Internet Marketing – Page 323

Ways to Boost Productivity While Working Remotely

Home Business Magazine Online

This article was developed via a partnership with BetterHelp.

With more and more business owners and solopreneurs working remotely from home, it’s natural to seek out the best ways to optimize our work experience. Without the structure of an office, there are so many more possibilities to work in a way that better suits us — and for getting distracted.

It’s up to each of us to design our day to enhance our productivity and wellbeing. Yet sometimes no matter what we do to be more productive it’s still possible to feel overwhelmed, and that’s okay. It’s important to seek support when we’re feeling overwhelmed or not getting the results we want in our life. Online therapy is one option, which some people prefer over traditional in-person therapy for its ease of use and convenience.

Just don’t be afraid to seek help. Take all the steps you need to learn more about being productive and mentally healthy, and don’t beat yourself up if you need to seek professional. We hope these tips help fine-tune your home office workday to be more productive and improve your mental wellbeing.

Set Your Work Hours

Traditionally, jobs have a start time when you show up and you have to work a certain number of hours per week. But remote work can often offer some flexibility from the standard 9-to-5, which means it’s important to know what time you need to start work each day. Starting later in the day can sound fun, until you have to work until 1am to finish your tasks. Keeping a regular schedule helps you maintain your productivity and avoid late-night work sessions and burnout.

Have a Dedicated Workspace When Working Remotely

While it may seem like working at the dining room table is a clever way to avoid buying office furniture, it’s more difficult to feel focused in an area that’s used for multiple purposes. It’s also less productive. Whenever possible experts recommend setting up a dedicated workspace area.

Of course it’s not always possible, and sometimes the kitchen table will have to do. In this case, make sure to set up your pencil cup, or whatever office supplies you like to use, next to your computer every day. Having items that visually reinforce your workspace helps to remind you you’re in work mode — even at the dining room table.

Take Breaks to Refresh Throughout the Day

When you’re at work in the office, it’s normal to take a lunch break and an afternoon break. So why do we feel like we need to work straight through the day without breaks while working from home? It’s important to give yourself permission to take breaks when you work remotely. A quick walk in the park for your lunch break could give you the reset you need to get more accomplished later in the day.

Set Boundaries You Don’t Cross

It’s easier to get distracted at home, and start thinking about cleaning the garage or cooking dinner. There’s just so many more temptations when your day isn’t as structured, it seems like you should be able to sneak in a little social media or shopping during the day. Yet that lost time can catch up to you.

Be aware of things can be productivity killers for you, and make those the activities you avoid during the work day. Find ways to put hard limits on activities that interrupt your work, like blocking Amazon and social media apps during work hours.

Add Plants to Your Home Office

According to research, the simple act of having a plant on your desk or seeing plants around your workspace can make people 15% more productive. Keeping plants around your home work area is an easy, inexpensive way to enjoy your environment more. Put a plant on your desk, and bring more plants into your work life with screensaver pics and artwork around your office.

Parting Thoughts

Remote work has become a way of life for many, but each of us has the responsibility of managing ourselves and our work day. When you take the opportunity to intentionally design your day and your work area, you’re giving yourself structure that can better support your mental health and productivity. Start thinking about what you can do to improve your remote working life today, and start planning a better tomorrow.

The post Ways to Boost Productivity While Working Remotely appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/success-tips/ways-boost-productivity-working-remotely/

Interest rates rise

The Bank of England has just made the decision to increase interest rates from 4.5% to 5%. This marks a 13th consecutive hike since rates were first increased in December 2021 from a low of 0.1% to 0.25%.

This is also the fifth consecutive interest rate increase seen so far in 2023, which has followed the same pattern as 2022 which saw 8 consecutive base rate jumps.

As a result, the current rate of 5% is the highest seen in over 15 years since April 2008 when the base rate also sat at 5%.


	Source: Bank of England

CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, commented:

“As of yet, the Bank of England’s attempts to curb inflation haven’t quite gone to plan and so today’s increase was to be expected.

While a half a percent jump may seem substantial, it should help the Bank of England regain a grip over the situation at hand, as currently, it trails the Federal Reserve and needs to catch up if we want to see inflation fall like it has in the United States.

So all things considered, today’s increase is probably appropriate, although this isn’t the news the nation’s borrowers were hoping for.”

Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, Chris Hodgkinson, commented:

“So far the UK property market has weathered the storm of twelve consecutive interest rate hikes and while we’ve seen marginal signs of house price depreciation, there’s nothing to suggest a thirteenth increase will bring the walls crashing down around us.

It’s also important to note that a third of homebuyers now own their house outright and so they aren’t feeling the strain of increased borrowing costs.

That said, any base rate increase is sure to be passed on by lenders to the nation’s homebuyers and this is likely to mean higher borrowing costs and fewer available mortgage products. This will inevitably have an impact on buyer purchasing power and, as a result, we can expect to see more protracted transaction timelines and a further cooling in property values as the market continues to find its feet.”

Managing Director of Sirius Property Finance, Nicholas Christofi, commented:

“Interest rates are now at their highest in over 15 years, but it’s not just the higher cost of borrowing that will be weighing on the minds of UK homebuyers, it’s the consistency at which rates are climbing.

Many buyers are finding that, having agreed a mortgage in principle, the goal posts have already moved by the time they find their ideal home and they’re having to return to the drawing board to reassess just what they can afford to borrow.”

Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, James Forrester, commented:

“It certainly seems as though the Bank of England has lost its grip on inflation and so they’ve continued to pile more misery onto borrowers with yet another rate increase.

This will do nothing to revitalise what has become a rather weary looking property market in recent months and is sure to dampen buyer demand as lenders pass on this increase in the form of higher mortgage rates.”

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“The market remains in fairly good form considering interest rates are at their highest since 2008 and we expect this will now bring about a reversal in market fortunes.

The more inflated areas of the market, such as London, largely trailed their more affordable counterparts where pandemic house price growth is concerned.

However, buyers in these regions are better placed to absorb higher borrowing costs and so we expect the likes of the London market to remain largely unfazed going forward.

As a result, we expect stronger market performances to materialise compared to some of the other more affordable areas of the market.”

The post Interest rates rise appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/interest-rates-rise

How to use ChatGPT to generate product descriptions at scale

We want more quality content for our websites, but it’s difficult to produce enough. So how can we scale the content creation process, especially for ecommerce sites with plenty of products?

If you were to pay for a copywriter to produce thousands of product snippets from scratch, you’d likely be out of pocket pretty quickly.

What if you pay for 1,000 new product descriptions, but only half of those products live one month later? Clearly, you need a faster, more cost-effective approach. This is where ChatGPT can help.

ChatGPT’s native web interface is really helpful and a great time-saver.

But if we have hundreds or thousands of product descriptions to create, there’s a more efficient way of using ChatGPT without copying and pasting prompts. Here’s how.

Mass production of content snippets: Scaling the output

If you have an ecommerce website, you might wish to produce product snippets using data from a product information management (PIM) system.

Let’s say you have the data on a spreadsheet.

We can use Excel formulas to concatenate (or join, using the “&” operator) data into rich prompts, ready for ChatGPT. For example:

Note that your formula may require one or multiple “IF” statements. That’s because your data may have holes in some areas.

For example, some products may not have certain parameters (data within certain columns) specified. You need your formula to be flexible, and you can always ask ChatGPT to help you write the formula.

Once your formula is returning a prompt for each row (in this case, for each product), you can copy and paste a few of the generated prompts into a word processor, even notepad.

It’s good to spot-check a few to ensure the text makes sense, even when some data items were missing.

Once you have verified that your Excel (or Google Sheets) formula is generating the types of prompts that you want, you can send a few of them to ChatGPT (manually, using the web interface) to see if you like the results.

The generated snippet(s) will likely require human editorial oversight, though you want to get the AI to do as much of the work as possible. That’s why we engaged in such a deep “prompt-crafting” process.

Happy with your initial prompts and responses? Good, then it’s time to move on.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

Fetching your new product content snippets from OpenAI

So, you now have a list of products (or other types of webpages) which you’d like to generate content for.

In this example, we’re going with a fictitious sample of 100 products. You now have a list of all your products (either separated by URL, SKU or some other unique identifier).

These products also have assigned rich prompts which you have generated. But ChatGPT’s web UI is limited. So how can you send these across all at once?

For this, you’re going to have to get comfortable with basic scripting and with handling API requests. You can create an OpenAI API account to access the ChatGPT web interface.

I put together a basic Python script for my agency. While I can’t share the script, I can review some of the processes and documentation needed.

Should I wish to syndicate this script later, building it on marketing-accessible endpoints and technologies would be best. As such, I first produced an Excel sheet:

The sheet simply provides an area to dump items for processing (identified by some unique identifier in the “Item Name” column, in this case, product name). In addition, the prompts to be processed can also be placed here.

Another tab contains parameter settings for the request. (You can learn about all these via OpenAI’s documentation.)

Some of these settings fine-tune content creativity allowance, unusual wording deployment, max token spend per request and even content redundancy. This is also where the OpenAI API key is saved.

Once a certain button within the spreadsheet is clicked, the Python script launches automatically and handles the rest:

First, the script defines the request / endpoint URL. After this, the script sends the request headers and the request data.

Most parameters for the request header / data, can be tweaked within the spreadsheet pictured previously.

Finally, the response text is received from OpenAI and logged within the “data dump,” another separate spreadsheet.

I have three scripts for this deployment, though only one needs to run. I also have two separate spreadsheets, both of which are needed.

Once the script resolves all of the queries, all of the snippets of text are saved here:

Looking at the above output, you may have some content uniqueness concerns.

While all of the snippets begin with the exact phrase (“Introducing the [product name]”), the produced content gets more diverse across the generated paragraphs. So, it’s not as bad as it looks.

Also, there are things you can do to attempt to make each generated snippet even more unique, such as categorically asking the AI to generate unique content (though you have to be quite firm and repetitive in this regard to get anywhere).

You can also tweak the temperature and frequency parameters to adjust content creativity and avoid redundant language.

Weaving these technologies together (OpenAI’s API, Excel, Python), we can quickly ascertain generated text snippets for all input prompts.

From here, it’s up to you what you want to do with that newly processed data.

I highly recommend moving it into a format your editorial team can understand.

We have somewhat mitigated much of this by crafting very rich prompts. However, you can never be certain until you check the output.

ChatGPT output notes

Assuming that you’re happy to work with ChatGPT, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Let’s talk about the cost. It’s tough to give a cost breakdown for using OpenAI’s GPT-4 model of ChatGPT via their API. It’s not just the input word count of the prompt or the output word count. Pricing revolves around the AI’s “thinking time.” More complex requests will use more tokens and cost more (even if the input / output word count is reduced).
Our test batch of 100 prompts from sample data cost us only $1.74 to run and return. We generated 22,482 words of content overall. 22,482 words of content for $1.74 seems good, but there’s much more to consider.
Due to AI’s propensity to infer, a human editorial process is still fundamentally required (in our opinion).
However, using this technology does transform a costly from-scratch content creation task into a much more cost-effective content editing task.
The data / AI specialist’s time for prompt crafting and running scripts must also be factored in.
On top of inferring where data is lacking, AI can also “creatively infer” things. In our sample data set, the AI decided to infer the existence of a sizing guide (clothing) within the produced product content. If no sizing guide existed, that would look pretty silly.
Always send AI content through a human editorial review process for fact-checking, accuracy and (most importantly) additional creative flair.
You can further automate ChatGPT by plugging in projects like Auto-GPT. Those AI ‘agents’ add more active processing and tasking power to ChatGPT. However, projects like this still need your OpenAI API key. And due to their infancy, they can chew up a lot of credits before they learn to perform tasks to standard.

Scaling your content creation process with AI

AI can scalably produce diverse snippets of content that are fit for purpose with minimum intervention.

For long-form content, it’s probably still better to use the interface and iterate the AI’s responses.

The post How to use ChatGPT to generate product descriptions at scale appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-generate-product-descriptions-428546

A PPC marketer’s guide to retail media

Most people know that Amazon, Walmart and Instacart have paid search placements on their websites. However, you may not know about their involvement in programmatic, display, social media and Google Shopping.

It is crucial for PPC marketers to understand this because retail media (a.k.a. commerce media) is driving customers to retail sites that can transact multiple brands and items in a single transaction.

This is especially true at retailers that hold everyday essential items, providing a path to regular visits, both online and offline.

Elizabeth Marsten, VP of commerce strategic services at marketing firm Tinuiti, shared her insights on the 2023 retail media landscape and all the need-to-know essentials in her session at SMX Advanced.

What is retail media?

Retail media is basically a type of paid search. Every business has some sort of paid search offering in which they are able to harvest existing demand.

However, retail media differs from paid search in the sense that it is split into two categories, onsite and offsite:

Onsite
- Sponsored search (product ads)
- Display banners
- Browse, category pages
- Coupons
- Offers

Offsite
- Programmatic display (ideally through a curated network)
- Social media
- Email / newsletters
- SMS / push notifications
- Google Shopping PLAs
- OTT

How does retail marketing work?

Retail marketing is rooted in first-party data that’s been collected by companies for the last three decades. This data has been enabling marketers to better understand customers, how they behave and molded the shape of what we know to be retail marketing.

“Just think about how much, for example, Kroger knows about you if you are someone who buys groceries on a pretty regular basis from a Kroger. Maybe you started your loyalty card program with your phone number, which you still enter every time you check out. Whether or not that’s through an app or a self-checkout stand,” Marsten said.
“At the checkout stand itself, you have been entering that phone number for probably a good 20 years maybe. So even when you were getting cash back in those early 2000s and you bought a pack of gum or a Twix, you entered that phone number just in case. Well, technically, that data is what has led us to much better-targeted advertising for things you might actually want.”

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

What do paid search marketers need to know?

Marketers have been collecting data on consumers for 30 years and during that time, the industry has seen three big digital waves.

The first big wave came in approximately 2002 when Google Ads started rolling out, along with similar products from companies like Microsoft and Yahoo. It took tech giants 14 years to reach $30 billion in advertising revenue.
The second big wave started gaining traction in 2008 with the rise of social media. Brands like Meta, Twitter and Reddit took 11 years to achieve $30 billion in advertising revenue.
The third wave began in 2016 with the arrival of retail media. This sector took just five years to hit the $30 billion goal.

Explaining why retail media has evolved so quickly, Marsten said:

“If you worked for Google or Microsoft in the last 10 years or so, you probably have noticed that there aren’t a lot of big changes – for example, some of you may remember when Google renamed the Content Network to the Display Network. Those are pretty monumental changes that happen over time relative to digital advertising.
“Now, when it comes to retail media, we are experiencing one of these every six months or so. So that is how fast things are coming up and changing and pivoting as we go on.”

Why in-store still matters

In store is still hugely important to retail media because this sector operates differently to D2C websites.

“I care about in-store sales, I care about sales at the shelf and I care about sales at the self-checkout because I care about those digital touch points. “They tell us how we’re going to engage with the customer over and over again,” Marsten said

Marsten went on to talk about Walmart, which made $3 billion in advertising revenue last year. The company has huge retail media expansion plans in the future, and one significant advantage it has over competitors like Amazon its stores.

“That’s 4,700 plus touch points in the United States alone. Think about how often folks go to get the essentials – I will be there every time outside and inside with my digital capabilities,” she said.

Google Shopping PLAs

Retail marketers have the option of purchasing Google Shopping ads via Target Roundel, which appear in Google SERPs. Customers who click through will be taken to the target.com experience – but this is funded by you.

So you can essentially work with Target Roundel to boost in-store sales via Google searches in order to fill out your marketing budget. It’s a popular choice with many major retailers such as Best Buy and Home Depot, but there are details to consider:

The product you’re selling must be in store.
Run through Roundel so limited reporting mid-flight (monthly only).
In store sales included.
Could be complementary or competitive.

“It does take a minute in terms of reporting. But you do get in store sales. If someone searches local inventory, then they go in the store and they buy it because they see online that it’s in stock, they just go in the store and buy it. And you will get credit for that. It is pretty cool. It is something that I would say keep an eye on in terms of capabilities and what it could be. I’m pretty excited about what their roadmap looks like for next year.”

How is retail media working with Microsoft?

Retail media has multiple connections to Microsoft, including:

Hardware: In-store screens and Xbox
Activation: Promote IQ, Microsoft Ads, Xander and Netflix
Automation / Research: ChatGBT
Insights: PowerBI
Data: Azure / Project Oakes
CDP: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

How is retail media working with Google?

Not to be outdone by Microsoft, retail media also works closely with Google in the following ways:

Hardware: Pixel and Nest.
Activation: DV360, YouTube, Google Ads and SA360.
Automation / Research: Bard and Trends.
Insights: Google Analytics and Looker.
Data: Google Cloud and Pair.
CDP: Customer Data Platforms and Google Cloud.

Commenting on retail media’s relationship with Google, Masrten added:

“Similar to Microsoft, if you were a retailer and perhaps you had a Google stack, working with a whole bunch of different capabilities at Google, you can make it really easy for a brand to come in and activate across multiple channels or multiple platforms. But also, hopefully, eventually, we’ll get to a spot where insights can come forward in a way that is digestible and actionable. I would say we’re still working on that. This is a big wave and we’re still going!”

Key takeaways

Marsten concluded her talk by outlining the four key points she would like marketers to keep in mind when it comes to retail media:

Lots of similar options: There are a lot of similarities in terms of who’s working with who.
A bit jumbled: We’re still building out and there are similarities with Google and Microsoft regarding how they built out their capabilities.
Stores. Stores. Stores: A lot of opportunity left to tie together. Think about how much money transacts through a store and potential capabilities from an in-store experience perspective.
Watch the intersection of PPC (Google and Microsoft) and retail media for overlap: You better believe that they’re not going to be left out when it comes to retail media.

The post A PPC marketer’s guide to retail media appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/ppc-marketers-guide-retail-media-428579

GA4 gives marketers choice in Google Ads conversion credit eligibility

Google is rolling out changes that will give advertisers better insights into conversion performance.

For the first time, marketers working with GA4 will be able to choose which of their channels should be eligible to get conversion credit for web conversions shared with Google Ads. This applies to Google paid channels (formerly, Ads-preferred) and Paid and organic channels (formerly, Cross-channel).

Why we care. This new capability will tell you which channels contribute to a conversion, helping you better understand and measure the impact of your campaigns. This data will prove incredibly useful to advertisers as they’ll be able to create new strategies to increase conversions and revenue with more confidence and certainty.

How it works. Advertisers can view which of their channels are eligible for credit for each conversion in Google Ads, under the Conversions summary, Conversions detail, and Campaigns tabs. In Google Analytics, this information can be found in the Attribution settings page.

Which channels are eligible. There are two channels to be considered in this insatnce:

Google paid channels: Only Google Ads paid channels are eligible to receive conversion credit.
Paid and organic channels: Paid and organic channels are eligible to receive conversion credit, but only credit assigned to Google Ads channels will appear in your Google Ads accounts.

Advertisers should note the default channel is Google paid channels, however, marketers do have the option to choose PPC and organic channels instead.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

How to change the setting. In Google Analytics, this set-up can be edited at any time by going to the Admin > Attribution settings page. Once you have updated your preferences, changes will take effect on conversions moving forward.

What Google has said. The search engine explained in a statement:

“You can now select which channels are eligible for conversion credit for web conversions shared with Google Ads: Google paid channels (formerly, Ads-preferred) or Paid and organic channels (formerly, Cross-channel).”

Deep dive: Click here for more information about what channels are eligible to receive credit for conversions and how to import conversion into Google Ads.

The post GA4 gives marketers choice in Google Ads conversion credit eligibility appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/ga4-ads-conversion-credit-eligibility-428531

Google updates when 4 attribution models will be retired

Google will start to retire four rules-based attribution models in Ads and Analytics from mid-July:

First-click.
Linear.
Time decay.
Position-based.

Marketers still using these attribution models will be able to continue doing so until September, when they will be removed completely.

Why we care: This update will affect the Google Ads accounts of all marketers still using these attribution models. Moving forward, any model that isn’t last-click will prove more difficult to monitor as every marketer has different data-driven attribution formulas.

“In the past, you could use linear and give each touch the same credit. You will no longer be able to do so. There will be no impact on last touch, as that is still available. But finding some of the first-touch information will be much muddier because there will no longer be a way to see the formulas that compute the attribution scores.”

How will marketers be impacted? If your account has conversions using these models, you can continue to use them until September, but after that deadline, the models will be removed and data may be lost. If you are working on conversions not using these models, you will not have the option to switch over after mid-July. In addition, newly created conversions will no longer have the option of even choosing these four models.

Why now? Google has taken the decision to retire the four attribution models because of “increasingly low adoption rates, with fewer than 3% of conversions in Google Ads using these models” according to a Google spokesperson.

“For these reasons, first click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models across Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 will be going away. Data-driven attribution, last click, and external attribution won’t be impacted.”

Dig deeper: Data-driven attribution: How to think about Google’s default attribution model

The post Google updates when 4 attribution models will be retired appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/google-when-retire-attribution-models-ads-analytics-428541

6 Essential Skills Every Real Estate Investor Should Learn from Mentors

Home Business Magazine Online

In the ever-evolving world of real estate investing, aspiring investors face numerous challenges and uncertainties. The complexities of the market, legalities, financial strategies, and risk management can overwhelm newcomers.

However, there is a valuable resource that can provide invaluable guidance and knowledge to help navigate these hurdles: mentors. Mentors, experienced professionals in the field, can share their wisdom, expertise, and firsthand experiences to guide and shape the success of aspiring real estate investors.

1. Market Analysis

Mentors can provide valuable insights on conducting thorough market research, identifying trends, analyzing supply and demand dynamics, and understanding local economic factors influencing property values. By mastering market analysis, investors can make informed decisions about when and where to invest, ensuring they capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks in an ever-changing real estate landscape.

This skill empowers investors to stay ahead of the curve, identify emerging markets, and strategically position their investments for maximum profitability.

2. Property Valuation

Understanding how to accurately determine a property’s value is essential for making informed investment decisions. Mentors can teach aspiring investors various valuation methods, such as comparable sales analysis, income capitalization approach, and the cost approach.

They can impart knowledge on evaluating real estate market trends, assessing property conditions, and identifying factors influencing property values. With this skill, investors can confidently analyze potential investment opportunities, negotiate deals, and maximize their returns in the competitive real estate market.

3. Negotiation Techniques

Negotiation is vital in securing favorable deals, maximizing profits, and resolving conflicts. Mentors can impart strategies for identifying leverage points, understanding the motivations of counterparties, and achieving win-win outcomes. They can teach the art of effective communication, active listening, and creative problem-solving to navigate challenging negotiations.

By mastering negotiation techniques, investors can secure favorable purchase prices and favorable terms and build strong relationships with sellers, buyers, and other stakeholders, ultimately boosting their success in the competitive real estate market.

4. Financial Analysis and Risk Assessment

This skill entails assessing risk considerations, calculating returns on investment, analyzing cash flows, and determining the financial sustainability of proposed investments. Investors can learn from mentors how to assess market trends, comprehend financial accounts, recognize potential dangers, and put risk management techniques into practice.

By becoming experts in financial analysis and risk assessment, investors can increase their chances of success in real estate investing by making wise decisions, spotting attractive possibilities, and protecting their assets from potential hazards.

5. Deal with Structuring and Financing

Regarding real estate investing, aspiring investors can benefit greatly from learning about deal structuring and financing from seasoned RE mentor experts. Understanding how to assess various financing options, such as mortgages, private funding, or partnerships, can significantly impact an investor’s ability to secure profitable deals.

A knowledgeable mentor can provide insights into structuring creative deals that optimize returns while mitigating risks. Moreover, they can share their experiences navigating complex financial transactions, highlighting the importance of thorough analysis, due diligence, and aligning financing strategies with investment objectives.

6. Property Management Strategies

Real estate investing requires expertise in property management, and learning successful methods from mentors can considerably increase an investor’s profitability. Here are some key aspects to consider:

Efficient Tenant Screening: Mentors can teach how to find reliable tenants by conducting thorough background checks and evaluating their rental history.
Lease Agreement Optimization: Learning to create comprehensive lease agreements that protect the investor’s interests and comply with legal requirements is crucial.
Maintenance and Repairs: Mentors can guide investors on setting up systems for timely maintenance and cost-effective repairs to ensure tenant satisfaction and property preservation.
Rent Collection Strategies: Understanding effective methods for rent collection, such as implementing online payment systems and maintaining consistent communication, can streamline cash flow.

By learning these property management strategies from experienced mentors, real estate investors can optimize their operations, enhance tenant satisfaction, and ultimately maximize their investment returns.

The Bottom Line

The essential skills real estate investors can learn from mentors are invaluable in navigating the complex world of real estate investing. From market analysis and property valuation to negotiation techniques and property management strategies, mentors provide the guidance and knowledge necessary for success.

By leveraging the expertise of mentors, investors can accelerate their growth, minimize risks, and make informed decisions, ultimately increasing their chances of achieving their investment goals in the dynamic real estate market.

The post 6 Essential Skills Every Real Estate Investor Should Learn from Mentors appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/real-estate/6-essential-skills-real-estate-investor-learn-from-mentors/

How Can You Take Your Company Public Without an IPO?

Home Business Magazine Online

By Jorge Olson, Co-Founder & CEO — Hempacco (HPCO) and Green Globe International (GGII)

The dream of most entrepreneurs and business founders is to someday take their company public. Doing so can provide them with more access to capital to scale in the future, opportunities for growth through acquiring other businesses, or avenues to reduce their company’s overall debt.

It is a common belief that one must have an IPO (Initial Public Offering) in order to take a company public, but the truth is that there are plenty of other options available for taking a company public. While going outside of the traditional IPO path is unconventional, it can end up being what works best for some founders and their companies, depending on their goals.

IPOs still remain the most popular option for most companies seeking to go public, but they are not the only option. Here are some other ways to take your company public without an IPO.

Reverse mergers

Reverse mergers are a way for companies to go public by purchasing control of a public company. The biggest advantage of reverse mergers is how quickly one can take their company public.

Through a standard IPO option, it can take more than a year to go public, but with a reverse merger, one can take their company public in as little as 30 days. Reverse mergers work best for companies that do not necessarily need immediate access to capital, making them a great option for companies that expect to do very well in their first year as a public company — typically $20 million in revenue or more.

Direct listings

Direct listings allow companies to make existing stock that may be owned by investors or their employees available to the public. A direct listing is different from an IPO in that it offers existing stocks for sale — it doesn’t create a new stock offering as one would do with an IPO — and there are also no underwriters with direct listings.

IPOs typically also have what is referred to as a “lock-up” period that works to limit when existing stockholders can sell their shares in the company publicly, allowing a certain level of control over the price of the shares in an IPO situation. In direct listings, shareholders may sell their shares immediately after the company goes public, with no wait time.

Dutch auctions

Dutch auctions are named for the flower markets in the Netherlands and much like those markets, involve specific items for sale for a specific minimum price. Bidders will approach Dutch auctions by saying how many items they want to purchase and how much they’re willing to pay for them. The winning price is called a “clearing price” and it is what all winning bidders will pay for the offered stock.

This option for taking a company public puts the power in the hands of investors, who determine how much a stock is worth instead of leaving it up to investment bankers. For reference, this is the option Google used to go public in 2004.

The pros and the cons

There are many factors to consider when choosing how you wish to bring your company public. Each option — including traditional IPOs — has its pros and cons that businesses will want to research before deciding what is the best option for their goal of going public.

For example, while reverse mergers can be an effective option for scrupulous companies looking to go public quickly, there has been a history of unscrupulous companies that used reverse mergers to scam investors. Due to these few bad apples, reverse mergers have become more difficult to initiate and complete. Companies must pass stringent requirements to gain a listing on the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange, and it can take up to a year for those groups to agree to list the stock on the exchange — if the deal even materializes in the first place.

However, there have been a number of well-known companies that have used the reverse merger option to go public, including such well-known names as Dell. The option is quick and cost-effective for companies seeking to bring their offerings public.

Direct listings are a great option because they are more affordable than IPOs, as financial advisory fees can be far less than fees charged by investment bankers in an IPO situation. The lack of a “lock-up” period means shareholders do not have to wait to sell their stocks, which is another benefit of direct listings.

Nevertheless, it can be difficult to get anyone to pay attention to your stock offering if you are a newer business or not well known. In order for a direct listing offering to be successful, companies need to put some time and effort into marketing and getting their name out there. When one decides to go the traditional IPO route, they are essentially buying a team of investment bankers who are being paid to rally support for your offering. The lack of this support leaves the ball in the court of the business, and all of the pressure is on you to make your offering known and enticing.

Dutch auctions work well because they eliminate the worry of investment banks undervaluing their stocks. With a Dutch auction, the stock will be valued at what the market will bear, though there is no way to determine how many people will be interested in these stocks and the valuation process can be frustrating if it comes in lower than expected. Investment bankers and Wall Street are also reportedly not big fans of the Dutch auction option, which likely comes down to the option circumventing their role in the valuation of stocks. By choosing a Dutch auction option, one may be entering Wall Street as a bit of a maverick, which could alienate some potential investors.

Whichever path one chooses to travel on the road to going public, the type of business, valuation, sales, and timeframe in which one hopes to go public all must be taken into consideration. Businesses should not limit themselves only to an IPO as a pathway to going public. Instead, they should consider which route works best for them and their ultimate business goals.

The post How Can You Take Your Company Public Without an IPO? appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/success-tips/take-your-company-public-without-an-ipo/

How to Safely Store Crypto?

Home Business Magazine Online

Crypto trading refers to exchanging cryptocurrencies or digital assets with fiat currencies such as euros or dollars. BTC to USDT is a popular trading pair where Bitcoin is traded against Tether (USDT). BTC is a well-established cryptocurrency, while USDT is a stablecoin that mimics the value of the US dollar to offer market stability. An important decision every trader makes refers to the safety of holding digital funds. Are crypto exchanges safe or is it better to use offline storage? Let’s discuss this question in this article.

Keeping Crypto on Exchanges: Yes or No?

Centralized exchanges are a prevalent option for crypto storage. These platforms serve as virtual environments that facilitate convenient crypto transactions. However, it is vital to remain cognizant of the potential hazards involved in storing digital assets on such platforms.

Security. To safeguard users’ investments, exchanges apply various security protocols, such as 2FA, encryption, and the use of cold wallets for crypto storage. Reputable exchanges place a significant emphasis on security and allocate substantial resources to guarantee the safeguarding of their users’ funds.
Counterparty risk. When opting for centralized exchanges, it becomes crucial to comprehend the inherent risk associated with placing trust in the exchange to safeguard your cryptocurrency assets. If the exchange is hacked or involved in fraud, your stored cryptos could be lost.
Regulatory. It is important to be aware that governing authorities can regulate centralized exchanges, which may result in disruptions, frozen funds, or even closure of exchanges. Understanding the regulatory landscape is crucial to safeguarding your crypto holdings.
Third-party access. When users store their crypto on centralized exchanges, they lose direct control of their private keys, which are critical for accessing and transferring their crypto. If there is a security attack or technical problems on the exchange’s side, users may lose access to their funds for a short or extended period.
Diversification of storage. To reduce the dangers linked with centralized exchanges, it is recommended to spread out your storage strategies. One approach is to make use of hardware wallets, which are tangible gadgets created specifically for secure crypto storage purposes. These wallets store private keys offline, minimizing the possibility of online security breaches.

To ensure the security and reliability of your centralized exchange storage, it’s important to thoroughly research and consider factors such as the exchange’s reputation, track record, and level of reliability. Opt for exchanges that have a strong history of implementing effective security measures, conducting transparent operations, and providing prompt customer support. Many people recommend a trustworthy crypto exchange that complies with all the rules and requirements and takes good care of its clients — WhiteBIT. Check out its official website, registration, and documentation, and try trading using its convenient tools.

The post How to Safely Store Crypto? appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/money/cryptocurrency/how-to-safely-store-crypto/

Microsoft Ads announces major policy updates that start July 1

Microsoft is urging marketers to review and adjust their ad campaigns as it prepares to roll out a major policy update.

Advertisers can expect big changes to their Microsoft Advertising accounts in the coming months, as new policies and resources start being introduced from July 1.

Why we care: Advertisers will potentially need to take action depending on how their brands are impacted by the updates. Microsoft says the changes are set to help marketers reach greater audiences and offer more security for consumers to align with upcoming regulatory changes.

The update comes just two weeks after Microsoft announced advertisers might see a small increase in conversions when it rolls out its new Cross-Device attribution model later this month.

What are the new rules? Microsoft has confirmed additional policy updates which will have a significant impact on marketers working in sectors such as health and gambling: The new policy updates are as follows:

Vitamin and supplement ads are given the green light – The Microsoft Audience Network will now permit vitamin and supplement ads. However, claims must be accurate and truthful. Marketers cannot say that their product “cleanses the liver,” for example. Under the new policy, landing pages must be product pages as opposed to advertorials or video content.
Gambling ads are now approved – Marketers in the gambling and betting sectors can now place ads on the Microsoft Audience Network. However, advertisers must be licensed in the market they wish to reach and have gone through the gambling enablement process to obtain approval.
Gambling ads in Belgium are banned – Microsoft will cooperate with Belgium authorities when it rolls out a ban on gambling advertising. The tech giant has announced it will begin enforcing rules to ensure local laws are adhered to from July 1 and is telling marketers to ensure that they no longer target this market.
Restrictions on gambling ads in Ireland – Microsoft is introducing a watershed on gambling ads in Ireland and is urging marketers to update any relevant ad campaigns that may be impacted. However, an exact date has not yet been confirmed.
Ban on clinical trial ads – From Aug. 1, Microsoft will be rolling out a global ban on ads promoting clinical trials or experimental treatments across all ad types.

How are Microsoft Ads accounts changing? Microsoft has given some insight into how these updates will impact Microsoft Ads accounts:

Ad and ad component disapprovals – including keywords, ad copy and landing pages.
Store or product disapprovals.
A three-strike violation policy – this policy already existed but the tech giant has explained its rules in more detail.
Immediate suspension penalty for egregious violations – this policy already existed but Microsoft has provided more clarity as to how these violations are classified.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

What has Microsoft said? The company said the changes are meant to provide greater visibility for advertisers and users.

“We will be updating some of our advertising policies with a focus on helping you reach greater audiences for some products and services. Some updates will help further protect those who use our products and services, and some updates will align with upcoming regulatory changes. We are also making updates to our policy pages to provide better alignment on some policy areas by moving content to different pages or adding examples and clarity where needed.”

Deeper dive: For more information on Microsoft’s policy changes, read its Advertising Policy here.

The post Microsoft Ads announces major policy updates that start July 1 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/microsoft-ads-policy-updates-428448