Business Management: Anchored on Ethical Values

 How to Manage a Business

The internet has brought many benefits to mankind, but it has also brought with it a whole lot of problems. The internet has given the world the ability to connect with one another on a global scale. There is an abundance of information, entertainment, and knowledge that can be obtained with just few clicks. The internet has also made it very easy for companies to take advantage of people. Some may steal personal information, give false information and false hope and use some tactics in order to get you to buy on something. Now that the internet is the world, businesses with high focus on human resources could get into a more sustainable and stable place in their own niches. It is really very important for business owners to be ethical, honest and fair at all times. If you are a business owner and would want to thrive, focus on how you treat people fairly and you will see growth unstoppable, otherwise, self-centeredness leads to ineffectiveness and useless efforts.

What is an ethical company?

An ethical company is a company that is committed to the social and environmental responsibility, and also takes care of their employees. A company that is ethical does not run on greed, but rather on the best interests of the business and the people in it, as well as the people who are willing to join the human resource or workforce. A company that is ethical will listen to their employees and respond to their needs. An ethical business will be committed to the social and environmental responsibility geared toward their clients, their workforce, and those they mingle with whether online or offline.

How to make ethical decisions?

The main goal of a business is to make profits, but the company should also have a strong ethical culture, which can help to keep the company in line with its values. There are a few methods that can be used to help make ethical decisions, but the best one is to have high value ethics at all times in any point regardless of any unstable situations the company or business is experiencing. Ethical decisions works best when fairness is not taken for granted. In order to have a company culture that is focused on making ethical decisions, it is important to have a set of values that are shared amongst and around the workforce.

How to deal with unethical companies?

The best way to deal with an unethical business is to report them to the Better Business Bureau. The Better Business Bureau is a place where consumers can file a complaint about companies that are not following the law. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, the BBB will help you to find a resolution. They will also help you to file a complaint about any unethical practices. The BBB keeps a close eye on companies and will contact them if there are any irregularities. In addition to the BBB, you should also contact the company's Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the company and they will be able to help you with any complaints.

Conclusion

Managing a business can be a daunting task, but it is also one of the most rewarding task. If you have ever been a manager, you know that there is a lot of work involved. You have to make sure that your workforce are doing their job to the best of their abilities. You also have to ensure that your they are doing their work in a timely manner and that they are working as a team. You also have to make sure that your company is running smoothly and that the business is making profits. Business management then, should be founded with high ethical and strong core values such as fairness, integrity, commitment, honesty and excellence.

"You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him." - Robert C. Savage

"A certain amount of opposition is of great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind." - John Neal

Content Marketing: How to Drive High Quality Traffic to Your Website

The internet is a great place to market products and services.  In this article, we will discuss about content marketing and why content marketing is an effective way to generate high quality traffic to your website. I will also provide some tips on how to drive high quality traffic to your products or services.

1. What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a powerful marketing strategy that allows you to create and distribute content that is relevant to your niche. The content can be about anything, but focuses mainly within your niche. The contents can be in the form of articles, videos, audio files, or any other type of media. With content marketing, you have the ability to build a large audience that is interested in what you have to say through written texts, audios, infographics and videos or a combination of these. The content will then be shared across social media platforms and other websites. This sharing will help drive traffic to your website or blog, channels and pages and ultimately to your products or services.

2. Why content marketing is effective

A lot of people are turning to content marketing specifically video marketing because it is one of the most effective way to generate traffic to their products or services. There are many different types of content marketing – it can be organic or paid. Why content marketing is effective? The most important thing to remember is that the goal of content marketing is to help people find solutions to their problems thus giving them value. Providing a solution like explaining in the “How to…” in a videos can be compelling. Even providing solution through infographics in a “Steps on how to…” can give audience a high-value creative and time-saving descriptive images through simplified content solution. Another content is through texts or articles.  Article marketing cannot be undermined because of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Quality articles drive great traffic to blogs and websites if these articles are SEO optimized at all angles – meta descriptions, alt texts, keywords on-page or off-page links, etc. Writing articles with a combination of other media like graphics, videos and audios will give a fantastic result. For example, people are searching video content for a certain niche, the videos in your content may show up in Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, etc. When they are looking for audio, there is also a big chance that the podcast will be shown to your targeted audience. And when they are looking for graphics or illustrated content, your infographic content may be shown through Pinterest as well.

3. How to drive high quality traffic to your website

The best way to drive high quality traffic to your website is to put a lot of effort into your SEO. It would also be best if you put a lot of effort into your content like putting keywords into the right places – titles, tags, headlines, meta descriptions, etc. The content should be unique and not just copied from other websites. You should also put a few links to your best content pages where it makes sense. When you include your keywords in the web pages' title tags, posts and meta descriptions, be sure to use a combination of low competition and long tail keywords. This helps the search engines find your pages much more effortless. You should also include your keywords in the content images and video titles. Avoid too much links pointing outside your website if necessary. If you cannot avoid putting links for your affiliate products or services, make a pillar page or pillar post within your blog or website dedicated for this purpose, where you can use this page to put all the necessary links. Be sure to set to a  “nofollow” attribute for best result.

Share your contents to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Use paid advertising if you would like to optimize and scale. I will make a separate post about paid advertising soon.

4. Conclusion.

The best way to drive high-quality traffic to your products and services is to create a blog, a page or pages, channels, boards or a combination of all of these. Then use them to promote your products and services. Once you have created your blog, pages, channels and boards, you should make sure that it is optimized for search engines. SEO optimized contents will surely find a “sweet spot” in the search engines' algorithms. So be sure to name your images, videos and audios with the right keywords. Contents with the right meta descriptions, titles and headlines will rank higher in the search engines. I hope this article helped you understand much better about content marketing and gave you solutions on how to drive high quality traffic to your products and services. If you apply these techniques, then you will surely find and see to yourself that content marketing is indeed, easy and not difficult at all.

"Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitable bring about right results." - James Allen

"We go where our vision is." - Joseph Edward Murphy

 

Affiliate Marketing: The Online Education Niche

The Online Education Niche 

The Shift

The situation of the world where we are in right now (as of this time) allows many of us to adapt to so many changes – from traditional business stores to opening online shops; from commute lifestyle jobs to home-based jobs; from classroom set- up to home schooling; from mall shopping to online shopping, and the like. These shifts made many excited while these also made others anxious and bored. What about you? Life must go on… And, it must be in a deeper, higher and wider perspective no matter what. Now, learn to adapt and adjust. 

Online Education

Over the past three months, I was not able to write articles or blog posts for this site because we (my family) were busy in digital product creation for one of our online shops in the education niche. My husband and I are not teachers but while we are helping our child to understand some of her lessons, some Google ads are popping up while we search for subject areas related to the lessons which we hardly remember. This has led us to create digital product(s) that have now been posted in an online education digital platform where it is now making some few sales. I will post our online shop link in the “SHOP” page when we reach our 100^th product milestone.

The online education niche is rising these days especially in the South-East Asia. Entrepreneurs, designers, influencers, business owners specially the affiliate marketers and coaches are looking into the potential of online education platforms. For marketers, target audience is easy to identify and this makes marketing worthwhile products and services easy, as well.

Products and services you can promote:

1.       Educational Games

2.       E-books / Books

3.       Planners / Journals

4.       Courses

5.       Training

6.       Membership sites

7.       Tutoring sites

Micro niches:

1.       Instrumental Music

2.       Graphic Arts

3.       Music Composition

4.       Visual Arts

5.       Creative Writing

6.       Informational Texts

7.       Expository Writing

8.       Classroom Management

9.       Critical Thinking

10.   Life Skills

11.   All subjects – including but not limited to: English, Science, Math, etc.

Types of Products and Services:

1.       Physical Products

2.       Online Services

3.       Digital Products

4.       Combination of physical and digital products

The Need

Educational resources are almost everywhere. Yes, this is true. But you will see how many more quality materials and resources are so much needed this time. If you can find or create worthwhile educational resources or materials for learners, please do so and share. It will help a lot improve students’ engagement in learning and studying and inspiring other educators do the same.

21^st Century Educational Technology

With the help of advanced technology, dissemination of ideas and resources can now be made real-time in places where internet is available. Teachers or educators who are adapting and adjusting to this so called “technology-enriched environment” are clambering and scrambling to meet the demand.

Product Creation

You can share your knowledge and ideas in the educational environment even if you are not a teacher/tutor/educator by creating products and services for them to use in their teaching – whether teaching online or in a classroom setting. How to do that? Well, you can make resources which can be printed for distribution or resources that can be used digitally without the need for printing. You may give them for free or you can sell them in online marketplaces of educational materials.

Printable Products vs Digital Products

Not all learners and teachers are comfortable in using some applications available online. They need printed resources so they can focus and not disturbed with popping ads or not tempted in clicking almost every button to satisfy their curiosity. As a product creator, you can make both versions and make it compatible with what they need whether printable or digital materials.

Types of E-learning Platforms

1.       Student Management System (SMS)

2.       Assessment Software

3.       Virtual Classroom Software

4.       Video Conference Software

5.       Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

6.       Learning Management System (LMS)

7.       Online Tutoring Platforms

8.       Online Marketplaces

Think of how you can contribute to the online education community – it’s worthwhile, indeed!

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” -Abigail Adams

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” -Henry Ford 

Affiliate Marketing: Shopee Shops with Trending Products

Shopee Shops with Trending Products for Affiliate Marketers and Shoppers

If you are an affiliate marketer in the Philippines or Southeast Asia who is looking for an affiliate marketing programs and products to advertise, then continue reading. This article was written to give you an idea about the Top 10 evergreen niches that you can tap in the affiliate marketing world. And yes, these are Shopee shops with trending products.

So, here we go. This list is classified according to Product Category.

Shopee Shops: Food and Beverages 

Staple needs are now being prioritized by those who have kids and senior citizens in their houses and even those who are working and studying at home. The new normal compels most people to give priority and importance of having healthy food and beverages always available. This product category does not need heavy marketing at all because the products are very in demand yet consumable.

 

Shopee Shops: Vitamins and Minerals:

Vitamins and minerals make our bodies strong and these help boost our immune systems fight diseases. Today, there is a big demand on food supplements. People are now becoming more aware about the importance of healthy lifestyle and diet. While some are researching for healthy recipes to cook for their families and love ones including their selves, some people would like to supplement those lacking vitamins in their recipes with food supplements readily available anytime. Do not just promote, be sure to take your vitamins and minerals as well.

     Shopee Shops: Mobile Gadgets, Laptops, Computers

     The shift from commuting to and from offices to working at home have made more people set up their home offices and study areas for their children thereby increasing the demand for gadgets, laptops, computers, printers and the like. Some started blogging and vlogging in order to build their income streams. As an affiliate marketer, we must see to it that the products we promote are of high quality and durable. Aim to help customers find their needs or best suit their needs and solve their needs.

     Shopee Shops: Furniture 

     To complete the set of home offices and study rooms, the demand for furniture like office tables, office chairs, study tables, study chairs, file cabinets, etc. have also increased. Although furniture is hard to market before the pandemic started, the ease of marketing this category is now unfolding. I have seen some who are buying such products through my affiliate links without even marketing them. So I have included this category in this list.

     Shopee Shops: Home Appliances 

     Some people were laid off from their jobs (and if you are one of them, take heart!) while many have chosen to leave the city life and chose to resign from their jobs and moved to their provinces to start small businesses. Many have set up food business lines, food packaging, food delivery and franchises, etc. These have increased the demands for more freezers, refrigerators, cooking utensils, food storages and food packaging and the like. And if you are good in cooking and baking, why not plan to start this kind of business to add up to your income. As the saying goes, “Love what you do, do what you love.”

      Shopee Shops: Garments and Textiles

     Since the rise of online shopping in the Philippines, manufacturing and selling or reselling of “ready-to-wear” products have also increased since people from the corporate world also have shifted using casual wears instead of wearing their coats and ties. Garments and textiles industry is one of the largest categories where ages 0 to100s can be targeted as your market. If you choose this niche, or if you are in this niche, make sure to buy and try the products first or get some samples first before selling them. This way, you can figure out how to best describe them to your own customers if you are selling them online. But if you are selling them with some stocks on hand, you don’t need to.

     Shopee Shops: Farm Products

     Farm products are some of the untapped demand industry yet is now beginning to unfold especially in the Philippines. Today, people in the urban areas are now setting up their urban farms, vertical gardens, container gardens, etc. So, the demand for farm products like seeds, plant cuttings, animal feeds, plant containers, soil enhancers, fertilizers and other planting materials and farm inputs are now becoming popular. For me and my family, this is our favorite product category because it is very easy to identify the market and the market needs or market demand and so it is very easy to grow customers from anywhere in the Philippines.

   Shopee Shops: Digital Products 

     Do you know that online shoppers also look for discount vouchers for future use? Yes, digital products has unlimited potential and will write a separate article on this. 

    Shopee Shops: Pet products

     Nowadays, in order to fight boredom people get busy with pets just like being busy in their gardens. They like to have some pets with them – as their emotional challenger or they simply love taking care of pets. . The pet grooming products, dog foods, cat foods, etc. have increased with a huge percentage as compared few years ago.

      Shopee Shops: Educational products and office supplies 

     Do you wonder why the demand for office supplies has increased which is ironic with many offices closing temporarily? The shift from work commute to work at home lifestyle including online classes for students, have made the demand for papers, bond papers, pens, ball pens, coloring booklets, printing materials, etc. increased tremendously and that is one of the reason. Another is, most local stores buy office supplies on wholesale for them to sell these office supplies at retail. 

     BONUS

     Shopee Shops: Electronics

     You can browse anything and you will see electronic products pop up anywhere and anytime in your screen at any time.

The list above is the most trending product categories in evergreen niches. As an affiliate marketer you must identify your advertisers (affiliate marketing program owners) as well as know more of your target audience in order to be successful in the affiliate marketing world. If you will notice, these shops have a high credibility score as well as product ratings. Some are new while others have spring forth ages ago.

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” -Francis Bacon

“It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.” -Jean Nidetch

“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” -Tom Landry

 

 

 

Affiliate Marketing: Promote Shopee and Lazada Products

Affiliate Marketing in the Philippines

Affiliate Marketing is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to start earning online. There is a vast affiliate marketing programs available internationally which are accessible in the internet today. These affiliate programs offer different categories from physical products, digital products as well as services. But in this article we will focus on Shopee and Lazada affiliate programs since most beginners in the affiliate marketing world need few guide on how to start in this journey.

The situation in the Philippines amidst Pandemic is not a joke as unemployment rates increase especially in the National Capital Region. Some people who were not given chances to retain their jobs moved to their provinces to start or re-start new lifestyle – in a sense a “new normal”. And if you are one of them, don’t get discouraged but take heart! This may be your chance to become a successful Affiliate Marketer!

Five Easy to Follow Steps on How to Promote Shopee and Lazada Products

Affiliate Marketing Step #1: Registration as a Publisher at Involve Asia – To register at Involve Asia, you need to at least have a “Property” where you can display the Advertisers’ products. The property can be a Facebook page, Facebook group, Pinterest Page, Instagram Business or Personal account, Youtube Channel, Twitter, Website, etc. Fill up the Registration Form with your details, submit and wait for the approval of your account as a Publisher.

Affiliate Marketing Step #2: Approved Account – Once your account is approved, you need to apply to different Advertisers in the Involve Asia platform. When your application is submitted, accepted and approved by the Advertiser, you can then promote any of the products of that Advertiser.

Affiliate Marketing Step #3 Choose a way to promote a product(s). You can promote different products through shoplinks, deeplinks, banners, vouchers, datafeed, etc. One of the most easiest and effective way to promote affiliate products of Shopee and affiliate products of Lazada is through deeplinks. My husband and I often use this method to promote affiliate products because in our experience, this marketing method works for us.

Affiliate Marketing Step #4 Be sure to target the right customers or group of people – correct audience matters! Why? Niche focus is compared to a Dart Board while Dart Pins are compared to your products. You must give or offer right products to the right audience. In other words, throw the pins to the board with precise move force and timing. Likewise, offer products which match the exact tastes, age groups, interests, etc. of your prospective customers.

Affiliate Marketing Step #5 Choose at least two or more properties or platforms to introduce, promote or advertise those affiliate products. We use usually use Pinterest and Facebook when marketing affiliate products.

Why are products from Shopee and Lazada easy to promote in the Philippines?

Most Affiliate Marketers choose to promote affiliate products from Shopee and Lazada because of the following reasons:

• Shopee App and Lazada App – Both applications are user-friendly for both buyers and sellers. The apps can easily be installed with only few clicks.
• Mode of Payments – The Cash-On-Delivery (COD) offer of Shopee and Lazada attracts buyers who are skeptical of payment first policy.  With COD, buyers can check out products without hassle.
• Mode of Shipment – Local suppliers or sellers have the option to choose what couriers to enable in at the seller center back office. Enabling two (2) or more courier providers is an advantage.
• Shopee and Lazada – are the two most popular buy and sell app for all ages in the Philippines.

5.  Trusted Brands and Sellers – There is no need for heavy advertising because most brands and sellers in both platforms are properly screened and verified. The advantage of this is that affiliate marketers that promote these affiliate products and or affiliate programs do not need to heavily boost their promotions or advertising efforts thereby making affiliate marketing an enjoyable business.

Five Tips in Affiliate Marketing – Promote Shopee Products

Affiliate Marketing Tip #1: Choose a trusted brand.  When promoting affiliate products, be sure to read the comments of the buyers and from their comments generate your catchy introduction or promotional text.  For example, you have read a comment saying the product is good, the size is perfect, the color of the items delivered is exactly the same color of the item ordered, etc. Here, you can make advertisement posts like: “This is one of the best sellers. See comments of satisfied customers, etc.”

Affiliate Marketing Tip #2: Be mindful of seasonal products.  For example, one or two months before an event or holiday, you should have planned what affiliate products to promote – Christmas Season products – ham, Christmas tree, gift ideas and e-gift cards, etc.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #3: Use a catchy image or picture when you promote affiliate products to social media platforms. Choose or create images that catch the attention of the audience.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #4. Use texts or put a short text and readable information in the product image – price, sale, unit or brand, etc.  My husband and I have proven that this affiliate marketing method is very effective.

Affiliate Marketing Tip #5.Put a call-to-action in your posts. “Shop now” Buy now” “Learn more”, “Click here”, are just some of the most popular CTAs that work well.

Affiliate Marketing as a Passive Income Stream

Once Affiliate Marketing Strategies are properly planned and set in place, the online business will thrive and will provide a long-term passive income stream. To conclude, affiliate marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to build an online business.  More so, there is no need to buy or manufacture products to sell and promote, no warehouse costs, no shipping costs, no inventory to maintain. Affiliate marketers just need to put advertising strategies, a little investment to promote if you plan to promote via paid advertisements, and of course, the ability to observe market behavior, trends, and courage to implement planned those affiliate marketing strategies you have in mind.

Something for you to think about:

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 1) – develops new strategies on his own.

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 2) – implements what is tried and proven strategies

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 3) – combines new and tried affiliate marketing strategies

Beginner (Affiliate Marketer 4) – confused.

Expert: I think I have experienced 1-4!!! The difference is that I can easily shift and swift when it is needed!

"The first rule of focus is this: where ever you are be there". Unknown Author

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus". - Alexander Graham Bell

E-commerce: Start a Dropshipping Business

 What is E-commerce?

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce or electronic commerce is one of the most lucrative businesses in this era. Buying and selling online is becoming popular in almost every part of the world. Most buyers prefer online shopping for convenience while most sellers prefer selling online because there is a bigger audience or larger number of potential customers. I am writing this article both on the point of view of buyers and sellers.  Why? The answer is because in business, yes, any business, there is the “purchasing or buying” side which is as much as important as the “selling” side.  Both newbie and experienced sellers will always look for products they would want create, re-create, re-purpose or manufacture. But most will look for products which are ready for resale.

BUYING AND SELLING

If you are planning to start an e-commerce business, always consider your buying and selling techniques when doing business.  This will lessen the costs, time and effort to be applied in each purchase cycle while gaining higher income in every sale. Let us consider two (2) scenarios: First, a merchandiser or buyer who is looking for ready-made curtains for him to resell will spend lesser costs, effort and time if he buys in bulk. He will get the items mass produced.  Second, a merchandiser who is looking for customized curtains as preferred by his clients.  Both of the merchandisers are looking for curtains, they are both buyers and sellers at the same time, BUT they have different TARGET markets. The first one is targeting a general public as customers while the second one is targeting a group of customers with preferred brands or customized designs which is a definite group of customers. Both the merchandisers in the two scenarios offer something of value to their target markets who have different kinds of the demand or requirement. Another thing, the first merchandiser could not resell the curtains as high as the price of the second merchandiser but he definitely has not spent costs and time as much as the other one did.

In my opinion, decision-making is a critical point in the success of all projects including putting up a business. Do not hesitate to start a business if you want to make a living with your passion.  E-commerce is already in the waves of successes. Get in and make a lucrative income, as well just like others are making. 

By the way, there are lists of buying and selling platforms where you can start selling.  Most are free to join which will allow you to use the quality features of their platforms in order for you to sell your products. In the Philippines, the country where my family and I live, online business and affiliate marketing is now very popular and is one of the booming industries where even small business owners can join.

List of Buying and Selling Platforms

1. Ebay
2. Listia
3. Shopee
4. Lazada
5. Amazon
6. Jumia
7. Newegg
8. Cdiscout
9. Carousell
10. Wallmart
11. Aliexpress
12. Alibaba
13. Tophatter
14. Wish
15. Shopify
16. Own Website

Some of the listed platforms offer free as well as paid services.  You may try the free one first then upgrade if you want to scale up.  Dropshipping in E-commerce is a big solution to most hassles like inventory-taking and warehousing.  With dropshipping, you can buy the products you like to sell or resell and ship them directly to your customers. You do not have to worry about product preparation and shipment for every order. If you really are decided and serious about starting a business – dropshipping or e-commerce is a great option.

Here are some quotes for you:

" Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier " The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. - Confucius