Wednesday, September 24, 2014

5 Ways to Save Your Company Money

Here are 5 simple ways to make a dollar last longer and save your company money:

1. Hire an unpaid intern from a local university

Using an intern can be a fantastic way to save both time and money. It may take some time to find a good relationship with a university and to train the intern, but in the long run it will definitely be worth it.

Many universities are looking for local businesses who will offer internships to their students. The student really benefits because they gain real world experience and build a contact with a local business in their field. The business benefits because they get some much needed help with the day-to-day operations.

Fresh Look has greatly benefited from many different interns over the years. We have a partnership with ECPI University, located in Newport News and Virginia Beach Virginia, and we highly recommend the same for any business.

2. Update Your Website Yourself

Updating your website does require strong computer skills as well as time and patience. However it can save a lot of money for your business. Not all websites can be updated by an "amateur", so talk to your web designer to find out how you can update your website. It also helps if they can train you on how to make those updates. Click here to contact Fresh Look Web Design about how you can edit your website.

3. Don't waste money on Yellow page ads

Unless you have strong convictions that this is helping your company, don't spend money on Yellow page ads. They are outdated and it's just not how people search for businesses anymore.

4. Buy your domain through GoDaddy.com

There are a few reasons GoDaddy.com is a good choice for your domain name:

Cost - they're generally pretty cheap. Network Solutions domain names can cost $35, while GoDaddy's are usually closer to $20.

Reputation - despite what you may think about their commercials, when it comes to actual services GoDaddy has a good reputation for customer service. I've always had good experiences, and if something goes wrong, they fix it.

English - GoDaddy's technical support team is easy to work with. No language barrier to make things difficult.

Coupons - there are a lot of promotion codes you can use for GoDaddy's services. Check out http://www.fatwallet.com/GoDaddy-coupons/ or http://www.retailmenot.com/view/godaddy.com to knock a couple more dollars off your domain name.

Cancellation policy - if you renew your domain for multiple years, GoDaddy reduces the price, thus saving you money. If you decide to cancel the domain name before it expires, they refund your money back for the amount of time you didn't use it! So there's no risk in paying for multiple years at once, and it saves you a few bucks.

5. Encourage customers to not use their credit card

You have to be careful with this one, because whatever is most convenient for the customer is typically what you want to do. Credit cards are a great way to get paid because it's immediate and doesn't give the customer time to change their mind. It's important to close the sale, and credit cards make that happen right away.

However if you can do it right, encouraging customers to use other means of payment can really add up your savings, especially on large sales. You don't want to risk losing the customer of course, but a lot of people (especially other small business owners) can really relate to the "evil" credit card fee, and are willing to help you avoid it.

Do you have any good ideas about how to save a small business money? Let us know at info@freshlookwebdesign.com.