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How Property Law can Save You Money

How Property Law can Save You Money

There is a great deal to know about property law and what makes it more difficult is that it changes in some way for each state. So if, for instance, you decide to buy a home without consulting a commercial lawyer, you could well do your research from a website that is not in your state unless you are very careful.

Buying and selling real estate is a legal process. There are contracts that need to be drawn up and the wording of them is extremely important, especially in cases that are not cut and dried. While some people feel that all they need is a conveyancer to help them finish the process, it is possible that they are leaving themselves open to fraud, or to loss of some kind that they didn’t expect. And there are many ways by which you can lose money.

How to Get a Fair Property Settlement After Divorce

How to Get a Fair Property Settlement After Divorce

Many people go through the trauma of divorce and a large part of the bad feeling is due to deciding what a fair property settlement is. Mostly, the two who are divorcing cannot agree on this question and it must be left up to the family lawyers to decide, or the courts, if an amicable settlement cannot be decided on.

It is often assumed that a 50/50 share of all assets and debts would be the fairest solution, but it is not that easy. For a start, one party may have had a lot of assets – or a lot of debts – before they even got married. It hardly seems fair that their ex-spouse has to be responsible for half of that. Then again, one partner may have received an inheritance or compensation for injury, so is the other party entitled to a share of that?

Online Reviews Management

Online Reviews Management

Good reviews are the secret recipe to your success!

Did you know that 88% of the customers trust online reviews to make a purchase decision? When it comes to choosing a new brand, more people trust online reviews from peers than you ever imagined. They want to find out how other customers have been treated, and based on their reviews, they make the final decision to either purchase or not. Therefore, if you want your business to succeed and entice new customers, then you need to get good online reviews.

Enhanced search engine rankings with good customer reviews

Did you know that your site’s search engine ranking can get a boost by good reviews? Great customer reviews is a sign that your business is doing good and values its customers. This means that when you have a greater number of positive reviews, your website or page will automatically appear on the first page of the search engine bringing more customers to your business.

3 Common Web Design Mistakes Made by Small Businesses

3 Common Web Design Mistakes Made by Small Businesses

These Web Design Mistakes Are Common, but Completely Avoidable

When a visitor comes to your website, your first priority should be to engage them and grab their attention in such a way that they convert from prospect to customer. With this aim in mind, you might feel a little overwhelmed and may end up making a few mistakes. While we all live and learn, these mistakes can cost you hundreds of dollars within hours – a luxury you most certainly cannot afford.

Having the not-so-better understanding of your target audience and focusing more on appearance rather than content are some of the common web design mistakes which are made by business owners every day, causing enormous loss of money.

1. Rushing the Job without Doing Any Research

The first step is to be patient and focus more on web design with respect to the target audience, instead of pondering over the time it is taking to get the website online.

If you define your target market before even starting with the design, you can find out the direction you’ll be heading to. Now, plan your whole design around this research. For example, at this point in time you need to know the age, gender, buying power, problems, needs, etc. of your audience. Do not think about how much time is being spent in the initial phases, your website will be your online identity, your patience will be worth it.

How SEO Helps To Improve Your Business Visibility

How SEO Helps To Improve Your Business Visibility

Do you think that SEO is highly overrated? Do you think that it is no magic wand that can bring your business around and help you get great traffic on your website at all times? Well then, think again! SEO is just the spell you need to transform a failing business into one attracting huge customer traffic. How? By using SEO to boost the visibility of your business website!

Have you ever wondered why your competition has such a huge market share, while you strive to bring traffic to your site? Has it crossed your mind that since you offer more value at a competitive price, why is it that none of your potential customers become loyal clients? The reason is that you are invisible to your target customers! If they can’t see you online, they can’t reach your website. This translates to no customer traffic, slow sales and low profits. In short, a failing business!

Using SEO to Ensure Visibility

According to research facts released by Google, around 90% of the internet users in the market, use Google search to find the service or company they need. So, if your website or content lacks the relevant keywords to get you a good ranking on the search engine, then you are surely invisible and your customer market is absolutely oblivious to your existence.

Top 5 Intellectual Property Tips Entrepreneurs Should Not Ignore

Top 5 Intellectual Property Tips Entrepreneurs Should Not Ignore

Intellectual Property (IP) comprises a series of legal ownership claims that include trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and industrial design rights. Small businesses or startups focus less on IP and consequently involve in lawyers in expensive legal issues. This article shares useful tips to help entrepreneurs guard their ideas and IP policy.

Tip#1: Solemnize Ownership Agreement

A precise agreement formalizing the ownership amongst the people involved in the business should be made. The agreement should clearly state the business owner/s and how the dividends created by IP will be shared among the founders; upon company’s expansion or merger.

Tip#2: Spend Wisely on Patent Filing

Patent expenses should be focused on strategic IP protection because patent filing is expensive. Sensitive business ideas and core patentable schemes should be revealed to a selected few who have agreed to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Consult a legal professional and opt for a provisional patent application first with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an intelligent way for creating temporary IP protection.

Tip#3: Protect Writing Materials

To protect manual, guide, documents and publicity material from infringement, U.S. law supports copyright notices since 1989. Therefore, to avoid legal hassles in the future, ensure that your company stamps all the materials with the copyright symbol or the word “copyright” and the year of creation and first publication.

How to Get your Business Online: On Google Maps

How to Get your Business Online: On Google Maps

Getting people to know about your business is important. A business no one knows of will perish, eventually. And one of the important factors for that is enlisting your business on Google maps; in this post, we will talk about how to get your business on Google maps. Google maps can help people identify your business easily and boost it in many ways. This can also help you to create an online reputation for your business.

The very first step is logging into Google My Business from your Google account. Once you do that, you will see two categories:

Storefronts: Choose this option if your business has a physical location; like a restaurant or a coffee shop.
Service area business: Choose this if you provide service to your customer by reaching them yourself. You can select this option in a business where you deliver things at people’s doorsteps, or similar services.

Best 5 Productive Biz Apps for Online Entrepreneurs

Best 5 Productive Biz Apps for Online Entrepreneurs

The leading source for a great business idea is compiled from the small business tools at the initial stage. The term entrepreneur fits the exact meaning for “skilled gratitude person”. The startup brings an unbelievable career to the gratitude personalities. The small business owners and other online entrepreneurs start harvesting the currencies over the internet in these days by implementing a smart work.

There are several people in this world making huge cash and leading a pretty life using their strategy on online entrepreneurship.

The internet has become a day-to-day tool for billions of users worldwide. Targeting the specific and the tailored people for the business is just like a hide and seek game in this century. The one who works smart achieves his goal and the output with minimum effort than the one who works hard without any meaningful strategy. The usage of various handy tools could increase the efficiency of the business in this competitive arena.

Cracking the Code: Drive More Traffic towards your Business Website

Cracking the Code: Drive More Traffic towards your Business Website

Search engine optimization and social media marketing, when used intelligently and creatively, can indeed be catalysts to your digital marketing success.

People who promote products recognize the potential of the advantages of Social media marketing. As many as 83% of businesses rely very heavily on social media to market their products and services. Forty percent of all businesses need to know how to calculate the earnings for the investments that they made.

Business personnel are trying to learn more about Google and other search engines to benefit from the power of search engine optimization. While on one hand search engine optimization has the power to boost your online presence, it can prove to be a big liability if not done with perfection.

The concept is all about directing people to your website. Learning the dynamics of search engine optimization and search engine marketing will enable you to design super quality optimized content through which you can not only drive more people to your website and generate leads for your business.

Small Claims Division of Debt Recovery

Small Claims Division of Debt Recovery

The Local Court’s Small Claims Division was created to hear and rule over cases regarding small debt recovery. They also deal with claims for damages or demands. A small claim is considered anything of $10,000 or less. The goal of this division is to hold jurisdiction for quick, inexpensive, informal legal proceedings. Another important factor is that the normal rules of evidence are not applicable.

The Small Claims Division was originally made so that people could initiate small claims, without the need for legal representation. This is useful for those who would otherwise be unable to afford to make legal claims. However, it also means that the division is limited with how much they can award. The amounts must be in scale to the claims, and remain “small”.

Once the defendant has been served with a statement of claim, they can file a notice indicating that they intend to defend against the claim. The case is then scheduled for a pre-trial review, which will take place in front of a registrar. Both parties must try to come to terms at this pre-trial, without needing to take the matter further. If they can’t come to an agreement, a small claims hearing is organised. Contact competent Debt Recovery Lawyers

Important Factors When Selling a Business

Important Factors When Selling a Business

Anyone who is contemplating selling a business, needs to factor in a number of things. It is also best to seek legal and financial advice. Below is a list of the most important things to consider when you want to sell your business.

What makes up your business? Are there any assets that would be sold individually? This basically amounts to figuring out what you are selling, as part of the business.
Is there GST to worry about, as with an ongoing concern?
Are you currently operating the business on a leased property? If you are, will the landlord let you transfer the lease to the buyer?
What other information are you going to give to prospective buyers? This might include records of accounting, or statements used to encourage people to buy the business. How accurate will they be? Be careful that you do not include inaccurate or fraudulent information while trying to sell the business.

5 Things to Know Before Starting a Family Ecommerce Business

5 Things to Know Before Starting a Family Ecommerce Business

Setting up an ecommerce business comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Along with the intricate business strategy and planned details, you most certainly need a team of skilled experts who can take care of the technical aspect of your site.

Running an ecommerce business, and ensuring that all customer orders are dispatched on time and paid for, accordingly, is a trying ordeal and it is great to have as many hands on deck as possible. Some entrepreneurs include their friends in their business to help them take care of the different business operations, while others prefer to set up and manage a family run ecommerce business, which will prove to be an asset for all.

A family ecommerce business is a great way to setup an enterprise where everyone can contribute to take the family business forward. While a family ecommerce business is indeed a great opportunity for many, there are still some things which you will need to keep into account to make sure that your venture is a success. These things are,

Country of Origin Labels, New Requirements

Country of Origin Labels, New Requirements

Misleading information can take many forms, and country of origin labelling has been a hot topic and kept lawyers busy for some time in Australia. A new system for labelling has been approved by the Australian Government. The plan is for the new labels to start hitting supermarket shelves towards the end of 2015. The changes are related Australia’s Country of Origin Labelling laws that were enacted in February. This is primarily due to a large number of complaints, regarding contaminated foods reaching the Australian supermarkets. One infamous incident involved berries that were said to contain Hepatitis A, which were brought into the country from China.

Who Will Be Affected?

Any business or manufacturer that sells food needs to be aware of the new labelling requirements. This includes any products that contain food, and not just fresh foods. Australian citizens were found, thanks to a survey, to be unaware of what “Made in Australia” actually meant. The new regulations are intended to eliminate this type of confusion. In the future, businesses will be required to specify which parts of a product are actually Australian.

Avoid Losing Money Due to a Lost Business Trust Deed

Avoid Losing Money Due to a Lost Business Trust Deed

There are a lot of ways to lose money through business contracts, and stamp duties are a big factor. People lose huge amounts of money every year, and it is often due to the “traps” that they commonly fall victim to. One of these involves losing a business trust deed, and failing to follow the best course of actions to rectify the problem. If you want to try and avoid excessive fees, it pays to be aware of what to do. This article deals with some of the most common ways that people can deal with a lose business trust.

Losing Your Business Trust Deed

If the times comes when you want to make changes within your business, losting your trust deed can be a disaster. This includes if you must change your trustee, modify beneficiaries, sell assets or business, or carry out other dealings with the trust.

Behaviour Debt Collectors Must Not Engage In for Personal Debts

Behaviour Debt Collectors Must Not Engage In for Personal Debts

If you have been following the news, it should come as no surprise to learn that debt is high in Australia. With more people owing money, and also having less money to pay back their debts, there’s a good chance that you have some debt of your own. Otherwise, many people are on the other side of the money lending. When dealing with people who owe you money, or those you are in debt to, there are ways to behave. More importantly, there are some types of behaviour that creditors or debt collectors are to avoid.

Debt collectors are not to harass someone who owes them money. This includes physical threats, of course. But it also expands into the realm of contacting someone more than needed, or doing so during odd hours. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010, as well as other laws, actually make this type of behaviour illegal. Even if someone owes you money, it is against the law to harass them in any way.

Employment and Tax Law Changes for Financial Year 2014/2015

Employment and Tax Law Changes for Financial Year 2014/2015

The financial year beginning in 2014, and ending in 2015, brings some relatively major changes. These relate to minimum wages, tax rates, and thresholds laws around Australia. Below is a summary of the more significant changes, which all employers should pay particular attention to. For some people, action might need to be taken immediately. Others will want to keep an eye on their compliance in the future. Please note that this is not an exhaustive report about all the new changes.

Minimum Wage Changes

The Fair Work Commission’s decision in the annual review in 2014, means that these changes will now take effect. It is a good time for workers to request an annual review for their pay, to make sure that their employers are following the laws regarding minimum wages.

Minimum wages in Australian states and territories will go from $622.20 per week, to $640.90. This is the amount for a full time employee, above the age of 18, working 38 hours each week.
Modern award rates have gone up by three percent, and this will flow through to annual salaries, as well as minimum hourly wages.
The minimum hourly wage in Australia has gone from $16.37 to $16.87 an hour. This equates to 50 cents more an hour.
For people employed on a casual basis, the loading on their pay has gone from 24 percent to 25 percent. Casual employees with a modern award rate will still receive a 25 percent loading rate.

Rights of Consumers when Unhappy with Products

Rights of Consumers when Unhappy with Products

Just about everyone has bought something that was not quite what they wanted. This will have often been due to the seller’s guarantee that the item could fill certain needs. Many people could probably give numerous reasons for being unhappy with their various purchases. It has also come to people’s minds to try to fix the situation. After all, there are rules in place to stop suppliers from taking advantage of their customers.

Consumers in Australia are protected by the Australian Consumer Law, which is also known as the ACL. The provisions of this law afford buyers a number of courses of action, should they buy something that isn’t what was promised. And these courses of actions can be taken against suppliers of goods, manufacturers, and even providers of credit. The following relates only to actions against suppliers.

What Can Consumers Do?

This largely depends how major the problem is. If it is a minor incident, and the seller is willing and able to provide a new product, it is good enough for the law. If the failure of the seller isn’t major, the customer might not even be able to ask for a refund and reject the goods. In case of a major failure on the part of the seller, the customer might be able to totally reject the product, and get a full refund of their money.

What happens when someone dies without a will?

What happens when someone dies without a will?

A legal will makes it easier to distribute the assets of the departed individual, and is based on a person’s own preferences. Therefore, it is always better to have it made. The will determines which family member will inherit what property, which saves everyone from conflicts later on. In the situation where there are no family members to inherit the property, the will outlines the name of a relative, a friend, a charity or any chosen person that the departed wanted to give away their property to.

On the other hand, when an individual dies without a will, the condition is called as intestacy. There are laws made for dealing with such situations which outline the distribution of the deceased’s properties, personal belongings, and money. You can opt for the documents mentioned below to settle the matter in such a scenario.

Sole Trader or Limited Company? The Pros and Cons

Sole Trader or Limited Company? The Pros and Cons

Plenty of people reading this will have thought about leaving their nine-to-five job, and starting their own business. It’s common to view this as a means of escaping the drudgery that so often makes up the work day. And then there is the freedom, and ability to be your own boss, and to do whatever you like. However, after moving beyond this initial stage of optimistic fantasy – it quickly becomes apparent that being your own boss is an awful lot of work. It is also hard to decide whether to start a company, or become a sole trader.

The following discussion outlines some of the primary pros and cons of being a sole trader, or creating the common “Pty Ltd” company.

Steps To Lease Your Business Premises

Steps To Lease Your Business Premises

Having suitable commercial premises at an ideal location is an investment decision which can either propel your business to new heights of success, or just doom it to the life of obscurity. To make sure that your business sees foot traffic, you need to make sure that you buy or lease the ideal place to set up your new enterprise.

Do you know the steps to leasing the property of your choice? Since a leasing contract is legally binding, it signifies that any errors on your part can prove to be problematic and may even lead to any legal actions against you. It would be hard for you to plead ignorance of any vital step in the leasing process later. That is why it is crucial for you to know how to lease a business premises in Australia in the right way.

There are seven main steps which help you lease premises as your commercial property, according to the legal acts binding in Australia. These 7 steps are,

Carefully consider all your leasing needs
Do research and also inspect the premises
Obtain all forms of outlined preliminary documentation
Opt for expert legal advice
Know how to negotiate the property lease
Prepare the final lease documents
Rules about fit out projects on the premises

Every step is essential and needs to be followed as outlined, and you can also download the following detailed guide Leasing business premises – a commercial and practical guide (3rd edition).

How to Select the Best Business Structure for Your Company

How to Select the Best Business Structure for Your Company

Are you thinking of setting up your own business? If so, have you decided on the business structure which will be ideal for your new firm? The business structure of a company should be the first thing to be decided and confirmed, before you start putting your business plan into action. Your tax liabilities and payments, management of the business operations, legal identity in the market and consequent success depends on the structure you choose for your new entrepreneurial venture or company in Australia.

If you have decided to take the Australian industry by storm, then decide on the best structure for your business.

Tax Issues You Need To Watch Out For

Tax Issues You Need To Watch Out For

Have you set up a business and want to know about the tax liabilities you will be responsible for? To assess the exact tax liability you will be held accountable for, you need to know what factor affects your tax the most. The answer is the business structure of your company.

The business structure you choose will make you liable for a set of taxes, which you will need to pay in order to avoid a legal action in court. The tax liabilities for each business structure is different, therefore it is important that you decide very carefully about your business, and know about all the taxes that will be charged to your company as they will need to be paid in time.

You need to have sufficient knowledge about your tax liabilities under the heads of the business structure, and payoff taxes if you want to avoid any tax issues in the future.

Take a look at how some of the business structures are taxed as per the legal statutes of Australian law;

Why You Need to Create a Will

Why You Need to Create a Will

The thought of passing away is enough to cause many Australians to put off making a will. However, unless there is a formal declaration regarding property, assets, and final wishes, many problems can arise. Below are some of the most pressing reasons for you to make a will as soon as possible.

Legal Definitions of “Spouse”

A new Succession Act in NSW (The Succession Amendment (Intestacy) Act 2009) has expanded the definition of “spouse” to include anyone who is a domestic partner to the diseased when they die. This not only includes wives or husbands, but partners and de facto spouses. Because of this new definition, it is possible for someone to die while having more than one spouse. Trouble can easily arise here, especially if there is no solid will to sort the matter out.

“Sweet Equity”

Imagine that a father has owned a family business for decades, and the daughter has helped to operate that business for the past 10 years. The father has been promising to pass the business to the daughter, as she has been there to help it thrive. But what if another child, the brother, has recently gone through some terrible debts? The father changes the will so that the son receives half of the business, assuming that the daughter will understand the situation. The daughter is outraged by this, since the son did nothing to help the business in his whole life. Through a series of challenges to the re-written will, both the brother and sister are left with much less money than they had after the father’s passing. By simply seeking out the appropriate legal representation, the father could have included something that dealt with his verbal promise to the daughter. This would have saved each of the siblings a lot of grief and money.

How to Make Your Website Attractive and Competitive with Good SERP Rates

How to Make Your Website Attractive and Competitive with Good SERP Rates

To start your business, you need to be emotionally strong discarding weakness and other negative elements for expecting faster success. Take advices and performance specific guidance from experts to design your e-commerce websites for message delivery, product promoting and business expanding. In the matter of website creation, you need better conception with innovative expertise in the site optimization. Your websites must be qualitative with good online visibility to attract visitors.

Make Your Site Innovative

For pulling huge online crowd, the website you design must be unique, dynamic, stylish and result-oriented. The business expansion naturally depends on the product promotion to capture customers. Therefore, the website should be competitive to find the niche in the digital market. Right now, entrepreneurs recover the goodwill of their companies by changing the methods of product promotion. Comparing to basic websites, their stylish website are more enriched with decency in graphic design, picture displaying and content management Instead of sending written messages, the entrepreneurs like to use lot of video clips ,images and dynamic ‘picture galleries to motivate thoughts of customers. Visitors should understand what type of business an entrepreneur needs to launch. Well, the competitive and qualitative website fills up the gap by showcasing handy demos, series of slideshows and animated theme based video clips. A customer gains inspiration when she visits the site to check content. The innovative site designs are lucrative and customers are easily convinced to pull up the web traffic. Responsive website designs are enticing newcomers in the online e-market because entrepreneurs get positive customers in short time without making much investment.

E-Cigarette Report from World Health Organisation Leads to New Laws in QLD

E-Cigarette Report from World Health Organisation Leads to New Laws in QLD

The Queensland Government has submitted a proposal to amend smoking laws in the state. If brought in, this law would make e-cigarettes and personal vaporisers fall under the same regulatory laws as tobacco products. If passed, the amendments would take effect on in 2015. This would make Queensland the first state in Australia to pass legislation regarding e-cigarettes. There are no regulations for the popular devices in any other part of Australia. However, there has been much criticism for the new laws, since there is no concrete evidence about the effects of using e-cigarettes.

A report that was released by the World Health Organisation (Electronic nicotine delivery systems) is claimed to be the driving force behind the new legislation in Queensland. The devices are not going to be banned, but selling them to minors, or even advertising them for sale will be against the law. In addition, it will be illegal to use them in any place where smoking tobacco is already not allowed.

What Are the Amendments?

In keeping with the laws regarding the advertisement and sale of nicotine products in Queensland, it will also be illegal to advertise or sell e-cigarettes without legal approval. E-cigarettes are generally advertised as being a good aid for people who want to quit smoking. The problem is that there is not enough evidence to suggest that there are any health benefits to switching over to these devices, instead of smoking tobacco.