Content Creation Techniques

Leave a reply

Content Creation TechniquesOne of the questions that many people ask is how do we know what content to add to a blog or to a website? In addition, they want to know what happens when you have writer’s block and cannot find anything specific to write about. This situation happens to many people from time to time, including our writers. There are content creation techniques to help you always have something to write about and keep the creative juices flowing, so to speak. When you can write, write many posts and schedule them to launch in the future. This is one way to help you overcome those periods when you experience writer’s block.

We came across an article that talked about 20 different techniques that can be utilized in terms of creating content when someone has what’s called writer’s block. We decided to use these 20 items and put our spin on these items based on the experience that we have had in terms of creating content for our websites as well as for customers’ websites. The objective is to create useful and meaningful content for the reader based on the context of the customers’ website. As you’re reading these 20 items, try to think of them from the perspective of the content that you would need to have created for your website and for your customers. Remember to place the important stuff up front in the article.

Content Creation Techniques

Here’s our list:

1. Update outdated content – regularly review your older pages and update them with more current information.

2. Write about items in the news that pertains to your industry – always read the current news, especially anything in your own industry

3. Develop a list of tips about your products – readers will find this information particularly useful

4. Interview a friendly client or customer

5. Write a case study about your product or service

6. Join group industry groups

7. Monitor Industry publications – look for ideas and perspectives that were not covered in the publication that can be discussed on your own site

8. Look for News and Magazine Article Titles – for the same reason as above.

9. What is hot on Twitter and FaceBook – you may also want to have your own social media program as well

10. Customer Testimonials

11. Ask colleagues for ideas

12. Compare products and services

13. Publish expert material about solutions your products provide

14. Write a how-to article for the do-it-yourself handyman

15. Share some history about your company, people, products, etc

16. Solutions: Before and After that cover typical situations that your customers run into

17. Make a checklist for your customers

18. Add a definitions page

19. Add a resources page where customers can find more information about your products, services, and your company

20. Publish statistics about your products, improvements, etc

We provide inexpensive hosting and content management systems to help your company with your website and blog. If you need information or would like some help, please call or send us an e-mail with your contact information. Our phone and email are at the top of the page. Many of our customers ask for help in setting up a website and then proceed to develop their content.

Don’t worry about outliving your money!

Leave a reply

outliving your moneyDepending on who you talk to, someone who retires at age 65 will have another 20 years or so to live. This is a according to the statistics that are published by many government agencies as well as insurance companies. When you hear someone say. Don’t worry about outliving your money, it is difficult to really believe them. It can be a stressful time for many retirees. So it is important to really examine the numbers and determine if your savings will outlast you.

Insurance companies tend to exaggerate on longevity. They will suggest that you may live between 20 and 25 years longer than the average person. They also put fear into consumers wondering whether their money will last during their retirement years. This to encourage you to invest with them and use their investment products.

Outliving Your Savings

Many people worry about whether they will outlive their savings and end up being destitute. They worry about having to sell her house. Or live with family or worse living conditions that are not acceptable to them.

The reality is that most people will not outlive their savings. The statistics of living 20 years beyond your retirement age of 65 are actually quite generous. Most people will not live that long. Planning to live 20 years beyond your retirement age is quite substantial.

The reality for most people is that they should look at how long their parents lived after age 65. Then add five more years because we are more healthy and look after ourselves better than her parents did. This will be an indicator of the real age that you can expect to live.

Based on these calculations you can then figure out how long your money needs to last after your retirement. This is one of the ways that you can calculate your longevity.

Don’t worry about outliving your money

There are actually many other factors that will determine whether you have sufficient retirement money in your savings to last your lifetime.

For example, the stock market may go up or down, your pension from your company may last or not and you may have health issues that dig into your retirement savings. These factors and others are things that you should be thinking about and considering in terms of how much money you spend during your retirement years.

At the same time while you’re healthy you will want to enjoy your retirement years and spend some of your money on travel or some of the other things that are attractive to you.

Living on the income that is generated from your investments is one way to protect your retirement savings. At the same time if you have a significant amount of capital in your retirement plan making sure that you’re diversified and well invested in blue-chip stocks and bonds will also ensure that you do not suffer from crashes in the market.

The average withdrawal rate of 4% appears to be the industry norm of how much money should be withdrawn from your retirement savings plan. If you can generate income from the interest income from bonds, and from stocks, to dividends this will help to achieve a significant amount of that 4% and protect your capital through your retirement years.

We are writing many articles about these subjects and look forward to comments from people who are going through and planning their retirement and thinking about the same issues. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

For more about retirement planning, click here.

Small Business Site

Leave a reply

Small Business SiteMany business owners plan to set up a small business website. They want to provide information to their customers. In addition, it is one of the best ways to advertise and be competitive. There is actually a great deal to consider before designing a site.

They should first think about what their objectives are for their website.  It is important to understand why your website is being started. Some want to provide better information to their customers. In addition to advertising products and services. Will it allow customers to make purchases online?  There is a significant difference between an information site and a monetized site. One site is not interactive. While the other can take orders from customers and process them. As a result, this is a much higher level of functionality to consider. You also need trained support personnel to handle all of the back office processes.

Information Small Business Site

An information small-business site will provide basic information about the business. It will cover who the principals are, contact information, etc. Include a list of your products and services.  If customers wish to purchase any of these services and products they must contact you.  Remember to make contacting you easy for them and be responsive. They can do this by sending an e-mail. Or they can talk to you over the phone or visit your business.  This is really just a traditional advertising site that happens to be online.

Order Processing Site

A small business site that accepts orders is a much more complex site. This may include processing credit card payments or PayPal payments. It must have better information, cash processing information, and order placement. A status update is also typically provided. The privacy of customers’ personal information must also be addressed.

Set up an information site quite quickly. Update the content and add new content as time permits.  The small-business site can process and manage cash transactions which will take time to develop. They are generally more expensive. Also, they require more maintenance on an ongoing basis.  We’re not trying to dissuade you from setting up one of these sites. Always take into account your expectations, objectives, etc.

With the advent of PayPal and cash transaction terminals, basic cash management can be added to the site.  Note that the back-end process of fulfilling the order is a separate process. This includes excepting the order, preparing the product, packing, and shipping. Finally, you must be able to send invoices for the product.

Our Website Services

We specialize in providing small business websites that are informational in nature. They include contact capabilities provided on the website. You can provide a phone number, a contact form or allow customers to send e-mails to you.  Use a content management system. This provides the option to the business owner to prepare and update their own content.  It is quite straightforward and easy to use. Owners just need to figure out what content they want to provide.

Search engine optimization is provided. Search engines will index your site. Your site will rank higher. This is aimed at customers who are searching for particular products and services that your company provides.

For more information about our services, please contact us by phone or e-mail or using our contact form. We will be happy to respond to your request.  We provide domain management, hosting services, and content management services.

Retirement Investing Myths

Leave a reply

Retirement Investing MythsThere are studies and reports that the average person begins saving for retirement at the age of 32! In addition over 25% of consumers have not started saving for retirement at all which is a huge concern to them and to people who provide social services and to governments who are interested in their citizens enjoying their retirement years. If you think the government will look after you, think again, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient income for you to maintain the quality of life that you desire. Retirement Investing Myths are discussed in the following.

There are lots of misconceptions and myths about retirement and saving for retirement. However more and more people seem to be getting the message that they need to begin saving for their retirement and follow a regular savings program to ensure that they have the quality of life they are looking for when they retire.

Retirement Investing Myths and Reality

Market volatility will keep a lot of people on the sidelines. They want to buy low. But are afraid that the instant they get in the market it is going to drop. This does happen from time to time. However if savers adopt a long term strategy, and use dollar cost averaging, their investments will grow over time. These investments will provide them with the money they will need in retirement.

Some people feel they need a large amount to invest for retirement and specifically for mutual funds and stocks. The reality is that with a regular savings plan, your money slowly builds and compounds over time. Many investors are pleasantly surprised at how much their investments have grown over time with a regular savings plan.

I can catch up on my savings when I am older. This myth is followed by many people. The reality is that they have missed out on all of these years of compounding interest. This is income which by the time you retire is providing more funds than what you can save. Start early prior to age 25 and watch your money grow.

Investing is complicated. Stick with straight forward savings plans. Use a financial adviser to guide you through a balanced well managed savings plan. Maintain a balanced portfolio. Make sure it is diversified to protect your investments over the long term.

Rich people are the only ones that benefit from tax deferred accounts. Rich or middle class or below middle class, everyone receives a tax refund when they invest in a registered retirement fund. They also benefit from the tax protection from all income within the savings plan when it is a registered retirement plan. Regular savings and compounding can build a really nice retirement plan, especially if you begin early.

Retirement planning: take stock of how you’re doing

Leave a reply

Retirement planning: take stock of how you're doingPrior to retiring you may have focused on your financial plan. You wanted to make sure that you have sufficient money set aside to lead a comfortable retirement. Your focused on the quality of life that you would like to enjoy. However there is much more to retirement planning than just making sure you have enough money to last through your retirement.

Although it is an extremely important part of your retirement there are a couple of other elements that are important that will lead to a satisfied high quality of life during retirement.

Retirement planning – Quality of Life Experience

These include assessing those factors that are important to you for a quality of life experience.

For example what will you do in your spare time? Most people will have from 8 to 10 hours of new time that is now available to them. This includes eight hours of work an hour lunch and an hour for commuting. Now you all you have to do is go down to the breakfast table have breakfast in the morning and then decide what it is you’re going to do for the rest of the day. Some people spend their time organizing their life and trying to schedule everything they can into their 8 to 10 hours of time. Others develop or reestablish hobbies, volunteer, travel, get a job, work on projects etc. What will you do with your time in the short term as well as the long term?

How Much Time Do You Have Available

Is important to get a perspective on what your time is available to you and how valuable it is to you. For example, many people will spend time fixing and repairing those things around the home that they may have neglected. You may set up small projects etc. or plan on volunteering. Going for coffee with ex-work employees and meeting up with various people who you enjoy spending time with.

It is also important to take stock of what your planned retirement life will be like both before you retire and then six months after you retire. Are you still enjoying and appreciating the life that you now have? Is it the quality of life that you would like to have during your retirement?

Retirement planning – Take Stock and Re-evaluate

If you cannot answer yes to some of these questions then it is time to take stock and reevaluate your retirement quality-of-life plan. Make changes that will improve your quality of life and achieve some of the objectives that you’re looking for. Don’t put these things off, you never know how much time you actually have. One last point, whatever your plans will be, they also must be balanced with the level of income that you also have available to live the life you are looking to have.

Making adjustments throughout your retirement is an important step toward ensuring that you enjoy your retirement in all of the years that you have.

Small Business Domain

Leave a reply

Small Business DomainSetting up a small business domain and company website does not have to be complicated or expensive.

Business owners have a relatively small budget for online services like websites.  There are really three elements that need to be focused on when you are developing your website and which many small business owners do not want to be involved with simply because they do not have the time.  The first is to obtain a domain name. This is the address or URL that you type into your browser to find the website.  The second service that is required is a place to host your website.  Your domain name will be pointed at this address.  The address represents a server operating somewhere on the Internet which will provide and upload your content to customers that are browsing your small business website.

Small Business Domain – Content Management System

A content management system is a next component that is required in order for you to introduce content onto your website and deliver the content to your customers.  Many content management systems are available however we use a content management system called WordPress for our customers and also for ourselves.  This Web engine or content management system is a great tool for people who are not interested in developing their own HTML code and do not want to spend a lot of time trying to configure their own web pages.

WordPress is much like Microsoft Word in some perspectives with spelling checks and grammar identification and correction.  Many different widgets can be added to provide additional functionality specific to the needs of your website and your company.  Spelling checks, formatting, statistics, and many others can be added.

Small Business Domain – Let Us Build Your Web Site For You

Our company uses WordPress and in fact, this blog is being driven by a WordPress installation.  Your domain name and small business website can also be installed inexpensively with a content management system such as WordPress. Within a few hours, you can be up and running with basic information.  We can also develop and enter content for you. Which includes text as well as images and videos are also possible.

Once the website is up and running, your team can make their own updates. Or arrange for a member of our team to do the updates for you. Many web site owners like this approach as another means of managing their costs. This approach provides then with the flexibility they need to manage their content and their costs.

Give us a call or check out some of our pricing and options and let us build your website for you.

For more posts about setting up small business web sites, click here.

Self Employed Retirement Plans

Leave a reply

Self Employed Retirement PlansGovernment pensions help many people. But they are frankly not enough to live on and enjoy the quality of life that many of us look for in our retirement years. Individual consumers, especially those who are self-employed must save additional money. They will need this to live on during retirement. This is where self-employed retirement plans are so important. If you are self-employed you must have a personal self-employed retirement plan. Otherwise, retirement is not going to be very pleasant.

Private pension plans can take various forms. However, in Canada, they are known as Registered Retirement Savings Plans or RRSP’s and 401K’s in the US. Basically consumers make deposits with pretax dollars to these accounts. There is a corresponding reduction in the amount of tax they pay. It is these private self-employed retirement plans that will make the difference. Between a poor retirement and one that is enjoyable. You will have the quality of life you want after you finish working for a living.

Self Employed Retirement Plans – Retirement Savings

Many people ask how much they should have in savings to last out of their retirement. There are all types of answers. But if you make a couple of assumptions, you can quickly get to an answer that will work for many people. The first assumption regards how much income you can expect from your investments. This is the dividend yield or interest income from bonds and mutual funds. A reasonable yield for dividends is 4%, so let’s go with that number.

Next is how much income do you need in retirement. There are again all kinds of assumptions about needing less money when you are retired than when you are working. But the simplest and probably safest approach is that you should assume that you will live on the same amount you were making when you retired. Use these assumptions. Let’s say you made $50,000 a year when you retired. Then you should hope to make the same from your government pensions and savings income.

For simplicity, let’s assume your government pension will be $10,000. As a result, you will need $40,000 from your savings. At 4% you will need to have saved $1 million dollars by the time you retire. If you can do this, you will have no worries and you will die with a million dollars in your estate.

How Long Will You Live

Saving a million dollars before you retire is pretty tough. Although if you start when you first leave school and save 10% every year, it can be done. But most of us do not do that. The other thing we want to point out is that many people really do not want to leave a million to their families. They want to enjoy their lives as much as possible. This brings us to the question of how long will you live in retirement?

If you retire at age 60, many people will live into their 70’s and 80’s. Which can be 15 to 25 years after you retire. Taking a combination of income and principal every year from your plan will provide you with more money. You will require less money to be saved as well. The important thing is to estimate how long you will live. If your family history suggests that your relatives live to around 80, then you probably will as well, plus a couple of years.

This is where an adviser can really assist you in determining how long your money will last using some of the assumptions we have just discussed. The amount you need is less than a million using the assumptions above, however, it really depends on how much you decide to take out of your plans and how fast.

Check out some of our other posts about retirement covering various subjects such as management risk, diversity, growth of your portfolio, etc.

 

Time management for a satisfied retirement

Leave a reply

satisfied retirementMany people approach retirement in a variety of ways. For example, some people will not schedule anything at all during the retirement spare time. The other extreme of course is the type A personality who has to have every 15-minute interval scheduled. These are to-do list items, things to do around the house, and even naps in the afternoon. In addition, they include meetings with colleagues and friends. This person may as well be still at work since they really are not enjoying their retirement but it provides them with a satisfied retirement.

Time management for a satisfied retirement – Strike a Balance

Studies have shown that the best way is to strike a mid-range of planning for your retirement. The most satisfied people during their retirement appear to be those people who have lots to do. Activities are scheduled for them. But they are not unsatisfied or upset when something has to be moved from one day to the next. There is no rigid schedule in their plan for the day.

When people are first retired, there is a tendency to schedule their days in the same manner that they would if they were at work. This leads to frustration and rigidity in their schedule. Some are generally being unsatisfied when they can’t complete all of the things that they have scheduled for themselves to do during the day. If they cannot fill their day they are frustrated and bored. It takes a few months to make an adjustment to being retired.

Those people who have a list of things and are prepared to work on their items as time permits. They also frequently insert new spontaneous things into their schedule and appear to be the most satisfied in their retirement.

Adjusting to Retirement

It will take many consumers several months or perhaps even a year or two before people are satisfied with retirement. They have figured out what is best for them. They develop new hobbies, go to various locations to volunteer, or take on projects that they have put off all of their lives. There’s always something for retired persons to do.

It is important to figure this out and then proceeds in a manner that provides the most satisfying results for you. You may in fact want to try various approaches and then shift as you get results and decide that you like what you’re doing or are unsatisfied with what you’re currently doing. Trial and experiment will lead to a satisfying retirement.

The biggest challenge in retirement for many is figuring out what to do with all of the additional free time that they now have since they are not commuting and going to work every day. That can be as much as 50 hours a week to fill in with new things and challenges.

Small Business Blog Sites

Leave a reply

Small Business Blog SitesSmall business blog sites are one of the least expensive ways to introduce a company website and still maintain it with up-to-date information about your company, your product, and your services.  Once they are set up, most people can update the company blog site. They need to know how to use a computer and log onto a website.  Of course, you want the website to look professional. There should be no spelling and grammar mistakes and a few pictures as well to enhance the site.  A good content management system such as WordPress is a great way to manage your small business blog site.

Small Business Blog Sites – Adding Content and Media

Adding content and media is quite straightforward and most people who know how to use a computer, word processing, and images or even video can handle and use WordPress.  We offer a hosting service plus a fully installed and configured content management system utilizing WordPress at inexpensive prices for your company.  We can also set up your domain if required however many businesses already will have their own domain and simply point it at the hosting site where the Web WordPress blog is installed.

Customize Small Business Web Sites

They also will customize a theme for you to use. There are also thousands that are available for WordPress.  There are many widgets that can be installed. They can provide a variety of functionality that may be of interest to various small-business owners.  These include everything from calendar information, contact pages, counters, statistical analysis, etc. There are probably thousands of widgets that can be chosen for your small business blog. But choose wisely. Look for comments and ratings to ensure that they are well-supported widgets. They must keep up with all of the latest releases for your content management system.

Small Business Blog Sites – Some Examples

This particular website for our small business is a good example of what you can do.  The local ski club is another example of a smile business or charity in this case that is using our hosting services and our WordPress content management system. They really have a rather simple and straight forward site that meets their needs and their budget.

If you are interested in setting up a small business blog site contact us today. We will be happy to provide you with a competitive solution. Which can be set up within a matter of days if not hours.  There are a variety of options for you. These include having our team do everything for you. Or having your team provide and update the content on the company blog site.

Send us an e-mail or give us a call and we will be happy to provide a solution for you.