The Talkroute Blog

Email is a somewhat unique and interesting form of electronic communication because it was one of the first ways that people utilized the Internet on a mass scale and is still in wide use today. While social media platforms and messaging tools come and go, email has remained popular through those transitions. Why Email Hasn’t Changed Much There have been some improvements to email over the years, but the general function and experience of it is basically the same as it was when it came out. In fact, when Internet access was first made available to the public, not many people saw it as being very useful for anything beyond something simple like email. In the beginning, visiting websites and using live messaging services, for example, were considered by most to be more of a novelty than an essential utility, as we know it today. But even though nearly every …

  There’s no judgment here, whatsoever, but you’re in the minority if you don’t have a blog attached to your business’ website.   You may have noticed other businesses with blogs and wondered why they are bothering with it. Here’s the basic function and purpose of a blog for your business.   The Mainstay of Content Marketing Content marketing encompasses quite a few different elements which can work together to promote your business online. The mainstay, however, is a blog. If you don’t have a decent website, first of all, then you’re already shooting yourself in the foot. Creating a website is Step #1. Then, your second order of business should be adding a blog, or even multiple blogs. But, start with one.   Why Does Every Business Have a Blog Now? Probably the two best ways to market your business today, no matter what size it is, are blogs …

We’re all familiar with cloud data backup services, but how many of us actually use those services? A lot of us do use them because a variety of cloud backup providers still have quite a few customers. They’ve been around for a while now, taking individuals’ and businesses’ data and storing all that information on their own servers. Let’s take a look at why the service is so successful and whether we should be giving them our data. Why Do We Need It? “Need” is a strong word, but we definitely have use for these services. Like many other services, they essentially give you the opportunity to pay them to do something that you don’t have the time to do, yourself. When you can’t cut your grass yourself, you can hire a company to do it for you; when you don’t feel like backing up all of your documents, you …

  Podcasts can be very tricky. Like any other up and coming medium, there are a ton of people creating their own podcasts to try and break into the limelight and get an audience to tune into whatever their content is, which obviously means fierce competition. You can make it work for your business, but of course, there is some strategy to it.   A Little History of Podcasting Podcasts are something of a phenomenon today, but they’re by no means a new thing. They have been available basically since smartphones have existed and have developed over the years, only recently advancing significantly and gaining serious momentum through YouTube, social media, and still-increasing interest from audiences. There were only a few podcasts in the beginning, but now you can find one that focuses on virtually any subject, ranging from education, to entertainment, to comedy, to just absolute nonsense. Many celebrities …

  At some particular point in your life, you decide that you are going to be an entrepreneur. You thought about it for a long time, maybe discarded the idea a few times, and then one day, you settle it within yourself that you are going to start a business. At that time, one of the thoughts that may cross your mind is that you need to relocate to some special place where people start businesses. Is that a valid question? And if so, where would that place be?   The Question of Location To begin with, this question is probably irrelevant, but there are business fields that may benefit from operating in a certain area. This would apply to businesses such as local farming supply (not to put too fine a point on it), a recording studio that needs to be close to where the musicians live, or really …

Yes, you should be tweeting about your business. Even though you may have zero interest in Twitter, there is no questioning the amount of influence it has on our culture today, in every capacity. If you aren’t sure how to use it effectively, then you might want to start looking into it. Customers Will Engage with You on Twitter If you’re not familiar with it already, the key to making Twitter work for you is engagement. As far as your business is concerned, it doesn’t matter a whole lot how many people are following your business on Twitter. The number of people who are actively engaging with you on the platform is way more important. If you’re utilizing it properly, then you’ll get comments, questions, and direct messages from the public, which is really what you want because this amounts to social proof. People Are Lazy Yes, you could argue …

  Even the most professional people can have trouble starting their day on time. It typically stems from a couple of wrong moves right at the beginning, causing a domino effect that can set back your entire day. By correcting those things from the time you wake up, it’s quite possible to begin every day like clockwork.   1. Start Thinking About Tomorrow, Today When you’re finishing up for the day, you’re most likely putting work behind you and out of your mind. That’s actually really healthy, but before you hang it up for the day, take 20 or 30 minutes to go over the next day’s tasks and responsibilities, at least for the first portion of the day. That way, you can anticipate when you realistically need to start, while also minimizing surprises.   2. Learn How to Say No Speaking of those surprises, a lot of them have …