Business has changed a lot over the past couple of decades. The advent of digital technology and how huge an impact it has had on communication and industry has opened the floodgates. Nowadays, anyone can launch a startup online. From seasoned entrepreneur to first-time home business owner. It’s not just how people start businesses, either. The internet has opened up a lot of new opportunities in how we do business. It has also changed how we market and what more we need to consider about our business. For growing businesses, it adds even more tasks. Which means that companies providing solutions to those tasks have been growing too. These companies, specialising in outsourcing, can fit all manners of niches nowadays. We’re going to take a look at the kinds of benefits they offer to the businesses that use them.

Finances

Financial matters are, of course, nothing new to the world of business. They are, however, growing to accommodate a whole new range of client. Accountants are hired by businesses and individuals of all kinds for many reasons. One of the most common reasons is their expertise in helping business owners calculate their taxes. Their knowledge usually entails all kinds of deductions that the average person would very well be likely to miss. More than that, financial advisors offer just that, advice. They are not just there to give you a summary of your current situation. They can be the impartial third party that business owners use to make important financial decisions.

Web design

Naturally, if you’re talking about businesses online, you have to talk about their web presence. The website and how it’s designed is about establishing that web presence. Many business owners handicap themselves by taking website design upon themselves. They might have the knowledge to get a site online, even enough to make it look better than the average. Web designers tend to offer a lot more insight than that, however. They know that the key to successful websites are clean, simple homepages that appeal directly to what customers are after. They know that ongoing success is about using data to identify the most popular pages. Through that, they can optimise the design to convert more visitors into staying and paying customers.

Mobile app design

The website might still be the central hub of a business’s online endeavours. Nowadays, however, it is far from the only way that consumers find those businesses. Mobile internet is becoming more accessible and more widespread with every year. Most internet users do as much browsing on mobile devices like phones and tablets as they do on computers. It’s no surprise that businesses have adapted to this. Phones with sophisticated operating systems like Android support all kinds of apps. E Commerce businesses in particular are starting to develop more apps to serve as digital storefronts. This enables accessibility no matter where the customer is. Mastering mobile app design is about being effective and accessible. Expert designers have been helping retailers all over expand their commercial bases even further.

Branding

The brand of a company matters. Particularly online, where it can be difficult to grasp the human aspect or the people behind the company. The brand needs to speak for them. It needs to distil the essence of what a company offers and what it sees as its strengths. Web and mobile app design are a part of that. It’s expanded, however, in a couple of different ways. First by using graphic designers. These designers can work in tandem with web designers or they can focus on the logo. They can create a style that businesses tie together in all their publications and packaging. The look of what a company puts out can have huge effects in how they are recognised and what is associated with them.

Social media messaging

Another way that branding is taken care of is through marketing. The internet has opened up an avenue of marketing that might have even more potential than the traditional forms. It’s no secret that online marketing can reach thousands and even potentially millions at a low cost. While it doesn’t cost a lot to set up social media accounts and post content, it does take a lot of time. Time to create or curate content. Time to schedule it. Time to do it across multiple channels. Time to reply and keep followers engaged. A lot of that is time that business owners don’t have. The other reason that social media marketing is outsourced so much is simply due to the expertise involved. Not everyone has the know-how to organise and deliver a comprehensive plan for reaching as many people online as possible.

Inbound marketing

If social media is considered to be the key of outbound marketing online, then you also need to consider the core of inbound marketing. For most people, this is about search engine optimisation. SEO is the practice of using methods like keywords and link building to improve your position on search engines. This means that ensuring your site appears high in searches from users looking for terms relevant to your business. It’s an involved and not entirely simple process. That’s why so many companies tend to outsource it to the experts instead of trying to handle it themselves.

IT systems

Naturally, companies that have a focus on doing business online have need for a lot of IT equipment. In fact, any company tends to have more need as they grow. What started on a single computer can soon need multiple servers’ worth of space. This is the point where most business owners are out of their depth and require experts. Whilst some may hire an in-house team, some save on the cost by outsourcing it to IT specialists instead. Not only can these specialists offer solutions for IT problems and processes. They are also invaluable in helping business owners create important online security measures. Online fraud and scams are common, as are hacking attempts on corporate websites or networks. Keeping it all protected is vital.

Virtual assistants

Business owners are used to having assistants. Someone to organise things and take care of tasks. Generally making their employer’s life easier. However, recently a whole new kind of assistant has surfaced. The virtual assistant is specialised in taking care of all kinds of virtual tasks. This can be organising email, developing social content, arranging schedules and more. A lot of these tasks can be done by physical assistants, of course. That said, there are some benefits of virtual assistants that the physical can’t match. For one, if you can do your business online, you can take your assistant with you without any cost. They have proven particularly useful to the kind of travelling entrepreneur that can take on a lot of overwhelming work.