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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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Honey Lime Vinaigrette Dressing

Use this Honey Lime Vinaigrette recipe as a marinade for grilled chicken or seafood, or as a dressing for your next salad. Fresh and delicious!

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get back in the salad again. Although soup really is one of my g0-to favorite ways to fill up (any time of the year), salads are high up on the list as well (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while then you probably know how much I love salad by now!). Old Bay Salmon CakesRemaining Time -0:57

Obviously fresh salad ingredients are important when getting back into the salad making mood. For me, the salad dressing is equally important. Although I do occasionally pick up a bottle of dressing from the store, I find that I am more into eating salads when I make my own dressing at home. It tastes better that’s for sure and once you get back into the habit of making them, they truly are simple as can be.

How do you store homemade vinaigrette?

This is probably one of the most asked questions I’ve come across when it comes to homemade salad dressings. It’s best to store homemade dressing in a sealed container in the refrigerator. I like to use up my salad dressing within 3-4 days while it’s fresh, but it should be fine refrigerated up to a week.

Always shake up the dressing in the container to mix up the ingredients well before serving. If oil solidifies while in the fridge (sometimes oil can do that when it’s cold), just let it sit out a bit to get to room temperature and shake it up well.

I love to use small jelly jars to make and store my vinaigrettes in. You can find them at Target or Walmart and usually at hardware stores too. Of course, you can look on Amazon as well.

You could easily use this vinaigrette as a marinade for chicken or to drizzle over broiled fish and serve with Cilantro Lime Vegetables and Fiesta Lime Rice for a light meal.

This homemade citrus dressing is guaranteed to get you back into the salad making mood again, it really will. And if you are in a part of the country that is cold and covered in snow, I promise it will brighten up any winter blues that might be starting to settle in.

Enjoy!

Use this Honey, Garlic and Lime Vinaigrette as a marinade for grilled chicken or seafood, or a dressing for your next salad. Fresh and delicious!

Ingredients

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 garlic clove, pressed or finely minced

pinch coarse salt and pepper

Instructions

Add all ingredients into a jar. Shake until combined.

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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12 plants that create positive energy in your home

Plants are used for a variety of reasons. When it comes to decorating the interior of a home, plants are an affordable solution. This is because they significantly improve the flow of positive energies. Do you know that in homes, there are often more negative energies than positive ones? According to research, there are plants that, present in a house, can turn negative energies into positive energies. Do you want to know them? Here are 12. They have been carefully selected to help you understand what they can bring to the comfort of your home.

Research in the field of phytotherapy has made it possible to know the virtues of plants. Here are some plants that, installed at home, will have an excellent impact on your well-being.

1 – The Lily of Peace The Lily of Peace is an excellent promoter of physical and spiritual well-being. It is a plant that has a great ability to purify the air. It annihilates the negative energies. This helps to perfect the quality of the energy circulating around him. Unlike rosemary, it must be kept in a dark place. When placed in a bedroom, the lily of peace allows for peaceful nights.

2- Aloe Vera This plant gives off a very good positive energy. This is a bulwark against negative energies. It offers great healing properties. To benefit the best of its effects, you must place it judiciously. She must have a good light. Protect it, however, from direct sunlight.

3- Jasmine Jasmine is very popular for its ability to improve the energy around you . It is a plant with a sweet smell. When it is well planted outside, it brings a lot of positive. When placed near a south-facing window, jasmine offers better features for attracting positive energies into a home. Did you know that you can strengthen marital ties just by having a jasmine on your yard? When the tension rises sometimes between the members of a couple, it is enough to contemplate the splendor of a jasmine and to smell its pleasant odor during a time to appease the restless spirits.

4- The Crassula Crassula is a particular plant. According to the designs of Feng Shui , she is able to provide you with fortune. Fortune comes while sleeping. According to this art, we can also say that fortune comes by having a crassula in his room! It is also a plant that can reduce stress and negative ideas. To promote the action of crassula at home, it must be placed in front of a corner of your room. He will have to be less exposed to the sun.

5- Sage Given the beneficial effects it can have on humans, we should find a sage in each home. It calms anger and soothes fear. It has several medicinal properties. Sage is a good option to improve the flow of positive energies in your homes. However, avoid exposure to strong sunlight.

6- Rosemary Rosemary has great medicinal properties. It allows for example to improve the physical and mental health. It can perfectly remove the negative energies from your home and offers excellent results when used against fatigue or insomnia. It needs to be in a place exposed to sunlight.

7- The Sacred Basilisk Holy basil, sacred plant! Its therapeutic virtues are enormous. It has powerful antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It is a plant that also releases a large amount of oxygen. This allows him to absorb the harmful gases that circulate in the vicinity. It offers better results when it is oriented to the north, northeast or east.

8- The Orchid The orchid has a delicate and very pleasant fragrance. This attracts positive energy while improving the energy flow in your room. Watching it closely, it releases a good amount of oxygen in the evening, which makes it the ideal plant in the rooms.

9- English ivy English ivy is a plant that grows as it rises. It is very practical to embellish your small spaces. Well installed, it allows a better purification of the ambient temperature. Its greatest asset is that it helps to divert the negative energies of your premises.

10- Chrysanthemum In Feng Shui, this plant is the living symbol of longevity. Do you want to live long? Do not miss a chrysanthemum in your room. It has many healing properties that allow it to eliminate harmful gases from the air around it. It also promotes serenity. It should be stored in a place far away from direct sunlight. It must also be watered frequently.

11- Thyme Since ancient times, thyme has been used to hunt down negative waves. Having it at home brings more serenity to all your rooms. It effectively fights bad luck. This is what earned him the nickname “purifying plant”. It also helps to strengthen your self-esteem.

12 – Bamboo of luck Bamboo conservation of luck is very simple. Just place it in a container filled with 5 cm of distilled water. It is very beneficial when it is protected from direct sunlight. This plant is commonly used as a symbol of good fortune attraction. According to a tradition of this continent, this plant represents wood and water which are two elements likely to have great impacts on the life of man.

To finish There are many plants that can drive negative waves out of your homes to attract positive energies. Whatever your choice, you will be satisfied with the result. Do not miss to place one of these plants at home because the game is worth the candle.

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source https://cheap-store.website/blog/12-plants-that-create-positive-energy-in-your-home/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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Do you remember this thing called “hunger”?

Remember your wheat- and grain-consuming days when you would:

Be hungry just an hour or two after eating?

Be persuaded by a dietitian that consuming “many small meals every two hours throughout the day” seemed logical and necessary?

Count the minutes until your next meal?

Have a big plate of pasta until your stomach was filled to bursting but wanted more?

Would shove people out of the way at the all-you-can-eat buffet?

Would get furious if your order at the restaurant took more than five minutes to serve?

Experience turbulent and uncomfortable rumbling of your stomach when you hadn’t had something to eat for more than three or four hours?

Would experience angry outbursts at the family if a meal was delayed?

Piled your grocery cart high with products if you shopped while hungry?

These are the phenomena familiar to wheat/grain-consuming people, an aggressive and frequent hunger that shapes behavior and personality. These experiences influence eating schedules, shopping habits, cooking, interactions with family and friends, and, of course, weight and health.

In the Wheat Belly lifestyle in which we banish all wheat and grains and thereby gliadin-derived opioid peptides that stimulate appetite, appetite is dramatically reduced. Even though I never advise people to limit or reduce calories, food intake drops, typically resulting in 400-800 fewer calories taken in per day, every day—without hunger. This accounts for the cost savings many people enjoy on this lifestyle, even though we gravitate towards higher quality food. If a family of four experiences a 400 calorie per person, per day reduction in food intake, that’s 1600 calories per day, 48000 calories per month that you don’t have to shop for or buy.

Couple the marked reduction in appetite that develops with removal of gliadin-derived opioid peptides with unrestricted consumption of fats and oils, the additional reduction in appetite that occurs with medium-chain triglycerides, MCTs, and the oxytocin boost we obtain with L. reuteri yogurt, and you are given magnificent and total control over appetite. Good food still tastes great, of course, but you are completely freed from temptation, impulse, impatience, anxiety, desperation, etc., all the perverse behaviors of modern, hungry, grain-consuming humans. You eat for sustenance and enjoyment, not to fulfill the perverted impulses generated by the modern diet-gone-bad created by corrupt national dietary guidelines, misguided dietitians and doctors, and Big Food and Agribusiness hungry for your dollars.

If you experience any hunger at all on this lifestyle, it is more of a soft reminder that you might consider eating something over the next few hours, a very different feeling than the urgent desperation of the grain consumer. This is why people often ask “What if I’m never hungry?” “Is eating one meal per day enough?” Or it makes intermittent fasting or following a time-restricting meal pattern effortless and painless. And recall that another benefit of this lifestyle is the heightened taste perception we experience that makes, for instance, almonds taste sweet, candy overwhelming and sickeningly sweet, a restoration of normal human taste perception.

To be reminded of how powerful these effects can be, just note the behavior of wheat/grain-consuming friends and family at a restaurant or holiday dinner. You will see how your food choices are more purposeful, less desperate, with no urgency involved, while friends and family butter their rolls as they impatiently await the appetizer or main course, eat portion sizes far beyond the quantity needed, hungrily eye all the dishes, not quite satisfied even when done. They might observe your apparent restraint, maybe even complimenting you on your willpower. But you will know that it has nothing to do with restraint or willpower, but a lack of the desperate hunger they all experience, a contentment and satisfaction that comes from the elimination of abnormal impulses.

The post Do you remember this thing called “hunger”? appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/do-you-remember-this-thing-called-hunger/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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Festive Thanksgiving Cocktails

All the Festive Thanksgiving Cocktails your heart desires! You’ve got your Turkey Day menu planned, but don’t forget about the drinks! From hot cocktails to refreshing drinks on ice to the most festive mocktails, we’ve got you covered.

Whether you’re looking for hot cocktails to sip on or refreshing cold cocktails, we got you! From mulled wine to hot apple cider to refreshing infused waters and everything in between, you’ll never be at a loss for cocktail (and mocktail!) ideas again.

Our Fave Thanksgiving Cocktails

You’ve got your menu planned, but now it’s time to decide what to bring to drink! From festive hot cocktails to mocktails to refreshing chilled cocktails and more, these fun Thanksgiving cocktails will leave you with too many drink options and not enough time — read on, friends!

Hot Drinks

There’s nothing like sipping on a toasty drink in the fall or winter, and we’ve got everything from hot apple ciders to hot toddies to spiked hot chocolate and more.

Spiked Apple Cider

This Spiked Apple Cider is a boozy twist on our traditional apple cider recipe that’s been a Fall favorite for years. Make a large batch to serve a crowd, or pour a single serve spiked cider tonight. Cheers!

Dairy Free Spiked Hot Chocolate

Spiked hot chocolate?! YES PLEASE! You’re going to love this dairy free hot chocolate recipe because it’s spiked with a little bit of amaretto and made with almond milk and maple syrup!

Festive Hot Toddies

Warm your soul with this homemade hot toddy recipe! This adult beverage mixes the hot toddy ingredients of cinnamon whiskey, apple cider, and citrus for a delicious winter drink. It is the perfect winter cocktail for any occasion!

Spiced Raspberry Mulled Wine

With just a few simple ingredients you can make your guests this delicious, spicy raspberry mulled wine. This raspberry mulled wine recipe is perfect for a cool Fall day or the holidays!

Decadent Spiked Coconut Hot Chocolate

This decadent, spiced coconut hot chocolate is made with full-fat coconut milk, a mixture of warm spices, and maple syrup. It’s both vegan and paleo-friendly, perfect for the health-minded people out there!

Cold Drinks

Ahh, refreshing Thanksgiving cocktails! Whether you’re looking to serve drinks with brunch (hai, bloody mary!) or you’re mulling wine as you cook that turkey, read on for delicious chilled Thanksgiving cocktails you don’t want to miss.

Cranberry Mojitos

Get fancy this holiday season and make these delicious cranberry mojitos. Their festive, easy, and will steal the show with your friends and family!

Easy Red Wine Sangria

We’re sharing an easy sangria recipe that you are going to love! Red wine sangria is made with your favorite Spanish red, orange juice, rum, and tons of sliced citrus.

Bloody Mary Recipe

Start your next weekend brunch off with this bloody mary recipe! Forget those store-bought mixes and make this homemade bloody mary recipe in the comfort of your own home. Don’t forget all the meat sticks, cheese, and fermented goodness that goes along with the perfect bloody mary, too!

Blackberry Moscow Mules

There’s nothing better than an ice-cold Moscow Mule. Who’s with me? Learn how to make our Blackberry Moscow Mule recipe in less than 5 minutes. Plus, we’re sharing which Moscow Mule cups are the absolute best.

Honey Greyhound Cocktail

It’s happy hour time! Make thisHoney Greyhound Cocktail for a refreshing cocktail that is delicious, naturally sweetened, and perfect for a night out on the patio or the perfect cocktail to mix up when you have friends over.

Classic Moscow Mules

With just simple 3 ingredients you can make the most delicious, flavor-filled classic Moscow mules perfect for any evening!

Beermosa

Take your brunch drink up a notch and make a beermosa! Forget the champagne and add mix your favorite beer with some orange juice for the perfect brunch cocktail this holiday season!

Get all cold beverages HERE.

Mocktails and other Non-Boozy Drinks

Festive Thanksgiving cocktails don’t have to be boozy! From refreshing infused waters to chai tea lattes and more, you’ll want to bookmark these recipes to make all holiday season long.

Kombucha Lemonade

Do you love kombucha? Us too! We mixed kombucha with lemonade to create a delicious and refreshing kombucha lemonade. No joke, this kombucha lemonade tastes pretty much like an Arnold Palmer.

4 Fruit Infused Water Recipes

Fruit Infused Water never tasted better! These 4 delicious fruit infused water recipes include pomegranate juice ice cubes for a flavor burst you’ll love. Stay hydrated with these refreshing and easy to make fruit infused waters!

Almond Milk Chai Tea Latte

Whether you are a coffee drinker or a tea drinker, this almond milk chai tea latte is a great source of antioxidants and is a great way for you to get a boost of caffeine! Add this chai tea latte to your morning routine or make yourself a mug for a mid-afternoon snack!

Vegan Chai Hot Chocolate

Vegan Chai Hot Chocolate that’s ready to drink in 5 minutes! This delicious vegan hot chocolate is low calorie, creamy and full of chai flavor. Make this homemade chai hot chocolate recipe today!

Maple Pecan Latte

Who needs to go to a coffee shop when you can make your own luscious latte at home without an espresso machine! You’re going to love this DIY Maple Pecan Latte made with cold brew and almond milk creamer.

Hashtag with us!

The post Festive Thanksgiving Cocktails appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/festive-thanksgiving-cocktails/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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Becoming A Travel Writer

Imagine this – you have been writing for years. From the desk in your office. You look at the same plants, the same books, and the same view from your window for years. You write about a lot of things, it is your job, and you love it.

And your area of expertise means that you can work from anywhere, you are wanted, you have steady work, but you’re not challenged. You want to branch out.

So it might just be time to take your skills on the road and position yourself as a travel writer.

Easier said than done? Maybe, but here are some tips that can help you get started.

Travel

Shock! Yes, in order to be a travel writer, you need to travel. You need to go to multiple locations and check them out. But not check them out on a base level – it needs to be more profound than that. You need to know the culture, the best food, the hidden gems – the temperament of the people. Which is tough if you are only in one place for a few short days.

Think ‘base’. Consider that you might just need to create or buy a base in some continents, that allow you to travel around but always have a ‘home’ to come back to. An excellent way to decide on your first location is to check out things like new property launch or housing developments. This will give you time to check them out in advance, time to wrap up at home and get ready for the big adventure.

Write

You already write, so this won’t be any different for you. And of course, you need to keep the clients you have because they pay the bills (or the airfare soon). But you need to make space in your life to write about travel and culture now. Set up a space online, buy the hosting and the domain, and begin working on the foundations of your travel writing space. This is also the time to check out different travel magazines and pitch that you’ll be in X location for a while and would love to cover Y story.

Things To Consider

While you might be incredibly well versed in writing about films, food or investments – food may not be your forte just yet. Consider a travel writing course, you might be able to find a great one online that will give you the tools you need to get started. You might want to invest in some gear too. Below we touch on photography, but there are some other things that can make this much easier for you. A dictaphone is probably going to be a must – because a notebook and pencil aren’t always around and transcribing, later on, is pretty great because you can hear the atmosphere and the tone of your voice. A great backpack – light with plenty of pockets. The book that almost all travel writers recommend is Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing. But if you want some super inspiration check out anything by Anthony Bourdain.

Gramatikally Currect & No Speeling Mistakes

This is going to be essential for your whole career. As we’ve said before you have been writing for a while, so you know the drill. Research, draft, writer, edit, remove, proof and check again. But you want this to be bigger, to be more. So you need to find a style and tone that is so ‘you’ that people fall in love with your writing and could pick out your piece without the by-line. Quality matters, grammar matters, spelling matters… so do your best to get it right.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Photographs

Along with your words, you are going to need to produce beautiful photographs. They will need to tell as much, if not more, of a story. Exceptional photography will get attention and then keep it. The photo can be enough for people to read the whole article. In some cases, travel photography can be as lucrative (if not more) than the writing itself.

If you want to pitch to travel editors then you are going to need a number of photos for every piece that you submit – because they need the images to match the article – and what better to use than the ones that the writer took? Of course, you are going to need to spend some time working on it, and a decent camera – and the right lens, but that comes with time.

Niche

While travel writing is pretty broad, it is worth considering a niche within that. This might be a particular city, or continent, food travel or maybe even budget travel. Think about what you want to achieve with your writing, who you want to inspire, and that will give you all of the key indicators of the niche you should go for. Over time you will position yourself as an expert and be able to pitch that way too.

Industry

It is very important that the information you give is as accurate as possible. The travel industry changes quickly, companies opening and closing – and the protection people get when it happens. You also need to be aware of the information that is being given out by tourist boards in terms of any laws or rules that people need to be aware of before they arrive. It might mean that you have to spend hours reading press releases and updates – but the information you give will have that deep knowledge that will set you firmly in the expert remit.

When it comes to travel writing, you will need to refine and define your style. Know what you want to deliver in terms of content. Have a space to do so when the magazines or bigger travel sites don’t pick up your pitches and consider having more than one base. And remember when you pitch, if you have a series in mind – have more than one piece ready to go – editors move quickly when they find something they like and want to run.

The post Becoming A Travel Writer appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/becoming-a-travel-writer/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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These Top Tips will Help you to Build an Effective Marketing Strategy

Technology is now creating colossal opportunities for marketing, but at the end of the day, there are still some fundamental strategies that are being lost in translation. If you want to make sure that your marketing strategy is the best that it can be, then you can find out everything you need to know, right here.

Determine the Right Target Audience

One of the main important aspects of a marketing strategy is making sure that you are targeting the right audience. You then need to make sure that you fully understand your audience’s expectations too. This will help you to craft a new strategy and it will also help you to make way more money as a result. If you are not sure how to find your target audience, then there are a few things that you can do. The main thing that you need to be focusing on here is market research. For example, if you know that you are going to be targeting fairly young people then you may want to utilise social media. When you do, you can then create the perfect policy and you can also establish yourself as an authoritative leader. At the end of the day, it’s important that you always know who your audience are before you market to them. So many people make the mistake of marketing to everyone, in hopes that one day they will get sales. This may work to some extent, but your strategy won’t be efficient, and you may even find that you are not able to really get your customers hooked on your product or your services.

Create and Document Your Strategy

Marketing departments often revisit or evaluate their techniques and strategies. This is great, but you need to make sure that everyone’s on the same page. When something is changed, your entire team need to know about it because if they don’t then you may find that everyone is not working on the same brief. One way for you to get around this would be for you to invest in a cloud system. When you do, you can then give your entire team access to the same document and you can also help them to understand the changes you’ve made and why. If your marketing team is working from another country, then this would certainly be beneficial with the time zone differences.

Make it Personal

You should always be trying to make your market personal. If you want to keep and retainloyal customers and keep them engaged then you need to try and market on a one-on-one basis. Personal touches can go a long way and they can also help you to drive bigger and better results. As if that wasn’t enough, it can also help you to make a much more personal connection. If you own a restaurant for example, then it’s good to get to know each customer. You might give them their favourite drink for free sometimes or you may even make recommendations on your new menu based on what you know they like. This is a fantastic way for you to relate to your customers and it will also help them to relate to your brand much more. Of course, if you own a standard business then you may feel as though you can’t do this as much, and that’s understandable. There are however other ways for you to show that you care, such as by putting their first name on any emails that you send, by offering them discounts on their birthday or even sending them personalised discount codes when they spend over a certain amount. Remember that the more you reward your customers for their loyalty, the more likely they are to be loyal to you in the future.

Content is King

Content marketing is becoming more and more popular and for a very good reason. If you want your campaign to take off, then you need to make sure that you develop quality content and that you take your time to make sure that it is relevant to your niche. If you don’t then you may end up pushing content that your customers just aren’t interested in, or you may even end up not giving them what they need. If you want to get around this then you need to develop a quality content marketing strategy. You might also want to hire a specialist, or even a copywriter as they will know how to convey the message of your brand without compromise. A lot of small businesses make the mistake of trying to publish their own content, and although it’s true that you know your business more than anyone, you do need to take note that a professional will always be able to get your message across better. If you are insistent on writing your own content, or if you just don’t have the budget to hire someone then this is understandable, but make sure that you do your own research and also make sure that you are aligning your content with your goals. If you do decide to go ahead with in-house marketing then learn how to calculate employee hours so that you can pay everyone fairly and evenly.

Build Great Partnerships

Marketing partnerships really do come with a huge range of benefits. They are also a great way for you to build alliances too. When you are collaborating with someone else, you may find that you are able to create bigger and better content and that you are also able to see success way more quickly. As if that wasn’t enough, you will also be able to connect with a new audience and this will work in your favour by a huge amount. If you are not sure how to partner with anyone then you will be glad to know that LinkedIn can be a fantastic resource. When you do sign up there, you can easily collaborate with some of the top influencers in your industry and you can also tap into a brand-new audience too.

Solve a Problem

Another way for you to build brand loyalty while also providing a solution for your customers would be for you to solve a problem for them. At the end of the day, you are in business because you are able to provide solutions, so why not capitalise on that? Create how-to content, offer exclusives and share your knowledge with other people. The more you can make people’s lives easier, the better.

Never Neglect SEO

If you have never invested in any kind of business SEO before then now is certainly the time for you to start.SEO is a great way for you to cater your marketing strategy to meet the needs of your target customers. Of course, if you want to get the best result out of your strategy then you need to make sure that you target the right keywords and that you also take the time to really focus on the results you want to achieve. The more you can do this, the more sales you’ll get. If you need some help with your SEO then it helps to hire a company, rather than trying to guess what you need to do. After all, one mistake could easily impact your site and you may even find that you end up being blacklisted as a result. This is the last thing that you need when you are trying to run a small business effectively.

Initiate a Forum or Allow Comments on your Blog

It doesn’t matter what product or service you are offering because customers want to be able to interact with your company. If you run a blog, consider having a community forum where people can post their own ideas or even so they can offer you input on how to change your blog for the better. If you are not quite sure how to initiate this on your small business website, then you have nothing to worry about. You can easily have a comment system instead. When you do, you can then get your customer input without having to worry about maintaining even more than just your site.

Get your Other Employees Engaged

If you run a small business then there’s a high chance that your employees are going to be your biggest advocates. Let them become the voice of your company and ask them to film videos for your social media channel. You could post videos of them working around the office, or even them interviewing other influencers in the industry. This will get them more involved with the company and it may even give them the confidence they need to truly excel in the workplace.

Of course, there are so many ways that you can take your brand to that next level and if you follow the above tips then you will soon find that you are able to make the most out of what you have while also stepping up your marketing campaign too.

The post These Top Tips will Help you to Build an Effective Marketing Strategy appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/these-top-tips-will-help-you-to-build-an-effective-marketing-strategy/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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Average eCommerce Conversion Rate: Is your store crashing it?

Understanding the impact of the metrics that affect your business KPIs and applying CRO strategies can positively optimize the Average eCommerce Conversion Rate for any online business.

Just when you have launched your new eCommerce store online and looked at people visiting your page, you realize that most of the people are just surfing your store online. Some of those shoppers may be adding products to their wish lists without making any purchases. This makes you wonder – “what could have gone wrong!”

The conversion from a prospect to a successful sale is one of the toughest purchasing funnels that today’s online retailers are trying to analyze. Digital marketing experts are racking their brains for the newest strategies to make conversion from every customer visiting your online store. However, it would be a little surprising to know that, statistically, the conversion rates are one of the lowest statistical figures today. Even when the reach and convenience is available at the click of a button, it is hard to convince the customers to order from your webshop.

Let’s pull this apart piece by piece and look at it as bare essentials so that you can formulate your own eCommerce conversion rates.

What do you mean by eCommerce conversion rate?

Simply put, conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who make a purchase (or initiate an intended action) online. Mathematically, eCommerce conversion rate is the percentage derived from the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. There are many metrics like traffic sources, new visitor and return visitor category, value per visit and so on to find the exact conversion rate.

This means if you are not converting visitors into buyers, then you do not have much of a game on your online store. You need to constantly keep track of the advertising dollars you spend and how much of that spending is converted into actual sales. By this, you’ll be able to understand how much a real order is costing you. This will help you shape up your marketing strategies.

Tracking the conversion rates also helps you to measure your online store’s performance. This will inadvertently lead to RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) and customer lifetime value analysis. If you get the habit of constantly tracking these metrics, you’ll soon be able to realize which strategies are good for your business. Should you focus on acquiring new users or should you choose to ensure repeat sales by keeping your loyal customers on hand?

When conversion rate analysis is used along with RFM and CLTV measures, it can prove to be a useful tool to gauge the success of your online strategies and other activities used to increase business. It also points out the areas of improvement that are necessary to make your online retail store even more proactive and imitate programs that can increase revenue and growth.

Even an increment in the conversion rate can mean an increase in your sales, so you need to put an effort into reaching the best conversion rate possible!

What is a good eCommerce conversion rate?

There is no one true answer for this question. It varies from industry to industry and a matter of perception. In other words, if there is a scope of improvement to increase revenue then there is always a ‘higher’ limit to a good eCommerce conversion rate (compared to the current or previous rate(s)). A company may have 20% conversion rates but they would still aim for more; that is how businesses work and this goal happens to be one of the driving factors for a thriving and profitable venture.

How to calculate eCommerce conversion rate for your business?

The formula:

Conversion rate = (conversions / total visitors) * 100%

However, you can be specific about conversion rates to focus on a single aspect or get an overall view of your business success. Apart from overall conversion rate, aspects like marketing channel conversion rate, keyword conversion rate, campaign conversion rate, page-level conversion rate and a lot more can be analyzed. This in-turn provides a great way to predict the success of a strategy or the overall progress of a campaign making it a handy way to calculate the success.

Factors affecting good ecommerce conversion rate

At the same time, one has to understand that conversation rate is highly contextual. For instance, an online store selling stores will have a higher conversion rate as compared to a furniture store or a luxury brand. However, that does not mean the latter had less chance of making a profit on their investment. The following variable factors have an impact on the conversion rate too:

Product cost

Product type

Average order value

Traffic source

Device

Location… and a lot more

Conversion rates can be misleading too as, to put it bluntly, it is just the visitors who bought products from your online retail store; repeated customers purchasing the same product does not mean you have a higher conversion rate but a good click conversion rate which is a whole other topic.

Click conversion rate = (converting visitors / total visitors) * 100%

This means click conversion of visitors regardless of how many times they converted divided by the total visitors and multiplied by 100 to arrive at a percentage. Hence understanding the variable factors should give you an insight about your business progress without comparing it with others as well as providing peace of mind.

Improving your current eCommerce conversion rate

Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO is one of the most prominent ways to improve any existing conversion rates. The process in which you can optimize your landing page to produce more conversions from traffic is called Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO).

This strategy not only helps with new traffic but also monetizes old traffic that you already have on your retail platform. This means evening without an increment in traffic, you can still achieve a higher conversion rate with CRO.

Here are some tips to improve the conversion rate with CRO:

Dedicated Landing Pages

Dedicated landing pages are necessary, especially when you are doing paid advertising online. Imagine a Bing ad taking you to a random page where your item of choice is listed along with a list of other items; you would not probably look much further. But if clicking on the ad took you to a complete new page dedicated only for that product, the presentation makes it look important as well as informative without losing the interest of the customer. See where we are going with this – creating customer engagement for higher conversion rates with dedicated landing pages.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is splitting your incoming traffic into two or more variants of a page. This will prevent from losing traffic as well as freezing of your dedicated landing pages. This split of traffic into two makes it easy for people to focus between variant A and B; in other words, you do not lose valuable traffic for any reason. Using a CRO software will allow online retail stores to implement this test and improve the Average eCommerce Ratings.

For beginners, using Unbounce, Optimizely, Google Content Experiments, Visual Website Optimizer, etc. are some of the ways to go instead of investing in expensive CRO software.

Changing the Font Size, button colors, images, spacing, etc. can increase your Conversion Rate by 5%.

Use Hi-Def pics, update font size, provide time-limit discounts and lot more

Simple tricks like changing the font and pics can bring in new traffic. This means more conversion rate possibilities. Limited time coupons can bring in more customers; competitive pricing, easy checkout, live chat, trusted payment gateways, etc. can bring your conversion rates to a new high.

Creating hypothesis

Once you identify the elements that have an impact on your conversion rate, then creating a hypothesis can give you an edge in positive conversions. Creating a headline for a product, clear description, tweaking button sizes and colors, changing layouts, timely offers, etc. are some of the ways to improve / increase conversion rates. May sound a little unconventional but a changed layout with a little tweak here and there often brings in more customers and improves engagement time.

Remove distractions

Maintaining interest of a customer depends on creating a landing page with low distractions. Avoid putting similar products on one page; this often leads the customer to move around, create confusions and ultimately abandon a search.

The Global Conversion Scene – How much is it?

After talking a lot about improving the conversion rates, CRO and digital optimizations, it would sound puny if we hear the global conversion rate. Average eCommerce conversion rate by industry, globally, is at 2.86%. The 2018 cross-industry Google Ads clickthrough and conversion benchmark shows that the Average eCommerce conversion rate is 3.48% on mobile devices and 0.72% on the display network. It is important to take benchmark conversion rates of individual countries while formulating your own KPIs to understand the conversion rate you can expect from different countries.

The figures may seem small but it still covers a major chunk of people from countries like the US, Asia, Europe and Middle East. However, there is a huge scope of improvement by implementing strategies for a higher conversion rate.

Industry-wise Average eCommerce Conversion Rate

Real estate, B2B, auto industry, consumer services, health, finance, eCommerce, legal education, insurance, technology, travel & hospitality are some of the industries that have benefitted in the last few years thanks to the optimization of conversion rates.

However tracking every industry is not possible here, but we can shortlist a few and look at them as an eCommerce conversion rate benchmark.

Luxury eCommerce conversion rate

This area of business has seen an increase in conversion rates thanks to the optimization of eCommerce online stores that represent luxury products. In the past few years, luxury brands are not shying away from displaying themselves online instead of resorting to Amazon or other online retail service providers. Their highly optimized online platform has been able to ensure a direct connection with their customers and had seen a rise in average eCommerce conversion rate each year. Be it fashion or auto industry, each of these sectors has managed to create enormous traffic with good conversion rates which is likely to continue.

Furniture eCommerce conversion rate (1.19% average eCommerce conversion rate)

Statistically, the data available is miniscule for a good comparison. The furniture industry has taken a step towards digitalization and has greatly reduced the need for physical storage and inventory maintenance. However, such a move did not deter the public from purchasing from startups like PepperFry; instead the trend was positively embraced and the industry displayed a fascinating and valuable conversion rate in the market.

Conversion rate fashion ecommerce (1.41% average eCommerce conversion rate)

Fashion industry is a place where new trends emerge daily and even with the swift changes in the industry, the conversion rate has seemed to soar higher than before. Thanks to the eCommerce conversion rate optimization of online stores, eCommerce retailers are finding new and innovative ways to achieve a good ecommerce conversion rate.

eCommerce conversion by devices – Impact of mobile devices

As mentioned earlier, the conversion rate for eCommerce platforms are mostly made on mobile devices. The impact of mobile devices are huge and therefore optimizing online retail stores for mobile use including apps will prove highly beneficial for the Average eCommerce Conversion Rate. However mobile eCommerce conversion rate may be half that of desktop according to Monetate’s ecommerce quarterly which gives a figure of 3.85% for desktop and 2.03% for mobile.

Bottom-line:

Average eCommerce Conversion Rate is a clear factor in determining a profitable business. However, too many elements can confuse online retailers and end up losing customers, sales and eventually profit. Therefore understanding the impact of the metrics that affect your business KPIs and applying CRO strategies can positively optimize the Average eCommerce Conversion Rate for any online business.

To sum it up, there no one true way to compare two conversion rates, even for similar products. Creating a hypothesis and identifying KPIs in your business can be the starting point for higher conversion rates. From there on, timely tweaks and proper implementation of optimizing strategy can help to keep the Average eCommerce Conversion flowing.

The post Average eCommerce Conversion Rate: Is your store crashing it? appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/average-ecommerce-conversion-rate-is-your-store-crashing-it/

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bestofshopping777 · 5 years ago

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How to Conduct Effective Business Meetings in Five Simple Steps

Meetings are largely a waste of time. You spend the first few minutes discussing football, the next few minutes deciding whether to wait for Pam (who is chronically late to meetings), and the next few minutes discussing Bob’s irrelevant complaints.

By the time you’ve gotten down to business, half the scheduled meeting is over. You’re going to go over time again. And again, you’re going to cut your lunch hour so you can get everything done.

It’s a problem across the entire businessphere. People generally spend 40% of their workday dealing with meetings and other distractions from deep work.

It would seem these problems would be simple to fix. And really, they are simple to fix. But sometimes simple isn’t easy.

Why? Because hacking human behavior is hard. You can’t just push a button and change someone’s behavior. You have to convince people to change and then they have to practice that change.

But there is some good news. It’s entirely possible to have efficient and effective business meetings. Here’s how.

1. Create an Agenda And Stick to It

Boundaries can be good. They keep your kids from running into the road. They keep the cattle from getting lost. And they keep your little flock of employees on task.

An agenda is a set of boundaries for your conversations within a meeting. Because, and you’ve experienced this I’m sure, anything could send the conversation careening off course.

You could be talking about budget one moment and politics the next. You could be ironing out plans for the next corporate retreat and suddenly find yourself talking about the Seattle Seahawks. It can happen to any meeting. In fact, it happens to most meetings.

When you’re going over the agenda beforehand, consider these things:

What needs to be done beforehand?

What is a realistic timeframe for the meeting?

What’s a realistic timeframe for each item on the agenda?

Who is responsible for keeping people on task with the agenda?

2. Design Your Meetings For Efficiency

Sometimes your meetings run long because of environment. If you’re running your business out of your garage, you might not have an optimal meeting space.

If you’re meeting in a coffee shop, there are too many distractions. Your employees might feel comfortable there, but they’re going to feel too comfortable. This denotes a feeling of casualness when the meeting itself is entirely professional.

There are plenty of meeting rooms you can rent around your city. Consider your local coworking space. Often they’ll rent out a conference room for cheap. If there is a university nearby, you could rent out a room in the library or in a building. Some restaurants will have back rooms you can rent for cheap.

Restaurant back rooms could be perfect for a quarterly meeting for important planning and quarterly goals. If you pay for your employees’ meals at this meeting it will feel like a reward for meeting goals and encourage them to continue creating and meeting goals.

3. Create a Decision-Making Process

Do this upfront or even before the meeting. Once established, write out the decision-making process and hand it out. Or have someone write the process on the board so everyone knows the rules.

Think of how you run your business. Is it democratic? Do employees have a say in how things operate? Are you running a kingdom where employees can voice their complaints to the king and then the king decides?

How you run your business on a daily basis will reflect in your meetings. You should create a decision-making process your employees or officers are comfortable with. And the more transparent you are about the process, the more input you’ll get from your employees.

People are more likely to express their concerns if they know their concerns are being considered.

Also, remember, if you’re the boss, you get to make the rules. Meeting attendees don’t have to agree to the rules, they just have to understand and implement them.

Here are a few things you should communicate when creating the process:

Who makes the final decision?

How does deliberation happen?

How long do you have to make each decision?

Do some employees have more influence than others? (Make this absolutely clear!)

Who gets to know about the decision afterward?

How are you going to communicate said decision?

4. Invite the Most Resourceful and Disciplined

Sometimes, because of position, people feel entitled to be at a meeting. But position shouldn’t always dictate who goes to a meeting.

The type of meeting should dictate who goes to a meeting. Sometimes, too many cooks in a kitchen will ruin the soup. Same goes for a meeting. If you have too many voices in on a decision, you might delay the decision and disrupt the process.

Thus, you need to weed out the people who won’t contribute. You need to weed out those who might just “play the devil’s advocate” and not add useful information. And you need to weed out anyone who isn’t knowledgeable about the subject matter being discussed.

If someone is bored and disengaged, they can become disruptive or at least bring the rest of the group down with them. During the meeting note who participates and who doesn’t. This will help you determine who is active and who is passive.

5. Assign Roles

One way to keep people on task during a meeting is to give them a job. This way each person is a valuable part of the whole machinery that is the meeting.

For example, you don’t need to always be the one who takes notes. You can have someone else do that for you. If someone is either great at typing or handwriting, choose them for the role of meeting scribe.

Give someone the duty of keeping everyone tied to the clock. Give them a buzzer to make it fun (that is, if you trust them with a buzzer…).

And lastly, make sure you assign a leader. Sometimes that’s you, but sometimes you’re not the most knowledgeable one to lead. Lean on your employees who are experts in their departments and you’ll have better meetings.

The post How to Conduct Effective Business Meetings in Five Simple Steps appeared first on Cheap Store.

source https://cheap-store.website/blog/how-to-conduct-effective-business-meetings-in-five-simple-steps/

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