Variety in the home business industry adds spice to those intending to start a home business. The range of options available for a home-based business is very large due to the limitless ideas one has to choose from. There are many ideas that are simple to start and require very little initial investment.Yoga helps a person relax. So if you know yoga, why not share your expertise in this to have a lucrative home based business as a yoga instructor. You can also advertise at schools, the local YMCA and other places frequented by families of your services as a yoga instructor.Another feasible home-based business idea to start is tutoring. Just advertise extensively, and you will soon start getting requests. Experts in financial consulting can share their expertise through business coaching, or by beginning a consulting business. You can share your skills and managerial experiences too by becoming a business coach.Medical and legal transcriptions are the most sought form of home-based business. If one has transcription skills and the necessary equipment, working form home or for different companies in transcription is indeed a lucrative home based business. If training is required, there are various medical transcription academies and online training courses available. Medical claims billing is another home based business idea that is very popular.People with designing skills can have web designing and interior designing done at home as a home based business. The expensive cost put in software is compensated by the sales of the designs. If you consider photography your hobby, you can open your own studio at home if you have space for shooting pictures and for a darkroom if you plan on processing the film yourself.
Home Based Business Ideas
Facebook Small Business Marketing – How To Get More Traction
We all understand that Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in Australia. However, recently some of our clients have expressed their frustration with their ‘Facebook business pages’. The key frustration is that their business page just doesn’t seem to be driving traffic and generating leads and there is little engagement. Lots of time and energy going in but not too many results.
Why are small business owners getting these results?
Let’s take a closer look at why there might be a lack of engagement on Facebook business pages. Let’s also explore how you might be able to work smarter and use Facebook more effectively and discuss some of the common pitfalls to avoid when it comes to using Facebook for Small Business Marketing.
Understanding how Facebook works
Facebook determines what people see in their “news feed” based on an algorithm. It’s a mathematical formula used by Facebook to determine what to show people who are Facebook users. Facebook focuses on the posts that people ‘like and engage with’ most. Therefore, if people like, share or comment on a post from a particular Facebook page, Facebook believes that this information is more relevant to the person because they are spending more time ‘engaging’ with that content. As a result, more content from that page is placed into the person’s news feed.
Facebook Small Business Marketing
Facebook is a “social” media tool and therefore will always favour content posted by friends, family and social connections over business content. Business content usually doesn’t get the same traction as personal content and often requires a ‘boost’ so that the content can get in front of people. In general, business content gets seen by very few of the people who have liked your business page, these days you need to use paid Facebook advertising to get in front of your audience.
Business content on Facebook
Ultimately, like any other business, Facebook is a commercial entity and needs to make money and profits to satisfy stakeholders and investors. As many of you may have already realised, Facebook knows it’s worth and understands that it can be an effective digital marketing tool, that gives business owners access to a large world-wide audience and prospective customers! Facebook also understands that business owners are willing to pay to access new customers and reach new audiences and therefore has tapped into this market.
Boosting Posts & Paid promotions
One way to get more people to see your posts or news items is to pay so that you can ‘boost’ your post. Remember ‘organic reach’ which is not paid for, is very limited on Facebook nowadays particularly for business pages. Therefore, to get in front of your target audience you really need to consider boosting your posts or running paid advertising campaigns or promotions to increase reach and engagement.
How can I get some traction without paying?
There are a few ways, at the time of writing this article, but they take more effort.
Facebook LIVE
Facebook “Live” which is a newer feature that Facebook has introduced, allows users to run live video streaming events. This is a fun and engaging way to reach your audience but you need to be comfortable in front of a camera and ready to answer questions and comments as there is also live interaction features that lets you know what’s on your customers’ minds. It’s not for the faint hearted but gets better cut through and larger reach.
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are different to Business pages and seem to be able to achieve more organic reach. Facebook groups are online forums that allow for small groups to communicate they generally focus on a topic of interest and are there to allow people that share common interest to interact and share knowledge, opinions and ideas. People can join groups that are often administered or moderated by one of more Facebook users. It could be a group that centres around a common cause or an activity such as mountain bike riding or photography, or it could even be centred around supporting others who are in a similar life stage or have similar circumstances such as a single parents group or an Autism Parents network or a group specific to small business owners.
Students Can Choose Countries Other Than the US or UK for Higher Education
Utrecht University, Netherlands is ranked at 86th position by education advisory Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, 2017. Apart from being affordable, the campus is an abode for students all around the world.
Phil Baty, World University Ranking Editor at Times Higher Education, said that cities such as Utrecht, Cape Town of Africa and Daejeon of South Korea have varsities in the Top 100 and this shows about the options students have. Though the rankings are topped by the US and UK but there are countries from Asia and Europe on the list also.
The Asian and European countries include Universities from Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Finland. The University of Hong Kong is ranked at 43th position, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea is at 89th position and University of Cape Town in South Africa at 148th position among the top 150 universities on the list.
RSS Mani, Vice President of Institutional Development at the ITM Group of Institutions, said that environmental location of the university should not matter much. Rather students shall be more concerned about whether the university is reliable, the courses it offers, whether the country is immune to political issues and whether the students can adapt properly or not.
According to Education Consultants, the courses in Sweden are very well-planned and faculty is also of good quality.
Sweden has five globally acclaimed universities with a huge strength of foreign students. Karolinska Institute in Stockholm is ranked 28th by Times Higher Education ranking. It has ample scope for research, English courses and many students across the world.
According to a consultancy service, if a student wants to learn subjects like Genetics, Molecular Biology or Agricultural Engineering, Finland is a place to be. It offers an eighteen month work permit after completion of the course, trouble-free immigration policies and a better shared culture. The University of Helsinki, Finland is ranked at 91th position on the Times Higher Education list.
Chris Parr, Digital and Communities Editor at Times Higher Education World University Rankings stated that Hong Kong has six of the universities in the top 500 Times Higher Education ranking list and most of the university courses are taught in English and the universities have well-built associations with the employers which makes getting a job easy after completion of the degree.
According to an online counseling firm, China provides good job prospects to foreign students in Multinational Companies (MNCs).
For students who are interested in making a career in the field of photography or graphic design, Poland is the ultimate destination. The courses are taught by well-acclaimed professionals around the globe and the courses are affordable also
South Korea is the place for IT courses and jobs. Though the cost of tuition may be relatively low and the scholarship programmes are easy to avail but cost of living is expensive in some of the European countries. Looking for low-cost lodging in Stockholm takes time.
The Times Higher Education Editor highlighted the fact that most of the universities are still in the run of etablishing their status globally. Employers are thoughtful to a degree from a renowned institution in a country which is known for its high- quality education like the US or UK than they would do to a degree from a university that possibly they might have not heard of earlier.
Experts say that because of smaller Indian student communities in the unusual countries, one might feel like a stranger especially if English is not their first language. Initially understanding new culture is difficult but gradually one gets adapted to it.