Importance of Business Networking in Improving Profitability.

Success in business has more to do with investing in relationships and not just money. When you think of it, people are the most valuable asset for any business. Building networks is about increasing and strengthening professional and personal relationships. After all, succeeding in business is about the ability to work with others who share your values and passions.

In addition to building relationships, business networking results in greater profitability for the business. Here is how it works.

1. Better Opportunities

Building powerful business networks with industry leaders may lead to better opportunities in terms of business and jobs. After all, business leaders are more likely to enter important transactions with people they have met before and whom they trust. With the big deals, you will end up with huge profits. This is the reason you should never tire when it comes to seeking exclusive networking opportunities.

2. Business Leads

Through networking, you will be able to acquire fresh business leads. All you need to do is to leverage the contacts you make after meeting people. There is no better way to get new business opportunities. When you start following up on the leads, do so professionally. Don’t badger people for business. Be courteous and time your message perfectly. When you get to convert the leads, your business will definitely improve.

3. Learning about Best Practices

Through the networks you build, it is possible to identify industry benchmarks or business best practices. The idea is to learn from what others do. If you have a retail shop, you can find out what inventory management software your competitors are using. Once you do, try the same in your business and watch as your business improves and profits grow.

How to Build Business Networks From Scratch

To succeed in business, you need to build a strong network of like-minded people. The problem is how to do it. While some people find it easy to connect with people, others have to try very hard. If you are in the latter group, here are a few helpful tips.

1. Attend Relevant Social Functions

To build networks, you have to go out of your way to make friends. It isn’t as tough as you might think. Just be social and you will start to build your network. So, go to meet-ups, join a country club or attend seminars related to your business niche. When there’s a major industry event happening, attend. Have plenty of business card on hand, make brand new professional connections, and expand your network.

2. Social Media

Some people believe that the connections you make on social media are not real. They are wrong. When it comes to building networks in this day and age social media contacts are essential. If you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, connect with your contacts. Participate in forums and groups, make regular posts, “like”, “share”, and publish articles. By engaging in activities that show how “social” you are, you will gain and build trust. In the end, these contacts will become your major business leads. If you have the means consider outsourcing some of the grunt work of social media activity by subscribing to a social media management companies such as Social Pilot, Crowdfire, or Socialoomph.

So what are you doing to build your networks? The earlier you start the easier and better it will become.

Make Money While you Sleep: Affiliate Marketing

What if you were able to make money while you sleep? In today’s highly digitized world, that is possible in a variety of ways including affiliate marketing. It is not fiction. Over 84 percent of publishers and 81 percent of brands are already using the power of affiliate marketing to market their products.

The statistics don’t stop there. Every year, spending on affiliate marketing increases by 10.1 percent or more, and by 2020 the figure is expected to hit $6.8 billion. In 2018, content marketing generated 3 times the leads by traditional marketers. With 10 percent of Amazon sales going to content marketers from March 2017, opportunities of affiliates to make passive income has never been greater.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing refers to a method of marketing products by putting out content on websites and earning an income in the process. The person who does this is known as an affiliate marketer. His or her work is to search for products with the aim of promoting them. The affiliate is then paid part of the profit from the sales.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

We shall look at this from the perspective of the content creator, who in this case is the owner of the affiliate marketing business. An affiliate or publisher can be a company or an individual. He or she looks for the most appealing ways to market the products of the seller. His work is to persuade customers by explaining the benefits and value of a particular product. When the consumer buys the product, the affiliate gets part of the generated revenues.

In most cases, affiliates will market products to specific audiences. The content, as well as the products they promote, have to be in line with the needs of these audiences. Since the affiliate has a personal brand with defined followers, the people who read his or her content is more likely to buy the product.

Here’s how it works:

• You have to register as an affiliate or publisher or a particular product or service. Popular places to register include Amazon Affiliates,  Click Bank, and Commision Junction.  There are also  several affiliate programs associated with numerous companies.  Many have an affiliate or partner link somewhere on the company website.

• When creating content on your blog, site, or social media, include a link to the product.

• When your readers click on the link to buy, you will earn a commission. Affiliates get paid in three ways: pay per sale, pay per lead or pay per click. In pay per sale, you will earn a percentage of the price of the product, which is the most common.

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Among the biggest reasons to join affiliate marketing is the opportunity to earn a passive income. It is not like a regular job in which you have to be always active. Once you publish your work, you will keep receiving an income. In other words, you don’t have to sit in front of a computer to earn money.

For an affiliate marketing business, there are no start-up fees. Because of its low cost, affiliate marketing is easy to start. Affiliate programs such as Amazon Associates and Click Banks do not charge any fees.

Quick Tips

If you are an influencer or blogger, try affiliate marketing. What you need is to develop a rapport with your audience and then start promoting products and services through reviews. Stay current with the trends and carefully choose your campaigns. You will never go wrong with affiliate marketing.

Profitable Business Anyone Can Start: Drop shipping

What Is Drop Shipping?

Looking for a hassle-free business idea that can make you a lot of money? Why don’t you try drop shipping? It works in a very simple way. A customer makes an order for some products. The retailer instructs a manufacturer or wholesaler so supply the products directly to the customer. In short, the retailer is able to fulfill the customer’s order without having any products in-store.

Since it removes the need for handling goods, drop shipping is a good business for online entrepreneurs, looking for a hands-off way of making money. It is less demanding than traditional retailing since the trader doesn’t need a brick-and-mortar store. Also, you don’t need to stock products or pay overheads. Instead, from an online store, you fulfill customer orders by having them fulfilled directly by manufacturers or wholesalers with storage space.

It is not surprising that many people are opting to get into drop shipping. Unlike a brick-and-mortar retail business, does not require a lot of money to start. Importantly, it is possible to build a sustainable business in the long run armed with nothing but a laptop. So as to understand the benefits of drop-shipping, we need to give it a more detailed look.

Does Not Require a Lot of Capital

To reiterate, starting a drop shipping business requires little or no capital. With a small amount, you can easily start this type of business. So long as you have a laptop, you can have a business up and running. For instance, you don’t need to rent a physical store or buy inventory. The manufacturer or wholesaler is the one who has to grapple with that.

High-Profit Potential

The profit potential of a drop shipping business is very high. This emanates from the fact that the costs of running the business are very minimal. It involves less handling of products. In fact, it is the wholesaler or manufacturer who is tasked with transporting the goods to the client. Because of that, the products have a high-profit margin.

Marketing via Social Media

You don’t need a website to market the business to potential clients. With a simple laptop of mobile phone, you can easily reach potential customers on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The good thing with social media is that it costs very little to put out messages about your products. All you need is time and an internet connection to reach your target audience.

Flexibility

One of the biggest advantages of drop shipping is that it is highly flexible. Since you own it, you are tasked with setting your own rules. You can choose whether you want to work from home or anywhere else. Since you have the freedom to work when it is most convenient, drop shipping is a very convenient option. Instead of following rules set by other people, you chart your own path. Also, you have a lot of room for making working decisions. If you want to list new products or delist existing ones, it is up to you.

Clearly, drop shipping is worth trying. You can either approach it as a full-time business or one of your side hustles. The ball is in your court.