Compu-Tech Intl.

How to Manage Time for Off-Site Contractors

November 20, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 

The world of business is changing, and it’s becoming common for employers to work with contractors off-site. This practice isn’t new, but the Web has made it much easier to find good help, hire them and manage their hours remotely. If you’re looking to take advantage of this growing independent work force, you’ll need to consider all aspects of hiring a temporary contractor in the same light as your full-time workers. You will need to manage their time clocks, provide them with paychecks at a steady period, and log the hours they have worked so you can report that expense on your tax forms.  Here are some tips to manage those off-site workers.

Hire the Right Employee

It takes a certain kind of person to live the freelance lifestyle. A freelancer doesn’t have a boss, per say, their only responsibility is to the client. There are freelancers that are very deadline oriented, and those who tend to let projects fall by the way side. Dependability is what you need most when it comes to working with someone off site. It will be your responsibility to delegate work to them, but they should be able to complete the work you are asking for within the time frame you have specified.

Supervise them Properly

If you never bother to follow up with your contractors, they won’t check up on you. It’s not their job to communicate goals and project hopes, it’s their job to produce the work you ask for. Set employee milestones, and clearly communicate measurable goals for the project. This is for your benefit too. At the end of the work, you’ll have an easier time deciding whether the freelancer is worth using a second time if you can measure how well he or she performed against the bar that you set. You should consider providing them with a time clock online, so you can see how long their projects are taking them and what they are doing with that time.

Communicate Frequently

Make sure you periodically check up on your contractor, inquiring about project status and if they have questions moving forward. Make sure to respond timely, and also provide your contractor with a point of contact that leads directly to their supervisor (most likely you).

Final Thoughts

The more attention that is paid to the contractor, the better the work you receive will be. Manage the goals of your contractor, and provide them with the tools and resources they need to complete their job.

Related Story: Optimize Your Employee’s Time

Related Story: Manage Satellite Employees
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Allied Time sells time clocks for businesses. Order a new time machine from Allied Time to manage your employees more efficiently.

How to Fine Tune Your Retargeting

November 17, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 

Retargeting is an effective method at reaching new segments of your audience. You can use several strategies to increase your market reach, and improve the branding efforts of your display advertising. If you fine tune retargeting, it can deliver effective results for a fraction of the investment you would otherwise make.

Build on What You Know

Look at the data you already have about customers within your Analytics and social media efforts. Develop a clear picture of which benefits your customers respond best to, then use those benefits to help brand yourself through retargeting. Conversions may be low, but brand recognition will be much higher and cost you less. Plus, you’ll increase the exposure your ads have to your ideal market segment.

Under Utilized Keywords Increase Reach

There are competitive words you bid on because they increase your chances of conversion, and then there are those you could bid on because they are cheap and bring in more traffic. That spend is a form of branding, and done correctly can lead to conversions that help improve your margins. Using long tail keywords that cost less, or broad match terms, could lead you to a larger retargeting list.

Final Thoughts

Retargeting is still in its infancy, but shows great promise. It’s a cost effective means of branding, but it can bring more conversions if you build your retargeting list using foresight. Remember, customers respond best to multiple ads. Retargeting is the best strategy you have to show the ideal segments of your market banner advertising that will entice them.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the co-founder and CEO of engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik has helped launch brands like MySpace.com using display advertising techniques. To find out how banner advertising can bring more leads to your business, contact Ted Dhanik today.

Portable cooling for data centers

November 9, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 

Computer cooling is by far one of the most important concerns in business servers and machines. With the sheer amount of work that these machines do, you can surely bet that it produces a great deal of heat as a byproduct. And if you aren’t careful about it, you are going to have problems with your equipment. Cooling is a primary concern, and you need to make sure as well that you take this seriously as overheating mainframes or servers will cause havoc to your business. Can you imagine working and communicating with different offices and businesses without having your network up and running? Especially during the summer, your equipment can take a huge hit with the increase in temperatures. To counter this, you need to make sure that your cooling systems remain consistent. If your cooling systems can’t compensate with the heat of summer, you need to complement your air conditioning with equipment such as a spot cooler. Target these things to your mainframes and servers to make sure that they remain at a constant temperature so they can keep functioning properly and efficiently. If you don’t, that would definitely cause a great deal of problems for you. Can you imagine how much money that you would lose if your network had to shut down to prevent damage caused by overheating. That would definitely be problematic. Quite simply put, you won’t be able to do business if your system bogs down. And that would result to hundreds and thousands of dollars in losses.

Portable air conditioners are a godsend. Especially when the summer months start to come, you will need all the cooling that you can get.