12 gifts your business needs this Christmas

It's the 12 Days of Christmas, but these gifts are actually useful

It's nearly Christmas, and you've no doubt been inundated with Christmas music. By now, you've probably heard at least 10 different versions of that grating holiday classic, "The 12 Days of Christmas."

But, let's be honest. Your business needs a partridge in a pear tree like you need a hole in the head. And 10 lords a-leaping? Sounds like an OSHA violation waiting to happen.

No, what you really need are 12 gifts that will set you up for success in the New Year. Fortunately, we've got your Christmas shopping covered. Here are the 12 gifts that'll turn your office into an efficient, money-making machine instead of a nightmarish prison of filthy waterfowl and interpretive dancers.

On the first day of Christmas, get a great logo

Your business' logo is the first impression you'll get to make on many of your customers. Get it right and people will be able to identify your business without a single written word. Get it wrong, and you'll end up an unfortunate meme.

Your logo communicates your brand identity. It tells people what you're about, what you do and helps form an emotional connection. It forms an expectation in your customers. In short, it's one of the most important pieces of your branding.

Thankfully, a great logo doesn't have to be incredibly costly. Have a look at some of the most recent logo designs done on Freelancer. You can get inspiration for your own logo, and find some talented graphic designers to present it to you all gift-wrapped and ready to go.

On the second day of Christmas, get a responsive website

Did you know a mobile responsive website gets 67% more conversions ? Conversely, Google data shows that if customers find your mobile website difficult to navigate, 61% of them will abandon you. And with Google switching to mobile first indexing, it's more crucial than ever to make your website a great mobile experience.

If you don't have a website, you're missing out on one of your biggest sources of customers. 30% of consumers won't even consider a business that doesn't have a website. And if you do have a website, now is the time to update it to stay ahead of your competitors.

On the third day of Christmas, get a beautiful mobile app

Retail sales over mobile platforms crossed the $600 billion USD mark in 2018. That's a staggering number, and shows just how important it is for your business to have a mobile app.

Mobile apps can help you connect with your customers and increase sales. You can send them push notifications with the latest updates, make it easier and more convenient for them to buy from you and build loyalty to your brand. And apps are where your customers are spending their time.. The average adult in the US spends 2 hours and 43 minutes a day on mobile apps, versus 27 minutes browsing the mobile web.

On the fourth day of Christmas, get yourself organized

We get it. Owning a business is stressful. At any given moment, there are dozens of tasks that demand your attention. Even keeping on top of your emails can seem like a monumental challenge.

A virtual assistant can help you take back control of your business. They can handle emails, schedule meetings, put together notes and presentations and even help with online research and customer support. Hiring a virtual assistant means you can focus on the things you do best, and never worry about important details falling through the cracks.

On the fifth day of Christmas, get a technical SEO audit

You could be producing great content for your site. You could be sharing incredible insights that would wow your customers and raise your profile as an expert in your industry. But if your site isn't set up to be crawled by search engines, no one will even find that great content.

Technical SEO is all about making it easy for search engines to find and index your content. It's making sure your site is fast, secure, easy to navigate and mobile friendly. And it's making sure that search engines can actually read and understand all that great content.

A technical SEO audit will help you find any problems that could be holding back your website. An expert freelancer can conduct an audit quickly, diagnose your site and fix the problems so you can start ranking and bringing in leads.

On the sixth day of Christmas, get help with your social media

There are nearly 3.5 billion active social media users out there, with the average user spending 142 minutes per day on social platforms. That's a massive audience, and it's one you can't afford to ignore.

But to get the most out of social media, you need expert help. Different platforms draw different audiences and need different strategies. Monetizing social media isn't just posting a few cat memes and calling it a day. It needs a well-honed strategy, and we've got the experts who can put one together for you.

On the seventh day of Christmas, take a fresh look at your business plan

Your business plan helps you set your internal strategy, define your value proposition and prove your company's worth to investors. If you've never written a proper business plan, it should be the top of your priority list. And even if you have, the end of the year is a great time to revisit and tweak it.

We've put together a guide on how to write a winning business plan. No matter what kind of business you're in, it'll show you how to pull your ideas together into a well-researched roadmap. Read it now , and put some strategy behind your business decision.

On the eighth day of Christmas, get a well-written blog

A good blog positions you as an authority in your industry and helps you build a community with your customers. More importantly, a good blog increases your revenue. A study by HubSpot found that businesses that publish 16 or more blog posts per month get 3.5 times the amount of leads of businesses that publish 0–4 per month.

Writing a great business blog takes time, and that's time you might not have. Fortunately, you can find a great freelance writer to take the burden out of your blogging. Just hand them some topics and they can start producing great content that'll get more traffic to your website and more customers in your funnel.

On the ninth day of Christmas, get a way to harness your data

Your data is one of your most powerful assets. It tells you where your customers are coming from, how they're interacting with your business, which of your strategies are getting traction and which are falling flat.

But if you don't know how to put that data in a readable form, it's useless to you. Luckily, we've got skilled data scientists and analysts who can pull together all your business data and give you an in-depth perspective on how your business is performing.

On the 10th day of Christmas, get a memorable business card

Want to make a great impression with potential clients and investors? Start off with a memorable business card that won't just get shoved in a wallet and forgotten. Business cards can be far more creative than just a name and company logo on a rectangular piece of card stock.

We've pulled together 60 great examples of unique business cards that'll grab people's attention. You'll end up top of mind instead of at the bottom of a pile of desk debris.

On the 11th day of Christmas, get a plan to scale sustainably

Scaling your business the wrong way can be your undoing. According to CB Insights, running out of cash is the second most common reason startups fail. And premature or unsustainable scaling is a major culprit in startups' cashflow problems.

We've put together a guide to teach you how to scale your business the right way. You can grow your business without burning through your cash, or spreading yourself too thin. Read it now and start building a plan for 2020.

On the 12th day of Christmas, get help pulling it all together

With these gifts, your business will be flush with Christmas cheer. But what about you? Well, you can take the stress out of all that gift-giving by getting help from one of our Technical Co-Pilots . Just consult with them about your business' needs, and they'll put together a team to get it done. They'll even manage the entire process. That's a gift that keeps giving.

Merry Christmas, everyone.