Business

In terms of creating consistent profits or scaling them up to new levels, where do you invest your business resources and time on? Acquiring new customers or retaining the ones who already buys from you? While customer acquisition can increase your revenue and brand awareness, the results are not that significant when compared to customer retention. Repeat customers add more value to your business than new customers because their purchasing behavior is more accurate and predictable, and therefore will bring more profits to your business. New research suggests that almost 80% of your future profits might come from the top 20 percent of your repeat customers than from any other groups.

Small businesses in a post-COVID world are struggling to attract and retain loyal customers in an incredibly transient and competitive marketplace. Gas prices are £6 per gallon on a national average, cost of living has sky rocketed since the 1st quarter of 2022 and another economic recession is on the horizon. All this is reason for concern among Britons that it had heavily affected their purchasing behavior. How then, in all of this uncertainty and competition, can small businesses stand out from the crowd and build a base of loyal customers?

In uncertain times such as this, it is crucial for businesses to start focusing their efforts more towards retaining existing customers, turning them into loyal customers, and increasing their lifetime business value. But before we study the profitability of repeat customers, first we must understand what a repeat customer is.

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Table of Contents

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• What is Repeat Business and Why is it Important?

• Here are Top 10 Ways to Create Repeat Loyal Customers

• Deliver Excellent Customer Service

• Automated Customer Conversations

• Extensive Education about Products

• Create Customer Loyalty Programs

• Offer Discounts and Incentives to Repeat Customers

• Collect Feedback and Update your Products

• Add Value Through Email Marketing

• Grow your Customer Base Through Referral Programs

• Improve Customer Retention with VIP Programs

• Never Ignore Customer Complaints

• Repeat Customers are Vital for Every Business

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What is Repeat Business and Why is it Important?

The term ‘repeat business’ means that a customer (or a group of customers) keeps coming back to shop for products you offer. Alternatively, repeat customer is also the other side of this coin. In some cases, these customers will grow to love your products so much that they become loyal supporters of the brand and regularly shop with you over time.

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Below are some of the things that Constant Contact pointed out regarding repeat business and they actually make sense:

• Businesses thrive with customer retention - Indeed the saying that says ‘the customers are the life blood of a business’ is at the core reason why repeat business also exist.

• Word-of-mouth promotion - It is the most common human trait to talk about things that they like and you can tell that you’re lucky when customers like your products, because they will talk about it to their family and friends eventually. And what do you get out of it? Why more sales and profits, of course!

• More money - Customers are more likely to spend more money at businesses they feel they can trust and rely on.

• Eager customers - Repeat customers are actually eager to see new product offerings from your business, because they already trust your brand. Therefore, it’s also easier to sell to them.

• New customer costs - Spending money for advertising on existing loyal customers is cheaper and has better results than spending it to acquire new customers.

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Here are Top 10 Ways to Create Repeat Loyal Customers

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1. Deliver Excellent Customer Service

As an entrepreneur, your main goal is to keep the income flowing in order for your business to not just survive but also survive in highly competitive industry. The best way to do that is to create a loyal customer base who will support your business by making consistent purchases of your products or service. All you have to do is provide excellent customer service to achieve this goal.

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Here are a few tips on how to deliver excellent customer service.

• Offer live demos and training - We’ve talked to some people about their experience with learning and adjusting to the new products they’ve purchased and they all say that the user’s manual is either too technical, too lengthy or too complicated to understand. They would often go to YouTube to find video tutorials on how to use the products effectively. Why let other people demonstrate to your customers how your products work when you can meet them halfway yourself? Create your own live demos and training and interact with your customers in real time and help make them comfortable with your products.

• Live chat - In Forbes 2020 Achieving Customer Amazement Study that interviewed over a thousand people revealed that 96% of customers will leave you for bad service. This should be a wakeup call to all entrepreneurs and allocate time, resources and effort to avoid bad customer services – you can start by adding a live chat feature on all your channels.

• Resolving problems through co-browsing - Sometimes customers encounter obstacles in your business that just can’t be solved through videos and instructions. Take for instance, signing up to create a customer profile on your site. Despite your best efforts to make the entire process seamless and simple, some of them are going to find some areas to fill up difficult. For such scenarios, co-browsing can come extremely handy.

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2. Automated Customer Conversations

Autoresponders and AI customer service chat bots can help your business a lot, especially if you serve customers from all over the world. Obviously, you’ll have customers joining from different time zones at different hours of the day, and they’ll expect to talk or chat with someone ASAP.

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Here are some ways bots can help with your customer service.

• Chat bots makes your customer service run 24/7 addressing customer concerns with impeccable responses. This gives you a higher probability of customer retention and prevent them from switching over to your competitors due to delayed responses or bad customer service experience.

• The best thing about AI-powered chatbots is that they’re self-learning software and today they are even sold to businesses that need such a program to help with their customer service department handle inbound calls from customers. Freshworks offers various plans and pricing for AI-powered chatbots to help resolve customer issues in real time. Find a plan that suits your business now!

• An improved customer service experience means you’ll have a higher customer retention, low churn rate, more repeat customers and higher profits.

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3. Extensive Education about Products

Any customer feels empowered and confident about products only when they understand the entire features and benefits of it. Hence, without timely customer education and training, your customers are likely to be lost and confused about how to get the maximum value out of your products.

If you focus on providing high-quality comprehensive customer education, then your customers will be highly satisfied with your brand and will stick around for much longer.

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Here are a few ways in which you can educate your customers.

• Make the best possible first impression through a comprehensive onboarding process for all your products and services.

• Utilize all kinds of communication channels such as blogs, social media, one-to-one live chats, video sessions, and chatbots to be available for your customers for every hurdle that they gave during their customer journey.

• Offer high-quality video tutorials and demonstrations so that your customer gets highly accustomed to your products.

• Frequently initiate conversations and connect with your customers to let them know that you are always available to educate them through their journey with your brand.

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4. Create Customer Loyalty Programs

A successful customer loyalty program can contribute heavily towards retaining your customers and turning them into repeat customers. In fact, a customer who is a part of your loyalty program is 47% more likely to make another purchase from you when compared to other customers.

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Tips on how to use customer loyalty programs to increase repeat customers.

• Offer attractive rewards - It is now widely known that the striatum (the reward center of the brain) can cause a person to be addicted to certain things and if you play it right, offering valuable rewards in your loyalty programs to your customers can make your customers feel they get more for their money’s worth and will make them buy from you again and again.

• Give customers a head start - Offer your customers a 50% bonus rebate or points to make them feel that they only need to make a few more purchases to complete the other 50% of the points/rebates to get the discount or freebie advertised on your loyalty program.

• Provide welcome points for new customers - Giving welcome points on top of your other rewards for your customer loyalty program incentivizes your customers and nudges them to come back for more. In fact, the most successful customer loyalty programs starts off with giving something of value to their customers for absolutely free.

• Make it interesting and creative - Don’t just offer rewards bluntly. Make the reward a secret surprise or put a twist to the prize money or item that you’ll give your customers once they’ve reached a certain threshold. You could, say, give them an expensive watch once they reach 100 loyalty points on their account, but add a secret surprise once they claim the reward and tell them that they’ll also get a lifetime gift on their birthday!

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5. Offer Discounts and Incentives to Repeat Customers

A little bit goes a long long way, isn’t that what they always say? Well, did you know that it applies to customer retention as well? Everybody loves something either free or half the price, heck these days they’ll even want it for 15% off! So what does this tell you? That’s right! Offer discounts on your products and services to give your customers an incentive and make them buy from you more and more.

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Below are some tips on how to give discounts and incentives to your customers.

• Provide onboarding offers - First impressions, lasts. The same is true when onboarding new customers and just by simply giving them offers like free shipping or some exclusive discount codes will make them think that you’re the greatest company in the world!

• Offers after first purchase - Make their subsequent purchases count by giving them discounts and price cuts. They’ll think they’re getting the same products for half the price which will not only make them happy, but will also make them share the experience with their family and friends, which can be your future potential customers as well.

• Keep experimenting - If you love what you do, then it won’t feel like you’re working or stressing out to make profits. You’re going to be very creative in your own right and come up with amazing ideas that will resonate with your customers and in turn keep them happy and buying from you. But if you really need to, then hire a creative team to help you brainstorm ideas.

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6. Collect Feedback and Update your Products

Since you may not be able to talk to your customers like you can talk to your close friends, you need to know what they want and what they think about your business. You do this by collecting customer feedback via surveys, social media comments, reactions and direct messages. You can also find out what your customers are saying about your business through the BBB (Better Business Bureau) or forums and discussion boards talk specifically talk about products similar to what you’re offering.

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Here is how collecting feedback can impact your recurring customers.

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• Proactive customer communication - Utilize all the tools available to you to get customer feedback like automated chatbots, in-app messaging, and live-chat sessions.

• Observe common patterns - Sift through the feedback information that you got from your customers and start analyzing them to look for patterns, which are potential problems that needs your attention. It can be anything from, for example, 70% of your customers complain about certain features of your product or the lack thereof. By simply addressing such concerns, you not only will boost sales but get more repeat buys from your loyal customer base.

• Upgrade your products - Listen to what your customers want about your products or services and make the necessary corrections or upgrades in order to please them. Remember, a happy customer will always come back for more!

• Inform your customers - Create new ads to showcase the new upgrades and features you’ve included in your products, so your customers will know that you heard their feedback and actually done something about it. The second they’ll know that you care about what they think, you can bet they’ll be back at your store and make more purchases.

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7. Add Value Through Email Marketing

According to LinkedIn email marketing drives 3.5 times more conversions than just doing the basic across-the-board marketing. Sending out those weekly and/or monthly newsletters to your subscribers actually improves your overall sales and profits.

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Here’s what you can do with your email marketing campaigns to see improvement.

• Change your order confirmation email - The probability of turning a new customer into a repeat customer is high if you do these things: sending information about related products, special offers, and discount coupons to your customers with the order confirmation email of their first purchase

• Send follow-up emails - If the new customer has agreed to share their personal information including their email and they have opted to receive newsletters from you, then send them follow-up emails to let them know that you value their business. Make your emails personalized and proactively invite the customer to interact with your customer service agents who can assist them with any queries that they may have about your company.

• Add immense value - Don’t just firebomb your customers with sales emails. Anyone can tell you that such action is annoying and will easily get old, instead add value to your content. You can include personal testimonies from other customers who have used your products or services and they explain how it had a positive effect on their lives. This way your email newsletters will have more depth and people will actually want to read it.

• Keep your customers updated - Include updates on your products or services in your email newsletter that you’ll send out to your customers. You never know some of your customers are on the look out for new product releases from your company and are interested to make a purchase.

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8. Grow your Customer Base Through Referral Programs

A lot of businesses capitalize on referral programs for a good reason and that reason is because it drives sales. Create a referral program of your own and reap the benefits in sales and profits! This also has a sort of a double-edged sword benefit to it, where if you reward your customers who refers their friend to your company, you not only gain new customers but also keep your current customers loyal to you.

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9. Improve Customer Retention with VIP Programs

VIP programs essentially makes the customer sign a long-term agreement with you. This means a steady sales year after year, albeit limited to the top 10 percent of your customer base. Still, it beats spending a gazillion ton of money to gain new customers and get a meager amount of profits from it. There are customers who have more money than they can spend who also want to be first in line on getting your latest products and they want to maintain their elite status with your brand. Give them privileges such as invitations to special events, quick access to your new products, or sales days that they can choose for themselves.

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10. Never Ignore Customer Complaints

Keep in mind one very important thing – your customers are not children and so if you hear them complain about your products or company, do not treat it as a child throwing tantrums. Instead, do the sensible thing and listen and then help them resolve the issue so everybody can be happy. You must also understand that your relationship with your customers helps drive sales and boost profits. You basically asked them to trust you and your products indirectly and they in turn agreed. That trust can be destroyed in a matter of seconds through some misunderstanding or bad customer service. Resolve whatever concern they may have about your business to prevent it from going out of control due to your negligence, be it unintended or deliberate.

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Some mind-blowing statistics related to repeat customers:

• Repeat customers tend to spend 300% more on your products/services compared to new customers.

• You will spend 5 times more in acquiring new customers than to keep repeat customers.

• Repeat customers are 67% more likely to purchase new products from you than new customers would.

• The amount of money you need to spend to encourage a new customer to spend as much as your repeat customers is 16 times higher.

• Just a mere 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 75% increased profitability for your business.

• It’s estimated that a repeat customer is worth 10 times more compared to the average first time customer.

• About 44% of companies today blindly spend more on customer acquisition, while only 18% of companies work on customer retention, which causes the disparity in profitability.

• Approximately 62% of customers have a common negative belief that the brands they are most loyal to are not doing enough to reward them for their loyalty.

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Repeat Customers are Vital for Every Business

From what we’ve learned above about repeat customers, we can surmise that these small part of your customer population have a vital role for any business, be it B2B or B2C. If you’ll divide your resources to a 50-50 setup where half of it goes to customer acquisition and the other half is used for customer retention strategies, you can scale up the profits of your business consistently. And when it comes to retention, engagement is still the best solution.

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Ever since Facebook and Twitter became a fad of the modern generation businesses of all sizes realized their potential and immediately created business pages on the top 10 percent social media sites in the world. Their goal is to attract new customers, build their brand and engage a wider audience. But how do you use the different social media channels to your advantage? Where do you start? And what do the professionals recommend?

In this article, we are going to talk about the 7 best social media marketing tricks to catapult your business into success.

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Table of Contents

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• Understanding your Audience

• Take Advantage of the Strengths of Each Channel

• Interact with your Audience

• Show There’s a Human Behind the Brand

• Ensure your Senior Executives are Authentic

• Use the Right Tools

• Put the Effort in to Gain Value

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1. Understanding your Audience

The first thing you need to do is to understand your audience and why they particularly chose to be in that specific social media channel that you plan to market your business on. The manner in which they use social media should also be looked into. For example, certain users prefer to be on Facebook and Instagram because it allows them to post more texts, photos, videos and create “MyDay” video and picture tidbits of your day and Instagram stories. By comparison, on Twitter they can only post up to 280 characters of texts (which includes links to other sites).

What does this tell you as a marketer? It shows you that one group of users prefer to be more bold and want to build their social media profiles more prominently, while the other group prefers the minimalist style of exposing themselves to the world. Some are just there to become amateur journalists and if we take Elon Musk’s statements about Twitter users being fake bots at face value, then some are there just to become spammers. This tells you to cater your ads to your audience differently in order to capture their interests.

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2. Take Advantage of the Strengths of Each Channel

How users engage in ads on different social media channels will determine how your sales output will perform. It would be a very good thing if you did a feasibility studies about this, so you can do effective social media marketing on each social media sites and succeed. Every channel has different strengths. Many businesses use Facebook as a shop window displaying lots of key information such as their location, website and opening hours, so it helps connect with the brand.

Twitter’s strength is based on delivering information straight to the point in 280 characters or less and you make sure your ads are squeezed into these parameters. On the other hand, Linkedin is slightly more formal in tone but has some great tools for engagement like groups and polls, so use this tools to market your business. Now TikTok is the most unique of them all! On TikTok users are allowed to upload videos on a myriad of topics that range from 10 seconds – 3 minutes. But we also know that people nowadays have very short attention span, so you make TikTok video ads that are short but will include all the key points about your business for people to engage.

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3. Interact with your Audience

The best thing that social media created is a place where businesses and their customer base can interact on a personal level. It also gives more power to the paying customer and demand more from the businesses that they patronize. A good example of this is PayPal. A good friend of mine told me that his financial issue on PayPal was resolved faster on Facebook or Twitter than by calling them over the phone. Back in the 1990s this would’ve taken someone a week to get resolved and this is not counting the communication between banks and the fintech third party business like PayPal. This is also true on various other businesses and their customer base.

You can also hire professionals on job boards like Upwork, Fiverr and ClousPeeps to handle all the customer service for your business on social media via chat. This means that you’ll also save money on hiring employees and put them on freelance work, instead of hiring people the traditional way and adhere to government mandated salary and benefits and so forth. Some of these contractors go above and beyond to please your customers, which not only makes them happy doing business with you but they keep coming back for more and become repeat customers.

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4. Show There’s a Human Behind the Brand

It’s crucial for your business to survive by engaging with your audience in not just a professional way, but also being genuine and human. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended that you drive a friendly conversation with your audience on social media, preferably with a relaxed tone and letting that human side shine through; although there may be some exceptions, especially with what type of business brand you’re marketing.

Allowing the ‘human side’ to flow unrestrained when you’re a B2B brand means that you come as an honest person rather than a business entity in the eyes of your clients. When you’re a B2B company, you are not appealing to the other company/brand, you’re actually talking to the shareholders and employees working in that company. They are a different kind of customers that you’re trying to reach out to and it’s kind of like a B2B2C. That human side that we’re referring to is absolutely critical once your clients/customers calls in to complain about your products or services – it helps reassure them that their concerns are being seriously considered when they know there is a real person behind the account that they’re communicating with.

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5. Ensure your Senior Executives are Authentic

Remind your company execs that despite you respect their personal space and private lives, when they post on social media they’re like politicians and any untoward or negative post or comment or even an emoji reaction can deeply affect the company, therefore they should be careful with what they post on social media. Make sure that you tell your executives to make their interactions on social media to be relatable to the customers in general in order to resonate with their audience.

Basically just tell them to be as authentic as possible as most people can detect their insincerity, which can hurt your company’s reputation. You may call for a meeting with your executives and discuss how they should post on social media; however, try not to takeover their accounts as you could be fighting yourself in that case and you may lose that authenticity that you’re trying so hard to implement among your subordinates.

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You may also want to read "How to Setup a Limited Company Online"

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6. Use the Right Tools

There are more than 133 social media sites operating on the web as of August 2022 and normally experts recommend that you only market your business on the top 20 of these sites. But managing even with just a fraction of these sites can be time-consuming and exhausting, and you will need tools that can help you manage your social media pages efficiently. Perfectly timed social media posts gets the greatest audience share according to experts, therefore you should use a scheduling tool to help you post important updates on the different time zones in the US and make sure that you post mostly in the morning at around 9 – 10am local time. There are quite a few on the market such as Loomly, Hootsuite and Meltwater. These allow you to spend a couple of hours scheduling all your content for the week ahead.

A sentiment analysis tool like Clarabridge or Onalytica may also be helpful in you calibrating your social media interactions and improve your business transactions with your customers based what people are saying about you on social media. Positive responses from your audience means that you’re on the right track and you ought to keep doing what you’ve been doing. However, if you receive negative feedback from customers and the general public, then this indicates that you need to step up your game in appeasing them. Come up with a sound strategy to win back the hearts and minds of the people to your brand and outmaneuver your competitors.

Lastly, keep track of each social media analytics as this can tell you your KPIs (key performance indicators), which areas are doing well and which areas needs your attention and improvement. If you pay attention to the tiniest of details and keep your ears to the ground, then you’ll do just fine with your social media marketing efforts and be on top of your competitors. Having said that, be creative in engaging with your audience and make your competitors stumble in keeping up with you, instead of the other way around.

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7. Put the Effort in to Gain Value

Doing social media marketing and managing your social media pages requires a longterm commitment. You can’t expect to make a big splash in the water by just dipping your toes into it, the same way, you cannot expect to see great results with a few days’ worth of effort. It’s ironic isn’t it? Everything now is digital and can be accomplished with a push of a button or a few clicks of the mouse, and yet still, it takes months and sometimes even years to establish a strong business brand on social media while battling it out with your competitors.

Consistency and perseverance will definitely produce amazing results for your social media marketing efforts and you’ll be very happy after a year or two of doing this, because you will have reaped the benefits of your labor.

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It’s very likely that you will setup your first business as a sole trader, which indicates that you are basically self-employed. But after trading for several years, it is only logical to create a private limited company, especially since you should probably now have the financial resources to do so. The formation of a limited company (Ltd) is quite straightforward; however, you must also be aware how your legal position, financial arrangements and other responsibilities will change dramatically from when you were a sole trader.

Small business owners, contractors and freelancers can benefit much from creating their own limited company. In this article, you will learn all about limited company formation plus additional information on how to run this type of business. If you’re confused about the potential benefits and implications of starting a limited company, this guide is for you. This article will enlighten you on how a limited company can save you time and money, and will show you how to setup a limited company online.

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Table of Contents

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• What is a Limited Company?

• Why Set up a Limited Company?

• When Should I Change from Sole Trader to Limited Company?

• Can I Set Up a Limited Company on My Own?

• The 7 Steps to Setting Up a Limited Company

• How to Register a Limited Company

• How Much Does it Cost to Register a Company?

• What Taxes Will My Company Pay?

• How Long Does it Take to Set Up a Limited Company?

• How Will I Get Paid Through My Limited Company?

• Legal Responsibilities of Running a Company

• Year-End Reporting for Your Company

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What is a Limited Company?

The term “limited company” refers to a business organization that’s considered as a separate entity (legally and financially) from the individual(s) managing this business organization (e.g. the company’s board of directors). The reason why this kind of business structure was created is to allow business owners to have limited liability. By contrast, when you register your company as a sole trader, when your company is sued for whatever reason, it is you who will take the bulk of the responsibility of that lawsuit and nothing will be protected from the government seizing even your personal assets when you lost the case.

On the other hand, if your business is a limited company, you are only liable for the face value of your share in the business and the judge cannot order for your personal assets to be siezed as it is not part of the company. A limited company has one or more directors (having more than 2 directors are called board of directors), may have one or more bank accounts, has its own tax designation by the HMRC, can be auctioned or sold as an IPO (initial public offer) company shares, and is required to be registered with Companies House.

Why Set up a Limited Company?

Most of the benefits of setting up a limited company is already mentioned above and the last advantage of having a limited company is that it allows you to pay a lower tax rate compared to a sole trader company. This means you will save more money for other company projects, or pay out dividends to your shareholders.

When Should I Change from Sole Trader to Limited Company?

Creating a sole trader business has its own pros and cons (usually it has lesser pros and more cons) like testing how your business model will work against the real world market and refine it. Among the benefits of being a sole trader includes no registration fees, little to no administration work, and you can make decisions without having to consult with your board of directors or shareholders. Meanwhile, the cons include sole trader tax is categorized as income tax and not corporation tax, which means its a higher tax rate than corporate tax, plus all business debts is your personal responsibility (meaning you have full liability).

Therefore, it makes more sense to form a private limited company instead of keeping your sole trader business, as your revenue grows.

One advantage that forming a limited company is that you can find more ways to finance your business. As a limited company you can get private equity funding (i.e. selling shares in your business), whereas a sole trader business can only get business loans from bank. Also being a limited company you can do either or both.

Can I Set Up a Limited Company on My Own?

Companies House allows individuals to set up their own private limited company even if they’re the only employee and director of their company. This is a safe bet for contractors because it limits the risk of their clients treating them as regular employees and find loopholes in their tax and legal obligations. It also keeps contractors safe from the legal ramifications if and when they are sued by their clients. Contractors can also outsource their company administration to an umbrella company in order to save time, energy and resources.

The 7 Steps to Setting Up a Limited Company

Below are the steps you need to take in forming your private limited company.

1.) Check it’s right for you

Decide which business structure suites you best, limited company or sole trader?

2.) Choose your company name

The company name you’ll chose for your limited company will be your company’s legal business name, therefore it must be unique and must bear no resemblance to other existing company names. Your company name must not make false implications (i.e. imply regulation or approval by a body where none exists) and must not contain any offensive words. You can also operate your business under a different name; however, you cannot include the suffix “Ltd” to this name if your business was not registered under this name.

3.) Appoint at least one director

Your limited company can have at least one company director (which can be you, typically), but it can also have more than one director. The job of the company director or board of directors is to vote on making important decisions for the company, follow their rules set prior to the launching of the business and filling the company accounts, as well as ensure that corporation tax are properly remitted to the HMRC.

Though not required, you may appoint a company secretary. The company secretary would be the enforcer of the board of directors and he or she ensures that their decisions are carried out all over the different departments. He or she also makes certain that the company adheres to regulatory requirements and does all other administrative tasks.

4.) Decide who will be shareholders

Your company shareholders are those individuals who have financially contributed to the formation of your company. As the business owner you can be the founder, CEO and shareholder of your company. Another type of shareholders are the people who have purchased a significant amount of company shares that were offered as IPOs (initial public offer). Those that have huge percentage of the company shares becomes one of the company board of directors. A shareholder with more than 25% of the shares is a “person of significant control” (PSC) and will usually have the strongest voting power in the board. Some companies who have made well for themselves only sells less than 40% of their shares, thereby giving them the controlling interest of the company whenever the board of directors meet to vote on any crucial company decision.

5.) Create your company documents

Your limited company is required by the UK’s Companies House to have legal company formation documents that indicates how it should be operated. These are:

The memorandum of association

This is a legal statement saying that all initial shareholders have agreed in writing their will to form the company together as a group.

The articles of association

These documents lists all the company rules and regulations and how it should be operated, which is signed by shareholders, directors and company secretary. If this is your first time forming a company, you can find examples of articles of association and use that as a guide to create your own.

6.) Confirm what records you need to keep

Records keeping is also one of the requirements in company formation, which may include the company’s PCSs and all of its accounting records. Records must be kept for at least 6 years.

7.) Register with Companies House

The last step involves registering your company at Companies House (be sure to include your physical address when you do). Select the appropriate SIC code, as this specifies the nature of your business. Save time and effort by registering for corporation tax the same day.

How to Register a Limited Company

Go to the website of Companies House and fill up the company formation form, or you can also use the form IN01 and register by post. Should you decide to not use “limited” in your company name, then you must register by post. Typically, your new limited company will be registered within 24 hours after receiving your application (if done online). It can take up to 10 days for postal registrations to complete.

A 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) will be mailed to the physical address of your company within a couple of days after your company has been registered. Your UTR is important, so keep it safe. The Companies House will also send you a ‘certificate of incorporation’, which confirms that your company is now in their records and that it legally exists. This document also includes the company number and date of formation.

How Much Does it Cost to Register a Company?

It’s very cheap to register your company online, just £12. It cost £40 for postal registration; however, Companies House has a a same-day postal registration option for £100, if you want your company formation to be fast-tracked.

What Taxes Will My Company Pay?

The UK government requires all limited company to pay corporation tax based on their fiscal profits. Companies House requires you to also register your company for corporation tax within 3 months after it has been registered and starts trading (you can register for both company formation and corporation tax at the same time). An actively trading company means that your business is providing services or selling its products and is receiving income or making profits. You can consult with your accountant if you’re not sure whether this applies to your company or not. But be informed that missing the deadline for filing corporation tax could get you fined, or worse, be sued for tax evasion.

You also need to file an annual company tax return to the HMRC based on the deadline they’ve set for your company. You’re also required to register for PAYE (pay as you earn) if your company gives employees and other individuals financial compensation (including your own as CEO or company director). Value Added Tax or VAT is also one of the requirements for your company to register with HMRC. Whether you provide services or sell products VAT will be calculated.

How Long Does it Take to Set Up a Limited Company?

Usually it takes about 8 – 10 business days for your limited company to be registered in Companies House, if you do it by post. Or you can work with us and we will fast track your company formation in a matter of hours!

How Will I Get Paid Through My Limited Company?

Compensating yourself from your limited company involves 2 ways.

1.) By taking a fixed monthly salary

2.) By paying yourself dividends out of the company profits (usually paid quarterly)

The best way to go about it is to choose both options, because you benefit through a reduced tax rate.

The greatest benefit of getting dividends is minimal tax due on them and they usually come in huge sums, because they are taken out of the entire company profits. But it takes 3 months at a time before you get paid dividends and there are no added benefits besides that. There are also drawbacks like if the company made negative profits, which will get you zero dividends.

On the other hand, getting compensated with a fixed monthly income will include other benefits such as state pension and maternity or paternity benefits. And on top of that you will get paid whether or not the company makes a profit because unlike dividends, your salary does not depend on the company profits. However, salary is considered as income and is taxed at a higher rate compared to dividends which is considered as capital gains.

Legal Responsibilities of Running a Company

True, while being the CEO and director of your company has its perks, it does not come without responsibilities and some are delicate because they have legal implications. Among them include managing accounts and giving notice to other shareholders whether or not you will personally benefit from certain transactions of the company. Of course, you may also hire a secretary to do these things on your behalf and cut down on the day-to-day grind – just keep in mind that the buck stops with you.

Year-End Reporting for Your Company

You are required to submit annual accounts and a confirmation statement to HMRC and Companies House every fiscal year. The UK government, as well as the company shareholders, investors, creditors and the general public need to know accurate information about your limited company and that it pays its taxes accurately as well. Consult with us if you intend to setup your private limited company.

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It can be seriously difficult to learn ways for managing stress effectively when you are a busy entrepreneur launching and building up your new business.You spend your time rushing from one urgent task to the next with little thought given to how juggling so many jobs at once can have a negative impact on your mental health.This is why so many new entrepreneurs burn themselves out in the first three years of business and end up having to fold their business because they can no longer cope with the strain.

The Difficulty of creating a healthy balance between work and home life

While stress can affect anyone, it can be much easier for a paid employee working a stressful job to switch off when they leave the office. This isn't always possible for an entrepreneur to do, especially when they have the success of the business weighing heavy on their shoulders 24/7.Solo entrepreneurs are more likely to have stress-related health problems because they will have a more difficult task managing every aspect of the business over the long-term.Learning how to leave your work at the office is your first crucial step towards successfully managing your stress levels.While most entrepreneurs function well without much help, it is the fact that they are carrying the whole load of the business and working so many different roles within the workplace that ends up dragging them down.Let's take a look at some top tips to help you better manage your stress levels and keep you motivated and productive at the same time.

1: Stop burning the candle at both ends

The most beneficial thing you can do for your health is to get adequate sleep. When we sleep we not only repair and regenerate our brain and body, but going without enough sleep will leave you more stressed and unable to concentrate or make good business decisions.Make your bedroom as peaceful and comfortable as possible. This means removing any electronic devices at night that could disturb your sleep.Think about making your bedroom into a tranquil escape where you can close the door and forget about the world. Here are some tips:

• Fit blackout blinds on your windows. Studies show people sleep deeper and for longer when their bedroom is as dark as possible.

• Remove electrical gadgets such as your TV, mobile phone, laptop, tablet and games machines.

• Splash out on some luxury bed linen that makes you feel pampered when you go to bed.

• Invest in a memory foam mattress and soft pillows for ultimate comfort.

• Get an essential oil diffuser and use relaxing essential oils to gently fragrance the room.

Make sure you schedule regular time away from work each week so that you are not working every single day. Treat yourself to a family day out or a romantic meal with your partner.

2: Manage your time more effectively

There have been lots of studies over the years that show that entrepreneurs become more stressed out when they are running a chaotic schedule.What you need to do is to maximise your productivity and make every minute count. You can do this by writing yourself a to-do list that prioritises the six most important tasks you need to complete each day and list them in order of priority.Ignore everything else that is not on your list. Don't get distracted by emails or social media, just focus on working through your 6 tasks on the list for that day.If you don't get everything on the list done, then move that to the top spot on your list for the next day.If you work on a computer, download a Pomodoro tracker to help break down your time into 25-minute bites. The tracker will give you a short break after every 25 minutes to stretch your legs, get a drink and refresh your mind.

3: Outsource your non-income generating tasks

As an entrepreneur, especially if you work on your own, you will be tasked with doing every single job needed to keep your business going.This means that you will be spending a large proportion of your waking hours on tasks that don't directly generate any money for your business.While these tasks are important and essential for running your business smoothly, your time could be better spent on tasks that will bring in money to improve your bottom line.Think about outsourcing your necessary everyday financial and administrative tasks to professionals who can handle these jobs on your behalf. These tasks include:

• Your business bookkeeping and accounts
• Answering your business phone calls
• Opening and organising your mail
• Complete virtual office services

This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to employ your own office staff or bookkeeper.If you can pass off what you can to other people via using a local accountant and using virtual office services it will work out cheaper than employing your own staff and having to move to larger and more expensive premises.

Using virtual office services

As an entrepreneur, you cannot be an expert at everything. It is practically impossible to manage everything yourself – there simply isn't enough of you to go around or enough hours in the day!To be an effective and successful entrepreneur, you need to learn to delegate tasks to others so you can focus your own time and effort on tasks that will be more lucrative for your business.Look into using a complete virtual office service such as Capital Office, London for a very high level of support at competitive rates.

4: Don't let your business consume you

Find things to enjoy that are not business-related. It can be easy to lose your self-identity when it becomes wrapped up in your business. You are far more than your business, so find other things away from work to be passionate about.Be careful not to spread your focus in too many different directions though, or become overly distracted with something that is also very mentally draining or time-consuming.Finding a nice balance between work and your social life is the key here. Choose things that energize you rather than drain you of energy.

5: Don't be afraid to say NO!

As an entrepreneur, it can feel like you are going against nature to turn down work opportunities.However, you need to realise that your time is precious. You need to focus on doing a good job with your tasks that are already in hand rather than accept everything that comes your way and spread yourself too thin.Think quality over quantity! At the end of the day, this is what will bring people back to you for some return custom.To reduce your stress levels and lead a healthier life, you need to appreciate the value of your time and effort. Learn how to say NO to things, especially if you have a bad gut feeling about them.Admit to yourself that you simply don't have the time to take on the job or have the available focus needed to be able to deliver high-quality results.

Practice saying NO!

If you have never said no to anyone so far, it may take a bit of getting used to. Practice saying no and rehearsing what you are going to say ahead of time.This way you will feel more confident about refusing a request that you know you cannot handle or will struggle with.

Don't wait any longer - start today!

Start today by getting the support you deserve from Capital Office, London.Take a look at our Complete Virtual Office services to see how you can benefit from using our top-rated professional business administrative services.

What's included:

• Choose a 0207 or 0203 Telephone Number
• Divert Your Calls to Us
• Forward / Scan / Collect your mail
• Free EC1 Meeting Room Use
• Global Mail Forwarding Service
• Impressive London Address
• London based PA’s taking your calls
• Out of hours voicemail to email
• Packets & Parcels signed for
• Secure Online Payment
• Unlimited Calls Included
• Unlimited Letters Included
• Use your Existing Number

If you only want us to handle your business calls on your behalf, then take a look at our professional Unlimited Call Answering Service.

Professional Call Answering Service Overview:

• Unique 0203 or 0207 London number
• Unlimited Calls Included – No Cost Per Call
• Calls are taken in the name of your business
• Unlimited volume of calls
• Quick Online Secure Payment
• Messages taken or call transferred
• London based PA’s taking your calls
• Out of hours voicemail to email
• Use your existing number
• Live Call Transfers

Still not sure? Don't hesitate to contact our friendly team who will be happy to help you! You can email or call us:Tel: 0207 5663939Email: office@capital-office.co.uk

Most of us have heard the saying that 'content is king' when it comes to marketing your business, but to small business owners content is more than King – it is the heart and soul of your operation.Now, more than ever, a small business owner needs to create and share very worthy content as part of your business marketing strategy. Without good quality content, no-one is going to be aware of your business and what you have to offer.

The importance of relevant content for the small operator

For the solo-entrepreneur, single info-entrepreneur and digital marketers, it is even more critical to make content the very base foundation of your business services that everything else can be built from.No matter where you look for marketing help these days, the advice is always the same – produce unique, highly targeted and good quality content.Your content needs to be authentic and should be able to solve a problem that your target audience has, or helps to educate them further about a particular topic, or alternatively outright entertains them!It is important that you cast your content net as far and as wide as possible, so this means building a well-structured website with solid pages that provide evergreen information and then backing up your website with a blog.You should make a point of updating your blog with fresh information on a regular basis, especially when you start to build a list of followers who will be expecting you to post regularly.Link in your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) and if possible include things such as videos, live webinar chats, podcasts that will engage with your audience and deliver plenty of useful information.

The Heart and Soul of Small Business

As a small business owner or solo-entrepreneur, your content is a reflection of you. You should put yourself into your content and believe in what you create. By producing genuine content you will build a lot of trust in your target audience.What will keep them coming back for more and eventually convince them to buy from you is your sincerity, believability and the passion you put into your content – your very heart and soul.This is especially true for any infopreneurs that are selling informational products. What you sell needs to be believable and genuinely useful to your end customer. Your content and your branding are interlinked and are presented as a package to your target audience.If your customers believe in one they will believe in the other. So if you win their trust by providing them with high-quality content they will learn to trust your brand and will be open to reading the offerings that you send out in the future.

Temper your content well

When you create your content you do not want to just present dry facts and boring information. You need to make your content sound human and very conversational.Think along the lines of sitting down with a friend and having a conversation with them. Offer thought-provoking information and insights that will raise their curiosity and desire to find out more.Opening a dialogue with your audience works really well for customer engagement. It makes your company look and feel more human, approachable and open to a two-way conversation.Making a share-worthy blog where a reader will consume your content and will want to share it with their family or friends will result in your content being actively passed around long after you have posted it.This is the power of using your content wisely on social media platforms where your target audience can read your content then will “Like,” “comment” and “Share” to their own timeline or newsfeed.

Online conversations are free!

One of the greatest things about engaging with your readers on social media platforms is that you will be taking part in online conversations, which is the new medium for marketing your product and services. And what's more your content will be spread around and shared for free!This can be a real bonus for small business owners or sole traders working with very limited marketing budgets.Remember that online engagement and activity is the next big thing in marketing and is on a par with word of mouth marketing where your customers will be recommending your products or services to their peers.By making your content share-worthy your target audience will read your posts and then instantly share it with their friends and family, and most likely a lot of their peers will fit your ideal customer demographic, so you will be reaching out to more people who will like and follow you on social media.

Finding the time to create quality content

The whole point here is to create as much high-quality content as you can and publish it on your blog and across your social media accounts. Even if your content doesn't get shared much it will still count as valuable in the eyes of the major search engines.Google, Bing and other search engines value websites and blogs that contain great content. They will more likely rank you higher in search engine results for your chosen keywords when you are seen to be an active contributor with a good library of published information and someone who posts fresh content on a regular basis.This is why it is important to find a good balance of creating quality content and posting it regularly enough to make a difference.However, if you are a solo-entrepreneur or a small business where you don't have the available staff free to dedicate their time to produce great content on a regular basis, then you could look at outsourcing either your content writing or some of your everyday office tasks.If you have a flair for writing and want to produce your own content, then you can really dedicate your time into pouring your heart and soul into creating rich and vibrant content to share.If you are not very good at writing, on the other hand, it would be worth looking to hire a freelance content creator to do this work for you.Should you want to create your own content, then look at outsourcing your other office-based day to day tasks that will enable you to work undisturbed in peace and quiet to draw up your content.

Outsourcing your essential office tasks

Imagine being left in peace to work on writing your blog posts, creating an infographic or filming an informational video for your business without being disturbed by your ringing phone.You can have your business telephone calls answered in a professional manner by using our Professional Unlimited Call Handling services.Our call answering service is an affordable yet professional service designed to help a variety of clients to manage their incoming calls. With our call answering service, our PA’s answer your phone calls allowing you have peace of mind that you haven’t missed an important call as you were unavailable.Having a professional Virtual PA to answer your calls can add thousand to your business. You can impress your new and existing clients with our professional call handling service. Our team of professional PA’s will personally greet your clients and handle your call with the greatest of care.You can choose to have messages taken or important calls transferred live through to you if you need to speak to any important clients. Our service is flexible and adaptive, designed to add real value to your business. Don’t waste another call, have your calls handled expertly by trained assistants today.We also offer Complete Virtual Office services should you really want your business to be taken seriously and to project a professional image.If you would like to speak to one of our friendly team about how we can help your business to succeed then give us a call on 0207 5663939 or email us at office@capital-office.co.uk

Have you ever watched Black Mirror on TV? It's a British TV drama series that was written by Charlie Brooker and to say it's a bit dark is an understatement! It is compulsive viewing though as each new episode is completely different and like its own film with new characters and storyline that can help your business. How?Well, if you haven't seen it, then it is worth watching on catch-up if you can get it. If you like a good horror mystery set in modern times then you will love it!The main focus of the series is around modern technology such as virtual reality, AI and social media. One episode stands out in particular here called ‘Bandersnatch’.This episode was set in the 1980s and involved a smart teenager creating his own video game based on a ‘choose your own adventure' style, much like the storybooks you could buy in the '80s where you choose the path of your character through the story by selecting actions to take.

Your choices determine your adventure

Wherever you choose to go next will affect the storyline and the eventual outcome. So you could choose to walk through one of three doors, each with a different adventure in store. One door could lead to a battle with a dragon, another could lead you to a castle full of gold, the third may lead you to fall down a well with no escape.But why the Bandersnatch episode of Black Mirror stood out was because the main character in the story (the teenage boy) doesn’t realise that he himself is actually inside a ‘choose your own adventure’ game of his own, but one that you and I as viewers had control over.So, as you watched the episode (via Netflix) you are given the option over what path the teenager takes next. Your choices include everything from mundane actions like choosing what to eat, to more dramatic options that you know may cause issues for him.

Small decisions or huge decisions

What the episode highlighted well was that no matter whether you made a small decision, such as choosing what breakfast to eat, or a huge decision, such as jumping from a high balcony, making a choice to follow a path is better than choosing to do nothing to move your story along.It was quite a ground-breaking TV show and was lots of fun! It is easy to see how this type of show using interactive technology will take off in the future.

What does this have to do with my business?

Watching this Black Mirror episode got me thinking about decisions. More specifically the business decisions we choose to make every day and how by making one tiny decision can change the way you work from now on and well into the future.As a business owner, you are faced with making decisions every single day. You may make dozens of decisions a day, or hundreds per week or month, but all of these decisions are conscious choices. Some of them may be pretty insignificant, but others can be far more impactful.

Thinking outside the box

It can be really easy to forget that your choices can have a huge influence on the future success - or failure - of your business. Many business owners may think that their day to day operations are fixed and set up in a certain way that cannot be changed or improved upon.

For example, you may think to yourself:

• “I could never expand my business. I am far too busy with my day to day duties to keep it ticking over. I simply don't have the available time to work on growing my business.”

• “I tried to get more clients, but I am already struggling to manage the ones I have.”

• “I simply cannot escape the office to meet new clients. What if I miss a call from a potential new customer?”

• “I’m stuck in this boring 9-5 routine.”

Sometimes it feels like there is nothing you can do to break free of your routine and move your focus away from performing your every day necessary tasks and simply getting through the day.If you really do feel this way, then NOW is the time to choose to think outside of the box that you have placed yourself in!

Choose your own path to determine where you will end up

It’s not just the huge life decisions that you make which determine where you end up. You can also choose to make small but significant choices that can actually lead you towards remarkable business success.Take that decision to meet up with an old business colleague for a coffee. Catching up with them and giving them some of your time may result in both of you striking up an exciting business opportunity.Choose to clear out some old junk from your garage or home office. Your decision may lead you to discover that a particular item sells really well on eBay, which you could source and add to your online store to sell.Decide to join a gym to help reduce your stress. You may see a lucrative new sales outlet for your sports shoes or hand-made shower gel.If you believe in the theory of Karma that you get out of life what you put in, then you need to be out there 'putting things into life'.

Free up your time to make your own luck

You need to allow yourself to make small and positive business decisions so you can start to make your own luck in life. If you choose to do nothing, then nothing will improve and you will be actively reducing your chances of business success.A service that can change your business fortunes if you choose to use it would be a Complete Virtual Office. Here you would be utilising the skills of professional virtual assistants to cover your every day essential business tasks that are keeping you from expanding your business.The positives of choosing to use virtual services such as ours would mean that you would no longer be tied down to your office. There will be no chance that you will miss any potential new customer or client phone calls as these will be answered in a very professional manner on your behalf.

Impress potential new customers

What is more, your callers will be immediately impressed that your business can afford to employ a professional receptionist. This can give your company a really polished and professional image. This would be much better than having their call answered by a stressed-out and short-tempered business owner that is obviously struggling to cope.Just think of how much time you can free up to dedicate to growing your business instead of simply being bogged down answering the phones and dealing with your business post for most of the day.Find out more about our Complete Virtual Office services or any of our individual virtual services to discover why thousands of savvy business owners like you are freeing up more of their time from their day to day admin tasks and choosing to make positive choices for their future.

The key to customer engagement is to consistently publish fresh and interesting content on your business website, blog and social media pages.This is a very well-known and proven fact that most successful marketers make good use of. However, what do you do with all that valuable content once it has been read?Over the course of time, your website or blog will have accumulated quite a lot of content. Some of it was very popular, some of it not so much.But rather than consigning your old blog posts and articles to your very own content graveyard, why not breath some fresh life into it and reuse it to help boost your company profile and profits at the same time!

Updating content with your current direction

As businesses grow and evolve over time, quite often a company ethos, direction or way of doing things may change. This can mean that what you wrote about your company two years ago may not apply today.For example, with increasing pressure on companies these days to 'go green' and reduce their carbon footprint or environmental impact, many businesses will adopt new environmental strategies into their operations. This means that their old web content and blog posts will make no mention of a new company 'green ethos'.Any new prospective customer that is looking for an eco-minded company to buy from will not be aware of your new positive environment stance if they stumble across you via an old piece of content.You will need to make your customers aware of your new direction if you want to capture that 'green' demographic. Leaving your old content as it is doesn't really position you as the 'go-to' company for products or services delivered with any sort of environmental consciousness.

Recycling your old content for more ROI

As well as the environmental example mentioned above, you can also do something positive with your underperforming blog content and old archived posts.

1: Rewriting and optimising

You should already know which are the most important topics that are of most interest to your readers. You should also know what your most popular keywords are that brings the most traffic to your website.Search through your content to find posts on your most popular topics and pair them with your keyword research. Check to see if your most popular topic content contains your most valuable keywords and key phrases.If they don't contain any important keywords or phrases then you should take action to have these re-written to weave in more targeted keywords and key phrases – but make sure you don't overdo this. Google and other major search engines hate keyword spamming and will penalise you for 'keyword-stuffing'.

2: Creating content pillars

Make an index list on your site where you can list everything your site already contains on those topics or touches on those areas of your business that people most search for.Once you have optimised your content and organised them into a list you will have created a content pillar that easily groups several posts into one strong, easily accessible pillar. Your readers will appreciate this as they will be able to access plenty of information on the same topic easily without having to dig around your site or blog to find the content they want to read.Note: When re-writing and optimising your content remember NOT TO publish it separately and delete your original post. This is important because you may have earned some valuable backlinks on your original content that will be worth hanging on to.

3: Add new CTA's

Revisit your old content to see if you can find any missing opportunities to optimise for lead generation.You need to make it as easy as possible for your readers to take the next step to either engage with you further by signing up to your mailing list or actually go and buy your products or services.Check to see that each blog piece or web page has a call to action (CTA) at the end. You may discover some pieces that don't have a sign-up link or a live link to your online shop or contact page. Add an effective CTA where there are any missing.If you already do include a CTA at the end of every piece of content but you are not seeing good click-through rates, then consider changing your CTA to a more proven one that has worked well on other pieces of content or test different CTA approaches to see if you get better results from using a different format.

4: Redistribute through social media

Your website and blog content is precious material. Although social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are where you will find your customers hanging out, the downside is that social media has a very short memory.The whole point of social media is to share current hot information. People want information and they want it now! This is why they are so hungry for new news and content and hang out for hours each day on social media platforms.You can use this to your advantage by leveraging your now freshly-optimised old blog content for new hungry minds. The chances are that you may well have a lot of Facebook or Twitter followers that haven't read your old content from two years ago.Why not dig up your old posts and refresh them with your new products, services or a special offer that you are currently running and use these to feed your social media posts.Redistributing your newly created information pillars and updated content will work to get the very best return on investment from your posts and will also get your information in front of as many eyes as possible. It will also take the pressure off your shoulders to feel like you need to write new content every single day.

5: Get some virtual help

Your archived blog and website content doesn't have to sit in the dark in some forgotten corner of your site. You can transform your valuable content and put it to work for you to become a high-traffic asset.Reworking your old content and setting up a fresh distribution plan to get your optimised content off the ground will take some time and effort.We understand that the pressure put on your shoulders to perform well and deliver good results can be great. This is why you should look at using effective ways to relieve that pressure.Hiring virtual office services to help you with your workload is not only a very cost-effective way to get the job done but it allows you to put 100% of your focus into your content refresh plans without any disturbances.While you focus on your old content refresh and redistribution, look at making use of these valuable virtual services that will free up your time and allow you to concentrate:

Professional unlimited call answering service

Our call answering service is an affordable yet professional service designed to help a variety of clients to manage their incoming calls.With our call answering service, our PA’s answer your phone calls allowing you have peace of mind that you haven’t missed an important call as you were unavailable. Watch our quick video to see how our Call Answering service can help your business.

Complete virtual office services

Capital Office complete virtual office combines our prestigious London virtual address with our leading professional call answering service.Our virtual office is designed to help you convey a professional image whilst ensuring you maximise your productivity. Watch our quick video to see how our virtual office service works.Both of these cost-effective professional virtual services are ideal for a solo-entrepreneur or sole trader that works alone and can greatly benefit from our professional support without having to hire their own employees.You can read more about our virtual office services and FAQs or contact us directly to discuss your needs with our friendly team.Call us: 0207 566 3939Email: OFFICE@CAPITAL-OFFICE.CO.UKOr drop in to meet us in person at our London offices:Capital Office, Kemp House, 152 - 160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX

Regardless of how large or small your business, your business address can be a help or a hindrance to your business.

Your professional image counts for a lot, especially when you are trying to attract new customers or coax a new B2B partner into trading with you. Having a solid business image can inspire your customers and potential new trading partners to have confidence in your business and your ability to deliver a trustworthy and professional service.

Pretty much 99% of potential new customers or B2B companies will check your business out on the internet before they make contact with you. This means looking at your business website for more information about your company, your products or services, your history, your track record and more.

Should your business website not include a physical business address or the address you use looks a little suspect, such as using a PO Box address or using a residential address (because you are running your business from your home office or spare bedroom) the first impression you make will not be a positive one.

Chances are that anyone checking out your business and seeing that you don't have a solid business address will raise doubts in their mind about your business integrity. This can mean them swiftly moving their search on to one of your competitors with a better profile and more credibility to deal with.

Why do I need a physical Business Address?

No matter whether you are running a business as a sole trader or as a limited company, you will need to supply a business address to HMRC when registering as a sole trader (and Companies House for a limited company). You need to give an address where your statutory mail can be delivered and also be recorded on the Public Register of Companies at Companies House (for a limited company).

Many solo entrepreneurs that are running a single person business operation from home may not actually need to go to the trouble of renting official office space, especially if they don't plan to take on any staff, or if they plan to outsource a lot of their daily tasks to remote freelancers.

It is worth considering what office set-up would suit your business, especially if you work from home or from a workshop or warehouse where there isn't a physical office present.

While running your business from home can really help to keep down your business overheads and help you to keep your business running on a lean infrastructure, there still remains a strong stigma associated with using your own home address for your business.

If you are providing services to other registered limited companies or larger corporations, many of these organisations will not even consider dealing with you based on the fact that you are operating from a residential address. Most will not even agree to a contract with anyone that isn't registered as a limited company. This isn't good news for sole traders, even if they are highly skilled individuals that would be perfectly capable of doing the job on their own without breaking a sweat.

How a professional business address can build trust and confidence

Having a professional physical address for your business can help to build confidence in your customer base. They will see that you have a real-life physical address that you are operating through and that you are not some fly-by-night operation that simply sets up a website to scam as many people out of money as they can before being discovered and then flee with all the money.

Potential new customers need to know that your business has a solid base and will be discouraged from buying from you if you cannot provide a legitimate contact address. No matter whether you operate a service-based business or you operate in the virtual world, being able to legitimise your business with a professional business address where your customers can contact you, will help to instil trust and confidence in your business.

Having a professional business address for your company will help to build trust and credibility, especially if your aim is to deal with other companies on a B2B platform.

Search Engine Optimisation advantages

We all know how competitive the business world is. We have to fight for elbow room in our niche sector and use all the tools we can to climb the SEO ladder to get our business to the top of the search engine rankings.

Should your business website have no business address listed, then you will have no chance of being discovered by any of the major search engines. This is even more relevant if your business operates on a local community level where your main customers are right on your own doorstep.

Let's say that you live in Gloucestershire and offer a local gardening and DIY service for your local region or county. Should anyone wanting help from a locally-based gardener search Google for 'Gardening services, Gloucestershire', the chances are that without a proper business address your gardening services will not appear at the top of the search results, or even appear on the first page.

What is also important to remember is that without a proper business address, your business will not show up on Google Maps. Lots of potential customers like to have a visual representation of where their local business search results are. If you don't have a pin in the map, your business will be invisible in the search results.

Your family privacy and safety

While it may seem like a very convenient option to simply use your home address for your business, especially if you are running it from home anyway, don't forget that taking this option can come loaded with lots of negative consequences.

Listing your home address online via your business website and your social media pages doesn't look very professional for one thing, but you may also be breaking your tenancy agreement if you rent your home and your landlord doesn't allow their tenants to list the property address for business purposes.

Many landlords will have to take out professional landlord insurance and quite often part of the agreement for cover is that the tenant isn't allowed to carry out any business on the property. Doing so regardless can mean any insurance claims the landlord may need to take for accidental damage can be invalidated.

This is one reason why having a separate address for your business can help to separate your business from your home address.

If you live with your family, then you also have to take into consideration the privacy and personal security of your family members as well as your own. Listing your home address as your business address will mean that you are opening up your home to being inundated with cold callers, phone calls and junk mail.

Would your partner appreciate the fact that strangers can turn up at your door at all times of the day, especially if you are home with young children? Not only is the intrusion into their personal life very disrupting, but it could be putting their safety at risk too from disgruntled customers or even rival business owners that resent your presence.

Are these risks worth taking when for just a few pounds per month you can avoid all of these privacy and safety issues by using professional business address service options such as those provided by Capital Offices in London.

What is a Business Address Service Provider?

When you use a professional business address service provider such as Capital Office, London, it means that you can get a very smart London-based business address for your company. Your business address sits at the heart of London's business district so you will be able to get instant credibility for your business by carrying an EC1 address on all of your business documentation and websites.

No matter if you are a single sole trader or have formed your own limited company, you can get a London-based business address no matter where you operate your business from.

What this also means is that you can benefit from having a central-London business address without paying the price tag that accompanies renting such prestigious properties.

Here is what your London business address will look like:

Your business or personal name,

Kemp House,

152 – 160 City Road,

London, EC1V 2NX

How do business address services work?

Once you have set up your business address service with us, depending on the address package you have chosen, you can benefit from our virtual mail forwarding address and have all of your business letters and parcels delivered to our offices in London.

You can then instruct us about how you would like us to handle your business post. You can choose for us to open and scan your mail so that you can read it online, or you can have us collect your mail together and then post it on to you to an address of your choosing at a frequency that suits you. This includes packages and parcels and also global addresses. Our mail handling services are trusted by thousands of business owners.

If you are in London or visit the city on a regular basis, you can even call into our offices in person to collect your business mail. We offer a flexible service that suits your needs. Your new business address can be activated instantly, which means that you can start to use it right away on your business documents and you can add it to your business website so that you can get your website ranked on all of the major search engines.

What about meeting my clients in person?

You may be worried about meeting with your customers, clients or potential business partners for important meetings or updates. Instead of having to invite them to meet at your home or in a noisy coffee shop somewhere, you can instead get free use of one of our professional unbranded meeting rooms at our central-London offices with our annual mail forwarding address package option.

We offer our executive meeting rooms for hire to our customers should you need to meet clients on a regular basis, but with our premium 12-month mail forwarding address service, you can benefit from 4 hours of free use of our professional meeting room throughout your contract.

By inviting your business clients to your 'place of work' in central-London with a professional atmosphere, you will be able to add even more credibility to your business.

London Office Address & Mail Forwarding Overview

Here is a brief overview of our business address and mail forwarding service. For more information and benefits see our service breakdown page.

• Forward, scan or collect post
• Free Meeting Room Use
• Global mail forwarding service
• Instant Account Activation
• Packets & Parcels signed for
• Prestigious EC1 Address
• Secure & Confidential
• Secure Payments
• Under 60 Second Sign up
• Unlimited Letters Included

So you can see that by using the professional business address and mail forwarding services provided by Capital Office, London, you will be boosting your company image and credibility so that your potential new clients, customers and B2B business partners will take your business seriously.

For a business owner on a tight budget, making good use of a live business call answering service can make a lot of sense. Firstly, using an unlimited call answering service such as the one provided by Capital Office, London will actually save you a lot of money.

Because you don't actually have to go to the expense of hiring your own reception staff and providing them with costly offices and IT and telephony equipment to be able to take your incoming business calls, you can reap plenty of financial benefits from using an all-inclusive service instead.

Let's take a closer look at the five major benefits of using our Professional Unlimited Call Answering services:

1: Have your own receptionist without hiring one

You can enjoy the full benefit of having your very own company receptionist without actually having to go through the motions of employing one. When you take on a salaried employee, your responsibilities towards your staff can be huge!

Think about your commitments to providing them with a contract, full-time salary at around £25,000 + per year, holiday and sickness entitlements, pension and NI contributions. This is just to employ them to answer your phones.

Instead, you could choose to use a live telephone answering service that provides you will all of the benefits of having a real-life company receptionist, but without having to shoulder all of the associated financial costs and your employer's commitments and obligations.

At just a fraction of the costs associated with hiring your own staff, you can get your virtual receptionist to handle all of your business calls in the way you want. Plus the fact that because you will be using a virtual service like ours with multiple receptionists, we can handle high volume calls to your business.

This means that you will never miss a single incoming business call, no matter how busy your phone line gets. If your budget would only allow you to stretch to hiring one in-house receptionist to handle all of your incoming business calls, how many prospective new customer calls do you think would be missed while your receptionist was busy dealing with just one incoming call?

A professional call answering service such as ours is a perfect fit for a sole trader, solo entrepreneur or a small business or partnership with very few staff members.

2: Present a professional company image

As a business owner, you will appreciate that your customers are key to your success. If you want your business to survive and thrive, then you need to provide exemplary customer services. This includes the very first impression you make when prospective new customers call your business telephone number.

Instead of having their call greeted by a very flustered and tense business owner, they can have their called answered in a professional and courteous manner by a fully-trained and highly experienced virtual receptionist using the business greeting of your choice.

Your customers will get an immediate great first impression of your company and be filled with confidence that you are a professional outfit that takes your work seriously. Your callers will have no idea how large or small your business really is.

This is why our call answering services are so valuable for new start-ups and lean businesses that don't want the extra expense of running a physical office. You can set up your office structure to be as lean and cost-effective as possible by making good use of virtual office services.

Depending on what you have planned each day, we can take care of your calls to allow you to focus on an urgent work project that demands your full attention, or allow you to hit the road to travel to a client without having to pull your car over to answer your phone, or allow you to lock yourself into a business meeting for the day without being disturbed or interrupted by your phone.

Whatever your day-to-day business tasks involve, having your calls answered swiftly and politely by skilled professional receptionists offers you an outstanding customer service experience without the risk of missing out on potential new customers because you are too busy to take your own calls.

3: Hit the ground running

By using a professional call answering service such as ours, you can start from day one with our team of skilled virtual receptionists seamlessly integrating with your company.

Because you don't have to concern yourself with any staff training you can use our services in the full knowledge that our team of receptionists are fully trained and ready to handle your calls.

We literally hit the ground running with our virtual services. This means that you get a 100% professional service right from day one without having to invest a single moment of your precious time into any staff training.

4: Free up your working day

We all know how crucially important it is to make sure you answer your business phone calls. However, when you are trying to focus your time and energy on actually doing your work and running your business, you can often be left wishing that there were more hours in the day or that all of your callers would ring you within a one-hour time slot so you could get your work done in peace.

By using a professional live call answering service such as ours, you will be able to untie yourself from your company phone. You will be able to take your time back and use it more constructively while your callers feel like they have been well looked after.

Our Professional Unlimited Call Answering Service will make sure that your day can be used more productively, whether that is meeting an up and coming deadline, conducting a business meeting or even spending the day balancing the books when you don't want your concentration broken.

We can relay your messages to you as and when you want us to, plus if you are awaiting an important client phone call, we will know to put that call directly through to you.

5: Free yourself from cold callers

What can be more frustrating for a busy business owner than having their day constantly interrupted by cold callers?

By using our live call answering services, you can be left completely free from the nuisance that is business cold callers. Not only are cold callers frustrating but 99% of the time what they are offering has no importance to your business or are of any interest to yourself personally.

Your virtual receptionist will be able to screen all of your incoming calls so that no cold callers get past them. Our screening process will ensure that only your important calls are put through to you when you want to hear from them in person, and your phone messages that we relay to you are from genuine business callers.

Our services offer great flexibility that allows you to choose which callers you want putting through live, and which caller messages you want to look at and call back at a time that is convenient for you.

Find out more information about our Professional Unlimited Call Answering Service or do not hesitate to talk to us if you want to discuss your virtual office needs. We are here to help!

Whether you are a sole trader running your business from home, from a workshop, or providing mobile services where you to your customer, you still need to be able to dedicate a lot of your time towards your everyday business admin and office-based tasks.

When you are a 'one-man-band' (or one-woman-band) it can be extremely difficult to keep on top of all your essential admin duties while you are busy working for your clients or customers. This is where getting the support on offer from a range of different virtual service providers can be a real life-saver.

There are many types of business set-ups being run by sole traders from e-commerce, business consulting and private tutoring to trade services and childcare providers. In fact, according to Government figures, sole traders make up nearly 65% of UK businesses. This really shows that the self-employed really are the backbone of the UK economy.

Home-based business owner

One of the easiest and most low-cost options for a sole trader is to set their business up from home. This can help greatly to keep overheads down, especially when you are starting up a new business on a very limited budget or maybe by using your own personal savings to get started.

While this can be a very convenient option, just like any other business set-ups, it doesn't come without its own set of inherent issues.

Because you are based at home you can save yourself a lot of time and money not having to commute to an office-based job every day. You could spend your whole day working from your home office or spare bedroom without even changing out of your pyjamas! As long as your work doesn't involve any face-to-face meetings with your clients, you could get away with not having to buy yourself any smart work clothes too.

Never escaping from work

There are so many benefits for sole traders to choose to work from home that the thought of never having to go out to work in the cold wind and rain, or even stepping out of your cosy slippers can be too tempting not to take up.

However, because you can never really escape your home office it can be difficult for you to switch off and disconnect yourself with your work at the end of the day. Too many sole traders admit that they are constantly checking their emails and phone messages throughout the evening when they should be relaxing or spending time with their family.

A vast majority of home-based sole traders will also often find themselves catching up with their business administration tasks in the evening after they have finished for the day with their clients or have completed their other business duties.

Making the best use of your available time

Ultimately the success of your business boils down to how effectively you use your time. If you want to make your business a success, but don't want it to take over your life 24/7, then you need to become good at leveraging the tools that are available to you.

As your business grows you will notice that your to-do list will also grow at a matching rate. There will be a point where you will start to struggle to spread your time thin enough to cover everything and perform your tasks to a satisfactory level.

You need to accept that you can no longer manage to do everything by yourself, right? So, what can you do to ease the pressure on your shoulders while at the same time ensuring that every single business task is done properly and effectively?

If you prefer to keep your business small and don't want to hire a full-time assistant to help you out, then you should seriously consider making good use of professional virtual services that will help you complete everything and will continue to help your business to grow and become more successful.

Let's take a look at the four top reasons why you should consider using virtual services to help you run your home-based business more efficiently.

1: Keeping your business overheads as low as possible

It is fantastic that you have launched a successful home-based business, but if your success now means that you need more help and support, you will have to look at renting office premises and hiring staff to help you manage your day-to-day essential business tasks.

Renting office premises and hiring employees can be incredibly expensive. You will probably need to wave goodbye to your hard-earned business profits as you will need any spare cash you generate to cover your increased overheads.

Your business will now not only be operating to support you and your family but also to support your new employees and cover your extra business overheads, such as office rent, power and utility bills, business premises insurance, IT and infrastructure maintenance etc.

However, if you would prefer to forgo all these extra expenses and keep your business small and to remain operational from home, you can avoid all of these extra drains on your business income by choosing to use professional virtual office services instead.

Using virtual office services such as those offered by Capital Office, London, will open the door for your business to run more efficiently without the need to spend your money on expensive office rent, employing staff and all those extra bills that come with going down this path.

You can benefit from:

• A professional receptionist to take all of your business calls and messages
• Having your business post managed for you
• Having a prestigious business address in the heart of London's business district
• Have your own 0207 or 0203 Business Telephone Number that is separate from your home number
• Out of working hours voicemail to email service-based
• Business packets and parcels signed for
• Mail forwarding to an address of your choosing
• Free central London business meeting room use to impress your clients

Above all of these benefits, you get to keep your overheads small because you will not have a need to run an expensive office. Plus the fact that because you are using virtual staff, you don't get the headaches or stress associated with looking after the financial and physical needs of your own employees.

Using an expert team of trained administrative staff through our virtual office services will mean you can concentrate 100% of your efforts on your business, whether that is meeting with clients, fulfilling your customer orders or creating your products without constant interruption.

2: Give off a professional business image

We all know that in the business world 'first impressions count' so rather than let your customers think you are running a kitchen-table business from home, your customers will think that you are a professional set up with your own suite of offices.

Running a home business where you are dealing with face-to-face customers can also run into trouble because it becomes impossible to separate your work life from your family life. How does your other half feel about you inviting strangers into your home, especially if you have young children around?

There is also the worry that should you have a disgruntled and unhappy customer, they will know where you live. Do you really want to risk them bringing trouble to your front door that will disturb and upset your family? It is a thought that scares a lot of people working from home.

You need to consider your business reputation, especially if you are going after any high-priced contracts. In a lot of industries perception is important, so a large company isn't going to trust a contract with a hefty price tag to someone working from their spare bedroom, even if you could do the job with your eyes closed.

When you think you could own your own prestigious Central-London business address and telephone number set in one of the world's most highly-desired business districts for just a few hundred pounds per year, there really is no argument!

When you need to meet with an important client that you want to impress, you can arrange to use one of our smart business meeting rooms. Our meeting rooms are unbranded and your business guests will be greeted at our London offices by your very own professional receptionist. This will leave a very lasting positive first impression of your business in your client's mind.

3: You can be available for your family

One of the main reasons why so many people choose to work from home is to build a flexible business around the needs of their family. Because you are at home you will always be able to be there for any of your family members, so if one of your children catches a sick-bug and needs to take a couple of days off school, you can be there for them.

You can take care of your family members while still being able to do some work-related tasks at home knowing that your virtual team members will still be handling all of your day-to-day administration duties that help to keep your business ticking over.

4: Outsourcing the tasks you don't like

Let's face it when you start up your own business your enthusiasm and passion for your business extends to making and selling your product or offering your services, but all those dry and boring administration tasks that need doing are not the reason why you started your business in the first place.

In an ideal world, you would be left to your own devices where you simply focus your time on doing what you enjoy and do the best. However, in the real world, a business owner needs to wear many different hats.

Take an objective look at all your essential business tasks that you need to do to have a successful business. Look at outsourcing those tasks that really don't interest or inspire you to others that can take care of these tasks on your behalf.

We cannot be an expert in everything, but sole traders are expected to be competent in all aspects of running a business and are expected to comply with rules and regulations set forth by HMRC and other regulatory institutes.

By utilising the services of virtual office providers you can get the help you need to get things done. This includes all of your day-to-day administration tasks that will allow you to be free to carry on doing what you do well.

With a complete virtual office package, you can level-up your business without having to change your business structure or payout to move location. Why not take a look at our range of virtual office services to see how cost-effective our services truly are.

Do not hesitate to contact us should you need any further help or guidance about our professional services. We are here to help!

CALL US +44 (0) 207 566 3939

EMAIL: OFFICE@CAPITAL-OFFICE.CO.UK

Capital Office , Kemp House, 152 - 160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX