Digital BrandingLocal Branding

In The Eye Of The Beholder

Is there ever a wrong time to take a photo? Every moment in life offers a chance to take an amazing picture. No matter the expression during the snap of a photo, pictures give people a chance to imagine their own storyline. Every feeling gives you a glimpse of a different moment that can be captured.

How can the color of your skin complexion dictate the best lighting choices for beautiful portraits? Various types of positions create different shades of light. Imagine sitting in front of a bay window ten minutes after sunset. Outside, the street lamp light shines into your window brightly. If you position your head right in front of the lamp post light, you could create the illusion of morning dawn during dusk.

Rays of light shining through windows are fun to use with your imagination. They help create silhouettes and sepia-like coloring for your photographs. The look of eyes in a picture carries a fusion of energy cold or warm. Overhead lights in a dark room can help you highlight separate distinctive features from your face.

Creating a picture that revolves around your eyes being the center of attention may not be so difficult to achieve. I would find a pitch dark black room with light shining through the window. Stand in the dark until you can’t be seen then gradually ease your face into the edge of the light, just enough until your eyes show. It might look spooky but now you’ve given life to a dark silhouette of yourself.

During a photography shoot, every picture isn’t meant to be joyful or sad. Some can harbor aggression in your facial expressions to get your point across. Our clothes often capture the mood of some photos in an interesting way. If your wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, this could indicate a warm laid back Saturday morning watching your favorite TV shows. An unbuttoned collar on a dress shirt and tie with rolled up sleeves could indicate days worth of work done.

Pictures definitely rely on your choice of personality. Whenever photography takes place, there are some basic lighting positioning such as key light, backlight, and full light.

Using indoor lighting is cool, but there is something to love about the natural light outside. Natural light gives a sense of fresh energy to the field of captured moments.

Although most picture subjects may absorb the natural light better, natural light can be a little more tricky in developing epic photos. Freelance shots are more ideal for natural light is that the sun may rotate to a different position or clouds may cause unwanted shade at times. Each picture can remain unique by applying the same method of photography.

Using indirect natural light can help achieve some of the most defining pictures during your photo shoot. The terminology used for this style is called front-lit. If you are looking to control the shadows from behind, back-lit might be more situational as it hits your subject from behind.

Epic photos are a gift to share with your loved ones. Potential employers might require your modeling services. Storing the collection of photos you accumulate should be easy for people to access. Look into creating a portfolio of your photos by using portfolio templates. By doing so, you can share your photos with anyone, anytime.

If you find yourself uncomfortable with social media platforms, keeping a flash drive of your work on your key ring leaves you prepared for the unexpected. You never know when someone might say do you have any work I can see. Modeling and photography have complimented each other for ages any many more to come. The two are therapeutic for some and an outlet of expression for others.

Remembering the creative use of camera angles rely on your personality. Each photo you take as a model revolves around the amount of energy you project in your photos. The old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, rules the world of modeling and photography today. Using body language, eye contact, and different fields of energy, will always help your photogenic expressions.

Digital Branding

SEO and Why It’s Crucial to Take Care of It for Your Business

It has been more than two decades since the term “search engine optimization” (SEO) first got its start that one would expect for it to be as ubiquitous as Google and smartphones by now. Unfortunately, SEO still isn’t that popular – at least not yet. It doesn’t mean, though, that you shouldn’t use it, most especially if you have a business whose lifespan depends on the number of customers buying from you.

If you are not aware of how important SEO is, the following reasons why it’s crucial to take care of SEO for your business should help you educate yourself further about it:

1. Businesses using SEO are more likely to attract potential customers.

Three out of every four Internet users don’t bother checking a search engine’s other pages of search results aside from the first one. That’s why some businesses set aside a specific budget to ensure that everything they do online is in line with SEO best practices. After all, a business that shows up in a search engine’s first page of search results has a higher chance to be checked out by a potential customer than a competitor who’s in the fifth page of the search results.

As you’re running a business yourself, you’ll want to make sure as well that you become included in page one of a search engine’s search results so that you can get potential customers. It shouldn’t be just a one-time thing though. Aim to be in a search engine’s first page of search results as consistently as you can.

2. Businesses using SEO are more likely to attract more substantial revenue.

A spot in a search engine’s first page of search results would most likely attract more potential customers towards your business than if you were in another page. The bad news is that your website’s visitors may check you out but leave without buying anything. The good news is that other potential customers who found you online may purchase something from you, which is a favorable and profitable outcome that you’ll want to experience more often by taking care of your business’s SEO.

3. Businesses using SEO are more likely to become well-known.

Aside from attracting potential customers and profit, running your business with SEO in mind would gain you more publicity than if you didn’t consider using it at all. The average person usually sees websites included in a search engine’s first page of search results as popular and thus trustworthy. No wonder then that several other businesses want a place in page one of a search engine’s search results as they also want to gain the attention and trust of whoever they’re targeting.

SEO has been around for years, but some businesses still don’t know anything about it. Or even if they’re familiar with it, they’re hesitant to try it. As someone who runs a business, you’ll want to get a lot of online traffic, especially as people would most likely find out about you through the Internet rather than through traditional means of advertising. However, having an Internet presence for your business isn’t enough. You should also take care of its SEO as the above-listed discussion presented. If you’ve made it to this last sentence of the article and yet you’re still clueless about it, you should read HigherVisibility’s SEO guide for a clearer idea of its importance for your business.

Digital Branding

How to Do SEO for Your Site with Keyword Research Tools

Search Engine Optimization of a website always centralized around the keyword and has been the important element. Since ages, a lot many changes have made and with this evolutionary component of SEO, choosing the right set of keywords for the content building has become a necessity. You have to make your ways through these keywords in order to increase the rank. You need to start monitoring the progress of site based on keyword precision. As per the expert belief, the usage of keyword has become complicated due to some reasons like:

  • Now the search query in Google focuses on the semantic part of the content from the user context rather than querying up the word by word typed in information. It has become tough to optimize each and every word of the specific set of keywords.
  • No proper information can precisely determine the information about the ranking. Google has stopped providing the information, and some third party is now offering information about the rankings.
  • The rankings have become volatile and are meddling the potential consistency of keywords. Google makes changes due to which there is a constant optimization from the competitor alongside your strategy.

Photo credits: https://pixabay.com/en/seo-sem-marketing-optimization-web-758264/

No matter what, the keywords are still a very important element of the SEO and other marketing strategies. The keywords provide an insight into the user patterns followed for search which helps in guiding the topic and builds the focus on marketing strategy. You can obtain the metrics using tools that can let you know about your website performance. There are many steps by step streamlined way which can tell you how to work on your keyword Research for Search Engine Optimization. You can check keyword inspector.com to find out more. You have to keep in mind about the targeted audience while working on keyword Research using the following tools

  • SEMRush: This is a paid tool with some limited free options. It is very valuable for conducting Search Engine Optimization of the site which is not only restricted to Keyword. You can get information about the complete site by entering the domain name and also get information about the ranking. If you are planning of outdoing some of your competitors, this information is helpful. If your sole purpose is to work on ranking, then this tool is best.
  • SpyFu: This tool’s prime focus is on the competition which is needed if you already are a level down from your competitor. Instead of finding the detail about yours, try to find out about competitor domain. By doing so, you can evaluate the focus and strength of your competitor’s keyword relativeness with the content. You will get the understanding of how to choose a keyword for prime target and in the end; you will be winding an excellent strategy for optimizing the site.

Conclusion

It is very important to have a strong SEO for your site and strategy for the keyword order to beat the competition. With the help of tools, you might be able to achieve your goal.

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

A STEP-BY-STEP Guide to creating a SWOT Analysis for your brand strategy

When you set out to build your brand strategy – it’s always best to be number 1 in a new market – then number 2 or number 3 in an already crowded market. But, how do you build a great foundation for your venture?

The answer? A SWOT Analysis.

WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS?

A SWOT analysis of your brand strategy would give you an idea about the strengths (S), weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and threats (T) of your brand’s ability to dominate the market.

SWOT ANALYSIS EXAMPLE

Let’s take real-life scenarios. A good friend of the writer named Sameer was starting a business where he would buy journals from India and sell it to the United States through an e-commerce store.

After a lot of research, he found a journal he liked and took his first step towards his goal. Upon the advice of the writer, he followed this step-by-step SWOT analysis for his product.

1 – Evaluate the Strength of your Idea

Sameer first did a quick Google research for the following keywords.

1 – Journals USA Buy

2 – Journals California Buy

3 – Self-improvement Journals USA Buy

4 – Gratitude Journals California Buy

He found some common denominators in the competitor’s websites.

Firstly, he found that there was virtually no copy under any of the products.

Secondly, he found that each of these websites had multiple journals for sale.

So, he found where his strengths lay;

  • He would sell just one journal on his website.
  • He would focus on a benefit-driven copy for his website.

2 – Swallow your Pride and Admit your Weakness

Next, Sameer needed to closely look at his weaknesses.

His biggest weakness was his marketing budget. If he were to take the Ad words route based on the projections, it would cost him close to $25 dollars to acquire a sale.

With a marketing budget of $500, he couldn’t risk running out of capital. So, he decided to explore alternate forms of advertising instead of Ad words.

 

3 – Look for Opportunities in Lesser Crowded Areas

Sameer had been hearing a lot about Instagram shoutouts.

Upon some quick research on Instagram hashtags, he found that the yoga handle has closed to 2 million posts.

Now, coincidentally Sameer practiced Yoga as well. So he decided to put his $500 dollars into marketing his business through shoutouts.

He found the best handles related to yoga and spirituality wrote a quick starter e-book on yoga which he used as a low tripwire offer of about $7 and then created an upsell page with the journal with a tagline “Journal like a Yogi”.

 

4 – Search for threats that can effectively shut you down

Sameer’s biggest threat now was the long lead time that comes with going through the funnel approach.

Upon his first couple of shoutout tests, he found that he got a 2% conversion on each shoutout expenditure.

So, at about $50 per shoutout – he would get close to 5 sales of his e-book. But no one was buying his journal.

He was $200 short and had just about $300 left before he ran out of his capital.

After looking at the analytics on his Upsell page – he found that a majority of the users bounced off within the first 10 seconds.

After a lot of dwelling, he decided to test a down sell page.

So after a user purchased his e-book he would then send them to the Upsell page for his journal.

Once a user clicks away from the page – he sent them to a down sell page where he gave the customer $20 off their first purchase.

After sending about 5000 people to his website – he saw that his tripwire e-book sales remained the same but this time he managed to sell one journal which helped break even on his shoutout expenditure.

This was a promising enough start for Sameer to continue on with this venture.

 

CONCLUSION

A SWOT analysis is just a tool you use to fine tune your business strategy. Do not make the mistake of spiraling down the analysis rabbit hole. An action is the greatest key to finding out if your theories are based on sound results or not.

Result driven advertising should help you here. Closely monitor what effect each one of your USP’s or offers has on your customer. Evaluate your cost per lead and lead time and then go about fine tuning it until you can fully automate the process.

Once you have found a good marketing strategy you need to scale up your operations and the best way for you to do that is to use a CRM software for marketing.

Kapture CRM is a cloud-based marketing SaaS provider that helps you automate a lot of the key tasks in your business.

Kapture CRM customizes its offerings according to the needs of your industry. The cloud-based platform can be used over a mobile application as well that is integrated over both iOS and Android platforms as well. Currently, Kapture powers 500+ brands in 12 countries.

 

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Digital Branding

SEO Ranking – Most Important Steps (Beside Keywords)

Everyone knows what SEO is and its importance in today’s marketing world. However, a lot of people seem to be confused by how exactly it works, and what’s important when writing in this style. So if you want your article to appear at the top of the searches, you are going to need to focus on more than just keywords. Of course, keywords are, well – key; but there are other things to pay attention to, and here they are.

Relevant content

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There is a reason people focus on a single topic (or a relevant group) for their website. Sure, there are some websites – predominantly news focused – that cover a broad range of topics, but if you want your content to be optimized, and if you are just starting out, you want all of your content to be relevant to each other. Posting an article that is completely unrelated to your overall theme will throw people off and they might not return, or they might miss your main message completely.

Dwell time

One thing the algorithms look for is how long people actually spend on your site. If they just click to enter and realize it’s not what they expected then click right back out, it will hurt your rating more than help it. This is why misleading titles and introductions are a terrible idea, and why you should employ reader retention strategies. Nowadays, readers’ attention spans are getting shorter, and the “two-minute reads” are getting a lot more attention, but what happens when you want people to stay longer? Well, giving them more content is the easiest way. As soon as they are done reading the first article, they should be offered several others to choose from (all, of course, with eye-catching titles and intros). This will make sure your reader stays with you for as long as they have time.

Track progress

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It’s amazing how many people think that statistics are just for science and that they don’t need to know any of that if they are just running a website. But let’s say you sign up for some SEO reporting that gives you a report on how you are doing on demand and you notice that there was a sudden drop of reader retention and dwell time. What do you do? You investigate. You look for the exact moment that the drop started and see what was done there. Did a campaign suddenly end? Did you post something that people just didn’t like? Did you hire a new writer whose style just didn’t vibe with the readers? All of these are potential reasons you are losing readers and not reaching the peak of the search page. Tracking everything allows you to combat changes and make everything run smoothly.

Good formatting and proper image size

Opening an article and seeing a wall of text is just not something that people want. You might think it’s a way to trick them into reading all of it instead of just the parts that they are looking for, but then you are missing the whole point of writing. All of your articles should be divided into logical paragraphs with proper headings, clearly distinguishable from the rest of the text. Your image sizes should also be optimized, not only for faster load time but for easier reading. Make sure you check how your article looks on several devices, to make sure that the photos don’t shift something to the side or end up in an incorrect place.

Most importantly, make sure that you are always working on your writing. The better the actual articles are, the more people are going to read them and the more they are going to boost your SEO rating. In the end, everything we do can only bring us up so far, but the main quality has to be in the writing itself.

 

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Digital Branding

The Worst Guest Blogging Mistakes

Each owner of a website that accepts guest blog posts is quite aware of the potential benefits. To begin with, guest bloggers can provide a fresh insight and more information about relevant topics, which increases the popularity of the website. Next, regular visitors to the site are offered an opportunity to enjoy a slightly different style of writing, which they may prefer to the one they are used to. Finally, the more content is created, the greater the traffic to the website, which translates into financial profit eventually… if the guest blog posts are not a disaster.

Many people aren’t careful enough when allowing (or writing) guest blog posts. For some, the most important is that some content is created. This is a major problem since quality needs to take precedence over quantity when it comes to running a profitable website. So, what are the most common mistakes found in guest blog posts that we need to avoid?

Content

People read your blog because they are interested in the content you’ve created. If you are skillful enough when it comes to writing, your readers will enjoy it more, but they are primarily interested in what you write, rather than how. Also, though you don’t want to bore people with your posts, you can’t really expect them to learn much from a short post (under 500 words, for example). So, finding the right measure when it comes to the topic and brevity is the key.

Visual aid

The way a blog is written also influences the impact it has on readership. Having long chunks of text rarely stimulates anyone to read the whole post. In most cases, such texts are briefly skimmed and though they may be informative and educational, the impact is likely to be missed. That’s why many successful bloggers resort to using bullets and relevant images to attract attention to the content. The former allows readers to find relevant information easily, while the latter has a great impact on search traffic since images are indexed by Google. However, make sure your choice of images is organic and relevant for the best results.

Not engaging the reader

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Another common problem is the fact that many posts simply don’t engage readers, but simply present information. This is reflected in the choice of register and lack of questions, especially in the introduction. How many times have you started reading something and gave up very soon afterward, because you were just bored? Every reader wants to feel that you’re writing just for them. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to become too personal, though some people may like it. Sharing personal experience is ok, but the trivial details of your life are hardly a matter of anyone’s interest.

Being too prolific

Although you can’t get traffic without posts, you can’t expect that multiple posts each day will help you achieve your long-term goals. It’s impossible to expect that you can maintain (let alone improve) the quality of your posts with hyper-production. This is particularly true for inexperienced bloggers. You don’t want the posts on your page to show symptoms of burnout.

Avoid blogging for blogging’s sake

The internet is saturated with posts about “how to blog” and your post on the same topic is unlikely to provide any relevant new insight unless you are positive you know something that others don’t. Readers are interested in very concrete topics and have come to your website because they thought they’d find what they are looking for or even be pleasantly surprised to learn something they didn’t expect. This element of delighting the visitor is one of those that make your page stand out among thousands of similar ones.

If you manage to avoid these common mistakes when it comes to guest blogging, you will stand very good chances of making the most of having someone else contributing to the growth of your readership and, consequently, bank account. So, be wise when it comes to using this powerful tool.

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Digital BrandingLocal Branding

Make Your Company More Visible

When it comes to running your business, you want to be as “visible” as you possibly can. What do all the big successful companies have in common? They are all “visible,” and they can even be recognized by just their trademark, jingle, or even colors associated with the company. That is the product of tactful and repetitive advertising, and it can work for your company as well.

Giveaway items are a great way to promote your business for a couple of reasons. They make the recipient feel as if you value them and they will remember that you gave them something in return for nothing. It is a great way to establish a bond, and the giveaway item that you give them will continue to remind them of your first meeting as well as your business. It is necessary to make contact with a potential customer numerous times before they will actually engage or buy something, so your giveaway is doing a lot of the work for you.

Great things to give away include pens, apparel such as T-shirts or hats, food, water bottles, and calendars. These make great choices because they are inexpensive so you can invest in many of them to give out and they are also useful, or they are items that most people would want. There is a fine line here though. You want to spend as little as you can in your “freebies” since you will be giving them all away, and you want to keep your costs low so that you can afford the luxury massage table but you also want your promotional items to be something that people will want to keep around for a while.

If your massage business is just starting out, you have a lot of work to do to obtain recognition and to become reputable enough that you will draw in clients. The hardest part about starting a business is that you are the newbie and you haven’t had the chance to make a name for yourself and your services are unknown. Once you draw in a few customers, you will be able to get the word of mouth advertising started, and the best part is that it is free. It is also the very best kind since most people will take the advice of those they know over an ad that they saw somewhere.

There are a few ways to make your company more visible. You should start by registering for and going to a conference focused on your business. It’s a great way to engage potential customers. You should also branch out and visit local businesses owners to see if they are in need of your services. You could even offer them a coupon or incentive to try out your services. They may even let you put some of your business cards in their office for customers to be exposed to.

It is important to do this in person, as it is more likely that they will take you up on the offer than if you called on the phone. You could also join the local Chamber of Commerce. They often offer monthly events that may prove beneficial to your business. Trade shows are an excellent way to gain exposure and don’t forget to offer freebies and coupons to draw in customers. You could also host a workshop or free seminar. It’s a great way to introduce yourself, “sell” your service and answer any questions that your potential clientele may have.

Items that can be shared are a great concept since it is likely that more potential clients will be reached. Be sure to give out an extra freebie to every person so that they can pass it on. Be sure to include your logo on your freebies and to include a link to your website or social media account so that customers will be able to access more information on your company conveniently. Be sure to hand out referral cards as well. Referral cards will motivate people to tell others about your company since there is something in it for them. It is very important to promote your company when you are just starting out so that you can keep snowballing to success. You don’t want to lose your momentum.

Legal Branding

Why Employers Should Drug Test Their Employees

Drug use in the United States has fluctuated over the years, yet one problem which still arises today is not having a work environment free of the dangers of substance abuse. The problem of drug use in the workplace is still a growing trend and many employers are standing up against the prevention of hiring and eliminating drug-using employees in the workplace through instant drug tests which can be a lifesaving asset for your business.  

The Importance of Drug Tests

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) statistics show about 75 percent of the current illicit drug users in the United States 18 and older are employed – that is an estimated 10 million people. Statistics also show that on a daily basis, at least 42,000 Americans come to work under the influence or even getting ‘high’ while on the job. With marijuana being the most commonly used drug and being legalized for recreational use in many parts of the country, we anticipate the number of drug users in the workplace to only increase unless business owners stand up against hiring any drug user or by cleaning up their current list of employees by enforcing a drug testing procedure in their business plan. The burden of drugs in the workplace will get worse if employers do not take extra measures to protect their businesses to screen new and current employees. It is already estimated that businesses lose approximately $100 billion each year alone from problems arising from hiring a drug user. Not only should drug testing be integrated into the hiring process, but it should also be done every couple of months for pre-existing colleagues. If you’re unsure of which products are best, it’s definitely worth researching various drug test kits, but products similar to the 10-panel drug test are great.

The burden and costs to business owners of hiring a drug user in the workforce include:

  • Higher missing work rates
  • Higher accident rates
  • Higher turnover
  • Less quality and productivity work

Keep the Workplace Safe One Employee at a Time

Drug use can impair one’s judgment, give slow reaction times and is just plain out dangerous and a liability nightmare for some business owners. For some businesses, it can be more of a liability to have a drug user as one of their employees, such as factory worker in charge of an assembly line or an employee who is driving on the job making errands or deliveries, can be disastrous in terms of liability and safety. By incorporating a drug screening plan, your employees are looking forward to staying drug-free and you are helping your business avoid those small mistakes which can cause an accident and lead to serious injury or even death. It’s important for employees to be fully cognizant while on the job and that’s why we’ve incorporated an instant drug screening device to help you and your business.

Employee Performance

Employees under the influence of drugs may struggle to stay on task, come in on time or even do the job right. At the end of the day your business will struggle should you be allowing employees who use drugs in your workforce. A common instant use drug test allows employers to target a strategy to exclude those employees who aren’t reaching their full potential due to illicit drug use, removing weak links and improving their company’s performance by eliminating the weak link. At the end of the day, it’s about your business and you need to protect your asset by only hiring viable workers who can show up on time, do the job as described and aren’t a liability for your company.

Turnover Rates

One of the more common issues is any small business is the amount of turnover rates. By prescreening your employees with an instant use drug test as part of a pre-employment procedure, you are opting in possibly saving your business thousands in extra labor costs in terms of the hiring process, training, and work placement. As big as a problem as turnover rates are for many small businesses, instant use of drug tests are a simple way to reduce the problem prior to any employment agreement between the possible employee and your company. 

A Drug Test Made for Your Business

There is no denying that workplace drug testing offers a careful way to establish the truth of someone’s drug use and as a protection, many business owners have opted in using drug test procedures to screen their new hires and current list of employees. In situations where the employee has a responsibility for the safety and/or welfare of others, and the employer has a responsibility to ensure the employees’ competence is viable for the job, is a strong argument for workplace drug tests to be carried out for both liability and productivity of the business.

However, if a workplace drug test procedure will be carried out, there are some basic ethical principles which need to be taken place to avoid any violation of the rights of the employee.

These include, but are not limited to:

  • Consent: Current and upcoming employees should know, ideally prior to taking the job, that drug abstinence is an expectation to fulfill the job at hand, and the workplace drug test is a planned occurrence in the business and mandatory requirement prior to being hired.
  • Confidentiality: People’s privacy must be respected, including whether workplace drug testing has taken place as well as the result.
  • Disability discrimination: An applicant or employee who is taking medication for a disability is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Prescribed medications may turn up on drug tests, and some drugs that would otherwise be illegal (such as opiates) are legitimately prescribed for certain conditions of users with conditions which are prescribed by a doctor. If an applicant is turned down because of a positive drug test, and the applicant’s medication was legally prescribed for a disability, the company could be liable.
  • Repeat tests should be conducted when a workplace drug test is positive, and your employee should be given the opportunity to explain a positive drug test result to avoid possible discrimination or false positive test.
  • Provide resources on addiction counseling and/or rehab for those who are positive on a drug test.

Beyond the immediate financial impact of reduced quality, productivity, and strict liability caused by drug users in the workplace, there is also the long-term risk of losing market share due to a competitor or a loss in business reputation and credibility. With review sites such as Yelp, Google and Angie’s List to name a few, whatever happens even as a one-time occurrence may have a devastating effect on your business for years to come.

By taking the necessary step to protect your business today, you will reduce a great deal of risk by mandating a drug test on a regular occurrence in your HR department hiring process and current employee roaster. As an investment towards your business, the drug test itself is a minimal cost compared to employing a drug user.

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Disclaimers

*Consult with your local state jurisdiction for further laws on state municipal codes regarding employee drug testing. This website or contents within are not listed as legal advice.