Lately, many aspiring entrepreneurs are drawn to the idea of starting their own online business. Setting up a digital business can be challenging and there are several points to consider before venturing into it. Apart from the dos, certain don’ts must be avoided to make the process of setting up online businesses seamless. Here are some mistakes to be avoided to keep your online business afloat and ensure that it succeeds with time. Lack of ample market research Understanding one’s market before launching a business ideal, as knowing that your idea is viable and will help you mint money is essential. Ample research can help better understand one’s prospective customers and formulate tactics to learn how to reach them. Being short of a solid business plan A plan of action is one of the prerequisites to consider before starting an online business, and the absence of it makes a startup a recipe for disaster. Important points such as operational costs, target audience and many other things constitute a business plan. Not having a defined target audience Every business has its own target audience who will benefit most from using its products or services. It is vital to understand and define that group of people and market the business to them for better results.

In today’s globalized world, phone and video calls are indispensable means of business communication. However, many make communication errors that can affect their reputation and professional relationships. In addition to paying attention and responding politely, you should try to master the skills required for handling client concerns on calls. If you want your calls with clients and colleagues to be smooth and productive, here are a few common errors to avoid during business calls.  Being unprepared Not preparing before answering or making a call is one of the most serious mistakes to avoid. Looking up the company or individual, you are calling, gathering relevant data, and making a list of key points to discuss are crucial steps in making business phone calls. Not doing your due diligence could make you seem less confident and unable to effectively convey your message. Not introducing yourself Failing to introduce yourself can confuse people and make them uncomfortable continuing the conversation. So, mention your and the organization’s name at the start of the conversation to ensure everyone on the call knows who is on the other end. Not focusing on the discussion Talking too often, zoning out, and not paying attention to the conversation are signs of ineffective communication.

A POS (point-of-sale) system is used in retail stores to manage transactions. Earlier, POS systems were fairly simple and would generally only include cash registers. However, with the advancement of technology, these systems now also include a combination of hardware and software, such as barcode scanners, card readers, cash drawers, and receipt printers. Some simple POS systems can include as little as a credit card scanner connected to a tablet. What does a POS system do? Scans items with ease When a customer decides to make a purchase at a physical store, a POS system can assist in completing the transaction. This may occur via a sales associate who uses a barcode scanner to look up the item’s price or using a scanner via your phone camera. When shopping online, adding items to the cart initiates the purchase process. Calculates the price of the item The POS also calculates the final price of the item, including any discounts, offers, or taxes to be added. It then digitally updates your inventory to mark the item as sold. Allows multiple payment options Next, it is time to make the payment. Depending on the POS used, customers can use their credit card, tap card, debit card, loyalty points, gift card, or cash to pay.

Using banners is an efficient way to promote a business and its offerings. The design of a banner can significantly influence how potential customers and clients perceive a company and its offerings, so it’s necessary to get it right. Elements such as visual appeal, presentation of information, and amount of information conveyed all play a key role. To help businesses improve their banner designs, here are some common mistakes to avoid. Incorrectly spelled words and typos Typos, misspellings, and grammar mistakes represent the rookie errors one could make while designing a banner. Typos leave a wrong impression on viewers, especially when they see it on a reputed site. Additionally, such mistakes can completely negate all the effort that copywriters, designers, publishers, and media teams put into conceptualizing, ideating, and creating a banner. Spelling mistakes also badly derail the messaging aspect of a banner. For instance, consider a situation where the term “mother’s destiny” on a healthcare-based product is misspelled as “mother’s density.” The audience will simply not get what the banner is trying to convey. Moreover, typos and grammar errors on a banner also make the viewing audience feel that the business does not care enough for its image in the public eye.

Building a business takes a lot of time, money, and effort. Thus, it is no surprise that companies want to protect their intellectual and financial investments by applying for trademark registration. A trademark is defined as an intellectual property (symbol, logo, words, or phrases) legally registered to identify products or services from a particular entity. This article enlists nine common mistakes one must avoid making when registering a trademark: Not filing for trademark protection The reach of the ™ symbol (also known as the common law trademark) is limited to the geographic boundaries of one’s company. To protect this trademark, one must register their company with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). To do so, file a trademark application with the organization. Upon receiving a trademark grant from them, businesses can use the ® symbol. Forgetting to research similar trademarks According to USPTO guidelines, it is advisable to scroll through their trademark filing database. This gives companies a better idea of trademarks that have been registered, applied, are in use, or those that have been canceled or abandoned. It is important to note that company taglines also qualify for trademark registration and must be checked thoroughly before applying. Not having a distinctive trademark Filing for a trademark is a tedious as well as expensive process.

Freight factoring, also known as trucking or transportation factoring, allows a financial institution or a factoring company to receive invoices from a trucking company at a discount, turning them into immediate cash. It is a way for businesses to get faster payments for their services. Trucking companies don’t have to wait for months to get payments, and they can continue to offer their services. Here’s what one needs to know about freight factoring: What it is Trucking companies would go bankrupt and have to cease their operations if all their customers did not pay them on time and provided them with outstanding invoices. However, trucking companies rely on freight factoring to keep their operations running seamlessly throughout the year. Besides trucking companies, many other businesses offset their credit risks by using freight factoring. Certain specialized organizations, known as freight factoring companies, offer to pay cash to trucking companies and other supply chain businesses in exchange for unpaid invoices received from their respective clients. With the liquid cash received, trucking companies can resume their business operations unabated. Later, when the invoices are due for payment (after 30, 60, or 90 days), the clients of the trucking companies pay the invoice amounts to the factoring company.

  Managing payroll can be a complex affair that demands a lot of effort, documentation, and tracking. The ever-changing rules and guidelines have made the modern payroll management landscape more complicated than ever. As a result, errors arise that could result in delays in payments for employees, which may hurt businesses and prove costly for owners. To manage payroll processes more effectively, take a look at some common payroll mistakes and simple ways to avoid them.  Misclassifying employees and contractors  Every business must carefully categorize its employees (as employees or independent contractors) to dock the right pay. Errors while doing this result in having to look through old payment records to make adjustments to employee pay. It could lead to dissent among the team and cost the business. Moreover, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employees must get overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 hours per week unless they are explicitly classified as exempt. Making errors here could lead to FLSA-related fines for employers. To manage this, hire reputed payroll service providers and avoid listing freelancers as employees. Only hire contractors and freelancers through leasing companies to avoid any penalties for misclassification. Making calculation errors Making errors in payroll calculations can also cost businesses money and labor.

Trucking businesses need a billing system to help keep track of shipment loads, amounts, and other variables. Freight bill factoring is a practice that makes up a significant part of the trucking business. It allows businesses to sell their invoices to another person for cash. However, this, and some other practices, make companies vulnerable to freight billing fraud. Scammers take advantage of lenient company verification processes and their billing activities and commit the following frauds. Layering for funds Fraudsters employ this method of cheating when they want to make it difficult for their activities to be detected. In this practice, they try to interconnect some fraudulent and authentic transactions that can help create confusion for the company they are dealing with. The layering technique is employed to divert the companies’ attention from the actual fraud and confuse them with smaller, less prominent activities. These multiple fraudulent activities are intertwined together, making it complicated for the company to trace where the activities are originating from. They might have to deal with more than a handful of false transactions. Thus, companies should have robust systems that can help them monitor and analyze every transaction. It might help them unravel the knots and find the starting point of these complications.

Shipping makes life easier for consumers as it facilitates the delivery of goods and helps businesses expand their reach. But even a single error with shipping can result in a waste of time and money and possible loss of customers for businesses. Hence, shippers must be very careful while shipping products across long distances. Streamlining shipping processes is a must to increase efficiency and send goods across on time. Here are some common shipping mistakes to avoid: Not packing the parcel properly Sometimes, shippers overlook the importance of packaging, especially if the product is sturdy and not likely to break. But no matter how strong the product is, proper packaging ensures it reaches the recipient in good condition. It is usually easy to identify if a product has been packaged properly or needs a different packaging solution. For example, the product may hang out of the pallet on which it is shipped, which means that a pallet of a bigger size is needed. Stacking items methodically can help fit all the products securely in a package. One should use other packaging items like bands and stretch wraps if necessary. Writing incorrect information on the Bill of Lading Shippers need to mention details of their shipments and provide their signatures in a Bill of Lading (BOL) document.

Digital signage uses display technologies such as LCD monitors and multi-screen setups to showcase marketing content, videos, webpages, digital images, and more. It is a big part of brand communication and marketing today and requires ample backend work, such as mounting systems and installing software. Most of this is done by digital signage providers. Since digital signage is vital to reaching one’s target audience, businesses must choose the right service provider to communicate their message. Here are some of the common mistakes that can be avoided when putting up digital signage and choosing a digital signage provider: 1. Failing to define objectives It is essential to note down the objectives of digital signage. Some of the questions individuals must ask themselves include: what are the marketing goals of this medium, what is the target audience for this communication, is there a specific type of content that needs to be displayed, and have we identified the hotspots for these digital signages? These questions help to narrow down the objectives and create a clear plan of action that will give the best return on investment. Once these discussions are locked, individuals can easily communicate with the digital signage provider, and they can help with the right solutions that will not create any miscommunication.