Author: Alani

10 Tips To Write Awesome Email Subject Lines (That Won’t End Up In The Trash)

Posted on by Alani

Emails are probably the only exception to the phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.

We are bombarded with email after email in our inbox everyday, and most of them get swiped straight to the trash. The subject line is the first thing you’ll see, so it’s extra important to write the perfect one in order to stand out from the sea of emails in your inbox.

There are several characteristics of a subject line that you should aim for. It has to be compelling enough to make you open the email, short and concise enough not to get cut off on mobile devices, and unique enough to compete with the other emails you’re receiving.

If you’re at a loss of how to craft the perfect email subject line, we’ve got you covered with these tips, along with real examples from my own inbox:

Continue reading “10 Tips To Write Awesome Email Subject Lines (That Won’t End Up In The Trash)”

The Easiest Way To Calculate Your Freelance Rate

Posted on by Alani

If you’re a freelancer struggling to calculate your rates, or a company looking to hire a freelancer but unsure of how much to charge, worry not! The answer to calculating your rates is not as difficult as it seems. Follow the steps below to see how you can easily come up with a fair price for the services you are offering:

Continue reading “The Easiest Way To Calculate Your Freelance Rate”

What’s The Best Time To Post On Social Media?

Posted on by Alani

Social media marketing is one of the best ways to get your business out there and increase your reach. Seeing as social media websites are the top visited sites online, with an estimated 3.09 billion users by 2021, it makes sense for you to tap into this resource to grow your business.

With that being said, there are certain rules you should follow with your social media postings to maximize your reach, including the timing of your posts. There’s no point sharing great posts at 5am when there isn’t anyone to see it! CoSchedule conducted and compiled studies on the best times to post on the most popular social media platforms. Hence, here’s a handy guide to when you should post on your socials:

Continue reading “What’s The Best Time To Post On Social Media?”

These Viral Marketing Tips Will Boost Your Social Media To The Next Level

Posted on by Alani

Social media is one of the most powerful tools you can use to support your business. Maintaining active social media pages are a great way to reach millions of people, but this involves posting great content at the right times and on the right platforms for your target audience.

If you are just starting your business socials or you aren’t seeing the results you were hoping for from your pages, fret not! We’ve compiled a bunch of tips for you to maximize your socials and see your performance soar:

Continue reading “These Viral Marketing Tips Will Boost Your Social Media To The Next Level”

Refresh Your Email Marketing With 4 Simple Steps

Posted on by Alani

Email marketing, if done right, can deliver great results for you and your business. Studies show that albeit the rise of social media, email is almost 40 times more effective at attracting new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined. That’s more than a little significant!

If you aren’t seeing results from your emails lately, you came to the right place. Read on to find out what simple changes you can make to boost your emails and reel people in.

Continue reading “Refresh Your Email Marketing With 4 Simple Steps”

Everything You Need To Know About Hiring Your Next Graphic Designer

Posted on by Alani

Many people underestimate how important having great graphic design can be. For instance, take a look at this poster.

Not only is it unappealing to look at, there’s too much going on for you to process, and no clear information. If you’re in need of design help and are looking to hire a graphic designer, keep these tips in mind to make sure you get the best out of your experience:

Continue reading “Everything You Need To Know About Hiring Your Next Graphic Designer”

There’s An App For That, So Should There Be One For Your Business?

Posted on by Alani

Mobile phone usage is increasing incrementally every year, with the number of smartphone users reaching an estimated 2.87 billion by 2020. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to adjust your marketing strategy to be more mobile-forward. Read on to find out how having a mobile app can boost your sales and customer base!

Continue reading “There’s An App For That, So Should There Be One For Your Business?”

Breaking It Down: How Much Should Making Videos ACTUALLY Cost?

Posted on by Alani

Videos are the way to go in marketing your business, with their easy to consume content, instant shareability, and lasting impressions on your viewer. You might have considered producing a video for your own business, but thought it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Think again!

We analysed 25 local production houses for their services provided, and averaged out the costs. In this article, we will be going through how much making a video would typically cost in Singapore, as well as the services you can get based on your budget.

Services to consider:

1. Script & storyboard

Have no idea where to start in terms of the story and flow of your video? Then you’ll need help with creating the storyboard and script.

The price will vary depending on the complexity and length you want your video to be. A longer video length = more ideas needed with the script and story!

2. Film crew

Is it time to roll the cameras yet? The budget depends on whether you want to hire a basic videography team or a full crew (that includes a lighting technician, a sound guy, multiple cameramen, etc.).

If you’re in need of video help, ThunderQuote is the place to go. Simply submit a quotation request for free and we’ll get up to 5 video producers linked up to you ASAP!

3. Director and/or producer

If you’re not fully sure how to translate your creative vision on tape, then you might need a director and producer to take on the reins.

Their fees could increase depending on how long your video will take to shoot. Though not completely necessary, it could be a big help to getting your video to perfection.

4. Actors

Have you decided who will be in front of the camera? If you and your colleagues are camera shy, you’ll need to hire an actor instead.

5. Hair and makeup

You’ll also need to consider hiring someone to do hair and makeup. Just don’t get too ambitious with wardrobe changes and crazy looks!

6. Location

Don’t forget location costs, which varies according to the venue itself.

7. Editing

Editing costs vary greatly according to the type of video you are looking to produce. Do you need basic editing or are you planning to make a more cinematic or documentary style video? Editing is hard work, so make sure to set aside a good amount of your budget for that.

Voiceovers and subtitles might be necessary too, and the cost will depend on the length of your video. Some voiceover artists will charge by the minute, so do keep that into account.

Background music is important too, and their rights need to be purchased before they can be used in your video.

Pricing average

Here’s a breakdown of the average pricing for each service we just mentioned:

 

Your video should range from $1500 – $5000, depending on your ideas and requirements of course.

Now that you have a rough idea on how much your video idea should cost, it’s time to start shooting! Not sure how to start? Submit a request on Thunderquote to get up to 5 free quotes from video production houses today!

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.

6 Simple Changes to Your Web Design That Will Reel In The Clicks

Posted on by Alani

You might have a fancy design on your site but if it’s difficult to use, visitors would be discouraged and click away quickly. Read these tips of the small changes you can make to your website to reel in those clicks and hike up those conversions!

 

  1. Make sure your website is mobile-compatible

In today’s day and age of people being glued to their phones, mobile-responsiveness is of utmost importance for your website. In fact, having a better layout and design than your desktop version may be even more important. A recent study suggests that almost 60% of web visits come from mobile users!

Opening a website on mobile with a messed-up layout due to incompatibility with phones is a big turn-off, so take the necessary steps to ensure that mobile users can have a good experience on your website too.

Don’t forget to make sure your site looks consistent across platforms though!

 

  1. Keep your loading times fast

No one likes waiting, especially that annoying extra few seconds for a website to load up. So much so, that a slow-loading page is the most popular reason as to why your visitor (and potential client) is clicking off your site. According to Google Webmasters, a good loading speed to aim for is 2 seconds, while Google themselves target half-second loading times.

Speaking of Google, the search engine mammoth along with several others will rank your website lower in search results due to slow loading time. This means that not only would people be clicking away from your page, but it would also be harder to find due to lower SEO rankings.

There are free tools available online to check website speed, which should be a good indicator of what you need to improve on your site. Make sure to keep third-party plugins to a minimum, reduce the amount of data used by your resources, and write your HTML to load above-the-fold content first!

  1. Keep your website search engine-optimised

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a key factor in boosting your website higher in search results, which in turn, will increase your visibility and clicks. This focuses more on the back-end of your website, as opposed to the front-end that users will see. But be warned, some web design choices will actually interfere with your SEO.

For example, having drop-down navigation that doesn’t link to the main category, using infinite scroll, not including the alt text option for image uploads, or using search to build categories instead of filters could interfere with how well search engines can scrape information from your website.

Not sure how to make your site SEO-friendly? Use ThunderQuote to get help and be connected to up to 5 web developers today!

 

  1. Revamp your website for conversions

Keeping your site’s user journey as simple as possible, from the homepage to your ‘thank you’ page, is vital to ensure that your customers don’t stray away and click off your website.

Map out your path from the homepage to the endpage of your conversion goal by testing it out on your own and with the people around you. Keep it to as few clicks as possible. Ultimately, you’ll want to improve your bounce rate by making it easy for users to go through with conversions.

How to optimise your page for conversions? Simple steps like having clear CTA buttons and keeping your main points above the fold helps!

 

  1. Test it out!

You’ll never know what works and what doesn’t for your website until you test it out yourself. Make a small change to your layout, colour scheme, or text, then analyse the data after a period of time to see if your users like the change. After going through the results, decide whether the changes you made should stay or revert to the way it was before.

To keep up with the ever-evolving world of web design, it’s best to constantly update, optimise, and debug your site. But don’t get too ahead of yourself though. Try to make one change at a time to have a clear idea of what is making your website stronger or weaker.

  1. Have clear navigation

Having a website that is easy to navigate can be a make-or-break factor for visitors. Your main menu should be clear, with all important pages available and easily accessible.

If you have a lot of subpages, keep them organised in drop-down lists. On the other hand, make sure to just keep it to the essentials, and not overwhelm your visitors with too many menu links. A search bar is vital as well, as visitors wouldn’t want to waste time scrolling through pages and pages before finding what they want.

Having an informative footer is important as well. Make sure to include all your contact information, social media links, and maybe even a short description of your company.

Also, take the time to check that all your links work. Nobody likes broken links!

 

Need help to implement these tips and redesign your website? Submit a request to get up to 5 free quotes for web design!

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.