No business is an island—if it was, B2B wouldn’t exist! No matter the size of your company, from startup to enterprise, by outsourcing, depending on contractors, and sub-contracting, you can get more done faster and make more money. It’s a win-win for all, and easier than ever in the digital marketplace. But where do you start? Here are the top five services that will help make 2016 your best year yet:
5 Services Your Company Needs in 2016
1. SEO (Search engine optimization):
SEO isn’t an option or a “nice to have” feature. It’s an absolute must if you want to have an online presence. Numerous studies have shown that most people will only look at the top few search engine results. Nobody goes beyond page one of Google. However, there are few SEO best practices you can manage yourself, and it’s even tougher to stay on top of them (SEO is always evolving!). Instead, depend on a reputable SEO agency that can help move your online presence closer to the top of search engine results for “your” keywords and phrases.
2. High quality content:
Content is at the heart of great SEO, but they’re two biggies that overlap in a beautiful Venn diagram—separate but equal. When you have solid content marketing in your corner, you never have to worry about whether or not your content is shareable, engaging, unique, and hits all the sweet spots that SEO demands. From blogs to landing page content, social media posts to white papers, it takes a writing professional with online know-how to make content shine.
3. HR team:
Many small businesses and startups just aren’t large enough (yet) to merit a full-time in-house human resources team. However, you still need that support to keep things legally on the up and up, making hiring and firing easier, and to referee any internal issues that may pop up. Outsourcing HR has become increasingly popular and is a fantastic way to allocate resources wisely.
4. Mobile readiness:
You will likely need to seek out a separate mobile readiness pro beyond your web developer. Mobile readiness might mean a mobile version of your website, an app, or both. Last year, the majority of Americans were found to be using mobile devices rather than desktops for just about everything. If your site isn’t mobile ready, you’re choosing to ignore over half of your potential customers, investors, and potential job candidates. You might not need an app (or you may!) but most websites could use a mobile version of the site (at most) or responsive design (at least).
5. Social media manager:
You may be able to score this expert when you’re looking for that overall high quality content pro, but it should definitely top your content priority list. If you have social media presence for your business (and you should!) don’t assume that the person on your staff with the busiest personal Facebook page can moonlight as a SM pro. This is a separate skill set.
These five factors can take your business to the next level this year, and you can get started right now. Nobody can multi-task (researchers have unfortunately proven this), so take off a few of those hats. Let the best in each industry handle your business while you kick back and enjoy phenomenal results.
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