Must Have’s For Contractor Insurance in Texas

Maureen George / / construction

Insurance for Contractors

The construction industry can be a complicated, highly mechanized operating environment. It’s because of this that safety regulations are so strictly followed. Within the State of Texas, any contractor or construction company needs to have contractor insurance if it hopes to protect itself against damage and injury claims.

Now, Contractor Insurance varies a little bit from other types of insurance cover, and it’s important for people, especially those working in the industry to understand exactly what the law sets down in their regard. Towards that end, here’s a brief look into Contractor insurance.

While this insurance type will cover contracting and construction businesses against liabilities arising from personal injury, false advertising, slander, and damage, there are two main categories of policies issued under this type of policy occurrence and claims-made. It’s important to understand the difference between the two.

1. Occurrence Liability Policies

These policies will cover damage or injuries that occurred while the policy was still in effect. Even if the injured party makes their claim after the policy has expired, if the incident occurred while it was still active, it will be honored.

Occurrence-based policies are significantly more popular among businesses as they offer relatively simpler, more complete coverage. The downside here is that they will tend to be somewhat more expensive regarding premiums because claims can be paid out even long after a policy has expired

2. Claims-Made Liability Policies

These are policies that will cover damage or injury claims that occur while the policy is in effect. The point to note with this type of policy is that the claim must be made while the policy is still in effect for it to be honored. Should the claimant allow the policy to expire before making their claim, it shall not be honored.

Even though the premiums to be paid with this type of policy are relatively lower due to the specific time-window in which claims can be made, this model still doesn’t appeal to most businesses because it means that should a claim be made after the policy period is over, the business might be forced to pay out of its own pocket.

What many organizations will do is pair-up their claims-based policies with extended coverage instruments such as Run-Off Coverage and Prior Acts. These instruments are designed to cover the business against claims made after a policy ends, and before it took effect, respectively.

Every company operating in Texas should look at the options before them properly by consulting with reputable agents. They will be able to guide them in making the very best choice for their business.

SEO for Contractors and the Construction Industry

Maureen George / / Blog, construction

construction

Contractor Marketing

When you are starting out, you assume that you just need to get a website up – and the money will begin to roll in. In this day, with the recession rolling along it’s a nice thought. But don’t be taken in by that thought. It takes work, and if you have no idea what is going on online when you first begin-well, realize you have a learning curve to conquer. So let’s look at the basics of your website.

When constructing a website, there are certain elements that are becoming more and more important in the eyes of Google. It’s SEO and your website formatting that is now, more than ever, becoming intertwined. So, what does that mean for the individual putting up a website? Let me explain.

First, when constructing your website, you should try to be aware that the data should:

1. load quickly
2. navigation should be easy to follow for human and search engine alike
3. sitemap should be descriptive and accessible

Check out this California contractor license bond company who does an excellent job with their load time and sitemap creation. Their bid bond page does a fine job of highlighting the most essential elements of contractor SEO.

Why should you look at these three elements? These three elements can help your website to become more accessible to the search engines. Let me explain.

Is your website Loading Quickly?

When you construct a page, you should always ask yourself-“Is my web page loading fast enough for the user? Why? Load speed is beginning to gain more emphasis in the eyes of Google. Which means, they are going to include this in their algorithm of elements to consider when measuring page rank.

They feel that page load speed can offer the user a greater experience, and you, the webmaster, a better opportunity to make money. Thus, take the time to test your web pages before you put it online. It will save you time, with rework. (Please note: load speed alone will not give you revenue, but it does give users an opportunity to view your content).

Contractor Website Navigation and Sitemap

Website navigation should easily direct the user to where they want to go on your site. If the navigation is confusing-know that the user will only click away, and look elsewhere. And, it can hurt you with the search engines. Why?

Both website navigation and your sitemap can open the door to both, users and the search engines. They both, if you have presented the information in an understandable hierarchical way, can lead to Google giving
you a breadcrumb in the Serps. A breadcrumb is an added link, under the main link to entice the user to your site.

Though I have directed my conversation toward the structure of your website, in fact, I was indirectly
talking to you about SEO. This is one important part of advertising your site online. Why? It helps your website to be seen, to get traffic and if your content is of quality, revenue.

Internet Marketing For The Trades

Internet Marketing For The Trades

Maureen George / / Marketing

Internet marketing has become a very important method of promoting businesses in recent years. Digital marketing provides an opportunity for traders to use social media and search engine optimization to promote businesses online. Here are five ways in which you can promote your businesses online.

1. Creating a website

Creation of a website is one of promoting your business through internet marketing. Provide all the relevant information related to your business on the page. Post your company’s name, contact, the services that you provide, and testimonies from your customers among others. You should make sure that the website is always updated.

The website should contain your domain name, load fast and be mobile friendly. It should also not only be stylish but also user-friendly.

2. Use social media

Another way of promoting your business through internet marketing is the use of social media. Millions or even billions of people use social media every day. This means using the platform to promote your business reaches a lot of people.

When using Facebook ads, use the various metrics such as interests and age to ensure the ads land in strategic pages. Use LinkedIn to connect with other people. Make sure you capitalize on advertising opportunities available on social media.  Here’s a very quick tutorial on how to use Facebook ads.

3. Make the website search engine friendly

After creation of a website, make sure that search engines understand it. This process is called search engine optimization (SEO). Traffic from the search engine is driven by providing more information related to your business on your business website. You must make sure that SEO is done correctly to reap its benefits.

The main advantage of SEO is that once you have paid for it, you don’t incur other expenses because of increase of traffic to your website due to high ranking on search engines.

4. Enroll in local listing services

When it comes to internet marketing, you need to enhance the visibility of your business online. When you register with Google My Business,  your business is easily visible on Google search and Google maps. Other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing also have the same service.

You just need to register and verify the details of your business, since it is done for free. This is a very effective way of promoting your business online.

5. Start a blog

Another important way of promoting your business through internet marketing is starting your blog. A blog will make it easy for more people to know about your business and the products you offer. It also provides a more direct way of interacting with your customers than most of the other methods. This is because it lets you interact with your clients, and for the clients to interact among themselves.

To enhance your blog, always post regularly and learn to respond to your customers’ comments.

What to Look For in Construction Management Software

What to Look For in Construction Management Software

Maureen George / / Technology

Construction management software is used to help manage the entire construction project. The software can easily perform various construction tasks such as cost estimating, accounting, scheduling as well as project management.

Are you thinking of purchasing a Construction Management software for your construction project? If yes, the article explores the various things to look for in construction management software

1. Functionality

The features and roles of the software should meet the needs and demands of the business throughout the phases of the project. Invest in construction management software that will keep up with your growing project and satisfy the future needs of your organization. Some of the various features to look for include; budgeting, resource planning, task setting and forecasting. You should also consider the number of staff who will use the software and how the software will be utilized before making a decision on what software suits your business.

2. Usability

The software should be user-friendly and does not need any extensive technical knowledge for one to operate. Look for software that can easily be used by every staff in your company and at the same time can align with the company’s workflow.

Also, the software should provide for an easy way to navigate between the different levels of a building via plan drawings moving from trade to trade effortlessly.

3. Flexibility

The software should be compatible with your existing IT infrastructure. It should as well be flexible with your current accounting, reporting, and communicating systems. Besides the current systems, the software should be easy to integrate with other software needed to improve the efficiency of your construction firm.

The building management software should also give you an ability to change the names of the categories, files, and labels to meet your company’s needs. Choosing software that is compatible with various hardware such as; tablets, desktops, and smartphones is also an added advantage as it will allow workers to make reports and share information quickly.

4. Security

The level of security harbored by the software should be of high rates as it contains valuable data that constitutes the core of your business operations. The software should also include measures to avoid cyber-attacks, technical problems and loss of this precious data

5. Reliability

The reputation of the software manufacturer should also be considered. The manufacturer should be known to be outstanding and knowledgeable about how the business works. It’s therefore advisable to purchase the software from a manufacturer who has been in the industry for several years and who can easily keep updating the software to meet the needs of the organization at any particular time.

You should also do a research about the software company to understand the challenges faced by the users and how they overcome these problems while using the software.