5 Digital Payment Portals for Businesses

 

Over the past 20 years, technology has morphed in countless ways to integrate with the daily lives of the average consumer. As time hurdles forward, more and more of the transactions and
communications that used to take place in the physical world are moved into the digital space. Today, with every 30 seconds that pass approximately 1.2 million dollars is spent online. These numbers are a true testament to just how immersed people have become in the digital world.

The explosive expansion and deep interconnectivity brought on by these technological advancements has spawned a new kind of digital currency that will more than likely one day replace physical monies completely. As society continues to move to all things digital, it has become more important than ever for businesses to keep pace and implement an online payment portal to manage all of the ingoing and outgoing transactions between organizations and their consumers.

The big problem that most run into is which payment method is most suitable for utilization with that company’s needs.

To ensure that your business is not left in the proverbial dust, here are 5 of 2015’s most notable and watch-worthy digital payment modalities:

PayPal
Paypal is without a doubt the world’s single most popular and widely used payment platform. The massively recognized method of payment, although not new to the game, is the largest in the market with 153 million accounts across 203 countries that span the globe. Within the past year alone, PayPal has processed roughly $203 billion in payments, only attributing $67 billion of which to eBay.
The payment goliath that is PayPal is now poised to grow even more massive as eBay sets it free to be an independent company. PayPal’s growth was stunted for years due to its association with parent company eBay, which was often viewed as a competitor by potential prospects. With this barrier removed, PayPal is free to expand its services to companies such as Alibaba, Amazon.com, and many others.

Optimal Payments
Based in the Isle of Man, Optimal Payments is a trusted online payment portal currently utilized all across the world including places like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The efficient currency gateway is used by consumers and organizations alike to safely process payments in over 200 countries and territories, allowing for billions to be managed by the company every single year.

Last month, Optimal Payments announced the acquisition of rival competitors the Skrill Group, which is one of Europe’s foremost electronic payment processing platforms. This acquisition allows Optimal Payments to continue expansion of the service into new markets and areas of the globe. With the ability to now process payments in 41 different currencies and a new combined company annual revenue of $697 million, Optimal Payments will continue to explode with widespread utilization in 2015.

Bitcoin
Bitcoin has had somewhat of a controversial ride since its conception and that trend continues to this day as the currency ends the previous year at just 39% of the perceived value that it began with. This, however, is not nearly as bad as it sounds when put into context. It is true that the value of the bitcoin conversion to U.S. dollars has dropped 67% in the last year, however, the value of the digital coin is up overall by 1,879% when compared to the previous two years. Additionally, Bitcoin has seen substantial growth in several sectors, including the number of bitcoin related jobs and startups that have emerged.

Unfortunately, there is no definitive number that surrounds exactly how many startups were created. However, data provided by AngelList to Fortune confirmed 566 registered startups in 2014. In 2012 only 13 bitcoin startups were listed on AngelList. This massive boom in the startup sector means just one thing for Bitcoin; the digital currency will experience massive growth over the next couple of years.

Apple Pay
Since its release back in October of 2014, ‘Apple Pay’ (https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/) has had a swarm of companies eager and willing to pledge their allegiance to Apple. Banks, retailers, and other companies are continually jumping on the bandwagon on what seem like a daily basis. The payment portal for Apple provides iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and Apple Watch users the ability to pay for items quickly and digitally via a technology known as NFC or near-field communication.

Now Apply Pay is set to expand its services to the north in Canada this fall. Canadian bankers, however, are concerned about fraud protection issues after earlier this year unusually high fraud rates occurred from thieves using stolen information via Apple Pay.

Apple and several other banks insist that this situation was blown out of proportion and have dismissed any concerns surrounding the matter, according to CNNMoney. Whatever the case may be, rest assured that one of the largest tech companies on the planet will undoubtedly find a way to keep their customer information safe and make Apple Pay a success.

Facebook Messenger Payment Feature
As reported in this column last month, social media platforms are now starting to enter the payment processing arena. One example of this is the official announcement that Facebook has added a payment feature to the already hugely popular Facebook Messenger application.

Now users of the communication app can link a debit or credit card directly to the service and utilize it to send money to one another just as easily as a message is sent. These “peer-to-peer payments” as they are called will initially only be able to occur between individuals who are currently friends on the social network. Given Facebook’s reach, however, and its associated application, this portal is sure to open up to many other organizations and markets within a relatively short period of time.
Payment processing via social media is sure to provide a level of convenience and versatility that will continue to evolve social platforms into overall lifestyle platforms.

The digitalization of currencies has already begun and it is only a matter of time before all of it is digitized. When there is no more physical money to be dealt with, the only question that will remain is which platform to utilize for you and your organization’s transactions. Implement one of these payment portals for your organization and keep up with the world that is quickly becoming electronic through and through.

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How to Get Your Website Ready for Google’s Major Mobile Update

 

Google is at it yet again. The search engine giant is rolling out a huge update and causing major waves in the content world!

I’ve talked about the various coming changes and even given suggestions on how to do a content audit long before Google does it, to keep your site clear of any penalties. Just like before, I am attempting to update all of you all on the Google changes to help you prepare your websites before it hits. Let’s take a look at just what this update is, how it will impact you, and how to prepare your website to meet it.

What’s the New Google Update This Time?

It does seem that Google is always updating, but really in the end it does come out being for the good of websites and searchers alike. This particular update seems to be similarly beneficial, but just what is it? Google is going to be issuing a new update in April that focuses completely on mobile users and searchers. More people seem to be checking their favorite sites on their smartphones or tablets, which is making Google realize just how important an update is for mobile users.

This is an incredibly large update – so large that Google wants to make sure everyone knows and can prepare before the change is issued! Let’s take a look at this mobile update in detail to help you know what to expect and how to prepare your site for the impending changes.

Why is Google Focusing on a Mobile Update?

I already covered this briefly above, but the reason they are focusing so hard on mobile is because mobile usage rates are growing quickly. Take a second to think about it. When you go on the subway, stand in line at your favorite eatery or go to a concert, what do you see? People on their smartphones with their faces lit up eerily by that blue light. Google wants to make sure its users can have a great user experience when searching on mobile devices, and, therefore, are making it imperative for your site to be mobile-friendly.

Will this Impact Your Site?
It will only impact your site if you are not already mobile-friendly. However, according to the Moz article I shared above, this update should not and will not impact your desktop rankings if someone searches from their computer. You’re in the clear with that! You will get penalized when it comes to mobile searches, though, which will steadily become detrimental as time progresses.

An interesting aspect that Search Engine Land points out is that you need to make sure all web pages on your site are mobile-friendly. This algorithm will go page by page, and if you have ten pages that convert to mobile and ten that don’t, you will see penalties for those ten non-mobile pages. This is quite disconcerting to many different businesses, especially if they don’t know if their websites are mobile-friendly.

How to Know if Your Website is Already Mobile-friendly?

It isn’t difficult to find out how mobile-friendly your site is because Google is helping in that regard. The search engine giant has provided a Mobile-Friendly Test for web pages but remember to enter in all of your company pages to ensure they are all mobile-ready and friendly. You can also do a basic experiment on your own mobile device by going to your web page and seeing if it converts to mobile or not. Many web page hosting sites do give you the ability to choose a plug-in to help convert your pages, but you need to ensure it is working if you use one. You can also check out a few other mobile test tools provided by Hubspot!

How Can You Prepare Your Website for this Mobile Update?

So what can you do to prepare your website for the Google mobile update? I am going to take a look at a few ways that can help you create a great mobile-friendly website, helping you beat yet another Google penalty.

1. Use Mobile-Friendly Plugins to Convert Your Page. Most hosting sites allow for businesses to transform their website from a desktop version to mobile through plugins. The most common is the responsive design plugin, which is both affordable and the best one for Google’s update. One of the main reasons Google prefers and recommends responsive mobile design is because it helps them to assess the mobile friendliness of your website, and makes things easier overall for all involved.

2. Create Mobile-Friendly Images. When you add images to your website, you should make sure that they are mobile-friendly. This means that they shouldn’t be too large, because that can take a significant amount of download time or distort the page once it loads. A great way to do this is to follow this guide from Site Point, which discusses how to make sure your images stay a decent size when people come to your mobile site.

3. Fix Basic HTML for Smartphone Usage. In the Site Point article mentioned above, the author also states that fixing basic HTML on your mobile site will significantly help with smartphone usage. When someone is using a smartphone to access a web page, he/she will use your website differently. We never use keyboards with our smartphones and many like to tilt their screen to get a better view of a website in landscape mode. If your site is not prepared for any of this, it could be problematic for your users.

Get to Work: Become Mobile-Friendly!

While this update might seem overwhelming since it is so large and impacts a huge number of websites, it is still a great move on Google’s part. It doesn’t look like mobile technology is going anywhere any time soon, and we all need to make sure we are prepared for that, providing excellent access to our customers. If you are looking to help improve your site to get it mobile-friendly through content, then look no further. Express Writers can provide you excellent content that can work for both desktop browsing and mobile. Take a look to find something perfect for your business!

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Five Tips to Take Content Viral

 

Going viral is a huge goal for many brands. It is the dream result every time we hit the ‘post’ button on our social media status updates. With billions of users online each day, the possibility is always there. Yet so many entrepreneurs never see more than a few hundred likes on their content. What is the key to getting your content to reach a larger number of people and ‘go viral?’

There are hundreds of thousands of different brands online, each one trying to be seen and heard by a large audience. The competition for followers is a heavy one. A single piece of viral content can take an unknown person or business and place them in the spotlight.

The result would be a flood of new followers and, among them, new customers.

Many people are searching for the right formula to instantly produce a piece of viral content. There are plenty of blogs and websites that claim to have the answer. But the truth is that getting content to go viral is not an exact science.

A lot of it is pure chance. But there are things that you can do in order to give your content the best chance to be shared across a larger, more widespread audience.

Be more personal
Even though you want to reach a large number of people, you should post as though you are trying to speak to a single person. Focus on the conversation that you want to have with that one individual.
Do not be broad and general with the content you are posting. That is the kind of content that is quickly passed over in a news feed.

Do the split test
Not everyone in your audience is going to respond to the same headlines. This is why doing a split test is helpful.

Come up with a few different wordings for a headline. Do a poll to see which of the headlines is the most enticing. When you know what is going to draw the reader in, then you will know how to post it in a way that is more likely to be shared.

Give them something they can use
Do not use your posts as a place to ramble on about yourself. People want to gain something valuable from your content. This could be something as simple as having a good laugh. Maybe they are hoping to learn something important from what you post. Do not disappoint your audience by making them read content that gives them nothing at the end. This will keep them from reading and sharing anything else you post in the future.

Trim the fat
Are you guilty of going a little overboard? Maybe your Facebook posts are more like blog posts. Or you upload YouTube videos that last about an hour. Do your Twitter followers have to click a link in order to read your entire thought?

People are busy. They do not want to cut through a lot of fat just to get to the meat of your content. Get rid of any unnecessary parts in your posts. Give them what they need and don’t worry about surrounding it in fluff.

Cross your mediums
This is what going viral really means. You surpass one platform and reach across many.
If you have some solid blog content and a large readership, try to write a piece for an authority website. This gets your name out there as an authority and you reach a new audience.
Share your posts on more than one social network. Tweet your links, share your videos on Facebook. Get your fans involved in sharing.

Good content does not go viral on its own. It needs to be cultivated into something worth sharing. You need headlines that will spark an interest and produce a reaction.

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How to Calculate Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) in Ecommerce

The cost of customer acquisition (CAC) means the price you pay to acquire a new customer. In its simplest form, it can be worked out by:

Dividing the total costs associated with acquisition by total new customers, within a specific time period.

Do not get this metric confused with cost per action (CPA), as there is a strong distinction between the two. In ecommerce, cost per action is typically the amount you pay to convert a customer - i.e to make a sale - but this relates to both new and returning customers.

CAC is all about acquiring new customers. See how even Google refers to CPA as ‘the cost you are willing to pay to make a conversion’ NOT to acquire a new customer.

How To Avoid the 5 Most Common Mistakes Causing Claim Denials

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) found that better-performing medical groups average just a 4.05% claims denial rate.

Is your practice’s denial rate above four percent? If so, it could be time for a checkup of your internal claims processing. Manual errors, input oversights and timing issues create more denials than many practices realize.

Keep an eye on the following common reasons for insurance denials to see if you can tighten up your billing approach and lower your denial rate:

Claims with Missing InformationIf your staffers leave certain encounter data out of a claim, it could come back to haunt you in the form of an insurance denial.

A detail-oriented payer will notice omissions and count such errors as reason enough to deny a claim. Claims missing a modifier or other information, such as prior authorization, rank as reasons #6 and #9, respectively, in Medical Economics’ 15 Common Reasons for Claim Denials.

Make sure your employees fill in all required areas on your claim forms. Have your billers double-check commonly missed fields, like patient subscriber number, and rectify such errors before transmittal.

Claims Not Filed on Time
Timely filing denials are probably the most frustrating kind. Because every payer operates on its own filing schedule, it can be easy to miss a timing window if you’re not careful. Track and document each payer’s receipt of claim submissions when possible.

Sometimes claims are unfairly denied for timely filing, like when you submit a claim properly but the insurance carrier says they do not receive it before their deadline. Hold payers accountable for their timely receipt of your transactions.

Non-Specific ClaimsIt can’t be said enough: Coding to the highest level of specificity remains the best way to reduce denials.

A diagnosis must be coded to the absolute highest level for that code, meaning the greatest number of digits for the chosen code. If the medical billing requires a five-digit code and you send a four-digit code, you may get back a denial.

Facilitate a dialogue between your billers and coders. Make sure your billers know what truncated codes look like so they can catch them before claim submission.

Illegible ClaimsEven if most of your payers accept electronic claims, a few probably still cling to paper and require manual submissions. Focusing primarily on electronic claims might cause you inadvertently to overlook those paper forms.

Any messy or illegible print claims become problematic for payers who scan them into their systems upon receipt. Make sure your billers always look over claims and make sure they’re readable before sending them off.

Claims Below Payer Standards
Some payers may be more demanding and sensitive to the claim issues we outlined so far. Although ideally every claim you send is perfect, paying particular attention to the requirements of your pickiest payers helps you elevate the quality of all of your claims. You can also group your transactions by payer to figure out which insurers deny your claims most often.

Claim was Denied… Now What?Appeal! The MGMA found that only 35% of providers appeal denied claims. Because payers often make mistakes and deny claims in error, that percentage should be much higher.

Inspect every single denied claim to make sure it’s correct and develop a denial management system in your practice. Task an employee with appeal duties. Otherwise, you could be allowing 4% or more of the money you’re owed to slip through the cracks.

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Tips For Launching A New Business

Entrepreneurship is the ultimate roller coaster. Having been through building a business twice now, I can attest to the fact that some days I'm high as a kite and other days I'm filled with fear. To ride out those wild swings, and to end up on top, it takes a lot of help.

It can help to talk to other entrepreneurs. I recently spoke about this with Justin Beegel, the 28-year-old founder of Infographic World, an information graphics company based in New York City. The company, which launched in 2009, is experiencing triple-digit annual revenue growth, and Beegel has learned a lot along the way. Here are his seven tips for entrepreneurs ready to launch their first business:

1. Have an amazing support system: If you don't, go find one. I don't mean just your parents. Make sure that you have a few people in your life that you can go to, who know what you're going through, that you can bounce ideas off of, have point out things you're doing wrong, and just talk to in general. Without the support of my father and my best friend who started a company a few years before me, I probably wouldn't have made it out of my first year in business alive.
2. Expect utter hell, and you'll be just fine: Any glamour you see in movies about entrepreneurial success, just do yourself a favor and pretend you never saw it. Taking the leap to start a company sets you up for the most indescribable ride you can possibly imagine. When it's your company, you live it and breathe it, every day, all day. The day has no beginning, and it has no end. It's just always there, as it will likely consume your thoughts all the time. When things go wrong, you will feel like you are a failure and that the world is crashing down. I know this because I've experienced that feeling about a dozen times in the five years I've run Infographic World. Half of those times came in the first 18 months, as the beginning is the most turbulent period. So, though nothing can prepare you for this journey, just expect a rocky ride, and you'll be ahead of the game.
3. Make sure you have passion and perseverance: Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, famously said: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day of your life." This maxim has tremendous significance in the startup world. To succeed, entrepreneurs must find a business they are passionate about because it will consume their entire life. Confucius knew what he was talking about. Though there have been trying times since I started my company, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. Nothing in the work world is more fulfilling than owning a company.
4. Bring the best people together: This may be the most important part of expanding a business. Seek out the most talented and hard-working people possible, and keep them happy. At some point, you will not be able to do everything yourself, nor should you, and your business will be only as good as its people.
5. Set realistic goals and timelines: Most New Year's resolutions are forgotten by March or sooner. Typically, they were great ideas at conception, so it is critical to regroup quarterly and make sure your business goals are on track. Set goals that are realistic and measurable. This may be the difference between success and failure.
6. Make time to read a little each day: I've made a point of taking some time to read the news every day the past six months or so. I get The New York Times delivered daily. On my way out, I'll grab just the business section and read it over the course of a day. Reading can help spark ideas that you can apply to your business and keep in mind things that caused others to fail.
7. Just jump: The time will never feel quite right to start a business. There will always be reasons, real and imagined, as to why you should wait. The problem is that waiting gives the devil time. If you have a good idea, believe in yourself, and are prepared, you should take the leap. Make 2014 the year you change your life.

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