Local Business Plus Locale Equals Google Places

How are your customers finding YOUR local business these days? For services and products within their locale, they were doing their research in phone books and newspapers. Walking the streets and physically finding a particular business was normal in the era before that.The current answer will soon sound the knell of traditional methods mentioned above. Thanks to Google Places, Google Maps and Google local search algorithms; phone directories, Yellow Pages and local business directories are in terminal decline. In many seemingly affluent areas such as my locale, Carlisle’s Stanwix and other suburbs north of the river Eden, very locally focussed advertising magazines have foundered 3 times in the last 3 years. During a local business training seminar, one of the consultant trainers stated quite baldly that he no longer wasted his time on expensive newspaper advertising. Simply put; potential customers are trying to satisfy their need by typing their questions into Google to find the local business that will satisfy them. This is a skill which even a five year old will have more experience of than many Google business users.If I need takeaway food or a taxi, when the regular suppliers are unavailable; I search for “indian takeaway” or “taxi” online (frequently using my internet capable mobile phone) and find out what appears first… and I don’t often go past the first page of results! There are, using the example just given, about 1.5 million listings for Indian takeaway. It’s curious that even though Google knows my locale is Carlisle. the top results aren’t actually that relevant to Carlisle. The first result up is a Just Eat page for Manchester: 120 miles away, which is incorrectly judged more relevant to my question than Carlisle’s own Indian food establishments. To understand how Google views relevancy, the example of a search for Indian takeaway food outlets for a person based in my locale: Carlisle, Cumbria in the UK provides a useful starting point.So, for this simple example, let’s take the part of an Indian restaurant owner in Carlisle. With only about 70,000 people in the urban area you would imagine there was not much competition. You’ve had a stunning website set up to show off your authentic recipes, but it is not generating any new business! As the previous search showed, there are almost one and a half million pages to compete with to gain a customer; just from Carlisle based searches for Indian Takeaway. This simply means that there is a tough job for a local business to get top Google listings when that hungry customer tries to Google business in their area, to satisfy their need.Bearing the previous example in mind, sensible use of a well optimised Google places listing can help you in your quest to rise to the top of the search results. For most searches the results pages have a distinct structure. The SERPs (search engine results pages ) are arranged in 3 distinct sections. Ignoring the paid advertising at the top of the page, the first section shows 3 organic (ie normal ordinary search results) and in our example search, they do not have much relevance to me in the role of a hungry Carlisle customer. Following the organic results is the Google places listings section. Following the places listings, the remaining space on the page is taken up by organic listings.It is important to understand that Google is always refining its algorithms for displaying the solution to a search and the question it implies. This was illustrated quite clearly while I was researching for the launch of my local SEO service, I watched the results for the keyword “builder carlisle” change several times over 22 days last November, with an Australian company topping the Serps for much of the time. The goalposts keep changing for good reason: to prevent people like myself gaming Google too effectively and skewing search results too much towards commercialism, rather than relevance.Any local business, seeking customers from their own locale, needs a Google Places listing as a crucial first step to becoming a Google business. A well optimized Google Places listing is far more likely to show up at the top of the search results for those customers who want satisfaction NOW… and are ready to pay for it. If your competitors show up on the front page and you do not; you are already fighting a losing battle. A Places listing is one of the most important signposts to be putting up online.Many customers will in fact not be happy about all the irrelevant listings that appear and will try to get more localised results: typically by changing the search term to “Indian takeaway Carlisle”. Even with this filter in place there are still 293,000 results for Google to choose from that relate to the search term “Indian takeaway Carlisle”. Now, even with Carlisle businesses in focus, will your establishment be amongst them? For this specific search, the SERPs are dominated by Google places listings. The local business appearing at the top of this group is the one where the money will be spent and if our example takeaway business is absent, that is an untapped income stream for that local business.If a small city like Carlisle in the relatively stagnant north of the UK gives 300,000 pages of results for a local search for a spicy meal, that is an indication of the level of work and skill that has to be employed to help you rank and show up for search terms that relate to your locale and business. With guidance from knowledgeable consulting partners the learning curve can be reduced and the whole process can be put into the hands of people who are familiar with the bizarre world of the search engine, removing one more obstacle to business success.

Augmenting the Marketing Competencies Can Help Pave the Path to Senior Management Roles

Climbing the success ladder and standing atop the management hierarchy is every professional’s dream. If you are too a working professional, don’t you aspire to be one among the senior management one day? Don’t you want to be on the other side of the table – commanding, leading from the top, and setting an example for many to follow? It’s not easy definitely; getting there requires immaculate efforts, and of course, the requisite skills.One among such most vital skills is marketing. Does not sound very common when it comes to senior management roles, right? But yes, it’s a skill that’s highly valued by employers today across organisations. It is, in fact, one of the pivotal competencies of a strong senior manager. We, at Times TSW, will help you explore why and how marketing skills form an inevitable trait for senior management roles, in this article below.Marketing Skills Form the Core of the Senior Management’s ResponsibilitiesIf you thought that marketing is a task restricted to the creative marketing department of your organisation, it’s time to rethink. Competition in the corporate world has brought marketing competencies right to the lap of every employee therein. And, once you start working on augmenting them, you’d soon start treading the path of success.This is because managers must know how to promote their specific product/idea in the market amid cut-throat competition. For this, they need to polish some of the basic marketing competencies such as:Effective communication
Communication is the lifeblood of a team lead/manager. That’s common knowledge. But it shouldn’t just be restricted to interpersonal or in-house communication. Marketing is a type of professional communication that happens between organisations (B2B), as well as with potential and existing customers (B2C). If you exactly know how to market your service idea outside the four walls of your enterprise, you’d be doing immense good to the latter as well as to yourself.Out-of-the-box approaches
What’s the most impactful quality of a senior manager? Their ability to think out of the box for the most trivial or critical issues at hand; to offer creative solutions when needed. Marketing skills require you to develop analytical thinking towards project goals and requirements and present innovative ways to achieve them, both to your team as well as your customers.Keeping pace with technology
Technological changes have seeped into every phase of work functions today. You may be part of any domain in your organisation, be it IT, marketing, finance, HR, or any other, you do need to adapt yourself to fast-paced changes all along so as to surpass the competition.Moreover, you need to keep an eye open for cues all along. For instance, keep a check if the traditional means of advertising the project idea are failing to attain desired results? See if digital marketing is the new trend in the market that can put across your message more effectively? Figure out and work on your marketing strategies in accordance with changing technologies.Efficient collaboration
Marketing competencies also involve effective coordination with other departments of the organisation as you work on your product. This may require you to sit with the design team to prepare your product design/logo for promotion, or spending time with the research team to analyse consumer survey data.Since all of these activities form a part of marketing, it’s a good idea to have a working knowledge of all these essential skills so as to qualify for senior management roles.How Can Executive Education Help?Marketing is the backbone of any company today. Your product literally has no value until it’s promoted effectively in the market. And this is exactly why each department needs to possess marketing skills to stay in and beat the competition.To help the ambitious professionals of the 21st-century sharpen their marketing skills and make their way to the senior management roles, the prestigious IIM Kozhikode has introduced its Executive Post Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management (EPGCMM) programme. The one-year Interactive Learning course is aimed at providing specialised marketing management training to executives, helping them grow into senior management positions in their respective organisations. The Executive Post Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management (EPGCMM) programme can be attended in any of the Times TSW centres across India, and the sessions are delivered live via a technology platform by none other but the senior faculty from IIM Kozhikode. So come and join the EPGCMM programme to augment your marketing skills and rise as the best in the field.

Wholesale Designer Clothes – Designer Clothing at Wholesale Prices on Salehoo Liquidation Sales

Everybody knows that designer clothes are extremely expensive. This is not surprising, considering the superior materials used, quality control and advertising expenses that the designer companies have to invest on their products. Many people, however, prefer to buy designer apparel because of their excellent quality especially if they can buy the items at discounted prices. It is possible to obtain wholesale designer clothes that you can sell at low prices by finding liquidation sales on Salehoo.Salehoo is an ecommerce company with over 8,000 suppliers on its wholesale directory list. Their database is regularly updated and the suppliers are verified so that you have the assurance that they are legitimate companies. The suppliers are made up of manufacturers, wholesalers, dropshippers and liquidators. If you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur looking for cheap designer clothes to sell, the best source are liquidators selling brand name apparel.Liquidation or closeout sales are held whenever a store closes down or wants to clear out its old stocks. Sometimes, liquidation sales take place to move products that the store owner cannot sell anymore for various reasons. They can be overstock or production overruns. The items are authentic and come in their original packaging. Even labels and tags are still attached. Best of all, the prices are usually below cost. Sometimes they are priced at only 10% of the retail price. With such prices, you can afford to sell the designer clothes at wholesale prices and still make money.Liquidation sales are a great way to get your stocks of brand name clothes. Different brands include Gucci, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Tommy Hilfiger and Timberland. You can get slacks, shirts, dresses, T-shirts, socks and a lot more. You are assured that the items are genuine, and you can even purchase pallets or cases for under $500. Of course, you will get a bigger discount if you purchase larger amounts.Liquidation sales are easy to find on Salehoo. They are ideal for small businesses because you only need a small investment to buy your stock of designer clothes. Also, if you get them from liquidation, you won’t have to worry about licensing and exclusivity requirements. All of these factors contribute to low cost so that you can pass on the savings to your customers in terms of discounted prices. You can be sure that the designer clothes you obtained from liquidation sales on Salehoo will be sold out very quickly.

Opt For Preventive Care To Reduce The Cost of Healthcare

People often do not prioritize their health and visit the hospital or their doctors while detecting some disease-causing symptoms in their bodies. However, preventive care is the best possible way everyone can undertake and cease the risk factors before the symptoms become dangerous and life-threatening. The following article will focus completely on preventive health care and how it helps reduce further costs involved with healthcare.

Suggested article: Preventive Dental Care In California

What is Preventive Care?

Preventive health care or prophylaxis involves the measures that people consider for preventing any diseases. The form of healthcare includes utilizing medical services or precautions that fight against the potential health crisis. It is the most important step that people can adopt in better management of their health.

Several factors such as genetic predisposition, lifestyle, environmental factors, and disease agents affect people’s health. Hence, everyone must undergo periodic health check-ups and screening tests from the doctors.

People opt for preventive health care for maintaining better health, and eliminating the disease becomes serious. Preventive care in conjunction with medicines will save a patient from health breakdown and save money from future expenses, especially if the patient is suffering from a chronic disease.

What are the Preventative Care Services?

Here are some of the examples of preventive health care services, along with their frequencies. ·

Annual Check-up (1 per calendar year): During the annual check-up, the doctor or Primary Care Provider (PCP) checks all areas of a person’s health, including physical and psychological. Examining the patients in detail helps in detecting any health care concerns in the early stages.

· Flu Shot (1 per year): Most health plans include flu shots and protect the patients from all strains of flu viruses.

· Mammogram (1 calendar year, after the patient attains the age of 40 years): Patients over the age of 40 must undergo routine x-rays of breast tissues and check for signs of cancer and other abnormalities. Some health plans might cover the costs of 3D imaging. ·

Colonoscopy (usually once in every decade after the age of 50) for detecting colon cancer.

· Vaccinations, including boosters for such as measles, rubella, polio, etc. administered during childhood.

Preventive health care helps keep people productive and active, enabling them to earn well during their senior years. Studies show that approximately 35% of people have to consider early retirement, even before they are financially ready. Opting for affordable, preventive care helps in reducing the numbers.

Why Should Patients Opt for Preventive Care?

Access to preventive health care helped reduce healthcare costs among Americans, as the physicians can prevent or treat the disease before the patient needs emergency room (ER) care. Almost one-third of costs in America include hospital care, which is undoubtedly very expensive. In 2010, 21.4% of adults paid at least a visit to the emergency room, which reduced to 18.6% in 2017. Adults not having affordable access to preventive care are more likely to pay a couple of visits to the emergency room.

Statistics show that 7% of the adults in the age group of 18-64 paid visits to the ER in 2014, as they had no other option, regardless of their health insurance status. About 77% of Americans went to the emergency rooms due to complications in their health, including those whose doctors advised them for emergency room care. Approximately 15.4% of uninsured adults in 2014 are more likely to use the emergency room, as they lacked other providers.

Undoubtedly, the cost of ER care for uninsured patients was extremely high. Hospitals provide care, even if the patient fails to provide fees for their services. As hospitals must recover the cost, they shift to Medicaid and health insurance premiums, which increases the healthcare cost for everyone.

Impact of Preventive Care Cost on Health Care Costs

Chronic diseases are the major leading cause of death among people, either preventable or manageable with regular visits to health care. These include:

· Heart diseases

· Cancer

· Stroke and

· Chronic lower respiratory diseases

Poor nutrition and obesity are the leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Genetics and smoking lead to lung cancer, which is the most common type of cancer. Obesity also risks several other forms of cancer.

Treating these chronic diseases is expensive, even before they reach emergency room status. Approximately 90% of the 3.5 trillion USD includes health care expenditures for people suffering psychological problems and chronic diseases. Patients who never went for preventative care or did not have any prescription coverage failed to afford the treatments, screenings, regular check-ups, and medications that would manage the underlying conditions of the disease. Instead, they head up to the emergency rooms with cases of strokes, heart attacks, and other complications.

However, with regular access to affordable, preventive care, the patients were more likely to discover and manage their chronic conditions. Doing so lowers the chances of visiting the emergency rooms and investing more into expensive treatments for those diseases, which passed regular management. With the decrease in the expenditure for treatments, the overall healthcare cost also decreases for everyone, as the hospitals no longer try to cover the treatment cost of the uninsured patients.

When and What Preventive Health Care is the Most Suitable?

A patient’s primary health care provider will help him or her coordinate the most suitable shots and tests. While analyzing the beneficial shots, the health care provider will consider certain aspects such as family history, age, sex, current health status, and several other factors.

Conclusion

Preventive health care often covers 100% of health plans and offers the patients several benefits both in cost and health. However, if the patient experiences doubts or are in dilemmas about the things covered and tests conducted, he or she must communicate with the physician at the earliest.

Everyone knows, “health is wealth.” If a patient is healthy, he or she will perform the best. However, it is also important to adopt a healthy lifestyle, reducing the risk factors and saving the patients from spending money on medicines.

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