referral
Your customers are delighted with your service, and are so impressed with the value you deliver, that they’re recommending your service to colleagues, or others in their network. When the customer does renew, rejoice! And then, ask them to tell you why they chose to renew. Your customer is loyal and satisfied and you’re likely to get some messaging you can use in your marketing to make a pitch to similar companies.
For those satisfied customers, you should follow-up. Thank them for being a customer and ask if they would refer to you to colleagues, partners, or other businesses they know. If you want to sweeten the deal, create a referral program that allows them to save a little or earn some freebies when they make referrals that work for you. In some rare cases, you’ll have a customer who loves your product. They want to tell the world about it, and you should help them do just that. These advocates or evangelists can bring new companies and plenty of revenue to your door. Because they like you already, the rewards you provide don’t need to be huge, they just need to be useful.
Adobe has always had a very loyal customer base and they really capitalize on this advocacy piece with their Ambassador Program. People who sign up get training and webinars and other tools, while being asked to make commitments to advocate for Adobe and evangelize its products at their office and in their community. You don’t need to immediately launch into this step, but it is a smart thing to think about for down the road.
In customer life cycles—as in life—the best approach is to take it one day (and one phase) at a time. Plus, while it might be tough to take a data-driven approach to life—that is, of course, unless you track all of your daily activities as data points—customer life cycles are ripe for data collection and analysis. So, let the data science be your guide. Implement systems and software to measure and track customer success, and watch your base of engaged, loyal customers grow.
On-Page SEO is the technique that is applied on web pages to improve the search engine ranking. These are under the webmaster’s direct control. They are related to the site and page structure, to the web technologies involved in the implementation and design and generally to how the website is built.
If you don’t get On-Page SEO right, you have very little chance of securing top spots for competitive key phrases, even if you’ve got a fantastic outreach and PR campaign and an awesome link profile! It’s a common mistake to ignore the SEO and focus on getting links instead of what’s in your control that’s the optimization of your site. With this in mind, here’s a brief guide to getting On-Page SEO right.
Before you start your On-Page SEO research, Here are some On-Page SEO techniques to rank on the first page of google.
On-Page SEO Techniques for Higher Rankings
On-Page SEO Techniques for Higher Rankings
Content of the page
It is what the user came to see and is thus extremely important to create good content from an SEO perspective. Hence your content must supply a demand. If you are targeting any particular keyword you want to rank make sure you include that particular keyword. But also keep in mind that individual keyword density must not be greater than 6%.
Content only accessible after logging in and content that can’t be reproduced or shared are less likely to rank. Moreover Unique and frequently updated content is always good. Also, an SEO optimized post has more than 700 words.
Page Title tag
Start the title with the main keyword. Then put its variations (plural, synonyms) in the title tag of a page.
Keep only 55-65 characters.
Keep it in the H1 tag
No special character
Use brief, but descriptive titles
Accurately describe the page’s content
Always ensure you target one main keyword and variations per page
Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions don’t contribute as a ranking signal anymore, but they’re still an incredibly important aspect of On-Page Optimization. Well written, approximately 156 -170 characters and essentially a sales pitch for what the landing page is about. Google can use them as a snippet.
For each of your pages, you can include a set of keywords in the form of meta tags. These should be all the relevant keywords of your content. Try to include these tags somewhere in the body
Body Tag
H1 tags are reserved for your main page title, with subsequent headings being issued H2, H3, etc. Make sure you write keyword-rich headings in the order of priority in H1, H2 and H3 title tags. They are used by many crawlers to differentiate important content. Always remember to highlight the important parts of the article.
SEO Friendly Permalink URLs
SEO friendly permalink URLs contains keywords that can explain the whole article and they are also easy to read both by human and search engines.
3-5 words in a URL are given more weight.
Always use hyphens rather than underscores and try not to have main pages sitting too many directories deep in your site
You need to include visuals to make your content more attractive to get more visitors. Engaging images, videos, and diagrams can reduce bounce rate and increase time on site. Visuals play an important role when it comes to user interaction ranking factors.
Image SEO
Images are important but these should not increase the loading time of the website.
Use original images: If you need to use an existing image from the web you need to give credit to the source.
Optimize the size of the images: The smaller the size (in bytes) of the image the better.
Use ALT tags to describe the images: This helps search engines understand what the image is about.
Use descriptive filenames: Don’t just name your image ‘image1.jpg’ but try to use descriptive filenames, for example, ‘Man doing push-ups.jpg’.Better if you keep your keyword.
Use a Content Delivery Network: If you have a lot of images on a single page you can use a CDN service (from Amazon or Google) that will make your page load faster. In simple terms, your images will be hosted and served by many servers and this speeds up the loading process.
Use Outbound Links
Outbound links to related pages is a relevancy signal that helps Google figure out your page’s topic. It also shows Google that your page is a hub of quality info. Using the outbound link to link a popular site boosts page rank.
Internal Linking
Placing links to your other website pages is a great way of improving the quality of your articles and enhancing the site. Internal links not only does make it much easier for your visitors to navigate around your site and find all of your content, but it also ensures that your site gets properly crawled allowing the search engines to find all of your pages.
The first sentence in the body text and the first words used per sentence are the most important ones for advanced On-Page SEO necessities, so choose it wisely.
Creating new optimized content weekly.
Drop Keyword in First 100 Word.
Things Not to Do
Don’t try and trick the search engines by optimizing multiple pages for the same keyword.
Don’t spam or over-optimize meta tags and always think about what works for users before the search engines.
Don’t keep repeating your main target keyword in each tag, rather use variations which enhance the value of the content
Check your page now!
On-Page SEO Checklist Content
On-Page SEO Checklist
Content is original – Copyscape checked?
Content is first published on your website?
Does the content have enough descriptive text?
Content is well researched with references?
Do you have a clear publishing strategy?
Pages Titles, description and formatting Page titles are unique for each page? Descriptions are unique and up to 150 characters? Text is properly formatted using H1, H2, Bold, Italics? Text is split into small paragraphs? Font size is easy to read on small screens (tablets) as well? Image size is optimized using smush it? All images have alt tags defined? The image filename is descriptive?
URL Structure Permanent links use ‘-‘ as a separator? Website pages/posts are grouped into categories? Is there breadcrumb on all posts/pages? Is there an HTML User Sitemap?
Internal Links Do pages have internal links? There is a ‘Related Posts’ section at the end of each page? Do internal links use both keyword and non-keyword anchor text?
Speed and Authorship Is the website score more than 90% when checked by Google page speed insights? Google Authorship is implemented for every post/page available on the website?
If you are running your business online or if you have a blog you need to follow best SEO practices to get your website rank higher on the search engines. All the small businesses must get the Local SEO done to convert the potential customer into buying customer. SEO is important for increasing the traffic and should be a focus of every online business’s priority to check-in. Tell us how you use SEO in your articles, in the comment section below.
If you are looking for a job or internship you must be looking for tips to crack job interview. Basically, an interview is a formal interaction between an employer and a candidate to assess the suitability for a given job opportunity. In today’s world, the majority of qualified people are looking for jobs. Remember, competition for the job market is very high. For you to outstand and secure one, you need to put in mind the following tips to crack interview while attending any interview.
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
10 Tips to Crack Interview
1. Understand the Type of Job you want
People looking for jobs have been trying their luck in so many ways. Career is about getting a job of your interest. Companies circulate job adverts every day but we need to assess ourselves first. The majority end up applying for jobs that don’t suit them at all. When invited for an interview they chew black out.
Understand the type of job you want
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” —Confucius, Chinese philosopher
2. Prepare for the Interview
Check the position you have applied for, go through the job description, analyze each task and get to know the possible questions that might be asked. Internalize on some of the common questions and work on your communication skills.
“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” –Arthur Ashe, American tennis player
It is very important to learn about the company before you applied with. Check on company’s website and know their vision, mission, programs and projects. Chances are very high that you may be asked a question like; how you will add value to their organization. You can only answer this when you know their exact mandate. This can make the interviewer get impressed.
“Finding a job that is a good fit is as much about you selecting the right company as it is about them selecting the right candidate.” ― Miles Anthony Smith, Author
When getting into an interview room, it is advisable to wear the right mood and have the mindset the offer belongs to you. Most of the candidates miss out the job simply because they didn’t qualify. The job ideally was not advertised for formality but attitude knocks them.
5. Practice Before
You can practice for the interview by placing the mirror in front of you or get a friend or relative and assume is the panelist. People might think you are mad but it is a very effective way. Gestures can be assessed here and check on areas to improve. Confidence also is raised. You can practice this over and over until you perfect it.
“Hard work and dedication and perseverance and being good to people does win. It does matter. Cream does rise to the top.” – Gina Rodriguez, American actress
6. Put a Smile on your Face
You might be in need of a job desperately but this does not warrant you to cry to the interviewer to get one. Don’t seem to be a beggar even if you are one but portray integrity. When you smile, it brings some sort of confidence that is even recognized by the interviewer. Smiling is also a tricky way of chasing nervousness.
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” –H. Stanley Judd, Author
An interview per individual is set within a specified period of time. Again, interviewers don’t have time to hear stories. Avoid wasting their time and catch their interest by going straight to the point. Irrelevant stories are an indication that you did not prepare well.
“Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.” –Brian Tracy, American-Canadian public speaker
8. Prepare Questions to the Interviewer
Prepare Questions to the Interviewer
At the end of every interview, interviewers are fair enough to ask the interviewee if they have any question for them. This is the chance to ask them any question you have about their company. Ask even if one question is. Failing to ask a question means you are not sure or enthusiastic enough to take the opportunity.
9. Put Mobile Phone on Silent Mode or Switch off
Phones can ring unexpectedly. It is very embarrassing when interviewed phone rings in the midst of an interview. This brings unnecessary distraction and also diverting the attention of everyone. This shows un-seriousness and you might lose the opportunity.
10. Impressive Posture and Maintain Eye Contact
Sitting position matter a lot in an interview. Keep posture in a receptive angle. Maintaining an eye contact show the interviewer that you are confident.
Yes, getting a job is very challenging nowadays but I hope these tips to crack job interview will surely help you to get the job in your dream company. All the best!
“You must fall in love with your job, over and over again, to own it.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
Individuals and businesses today are living in a hyper-social world. In simpler terms, this means that everyone is on social media. When these platforms first came out, they were only used to connect people around the world for communication purposes. Today, it goes beyond that. Businesses, in particular, are taking advantage of social media sites for them to engage with their customers.
It’s safe to say, therefore, that social media and customer service are now closely related to each other. This fact highlights the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) for social media, which can benefit businesses. But this doesn’t mean that you can jump right into implementing social media CRM without putting much thought into its effectiveness and accuracy.
To ensure that you gain successful results, try to apply the following tips:
1. Enable Easy Importation Of Data
For businesses to be able to run more efficiently, it’s imperative that they also apply online marketing tools, as well as tips and tricks for better and easier importation of data. That way, it’s less of an effort to put everything together in your business. Rather than the traditional means of having to transport data manually and individually by hand, you can now go for more automated means.
Here are tips on how to maximize your social CRM for better importation of data:
Invest in the right social tool.
Monitor all interactions, comments, mentions, and messages.
Target the relevant social media networks pertaining to the specific information that you’d like to import.
Improve your analytics.
Group your customers into different target audiences.
Your employees can better manage your social media sites with the objective of improving customer service through a central app. This way, you can easily transfer and disseminate relevant information across all of your social media sites, Lesser errors are committed, and less time is also wasted.
2. Communicate Better With Customers
Customer Relationship Management involves actively engaging with your customers. In the case of social media sites, this refers to your followers. With a social CRM system for your business, it’s easier for you to communicate across your different social media sites. You won’t miss out on any comment regardless of whether they’re good or bad ones.
Here’s how social CRM fosters better communication with customers:
Whenever communication is made through a comment or a message, you’re immediately notified of this regardless of the social media account you’re currently on.
If your followers/clients have any sentiment or feedback that needs action, you’re able to address this immediately.
Customers and followers feel more valued when they’re given the proper attention that they need.
3. Grows Your Business
Businesses need to grow within the online sphere. With more and more people becoming active on the Internet and social media sites, this is a market you shouldn’t miss out on, or else you cease to be competitive. You’re going to drown lower in the competition. With social CRM, this problem is solved.
Social CRM strengthens your business’s potential to grow. This growth stems from the fact that your ability to reach a higher following of customers is now increased. Not only is this limited to reaching customers, but it also applies to the enhanced ability of improving customer relationship management.
4. Meets The Rising Needs And Demands Of Customers
Customers’ expectations today are rising. One of the challenges involving technology has to do with the fact that communication from customers to businesses are changing across different channels. As a business entity, it’s your job to be able to adapt through these various channels effectively. Otherwise, you’ll fail to meet the rising communication needs and demands of your customers.
With the use of the best CRM for small business companies, your business meets the rising needs and demands of your customers. For instance, with phone CRM systems, you can better track and monitor inquiries and phone calls. The same holds true for social CRM. Having this system in place makes it easier for you to track correspondence across different social media channels, thereby meeting the rising demand for more effective communication.
5. Clearly Identify Your Problems And Goals
No matter what strategies you’ll have in place, you’ll never be able to use social CRM to your advantage if you don’t spend time identifying your problems and goals clearly. As you begin to plan your social CRM strategies, it’s imperative for you to also identify the existing issues. That way, you can make the necessary changes that will utilize your social CRM to your advantage.
Here are pointers to take note of as you identify your problems and goals:
Understand the challenges that are faced by your existing customers
Take heed of factors that might be missing in your business through the perspective of your customers
When these are addressed, you’re also better able to engage in more convenient and relevant conversations with your customers.
6. Find And Reward Brand Advocates
Brand advocates refer to the influencers that are present all over social media sites today. These are often bloggers or even ordinary citizens that brands and companies pay every time they make a post about products and services. In essence, it’s safe to say that these are the celebrities of social media sites.
For your business to stay on top of social CRM, it’s also worth considering finding and rewarding brand advocates. These influencers can significantly help your business connect with your target customers. Apart from just advertising per se, they may even go as far as to help you answer the concerns and frequently asked questions of your clients. With minimal effort on your part, your customer service improves.
Conclusion
As you may have learned from the benefits enumerated above, it’s now easy to define social media CRM as the integration of different social media sites in customer relationship management. Businesses that utilize this strategy can balance out the use of new social media sites with other traditional forms of CRM, resulting in all these benefits and so much more. If you’re slacking behind your strategies, you may want to start applying social CRM to your business.
Trends in IT and communications change so rapidly. A few years ago, a professional website and a social media presence was all any company needed to fulfil the expectations of its customer base. Not anymore.
Today the stand-out online business tool is without any question the app. As smartphones become ever more sophisticated to the point where they can take on most of the functions of a desktop computer or laptop, so the simple screen icon promising a world of personal interactivity is the go-to tool for enterprises wishing to engage with their customers – and, most importantly, to keep them engaged.
But it would be wrong to see the app as some kind of novelty or fad. Used correctly it can build a lasting personal relationship between your company and its client base.
A virtual, interactive shop window to enhance your brand’s visibility
Simply having an app available for download gives you access to what have become some of the busiest marketplaces on the planet, namely the app stores. For instance, Apple’s integrated app store receives over 500 million visits every week. Potentially every owner of an Apple smartphone or tablet is able to research your application, and to download it.
Of course, whether visitors get to find your app or not is determined by algorithms, which work pretty much the same way as they do with search engines such as Google. As a general rule of thumb, the more popular your app becomes the higher up the priority list it goes, leading to more exposure and hence even more popularity. Clearly, the better your app is, the more attention it – and therefore your business – will receive.
The app as a means of consolidating trust
Trust is still probably the most precious commodity in the world of commerce. Our ways of doing things change, but the bottom line – that customers eschew doing business with companies that can’t be relied upon to engage honestly and honourably – is fairly much a constant.
It is a reasonable assumption to make that the more interaction a potential client has with a service provider; the more trust is likely to be built. Therefore, any means through which that interaction might be engendered is generally to be pursued.
Trust comes not just with values but with brand recognition. We tend not to trust products or manufacturers that are entirely new to us, at least not as much as we trust those with whom we have had dealings in the past and have found to be reliable. Brand recognition is one of the single biggest factors in ongoing commercial success, and it surely follows that the more means through which that recognition might be achieved the quicker it is likely to occur.
An app, once downloaded, is ever-present on the screen of your telephone. You see it each and every time you scroll. This is subliminal advertising in its purest form.
Creating loyalty with your brand
Big corporations have long understood the concept of encouraging loyalty through incentivisation. Most if not all of them offer something back in return for frequent shopping, and as such, these offers are collectively known as “loyalty schemes”.
Or course “loyalty” in the context of shopping is an often misused term. Indeed the idea that one customer can be loyal to each of a whole range of supermarkets and be the proud owner of a fistful of “loyalty cards” to prove it has long been the butt of jokes. Nevertheless, the fact that the special offer continues to prove so attractive to purchasers demonstrates the power of creating an impression of something for nothing.
The app takes incentivisation to a whole new level. Push notifications can be sent out, tailored and personalised, inviting those signed up to them to pay another visit, to fill out a market research survey, to sign up a friend or even to make a good old-fashioned purchase in exchange for points, coupons or just about anything else.
At the end of the day the name of the game is to keep the person using the app coming back to the virtual store, to see what’s new and what is on offer.
Whatever the type of business you operate, there is almost certainly a benefit to be had through building an interactive relationship with your client base and by keeping them informed of any new developments at your end of things.
Retaining customer interest with new and exciting features
Quite often an app operates on two levels, one of them almost superficial with, say, games, photo sharing or light surveys designed to retain customer interest in the whole experience. But then, the best and most creative app developers often add another objective. Sometimes that may be some blatant form of marketing, at other times it could be something much less palpable such as subconscious product advertising or even a simple trust and familiarity building exercise.
In many respects it doesn’t much matter. For as long as the app retains your interest and your participation, it has your attention for whatever purchase the host company may wish to put that to.
The idea is similar to that used by some social media platforms, which operate on the surface as a public meeting place but in the background as a business marketing operation.
There is virtually no limit to what you can achieve with an app. When used to support a startup business it could generate potentially exciting outcomes.
Your app as a direct communication tool
The use of push notifications has revolutionised mobile communications. Whether it be news clips, football scores or a message indicating that somebody has replied to your Facebook status, the transmission of information that you believe you need to know is instant.
It doesn’t take a huge amount of imagination to realise the potential that push notifications have as a means of keeping your customers and potential customers informed. As the epicentre of your own news output you can keep all your contacts advised of your latest products, offers and promotions once they have signed up to receive your messages simply by downloading your app.
With credit cards being relentlessly sought after in this day and age, the term ‘credit score’ seems to be the cornerstone of every credit-related discussion. Before we get into how to improve credit score in the UK, you ought to know what it is and why it is in demand.
What is a Credit Score, and What is its Significance?
A credit score is at its base, a statistical number using which you can evaluate a borrower’s credit history.
Lenders generally use credit scores to evaluate your chances of paying back your loans. A credit score ranges from 300 to 850. The higher your credit score, the higher your chances of securing a loan as the banks are likely to trust you more.
When you apply for a loan in the UK, lenders check to see if you are a financial risk by evaluating your creditworthiness, which is why it is vital to know how to improve your credit score in the UK. Lenders generally determine your creditworthiness from a variety of Credit Rating Agencies (CRA). The leading CRAs are Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax.
To draw up your credit scores, CRAs use the following information: your payment history, credit usage, credit mix, missed credit payments, foreclosures, and so forth. Different CRAs have different ways of giving you a credit score.
For instance, Experian’s credit score ranges from 0 to 999 with 0 being the least, TransUnion’s credit score generally ranges between 300 and 850. The higher the number, the better your credit score. Equifax’s credit score range from 0 to 700.
Banks offer you deals on loans based on the information they get from CRAs. If you have what they consider is a good credit score, you can expect to get a loan at a relatively low interest. Also, banks are likely to allow you to take out a more significant loan amount.
However, if you have a poor credit score, you may still get a loan but at a substantially high-interest rate. Also, the loans you will be eligible for will be smaller amounts as the bank probably considers you a high financial risk. In some cases, you may not even get a loan. Considering the role of credit score while applying for a loan, you ought to make sure you know how to improve your credit score in the UK.
How to Improve Credit Score in the UK?
If you are unsure as to how to improve your credit score in the UK, be sure to do the following:
Make your Payments on Time
This should go without saying, but making your payments on time is, by far, the simplest and one of the most effective ways of improving your credit score in the UK. Clearing credit card debt on time can help you convey to the bank that you have strong creditworthiness.
Avoid Performing Multiple Credit Checks
You need to have an above-average credit score to get the loans you want. However, the act of checking credit score itself can reduce your credit score. Frequenting different banks in search of a loan and having them check your credit score can negatively affect your credit score.
Close the Accounts that are no longer in use
If you happen to have any accounts that you no longer use, you are better off closing them.
CRAs will not be able to access any information on your residual balances in your old accounts. When required, they will consider this before finalizing your credit score.
Building your Credit using a Prepaid card from a Credit Builder
Here is another thing you can do if you do not know how to improve your credit score in the UK.
Credit Builder was put in place to help people by showing them how to improve their credit score in the UK. This proves to be one of the most straightforward solutions to how to improve your credit score in the UK.
Customers pay a monthly fee, which is automatically debited from their bank accounts. This fee is declared to CRAs every month for twelve months as a payment of interest. During this period, you can expect your credit rating to have improved.
Getting listed on the Electoral roll
Getting listed on the electoral roll is another answer to how to improve your credit score in the UK. Lenders and CRAs generally check to see if you and the details you provide are genuine.
It also helps if you have a fixed residential location, have had the same job and bank account for a considerable amount of time without change.
How Long to Rebuild a Credit Score?
The time required to rebuild credit history primarily depends on the reason the credit history was affected. When going about how to improve your credit score in the UK, keep the following in mind
Delinquencies are known to remain on your credit report for up to seven years.
Public record incidents also stay on your credit report for seven years. However, it may reflect for up to 10 years in case of bankruptcy.
Any other inquiry can be expected to stay on your report for two years.
When you go about how to improve your credit score in the UK, do keep in mind that rebuilding your credit score can take a significant amount of time. An excellent way to begin is by checking your Fair, Isaac, and Company (FICO) Score from Experian.
Searching for jobs can be tedious and direly frustrating at the same time. Yet, once you consider stepping into the shoes of a hiring manager instead, and think of scores and scores of profiles lying on your dashboard for a single job post, you know the stakes are high as is the level of competition. The bottom line here is, getting your job profile to stand out among a host of others and getting noticed by your potential client. So, how do you compete against a thousand others? This article deals with just that!
With some great skillsets you must need a high-quality freelancer profile to compete in this competitive market. Here, we have listed some of the ways to improve your freelancer profile that stands out.
Ways To Improve Freelancer Profile
Ways to Improve Freelancer Profile
Keep It Visually Appealing
As a freelancer, it is your online profile that gets noticed first, before you apply for any project. Now, you aim to not just to attract attention but hold it long enough for the client to take a genuine interest in you. The best way to achieve that is by putting some serious thought in the design department as well.
Make sure you put up high-resolution images to showcase your work. Do include write-ups wherever needed and make sure to keep them short and simple; nobody likes to read long essays. Keep a formal, user-friendly layout and categorize your work samples well. Last but not least, put up a professional, front-centered display picture on your profile.
Certification and Skills
Your profile should mention a list of all the professionally certified courses you have undertaken to obtain either software expertise or gain specific knowledge. Also, do include your academic qualifications as well as any merit certificates or honours received for academic or technical excellence. Some jobs require specific academic expertise and that’s where your academic degrees come to your rescue.
While at it, mention your professional skills and highlight your strengths without coming off as too boastful. And lastly, be honest with your profile, forgery is never accepted it only proves that you are good at lying.
Promote
Every successful freelancer, on some level or another, relies on self-promotion to get noticed and gain clients.
Think of an attractive title for your gig. You need to be specific and catchy at the same time. The title is, after all, one of the first things your client sees.
Make an introductory video that not only lets your employer know of what all skills you’re capable of but also tells a bit about yourself. It’s a known fact that a video can engage the audience in ways much better than rich text. Use that to your advantage by making short videos for each of your gigs.
Start promoting your profile on other online platforms, from your social media handles to your blog, so that people can reach you for your freelancing services better.
A great freelancer profile needs a great portfolio. After all, it is for your skills that your client is going to hire you. Attach your portfolio that is your work samples based on what content adds more value to your work genre and not to increase your work’s diversity. Make sure you not only concentrate on the work samples but also on the display layout.
Add Experience and Achievements
Your client needs to know if you carry any significant previous work experience similar to the assignment being offered. Your work experiences add credibility to your portfolio and increase your chances of bagging the job. If you have had participated somewhere, won awards, or were a scholarship student, mentioning it is worth the while to add significant value to your profile.
Update Your Profile Frequently
As a freelancer, you are constantly learning, improving and exploring new genres with each project. Of course, curating your profile, accordingly, from time to time, marks your progress, keeps your work folio updated with the latest trends and keeps you a notch higher in the professional market.
Link Your Social Media Profiles
Link Your Social Media Profiles
If you have created your freelancing profile on the sites like Fiverr, UpWork then you also have to link your social media profiles there. So make sure your social media profiles are professional and updated. It would be great if you can post quality content and upload some of your sample works on your social media profiles.
Even you will get many opportunities from social media too. Like on LinkedIn business professionals are looking for people with right and quality skillset. So here is a door to your freelancing career success.
Don’t make your freelancing profile over-complicated make sure you are showing expertise in one niche only. Make your profile understandable so that people can connect with you easily. For example, if you are a Web Developer and you are creating a freelancing profile of yours. Don’t mention any other irrelevant skills that you have like Closing Sales, Data Entry etc. This way people will get confused and chances are they will ignore your profile.
Set Your Price Properly
Many freelancers especially those who are beginners done this mistake, they try to provide services at the cheapest price. If you believe in yourself and you think that you will provide quality service then make sure you are setting the right price. You can also take inspiration from other freelancer profiles.
If you are creating a profile on Fiverr then mention all the services you will be providing for the specific gigs. There are many freelancing websites where you can mention your hourly charges, follow the same rule for those websites also.
What Solutions You Can Provide?
You are reading this article because you want to earn money from freelancing. You might be beginner also that’s why you are surfing on the internet. I have something to tell you, it’s not important how many skills you have or how professional you are. The most important thing is what solution you can provide to the market. What is the burning problem you can solve with the help of your skills? If you can answer this question not with words but with your action. Then you can earn money because people are looking for results, not for process.
So, research about the trending tech and online marketing things and try to find the problems that people may face. If you can solve those problems then you are all set to get started.
Creating and managing a good freelancer profile is not a tough job. But getting new clients and improving yourself and your profile is hard. There are many tools and technologies available which you can use to be updated. Try to learn new skills and keep updating your profile. Always remember those who are not learning and improving are bodies without soul.
You will achieve all the success you are looking for but make sure you are consistent. Don’t take any negative feedback personally those are just indication to improve yourself. Keep patience and never give up because this is the transaction charge for success. Success is easy, you just have to work for that. All the best!!
