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The heart and soul of every company is normally thought of as their customers because without customers you would not have sales. But what if it is not the customers, what if instead it was the employees. Without employees there would not be anyone to run the company or to help customers. Employees are the reason a company can function and work, and if they are not happy then the company will suffer.

 

Employees can make or break a company’s performance. If they happen to be having a bad day or feel underappreciated in their position, then they are less likely to put in the work to bring in or hold onto customers. Often an employee’s happiness or satisfaction is overlooked and forgotten for the sake of numbers and sales. However, prioritizing your employees’ experience and work environment can improve your company’s overall performance. By implementing Employee Experience (EE) and Employee Experience Management (EEM) you can improve your employees’ performance and your company’s success. But what exactly is Employee Experience and Employee Experience Management?

 

What is Employee Experience (EE)?

Employee Experience (EE) is how your employees work with customers, coworkers, managers, upper management, etc. It is how they feel when they are at work, how well they do their jobs, and what they go through or experience during an average work of day. People like to say that in the good old days, you would show up and do your job with a smile on your face, and then go home. But now-a-days with the pandemic and working from home and the economy in a state of unknown many people want to feel more important, want to know that they matter to the company.

 

More and more people are beginning to feel underappreciated in their positions. With less people applying and more jobs available, companies cannot afford to lose employees right now. So, by improving the work experience for employees and making sure they feel appreciated and valued as individuals, then they are more likely to stay for the long run.

 

Improving EE can be anything from giving good feedback on a regular basis, making sure they know it is alright if they make a mistake and feel safe to tell you, having performance rewards, or company or team outings to build morale. Anything that can improve your employee’s way of life at work or their day-to-day lives. Whatever the secret is, what you as an employer or company choose to do, make sure it is something that will benefit your employees. Because if your employees are happy then they are working hard, and if they are working hard then your company’s performance increases.

 

What is Employee Experience Management (EEM)?

 Employee Experience Management (EEM) is the act of actively monitoring your employees’ experience and making sure that tasks like reviews, feedback, and rewards are taken care of. Like an HR position, EEM is there to create a program or system of ensuring EE is taken care of and priority for the company. It is easy to let something like EE fall under the radar and simply keep on going without giving it a second thought, but by implementing EEM you are creating a specific position to take care of your employees on a day-to-day basis.

 

It is a way of ensuring that your employees do not continue to be forgotten or overlooked. Often when an employee’s performance begins to drop it is because they feel forgotten or under appreciated. However, by taking control of the situation and having a position for EEM you can improve their performance and in turn improve the company.

 

EEM covers everything from making training programs for new hires, rewarding employees for good performance, or simply creating a safe and effective way of communicating across the entire company. This can involve a lot of hard work and planning but in the end, it can result in a happier and healthier work environment, not just for your employees but you as well.

 

Employee Experience Manager

EE is all about making sure your employees are happy, appreciated, and valued, but as an employer or a large company you may not have time to check in with each employee on a regular basis. That is where an Employee Experience Manger comes in, someone specifically in charge of taking care of your employee’s well-being. These managers have a variety of responsibilities, but their main job is to ensure that no employee is forgotten about or feels undervalued for their work.

 

Employee Experience Managers handle a variety of tasks including onboarding, training, organizing employee performance rewards, work anniversaries, etc. They are the in-between for the employee and the main employer or upper management. They function to keep up to date with what is currently going on with employees and how to best improve their experience. There can even be more than one depending on the size of the company creating an easier stream of communication amongst the low levels.

 

Incorporating an Employee Experience Manager may seem like a waste when you could just do it yourself or go without one, but having one can be more beneficial than you know. You as the employer or the company itself, may not have time to take care of, monitor, or give feedback to each employee from frontline salespersons to warehouse workers. Having some specifically in charge of taking care of all these day-to-day tasks can improve not only employee experience but your experience too as an employer or upper management. It also allows for someone with more experience in a certain area, like the warehouse, to be able to help those specific employees. Not everyone in upper management has the same experience, so having someone just for that area can be extremely helpful.

 

The Importance of Employee Experience

Back in the day people used to just do their job with little to no complaints, or at least that is what people liked to say and believe. The truth is that people have always complained about working conditions, have always demanded better pay or hours, and have always wanted a better, happier, and safer work experience. People like to argue that EE does not matter as much because it is a new concept brought on by the younger generations who “just like to complain”. However, people have always complained, and EE has always mattered, people are simply taking more notice now with employment rates dropping.

 

Once again if your employees are unhappy, underappreciated, or treated unfairly or without respect then they will not do as good of a job as you want or need them to. Employees that have a good experience at work are more likely to do a better job overall, stay with the company longer and be happier. Everyone deserves to feel appreciated and like they are an individual. Taking the time to make sure that they are seen or heard can greatly affect their performance.

 

Every employee matters as well. Most people only consider their salespersons or employees that handle customers or clients when thinking about EE. They are the ones that regularly speak to people and draw in sales and therefore their performance is very important. However, they are not the only ones, people everywhere from the warehouse to IT matter as well. Without the people behind the scenes and those who do the hard “grunt” work, then the company also cannot run. Everyone within the company matters, which also means their EE matters. This is why having an Employee Experience Manger or a few, can greatly improve your EE and how well the company runs.

 

Every business, whether big or small, deals with at least a few employees, and those employees’ matters. Starting from applying all the way to retirement, employees are constantly paying attention to the way they and previous employees have been treated by the company. By treating your current employees well, you will have more applications in the future, and you will keep the ones you currently have for longer.

 

Implementing Employee Experience Management (EEM)

Implementing EEM can seem like a daunting task, however, it is simpler than you think. Start off small, do not feel like you must dive right into the deep end and rearrange your entire company structure. If you have a smaller company then start with regular checks-ins or feedback sessions with your employees, where both you and they give feedback. Then work your way up to bigger things like rewarding sales or quarterly events for the whole company.

 

If your company is larger, start by implementing a suggestion box for employees to give ideas on how they would like to be appreciated and genuinely read and incorporate them. From there work your way up to hiring Employee Experience Managers. You do not have to go all in from the start, you can go step by step. Just make sure that you are implementing these strategies and ensuring your employees are happy and appreciated.

 

 

Are your employees quiet-quitting? Do you suspect your staff of time-theft?

 

If you’re scratching your head about what these terms mean, you’re not alone.

 

The pandemic pushed us all into a new era of work habits and work-related terms, some of which are dubious and, probably, totally unnecessary.

 

As employees moved to working remotely for what seemed like the rest of their lives, companies seemingly became less trusting of their employees’ productivity.

 

These new terms likely wouldn’t exist if employers didn’t have monitoring software tracking every moment of an employees’ time on the job.

 

Employee monitoring as the new norm

 

Companies use various methods to track how much work staff is getting done during a day. At a basic level, they monitor employee activity on company chat programs by watching their status. At the next level, businesses can use programs to access employees’ browser histories. Such a move potentially gives employers and managers access to sensitive information, especially if work-related and personal browsing is done on the same laptop.

 

Then there are more invasive systems, such as those that track heat strokes on the keypad or trackpad. Other ways involve using an employee’s laptop mic or camera to monitor what they’re doing — sometimes without their knowledge.

 

In some cases, monitoring systems use cameras to track employees’ mental and emotional states based on their facial expressions. The camera detects attentiveness based on eye movement, which, experts say, is an inaccurate measure.

 

Critics seem to think all this is too much fodder for abuse in the hands of management.

 

Monitoring systems are here to stay — so what do employers have to do?

 

There’s nothing stopping businesses from using software to watch employees. Apart from one province — Ontario — companies are not even required to let workers know they’re doing it.

 

So, what are the rules in Canada around employee monitoring?

 

Officially called “electronic monitoring,” employee watching has not yet been standardized in Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA). However, guidance issued by the Ministry of Labour in 2022 describes electronic monitoring as all forms of employee watching done electronically. The Ministry refers to all aspects of surveilling employees, irrespective of whether it’s done on employer-issued equipment or while employees are physically at, or away from, the workplace.

 

It is important to remember, these new ESA requirements around electronic monitoring policies do not govern the use of information obtained through such systems.

 

In easier words, employees have not gained any new or increased privacy rights as a result of the latest rules.

 

How does the new electronic monitoring policy apply then?

 

When the rules are clear as mud, employers need to be careful when developing electronic monitoring policies. One reason for this is because a company could have different types of employees for which monitoring methods may differ.

 

According to the province, employers that have 25 or more employees (full-time or part-time) must implement an electronic monitoring policy for all workers in Ontario, including management level and probationary employees.

 

The Ministry’s guidelines clearly state that employers do not need such a policy for any employees outside of the province.

 

Currently, other provinces do not require employers to adopt an electronic monitoring policy. But, British Columbia, Alberta, and Québec, as well as federally regulated workplaces, have privacy laws that impact the adoption of a monitoring policy. In contrast, Europe forbids all excessive forms of monitoring.

 

So how do you go about creating a monitoring policy?

 

Some mandatory features required by the ESA are listed below.

 

• An employer must provide a description of how it electronically monitors employees.
• An organization must share the purposes for which information is being collected and will be used.
• The official policy must be dated when it’s created, and all subsequent changes must be dated as well.
• Companies must provide each employee with the electronic monitoring policy 30 days before planned implementation.
• Companies with existing policies must convey any changes to employees within 30 days from the date of revision.

 

What else is needed in an electronic monitoring policy?

 

When you’re creating a monitoring policy, it’s important to keep the following in mind.

 

Be clear about what you intend to monitor. Create a comprehensive list of all work aspects, equipment, and other ways you’re going to monitor. For instance, access to the Internet, laptops, phones, virtual private networks, computer file access, emails, communications via chat apps, records management software, surveillance cameras, security cards, printers, scanners, etc.

 

The company must also extensively explain the circumstances in which monitoring will occur. For example, will you be monitoring employees at all times? Or will you do it only during regular business hours? Or will you limit it to only during the employee’s specific scheduled work hours?

 

You must also clearly define the purposes for which you want to electronically monitor staff. Companies could have a variety of reasons, for instance, using the information for business-related operations, business administration, compliance tracking, safety, security, workplace investigations, productivity, and/or performance management.

 

Make sure you define scenarios in which information gathered for one purpose may be used for a different reason.

 

Take a bird’s eye view of how this new policy will interact with other company rules, such as those around information technology. Ensure that all company policies work together and are based on consistent company standards.

 

Exceptions to the rule

 

Rules vary dramatically when monitoring unionized employees vs. a non-unionized workplace. In the first case, monitoring rules must be negotiated with the union. In the latter case, employers should exercise reason when developing the policy, limiting the extent of privacy invasion to a fair level or develop it following guidelines shared above.

 

Should employees just accept being monitored?

 

First, employers must remember that if the employee doesn’t understand the tracking system, it’s almost like entrapment.

 

Critics say we’re moving a bit too fast in holding our employees accountable even if they don’t understand how a company’s tracking system works. Daily work tasks are never limited to our job descriptions. In real life, practices can vary widely, depending on the type of work environment. Monitoring systems fall short of recognizing some essential elements of our jobs as “work.” The AI-driven systems don’t capture tasks that are helpful to employers, like brainstorming sessions or mentoring co-workers.

 

Critics say the data gathered through employee monitoring software isn’t an accurate representation of employee performance. When companies use AI to track a limited set of employees’ work aspects, they short-change their hardworking staff.

 

There are no studies pointing to a meaningful impact on productivity. Research does not prove that the benefits of worker surveillance systems outweigh the costs.

In fact, experts that have studied this phenomenon say employee monitoring can often be counterproductive and detrimental to productivity.

 

Employees that worry about monitoring may reject soft skills-based activities to protect their productivity. When people know there are systems in place to watch them, they will spend more time trying to find loopholes than getting work done.

 

Some studies also indicate that watching workers produces problems — by creating worker stress, eroding trust in management, and encouraging employees to game the system.

 

Why else are companies monitoring their employees?

 

It almost seems as if companies are conducting a massive research experiment using employees as subjects. The issue, experts say, is that employers aren’t equipped to understand worker-surveillance data. Very few companies have a data science team capable of properly studying and drawing useful conclusions from the information collected.

 

Employees may increasingly feel they have no choice but to accept this new fate if the company offers them flexible work options instead.

 

So what should companies do?

 

Ask questions and have constructive conversations with employees.

 

Experts that study worker productivity say employers would benefit more by assessing output, rather than activities that AI marks as work.

 

When it comes to addressing quiet quitting, team leaders should first find the answer to the question: What is quiet quitting? Once they’ve identified it, they can investigate what causes it and solutions they can develop to prevent it.

 

Business leaders should collaborate with their team to create an environment that enables workers to give their best. At the same time, companies should actively identify workers who are eager to take on more leadership tasks.

Rather than spying on employees, companies can take the following steps to improve employee productivity.

 

• Ask staff about professional and personal goals.
• Share corporate aims with staff, highlighting those that are most relevant to their roles in the company.
• Evolve a work ethic that lets employees take ownership of the company’s ambitions.
• Find middle ground with workers when identifying key performance indicators linked to goals that directly affect their roles.
• Actively and openly reward employees who meet the goals. Coach and counsel those who may temporarily fall short.

 

Since some form of remote work is here to stay, companies must shift their perspectives on productivity. They should work with staff to allow for a healthy work-life balance, while still successfully achieving the company's goals.

 

 

The number one thing every business owner fears, is getting scammed. Whether that be through email or call or by a trusted employee. In reality, thousands of businesses and people are scammed or defrauded every single day.

 

There is a common misconception that if you get scammed or experience fraud that it must be your fault, that you were careless or stupid enough to fall for it. However, the truth is that even the smartest and most vigilant people get scammed too. It is becoming harder these days to detect fraud either from external or internal sources within our companies, but there are still things you can do as a small business owner to help protect your company.

 

Types of Fraud and Scams

As the years have gone on, and the internet has become ever increasingly ubiquitous in our lives, scammers have found more and more ways to scam and commit fraud. With that it means that you need to remain on the lookout for these types of fraud.

 

Scam Calls and Emails

Everyone has heard of scam calls and emails, but the question is, do you know what to look for? Scammers have begun to adapt to the world around them and have created more convincing and sophisticated ways of scamming you over the phone or through email.

 

Scam calls often come from “companies” that your trust. For example, you may get a call from your bank claiming that your information has been stolen or that they need you to renew your credit card. Often, they will have some but not all the information about you and your bank account and will ask for your credit card information to verify that it is you or to cancel your account. The issue with this kind of scam or any other over the phone involving your personal information is that they are taking advantage of the fact that you are scared. Most of the time people are so worried about their information being stolen that they give it away to a stranger who claims they can trust them or that they are just trying to help.

 

When it comes to email scams, there are many different types. Everything from an African Prince asking for money, to fake invoices. Most email scams are easy to detect and delete or ignore, but sometimes they can be hidden in plain sight. These days many companies are experiencing being sent fake invoices, and without thinking their financial teams will just pay it like all the others.

 

Other times companies will receive emails from fake manufacturers claiming they can give them a great deal on the same product they already use, but never have any intention of sending them any product. Emails are easier to fake and easier to fall for as many business owners answer hundreds a day without thinking.

 

Point-of-sale (POS) System Tampering

Not every company uses a POS system, but for those who do keep an eye out for potential scams. There are two kinds of scams that can occur with your POS system, online and physical.

 

Online are the most frequent ways POS systems are taken advantage of. These days it can be very easy for scammers to hack into your POS system and steal customer information or even company information. Many people forget that their POS system is connected to the internet and can therefore be accessed remotely. This allows hackers to get in and steal whatever they want without ever being detected.

 

The other way is through physical tampering. Either through attachments or false chips, card readers can be tampered with. Scammers can use fake cards or fake readers to steal your customer information. If your machine has been tampered with it can sometimes be hard to tell as many attachments blend in with the machine itself. However, the reader may start saying the card failed or the system itself may shut down, or the card reader may suddenly stop working all together. All are signs of tampering and may call for further investigation.

 

Embezzlement

Everyone knows what embezzlement is, but not many people know what to look for. When it comes to money and accounting you are placing a lot of faith in the person you have in charge of it. So, it is fair that many people don’t wish to think bad of that person or accuse them of fraud, even when signs are present. When embezzlement does occur you often begin to see the signs in your money trails. Clients or customers may begin to contact you about unknown charges on their cards, or unpaid invoices. Keep an eye out for any unknown money disappearing.

 

How to Avoid and Prevent Fraud and Scams

Avoiding fraud may seem easier than it really is. Fraud and scams are sneaky and hard to detect, so it can be hard to avoid something when you don’t know it is already happening. Instead, these are a few measures to put in place in advance to put up as many walls of protection before it is too late.

 

Security Protocols and Checks

Security protocols and checks may seem obvious and feels like it doesn’t need to be said, however, it can be surprising as to how many companies have unfit or un-updated security measures. There are a few key security checks you as a business owner and a company should be doing regularly.

 

First, regularly change your passwords for all company-related accounts. I know this sounds tedious, time consuming, annoying, and hard to remember, but in the long run it will be worth it. The number one-way scammers get into accounts is through stealing someone’s password, this often occurs because people reuse or never change their passwords. By requiring your employees to regularly change them, you are keeping their information and the company safer.

 

Second, educate your employees on what to look out for when it comes to fraud and who to notify if they find anything. Have this implemented into their training have them regularly re-trained as scammers are always adapting. Often, scams are left uncaught because employees don’t know what to look for or are scared to notify their superiors out of fear of being known as the person that got someone fired. By implementing this in training and informing employees to notify when something occurs you are creating a safe space within the company.

 

Finally, conduct regular checks on all your systems. Make sure you or someone else is conducting regular checks on all systems you use within your company. Look out for any malware, tampering, anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. The smallest thing can lead to big problems. Not only should you be doing system checks online, but also conducting physical checks. Check for any unknown or out of place devices on things like company computers, card readers, computer servers, and any other hackable electronic device within the company. Doing this on a regular basis may help prevent scams or maybe help catch scams before they can cause too much damage.

 

Work with Professionals

Working with professionals can mean a few things. In this instance there are two types to focus on. The first is professionals in the sense of accounting or auditors, and the second refers to good professional employees.

 

Bringing in a professional like an accountant to go over your finances is a great way to detect and prevent fraud. As a small business it may be hard to afford outside help, especially when you are just getting started, however, having someone come in occasionally to help or conduct a surprise audit is entirely worth the money. It may seem better to save that money for something else but spending that money to look for and prevent fraud now can save you thousands of dollars in the future.

 

Hiring good and professional employees may seem obvious, but these days many people lie on their resume or may seem better than they are. Make sure to conduct thorough background checks on all potential employees and vet them with reliable references. If a resume seems off or you simply feel unsure about hiring someone, go with your gut and air on the side of caution.

 

Get Insurance

Now this may seem like the most obvious idea, however, it can be easy to forget and overlook. When you are just starting out there are a million different things to think about and always remember and getting insurance can be easily overlooked. Go out and make it the first thing you do when starting your business, or if you know you are going to forget, put someone else in charge of doing it. On top of that make sure to check and keep an eye on making sure your insurance is up to date. The last thing you need is for something bad to happen, and your insurance is out of date, or the information is incorrect.

 

We hope everyone has a great Family Day! REM is closed on Monday, February 20 and will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, February 21.

 

 

The past 25 years has seen the rise (and sometimes fall) of a series of cult CEOS. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. Although that title seems to be incredibly elusive on day-by-day basis. So, what do we mean by a cult CEO?

 

The urban dictionary defines a cult leader as “Someone who runs a large group following with the intention to gain monetary advantage, who brain washes followers to blindly accept their views as the ultimate word and opposition is evil”.  A CEO is defined as “the executive with the chief decision-making authority in an organization or business.” Both these definitions explain what these leaders do but they don’t give any insight to who they are.

 

When we look at some of the personality traits that drive cult leaders and in this discussion cult CEOs, you can start to find some common ground. Think charismatic, persuasive, visionary, authoritative, arrogant, dominant, and sometimes narcissistic. Now we’re starting to see how this relates to modern day corporate leadership.

 

Take Elon Musk. An industry disruptor challenging the biggest economic drivers of our generation: finance, automotive, green energy, and space exploration. His outrageous goals to put people on Mars in 2025, or to sell 20 million Tesla’s a year by 2030 may not come to fruition but the targets he continues to hit are pretty incredible and the fervent followers he’s accrued is impressive.

 

The cult CEO shares a vision so inspirational that their employees follow with passion and commitment. But too often this type of leadership discourages questioning of the vision. Doubts equal treason. While many have succeeded with this approach, others too often fail as they ignore challenges from market conditions and competitors. Dare we say our local example, BlackBerry?

 

Business leaders or teams that are not ready to adapt or ask questions have a tough time in today’s world. A report by Gartner, a large executive consulting firm, showed that 65% of the business decisions being made today are more complex than they were two years ago—more connected, more contextual, and more continuous. With this in mind let’s look at what characteristics make a good CEO and some old and emerging leadership styles.

 

4 traits that good CEOs share

A strong business leader will get their employees to believe in the project, motivate their ongoing work and be sure each team member excels. While there is no one sure way to accomplish this a recent study by Harvard Business Review found a few common skills great CEOs have.

 

1. Strong decision makers

They do it fast and they stand by them. Good leaders know that decisions are critical, even when you don’t have all the information. Many CEOs will go as far to say that a decision period, is better than no decision at all. In fact, the best CEOs believe providing direction and confidence far outweighs a wrong decision.

 

2. Engage on all fronts

Buy-in from employees, boards and investors is mission critical for great CEOs. Understanding their stakeholders needs and motivations and then engaging them around goal creation and performance, works. This study found that leaders who engaged with this results orientation focus were 75% more successful.

 

3. Adaptability

When leaders fail to change based on new evidence, new products, or new situations they will fail. Analysis showed, CEOs who are excellent at adapting were 6.7 times more likely to succeed.

 

4. Dependable

Finally, investors, employees, and even customers love reliability. They want to count on their leader, their company, and its products. An unbelievable 94% of the CEO candidates studied scored high on consistently delivering on their commitments.

 

8 Leadership Styles

With those top skills in mind, let’s focus on the most common leadership styles in the business world today.

 

Authoritative

Often viewed as more old school, this style is a top-down approach where decision and policies are made without employee input. High standards, big rewards and strict punishments for failed performances are also part of the package. Many dictators follow this approach, and even Bill Gates was known as an authoritative leader. While it allows for quick decisions and clear direction it can also alienate high performers who need to feel a part of the strategy.

 

Laissez-Faire

Working from a principle that employees have the experience and skills needed to get the job done, a laissez-faire leader believes any intervention by management is harmful. This style empowers independent work and strives to make their team feel less constrained and more valued.

 

Transactional

This style is based solely on a reward system. Think sales and commissions. Leaders reward their employees’ performance with a transaction, encouraging them to hit their goals. The main function of this approach is to create a shared system where each team member can work towards an individual and or shared milestones.

 

Democratic Leadership

Taking a page from the government model, a democratic leader promotes the participation of all workers, consulting their team and inviting opinions to the decision-making table. Encouraging dialogue, they make their employees feel a part of the company, with the aim of improving their company commitment.

 

Situational

Flexible and adaptable to circumstances, a situational leader knows when to change their approach to suit the circumstances at hand. Trusting the maturity of their workers and the company’s goals, this leader chooses the most appropriate leadership style, to the situation or to manage particular employees.

 

Affiliative            

Putting people first, this approach fosters and nurtures employees. Building loyalty, improving emotional bonds, and giving out praise, to gain employee satisfaction and commitment to the company. The affiliative leader maintains unity and works hard for employees to feel connected to the organization and its goals.

 

Transformational

With a priority on innovation, transformational leaders will inspire their teams to create, take risks and lead. Asking big questions and encouraging their team to look for different and unconventional solutions through hard work and adaptability. Building a strong corporate culture, leading by example, and fostering open communication and mentorship opportunities are important traits of this leadership style. A successful example to read more about is Howard Shultz, CEO of Starbucks.

 

Strategic          

Probably one of the most intuitive and difficult leadership styles, the strategist adapts but is steadfast in protecting company core values. Combining big-picture thinking while still paying attention to the minute details, strategic leaders predict change before it happens, capitalizing on opportunities others may miss. They do their research, constantly learning and challenging traditional thinking. Former CEO of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner certainly aligns with this approach.

 

Sapient Leadership

This brings us to an emerging style of leadership know as sapient. These are leaders who are genuine, vulnerable, and lean on these traits in times of crises. Over the past few years, the world has endured a global pandemic and experience a constant state of crisis or what some are calling a “new normal” defined by three dimensions:

1. Perpetual: change happening all the time in a constant way.
2. Pervasive: change unfolding in many areas of life at the same time.
3. Exponential: change accelerating at an ever-growing rate.

 

This 3-D change is becoming our new reality and therefore impacting how businesses and their leadership succeed or fail. Sapient leaders respond to 3-D change with four main characteristics.

 

Humility

A sapient leader builds a connection and trust by being humble, authentic, and open. It allows for team members to feel safe, speak honestly and be able to make mistakes. Employees can safely challenge leadership and even openly disagree, bringing more experience and expertise to the table for a leader to work with.

 

Foster trust

An organization where people feel psychologically safe creates opportunities for their best performance. Trust also fosters teamwork that leaders can tap into to combat constant change. Research has shown the highest performing teams have psychological safety. When people are comfortable being vulnerable in front of one another and are willing to take risks, they perform better.

 

Just keep learning

A sapient leader prioritizes learning for themselves and for their organization. It becomes a corporate cultural value, promoting curiosity to help thrive in an unpredictable environment. We’ve already touched on how important adaptability is; knowledge is key to being able to adapt. It really is all about a growth mindset.

 

Build common values and purpose

Similar to other powerful leadership styles getting buy in and shared goals across stakeholders builds success. It’s the foundation that leaders and team members can draw upon when times get tough. Like minds increase organizational focus, build stronger teams, and empower resilience under the constant pressure of 3-D change.

 

Future leaders

What we’ve discovered is the leaders of today and tomorrow need to be in touch with the world and the people that work for them. A top down all knowing approach may not thrive in the future. Leaders who are empathetic, humble, and empowering can build strong teams. And those teams build capacity to navigate 3-D change effectively.

 

If there’s one New Year’s resolution we can help you keep this year, it’s to start a new business.

 

The idea of launching a business may be intimidating, but with digitization becoming more common, it’s an exciting time to be starting a new business.

 

To get you going, here are the top 12 business ideas to explore in 2023.

 

1. Drop shipping

 

If you’re new to the idea of running a business, you may find this option attractive. It requires smaller upfront capital, follows a simple business model, and can be done online.

 

What exactly is drop shipping?

 

It’s the middle link in a supply chain. You provide an online storefront where customers shop. But the manufacturer or wholesaler has the inventory.

 

One of the factors that makes a successful drop shipper is a high-level, e-commerce website. Having great merchant connections is also helpful.

 

In just a few clicks, customers will place orders via your website, you will prompt the wholesaler, who will ship the order directly to the customer. Sale closed!

 

2. Selling Upcycled Fashion Accessories

 

If there’s anything we’ve heard in the last few years, it’s the concerns of environmentalists about fast fashion destroying nature. This idea may help breathe new life into old fashion.

 

Creative minds should pay attention. If you’ve had a bit too much time on your hands in the last couple years, you may have been dabbling in crafting already. That hobby can now be extended into an upcycled clothing business.

 

But the market for upcycled items extends beyond clothes. Throw in upcycled fashion accessories, from scarves to hats to jewelry, and in no time you can create a full outfit for your clients. The choices are unlimited. Here’s a hint, focus on accessories that people can show off during virtual meetings.

 

Wondering how to get raw material? Hold a giveaway party with your friends and unleash your creativity!

 

3. Create and Design Custom Swag

 

This is another idea based in creativity that requires comparatively less upfront investment.

 

Swag is no longer about just slapping a company logo on a t-shirt and wearing it to the summer barbecue. Employees want to use products that show off their company loyalty. Highlight this philosophy on your website, and you can stand out from the rest. Present yourself as the swag designer that creates products aligned with company values. You can also tout your ability to offer sustainable and functional items.

 

4. Personalized Meal Delivery Business

 

During the pandemic, a lot of us were working from home and cooking became a family activity. As we slowly get back to our offices, we’re realizing we don’t have as much time to cook!

 

That’s when a personalized meal delivery business comes to the rescue.

 

Make sure your website provides clients an easy online ordering system and ingredient selection. Up your game by focusing on the unique needs of each person in the family. You can include a questionnaire on your website to gather information about their likes and dislikes and dietary restrictions.

 

5. Professional Organizing Services

 

Work areas and living spaces have merged into one for many that work from home. As the boundaries slowly blurred, disarray started creeping into our homes. As a professional organizer, you can step in and give people back their living spaces.

 

Your job will be to help people understand the best use of their spaces, whether in the living room, kitchen, or bedroom. You can also guide people around what needs to go and what can stay. As you liberate space in their homes, you liberate your clients from what is no longer a healthy part of their lives.

 

6. Mobile Car Washing and Detailing

 

Commuting to work is time consuming, so we have none left to take the car for a detailed cleaning. Well, your mobile car washing and detailing business can take care of that. A website that has an easy-to-use booking system can help streamline orders. Then all you have to do is invest in some high-quality cleaning products and drive to the client and get to work!

 

And this business isn’t confined within urban boundaries. Wherever they are, clients relax with family at home on their day off while their car is cleaned in their own driveway.

 

7. Language Translation Services

 

Canada is made of multilingual people. Knowing more than one language is a unique skill that can turn into a really lucrative source of income. Find a niche market where you live and research the need for translation services.

 

If you know more than one language in addition to English, you can be a multilingual vendor. If you’re fluent in English and one other language, you would be a single-language vendor.

 

You may need certification for this business, but that should be easy enough to attain. Find your local multicultural services organization and contact them to find out how you can become a certified translator.

 

8. Virtual Administrative Assistant Services

 

Over the last couple years, a lot of online businesses have popped up. Most have a small number of employees or are run by a single business owner. But no matter the company size, owners are constantly hustling to find clients and close sales. Admin work often gets pushed to the back.

 

As a virtual admin assistant, you can help fill the admin gap and make running a business a breeze for owners. You work from your home corresponding with your clients’ patrons, taking care of the business owners’ calendars, making sure they meet urgent deadlines, and close business deals efficiently. As a virtual assistant, you can work with multiple clients and pick and choose your hours.

 

9. Dog Grooming

 

Who doesn’t love dogs? It’s hard not to love dogs because they love you right back. And if you’re one of those people whose faces light up when they see a furry friend, you might be a suitable candidate for starting a dog grooming business.

 

You could consider doing a certificate course just to learn best practices and to make sure you have all the licenses needed to operate this business. Even though you can run this venture out of your house, you might want to check for municipal regulations.

 

But what really sells the business is a website that warms clients’ hearts and makes it easy to book appointments. Once they’re sold on how well their furry friends will be cared for, those paws will start pattering through the door.

 

10. Travel Planner

 

As travel picks up steam, people are eager to start marking off items from their travel bucket list. But travelling has become a bit of a pain these days with flight delays, lost luggage, and ever-changing destination restrictions.

 

As a travel planner, you could help take away a lot of that pain. You won’t be booking their flights, but you can put together a travel plan that advises them on the important aspects of their trip.

 

Use your website to tell clients exactly how you will make their trip even more enjoyable. Your responsibilities would include researching recent incidents involving the airline they’ve chosen to fly. You can advise them about how to pack for the destination. You can even create a research-based destination itinerary that gives them the best experience of their lives.

 

11. Home Staging Business

 

Everything related to real estate has turned into gold over the last few years. Houses were selling faster than they were hitting the market. But properties that were staged were selling at a higher price than those sold without any sprucing up. Ask any local real estate agent and they will tell you exactly how valuable it is to have someone professional stage a property.  

 

It’s all about how you stir the buyer’s imagination showing them what they can do with the space they might make home.

 

Once you’ve made connections in the real estate market, a website that effectively showcases your presentation skills will make it easier to increase clients.

 

12. Selling Stock Photography

 

A lot of us reconnected with nature during the pandemic. Noticing the beauty that surrounded us compelled some of us to revive our hobby of photography. If you’ve been taking high quality photos in the last two years — of landscapes or pets or people or items that depict a scene — you likely have a large stockpile of photos that could potentially become stock photographs.

 

You can easily continue doing this as a side hustle. Photography will give you a great reason to get out of the house. Selling it online will give you a chance to share your work with the world and earn some money.

 

Making a Mark Online

Half the task of an online business is done by the website that showcases the work, services, or products. The REM Web Solutions Inc. team has vast experience creating simple to advanced e-commerce websites. Get started today with your online business today with a REM Web solution.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought on numerous challenges and changes to so many aspects of daily life, including the functionality of workplaces.

 

As we look towards the future and embrace a “new normal,” what Covid policies are worth keeping in place at organizations forever? With a predicted tech-driven outlook on the horizon for businesses and their operations because of the pandemic, it’s necessary to assess the overall impact Covid has had on workplaces as a whole.

 

Below are some practices and benefits you may or may not have adopted during the pandemic that you should consider embracing permanently.

 

1. Recognize when remote work makes the most sense

An overwhelming realization that was felt by workers all over the world during the pandemic was the ease of remote work and how easily some positions can be adapted to suit it. While there will be situations and specific jobs that require employees to work in-person, many have discovered that working from home is just as, if not more, efficient than going into the office.

 

If you find that a job can be completed from the comfort of someone’s home and productivity does not decrease or degrade in doing so, then it would likely be beneficial to consider remote work where it’s needed and makes the most sense.

 

2. Find a balance with hybrid work

Many jobs can be a blend of remote and in-person work. Countless people felt the weight of isolation during lockdowns and craved the social aspect of seeing and interacting with their co-workers face-to-face instead of solely through a screen.

 

It is important to assess which positions this work model would be suited for and which employees would respond well to it. This decision could change where people come into the office as needed, or there could be a scheduled set of days and times staff are expected to work in person and when they can work from home.

 

Hybrid work has been proven to provide several positive benefits for the overall productivity and well-being of employees, so it’s definitely a model to consider if it would make sense for your organization.

 

3. Enhance comfort with technology and digital tools

The suddenness of the pandemic required businesses to quickly implement and adapt to remote work environments. This drastic shift demanded the acceptance of various technologies and a range of digital tools that may not have been used by workplaces in any other circumstance.

 

This is not a bad thing, by any means. In fact, as much as it may have grown tiresome to repeatedly hear and say “you’re on mute” during online meetings, there’s no denying that Covid required people to pick up skills and develop comfort with them that have rapidly become job necessities. Also, learning to meet the requirements of jobs that were once solely in person necessitated the need for people to explore programs and software that would have otherwise been left untouched and unexplored.

 

The “adapting to change” mindset that Covid forced many people into, should continue to be embraced, with the limitless potential of technology and digital programming held as a high priority need for the foreseeable future.

 

4. Prioritize employee well-being and quality of life

Covid, in so many ways, impacted people’s mental and physical well-being. Isolation and burnout, to name a few common pandemic-related workplace side effects, were really brought to light over the past few years.

 

This has caused countless organizations to re-evaluate how they treat their employees and what they can do to help improve their experience at work, and ultimately boost their productivity in the process. Really listen to the needs of your staff and don’t try to cut corners when it comes to employee wellness.

 

After all, studies have shown that a happy worker is a productive worker.

 

5. Recognize the importance and necessity of sick days

Living through the pandemic really forced people to be mindful of their physical health and recognize when they are feeling unwell. Did you wake up feeling sick? Stay home, log off, and look after yourself. This Covid mindset took hold for workplaces since the outbreak began and it shouldn’t be abandoned moving forward.

 

Not only is it careless to ask people to come into work when they’re sick and potentially spread their illness to others, they are far more likely to experience burnout, make mistakes, and generally not perform their duties to their regular standards.

 

Illness is an inevitability, and if Covid taught us anything, it should be that looking after ourselves and staying safe is a top priority.

 

6. Consider leaving masks on

Wearing masks has not only been proven to help prevent the spread of Covid, but other viruses as well. Even if you don’t require masks all the time, it’s sensible to ask staff to wear them if they’ve recently been ill, have been exposed to someone who is sick, or simply during cold and flu season when there is a much higher likelihood that more and more people will be catching and spreading viruses.

 

It’s better to be safe than sorry and prioritizing the health of staff should always come first.

 

7. Don’t slack on office hygiene standards

From strict hand washing guidelines to hand sanitizer rules and wiping down workstations with disinfectant, Covid drastically improved the hygiene standards of office spaces and staff everywhere. While you don’t have to take these new norms to the extreme, there is no harm in continuing to keep these standards in place.

 

Not only does it ensure workspaces are kept clean, but it also reduces the spread of bacteria and germs. With handshakes coming back into the workplace fold as Covid numbers go down and anxiety decreases, it makes sense to keep the sanitizer and soap at the ready.

 

8. Don’t ignore the necessity of good air quality

The classically stuffy, stale air of office cubicles went to the wayside for many organizations during Covid. Recommendations pushed for HVAC filters to be changed to high-quality particle filters like MERV-13, as well as introducing other valuable technologies to clean the air.

 

As more people return to work in-person, don’t underestimate the importance of high air quality ratings. Business owners should take the time to investigate ways they can change or upgrade their space in order to meet the International Well Building certification.

 

9. Communication from leadership should stay consistent

Changes were abundant for workplaces during Covid, requiring leadership teams to become consistent in their communication with staff. Newsletters, group messages, large-scale team meetings, email notices, etc., became commonplace over the course of the pandemic. Arguably more than ever before, leadership was connected much more with their lower-level staff.

 

This is not something workplaces should let go of. Staff deserve to be kept in the loop with organizational updates and notices, and it creates less of a divide between different teams and departments.

 

10. Embrace flexibility and understanding

People are still feeling the effects of Covid, and the heaviness that continues as we move through a post-pandemic world. Navigating these challenges means treating your staff with understanding and flexibility.

 

11. Provide low-effort–but still fun–ways for your team to participate in social activities

Pandemic social activities required a large amount of ingenuity and delving into previously untapped territory in terms of office fun. What was once a typical holiday staff party at the office with a potluck lunch, was now an ugly Christmas sweater competition over Zoom.

 

Although you can bring back in-person events from the time before Covid, try to respect people’s social batteries as we re-adjust to this new normal. Online social activities are a great way to keep staff engaged, but without too much extra effort. This could include team Jack-box Games, trivia, bingo, ice breakers, or even a movie you can watch together through Teleparty –the options are endless.

 

12. Don’t underestimate your business’ weak spots and areas for improvement

Coping through Covid required businesses to really reflect and analyze what their weak spots are and how they could improve. Covid left a huge impact that required changes, downsizing, and difficulties that were previously never seen on this scale before.

 

Keep this kind of thinking moving forward. Don’t become complacent. There are always ways you can be better as a company, and the more aware you are of potential flaws, the better prepared and equipped you will be to handle things effectively in a crisis.

 

13. Look to other organizations to see what’s worked well for them

 

So many businesses’ great ideas spawned from Covid, and the ways that organizations have adapted through such difficult times has truly been a testament to people’s limitless creativity and fortitude.

 

Look to your competition to see what they have done to keep themselves afloat. Critically evaluate what’s worked and what hasn’t and draw inspiration from your findings that you can apply to your own business.

 

Conclusion:

Just because we’re shifting out of lockdowns and people are no longer stockpiling Covid tests, that doesn’t mean you should completely resort back to the business mindset you had before the pandemic. The practices and policies mentioned above are great options to keep and embrace outside of the pandemic.

 

What are internal links?

Internal links are hyperlinks inside your website that lead to a page inside your website. External links are links that link to webpages outside of your website. Internal links are normally used to point to important information on your site, especially content that might be relevant to the visitor.

 

There are different types of internal links. Along with the links on your homepage, post feed, menu, etc., you can include internal links in your content. These links are known as contextual links. Contextual links are useful, and point website users to engaging and interesting content. Additionally, they help search engines find which content on your website is related and help the search engine determine its value from there.

 

The more links an important page receives, the more crucial it will seem to various search engines. This means that well-used internal links are incredibly useful to your SEO.

 

Internal vs. external links

All websites, even online storefronts, consist of internal and external links. While internal links connect posts and pages within your website, external links connect pages to different websites.

 

Why are internal links important?

Internal links are useful and important to use if you’re managing a website. Three reasons why you should be using internal links include:

 

• Helping users navigate a website more easily.

• Assisting with establishing information hierarchy for a website.

• Helping to spread ranking power – link equity – around websites.

 

Best internal link strategy

 

1. Figure out the best structure for your website

A good practice for website structure is to imagine it being organized like a pyramid. At the top of the pyramid is your homepage, then below that you would have grouped content divided into key categories. The further down you go, the more you will find individual pages that are not parts of the main content categories, but still might be important. If done properly, your website’s menu should reflect this structure.

 

It can really help to visualize your website structure if you write each page of your site on a post-it notes and then place them on a large table or wall so you can rearrange them as needed. Does that article on how to return your product belong in the Support section? Or maybe the Frequently Asked Questions page? Or perhaps you need links from both areas?

 

2. Determine what your most important content is

It’s necessary to determine what your most important website content is – your cornerstone content. To put it simply, this is your best and most complete content, and serves as the core of your business. These are the posts you want people to discover when searching for products or topics that you specialize in.

 

If you want to let Google know that this is your most important content, you should be adding multiple links from different pages on your site. That’s where contextual links come in.

 

3. Include contextual links

When you’ve accumulated multiple articles that you’ve written about a specific topic, they should be linked to each other. This will demonstrate to search engines and your users that these articles are topically related. This can be done by linking directly from sentences in your own copy or by adding links at the end of the post, or even better, from both locations.

 

4. Think about adding a related post section

Consider adding a related post section to your website. There are countless add-ons and plugins which can add complete related post sections to your posts. This can be an effective way to expand your post reach to more visitors. Think about testing it out is you use one, however. You want to make sure the related posts are actually related posts

 

If you’re unsure, then link to posts manually and put the link to that post at the bottom of the article.

 

5. Add links for hierarchical pages

If your website includes hierarchical pages, try linking parent pages to their child pages and vice versa. Also, don’t forget to link sibling pages to each other. These specific pages should be related to one another on a well-organized website, which is why connecting them makes the most sense.

 

6. Include links to your most recent posts

It’s a great habit to make sure that every time you publish a new piece of content on your site, you add links to the new content from older pages. Remember to try to make sure that when you do this, the pages that you are linking from are topically related to the new content. Google prefers if the contextual links are relevant to the topic the visitor is reading.

 

Adding internal links to your most recent content is a great way to ensure that search engine crawlers find the new content and index it when they follow the links from other pages on your website.

 

7. Add navigational links

If you want to make your cornerstone more authoritative, add links to it from the homepage or the top navigation menu. This method should be done with the pages that are the most imperative to your business. This is going to give the posts or pages on your site more value.

 

8. Insert links to your taxonomies

Taxonomies, such as tags and categories, assist in organizing a website and helping users and Google understand what your posted content is about. For example, if you have a blog, it could be helpful to add internal links to the taxonomies that post belongs to.

 

9. Input links to your most popular posts

Inputting links to your site’s most popular posts or pages is another important point to consider. You should be creating these sections in the sidebar or the footer of your website so that they show up on all pages and posts.

 

10. Anchor text

After you decide which links should be included on a page and which ones should be granted link value, it’s necessary that you incorporate the proper anchor text.

 

Your anchor text should look natural when used in your copy and you should avoid using generic terms like ‘click here’ or ‘read more’.  Generic anchor text doesn’t tell Google, or the reader, where the link is taking them. Using descriptive anchor text means that your reader knows where the link is going, and you can even include keywords to boost the value of the link with Google.

 

An example of great anchor text would be: “Let REM help you with a new business website” vs. “REM makes great websites. Click here to learn more.”

 

11. Orphaned Content and Internal Linking

Orphaned content are pages on your website that do not have any internal links connecting them. This makes it difficult for users to find, and harder for search engines to crawl. In this process, you need to determine what pages you want to be found, deleted, or optimized for search engines.

 

Conclusion:

Utilizing internal links correctly is incredibly important in optimizing the success of your website and boosting your content through search engines. If you follow the strategies and tips outlined above with the implementation of internal links, your SEO and users will thank you.

 

REM offers a robust Search Engine Optimization service that can help your site rank higher in Google Search Results. Our expert team of digital marketers will make sure that your site has the correct SEO setup and meets all of Google’s requirements. We even take care of fixing your internal links for you!

 

Speak with our Marketing Director to see if REM can help you get noticed online.

 

 

Many businesses around the world advertise each and every day to a wide variety of audiences. With the advent of the Internet, advertising to a wider audience has never been easier. Not only can your ads reach a larger audience base around the world but in many cases, they can save you time and money. However, with businesses like Google stepping in and offering to help automate your ads, you may not be saving as much money as you thought.

 

Recently there have been new developments with Google ads and the way they “help” the businesses they partner with. Yes, it may seem easy to just hand over your money and your ad campaign to a big corporation like Google, but you can’t always guarantee you are getting what you paid for.

 

With costs increasing for Google advertising is it worth the discount that Google is offering in their latest email campaign? In some cases, it may be more worth your while to look at all the options before jumping into an automated Google campaign.

 

Increase In Cost Per Lead

Google has a variety of ways to help you reach your target audience using their ads. One of the most powerful tools is using their Leads function. By choosing leads as the focus, instead of just clicks, you are asking Google to go out and collect data on users who are the most likely to make a purchase of your product or service.

 

Google is essentially going out and doing all the work to find the best potential targets for your advertising. These are the visitors who are most likely to make a purchase or sign-up for a service right away.

 

By going with this route, you are cutting down on the amount of work you personally need to do and the amount of time in between advertising to making the final sale. This may sound easy, and a great option for your business, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

 

The Cost Per Lead (CPL), on average, costs more than any other option in a Google Ads campaign. The reason is that Google is doing almost all the work for you, and it tends to provide more sales for your company on average. However, between 2021 and 2022 the cost per lead has increased for 91% of industries.

 

Most notably the CPL for the arts and entertainment industry has increased 134%, travel has gone up by 69%, and in the furniture world, they’ve seen a 54% increase. Over the years Google’s prices have gone up and down numerous times since they began to offer this service. But never has there been an increase this big.

 

There is, however, a reason for the sudden increase over the past year. With COVID-19 coming to end more people are venturing out of their homes and off the Internet, meaning Google’s revenues have decreased.

 

To compensate for the dropping revenue, Google wants to get a bigger piece of your pie. The reason they have targeted these industries is that there has been a boom since the end of COVID-19. More people are out spending money on arts, entertainment, and travel. Google wants in on all that action as well.

 

So, the more money your industry is making the more Google wants to make. If your industry suddenly sees an increase in business, Google is also going to suddenly raise the price that they charge for ads for that industry. And because your business is making more money, they are hoping it means you are also willing to spend more money on your ads to then drum up even more business.

 

Along with the cost increasing, choosing to go with Cost Per Lead rather than any other option would mean giving Google full control over who sees your ad, based on collected data. Yes, this can be a good thing as you can ensure that only people who are most likely going to buy are viewing your ad. But it can also mean that you are losing control over who sees your ads and may in fact end up losing out on business from a wider audience base.

 

Google will suggest your products to people who are Googling comparable products or services in the hopes that they are ready to make a purchase. But that does not always guarantee that they will. In fact, they may choose to go with another company or a different product or service all together. So, just keep that in mind when weighing the pros and cons of being less hands on and having Google control the wheel for you.

 

Increase In Cost Per Click

Another way to advertise through Google is with Cost Per Click (CPC). Rather than leads where Google sends you leads on potential customers that are almost ready to buy, you are responsible to make sure your ad is reaching the right audience base.

 

Instead of paying Google more money for them to do most of the work for every lead, you are now paying them every time someone clicks on your ad. Choosing cost per click rather than lead can in some cases be a better option, they cost less, and you have more control. But there are some other things you need to consider as well.

 

First, the CPC has also increased for 57% of industries in the past year. For the same reasons as the CPL increases, more people are trying to find ways to get out of the house. Because clicks on average are a cheaper option than leads the increase overall is not as high and hasn’t affected as many businesses.

 

But depending on your marketing budget and strategy your business may still see a big hit in cost. Not only that but depending on the type of business you have, you may see a larger increase in price than another, as cost increases are dependent on business type.

 

When it comes to going with cost per click rather than cost per lead you have more control over your marketing strategy. However, it does come at a downside. It would mean that either you yourself or someone on your team (REM can help) would need to be an expert in marketing, budget, strategy, etc. to make your businesses ad campaign run smoothly.

 

On top of that you are no longer advertising to a very niche audience that you know are ready to buy. Instead, you are advertising to wider audience base who could come across your ad at any point in time.

 

Automatic Applied Recommendations

Along with cost per lead and cost per click increasing, Google has made some other changes around getting more revenue for themselves. Lately quite a few business owners have received an email from Google, stating that if they enroll in “Automatic Applied Recommendations” they will get $100 credit for “future ad spend”. This got a huge response and quite a bit of backlash from the Digital Marketing Community on twitter.

 

A lot of people were saying “that’s not nearly enough” or “Up next: $200 credit if you add broad match across campaigns”. Many people are displeased with the way Google is going about this. They see it as the company blatantly asking you to hand over control to them for your marketing campaign in exchange for $100.

 

Now to many people that may seem like a promising idea and has in fact drummed up some extra business for Google. But when you look a little closer you can see past the façade. Google is asking you to hand over control over how your ad is displayed to the public, so you don’t have to worry about it, in exchange for $100.

 

With Google able to make changes to your campaigns without your approval, they can manipulate your ads to cost you more money. Essentially, you are letting the fox guard the chickens! It’s in their best interests for your campaigns to overspend and not be efficient. If their revenue is hurting, they can just adjust all the auto-campaigns to spend 1% more and boom they have a pile of cash coming in.

 

Also, in the end the $100 credit isn’t going to get you much of anything these days with Google, as their prices have been increasing and most likely will continue to increase. Even if they stay stagnant, that $100 is only going to get you a handful of clicks or maybe three leads at most depending on your type of business.

 

On top of that who’s to say Google won’t turn around and ask you for something else in the future or force you to spend that $100 credit on something they deem mandatory to get that money back from you. These are all things you need to consider before making any choices.

 

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To find out if this is right for you or if you are looking for other options with your marketing campaign, our Marketing Director, Sanj Rajput would be more than happy to speak with you. In fact, we manually manage our clients’ campaigns to make sure that they are as efficient as possible and that we aren’t losing any money to unnecessary costs.

 

 

Your website is a critical part of your organization’s story, marketing efforts and digital presence in the big bad online world. You spend time and money creating an online experience that would attract and drive certain behaviors from your target audiences. But somehow your site has a high “bounce rate.” So, what exactly does that mean?

 

Well, a bounce, in simple terms, means people are coming to one of your web pages and leaving without staying for less than 10 seconds. While they are there, they are not clicking on any links, your Call to Action (CTA), or another page.

 

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who do this versus those who interact with your site. The average bounce rate falls between 41% and 55% and the ideal is 26% to 40%. Anything above and even below could mean your site has a problem and is not performing to the best of its ability.

 

To find out your site’s bounce rate look at the individual channels and pages in the behavior column of Google Analytics. If you are scoring above 55%, “Houston we have a problem,” or even worse, we have several problems. It could mean bad content, misleading descriptions, a poor navigation experience or design. Most importantly it’s a sign that users are not doing what you want them to do on your site; they aren’t converting. And this can have an impact on your SEO rankings. In fact, one industry study found a strong relationship between time on site and rankings.

 

Sometimes a website can have a naturally high bounce rate. Therefore, it can be very important to check with a digital marketing specialist who can determine the cause. For example, what if your website has a name that is very similar or identical to another company in a different industry. ‘ABC cleaners’ could be a dry-cleaning company or a window washing company.

 

Another reason for a naturally high bounce rate would be if your city or street has the same name as another place. Websites in Cambridge, Ontario will sometimes get visitors from Cambridge, Massachusetts or Cambridge, England. Those visitors will naturally bounce once they realize they are on the same page.

 

Let’s get down to business and explore some of the top reasons your site could be failing to engage your audience and causing a legitimate bounce rate issue.

 

Three words: content, content, content

With so much information on the web it’s a rare thing for someone to accidently end up on your site. People use google to search for information and visit the sites they think have it. If your content doesn’t measure up, they’re leaving. Content must meet the users’ expectations, or they will bounce to another site.

 

Following a few basic rules can help:

 

1. Create content that matches with your visitors’ search intentions. Your website should focus on the reasons and problems a visitor may have and try to address them.
2. Keep your phrases short. Writing for the web is quite different than writing for a printed publication. Sentences should be short and include key words to improve your SEO rankings, especially in your headings.
3. Think about the user journey and improve internal linking. Where do you want them to go and what do you want them to do while they are on your site?
4. Invite visitors to your call-to-actions. Make it simple and easy.
5. Keep educating! Tell them about related blog content on your site and keep them longer.
6. Follow good design principles. Make your page scannable with easy-to-read headers. Break up your content with engaging images. Make sure your important information is loaded and visible within 3 seconds of the page coming up.

 

Look around for an honest opinion from a colleague, a professional copywriter or even a loyal customer to review your content and adjust accordingly. You may also consider hiring a writer or a good content strategist.

 

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REM offers content marketing and blog writing as some of our digital marketing services. Our professional writers produce content that is engaging, and you don’t have to do anything, just review it once before we post it online. Speak to your REM representative or contact our Marketing Director for a free, no-obligation conversation about how we can help.

 

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Slow Load

Studies show the average online attention span is about 8 seconds. And on top of that, most people will leave if your site doesn’t load in less than 3.9 seconds! You don’t want your visitors to spend those precious seconds of their attention watching a throbber (the loading icon), or they’re going to bounce. There are millions of other web pages. Patience is not an online virtue.

 

Rethink whether you want that big video file to automatically play and take a closer look at those scripts. Take advice from the Google and run a Page Speed Insights test to find out their recommendations. Other tools include Lighthouse reports, Pingdom or GTmetrix. If your page is taking longer than a few seconds you need to fix it.

 

Keeping it Real

Real titles and real descriptions matter. Your title tag and meta descriptions play a key role in setting visitor expectations. When your content doesn’t line up, people bounce. Nobody likes to be misled, nor do they have time for it. Accurate titles and descriptions are necessary; consider these your first impression. If you falsely advertise, they will simply return to the search engine and go to the next best page.

 

Good meta descriptions do the following:

 

1. Explain the organization or the purpose of the page - Provide information a user is looking for like the product or services offered, the location and operating hours.
2. Pull direct content - Think of using a quote or perhaps the first couple of sentences that summarize the content of the page. Chances are a lot of your key words are found there.
3. Summarize - If you primarily sharing information, Google suggests summarizing the entire page. This will give search engines more opportunities to find your page.
4. Share differentiators - If your site is supporting a specific product, share what makes it the best in your description.

 

The lesson here is to be accurate and be descriptive. This will bring the right visitors to your site and encourage them to stay.

 

Navigation

Nothing is more frustrating than landing on a page and not being able to find the menu, the next step or good grief, the link to buy to your product. Poor design creates problems for users who want to browse your site resulting in, you guessed it, the bounce!

 

If your content is good, your titles and descriptions on point maybe it’s time to hire a designer to identify potential issues. Work with them to ensure the menu, links and any CTAs are self-explanatory and easily accessible. This will improve your user experience and your bounce rate.

 

Be friendly to the phone

Global web traffic on mobile phones has surged in recent years and as of November 2022, 60.28 percent of all web traffic came through mobile phones. If your website is not mobile friendly you are doing your organization a huge disservice.

 

Consider these common mistakes of unfriendly websites:

 

• Content is too wide, going past the screen
• Links are too close making them inaccessible on small screens
• Text is too small, meaning your users are spending too much time trying to accommodate your content

 

Websites that are not optimized for mobile do not look good on mobile devices AND they probably don’t load very fast, either. Take the time to explore the site from your own mobile device or to find out how your site measures up by trying Google's mobile friendly test. Alienating the majority of web traffic is only going to increase your site’s bounce rates.

 

REM designs beautiful, user-friendly websites for businesses who want a great user-experience and a fast-loading website design.

 

Error 404

We’ve all been there and usually we give it our best effort and click that link a few times just to be sure. If your bounce rate is really, really high, with visitors only spending a few seconds on the page, chances are they’ve hit a blank page or 404 error message.

To replicate a user’s experience try looking at the page from popular browsers, Safari on desktop and Chrome on mobile. Then find the time or expertise to help you fix broken links, errors, and ensure those blank pages stop your visitors from bouncing.

 

Don’t ask for the kitchen sink

Only ask for what you really need. If you try to collect too much information from your visitors,’ they will bounce! Requesting maiden names, social security numbers and financial information will deter people from staying on the site. People are wary and they have the right to be with the number of online phishing scams out there. The SlashNext State of Phishing report found over 255 million attacks in over six months in 2022 alone! 

 

Take the time to build trust and inform your users. If they stay and learn, your bounce rate will go down and your SEO rankings will go up.

 

Never ignore your bounce rate

How long someone stays on a page can help you determine the success or failure of a website. SEO isn’t just about key words, titles and tagging. It’s about strategic content and design, navigation, and most importantly engagement. Just think about how much time, energy and money went into building your site. Start with those critical pages and try a few improvements. Check back in a few weeks and see if they’re making a difference.

 

You want to know that those efforts are paying off and you’re living up to your visitors’ expectations. Monitoring your bounce rate can be a simple and effective way to take your site to the next level!

 

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If you don’t have the time to do this yourself, or in-house, speak to your REM representative or our Marketing Director so our expert team can help take this off your plate. You can then focus on running your business and helping clients, while we take care of making sure people can find you online.