Business & Legal Advice

Why A Great Design Will Keep Visitors On Your Dental Clinic’s Website For Longer

April 6, 2024 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice, Web Design

As a dentist, we are sure that your life exists beyond the four walls of your treatment room and the confines of your dental practice. As such, you no doubt enjoy spending time with friends and family. When doing so, have you ever walked into a restaurant, cafe, or bar, looked around, and walked right back out again?

This might have been for many reasons, such as a lack of cleanliness, horrible decor, or a less-than-friendly receptionist. Alternatively, you might have stayed for a short period of time but left soon thereafter for some of those same reasons.

The scenario we have just discussed is one that is experienced in the offline world, but it plays out exactly the same online, specifically with regard to websites. All the issues we listed within those offline establishments can occur when someone visits a website, and the biggest concern is that if it happens to your dental practice’s website, it can cause your search engine ranking to diminish.

It can diminish because search engines can measure how long each person visiting your website remains there, and whether or not they arrived, and then left immediately. They see this as a signal that your website design is not one that visitors like or enjoy, and that serves as a huge red flag to them.

They want a positive experience for those who search and click through to websites from their search engine, and thus they reward websites where visitors seem to remain for some time and penalise those which appear to do the opposite. This then begs the question as to what you can do to ensure those who visit your dental practice website stay for longer.

Team Building Ideas You Can Use When Dining With Your Team

January 21, 2024 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

There are many teams and groups that occasionally, or even regularly, get to dine together, and it is on these occasions that some excellent team-building ideas can be used to help your team bond and become a stronger team.

Now, before we go any further, we appreciate that not every team leader is in a position where they dine with their team, with the obvious example being a sales manager with a team of salespeople spread out across the nation. Another could be a manager within a business that operates solely online and thus has employees who operate remotely.

What we suggest for these people is to look for virtual team-building activities and rest assured there are loads of excellent team-building ideas that can take place online via the likes of Zoom and Skype.

Coming back to those team leaders who do have a local team, and specifically those who may not have ever dined with their team, what we would say is, if you arrange an evening where your team dine together and with a view to making that team stronger, then they should all be looking forward to it positively.

First, they are getting a free meal (we all love that), secondly, most people love feeling that they are part of a team, and finally, the activity will be happening away from their normal surroundings so there should really be too much resistance from those that you ask to attend.

Why The Internet Is Responsible For Many Cases Of Drug Addiction

June 15, 2022 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

The internet has had many positive effects on the way everyone lives their life, however, there are also many darker aspects inherent on the internet and one of them is its impact on the number of individuals who suffer from drug addiction and subsequently have to enter a drug rehab facility or program.

Now, you might read that and question why the internet with its amazing ability to entertain, educate, and connect people on opposite sides of the world could have any link to drug addiction. It is a fair question, and in this post, we are going to explain exactly why it is the case that the internet and digital access to it affect drug addiction.

For clarity, we are not suggesting that the internet is responsible for all drug-taking and the drug trade per se. Both of these existed long before electricity was even in widespread use, and most certainly long established by the time the internet came along. However, what the internet has contributed is easier access to drugs, has allowed black market pharmacists to trade online, and be the means for drug addicts to secretly communicate with drug dealers. For example:

5 Benefits Of Branding Your Dental Practice Effectively

May 4, 2022 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

In the commercial world, branding plays a huge role in how a business develops and is perceived, and that concept applies as much to dentists as it would any other type of business. It might not at first seem that the world of tooth extractions, dental implants and fillings is one in which marketing, and especially branding, would have much focus; however, if any dental practice is to remain successful, its owners must consider it.

The reason we say that is in any industry or market sector, the norm is that those businesses that emphasise marketing are the ones that are the most stable, the most profitable, and have the best opportunities to expand. Those that pay scant attention to their marketing and branding are the ones who struggle and, in the worst cases, go out of business altogether.

That scenario applies to dental practices and dental businesses, and what makes it all the more remarkable that many dentists do not focus on effective branding is that branding can generate so many benefits for it. Below are five of the most important benefits, and they are essential as they can directly and positively impact its revenue and, thus, its long-term profitability.

7 Mistakes For Employment Lawyers To Avoid When Your Business Website Is Being Designed

March 16, 2022 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice, Web Design

One of the assets that can play a significant role in generating new clients for your employment lawyers business is your website. A well-designed website that is easy to navigate, offers excellent information, looks great, and converts well will see a high proportion of prospects who visit it becoming paying clients.

Conversely, if your website offers none of these and is more likely to see prospectors click away within a few seconds of them landing on it, it is going to produce nothing other than frustration. Worse than that, with people leaving your website so quickly it will damage any search engine rankings you have on Google.

Many of the problems that divorce lawyers experience with their website stem from its creation. Unfortunately, they allow several mistakes to be made within its design, and if the people employed to create that website are inexperienced, or more distressingly, have little care for how the website will perform, it is a recipe for disaster.

To help any divorce lawyers who are thinking about having a new website created or their current website redesigned, here are seven of the most common website design mistakes which must be avoided.

5 Key Metrics Which Tell Family Lawyers If Their Online Marketing Is Working

January 19, 2022 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Whilst your role within your family lawyers business will primarily be legal matters, no doubt some of your time also requires you to look at the financial performance of your business. Part of that will be how you seek new clients and if any of that relates to online marketing campaigns then we are sure that you will want them to be successful.

When we say ‘successful’ it raises the point that there will be many specific measures that inform you of the success of your family lawyers business. Here, we are not talking about your success in the Family Court in getting the best outcomes for your clients, of which we are sure there are many, but rather the measure of the success of your online marketing activities in finding and generating new clients.

Some family lawyers businesses overcomplicate these measures and in doing so find themselves mired in tons of unnecessary data, but few answers. Instead, when assessing your online marketing activities the correct approach is to assess those measures which have the most significant influence upon the financial performance of your family lawyers business. These can be pared down to just five, and here they are in the order that they apply.

Why Employee Involvement Is Essential For A Successful Office Relocation

May 24, 2021 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Many business owners believe that their removalists are the most important people concerning their office relocation, and whilst they might be, there is another group of people who are equally essential to a successful office relocation, and they are employees.

Without the help and support of the staff who work for the business, an office relocation will have to overcome more hurdles than it would otherwise. That is not to say that staff are going to try to sabotage the office relocation deliberately, but involving them and seeking their assistance is going to make the whole process easier and less stressful for everyone, including the owner of the business.

The first step is to be completely open with your employees that you are considering an office relocation. It might serve you better if you imply that you have not made your final decision, and that you would appreciate their thoughts and suggestions. Bear in mind, the majority of staff might actually hate their current surroundings, so the idea that they have an opportunity to move to new ones will generate an atmosphere of positivity. If the office relocation is interstate, you must inform your employees of this and be open to the fact that some employees may have a problem with this as their current lives will be uprooted, and interstate removalists will also need to be involved with this decision.

In these early discussions, you might survey the staff or at least seek some of their ideas as to where and as to the type of new office they would be happy to move to. You obviously want to make it clear the final decision will be yours, after all, it is your business that will be funding any move, but the more they feel they are influencing the ultimate decision, the more they are going to be willing to help make sure it goes smoothly.

7 Tips If It Rains On Your Office Relocation Day

March 17, 2021 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

On the day of your office relocations, the chances of anything going wrong are extremely slim, especially if you have had the sense to hire professional removalists to facilitate your move. However, even the very best removalist company cannot legislate for things occurring which they cannot control, one of which is the weather, and that means on the day of your move you might have to deal with torrential rain.

Now, before we go any further, we appreciate that some people reading this might be fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you view it) to live in an area where rainfall is minimal. However, even in the driest of climates, it does rain sometimes and that could just be the day of your office relocation, so this advice should apply to almost everyone.

So, if it does happen to rain on the day of your office relocation, and worse, there are downpours, how can you mitigate the problem of items getting wet and, ideally, eliminate the risk of anything being damaged? Well, read on, and our seven tips will answer those questions.

Tip #1: Check The Weather Forecast In Advance: The boy scout’s motto of ‘Be Prepared’ is very apt with regards to office relocations and one way you can ensure you are prepared if it rains on your moving day is to know so in advance by regularly checking the weather forecast on the days leading up to it.

Which Legal Business Structure Should You Choose For Your New Business?

September 8, 2020 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Whenever someone is starting a new business, one of the most common questions that they will ask their commercial lawyer is what legal business structure they should use.

According to commercial lawyers, the choice is extremely important as it has implications for many aspects of the business, such as tax liabilities, the costs of running the business, and legal protection of the business’s assets.

In Australia, four main legal business structures can be used, and they are sole trader, a partnership, a company, and a trust. Read on, and we will explain in more detail what each of them is, and the ease, or otherwise, of setting them up.

A sole trader is the simplest structure and they are extremely easy to set up. If you operate as a sole trader you are in full legal control of the business and whilst that has some advantages, there are also some not so advantageous aspects.

The main one is that you are liable as an individual for all the business’s debts and tax payments. If necessary, your own personal assets can be used to funds and pay these.

Why Should I Focus On SEO For My Law Firm Instead Of AdWords?

September 2, 2018 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice, Web Marketing

Although Google AdWords marketing is a very successful tool that is essential for most online and many offline businesses, it isn’t as good for lawyers and law firms; a lot of people go as far as saying that as a law firm, you shouldn’t waste a cent of your money on AdWords.

Now, this may be true if you have a small marketing budget, but it isn’t always the case. Using AdWords for law firm-related keywords can be extremely expensive, with some keywords costing hundreds of dollars per click. As you can imagine, this sort of cost can quickly drain the budget of a small law firm, which is one of the reasons why law firms should focus on professional SEO (search engine optimisation) instead.

SEO Offers A Much Greater Return On Investment

Although it will take longer to get results when you spend money on SEO instead of AdWords, you will thank yourself in the long term. Working to get your website to the top of the search engine rankings for your chosen keywords might cost you a bit, but you will be able to remain near the top with minimal work once you’re there.

This means that you will continually be getting new clients from your investment in SEO, while an investment in AdWords will only get you a predetermined number of clicks on your ad.

Your Financial Planner Can Be Beneficial To Your Health

July 24, 2018 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Ever heard of the phrase ‘Prevention Is Better Than The Cure’? It can apply to many things in business issues but none more so than your health. If you have money worries they can negatively affect your health, so you’ll most likely visit your doctor for treatment. Whilst they can prescribe all sorts of pills and potions to treat the symptoms, they can’t take away your financial woes. This is where a financial planner such as andep.com.au comes to the rescue, as they not only ‘cure’ many of your financial woes, they can prevent any further deterioration.

The negative impact on health caused by money worries is well documented. There are several physical, and psychological ailments that worrying about your finances can produce. Here are four of the most common.

Chronic Stress: Stress can be the catalyst to a whole catalogue of illnesses, and in recent years its impact on health has become more and more obvious. Stress can lead to eating disorders, heart conditions, respiratory conditions, upset digestive system and low immunity. Nothing will reduce your stress more than allowing a financial planner to assess your finances and create a sensible workable plan to get everything manageable for you.

Depression: Not being able to see any way out of the financial hole you are in can lead to serious depression. This can be magnified when you have children, for whom you feel unable to provide for properly. At its extreme, depression can bring suicidal thoughts so seeking help is essential. Instead of being depressed about money worries, a financial planner can give you hope that there is a way out the situation you are in.

Fatigue: Trying to cope with money worries can be draining, both physically and mentally. In addition, one of the ways you might have tried to improve matters could have been to take on a second job or work more hours. There is nothing wrong in this as such, but if they mean a significant lack of rest or sleep, added to worrying about money, your health can deteriorate. With the help of a financial planner to look at ways of reducing your outgoings so that the need to work so many hours is removed.

Workplace Harassment – Fundamentals and Beyond

June 17, 2018 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

The past year has seen an explosion of harassment claims in the employment marketplace. No business sector has been left untouched: Hollywood, Las Vegas, Professional Sports, the Education Sector as well as well-established businesses have all seen high-profile, highly toxic revelations about misconduct in the workplace. Commercial lawyers will tell you this is dangerous territory for a company, and building friendly connections between your employees and other staff through activities like those provided by Team Building Perth, can help build staff morale and stop the sexualisation of staff members by building healthy workplace relationships.

A few examples in popular culture stand out:

Hollywood: Hollywood, particularly the revelations about Harvey Weinstein has been the focal point for many of the claims. Celebrity newscaster, journalists, movie makers, musicians and even chefs have all seen their share of upsetting revelations. To name just a few: Matt Lauer, Ben Affleck, Dustin Hoffman, Geraldo Rivera, and Steven Segal, among many others.

Las Vegas: The gaming industry has not been immune to its share of harassment claims, Steve Wynn, the CEO of Wynn Resorts and perhaps the most high profile figure in Las Vegas suddenly stepped down as Chairman and CEO after allegations surfaced chronicling a years-long pattern of abuse.

Sports: The University of Arizona fired coach Rich Rodriguez after sexual misconduct allegations.

Automotive: Raj Nair – Ford’s president was ousted for unspecified inappropriate behavior.

Politics: The number of offenders in this category are almost too numerous to mention, but a few names of those accused of misconduct are: Bill Clinton, Senator Al Franken and Judge Roy Moore.

Unfortunately, the phrase sexual harassment has been so co-opted into our modern vocabulary that it sometimes leads to erroneous idea of what “sexual harassment” actually is. To clear things up, let’s go straight to the law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

What Is A Farm Management Deposit And Should I Use One?

May 22, 2018 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Regarding accounting and bookkeeping for small businesses, one of the hardest things to control is your profits and losses for the year. This is especially true for business owners like farmers or fishermen who can earn highly variable incomes.

Luckily, the Australian government has made a number of allowances for people who own businesses like this to make it easier for them to keep their business taxes in order. One of the more popular things that they have done is introduce something called a farm management deposit.

What is a farm management deposit?

According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), farm management deposits are designed to help primary producers deal with the effects of having a highly variable income. For example, in drought years, a farmer may make a complete loss, meaning that they don’t have any taxes to pay. However, in a good year, a farmer may make more than enough money, pushing themselves into the top tax bracket. In this case they would pay a lot more tax than would necessarily be fair.

Farm management deposits provide something of a compromise, and help primary producers pay something of a fairer amount of tax. Basically, on very good years, you can make a tax deductible farm management deposit, which will reduce your taxable income. You can then withdraw this deposit on a poorer year and pay tax on it then. Although the benefit of doing this may not seem obvious immediately, you will obviously pay less tax by keeping more of your income in the lower tax brackets.

What are the benefits of using a farm management deposit?

There are a lot of benefits associated with using farm management deposits. Some of these include:

Farm management deposits can help you minimise the amount of tax that you pay. This is obviously a good thing (unless you like paying tax!), especially if you are a primary producer who struggles to make a decent income.
They can help you spread your income evenly across every year. As a primary producer, it can be hard to get through drought years if you don’t have a decent financial buffer to fall back on. Farm management deposits can help you get through these tougher years.

ATO Checklist for a Deceased Estate

May 6, 2017 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

When a person dies, their estate must be ‘administered’, which can mean different things for a person who owned a business than for someone who did not. If the deceased person was a business owner, it is important to seek advice from a lawyer immediately as there are many things to know about and to do, especially when it comes to tax compliance.

If the persons who has died was near and dear to you it may be difficult to focus on the administration of their estate, especially if it includes a business that is operational. If this is the case you may want to appoint a deceased estates lawyer as an executor. This will save you a lot of stress at a time you are least able to bear it.

Otherwise, it is important to know exactly what you should do as the executor of the estate. Here is an ATO checklist to help you.

Find out if the deceased had a Will and who they appointed as executor. You may already know this if it is yourself. If not, the public trustee in your state may be asked to act on behalf of the deceased.
If you have been appointed executor, you may need to establish your ID and authority in order to deal with the deceased’s tax affairs.

How to Avoid Legal Issues in Business

February 6, 2017 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Once you start running a business, whether it be a local plumber or painter, you are likely to find a whole host of legal issues that must be solved quickly to avoid fines, litigation and loss of reputation, amongst other things. The best way to do this is to have good lawyers on hand so you can get the advice you need quickly. Keeping the same business solicitors is best because they will be familiar with your business and know exactly what is likely to be a problem and how to avoid it.

It is far better for your business and your peace of mind to avoid a problem than have to solve it. Working to solve a problem will take a lot of time and effort away from running the business, even though this must be done. Avoiding the problem in the first place will cost a lot less, even when you take into account paying your legal advisor.

Don’t let problems escalate

Many problems tend to escalate, especially if you don’t get onto them straight away. The end result can be litigation or having to appear in court for another reason; both scenarios are something to be avoided at all costs. Even a small business can suffer from legal problems, especially if no legal aid was sought in the beginning. It is common sense in business to surround yourself with professionals who can guide you through what appears to be a maze of legalities.

How a Healthy Appearance Can Advance Your Career

January 3, 2017 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

It’s a well-known fact that psychologically speaking, people feel better when they are surrounded by a beautiful setting and in business, this includes the appearance of employees. Management in business usually understands this, which is why employees are chosen partly by their looks, especially for those positions that have to do with the public. Employees that want to make the most of their business opportunities often choose a Botox to give them a youthful and healthy appearance.

A Botox treatment can certainly give you a more youthful and healthier look by removing facial wrinkles. Wrinkles between the eyebrows and across the forehead not only make you look older than you are, they can make you look harassed and bad-tempered. This is not the image you want to project in the office.

Rather, you want to look stress-free and in control, to project the image of a person at ease in their job, someone who copes well with whatever they have to handle. In this way, you will give the impression of being in control while ensuring that there is no bad-tempered look on your face, which can easily turn people away from dealing with you.

Who Should you Use for Conveyancing when Buying a Business

October 12, 2016 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

A commercial lawyer along with a digital agency is the best combination to provide professional legal advice for any conveyancing work when purchasing a business. Conveyancing is the transfer of a land title from the seller to the buyer and is the last chore in a long list of things to be done when purchasing real estate. Not everyone will need to purchase the land and buildings when buying a business because these are often leased, and you just take over the lease in order to continue running the business.

However, in some cases it is necessary to also buy the real estate which consists of land and buildings, but is generally referred to as property. Sometimes you simply purchase the property with no business and you then have to have a suitable building erected and apply to startup your own business there. Since these proceedings can take many months, most people prefer the property lease option.

If you do go the route of purchasing property, it can be dealt with by a conveyancer, but they are not legally allowed to give financial advice or do legal work that is not considered to be part of the property transfer. What can they do?

Prepare agreements to do with the conveyancing
Complete transfers
Draw up leases
Deal with mortgages

Just How Receiving Stolen Goods Is Illegal

October 11, 2016 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Have you ever been offered the sale of goods that were just “found” by the seller? Maybe when you asked about the origins of the goods, or how the person came into possession of them, you were answered with a sly smile and told they “fell off the back of a truck”. While it might seem like a stroke of luck to be there at the right time in order to take advantage of these “bargain” items—it’s more likely that the law is being broken. Many people will be surprised to learn that receiving these types of goods is in fact illegal.

It seems like a harmless thing to buy some cheap goods that mysteriously turn up. The lawyers opine that after all, you don’t know where they came from, so how can you be culpable if there was any crime committed? There are many different aspects to this offence, so there’s no need to become suspicious of every single item that you see for private sale.

Technically, it is an offence to receive stolen property if you are aware that they were actually stolen. There is absolutely no question about what this is, and no grey area to think about. If you’d like to get technical and see the actual offence guidelines, taken from the Criminal Code 1899 of Queensland, here they are:

New Crowdfunding Laws Might Affect Startup Capital Raising in Australia

May 18, 2016 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Legislation changes have been passed to allow public companies, which are unlisted, to use crowdfunding to raise money from small time investors (otherwise known as “mum and dad” investors). This legislation has been successfully passed in the lower house of parliament.

There was a lot of criticism of this bill from the opposing parties. The bill will allow companies to raise as much as $5 million, even if they are not listed, and have a combination of assets and turnover that is less than $5 million already. This can be done once per year, using the highly popular method of crowdfunding.

Those who are wondering what exactly crowdfunding is, might need to consult experienced commercial lawyers or do some research on the subject. But a basic explanation is, crowdfunding allows people and companies to ask for money from potential customers and investors, for products, services, and business ventures that have not actually come into fruition yet. This type of thing is commonplace in countries like the USA, so many people see no issue with bringing that kind of practice to small businesses in Australia. After all, small companies are typically in need of the most help from legislation. However, there are some deeper issues to look at.

What You Should Know About Liability Insurance for Directors and Officers

March 18, 2016 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Liability insurance for directors and officers has typically been viewed as a routine thing, in the past. It’s just one of tasks things that needs to be done, and many people give it little thought. However, it is important to understand what the implications of this “box ticking” activity really are.

Here are some of the most important aspects of these insurance policies, as well as the potential problems that might be encountered. These pitfalls should be carefully noted or get some expert advice from lawyers, to avoid falling to them.

Notification Timing

Different policies will typically vary, regarding what will trigger a notification. That means directors and officers will not always be notified by the same events, depending on their company and the policy it holds. If an insurer is notified, it is important to be aware that proceeding events might not actually be covered. This will, of course, run the risk of exposing directors and officers to potential claims, even though they believed they were covered.

Squatters and Property Title Claims

December 25, 2015 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

You really don’t need to be any sort of expert to know that Australian property prices are incredibly high, even compared to other affluent countries around the world. The dream of owning one’s own home seems to grow further and further for the average Australian citizen, but what if there were an alternative? Getting familiar with this little term might help: “adverse possession”.

While this type of talk might be little more than hyperbole for the typical person, it’s a rather interesting law, and one can gain an understanding of it, though not the expertise of lawyers, which is worth learning more about.

What Is It?

Simply put, adverse possession relates to a person gaining title over a property that they have been living at for a certain length of time. The truly interesting thing about this law is, the “squatter’s” title to the property might actually grow greater than that of the real owner.

My Not So Fair Share – Trends in Family Provision Claims

January 9, 2015 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

The personal and often emotional issues that arise when people’s expectations are not met by the decisions of a will maker often give rise to thoughts and actions premised on entitlement and occasional avarice. However, the usual “pub talk” that follows can be a slippery slope of disaster and it is worthwhile occasionally reviewing what the Court’s attitude is towards the genesis of a family provision claim rather than just relying on commonly held beliefs.

Courts will frequently ask the wills lawyer to present the nature of the estate such as its size and the composition of its assets and liabilities as well as the financial position of the parties. In Darveniza the Queensland Supreme Court awarded $3m out of a $27m estate to a son who had performed significant amounts of work in the deceased’s business relying on certain promises of provision. Similarly, in Mead the Western Australian Supreme Court ordered $25m paid to the daughter of a relationship between the testator and his former wife, from whom he was divorced. The estate was agreed to have a value of at least $1Bn and the testator, who was in his third marriage at the time of death had some obvious issues with the daughter and left her approximately $3m inside a trust that made it almost impossible for her to actually receive the money. The case is currently on appeal.

Overly Accommodating – The Utility of Life Interests

November 23, 2014 Free Web Shop Business & Legal Advice

Once the weapon of choice for wealthy land Baron to provide for a surviving spouse while keeping the land asset in check, a life interest is used by lawyers as a tool to balance different interests between beneficiaries. An example of a modern use of the tool is to counter the surviving spouse remarrying, where there is a competing need to provide for a spouse as well as a need to preserve or quarantine the asset for the benefit of other beneficiaries.

In those circumstances, the life interest is regarded as beneficial to secure the property so that the children can be raised in it, and subsequently, it can also be passed to them once the interest of the surviving spouse has ceased.

The use of a life interest is also prone to some down-sides in the form of its inflexibility and are frequently the victim of inadequate drafting, particularly the life estate agreement.