-
View all news of Payoneer
Posted on September 20, 2018Freelancers, Should You Raise Your Rates in 2019?
In a traditional employment setting, annual raises are common as a way to adjust to changes in living costs, industry factors, and job demands. Freelancers have as much right to consider adjustments to their rates to compensate for these things as do traditional employees.
The start of the year is a great time to increase rates, so the following is a look at factors to ponder as you weigh your decision!
Factors in Your Rate Decision
Before looking at specific methods for setting new rates, the following are a few of the most important reasons that the start of a new year makes sense for raising the bar on your prices:
- Client Financials: Companies normally set annual budgets that begin at the start of the year. Thus, a rate hike is not likely to cause as much concern as it would at the end of a tight fiscal year. Early notice also gives the client time to prepare for increased freelance expenses in their budget planning.
- Your Expertise and Experience: One of the reasons employees get raises each year is because their experience and expertise in their job grow. Over the course of a year, you gain a lot of experience in your freelance endeavors as well as in the client’s business. You should receive some sort of compensation boost, like an employee, to adjust to gains in these areas. After all, you can provide more value to the client in the upcoming year than you did last year.
- Competitive Analysis: Evaluate what is going on within your freelance sector. If the industry is booming and freelancers are charging higher rates in general, it makes sense for you to increase your prices in line with what others are making.
Setting Reasonable Rates
If you have made the decision to raise your rates, you next have to consider how to set rates that are reasonable enough, yet offer you the income you need and deserve.
Remember that clients prefer working with freelancers in many instances because the overall compensation costs are lower than those of an employee. Thus, you have some flexibility to increase your fees while helping the client maintain value.
While trying to stay competitive so as to not lose business, realize there are always people willing to low-ball the market. Competing on price will put you at a point where your time and effort are not fairly rewarded. Base your prices on industry norms and the value you provide. If you have proven your worth to clients, you have a greater capacity to raise rates because there is a risk to the client in bringing on someone new.
Notice to Clients
Naturally, clients need advanced notice to adjust their budgets and to contemplate the financial impact of your rate increase. At least 30 days is a reasonable timeframe to give.
You could send your notice at the start of the year, and let the client know that you are increasing your rates from the current rate to the new rate on a specific date. Though you do not have to go into much depth, you could communicate that you raise rates annually to adjust for living costs, increased experience, and any other relevant factors. As clients are familiar with these factors in adjusting employee costs, it helps them understand the reasoning behind the change.
Conclusions
Raising rates is sensible for freelancers, and often necessary, especially if you undervalued your services in the beginning of your relationship with your clients. The new year is one of the best times to notify clients of rate hikes so that you can get fair value for the work you provide!
The post Freelancers, Should You Raise Your Rates in 2019? appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
-
View all news of Gocardless
Posted on September 20, 2018DIY Direct Debit vs an online provider: a visual guide for membership organisations
Have you ever stopped to think about all the processes that go into your existing DIY Direct Debit solution? How many hours of admin are needed every week to carry out and reconcile all your payments? What happens when a payment is missed by a member? And how often do you have a member on the phone complaining about a problem with their payment?
The infographic below looks at 7 of the most important aspects of your payment processing and how a DIY solution matches up to an online provider.
-
View all news of Coinbase
Posted on September 19, 2018Correcting the record: Coinbase does not engage in proprietary trading
Coinbase welcomes the New York Virtual Markets Integrity Report, which shines a helpful spotlight on important compliance issues in digital asset exchange practices. Unfortunately, some media coverage inaccurately characterized the report’s findings, which are based on information we voluntarily provided in the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative Questionnaire. We would like to correct the record.
The report states: “Coinbase disclosed that almost twenty percent of executed volume on its platform was attributable to its own trading.”
Coinbase does not trade for the benefit of the company on a proprietary basis. In order to provide an easy-to-use customer experience, Coinbase Consumer quotes a price and then quickly fills the order from our exchange platform (Coinbase Markets). This takes advantage of the liquidity provided by the entire Coinbase ecosystem.
When Coinbase executes these trades, it does so on behalf of Coinbase Consumer customers, not itself.
The volume figure stated in the report has been misreported in the media as “self-trading,” which is inaccurate. The figure represents customer-driven volume via Coinbase Consumer. Coinbase does not operate a proprietary trading desk, nor does it undertake market making actions.
Our goal is to be the world’s most trusted place to buy, store and interact with cryptocurrency. We welcome oversight and will continue to work with regulators to promote the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Correcting the record: Coinbase does not engage in proprietary trading was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
-
View all news of Coinbase
Posted on September 19, 2018Welcome Brian Brooks, Coinbase’s new Chief Legal Officer
From the time it was founded seven years ago, Coinbase has been a leading advocate for the adoption of cryptocurrency. We’ve engaged proactively with regulators as we built products and services that allow people to buy, sell and use cryptocurrency all over the world. In recent years, the industry expanded faster than we could have imagined with an explosion in customer demand and entrepreneurial activity pushing the capabilities of the ecosystem forward. As this trend continues, it is more important than ever that we contribute to a public policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation while protecting investors.
That is why I’m thrilled to welcome Brian Brooks as the new Chief Legal Officer for Coinbase. His arrival is part of our effort to expand our legal, compliance and government affairs capabilities as we head into this next chapter for the company and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
From left to right Brian Armstrong (CEO), Brian Brooks (Chief Legal Officer), and Asiff Hirji (President & COO). Brian most recently served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest financial institution. He led the company’s 200-person legal department and government relations group, and acted as a senior advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors. Prior to Fannie Mae, Brian led the legal department at OneWest Bank, N.A., a regional depository institution that he helped sell to CIT Group. Brian also played a key role in managing the bank’s senior regulatory relationships.
Brian joined OneWest in 2011 from O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he served as managing partner of the firm’s 150-lawyer Washington, D.C. office; chair of the firm’s 40-lawyer national Financial Services Practice Group; and a member of the firm’s three-partner executive committee. At O’Melveny, Brian was involved in many of the most important financial services policy issues of the past decade, including representing former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other clients before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
Mike Lempres successfully led our legal function through an important chapter of the company’s history. He will now focus on scaling the company’s government affairs program, which includes Coinbase as a founding member of the Blockchain Association and managing the Coinbase Political Action Committee.
We’d like to thank Mike for his leadership and welcome Brian to the team!
Welcome Brian Brooks, Coinbase’s new Chief Legal Officer was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
-
View all news of Gocardless
Posted on September 19, 2018Riding high - GoCardless’ London to Paris cycle
As if building the first global network for bank to bank payments doesn’t keep us busy enough, some of the GoCardless team decided to challenge themselves earlier this month by cycling from our HQ in London to our new office in Paris and raise money for Mind charity.
On 1 September, 14 riders set off with Paris in their sights.
Now back and rested, we sat down with two of the team, Merve and Anca, to find out how they got on.
Staying connected
Back in February, GoCardless opened its first international office, and our French team settled into their new Paris home. To celebrate our new permanent base in France, Pre-sales Manager, and ride organiser, Merve, began to organise the trip.
“I wanted to visit our colleagues out there but thought there must be a more interesting way than hopping on the Eurostar”, she explains.
“We have some really keen cyclists here at GoCardless, and I have done similar trips before so it seemed like a great opportunity to challenge ourselves and get together with the team in France.”
Supporting Mind
Mindfulness and wellbeing are important to us here at GoCardless – The cycle team saw the trip as the chance to raise money and awareness for a related good cause.
GC rider, Anca, explains:
“I think we’ve all dealt with mental health issues at some point in our lives, whether directly or through someone we know. Despite this, it is still a taboo subject and that needs to change. Mind do brilliant work getting the conversations started and helping those in need of support.”
Preparing for the trip
With the idea in motion, it soon became clear just how much there was to organise, from the route, to logistics, to training and safety.
“I thought of the idea, but hadn’t really had any experience of organising events like this”, says Merve. “Luckily, when I asked for volunteers there were so many people willing to give up their time to help make it happen.”
Anca had to get up to speed on all things long distance cycling, after signing up for the trip and buying a bike with just 8 weeks to train!
“For me it was the training.” says Anca. “ I had no idea what bike or equipment to get and I hadn’t given myself a lot of time. I learned so much in the run up to the event, watched a lot of YouTube videos and trained hard.”
Overcoming challenges
From tackling steep hills between London and Brighton, to braving the rush hour traffic in Paris, the trip wasn’t without its challenges.
For Anca, the Ditchling Beacon has become her nemesis: “London to Brighton was the toughest part because of the rough terrain, especially the Ditchling Beacon. My lower back did not enjoy this part! I was a bit disappointed I only managed half of it but it’s made me determined go back and conquer it one day!”
Once the team arrived in Paris, the route took them through busy roads and tourist hotspots in prime rush hour.
“It was a real challenge. We were riding as a peloton as much as we could, surrounded by a lot of vehicles who were constantly doing the unexpected”, says Merve.
Crossing the finish line
Though it was tough at times, the team supported each other through and all reached our Paris office together.
“I’m so proud that we finished as team”, says Merve. “There was a huge sense of achievement when we reached the Arc de Triomphe, I think that was the high point for all of us, we knew we were going to make it.”
“It was tough and I discovered muscles that I didn’t even know I had but I am so happy I took part”, adds Anca. “It was great to see the office in France and the team gave us a great welcome.”
What’s next?
This event was the first of its kind at GoCardless. While cycling to Australia might be a stretch, it’s clear that challenges like this are a great way to connect the different teams, which will be increasingly important as we open more offices outside of the UK.
“I’m already looking forward to the next event, whatever that may be!” says Anca. “It’s such a good way to bond with the team outside of work, challenge ourselves and have fun doing it.”
“When you experience something like this with your colleagues, and support each other through it - you build a different kind of team spirit”, explains Merve. “When you're helping each other navigate, sharing food and water, and encouraging each other through the tough parts, it definitely brings you closer together – and this will all have a positive impact on the way we work."
It’s not too late to donate - click here to visit the team Just Giving page.
-
View all news of Coinbase
Posted on September 18, 2018The marriage between crypto and community journalism
A conversation with Manoush Zomorodi, host of the podcast ZigZag, a crypto and blockchain explainer
As a podcaster, journalist, and generally curious person, Manoush Zomorodi has made a career out of examining the intersection of technology and human behavior. The former host and creator of WNYC’s Note to Self, a “tech show about being human,” Zomorodi decided to leave her job in June 2018, join forces with her producer Jen Poyant and launch ZigZag, a podcast documenting their journey of understanding crypto — and their decision to join Civil Media Company. Over 12 episodes in Season One, Zomorodi and her co-host Poyant “translate the head-scratching lingo, odd habits, and important basics of digital currencies,” sometimes with the help of a musician they call Blockchain Guitar Man. (Listen to the podcast through iTunes or the Google Play Store).
Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant, hosts of the ZigZag podcast Civil is a new, decentralized journalism platform built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that has partnered with the Associated Press and Consensys and is supported by its own token, the CVL; the intention is that, as a token-curated registry, Civil will allow anyone to get involved with and support independent newsrooms.
At Coinbase, we believe an open financial system will become a reality as many more people get involved in the utility phase, and so we looked to hear Zomorodi’s thoughts on what made this journalist interested in participating in the experiment.
“I think there’s a real branding problem with the crypto world, which is that it’s all people who want to make money, fast. What a lot of people don’t know is that there’s also this very small, nascent sector of utility-based tokens, these token-curated registries, where it’s about trying to do something important and good for the world, not simply about the potential for financial gain.
That element is the only reason I wanted to learn about crypto economics in the first place. I wasn’t interested in this until there was a use case — until there was a reason to use it other than to speculate and make a lot of cash. I think that’s what this inflection point is all about. If crypto is going to go mainstream, it’s going to be through these kinds of projects like Civil that people care about.”
“About 20 newsrooms, including ours, have been given grants by Civil to be an initial class of journalism makers: Popula, Cannabis Wire, Sludge, to name a few. Anyone who wants to support Civil can register for the token sale, set up a cryptocurrency wallet, and buy tokens. And I think we’re all waiting to find out: Where does the CVL token fit in? Will it work?
Unlike, say, Kickstarter, or giving money to a traditional media outlet, Civil says their project is not just supporting an organization and leaving them to it. Holders of CVL tokens are able to vote and have their voice heard about how you think the platform should be governed. According to Civil, the system is set up to require that the people who support the concept also contribute to the actual making of the community.
The idea is that by combining blockchain with crypto-economics and a voting-and-governance system, you can start to create a new kind of community, or ecosystem. Let’s say there’s someone on there who’s always writing about this mattress company and how amazing it is. That’s not news. So the idea is that you can stake tokens to have this newsroom voted off of the Civil registry.
I hate to use the word “policing,” but after awhile there’s a quality-control element to using your tokens. The more time you spend on the platform — maybe making sure quality is good, or commenting — you get rewarded. There are going to be — and I’ve only seen prototypes of this — but ways where if you want to start your own newsroom, you have to stake a certain number of tokens to have your own website included in the Civil ecosystem.
It’s really a social experiment. Civil says it’s built in a bunch of protective measures. There’s something called the Civil Council that’s headed up by Vivian Schiller, the former CEO of NPR. It includes a lot of smart, experienced people who are there to provide some human, ethical standards, if everything starts to spin out of control.”
“This kind of project is why I got into journalism originally — I used to be a breaking news reporter. Despite not being on the daily news grind anymore, the stakes are quite fascinating to me. And I think we’re all waiting to find out: Will it work? Is it going to create a ecosystem where we all help each other find content, where there’s a thriving, healthy, fertile online place for journalism? Where, thanks to the blockchain, the soil remains rich? There’s definitely a utopian quality to the crypto community, where people are like, “the blockchain will solve it!” I go back and forth on that. But you have to have that utopian belief or else you wouldn’t put in the hard work.
None of us journalists at Civil are blockchain people. We’re the humanists. We’re witnessing the dawn of a new technology. I think a lot of us didn’t get to do this the first time around, with the Internet. So for me it was like: Cool, a do-over!
And I’m right there, with a front row seat. I get to call out to the people on the stage and ask them questions and they have to stop and tell me what they’re doing. I’m not sitting back. That’s so exciting to me.”
Visit ZigZag at zigzagpod.com and Civil at www.civil.co. ZigZag returns with a second season on October 11.
As told to Amy Standen exclusively for Coinbase; transcript edited and condensed for clarity.
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein belong to Manoush Zomorodi and do not represent the views or opinions of Coinbase, Inc. and its affiliates. This blog post and the links contained within it do not imply an endorsement, approval or recommendation by Coinbase of any product offering, or initiative.
The marriage between crypto and community journalism was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
-
View all news of Payoneer
Posted on September 18, 20185 Helpful Tips for a Winning Holiday Sales Season
Holiday season plays a pivotal role in the fiscal success of most eSellers. Thus, it’s not too early to start developing your holiday sales strategy.
The following are some proactive tips for getting ahead on your sales and marketing efforts for the holiday season.
Use eCommerce Automation Tools
If you try to manage your entire eCommerce business manually, the holiday season becomes overwhelming. Instead, evaluate and acquire tools that allow you to automate certain aspects of your operation.
If you’re a Shopify Plus seller, for instance, you have access to automation tools that could save you countless hours of tedious activity. Flash sales and new product launches are just a couple of the key features that you can facilitate through automation and save valuable time.
Emphasize Social Ads and Email Communication
Getting in early on social media conversations is critical for the holiday season. Social interaction is what creates a buzz around providers, brands and products that become trendy for the upcoming holidays.
Take the time now to develop visual, creative social media ads that target particular segments of your audience. Include short videos, product demonstrations and colorful images that attract attention in a cluttered social feed.
Email is another central digital communication channel. As people visit your site, make email acquisition through account setup or newsletter distribution a priority.
Leverage Influencers
In addition to exceptionally creative ads, identify influencers that you can partner with to build your campaigns. A lot of product-oriented influencers look for hot products to feature in their holiday guides on their blogs. You can review published guides from last year to get a sense for the influencers that best match your business.
Top influencers are also active on social media. Thus, getting them to share the story about your business and products can carry a lot of weight in generating early holiday excitement.
Prepare Retargeting Campaigns
Remember that the vast majority of online shoppers don’t make a purchase the first time they visit your site. Therefore, retargeting campaigns are to holiday sales success.
Plan your campaigns early to develop the most sensible strategy. Retarget people on Google AdWords and other online ad platforms based on specific pages or products they viewed on your site. Combine retargeting via digital ads with email campaigns to lure intrigued visitors into making purchases.
Offer Gift Card Deals
You may notice a lot of brick-and-mortar retailers heavily promote gift cards ahead of the holidays. They do so to generate revenue ahead of the rush and to take advantage of consumers contemplating a budget-conscious strategy.
Offer gift cards or discount codes with an incentive, such as a 10 or 20 percent value over what the shopper spends. You can capture holiday revenue in advance with savvy marketing.
Conclusion
These are some of the most effective things eSellers can do now to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. Take these steps to get your share of the massive consumer holiday spending budget!
As you prep for the holidays, include a plan for efficiently receiving online payments via a top global platform like Payoneer!
The post 5 Helpful Tips for a Winning Holiday Sales Season appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
-
View all news of Payoneer
Posted on September 17, 2018Affiliate Marketing Trends for the Holiday Season
The winter holidays are one long prime shopping season, beginning from early November with pre-Black Friday offers and going on until after the January sales. With online sales worth over $108 billion in 2017 and predicted to be even higher in 2018, it’s vital to get ahead of the game with your affiliate marketing.
Some of the biggest buying trends for the 2018 holiday season include electronics such as drones, virtual reality devices, smart home appliances, and wearable tech. Items with enduring popularity include good-quality phone accessories.
The 2018 holiday shopping season highlights affiliate marketing trends that have been growing all year. These include the rise of omnichannel shopping experiences, more native advertising, the increasing importance of niche products, the value of transparency, and honesty in affiliate marketing, greater use of multiple media in promoting products, and an overall rise in the focus on UX-centered marketing.
Here are our tips on how to prepare your affiliate marketing strategy to make the most of the holiday shopping season.
Social media means business
Your social media networks will help you spot the biggest buying trends for 2018, so keep a careful eye on platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Buzzfeed which are particularly significant for holiday gift lists and shopping recommendations.
It’s important to track the popularity and presence of your affiliate partners on social media, so that you know what reputation they have among your target audience. Social media monitoring tools like Mention help you follow customer opinion about your partners.
Social media is a significant part of mobile marketing. Prune your social media presence to promote your affiliate products in a personal way – photographs of you using the product, casual mentions of the benefits of your product, and influencer marketing are all components of a successful social media marketing strategy.
Watch the old and prepare for the new
In 2018, there are powerful and effective tools that you can use to analyze your own success. Start by searching for your best-selling products and most effective partners from the last holiday season in Q4 2017. Then examine which partners drove the most sales in the first three quarters of this year.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Learn which strategies, products, and partners were the most successful. Continue with what works, and abandon or improve on what doesn’t work. Additionally, don’t overlook basic site maintenance before the holiday sales season – simple broken links and 404 pages can be disastrous for your conversion rates.
At the same time, it’s vital to be dynamic about your holiday affiliate marketing strategy. Communication is key for every healthy relationship, and that includes affiliate sales partnerships. Discuss your holiday sales goals with your partners. Make sure that you have all the information you need about your affiliate products, including seasonal discounts and full product specifications. It’s vital that you keep your affiliate links updated about shipping times and product availability – it undermines your credibility when you don’t have updated stock information.
9 strategies for the best holiday sales
- Use existing relationships. The holiday season isn’t the best time to take on a lot of new partners. Instead, add a few product lines from publishers you can trust. Remember that overkill is a real issue in affiliate marketing, so don’t try to promote too many products. Just choose the ones that are most relevant to you. Niche marketing is an important part of affiliate marketing, so don’t be scared to pick niche products that suit your audience profile.
- Prepare, prepare, prepare. Holiday shopping begins sooner than you think – over a third of shoppers say they begin shopping for holiday gifts in November. Strong sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also a good indicator of a strong holiday sales season.
- Optimize your optimization. Make sure that your site is not just optimized, but optimized for holiday shopping. It’s important to get started on holiday SEO early. Ramp up your holiday-related content gradually and well in advance, so that Google and other search engines have time to crawl, index and rank your site.
- Don’t peak too soon. Although it’s good to prepare to catch early shoppers, there are also significant sales to be made in the last week before Christmas. Late December shoppers who wait for the last minute, knowing that they can rely on shipping to get their gifts on time, are increasing. Keep up your efforts into the end of the month in order to catch last-minute buyers.
- Be mobile-friendly. We just can’t stress this enough. Mobile optimization and mobile marketing are key in Q4 2018. 33.1% of all online sales were made online in 2017, and that’s expected to increase in 2018. Check that your affiliate ads render well on smartphones and consider products that are particularly well suited to mobile shopping.
- Use holiday coupons and discounts. Find out what seasonal coupons and discounts are offered by your partners and give them prominent space on your site. Customers are on the lookout for these offers.
- Be honest. Affiliate marketing was never about simple product promotion, but in 2018 native marketing is more important than ever. This means being honest and transparent about your products and showing the ways that they really do fit into your life. Don’t be scared to admit the drawbacks of your product – your honesty will win you more clicks than a heavily promotional approach.
- Make it easy to find information. Make sure that buyers have all the information they need to make a decision, including product specifications and price information. Tables are extremely popular for price comparison purposes and make it easy for shoppers to compare products.
- Diversify your marketing. It’s important not to rely too much on just one marketing channel, in case that one fails and you are left to start from scratch on another platform. It’s also a good idea to diversify your content media – namely, using videos and voice recordings as well as written content and images.
Affiliate marketing for success
By following the year’s affiliate marketing trends, making the most of social media, and discovering what’s most effective for you, you can make the 2018 holiday season into a bumper revenue period.
Affiliates collect commissions easily with Payoneer
The post Affiliate Marketing Trends for the Holiday Season appeared first on The Payoneer Blog.
-
View all news of Coinbase
Posted on September 14, 2018WATCH: What is bitcoin?
Coinbase CEO answers the number 1 question in crypto
There’s a big gap between people curious about crypto and and the hodlers out there. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has launched a new video series, Crypto Curious, intended to newcomers by answering common questions — starting with “What is Bitcoin?”
Visit Coinbase.com to learn more about crypto and Coinbase.
WATCH: What is bitcoin? was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
-
View all news of Gocardless
Posted on September 14, 2018FAQ Fridays – How to explain GoCardless to your customers
We’re back with our second FAQ Friday.
We often get asked about the best way to explain GoCardless, and the benefits to your customers of paying by Direct Debit. So this week, we hear from Product Marketing Manager, Paul, with his top three things to say:
- Introduce GoCardless - Who GoCardless are, what GoCardless do and why it’s your preferred payment method
- Explain how easy it is to pay through GoCardless – Your customers can set up the payment in minutes
- Reassure them with the Direct Debit Guarantee - Their payments are protected, and a refund guaranteed for payments taken fraudulently or in error
We want to hear from you – get in touch and we’ll answer your questions in an upcoming video.
