BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Every business is unique. And because of this, every team is unique too. Within your own company, you may very well have various team structures, staffing protocols, and managing principles. This makes sense, as different roles and responsibilities have different needs from an organizational point of view. 

Like it or not, there is no cookie cutter method for recruiting and staffing the best team. It takes work and can be a constantly evolving process. Recruiting in itself is a challenging task, particularly now during the era of The Great Resignation. More and more employees are rightfully asking for very specific accommodations. They want to work for companies that value them first as human beings and second as dedicated employees. 

With all this in mind, recruiting specific talent for your team isn’t easy. Certain roles like content creators and marketing managers may be more readily recruitable. On the other hand, roles like front end developers and designers can be more tricky to find. If you’re in this sticky position of hiring individuals for more niche titles, keep reading. Below are four ways to recruit specific talent for your team’s most niche roles. 

1. Ask for Assistance

First and foremost, don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. It’s also important to ask far and wide. First, ask the hiring manager what they think is the best way to find the potential new employee. They may have experience in finding these types of recruits from previous roles. The hiring manager may also have a network to tap into that could be useful for your hiring team. 

Second, lean on resources for your specific needs. Engineering staffing agencies, for instance, can assist in finding top engineering talent based on their diverse pool of individuals looking for jobs. These types of agencies can help HR teams and hiring managers find the perfect match. This can be beneficial for startups, who may not have the namesake yet, to be found by interested employees. Well known companies also stand to benefit as staffing agencies are also a great resource for HR teams who need to hire multiple individuals within the same field. 

2. Tap into Social Media

One of the first places someone turns to when they are seeking a new job opportunity is social media. They want to see what types of positions are available and what kinds of benefits are being offered. Your recruiters should be on social media, particularly sites like LinkedIn, posting about new offerings weekly. Creating this kind of buzz online ensures that your company is putting the word out that you are hiring. 

In addition to sites like LinkedIn, it’s also important to post job offerings on other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram. Word of mouth is another key aspect of hiring, and someone who sees a niche role may share it with one of their friends or family members. Again, it’s all about creating awareness. If you don’t share publicly that you are hiring for these niche roles, nobody will know that you are in need of a full stack developer, for example. 

3. Offer an Employee Referral Incentive 

Your current employees likely know the top talent. Many have had prior experiences before coming to work at your company. And with these experiences, they have likely met some incredible people that may be great matches for your company. In order to get these referrals, it can be beneficial to offer an employee referral incentive. These types of incentives can be a reason for employees to share about open positions on their own social channels too. 

The key to creating this incentive is to make it as easy as possible for referrals to happen. Luckily, there are several software platforms and tools that can help streamline this process. Let you employees know what the incentive is, whether it is an added bonus to their paycheck or extra vacation days. Also, overly communicate with your employees when a niche position is available. You may even think about upping the incentive for filling more challenging roles — an extra incentive is always going to be welcome!  

4. Look Internally

Yes, certain niche roles like those in the designer field or engineering world require a specific set of skills. But perhaps you have a new role for a “never-been-done-before” position. In these cases, it’s not a bad idea to look internally. Your current employees know the most about the company, including how to navigate current processes and set up new ones. They understand what’s expected from the team and the company’s overarching goals and values. 

If you decide to look internally, be sure to still follow a proper interview process. You likely will also want to have external candidates to interview along with internal ones. This can help the hiring team compare and contrast the necessary skills. There are always benefits to hiring internally, mainly that it can lead to a quicker transition process and more dedicated staff. Your employees as a whole may be more dedicated to work for a company where internal shifts are not only possible but valued. 

Takeaways

Hiring is not an easy process. Again, it takes time to find true talent. For niche roles, it can take a lot longer to find someone that can do the job well and wants to work for your company. Don’t give up just because it takes longer than usual. The right individual is out there; it’s just a matter of finding them! 

By utilizing these tips, recruiters will have a better chance of finding the best possible employee as quickly as possible. Having a plan and leaning on different resources, including current employees, are helpful tactics to utilize. Also, know that other companies are in the same boat. Speak with other company and industry leaders to get a sense of how they are recruiting. Because at the end of the day, the more people that know you are hiring the better chances you have of finding your dream candidate.

The post 4 Ways to Recruit for Your Team’s Most Niche Roles appeared first on noupe.

Do you not feel satisfied with your current job? Do you feel trapped and struggle to be productive every day? 

You’re yearning to do something that you’re passionate about and clearly, your job is far from it. 

How about turning your hobby into a business and starting a hobby business?

Doing what you love and enjoy is a rewarding experience and improves your quality of life. However, turning your hobby into a business doesn’t guarantee success or the lack of stress for that matter. 

Let’s take a look at seven tips to help you take the plunge and start a hobby business.

1. Establish your goal

Before you start out on your entrepreneurial venture, strategize and ask yourself why you would want to take this leap. 

• Is this a part-time side business for extra money? 
• Do you know what or how you would want to sell your products or services? 
• Are you planning on making this your main mode of income? 
• What is the end result and how would you achieve it? 

These are important questions you must consider when you start your own hobby business. Whether it’s turning 100 dollars into 1000 dollars or 1000 dollars into 10 000 dollars, having a goal and understanding your motivation behind it will help you better focus your efforts on achieving it.

Establishing a goal also gives your mission purpose and helps you plan accordingly. 

2. Assess the profitability of your hobby

If you want to start a hobby business, you need to know how profitable it can be. 

For example, if you are a lifestyle photographer and your niche business idea is to sell the images you click, you need to know if these items are something that people care about. 

The demand for your products or services is very crucial in developing a successful business. If there isn’t any audience for what you want to sell, there would be no value to set up this business. 

It’s a good idea to do market research, assess your existing competitors, perform a SWOT analysis of your idea and narrow down on your target audience. 

If you’re selling a product, look up marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay to understand if there is a market for them due to affiliate marketing challenges. This exercise will give you a clear idea about what people are looking for, what defines your online business’ niche target market and how you can differentiate your product. 

3. Build a business plan

No business functions like magic and you have to work painstakingly for it to be on top. That is why, building a fool-proof business plan is a must for every entrepreneur as it will help you think through every detail, the pros and cons, all the ways to monetize, and the success rate of your potential business. 

Business plans are also very useful when you are applying for funding. They help you show your investors what your business is about, what your goals are and a brief overview of how you plan on making it a success. 

4. Strengthen your online presence

Considering that 97% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses, having an online presence is non-negotiable for businesses today.

Whether you choose to create a blog or an Instagram business profile, what matters is using the medium to create brand awareness, educate your target audience about your product or service and engage with them. 

Apart from improving brand visibility, having an online presence also adds to the credibility of your business and helps you appeal to a wider audience. 

5. Grow your network

Having a strong online presence is important but networking comes with its own set of benefits. 

Find social media groups, forums and events that cater to your specific business niche. Doing this will help you meet a lot of like-minded professionals. These can be your potential customers or even those who you can collaborate with. 

6. Understand the financials

At the start of your entrepreneurial journey, having a full-fledged financial plan will be very helpful to identify areas of financial improvement and the gray areas, if any. 

Consider speaking with a tax advisor or hire an accountant to do your business’ expenses so that you don’t need to analyze your company’s figures on your own. It’s best to leave these matters to the professionals.

7. Consider consulting a mentor

Choosing to work with a mentor can be beneficial for your business. 

A mentor is someone who has had a similar journey as yours — someone who identifies the pitfalls and the struggles of starting up a business and can guide you through the growth phase of your startup. 

Working with a mentor will help you be more proactive and implement their learnings in your business. From understanding what workflow analytics is and how it can benefit your business, to having a better handle on your finances, seeking guidance from an experienced professional can help you overcome these challenges with ease.

Conclusion: launch your hobby business successfully

Starting a business from scratch where you are turning your hobby into a full-time revenue source is not going to be a walk in the park. It takes time, planning, commitment, and lots of patience. 

You will encounter all the ups and downs that are inevitable in any startup business but these tips will certainly ensure you’re better prepared to effectively launch your hobby business.

The post How to Start a Hobby Business: 7 Tips to Succeed appeared first on noupe.

Regardless of your company’s size, hiring freelancers is often a great choice because they are more flexible and can work on projects both large and small. To work effectively with freelancers, you need to know how to properly vet the ones you’ve chosen to interview. Doing the right prep work and asking the right questions during the interview process will ensure that you are hiring the freelancer that best fits your needs. 

Review their portfolio beforehand

Be sure to look over their portfolio before the interview. Not all clients post their work publicly, and you might have to dig a little bit to get a good idea of what they are capable of. You don’t want to lead the interview with vague, uninformed questions. 

Send an overview of the work involved before the interview

Before interviewing a freelancer, make sure the job description is clear and detailed. By having a clear job description, you can ensure that the freelancer is a good fit for the job and you can avoid any misunderstandings about the work that will be done. This also gives them an opportunity to voice any concerns or back out before you commit to spending time on a call or in person with them.

Make plenty of time for the interview

Another tip is to make sure that there is plenty of time for the interview. An interview should allow both the freelancer and the hiring company enough time to ask questions and get to know each other. You also want to account for possible technical snafus, such as spotty wifi, troublesome video and voice call software, and computer audio issues.

See if they can connect their portfolio to the work you need done

When interviewing a freelancer, ask to see some of their past work. One of the best ways to gauge the quality of a freelancer is to look at the work they’ve done in the past from their perspective. If possible, ask to see work that is similar to what you’d like them to do for you. This also helps test their understanding of what the job will entail. If they have no relevant experience, they may not be the best fit for you. 

Understand how they work

When interviewing a freelance worker, it is important to ask them how they work. This can include questions such as how many hours a day or a week they work and what their process is. Ask them to walk you through their typical day or task if they’re already familiar with your industry. If they’re not yet familiar with your industry, ask them how they plan to get up to speed. Ask them what tools they plan to use and whether they’ll be working remotely or in person. And finally, be sure to ask how they’ll stay up to date in your industry and how they’ll ensure that they’re delivering the best quality work. By asking these questions, it can help give insight into whether or not the freelancer is a good fit for the company. 

Give a small task in the interview

When you interview a freelancer, you want to be sure they are competent in the skills they claim to possess. To test this, provide a small task that the freelancer must complete. This could be as simple as having them write a short paragraph, or it could be something more advanced, such as designing a website mockup. By having the freelancer complete a small task during the interview, you can test their skills and ensure that the person you hire is capable of performing the duties required of them. 

Ask about any negative reviews

As a small business owner, you want to hire the best talent possible and that’s exactly what you should do. If any of the freelancer’s previous clients left a negative review, try to find out what happened there. When you ask, does the freelancer blame the client entirely, or are they fair in their response? Have they learned from what happened? This is your opportunity to assess how the freelancer handles criticism and conflict; it also tells you a lot about their level of professionalism.

Make sure they can write

A good test of a freelancer’s writing and ability to communicate clearly is to have them write a short piece for you. You can ask them to write anything they think will help you determine whether they are a good fit for your business needs, or you can direct them to write a specific piece, such as a short blog post, email newsletter, or press release. When you receive their work, you can evaluate it for grammar, punctuation, and whether it is easy to understand. You can also assess whether their writing style matches your company’s tone and voice. 

Even if you are hiring for a technical role, if the freelancer can’t write at least adequately or paraphrase so their peers can understand them, you may experience communication issues down the road.

Ask for references

When hiring a freelancer, it is important to ask for past references. If a freelancer is serious about their business, they should be able to provide you with a few people that can refer them and why they’ve chosen those references. If they are unable to do so, this could be a red flag. You want to ensure that the freelancer is professional and has a good reputation in the industry. By asking for references, you can put your mind at ease and know that you are choosing a reputable professional. 

Assess how they will fit with your company culture

One best practice when interviewing freelancers is to make sure they are a good fit for your company’s culture. Getting to know the candidate’s work ethic, attitude, and communication skills is important, but so is finding out if they will mesh with the rest of your team. It’s also worth noting that since freelancers work remotely, their availability and responsiveness will play a bigger role in whether or not they are a good fit for your company than if you were hiring an in-house employee. 

Get ahead of workflow problems

One of the most common problems that can emerge in working with a freelancer is either you blocking their work or them blocking your work. To prevent such problems, ask your potential freelancer to describe their ideal workflow and make sure that your workflow is close to theirs. It is also advisable to set up a working schedule and make sure that both parties stick to it. Finally, make sure that your communication style is similar to or can accommodate your potential freelancer’s communication style. If you do not have much experience in hiring and working with freelancers, you should work with only a few tools, such as Slack and Trello, to ensure freelancer communication and task management respectively.

The post Best Practices When Interviewing Freelancers appeared first on noupe.

There’s a lot to think about when building a website, here we explore the importance of creating a site that’s accessible to all. 

No matter what type of website you run, whether it’s an e-commerce store or a one-page business showcase, you’re going to want to attract as many visitors as possible. 

The way to do this is to ensure your website is accessible. An accessible web design enables everyone to access your website and content, taking into account the needs of those with a disability.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are over 1 billion people in the world living with some sort of disability. That’s a lot of people you’re excluding from your website if it isn’t accessible. 

In this article, we’ll explore the importance of an accessible website, the design features that work together to ensure your website is accessible to all, and how you can test your website’s accessibility. 

What is an Accessible Website?

An accessible website is one that can be accessed and viewed by everyone, regardless of how they are surfing the web. 

Website accessibility refers to the need for websites to utilize various tools and technologies in order to ensure visiting, navigating, understanding, and contributing to content is the same experience for every user. 

The user journey of your website should be of the same standard no matter how a user is accessing your content. 

Accessibility is a crucial part of the user experience. Not only does it refer to ensuring your website is accessible for users with disabilities, but it also involves taking steps to make sure your website is compatible with different devices such as desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets.

Why Should Your Website Be Accessible?

When building your website, accessibility should be a key part of the process and not an afterthought. 

Firstly, an accessible website ensures as many people as possible can visit and enjoy your website. The last thing you want after you’ve designed and built a great website is to discover you’re blocking potentially hundreds of visitors. 

Plus, Search engines such as Google simply won’t rank a website that isn’t accessible and doesn’t offer a strong user experience. A great user experience and strong accessibility can both impact your search engine performance. 

What Makes a Website Accessible?

Luckily for website owners, there are official guidelines that you can refer to in order to ensure your website is accessible. 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were created to set a universal standard that all websites worldwide should aim to meet in order to make their web content accessible. These accessibility considerations can be applied, not only to website design but to wider digital content like email marketing or social media. 

There are also four key principles of accessibility that form the foundations for any content created and published online. They are:

• Perceivable – this refers to all aspects of the website being perceived by the human senses so that no aspect is hidden or inaccessible. For most users, this will be through sight but for those with a visual impairment, it may be sound or touch.
• Operable – all interactive aspects of the website such as navigation and buttons should be able to be operated by all users.
• Understandable – every user should be able to understand the content and its purpose.
• Robust – web content should be able to function across a variety of technologies and devices.  

So how can you ensure you’re building a website that’s accessible? We’ve listed some of the key design features and principles you should consider below.

Use High Contrast Colours 

Some users may have difficulty viewing your content if you opt for low-contrast colors. Using high-contrast color combinations such as black and white or black and yellow ensures everyone can read your content. 

Enable Keyboard Navigation 

In order for a website to be considered accessible users should be able to navigate it without a mouse. Clicking on links and accessing new pages should all be able to be done via a keyboard if necessary. 

Add Captions to Videos 

If you feature any video content on your website, be sure to include captions or transcripts so that users who are hard of hearing or even those whose devices have no sound can enjoy your content. 

Include Alt Text on Images

Alt text is text that you can add in your image settings to describe the image to users who cannot see it. This way, all users are able to enjoy your website content.

Breakup Your Content with Headings

Using headings helps to break up your content to make it easier to digest for users. Clear headings also help screen readers to navigate through your webpage and interpret your content.

Ensure Your Website is Mobile Friendly

There are an array of different devices that people can use to access your website. Ensuring your website is optimized for mobile makes sure that your website will adapt no matter what the screen size.

How to Check if Your Website is Accessible 

It’s important to regularly check your website for various performance issues, including how accessible it is. 

There are various ways you can monitor the accessibility of your website in order to ensure it’s offering the best user experience possible for all visitors. 

Use an Online Accessibility Checker – online accessibility checkers such as WAVE are tools that can evaluate the accessibility of your web pages. To use accessibility software you simply enter the URL of the page you want to check and you’ll receive a report flagging any potential issues. 

Manually Check Your Website – a manual accessibility check will be more time-consuming than other alternatives. Use a checklist to ensure you’re conducting a thorough assessment of your website and view every page with accessibility as the priority. 

Hire an Accessibility Expert – if you’re dedicated to making accessibility a core principle of your online brand then hiring an accessibility expert is a good idea. An accessibility expert will audit your site and provide actionable feedback and recommendations. 

Website Accessibility at Every Step

An accessible website isn’t just to meet the needs of your end user either. Everyone from business partners and stakeholders to web developers and external consultants needs to be able to access your content. 

Accessibility should be the priority at every step of your website build. Whether your site is a simple landing page or a full software product, adhering to accessibility standards helps you ensure that all users can engage fully. So, if you’re working in-house or are outsourcing digital product development, providing clear guidelines to your developers and designers is essential.

The ease with which people can access your content will have a major impact on your brand positioning.

Think about it, if a user struggles to explore your website or engage with your content what does that say about your brand? You want to be positioned as a brand that cares, not as one that doesn’t think about others. 

Similarly, site audits should analyze accessibility whilst keeping up to date with the latest technologies and tools will ensure your website is staying ahead of the competition. 

Make Your Site Accessible To All

The fact is, you simply can’t afford to not prioritize building an accessible website. 

The good news though is that making a site accessible has never been easier and you have the potential to reach as many people as possible, even those who may have struggled to access websites in the past. 

In this article, we’ve explored everything you need to know about why an accessible website is so important and the steps you can implement to ensure your site is up to scratch. 

Incorporate website accessibility into every aspect of your web design and maintenance and you should have no problem welcoming an array of visitors to your site. 

The post Is your Website Accessible? It Should Be. appeared first on noupe.

A well-designed website is an incredibly important aspect of any business. Think of your website as your home base. It’s where most of your customers go to get information about your brand and what you offer. So if you don’t have a good website, it can deter customers and result in fewer conversions and sales. 

As the website is so critical, however, it can often become a point of frustration for many businesses. Getting your website just right can take time, and it can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start or aren’t having any success. 

There are many aspects of web design, and knowing which areas to focus on throughout the process can be challenging, as there is no one right way to go about it. Is functionality more important? Aesthetics? User experience? Security?

These are all reasonable things to worry about when you are trying to design a new website. But the answer can vary depending on your brand and your company’s specific needs or goals. 

Below, we’ll explore the different elements of web design to help you understand what they are and which ones might be a priority over others, depending on your brand.  

The first step in deciding your web design priorities is to go through all the different elements and think about them in terms of your company’s specific needs and goals. The web design process can be different for every brand, so just because one company does it one way does not mean you should do the same. 

For some, the user experience might be the most important element of web design, for others, it might be cybersecurity. In the end, all of the below elements are important and should be included, but when you are just starting out, and perhaps don’t have the time or money to focus on them all, it’s helpful to identify each one to determine what is most important for your business’s specific needs. 

Brand Awareness

If you are a new business, brand awareness should be one of your top priorities. You need people to know about your brand in the first place before they will even go looking for your website. Once they do get to your website, your brand identity should be clear and easy to recognize. 

Focusing on establishing your brand identity through brand awareness will help you connect with people so they will remember you. In doing this, you will start to establish a new customer base, and those customers will become more loyal to your brand and recommend you to others. 

Think of brand identity as your first impression. If you leave a bad first impression, you aren’t going to attract any customers to your new business, but if you leave a good first impression, you will more quickly establish yourself as a brand to keep an eye on, which means you will grow your customer base and start making sales. 

So good branding is key when designing your website as a new business. This means having an appealing logo, a good brand story that tells customers who you are and what you value, and other memorable brand elements and aesthetics, such as appealing and recognizable color schemes and imagery. 

User Experience

If your company heavily relies on pleasing your customers, as most should, user experience should be one of your top priorities. Customer-focused businesses tend to have more success because they put the effort into prioritizing their customer’s wants and needs. The more you show your customers that you care about them and their experience, rather than seeing them as dollar signs, the more likely you are to have success growing your business. 

So, if you are a B2C business, user experience (UX) design is essential. B2B businesses should also have good UX design, but it is even more crucial when you are B2C and trying to appeal to large customer bases, as 50% of consumers believe that UX affects their opinion of a business. 

You can create a better user experience by following these steps: 

1. Understand who your target customer is — You can do this by creating a customer persona — essentially a description summary of most of your customer’s demographics. This can include their age, identity, experiences, and even their location. 
2. Identify the problem —  Listen to your customers. They may typically encounter a common problem among your site or other sites during their purchasing process. You can gain this data through surveys or other customer service queries.
3. Solve the problem — Once you find out what common issues your target customers experience, brainstorm ideas on how your business or your site’s features can solve that problem. 

All of this indicates that UX design is often primarily about function. It’s about designing a website that is providing the best experience possible for your customers by solving their problems and giving them what they need.

So, if you are an e-commerce business, for example, how easy and satisfactory your website’s shopping and checkout process plays a significant role in the overall customer experience. In this case, your UX design should focus on making it easy for your customers to find the products they are looking for and checkout without running into any major issues. 

SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is technically important for all businesses. Optimizing your content will ensure you rank higher in Google search results, which means you will drive more traffic to your website and, thus, be more likely to increase conversions and sales.

If you are a unique business that is offering something that most others are not, then you can likely get away with putting SEO on the back burner. However, if you have a lot of competitors that offer similar products or services, SEO should be a priority. 

If a customer is looking for lawnmowers, for example, and they do a simple Google search for lawnmowers, there are likely a ton of websites that will pop up in the search results. So if you sell lawnmowers, you want to prioritize SEO to make sure your website ranks higher in search results; otherwise, competitors might constantly beat you to the punch. 

If you sell something more unique, however, like knitted hats for dogs, there are potentially not as many other businesses that sell the same thing. So if someone is searching for dog hats or knitted dog hats, your website might automatically show up higher in search results without SEO because there aren’t many other options out there. 

Cybersecurity

Ensuring the data on your website is secure is always a wise decision if you want to avoid cyber attacks — but some businesses should worry about this more than others. FinTech companies, for example, that deal with a lot of sensitive data should make cybersecurity a priority. 

B2B companies, as well, that deal with major clients that expect them to keep their information private and secure should also focus on quality website security. Essentially any company that keeps a lot of sensitive data on their website, or asks for client information through online forms, should be prioritizing the safety and security of their clients and their company. 

Wrapping Up

There are numerous other things that your business might want to consider when building a new website, but brand awareness and design, UX design, SEO, and cybersecurity are four of the primary elements of web design that tend to matter most. So it’s important to take a close look at these four things to determine which ones should be a priority. Once you get the most important elements out of the way, you can start to work on the rest of your web design as time and budget allows. 

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