The Talkroute Blog

Including social media in your marketing campaign can significantly amplify the impact of your business’ regular content or latest promotion. If you play your cards right, you can create a snowball effect that puts your content in front of the right people—the ones who will turn into new paying customers. So let’s take a look at the top social media sites, and how you can use each of these to generate new business. Facebook We all know Facebook is an unstoppable, ever-expanding force with a massive collection of people who are constantly active on the site, and constantly sharing and interacting with new content. Though it may not be your first choice to generate leads, it is a great engine to get people talking about your latest content or promotion. This is the place where you can respond to people who are commenting on your post, and due to the …

  What makes one brand of productivity software stand out from others? There are variables that determine what kind of operating tools will make work easier and more efficient, but the vast majority of businesses are going to choose software based on simplicity, connectivity, practicality, and universality—and these are the qualities that Google, Microsoft, and others are taking great pains to provide. The already established trend towards using cloud-based operating software is not surprising, due to the growing need for seamless communication across all platforms and borders as more and more business is conducted online and remotely, which is where Google has put its best foot forward, and Microsoft is following suit with Office 365.   Give Office 365 a Try The best way to decide what software works better for you is to simply try both, or should I say, try Office 365 because you’re probably less familiar with …

Selection/Options WORDPRESS This site-building tool has always been based around the core value of allowing anyone to start their own blog for free, which is the main distinction between them and Squarespace. With nearly 400 different themes to choose from, you can build your site as basic or as meticulous as you prefer, and if you know some code or learn to use the tools provided with your account, you’ll have considerable freedom to customize your design. At the same time, this platform was created for bloggers, not businesses; so, even though you can create a perfectly functional business site through WP, the themes they provide may be a little lackluster if your goal is to impress customers. SQUARESPACE Although a limited selection of templates are provided, the ones they do have are sleek, simple, and functional, with business sensibility in mind. The idea seems to be: Give people the …

Online retail will generate at least $330 billion for 2015, and that number is always growing, even to the point of eventually overtaking the conventional world of retail—that’s 330 billion reasons to optimize digital payments for your business. There are now quite a few digital payment providers to choose from, but among the front-runners are Google, Amazon, and of course, PayPal. Like any competing service providers, they all operate basically in the same way, while each one offers distinctive features that set them apart. We’ve given each service our own rating for overall performance. Let’s take a look at the Big 3, and you can decide for yourself which one may be right for your business. Google Wallet/Android Pay There are virtually no fees associated with setting up an account, but you will quickly find that going through the process of getting that “Buy with Google” button on your checkout …

Moving Forward: The Trending Market 2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year with a continued emphasis on social media activity, an exciting economic future, and promising spending trends. If you haven’t already, it is an absolute must to establish active profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which will become increasingly important as social media companies expand and consumers continue to make buying choices based on the content. Concerning the economy, there are varied projections concerning what it will look like in the near future, but the consensus is largely optimistic that the economy remains healthy and growing as unemployment rates steadily decrease and consumer spending remains stable. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that the global economy will grow by 3.1 percent in 2016–a modest improvement, but decidedly stable, nonetheless. Backing up this figure, Fortune magazine predicted in their December issue, “ a slow but steady global economic …

If you own a business, then you probably have a website; if your business has a website, then it probably contains some kind of a blog. A blog can be a tremendous delivery system to educate your customers, promote your content, and bring in new business. There is, however, one element that a lot of heavy-hitters in the blogosphere are calling into question—the comments section. Here’s why. It’s Tough to Moderate Creating a conversation about the subject matter in your content is all well and good… actually, it’s really well and really good—it keeps us honest and helps us stay connected with potential customers. The thing is, we may have unwittingly created a monster. People commenting on the material can be ill-advised, mislead, and even mean-spirited. One person does not represent an entire community, but that one commenter can easily influence the whole group and completely distort what was actually …