Next we are going to focus on the tweaks we can make within the code to “prepare” your site for the search engines. These techniques change over time, so staying current with the engines is vitally important to the on-going success of your webpage.

Please note: you should never abuse any of these techniques. Everything with moderation!

Let’s start with Meta tags.

Meta Tags are HTML tags which provide additional information about a web document. Unlike regular tags, meta tags do not provide formatting information for the browser. They provide such information as the author, date of creation or latest update for the page, titles, descriptions and keywords (which tell the search engines the subject matter of the page).

For SEO purposes those last three (title, description and keyword) are what matter the most. Also important are alt tags (which provide additional information about images) and header tags (which indicate to users important areas of content on your page).

The Importance of Meta Tags:

• They help provide the information that is listed in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

• They are part of what influences (albeit only slightly) how well our individual pages rank on the SERPs. All major search engines utilise (if only partially) Meta description and title tags in an effort to understand the relevance of the site. They also look at alt tags (important in today’s Blended/Universal search results – which features video, images, etc.).

The Basics of Meta Elements & Tags.

Meta tags are not something you should spend a lot of time worrying about. But do focus on crafting them so they properly reflect your site and its mission.

Learn more about Onsite SEO Search Engine Optimisation Training Course

SEO Training Lesson 3: Onsite Optimisation & Meta Tags is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

The foundation of a top ranked site should be SEO Friendly or SEO Ready – both are terms used for making sure the foundation of your site is clean, concise and “friendly” to the search engine bots that crawl your site.

Have you ever tried to build a house of cards? Your strategy as the house grew more complex was very important – but none of it mattered without a solid foundation.

That is what you need for your site – a solid foundation to grow your search engine rankings on.

To get top rankings and have long term SEO success you simply cannot ignore the foundation of your campaign.

A solid foundation consists of the following:

• Clean code that is error free
• Java script that is in an external .js file and not on-page
• CSS in an external file and not on-page
• Easy to navigate pages that are well connected to each other
• A clearly defined topic for each page
• URLs that the engines can follow
• An XML sitemap
• A robots.txt file
• No frames
• No Flash or java script navigation
• Text that is on the actual page and not contained within Flash or an image (while the engines do read Flash, you shouldn’t have all of your text within Flash).

Once you are sure your foundation is in place you should spend some time checking out your competitors to see what they are doing.

• What keywords are they using?
• How is their foundation?
• What on-page optimisation do they have in place?
• How many links do they have?

You don’t want to copy your competitors – but you do want to see what you are up against.

Now you are ready to move on and start dealing with your on-page and off page optimisation.

SEO Training Courses

SEO Training Lesson 2: SEO Friendliness – Diagnosis & Correction, plus Competitor Analysis is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

Finding the right keywords is the foundation to any campaign.

Here is an outline of the steps you should follow for keyword research:

1.            Start with a brainstorming session to list all possible words and phrases that people would use to find what you have to offer. Remember to put yourself in the mindset of the potential customer.

2.            Do the necessary research to continue building your list.

3.            Research your competitors and see what keywords they are using.

4.            Look at your web stats and logs and pull words and phrases from there (this is a great source of info, you can find the words that people are already using to find you and enhance your rankings on those words so you can get even more traffic).

5.            If you have a search feature on your site, look at the logs and see what people are searching for within your site once they get there.

6.            Take the large master list you have come up with and use a keyword tool (such as Google or Market Samurai) to determine how much traffic there is and how competitive the words/phrases are. Remember you can’t live and die by this information; it only acts as a guide for you.

7.            Take your list and break it into segments. You want some “low hanging fruit” – which means keywords that may be longer phrases with less traffic. These words will be easy to rank for fairly quickly so you can use those as your starting point to drive some quick traffic to the site. The second segment of your list should be words that are more competitive and have more traffic and will take longer to get rankings for. You will be glad you selected keywords from each segment because you will be getting traffic from the low hanging fruit while you are waiting for the more competitive phrases to kick in.

Because #7 is so vitally important, let’s break that down a little further. If your keywords are too generic and not targeted it will take a long time to get rankings and the traffic likely won’t convert as well. If you use keywords that are way too specific you won’t get enough traffic.

The solution?  Use a 3 tier approach.

Broad:

·               Shorter phrases and single words

·               Generic to your industry

·               Lots of traffic

·               Lower conversions

Focused:

·               Slightly shorter phrases

·               Higher traffic numbers

·               Phrases are still focused on what you offer

Laser Focused: The Long Tail

·               Longer and more targeted phrases

·               Traffic numbers are smaller

·               People are further along in the buying process so conversion rates are higher

The thought process behind “long tail keywords” is that the more detail someone types in, the more they know exactly what they want and the further along they are in the “buying” process.

For example if someone types “blue jeans” they could want to buy them or they could want info or they could want to see pictures – who knows.

But if someone types in “Armani Blue Jeans Sise 8” then they know exactly what they want and are more likely to buy.

Typically the longer the phrase, the less traffic there is but the more targeted it is, so it is likely to convert higher.

A solid SEO strategy should definitely implement some long tail because that allows you to get rankings quicker (there is usually less competition on long tail keywords) and it allows the conversion rate to be higher.

You get the benefit from the long tail while you are waiting for your more competitive phrases to get ranked and kick in.

Most people are continually adding new long tail phrases and find that when they add them up, in total the long tail phrases end up becoming a large part of your traffic.

Here are some examples:

Broad:

Generic and competitive keywords:

·               Jeans

·               Blue jeans

·               Long jeans

Focused:

Less generic, and less competitive:

·               Buy Armani jeans

·               Armani Blue jeans

Laser Focused:

Long tail phrases:

·               Armani jeans sise 8

·               Blue Armani jeans boot cut sise 10

·               Buy Armani blue jeans with belt

Another thing to consider is the searchers intent. Let’s look at this scenario to understand a little more.

“Buy Armani jeans sise 8 ” – the searcher is looking to buy online

“Armani jeans prices” – they are comparing prices and probably trying to decide if they will buy

“Armani jeans” – they are interested in a specific brand

“Jeans” – interested in a type of product

You want to capture leads at the different phases, but understand you will convert more at the top level where they are further along in the buying process.

Your SEO strategy should include keywords from each of those “tiers” above.

Don’t forget you should also Google your keywords and check out what sites come up on top. Check out what keywords they are using – you may get some ideas.

 For more information on keyword research and internet marketing training courses from Web Worx:

Keyword Research Training Course

SEO Lesson 1 Keyword Research Training: Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

• More than 8 out of 10 Internet users look on search engines to find information and the products or services they want to buy.
• Pay-per-click (PPC) costs are rising (over 37% higher from last year to this year Q1).
• Up to 85% of searchers ignore paid listings.
• 63% of the top natural (organic) listings get click throughs.
• Natural (organic) search results convert 30% higher than PPC.
• 11.8% of Google traffic will click on a site in the second page of results.
• A new study from the University of Southern California’s Centre for the Digital Future has “found that the Internet is perceived by users to be a more important source of information for them —over all other principal media, including television, radio, newspapers, and books.”
• The 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study (which is being released by the Centre for Media Research in conjunction with InsightExpress) found that 57.7% of respondents “ideally” plan, and 56.3% “realistically” plan to include social media in their media plans in 2010.
• In June 2009 Nielsen reported nearly 21 million unique visitors to Twitter.com (almost a 2000% increase year-over-year). 
• Nielson and Compete pegged US unique visitors at 18.2 million, 17.6 million and 19.7 million, respectively, that month.

Note: Because many users access Twitter via text messages, mobile apps and various desktop applications these numbers are actually higher.  It has been said that there is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors.

Introduction to the Search Engines (in basic terms):

Think of the engines like teachers handing out stars for everything that you do well.

Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithm that determines how your site will rank. Imagine your teacher with a clipboard and checklist with 200 items on it and she assigns you stars for each of the things you do well.

Remember, some of the items on the list are more important and you may get multiple stars. No one knows for sure how the algorithm works, but we test and monitor the industry to come up with a technique that works well for getting sites ranked.

The number of stars you achieve will determine how well your site will rank.

There are no shortcuts and there are no tricks (none that are safe to use and won’t result in trouble down the road).

For more information about SEO visit http://www.seowebworx.co.uk/about-seo.html

Interested in optimising your website? – Quick facts about SEO is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

As a business owner, one of the biggest challenges you face, is where to get new business from. A lot of the old advertising and promotional methods are not as effective as they used to be. Any business that has no website or internet presence will lose out on a substantial amount of business.

In a recession, the most commonly used tactic for companies is to decrease spending. This often means cutting back on research and development. However, this can have dire consequences both during the recession and after it ends. Historically, companies that had the foresight and resources to invest in improving their offerings and services often experienced a boom when times improved.

A successful internet marketing campaign offers small businesses the chance to increase sales revenue, the opportunity to trade at the same level as corporate organisations and a means to communicate with existing customers to encourage retention. This year the UK will be spending over 4 billion each month online. Can your business afford to miss out on this ever growing market?

70% of UK businesses have a website, but 90% of those websites don’t meet the expectations of their business owners and don’t provide the services the consumer is seeking. Getting your online marketing right is crucial in order to support your business development and encourage more customers.

An internet marketing course can help small business owners achieve online success. It is so easy to spend money in the wrong places when it comes to internet marketing. Your PPC campaigns may be costing you more than they are earning you, taking a PPC Marketing course will show you how to run an effective campaign. Perhaps you are paying out thousands to outsource your SEO, why not take an SEO training course and do it yourself instead.

Taking an internet marketing training course will save you time too. You will no longer working blindly on your campaign. If you have an online business, you already know you need good Internet marketing information in order to succeed. Unfortunately, if you are just getting started, it can be difficult to sort through all the online clutter to find information that is genuine, reliable and most importantly, profitable.

For someone in retail that doesn’t have a website, an ecommerce training course would be extremely beneficial. An E-Commerce training course will show you how to understand, plan, implement and market an ecommerce store. This will save you lots of time and energy in the long run. Many online start-ups fail due to a lack of planning and information overload. Taking an internet marketing course will ensure you get it right from day one.

While getting an outside company to take care of your website promotion may seem tempting, the advantages of learning internet marketing are far more persuasive. When you take an internet marketing course you will have a full understanding and complete control over the strategies being used. Along with this you will be able to make any changes to your website almost immediately, whenever you want. Investing in your own resources is much more preferable, you save costs of hiring a specialty agency which charge much higher fees. Not to mention facing risks of outsourcing your campaigns to an unreliable vendor.

As a small business owner, you’ll be used to having to work hard for yourself, often with limited resources. When you take an internet marketing course you will learn thousands of ways use can harness the power of the internet for little or no money. You will discover how to implement internet marketing strategies yourself that deliver real results in return for just a little elbow grease.

Check out all the courses at http://www.webworxtraining.co.uk

Internet Marketing Courses, Get The Web Working For Your Business is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

I’ll keep this short as it is REALLY simple, although effective.  Although it is important to optimize your pages using your title tags, H1 tags and alt tags etc it can be really beneficial to place your main keyword / phrase at the VERY start of your body text.  This is generally an article or the main content within your page.  I have mainly tested this on index pages although it can be implemented on any page.

To show you an example I have included a screenshot below of one of the sites which I have imlemented this technique.  I have circled the keywords, ‘Promotional pens’ which is that sites main keyword.  You will notice that it is at the very beginning of my main content.

Obviously there is much more to ranking your pages such as backlinks, site structure, and LSI (I’ll go into that in another post) along with other factors but this little technique can give you a small but solid nudge up the rankings.  Why not give it a try?!

Little Onpage SEO Tip is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

At Web Worx, we are dedicated to making your business an online success.  Our training courses are designed to be practical, hands on, free from unimportant theory and technical jargon and most importantly relevant to the real world and fully applicable in a business environment.  With our one-to-one service you can customise your internet marketing training with our range of short, specific modules to suit your requirements. 

We offer modules which cover all areas of internet marketing – Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, PPC Marketing, E-Commerce and E-Bay, Amazon & Online Marketplaces.  Each workshop will be individually tailored to the needs of your business.  We have a simple, affordable pricing scheme where you only pay for the training you need and you can book online.  Prices start from just £125.00 with a 50% discount for additional attendees.

These days, no marketing plan can be considered complete, or even credible, unless it includes an internet marketing element.  Investing in internet marketing training gives you the knowledge to increase internet exposure and traffic and maximise sales.  This ‘know how’ will benefit your business immensely, you will be able to make informed decisions about your websites performance.  It will save you time because you will no longer working blindly on your campaign.  Most importantly, it will save you money, taking care of your website and its promotion in house means no more monthly contracts.

Web Worx is an Internet Marketing company that understands business.  Our number one concern is what is best for your business and how you will get the best ROI from the internet.  We aim to empower individuals to take advantage of what the internet has to offer.  Whether you are an existing business or are just starting out with an idea – we can help. 

We believe that a successful internet marketing strategy should take account of all advertising platforms and methods of lead and sales generation.  Many businesses and individuals fail as they become totally fixated by search engine rankings and Google.  There is much more to the internet these days, more avenues and channels to generate traffic and sales.  Businesses ought to be open-minded, get educated and then decide on the best strategy for them.

Equipped For E-Commerce

When you attend our E-Commerce Training Courses our trainer will guide you through the process of starting an E-Commerce business step by step.  This includes domain registration and hosting which we give away free for the 1st year.  Before you attend, we will register your choice of domain, during the workshop you will choose a website template to work with and we will upload your own product.  This means you will walk away with a ready to go website business.

One-to-One Training

All our internet marketing workshops are carried out on a one-to-one basis ensuring you receive focused attention.  This promotes a more relaxed and informal learning environment.  It also facilitates more practical, in-depth learning.  This will ensure you leave confident that you can apply this knowledge to promote your business.

Adapted to Your Needs

Web Worx Workshops are entirely relevant to you and your situation.  We will customise the training to match the level you are at.  If you’re totally new to a subject such as SEO, we can go through all the basics.  Or, you may already have experience in website optimisation; we will tailor the workshop to suit this.

Relevant to Your Business

Our workshops have been designed with less focus on marketing theory and technical information that you do not need to know.  Our training is practical and focuses on internet marketing techniques that can be applied to increase revenue.  You do not really need to know the ins and outs of Multi Dimensional Scaling or what Econometric modelling is.  But it may benefit you to find out how you can use list building to increase sales or how to optimise an E-Bay advert.  We only offer one-to-one workshops so we can be entirely relevant to the industry that the attendee is in.  Why sit in a room with 30 other delegates (from all types of industry) and not learn anything that is actually relevant to your specific area?  To illustrate, the marketing techniques we would recommend to someone who wanted to expand his model toy shop into e-commerce would not be the same for a local firm of accountants who wanted to gain new clients.  The financial services industry is a little different to the hobby market.

Flexible Learning System

Internet marketing is a diverse subject, you may wish to explore paid advertising or you might want to learn how to get your site ranked naturally.  You may want to look at other channels to sell your product rather than just concentrating on the search engines or maybe you see social networks as the future for your business.  Web Worx Training offers a unique, flexible approach to internet marketing training.  We have broken down the elements of internet marketing into shorter modules which you can pick and choose from.  For example, if you are interested in social media training, you could pick from the following; Blogging & Web 2.0 For Business, Facebook For Business, Linkedin For Business, MySpace For Business, Twitter For Business, Youtube & Video Marketing.

At Your Convenience

As our training is broken down into shorter modules, we can offer you the convenience of attending when you can manage to take the time away.  You may wish to take 2 full days out for an intensive training program.  Alternatively, you may prefer 4 half days because you cannot be away from your business for longer periods of time.

Cost Effective

It is so easy to spend money in the wrong places when it comes to internet marketing.  Your PPC campaigns may be costing you more than they are earning you, taking our PPC Marketing Workshop will show you how to run an effective campaign.  You may be spending thousands on get rich quick affiliate schemes or software and getting little return on your investments, you could take our Affiliate Marketing Course to learn the basics and give you some guidance.  Our trainer will also be able to advise you of different software options available for your budget and provide recommendations.  Perhaps you are paying out thousands to outsource your SEO, why not do it in-house instead, either do it yourself, or send your staff to our Search Engine Optimisation Course.  The ability to make informed decisions will save you money.  Our prices start from just £125.00 and we offer 50% discount for every additional attendee.

Our Internet Marketing Courses is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

Due to the obscene amount of competition on the www today (yes, 1 trillion other sites) I believe that businesses need to change their outlook to get ahead.  By treating your website, as if it was a physical entity.  Are products easy for your customers to find or are they buried in amongst HTML errors?  Do your displays do your product justice or are your images small and web pages messy?  And perhaps most importantly, are people going into cafes, pubs, restaurants, meetings and talking about your business?  Or are you still wondering what Facebook is all about?  Use this simple but powerful metaphor to help you re-focus and identify in what areas your business may be failing!

As if things weren’t bad enough on the high street, you have a whole army of people at your shop door, though your mailbox trying to take your money for banner advertising, PPC, SEO, link building etc.  Internet marketing can be a minefield.  Businesses can spend thousands to no avail and most website owners are blind as to what their website is doing.  My answer to this is STOP SPENDING NOW.  Do not spend another penny your website until you can answer the following questions:

1.    What do I want to achieve

2.    Is my Website up to standard

3.    Do I target the right keywords

4.    Where does my traffic come from

5.    Who abandons my site

6.    How many visitors do I convert

7.    Who are my competition

Still can’t find your website on Google?  Want to generate more revenue from your website?  Confused about Internet Marketing?  Think you may be wasting your money?  Unsure if your site is being managed properly?  Want to know how your competitors do it?  Tired of devoting valuable time with no results?

Don’t waste any more time……………

·         Discover how to optimise your own website

·         How to stop wasting money in the wrong places

·         A targeted campaign to get more sales, leads and sign-ups

·         Why your website isn’t working

·         Find out what your competitors are up to

·         Free up more time to run your business

Website Audit

In a financial audit, your auditor will analyse, balance, check, examine, go over, go through, investigate, report, review, scrutinize, survey and verify your finances.

During a website audit we will:

·         Analyse your meta-tags

·         Balance keyword density

·         Check the link popularity

·         Examine your website interactivity

·         Go Over your website content

·         Go Through coding errors

·         Investigate your competitors

·         Report factors that could prevent your top ranking

·         Review your marketing efforts

·         Scrutinize your visitor behaviour

·         Survey your social media marketing

·         Verify  your target keywords

Sounds Expensive? 

Before I go into further detail about exactly what a website audit includes, I would like to express that this is not a service costing thousands of pounds.  We offer a fair service for a fair price.  The cost of a website audit, is just £250.  I would like to stress that this is very good value for money.  You are not paying us to run off a few SEO reports, every aspect of your online business will be scrutinised.

Recommendations will made by myself, encompassing 15 years experience in the field of website promotion.  The main advantage to purchasing a website audit is that not only do we tell you what’s wrong; we will tell you how to fix it.  This will save you thousands in the long term.  It gives you options.  You can do the work yourself, you can outsource it, you can split up all the various elements, you can prioritise and most importantly, you can take control.

Take A Look at http://www.businesswebworx.co.uk

Getting The Best From You Online Business is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

Profit and Loss Account

The primary business report that you need at the end of every month, depending on the volume of activity, is the monthly profit and loss account or statement. This is prepared for a one month period in the case of monthly accounts and a three month period in the case of quarterly accounts. The profit and loss account shows how your sales or revenue is converted to the net profit.

Revenue is the amount of sales that you’ve made to your customers. The revenue figure will be a net figure after accounting for sales discounts and any allowances that you have afforded your customers. Each sale will be supported by a customer invoice that details that type of product sold or services rendered and the corresponding value. A gross profit figure is arrived at after deducting the costs directly attributed to the sales. A gross profit margin is arrived at by dividing the gross profit with the sales figure – this will show the percentage of profit earned from sales to customers.

The expenses reflected in the profit and loss account are the expenditure that you have incurred in the course of your business operations and which are attributable to the business activities. These include general and administrative expenses such as insurance, utilities and salaries. Such expenditure is necessary to manage your business. There will also be selling expenses such as travelling, commissions and advertising that have been incurred to sell your products or services.

The net profit figure is the total profit that your business made after deducting all the relevant expenditure. This is the figure that actually determines the profitability or otherwise of your business. If your business made losses, you are able to determine from an analysis of your expenses in the profit and loss account which of your expenses was a major contributor to your loss. High net profits may predict strong future profits for your business. You can also assess whether or not your business will be able to generate sufficient cash flow in the future from a review of your profit and loss account.

Balance Sheet

A bookkeeper will prepare the balance sheet after completing the profit and loss account. The balance sheet is a snapshot of the financial position of your business at a specific point in time. In monthly accounts, the balance sheet date will be the last date of the month and shows the financial position of the business as at that date. At the financial year end, the balance sheet will reflect the financial condition of the business on last day of the financial year.

The balance sheet is a summary of the balances in your business. It gives the breakdown of assets and liabilities in your business as well as your equity, as the business owner. The net worth of your business is denoted by the equity figure. This is actually derived by subtracting all the liabilities from the assets. Showing the net worth of the company is the primary function of the balance sheet.

The balance sheet can be presented in a format that shows the assets on one column with the liabilities and equities on the corresponding column. Both the columns will then be equal in value, or balance. This gives rise to the balance sheet term. Contemporary balance sheets are presented in a single vertical section for many businesses with the assets recorded first followed by the liabilities and equity.

Cash Flow Statement

The periodic accounting statements that your bookkeeper prepares must include a cash flow statement. This crucial statement shows the movement of cash into, and outside of, your business. The cash into your business comes from your customers who have paid for products bought or services received. The cash outflow is primarily due to payment of trade and other creditors. A net inflow of cash indicates that your business is liquid.

Even if your business is profitable and shows a strong net profit figure in your profit and loss account, if you don’t have enough positive cash flow then you run the risk of business failure or bankruptcy. You won’t be able to service your debts as they fall due. Cash shortages are a red flag and demand immediate attention. If your business is haemorrhaging cash, your bookkeeper will be able to point this out to you from the cash flow statement. You can discuss ways of stemming the cash outflow perhaps through buying your equipment instead of leasing them.

With a cash flow analysis, you can determine if you need to speed up your customers in settling their debts. You would be able to negotiate longer credit periods with your suppliers to lag payments to trade creditors. In fact you can obtain an excellent understanding of the cash flow situation of your business and take steps to adequately manage cash to remain both liquid and profitable.

Business reporting encompasses the financial statements which are critical for the efficient running of your small business. Three very important financial statements are the profit and loss account, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. Bookkeeping Central (http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au) provides comprehensive accounting services through the services of bookkeepers for small businesses. Your business will be far better managed with accurate bookkeeping services that are timely and cost effective. By using the professional expertise available at Bookkeeping Central (http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au), your business will benefit from accurate periodic financial statements that provide you with critical information about the profitability and liquidity of your enterprise. With a great bookkeeping partnership, your small business is assured of accounting and financial reporting.

Business Reporting- Critical Facets of Running A Small Business is a post from Web Worx more great advice at Business Web Worx

        

Initial Setting Up of Your Business

The first thing that you have to do is decide on what sort of business structure you’re going to need for your particular service. Perhaps you’re a plumber and want to start a plumbing service business as a sole proprietor. That means that you’re starting your business as an individual who’s trading on their own. Now you’ve got to choose a name for your business. You may want to select a name like ‘Payne Plumbers’ to better identify the type of business you’re conducting.

Once you’ve decided on the name for your business, the next step is to apply for and register your business name with the relevant authorities. In Australia, you have to register your business name in the Australian state or territory in which you plan to operate. Before you can register your chosen business name, you must first check to see if the name is already registered as a business. If it hasn’t, then you can go ahead and register your business with the relevant State Consumer Affairs Department.

Next, you have to apply for an Australian Business Number or ABN. This is a unique 11 digit number which is exclusive to your business. You’ll use this number when transacting with other businesses or customers. It’s important to include your ABN on your sales invoice otherwise your debtors have the right to withhold 46.5% of any payment due to you. It’s necessary to have an ABN to facilitate communication and dealings with the Australian Taxation Office or ATO.

Another important reason why you’ll need the ABN is because it’s necessary to register your business for Goods and Services Tax or GST. You now have to register for GST to ensure that you can both charge and claim GST credits on your sales and purchase invoices. It’s vital that all your invoices to customers include a 10% charge for GST. You’ll also be charged GST on any supplies that you purchase. You must account for the difference between the GST paid by your customers and the GST you’ve suffered on your supplier invoices, to the ATO every quarter.

Sorting Out Your Business Accounts

This critical component of a new business start up cannot be stressed enough. Setting up your accounting system is vital if you are to get a good grip on the financial aspects of your business. You need to have a chart of accounts to classify the various accounts in your business in order to charge expenses and allocate payments. You must have monthly bank reconciliations performed to find out your true cash balances and what cheques have not cleared in the bank statement. You also need to reconcile your credit card accounts if you’re using your credit card for business purposes. You need to have proper debtor management systems in place so that you know the extent of your Accounts Receivable.

At the end of every month, you should be able to assess how well your business is doing from the monthly management accounts. You can determine how much income your business has made and how much you owe your suppliers. You’ll see your various accounts in a trial balance that ensures all the debits and credits are in balance.

All these functions are important for the smooth and efficient running of your business. You should use the services of an excellent <a href=”http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au”>bookkeeper</a> to ensure that your accounting records are maintained systematically, accurately and completely.

Connecting with an MYOB Partner

The most common business accounting software in use in Australia is MYOB or Mind Your Own Business. You should team up with an MYOB Approved Partner to ensure your business accounting requirements are efficiently handled. An <a href=”http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au”>MYOB Approved Partner</a> will utilise this cost effective, powerful and competent software to manage your entire accounting records from the Accounts Receivable and Payable to Invoicing and BAS.

The benefits to your business are multifarious as you’ll be assured that only state of the art and comprehensive accounting software is being used to record your transactions, update your accounts and invoice your customers. You can have access to timely support for MYOB services and be apprised of the latest software updates that further enhance performance.

Getting Your Business Off To A Good Start

As a new business owner, you’re most concerned about getting new clients and building your business. You’re focused on providing excellent services to your customers and retaining their custom. You’re driven and primed for quality output. You’re also often pressed for time with many activities and tasks demanding your attention at once.

Furthermore you need to have an online presence to add credibility to your business. Many people search for services on the internet and are often impressed if you have a website they can refer to for further information. You must have a registered domain name and have your website designed attractively to garner more traffic and optimised for better sales conversion. Your site has to be hosted on a reliable server to ensure you’re available on the Net 24/7 with no downtime or broken links. You must be able to communicate with your suppliers and clients via email, a fast and efficient mode of communication.

Bookkeeping Central (http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au) can provide you with all these primary services through their affordable and value for money new business starter packs. You’ll get the entire package from business name registration to having a website for an online presence. Your books will be carefully and meticulously looked after by this <a href=”http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au”>Australian accounting services</a> so that you can focus on growing your business. Get your new business off to a great start with Bookkeeping Central (http://www.bookkeepingcentral.com.au).

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