A brand is everything that a customer sees and experiences when they interact with a business. A customer’s first impression includes how the staff welcomes them, what can be seen on social media websites, and what the story behind the business is. It’s basically how the customer perceives your business.
When a consistent message is conveyed, a brand is created. From the website to the logos and social media profiles, it tells the story behind the company. There should be a consistent branding strategy, regardless of how the customer is introduced to the business whether it be through the website after doing a search, or through a link shared by a friend. Using appropriate tools to generate a very unique business name does a great trick here.
You’ll find such a tool at www.biznamewiz.com. Here, you can read more about how the generator works, why it can be a great source of inspiration in the naming process, and you can learn more about the importance of a good name for your branding process. It is feasible to bring in more clients as well as develop repeat customers with good branding for a firm. However, the execution of great branding requires knowledge of what brands are important in a digital world. Stay tuned to learn more!
Brand Definition
A company’s branding must be defined before it can begin to create a consistent message across all media. They must evaluate the company’s mission, the advantages of its products or services, what customers think of them now, and what they want customers to think of the company in the future. All of this helps establish the business’s individual branding, including what colors to use on the website or in logos, how to design the website’s layout, which social networking networks to utilize, and more.
It is not easy to define a company’s branding, and it will take some time. There are so manyreasons to use agencies when trying to define your brand.
Consistency
When a company’s brand is defined, it becomes consistent. The same visuals will be used on websites, packaging, social networking sites, and everywhere else. Even if two distinct items are being advertised to clients, the packaging, colors used in the products or packaging, the purchase form on the website, and other visual elements will all be aesthetically similar and send the same message to buyers.
You want to make your online presence user-friendly, eye-pleasing, functional, and to include some relevant images to interest people. You can also replace the photos on your website with short, interactive videos – they work wonderfully. Remember to remove images from Google search that do not match your brand vision, and do nothing but build bad brand reputation.
Peculiarity
Another important brand is standing out from the rest of the flock. When people are seeking a product or service, it’s far too simple to go under the radar in today’s digital environment. Businesses can compete even if they are located on opposite sides of the globe, so finding a strategy to stand out is critical.
Standing out is an important aspect of brands because it attracts customers and makes them see reasons to stick with your brand ahead of competitors.
Why Strong Brands Are Important in a Digital World was last modified: February 28th, 2023 by Fredrick Francisco Stougaard
The UX design sphere is saturated with an embarrassment of riches in terms of resources and tools. While the variety of options is excellent, it can be challenging for designers looking for inspiration to know which options are best to look to for valuable insight.
This is especially true when it comes to UX design blogs. There are just so many out there that it would be a full-time job just getting through many of them to find which offer the most quality resources.
With that in mind, we decided to do the hard work and provide you with a nice consolidated list of the most quality UX design blogs to inspire designers worldwide.
UX Planet
They are looking for a top-down resource that includes a comprehensive collection of topics ranging from beginners’ guides to leadership articles and career advice? Then look no further than one of the standard-bearers in the UX design article blogs, UX Planet. Even non-designers can dive into the beginner section to start getting introduced to primary and intermediate design concepts.
The contributors to UX Planet include a vast array of designers, all with varying backgrounds and different routes that took them into the world of UX design. With such a diverse crew at work, there will be plenty of “real talk” from current experts who learned much in the same way, along with words of encouragement, advice, and how-to guides. It is a truly fantastic resource to leverage to kick off your UX career.
The Nielsen Norman Group
Don Norman (responsible for coining the term “user experience” back in the 90s) and Jakob Neilsen, two widely recognized and respected UX gurus, started The Nielsen Norman Group, a helpful website for those seeking introduction and education to many terms necessary for anyone getting into the UX sphere. The featured content’s quality, breadth, and depth more than make up for the lack of the blog’s flashiness. At the Nielsen Norman Group blog, you can read up on topics like web accessibility and usability, UX-based psychology, and many digestible yet comprehensive explanations about the most key UX principles, tools, and techniques.
XD Ideas
XD Ideas is a relative newcomer in the UX sphere. Backed and powered by Adobe XD, this blog may have been started with the intent to appeal to UX beginners, but it has undoubtedly outgrown that aim by becoming a resource stocked with a wide coverage area of all aspects of the UX realm. Intuitively navigable, XD Ideas include guides to assist in understanding the basic principles and concepts of UX design, as well as tips that are pivotal to anyone dipping their toes into the UX world. With a vast collection of multi-background contributors, XD Ideas benefit a wide range of opinions and viewpoints from the industry’s most experienced gurus.
UX Collective
Suppose you are familiar with the Medium content hub. In that case, you’d be interested in finding out that they host a blog publication explicitly devoted to no-nonsense UX content presented in an easily understandable and digestible manner. The UX Collective blog, founded, edited, and curated by designer Caio Braga and his award-winning design partner in the venture, Fabrico Texeira, focuses on its intuitive structure and provides readers with powerful insights from top industry designers and a focus on sharing the most valuable content.
This blog features everything from career advice, real-world UX design application, and portfolio advice to deep-dive reviews of well-known products and loads of tips that can help you improve your UX design learning experience. Those interested in the blog’s content who want to have some great content written into their email inbox can sign up for the weekly UX Collective newsletter.
Inside Design
If you have done any digging into UX design platforms, you have likely run across InVision. But did you know that InVision also hosts a superb blog, an industry leader in the field, named Inside Design? Anyone who has already started their UX education can find a ton of valuable content at Inside Design. It is an especially invaluable tool for those seeking to expand their understanding of product design and the process of UX development and those looking to optimize their UX teams and processes. If you want to stay on top of the latest UX news, this blog will always supply fresh, new material for you to learn about the latest events, tools, and trends.
The UX Blog
The Medium platform hosts another tremendous blog resource that covers UX topics spanning any realm of design, including (but not limited to) visual and design content, new views on industry standards and practices, and interviews with renowned industry experts. It even hosts its podcast, the episodes of which can be accessed right from the blog. If you are interested in keeping current with all UX aspects and value the viewpoints of leading industry experts, the UX Blog is one to keep in mind.
Awwwards
The Awwwards blog is mainly geared at UI interested readers, but it features a healthy dose of valuable, fresh UX information. The blog’s UI/UX section is stocked with unique content about everything from navigation to microcopy, enough to help pump your creative UX engines. The library of case studies alone is worth the visit for anyone looking for deep UX knowledge. One tremendous aspect of this blog is that its content is illustrated, assisting visual learners in their quest to discover and learn some invaluable UX concepts. The Awwwards blog is beneficial to those who enjoy access to an exciting mix of UX and UI concepts, principles, and news.
Muzli
Suppose you’re looking for examples of real-world applications of UX and love to read case studies, stopover at the Muzli blog. The case studies are thorough and varied, but all deeply enriched with viewpoints from various designs that illustrate how UX is levered effectively, spurring ideas and creativity for the blog’s readers. They even cover common problems encountered by UX designers, helping readers stay ahead of the UX learning curve, perfect for novices or intermediaries to the UX realm. Weekly content with great advice and tips can also help UX designers and aspiring newbies learn and be inspired by the latest UX trends and concepts.
Facebook Design
Few designer teams have nailed down the concept like Facebook has, which is why reading the Facebook Design blog is a fantastic way to learn and be inspired by the behind-the-scenes view of how Facebook designers operate in their day-to-day activities. While some of the content is specific to Facebook, that is far from the case for its overall coverage. Many important and valuable tips are provided by a talented staff of designer contributors that provide great UX concept explanations and help inform readers about undoubtedly key social responsibilities associated with UX design, an area not addressed often enough.
Final Thoughts
Regardless of your level of UX experience, interested readers from all walks of UX design dimensions can benefit from tons of valuable content available on the provided blogs above. Whether you are building your knowledge library as a novice or staying on top of current trends, this collection of blogs will provide you with tons of great content in the ever-developing and exciting UX industry.
Top 9 UX Design Blogs for Inspiration was last modified: October 29th, 2024 by Herbert Merrick
Many design trends come and go, but some have stood the test of time. Negative space is one such style, which has become all the more popular in recent years with the increased interest in minimalist design.
As any good logo design studio knows, the best logos are those that can adapt to changing markets, shifting audiences, and new product offerings while still retaining the same core idea. In this way, negative space can be helpful because it’s simplistic enough for printing purposes while also allowing interaction with the viewer.
If negative space is a new concept to you, you’ll need to understand the introductory psychology and ideas behind this trend to try it out. Read on to learn what negative space is and how to implement it effectively in your next time you use a logo maker.
Audiences will be taken in by the logo’s overall appearance and continue to be invested as they discover the hidden shapes and messages within the design, combining short-term engagement and long-term interest. If you’re looking to create such impactful logos, using a logo maker app can be a great starting point.
What is Negative Space?
Negative space is, essentially, blank sections, or the space between words and images. In a way, the margins on this page or between these paragraphs and letters are negative space. However, when negative space is used artistically or stylistically, it is transformed from separating other more essential elements into something that is, itself, an element. Because this is the opposite of the norm, it’s unexpected and, therefore, intriguing, even in its simplest form.
Negative space can be as straightforward as using lines to create an image within other elements. It could be made more complex by utilizing messages or pictures in both the filled and negative space. Some of the most well-known uses of negative space logo designs include FedEx, with its hidden arrow, and the USA TV network logo, which uses the U and A to create the S shape. The Girl Scouts logo and the ABC peacock are also great examples of hidden images.
Why Negative?
Humans’ fascination with the unknown is undeniable. There have been numerous books and movies inspired by the concept of hidden realities and worlds that can’t be seen on a surface level. We are captivated by reading between the lines and finding secret meanings and details.
But this idea isn’t just for fantasy and science fiction movies. These ideas can also be brought to artistic endeavors and graphic design to add a touch of mysticism. In this way, negative space allows consumers to have an “aha!” moment as they discover the hidden aspects of a design and find unexpected details.
The Clever Use of Negative Space
Finding ways to use negative space is simply about considering both the seen and the unseen. This is commonly done by adding layers, inverting images or colors, creating pleasing symmetry, or using other such tools. To start experimenting with negative space, you may want to consider the shapes or colors of the design and play around with the way they can be used. You can also manipulate size and orientation to find images or messages within other embodiments, an exercise similar to trying to decipher pictures out of abstract clouds.
Cookie-Cutter Rule
Simplifying designs can often be the way to go when creating negative artistic space. Not only does this create a more transparent and more pronounced image, but it can also be the key to finding hidden design opportunities. To do this, you can think of your design like a freshly rolled sheet of cookie dough. When you press the cookie cutter into the dough, it creates both a shape within the blade, which will become the cookie, and a negative form, which has been left behind in the dough from the cutter’s imprint. These are both the same shape but, if you begin to overlap cuts or manipulate those shapes, they can become something new entirely. You can even use smaller cookie cutters to carve out designs within your cookies to create more negative and positive space.
Lurking from the Shadows
You can also create negative space by looking at the shadows of an image and leaning into its dark aspects. This is similar to the cookie-cutter example, as a shadow creates both an image inside (the shadow) and an outline outside (the light). These interactions of shadows and sunlight can be used to create artistic interpretations and elicit a psychological response. People usually think of black or dark colors and shades as unfavorable, while white and light images are considered good. In designing, you can either lean into these biases or twist them to defy expectations.
Don’t Forget to Personalize
Negative space, when used well, can be incredibly intricate and engaging for audiences. Some examples are even works of art. But, most importantly, they must be functional and work with the brand’s overall identity and messaging to be successful.
How to Use Negative Space to Create Great Logo Designs was last modified: October 30th, 2024 by Herbert Merrick
For a long time, real estate investing was the game of the rich. You needed to have a lot of capital to participate. The barriers to entry were simply too high for the average investor – but not anymore!
In the past, investing in real estate required a lot of capital, time, and effort. Publicly traded stocks, bonds, and mutual funds were the only viable investment option for the middle and lower classes. They could contribute to an IRA or a 401(K) with their employer and hope to have a nice retirement. But only accredited investors or those with a lot of capital could invest in the often more stable and lucrative private real estate market.
Then in 1960, real estate investment trusts (REITs) came on the scene. REITs pool together several real estate assets into a financial instrument that can be traded like a stock in a mutual fund. For these, you don’t have to be an accredited investor, and the barrier to entry is much lower because you can participate by buying just one share.
Crowdfunded Real Estate Investing
Today, technology is democratizing real estate even further. Starting in 2012, the JOBS Act allowed real estate syndications to adopt crowdfunding strategies. Crowdfunding is raising funds from a large number of people even if they can only make small contributions. This means real estate deals no longer need to be funded by one investor or a handful of accredited investors. Instead, many small investors can pool their resources together to fund a large real estate deal.
Crowdfunding changes the real estate investing landscape for both investors and syndicators. Now, you can organize a national or even international real estate syndication that both accredited and non-accredited investors can participate in. This means investors with different risk tolerances can benefit from greater diversification, dollar-cost averaging (CA), and better returns.
Ultimately, crowdfunding opens the real estate market doors to lay investors. Some real estate crowfunding platforms include Fundrise, DiversyFund, BuyProperly, Roofstock, and Bricksave. They allow you to start investing in properties and REITS online in no time, and some for as little as $1,000.
Tokenized Real Estate Investing
When most people think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. But blockchain is just the mechanism behind cryptocurrency. It’s a digital record-keeping technology that uses distributed ledgers in a shared network. And in 2017, entrepreneurs started seeing blockchain’s potential to streamline real estate investing transactions.
As with crowdfunding, blockchain technology can leverage fractional real estate ownership by creating tokens that represent shares in a real estate investment. It does this by turning real estate investment securities into what are called smart contracts. Smart contracts are a form of digital contract that don’t require an intermediary to verify them. They are executed automatically as soon as predetermined conditions and rules are met. This way, you can eliminate slow and costly middlemen like brokers and make transactions faster and more transparent.
Blockchain solves traditional real estate information and access bottlenecks. On the one hand, it democratizes information like rent roll, audits, compliance data, appraisals, and insurance binders. Everyone can see the information on the public ledger. On the other hand, it gives more investment opportunities to the average investor by lowering investment minimums and globalizing investment options. Overall, this leads to increased diversification, liquidity, and efficiency and turns a traditionally illiquid asset into a liquid one.
Of course, blockchain real estate investing is not without its challenges. Governments are still trying to figure out how to regulate it. Getting around the red tape of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also not easy. But it’s easier with private and consortium blockchains because they are tailored to specific use cases.
Though it still has a ways to go, tokenized real estate investing is already being tried by companies like RealT, Vave, BlokHaus Real Estate, and Lofty.ai. These and other platforms have a lot of potential to disrupt real estate investing as we know it.
Final Thoughts
Real estate investing is easier than ever. Time will tell how it looks 10, 20, 30 years from now. If you don’t have a lot of capital but you want to take advantage of this hot market, now is the time to explore the crowdfunding and tokenization options out there.
In the long run, you’ll benefit from increased diversification and high returns. It’s a win-win for the small investor.
How Technology is Making it Easier to Invest in Real Estate was last modified: March 21st, 2024 by Alex Sanders
Maybe you’ve been thinking about taking up cycling and renting a bike to try it out. That’s great! Cycling is a fantastic sport that offers many benefits that we outline below.
We think once you try cycling and enjoy the advantages, you’ll want to buy your own bike soon.
Enhances Mental Health
Many clinical studies find that people who are physically active every day feel about 30% better than those who are sedentary. But, ever feel that ‘high’ after a 60-mile bike ride or 10-mile run?
Exercise improves your mood by releasing a stream of endorphins and hormones into the bloodstream, making you feel fantastic. And the benefits last for hours after your workout.
Improves Immune System
Intense physical exercise has substantial benefits for your upper respiratory system – of particular importance during the COVID-19 era. You’re also less likely to get the common cold.
Some scientists maintain that you can reduce your sick time by up to 40% by biking or running most days of the week.
Even mild daily exercise can boost your immune system by activating white blood cells and making the body produce vital proteins.
Builds Muscle
Cycling involves lower-body resistance, so it doesn’t merely burn fat – it also builds muscle! As a result, bikers tend to have well-developed glutes, calves, and quads.
People who have higher muscle mass usually burn more calories even when they are at rest.
Eat More
Most of us enjoy eating and overindulging from time to time. However, you can add a few snacks to your day when you cycle regularly.
For example, if you bike 30 minutes to and from work every day, you may burn up to 500 extra calories.
So you can feel good about having a second helping of breakfast at your desk!
Enhanced Lung Health
This might be surprising, but people who cycle may be exposed less to toxic fumes than those who go by car.
One study in the United Kingdom found that cyclists and pedestrians in central London were exposed to less pollution than drivers.
Works Out The Core
Biking also gives your abdominals and back a great workout. Keeping your body upright requires you to have a higher level of core strength as the miles pass.
Having stronger abdominals and back muscles gives support to your spine and enhances stability.
Better Heart Health
Cycling is excellent for the cardiovascular system. A recent study spent 60 months studying 1,500 physically active people. Those who engaged in exercise every day were 30% less likely to have high blood pressure.
Another study suggests that doing a strenuous daily workout can reduce hypertension as much as prescription drugs.
Lower Cancer Risk
Keeping a healthy weight, daily exercise, and a nutritious diet will reduce your chances of getting various cancers.
Not only is biking fun, but it can also help you to ward off cancer, which is a big deal.
Low Impact
Cycling is easier on your body than running, so it’s a good choice for people who want an intense activity without pounding the joints.
Biking also is perfect for those who have more stiffness and joint problems.
Boost Self-Esteem
Biking and exercise generally can raise your self-esteem. For example, when you finish a challenging 50-mile ride and beat your previous time by three minutes, it makes you feel good.
And when you feel good after a workout, you’re highly likely to do it again.
The many benefits of cycling are apparent, so you’ll be sure to want to keep doing this fantastic sport for years in the future.
Why Should You Take Up Cycling? was last modified: May 1st, 2022 by Alex Sanders
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could automate your entire life and all of your landlord duties? That dream could become a reality in the not-so-distant future, but automating your life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
For example, you wouldn’t want an AI bot to write your rental listings. What if your properties have distinct features? A standard rental listing won’t do those properties justice.
Property managers from Los Angeles explain thatwriting a good rental listing description begins with a captivating title and includes brief, descriptive sentences. You won’t get captivating descriptions from AI.
You Can’t Automate Being a Great Landlord
Landlords can benefit from automation, but it’s critical to maintain a balance and not get distracted by technology. Much of being a good landlord relies on maintaining a personal touch in your tenant relationships.
When a tenant has an issue, like a leaky roof, they don’t want to leave a voicemail and have a robot schedule the repair. They want to talk to their landlord live, explain the problem in detail, and work out a convenient time for repairs.
Being a great landlord requires personal interactions with your tenants. If you automate all of your landlord duties, you’ll eliminate personal interaction. Without personal interaction, you can’t build strong rapport with your tenants. Without rapport, your tenants are less likely to treat your property with care and take their lease obligations seriously.
Why Landlords Favor Automation
Most property investors prioritize profits. Automation provides an opportunity to maximize profits by reducing time spent getting involved in minutia. For landlords focused on building wealth, automation is a blessing. However, it’s also a curse.
The more landlords rely on automation, the less personal interaction they have with their tenants.
Automation Is Good for Technical Landlord Tasks
Although automating your landlord duties is mostly a bad idea, you can automate your technical tasks. For example, it’s easy to use software to collect rent online and have tenants request repairs. This streamlines your duties. However, you still need to have some personal interaction to confirm appointments and discuss issues in-depth.
There’s nothing wrong with using automation to manage paperwork and other back-end tasks. For example, it makes sense to use automated invoicing software, apps to track your expenses, and apps to manage each property’s history of repairs.
Tenants want to feel heard, and that’s not something technology can offer. They don’t want to talk to a voicemail or send a text message to a robot when they have an issue. Tenants want tocommunicate with their landlord personally.
2. Being Compassionate
When a tenant needs an extra week to pay the rent, you can show compassion by having a personal conversation. Without that personal interaction, an automated rent collection system will penalize the tenant as if their circumstances don’t matter.
While no landlord wants excuses for late rent, sometimes tenants legitimately need a break. Being compassionate will help your tenant feel less anxious and stressed about being late with the rent.
3. Revisiting and Customizing the Lease
Compromise and leniency can go a long way with a tenant. When you have a tenant who wants to adjust the lease, that requires a personal conversation. As a human being, you can extend compassion and understanding by changing the lease terms when appropriate.
Automating this task wouldn’t be possible, since robots would lack the human connection and compassion needed to compromise.
4. Reviewing Reasonable Modification Requests
The only way to automate reasonable modification request approvals is to create a form that a tenant fills out that has definite yes/no answers for each question. You can’t factor open-ended questions into the formula to create an automated decision.
Since many reasonable modification requests require an in-depth look plus a possible supporting letter from a physician, this can’t be automated.
Avoid Becoming an Automated Landlord – Keep Your Personal Touch
Technology will make your job easier as a landlord, but keep your personal touch with your tenant relationships.
Save the tech for back-end tasks. Life will be better for both you and your tenants when you make yourself personally available.
Landlords: Don’t Let Technology Distract You from What’s Important was last modified: November 21st, 2021 by Alex Sanders
Google Chrome is one of, if not the, most widely used search engines in the world. Many of us use it every day, on both our desktop and our handheld devices, to answer queries and help us navigate the real world. With all that use, you’re inevitably going to have a few errors occasionally. Fortunately, these are often minor and easy to rectify.
Today we’re taking a look at the steps you should take when Google Chrome errors occur and detailing how you can troubleshoot them. This can help you figure out what is wrong and then make changes to solve any problems. For example, if you’re wondering why a site refuses to display itself, you’d want to find out what does err_connection_reset mean and then take steps with your anti-virus, firewall, or network settings to solve it.
1. Identify The Problem
You use Google Chrome every day, or close to it, so you should know when something goes wrong. The most obvious issue is where Chrome itself crashes, where one of four things will happen:
You’ll get the ‘Aw, Snap!’ error message.
You’ll get the ‘page unresponsive’ pop-up response.
You get a hanging tab, which is where the tab just never loads in.
Your entire Chrome device crashes or freezes.
The ‘Aw, Snap!’ messages can often be fixed by reloading but, if you’re here, you may need something more comprehensive like closing all webpages, re-establishing your Internet connection, and/or restarting your device. The ‘page unresponsive’ message is much more common. These are where web pages can’t be interacted with. It is advised that you right-click on the web pages and kill them, so you can then reload. Otherwise, restarting your device is advised.
2. Ask Troubleshooting Questions
The core of troubleshooting is all about asking questions. Here’s a selection of questions you should keep in mind when something goes wrong with your computer, along with some inferences that you can draw from the answers.
Is Your Chrome Updated?
First, you should ask yourself if Chrome is properly updated. This is because outdated Chrome windows are more prone to issues. Where your Chrome application is unsupported, there’s a much higher likelihood that extensions won’t work and you won’t be able to customize your browser that much.
Can You Reproduce The Problem?
Sometimes there are minor loading issues that go away when you tab out or reload the page. If you can open another browser and get the same issue, it’s probably not something wrong with Chrome and so you’ll need to divert your troubleshooting efforts elsewhere. It may also be an issue with a certain site, in which case you can contact them.
Can You Work Properly In Incognito Mode?
If you’re able to work in incognito mode, that suggests something is in your standard Chrome that is causing the problem. This is because incognito mode strips away all extensions and cookies, and empties the cache, and so maybe something in there is problematic.
In those cases, you should disable all extensions and test each one to see if it causes the same error. Likewise, clear Chrome’s cache and delete any cookies that are lingering on your PC.
3. Get Help
If you’ve asked the common troubleshooting questions but there aren’t any obvious answers, it may be time to get some help. Not every issue can be solved by opening and closing the window or restarting your device. Your issue may be a complex one that needs to be addressed by the folks at Google HQ. Fortunately, there are ways to get help.
Fortunately, there are troubleshooting logs you can gather and send off to the relevant people. If you’re having network issues, you need to get your network log files and export them in JSON format. To do that, just open chrome://net-export/ and then select your detail level. Log to disk, save the file, recreate the problem, then stop logging in to the net-export tab.
On Chrome browsers or devices, you’ll want to get the corresponding debug logs. For the browser, this is in the Properties section where you can alter the target: line to add in –enable-logging –v=1 and then launch the browser. You may also want to report a crash, which you may be prompted to do when that happens, but you can also manually go to chrome://crashes and find IDs related to your issues, which can then be used to file a bug report.
Steps On How To Troubleshoot Google Chrome Errors was last modified: September 8th, 2022 by Holly Hicks
E-commerce is steadily growing. This is primarily due to the usability of websites. By the end of 2022, global e-commerce sales are expected to exceed $6.5 trillion, which is $1.3 trillion more than in 2021.
Business people shaking hands in a meeting room
In order for businesses in this area to remain successful, they need to learn how to use various tools that help reduce the time and financial resources for monotonous processes and pay more attention to potential customers.
In this article, we will take a look at the best SaaS tools for small e-commerce businesses, and why your business needs them.
What Are SaaS Tools and How Do They Work?
SaaS tools are cloud-based software that allows you to connect to various applications over the Internet. Users do not have to deal with maintenance issues, the provider does. For e-commerce businesses, SaaS tools are also an opportunity to optimize one or more business functions.
Advantages:
Cost reduction. Businesses don’t need to buy and install their own infrastructure;
Availability. For proper work of SaaS tools, all you need is a computer and stable Internet connection;
Scalability. When a business, due to its growth, needs to increase the number of functions, you just need to connect a new package of services;
Regular updates. This process is carried out by the service provider, while the user is not required to do any work.
SaaS tools greatly simplify business processes by reducing the amount of manual work, making it more accurate, faster, and more efficient. And to help your e-commerce business grow and keep up with the times, we offer to consider the 5 best SaaS solutions.
A business should consider using an outbound call center to proactively reach out to potential customers, enhance lead generation, and establish personalized connections, ultimately driving sales and fostering customer loyalty.
The 5 Best SaaS Tools for Small E-commerce Businesses
In this list, we present popular SaaS tools in 5 areas: marketing, collaboration, sales, analytics, personalization, and optimization.
Google AdWords for Marketing
Google AdWords services is a contextual advertising service that helps businesses increase the number of visitors to their website and get more actions from their target audience through optimized advertising.
How does it work? In the personal Google AdWords account, users can set up ads for their audience in a few steps: defining a goal, choosing where to place ads, uploading promos, and setting a budget. The service also provides other tools related to analytics, statistics, and forecasts, which all help you implement your own digital strategies.
Pricing: the budget is set by the user. And they can pay in 3 ways: “result” (pay per click), “flexible” (you can adjust the budget or suspend the campaign at any time), “limited budget” (allows the user to configure the maximum amount of costs for a certain period).
Slack for Collaboration
This cloud-based software solution will simplify communication and teamwork. Thus, businesses will be able to streamline workspace, creating a separate channel for each task. Here you can also store project files, select participants to access them, and exchange messages in chats.
How does it work? You can control Slack via the app or your browser. By the way, some have noted that the app reveals more features than the browser version of the software. Once you choose one of the options, create an account and invite employees via a unique link.
Pricing: You can try Slack for free, and if you like it, order one of the packages: Pro ($6.67 per month), Business+ ($12.50 per month), Enterprise Grid (negotiable).
Aritic PinPoint is a full-stack marketing automation software platform for marketing operations teams at small and medium businesses. It helps you to build relationships with leads, automate marketing campaigns and convert leads to paying customers easily.
It has features such as landing page builder, SEO tracking, keywords tracking, lead scoring, lead tracking, lead nurturing, email campaign management, email campaign automation, push notification campaigns, marketing campaign builder, a/b testing, website tracking features with marketing assets management.
How to get started: Sign up, activate, Import your contact, Create a list or Segment, Create a form, Setup your tracking and connect your website, Create an email campaign broadcast to your segment, Build an automation flow, Design and enable conversation widget, lastly Create website popup or onsite widget and get started!
Pricing: Aritic Starting Price from $19/month for Lite, $99/month for Professional and
$149/month for Enterprise. You can sign up for a free trial and then move on to explore more with the Paid features of Aritic PinPoint.
Hubspot for Sales
To eliminate manual sales work, you need to take a look at Hubspot. The main features of the program are integrated CRM, email automation, lead and task tracking,social media management, customer surveys, advanced reporting, scheduling, making calls from your browser, optimizing advertising campaigns, and more.
How to get started? Sign up and activate your account, invite colleagues, integrate your shopping cart, synchronize data, set up popular workflows, and automate orders.
Pricing: to get started with Hubspot, you don’t need to buy a package right away, you can take advantage of the free offer. There are also 3 packages available in the paid version: Starter (from $45/month), Professional (from $360/month), and Enterprise (from $1,200/month).
Moz as an Analytics Tool
Such software will be useful for website analytics. Its main areas are portal auditing (the software scans the resource, identifying problems), keyword queries tracking, analysis of their effectiveness, backlinks analysis, keyword research for targeting, content quality analysis, and much more. This can also be assisted by a top-quality SEO consultant.
How to get started? By signing up for the Moz PRO package, businesses have the opportunity to try out the platform for 30 days. For this period, they get a full set of tools and expert assistance.
If you’re ready to sign a contract, there are 4 packages available: STANDARD ($99 per month), MEDIUM ($179 per month), LARGE ($249 per month), PREMIUM ($599 per month). Paying for any package one year in advance will cost 20% less.
How to get started? Before you buy the full package, the BloomReach team suggests contacting a manager to request a personalized demo of the app and calculate how relevant the platform will be for your business.
Pricing: BloomReach offers 3 packages to consider: Content, Discovery, Engagement. Pricing is not specified on the site, as the cost of each option depends on the number of business customers and the size of the product catalog.
MyOperator for Sales-Support Calls
Customer calls are one of the important aspects of a business. And in the digital marketing age, it may seem like calls being a traditional aspect of a business is not an important channel anymore. But that assumption could not be far from the truth. In the age of the internet and social media, people still prefer to pick up the phone and call for any help, especially for local businesses.
Due to the personal nature of calls, it’s vital to professionally and timely manage all your sales-support calls. MyOperator is a cloud-based call management service that has been providing a complete suite for business call management and is currently used by 7000+ brands in 60+ countries.
MyOperator provides solutions like toll-free numbers, virtual phone numbers, cloud-based call centers for sales support, outbound calling solutions, and all things you can think of for call management. Every plan comes with advanced business call management features like call recording, call tracking, agent performance reporting, call logs, IVR surveys, etc. To get started with MyOperator, you can get a free 3-day trial and plans start at USD 10 per month.
As a small ecommerce business, you want to make sure that all your time is accountable. Timely is an automatic time tracking software that leverages AI. It helps companies stay connected with their workforce and report accurately on their business – for payroll, project management, team management, and capacity planning.
By automating timesheet admin, Timely frees teams for the important work that matters and helps teams know exactly where their time is going, enabling them to create a winning and accurate weekly schedule. Offering strict user-level privacy by design, it’s a tracking tool that employees actually trust; and with intuitive controls and a colorful interface, it’s simple to use as well as to implement.
Conclusion
All of the tools presented will help optimize specific operations and make the business more profitable. Therefore, by investing in them, you will see positive achievements in your company’s working process.
Best SaaS Tools for Small Ecommerce Business was last modified: November 7th, 2023 by Edward Bishop
POS or Point Of Sale is a system that is used by people working in the retail industry and also in the restaurant business. This system helps business owners to track each sale they make and their overall cash flow, making it a huge time saver. It also allows restaurant owners to monitor their food inventory, which is fundamental. Many kinds of POS systems are made available and all of these systems try to give the best experience to their users. However, when it comes to making a choice, you might find yourself feeling overwhelmed. Do not worry at all, we are here to guide you with your selection process. Here are things you should look for when choosing a POS system for your restaurant.
User-Friendliness
The POS system will be used by your staff members, it is going to be the link between your waiters and chefs. That is why it is highly important that the interface is simple and easy to use for your employees. Managing a restaurant is hard enough on its own, do not make it harder on yourself by choosing a system that is difficult to navigate. You would not want to have delayed orders just because someone is unable to put the data correctly and things are over complicated for them.
A user-friendly system will save you the time you otherwise would have spent on training your staff and making sure every one of them understood how to use it. The last thing you want is a waiter standing in front of a customer puzzled in front of a machine or someone in the kitchen unable to know what order is next.
Choose One That Will Grow With You
When you embark on your business journey, your plans include expansion and having more branches, and growing your number of customers. Before deciding which system you will use, go over a list of restaurant computer systems and pick the one with the room for potential growth. Being able to modify your system to the current needs of your restaurant is important because when you expand your business, you will need something that provides you with the numbers you should know about your most successful dishes and the least favorite ones as well.
The system you choose should have a feature that allows you to add more terminals and connect them together. You might also want to consider one that supports multiple language options in case you would like to open a new branch of your restaurant in a different country.
One With Excellent Reviews
Any company that is looking to make a successful sale will only say what is good about their systems. No one is going to be straightforward about what their system is missing. It’s much better to talk to one of the customers who can provide feedback about the system you are considering. User experience is a reputable resource and will provide you with many insights. Ensure you ask users about the good and the bad about the system as well. The importance of getting both positive and negative feedback is because restaurants are different and what is good for you might not be the same for others and vice versa.
A System That Provides You With Data Quickly
No one has time to wait in front of the machine to get the data they want. Therefore, pick a system that retrieves the information efficiently and quickly. Imagine you are talking to a customer who is upset about a reservation or a to-go order and you keep them waiting beside the barista because your POS is taking longer to get the order or reservation data. This is the kind of situation that can make a restaurant lose a customer even if they like the food. The system will be used as well by waiters to take orders, again a task that does not allow for any delays or lagging.
The ability of a system to retrieve information quickly is a sign of professionalism and can get you out of many difficult situations. POS systems can also help you when it comes to payroll and calculating the number of hours your waiters have worked. Since you will depend on this system for many things that concern internal operations or customer service, it better does the job quickly.
Specialized For Restaurants
All businesses are hectic to run, but not all of them are run the same way. Opt for a system that is specifically designed for restaurants to ensure that it has all the options that will be of benefit to you. The fact that you and a grocery shop both sell food does not mean that both establishments do the same thing or can be served by the same system. Only a system made for a restaurant will enable you, for example, to make a certain coffee offer for your regular customers, or split the bill if there is a group of people eating and everyone will pay for their own meal. This will be beneficial for you and your customers as well and will impress your customers too, making their experience at your restaurant something they would like to have again. Additionally, incorporating a music streaming solution might be a helpful way to create the ideal playlist to go with the ambiance of the dining room. Whether it’s soothing background music or upbeat songs, the appropriate music selection can improve the atmosphere, and make dining more enjoyable.
Your business is like your child, you want what is the best for it and you always hope you live and see it grow and prosper. Back in the days when there was no technology, restaurant owners had to write everything down and go through tons of paperwork to get the information they needed. Thanks to technology, this job is made way easier now and can save you time and help you make more money and have more loyal customers.
When choosing a POS system using the latest technology will also make the job of your staff easier and that is one of the things that will make them want to continue working for you for years. No one wants to work in a job with a system that is difficult to use or where there is no system at all. Take your time before you decide upon a certain system, the time you invest in research is time well spent.
What You Should Look For in a Restaurant POS Systems was last modified: May 23rd, 2023 by Allen Brown
Being able to successfully run a business usually entails making sure you have everything in place so that everything is going smoothly and you’re making the most out of your time and resources. While this can be a lot easier said than done, it’s worth noting that there are many different kinds of software that can be helpful for a variety of hotels, whether they’re small or large hotels, independently or as part of a chain. In order to provide your guests with the best stay, it’s important for things to run as smoothly as possible, and there are ways in which having the right software can simplify your day-to-day hotel operations.
1. Streamlines Front Office Operations
While it can be said that a hotel is a small business, it offers and requires some things that are pretty unique. This is why it’s important to get software for the hotel industry specifically. The first thing you’ll probably want to look into is the property management system (POS). The benefit of having a system like this is that it can streamline your front office operations.
Your staff will be able to easily check out and keep track of who’s staying at the hotel, as well as how long they’re staying for and more. PMS is used by owners and front desk employees use to administer their operations by keeping track of reservations, online booking availability, payments, and reporting – all in one location. In other words, it can help employees with guest check-ins and check-outs, view room availability, make changes to existing reservations. Every hotel owner and manager knows how important it is to be aware of the average daily rate, occupancy, as well as revenue per available room, and PMS – software specifically designed for hotels, provides you with that.
2. Better Staff Collaboration
While managing a hotel can be complex, you also need to ensure that it’s done properly, which means your employees have to keep in touch and coordinate. Investing in a program that can sync your business contacts will help with staff collaboration by allowing them to communicate with each other more easily. At the same time, it will allow you to keep track of all your contacts on one platform, which means you won’t need to spend hours looking through emails or calendars.
Increasing staff productivity can only have positive effects on your business – both by providing a better guest experience and by increasing revenue. By being able to communicate clearly regardless of which shift, floor, or department someone’s from, the possibility of dropped tasks, mistakes, and misunderstandings goes down to a minimum. Knowing exactly how to contact someone from the team will make the job easier for any staff member, and by promoting collaboration among your employees, you’re also taking steps to ensure higher job satisfaction.
3. Faster Room Turnovers
Hotel room turnover rates have a direct influence on profits, and hotel housekeeping software is speeding up the process considerably, resulting in lower expenses and greater profits. When it comes to housekeeping, you’ll want to make sure that you’re doing everything possible so that rooms get cleaned faster, since rooms get cleaned before, during, and after a guests’ stay. By getting notified in real-time about the status of every room, you not only get to see if everyone’s doing what they should be, but your staff will also now have a tool that will help them know exactly where to be and at what time.
When there is no time wasted by checking if a room is empty, or whether it was already cleaned or not, the housekeeping process becomes much faster, more efficient, and guests don’t get disturbed. Additionally, this kind of housekeeping software will let you know what the average time of room turnover is in your hotel, as well as how long does it take for individual employees to do it in different rooms. That will in turn make it easier for you to see where there’s room for improvement.
4. Improved Guest Experience
A hotel is only as good as its guest experience, and as such, you need to make sure that your hotel runs smoothly at all times. With the right software, you’ll be able to improve this aspect significantly by making it easier for your employees to cater to guests’ needs and requests. More than that, having this kind of program allows you to get direct feedback from guests. By gathering and analyzing the feedback you receive, you can use it to further improve the guest experience. Knowing what your guests want is important because it will help you understand their needs better, and the only way to do that is by having a tool that can gather real-time feedback. By knowing what kind of service they expect, you’ll also be able to provide them with exactly that – and more.
However, it’s always recommended to first perfect the services you already provide. If a single person doesn’t like something at your hotel, it doesn’t really have to mean anything. On the other hand, if there are multiple people that have a similar complaint, that’s a different story. It means that you have a problem with the service you provide, and it’s time to adjust it accordingly. By constantly working on bettering your services, you are making sure that the guests love spending time at your hotel, and are much more likely to recommend it to other friends, which means more business for you!
5. Tracking Inventory
One of the most important things when running a hotel is always tracking your inventory – from guest rooms to towels and sheets, to food storage in your kitchen. If you’re not tracking your inventory, then you simply don’t know what’s going on with the materials and goods that are essential for running a hotel. Are there enough soaps and shampoo bottles in each room? Are you short of towels? How much food do we have left, and when we should order more? Luckily, hotel owner software packages include features that allow you to easily monitor the amount, quality, and flow of goods that come into and flow out of your hotel. Inventory management is extremely important for any business, but when it comes to a hotel, it’s crucial to know when certain items might run out because they need to be replaced at specific times.
The right hotel management software can help you solve a lot of problems without putting too much effort on your shoulders. With a good piece of software, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that everything in your hotel is running smoothly at all times. As long as there are enough people making sure that nothing is missed, this kind of software can streamline your operations and help you give excellent guest service. All in all, managing a hotel is much more simple when you have the right tools to do it with.
How Having the Right Software Can Simplify Your Day-to-Day Hotel Operations was last modified: February 16th, 2024 by Francis Brown
Businesses stand to win from their use of RSS feed readers in their day-to-day work especially when it comes to the realm of digital marketing and research. RSS feed readers have been on an upswing in popularity and are quite the overall powerhouse tools. We’ll discuss this in detail in a minute. But first…
What is RSS?
In case you need a refresher, RSS is the abbreviation of Real Simple Syndication. It’s a technology that makes it easy for users to receive and follow content from many sites in a single application – that’s the RSS feed reader. You use the RSS feed reader to subscribe to a site via an RSS feed.
As soon as there’s a new article published, the RSS feed updates, and when the feed reader crawls the feed pulls the article and loads it. The RSS feed is a simple XML file, which displays the most important information about the posts – title, URL, timestamp, author, and a short summary or an excerpt.
Traditionally, RSS only showed the title and a little bit of text. Once you click on the headline, you’d be directed to the site. RSS readers today display articles in full length and with embedded multimedia files.
Can Businesses Use It?
Absolutely.
RSS feed readers have made the jump into the land of productivity and are excellent for a variety of tasks, ranging from improving your value proposition via social listening to brand monitoring. The applications are varied and the best part is that there are so many options on the market.
You’re bound to find an RSS reader to match your taste and pay relatively little for its features, which is not something you can say for the big tools that promise you the same results. All you need is a bit of ingenuity.
How RSS Feeds Can Benefit Your Business
Identify Blog Topics
Let’s start with something RSS feed readers are known for – handling massive amounts of content and information. As long as it’s written or recorded somewhere, an RSS feed reader will probably be able to read it. That’s quite useful when you need to perform research on what customers would find useful and resonate with, and what current hot topics in your industry are.
RSS readers today are great at recommending content. The Old Reader does so socially through what your friends are reading and liking, and user-generated trending page for articles that have caught the attention of everyone on the reader. Feedly and Inoreader have their own designated areas for content discovery, where you can perform all kinds of searches and dig into topics.
Maybe you’ve stumbled on a great new site that can act as an inspiration. Through Inoreader’s fast Chrome extension, you can identify whether the site has an RSS feed and then subscribe to it with one click.
Get To Know Your Customers
Once you start monitoring your industry for trends, it’s easy to make the transition into monitoring branded words – these would be your brand name, slogan, products, and services. People are talking about your brand, whether you’re tagged in the conversations or not. RSS feed readers make it so easy to tune into conversations and gain valuable insight.
What are the main drawbacks to what you do? What are you being praised for? What do customers also want to see in a product or service from you? What are their concerns about the type of product you sell? All these questions come in handy when you’re workshopping new products or looking to update existing offerings.
Collaborate Better in a Team
At their most basic levels, RSS readers are meant for individual, casual use, but once you get into the higher-priced subscriptions you unlock a lot of team features for collaborative work. Inoreader has an excellent team feature to assist units in organizing their research together.
It’s a trend you’ll see all around major RSS readers. Feedly also has team boards, where you can directly tag team members and then convert the curated content into newsletters. Feeder is another good example of how you can make groups together.
Save Time and Money
In the long run, pro accounts are a smart investment, because you’re able to add a small degree of automation to some menial, repetitive task. It’s distracting and time-consuming to have to open a lot of tabs and refresh websites to check for new articles.
Plus, current readers have nice little tricks. Like sharing articles to social media without leaving your dashboard. Integrate your reader with IFTTT and Zapier and see how you can create chains of triggers and commands to automate your process further. Or command your whole army of apps by getting Netvibes, which is one of the most powerful RSS readers out there.
Understand Your Niche Better
All that research into potential blog content makes it easier to understand where your industry is heading and what’s the status quo at the moment. That’s incredibly valuable in terms of what you want your digital media strategy to be. What are you targeting? What are the keywords you want to focus on for your SEO?
But also you’re seeing trends form, which opens up opportunities for you to better target your ideal customer and give directions for new product development.
Keep Track of Your Competitors
We wrap up with the old faithful – competitor analysis. I’m sure you’ve all heard about keeping your enemies closer. In business, this has never been truer. Following your competitors gives you several advantages:
· Knowing their release schedule and campaigns so that you can schedule around them.
· Adapting what they’re doing right to your brand in order to cater to your shared audience in the hopes of attracting some of their less enthusiastic customers.
· Learning from their past mistakes. Sooner or later every business makes a public mistake, and it’s very useful information on what to avoid in your digital messaging from here on out.
Why Do Businesses Need to Use RSS Feed Readers? was last modified: November 12th, 2021 by Lokesh Jaral
Looking for ways to record mobile phone calls for your enterprise but don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place.
Today, we have various different options to record mobile phone calls, and here we’ll look at all the details you might need to know before investing in a mobile recorder solution.
Let us begin, however, by discussing the concept of recording mobile phone calls, its benefits, and whether it’s the right investment for your business.
Mobile Phone Recording: Use Cases
Why do you need to record mobile phone calls in the first place?
In general, there are four main reasons for a business to record phone calls:
To ensure that your business is in compliance with legal regulations
To record evidence of customer transactions/deals
Investigate the quality of phone calls (i.e. for evaluating employees and for training new employees)
To check for unauthorized practices
With that being said, recording mobile phone calls can provide the following benefits for your business:
Can potentially protect your business when you are sued by customers or other legal disputes
Better control over the quality of service on your phone calls
Comprehensive records of transactions made over phone calls and communication records
However, there are also some key concerns you should have before implementing mobile recording for your business:
Legal requirements in your area, which might vary between states and countries
How audio files are going to be stored to maintain data security and accessibility
How your employees are going to react when their calls are being monitored
Is It Legal To Record Mobile Phone Calls?
Is it legal to record mobile phone calls? For some industries, recording calls might be legally required, but it’s very important to ensure that all phone calls, mobile or otherwise, must be recorded in compliance with the legal requirements according to the location of both parties (your business and your caller).
As you embrace mobile phone recording technology for your business, it’s also crucial to establish your business legally. If you’re based in Georgia and ready to register your business entity, you can learn the steps to apply for an LLC in Georgia. Securing your LLC in Georgia is a big step towards ensuring your business’s compliance and success.
Call recording and monitoring laws vary among states and countries, and we should also take into account the possibility of our callers being located in different countries or states during the phone call.
In general, it is both legal and ethical to record mobile phone calls as long as there’s consent, so you should always inform the customer that the call is being recorded. However, mobile phone call recording laws can be divided into two different types based on consent:
States that Allow One-Party Consent
Most (38) states in the U.S. require the full consent of only one party on the call. Meaning, your business can technically record the conversation without the consent of the other party, if the other party is also in states with one-party consent recording laws.
However, if your enterprise mainly operates in a one-party consent state, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can freely record all calls without consent. You might still be required to follow the relevant state laws, and again, you’ll need to take into consideration whether the other party is located in a state with all-party consent laws.
Here are the 38 states with one-party consent recording laws:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Delaware
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
States Requiring Two-Party/All-Party Consent
Twelve states, on the other hand, require the knowledge and consent of all parties involved before the call can be legally recorded.
California
Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Washington
Also, some states do allow “implied consent”. Meaning, as long as you’ve informed the other party that you are going to record the call, if this other party continues to participate in the conversation, it can be treated as implied consent.
Again, it’s best to always ask for consent before recording any mobile phone call. This way, you don’t need to worry whether the other party is in a one-party or all-party state. Remember that failure to follow and understand the recording laws in your area can result in expensive fines and penalties, not to mention damages to your reputation.
Choose The Right Mobile Phone Recorder Solution
There’s always the possibility of building your own mobile recording solution from scratch, but in most cases, you’d want to rely on a third-party service.
With that being said, when choosing a third-party mobile phone recorder solution, you should consider three main factors:
Reliability: how reliable is the service in recording mobile phone calls (i.e. audio quality, low error rate, etc.)
Data security: whether the solution has implemented security best practices like end-to-end encryption for data at rest and in transit. Very important if you are in a highly regulated industry and/or frequently dealing with sensitive and confidential data
Features: based on your objective(s) in performing mobile recording, whether the solution can provide the features you’ll need.
Especially if you are in a heavily regulated industry, it’s very important to choose the right solution that is compliant with the legal requirements and state laws that might apply to your business.
If you are in the financial industry, for example, a mobile call recording solution like Truphone for Finance can provide the required experience and features in the complex industry. With Truphone, you also don’t need to worry about storage, since included in the package is access to Truphone’s secure global cloud, although you can also opt to deliver the recording files to another storage infrastructure.
Closing Thoughts
While all companies can certainly benefit from business mobile phone recording, it’s also important to pay attention to local regulations that might apply to your business before investing in a mobile recorder solution.
To really unlock the full benefits of recording mobile phone calls, you’ll need a legally compliant solution that can also meet your needs, and secure cloud storage and backup solution to keep your audio files safe.
A Comprehensive Guide to Mobile Phone Recording was last modified: September 14th, 2023 by Mike Khorev
We live in a world that is full of opportunity, and that remains especially true if you happen to have access to technology. While we can see that digital marketing and everything that comes with it is evolving over time, it feels like there is one thing that gets left out all too often. If you’ve never heard of the term “Growth Hacking”, this article is just for you.
Most people don’t understand what growth hacking is all about, and many of you will claim that it’s merely a buzzword. I used to think the same thing, as I thought it was just another phrase that tech-geeks murmured to each other to seem special. Now that I know growth hacking is real and how effective it can be, I’m just sad that I didn’t get into things sooner.
There’s a difference between digital marketing and using everything at your disposal to grow a company. Some people are content with setting up a few YouTube ads and seeing what happens, but others are genuinely addicted to growing companies.
Is Growth Hacking Just Another Hoax?
We’ve all been through a phase in life where we feel like everything sucks and it’s all fake, which is true for most things in the world. Growth hacking, thankfully, doesn’t fall under that category, and you would know that first-hand if you’ve ever read into it yourself. It’s a concept that seems complicated, but it’s generally quite simple. Your sole purpose in the business world is to grow your company, regardless of what you’re doing.
Every step you make, and every technique being used is done so with growth in mind. The best part about all of this? It makes you a much more flexible person. You aren’t going to be stuck with one industry for your entire entrepreneurial career, and instead, will be able to dabble in a bunch of other things. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
Why Are There So Many “Gurus”?
Like anything else in life, where there is money to be made, there are bound to be fakes. There are genuine gurus like Roy Abou Trabi, and then there are plenty of fraudulent ones to avoid entirely. It’s tough to figure out which ones are just trying to sell you a poorly written eBook, and which ones are genuinely trying to help you grow your business, but there are some tricks you can use.
Read up on reviews that other people have written about their course or eBook, and see how valuable the information they’re giving out truly is. The fact that there are so many gurus alone is a red flag, but it’s quite easy to sniff out the ones that are just going to waste both your money and time.
How Do I Know Who To Trust?
I’m glad you asked! As somebody who has consumed a large number of useless eBooks in his time, I would say that you can tell whether it’s worth it almost right away. There are times where my “scam alert” was ringing like crazy, and I still decided to go ahead with the purchase anyway. It’s a gut feeling at times, and there are other times when a poorly designed website or bad reviews will be the giveaway.
Whatever the case may be, know your worth and understand that you’re giving these “gurus” your time. Not only that, but you’ll be giving them a reasonable amount of money as well, so it’s crucial to be sure that it was well spent.
Growth Hacking vs. Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is when you’re facing off against other companies head-on, fighting to see who can retain more customers. It’s a war at times, and there are budget limits, unreasonable targets, and plenty of other resource issues that can make it tough to master.
Growth Hacking
Being a complete addict when it comes to growth and worrying about much more than just the traditional means of digital marketing. You aren’t competing with anyone because you’re too busy competing with yourself.
Which One is Better?
Every successful company will have a CEO that considers themselves a growth hacker, but also have a department that handles the traditional digital marketing path as well. You cannot ignore digital marketing entirely, but you cannot use it to replace the growth hacking mentality either.
The best way to approach growing your business is with a mixture of the two, giving you the flexibility needed to grow your business regardless of what the future holds for us. Many of you reading this will have an opinion one way or the other, but can’t we all just get along for one article?
Grow Your Business with Peace of Mind
You won’t ever have to worry about whether you’re doing “enough” to build a successful brand when you’ve adapted to the growth hacking approach. If you’re not willing to adapt and change your marketing with the times, you’re only going to be limiting your potential.
It’s easy to confuse digital marketing with growth hacking and vice versa, which is probably why the industry is so saturated these days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t decipher things for yourself and benefit from it.
If you are always willing to change and do whatever it takes to grow, be happy! You’re already well on your way to become a certified growth hacker.
What is Growth Hacking (And Why You Should Be Doing It) was last modified: November 7th, 2021 by Haya Elkeshawy
Being your own boss has its perks, even in the medical world. Many doctors who work at hospitals dream of having their own practice. Although having your own private medical practice can be very exciting, it can have its challenges as well. You are a doctor whose main concern is to help people and make them feel better but running a private practice requires more than that. It is a business, at the end of the day, and you need to take care of this side of the practice just like you take care of your patients. If you don’t, you will end up losing money and maybe even your business. However, there are ways that can help you with running your independent practice and also stay on top, so read on.
Hire an Accountant
Any business’s goal is to make money, and if you hope to remain that way then you should hire an accountant or a financial planner to help you manage your money. Sometimes businessmen make huge financial decisions without considering their budget and they end up losing money and getting into financial trouble. Having a financial planner will give you an idea of your financial situation so you can set realistic goals accordingly. They will also help you manage your investments and keep you on track with your budget and financial goals.
Hire a Billing Service
Normally, as a doctor, you only want to focus on the medicine side of your private practice. While helping sick people is a noble cause, there are other aspects of the business that you must consider as well. You need to hire a billing service who can take care of the things that you don’t care about so you can focus on your work. A billing service will take care of the paperwork, negotiate contracts, and help you boost your ROI. If you don’t want to deal with these things on-site, you can always hire a third party medical billing that will help you handle all aspects of your practice without crowding you.
Make sure to hire a company that has the experience to handle a business like yours. You don’t need people who are still learning that will come to you with questions rather than solutions. Hire a place that you can trust to help you grow and stand out in a competitive market. Be sure to read about autonomous medical coding and how it can benefit your practice. Not only will it save you time and money, but it can also prevent coding errors and ultimately improve patient satisfaction.
This is particularly important when dealing with sensitive areas such as substance abuse, where accurate coding and billing practices can significantly impact reimbursement rates and patient care. By utilizing a professional substance abuse billing service, you can mitigate these challenges and enhance the overall efficiency of your practice. Plus, by outsourcing this aspect of your business, you can focus on providing the best possible treatment for your patients.
Hire a Medical Attorney
It is important for any private medical practice to seek the help of a medical attorney. An attorney can help with negotiations with the insurance company to get you better rates. They can also handle any legal troubles that you may face in cases of malpractice and represent you in court. Additionally, they will keep you updated with healthcare regulations to help you avoid any complications.
If you want to keep your medical practice on top then you need to hire a team to help you run things smoothly. You need to be so focused on helping people and paperwork or legal troubles can be a distraction. Hiring a team that you trust will save you the headache of dealing with things that are out of your depth and protect your practice from financial or legal troubles.
Helpful Advice for Independent Medical Practices: How to Stay on Top was last modified: July 30th, 2024 by Allen Brown
When you intend to purchase waterproof headphones, you need to consider a specific criterion to ensure that you get the best bargain available. I hope this guide will help you get the most out of the value for money on your new headphones for swimming. The criteria should cover the following points:
Use
The Quality of Sound
Protection Certificate
Capacity
Battery
Design
Usage
Rationally speaking, the very first thing to consider is what use you will give your waterproof headphones and in what setting you will use them. You won’t need the same type of device to swim for hours in a pool as for a relaxing half-hour session in the sauna after a long day at work.If you need to use them for surfing, you should opt for a model that offers maximum resistance, given the large number of impacts that can take place during such an activity.If you want to listen to music while you shower, you might be better off opting for wireless ones for added comfort.
Sound Quality
You need to pay attention to three technical parameters in this regard:
The impedance measured in ohms
The sensitivity in decibels
The frequency range in Hertz
Impedance values between 16 and 60 ohms are fine; in any case, the lower, the better, as this way, the waterproof headphones will offer less resistance to the power delivery.
In terms of sensitivity, the higher, the better, as less power will be necessary for the waterproof headphones to sound loud enough. Also, it is desirable that the frequency range is as close as possible to values between 18 or 20 Hz, which is the range of frequencies that the human ear can hear.
Protection Level
The protection level against water offered by waterproof headphones is another crucial aspect. In relation to this, it is also important that you take into account the use;for instance, if you want them for swimming, you will need an IPX8 protection level. To use waterproof headphones in the shower, IPX7 will be good enough.
Capacity
Most waterproof headphones have their own built-in player. In that case, you shouldn’t overlook the storage capacity. Most of them have an internal memory of between 2 GB and 8 GB.Of course, the higher the capacity of the headphones, the more music you can store. To give you an idea, the capacity of 4GB can store about 1,000 songs.
Battery
Regarding the battery, the time required to charge and the duration of charging are considered the most. Some waterproof headphones have the possibility of fast charging, i.e., with just a few minutes of recharging, you can enjoy music for half an hour or even more.
Design and Material
To be honest, your main concern should be functionality beyond, and the aesthetics should come later. If your waterproof headphones don’t have a good grip, they will be slipping, which will irritate you more than you can enjoy your music. People have different ear canals. So, you must check if they will fit in your ears easily. As for the material, it is usually plastic.
If you find these tips useful in the process of your waterproof headphone selection, please leave us your valuable comments and also share this post on your social network accounts.
What Criteria Should You Follow to Buy Waterproof Headphones? was last modified: October 30th, 2021 by Syed Saqib
In today’s fast-paced world, road accidents are a common occurrence and can’t be ignored by both drivers and pedestrians. For drivers, it is important to understand that they have a huge responsibility while driving to protect themselves, the fellow vehicles in both lanes, and the pedestrians walking on the sides. This brief guide will help you get a grip on some road safety tips to ensure the protection of all parties involved.
Causes of Road Accidents
● Insufficient Driver Knowledge
The most common cause of the majority of road accidents is the lack of basic driving knowledge that the drivers should have. The most common reason is that every driver, despite their experience, believes that they have sufficient knowledge and do not require to go back to the rule books for gaining knowledge.
However, it’s important to note that taking practice tests on this G1 test site can help even experienced drivers identify areas where they may need to brush up on their knowledge.
● Unsafe Road Environments
Unsafe road environments include potholes and unnecessary obstacles that can startle a driver. These are considered to be the second-most common cause of road accidents. Always keep an emergency equipment pack with you.
Important Safety Tips and Advice to Follow
● Exercise Patience
When you’re on the road, patience is one of the major factors that is required to be exercised by a driver and one of the first things a good instructor will talk about with a learner driver preparing to take their driving test. A patient driver understands the complications of being irresponsible and immature on the road. This ensures decorum in the traffic and avoids the triggering of accidents.
● Obey Speed Limits
Drivers should realize that speed limits exist for a valid reason. Many drivers are often found disregarding the speed barriers and driving way over the recommended speed limits. Although this might not lead to an accident in many cases, if we consider an exceptional situation where you have a drunk truck driver as your fellow vehicle in the same lane, overspeeding might excite the drunk driver and ignite the fire to speed up. Due to the extra level of intoxication, the driver won’t be able to control their emotions and will speed up the vehicle involuntarily.
This is why it is recommended always to obey the speed limits to avoid hyping others to match your pace and cause an unwanted accident. If you ever find yourself involved in an accident with a truck, consulting a Sacramento Truck Accident Lawyer can greatly help in navigating the complexities of such cases and securing the necessary legal support. This state also has strict laws against drunk driving, so seeking legal help to hold the responsible party accountable is crucial.
● Stay Alert
Staying alert while driving is essential. Irrespective of the time of day, unexpected turns or stoppages from the vehicle ahead of you can startle you and make you lose focus. For this reason, it is recommended to stay on your toes when you’re driving and channel your focus on the traffic. This will require you to avoid all kinds of distractions such as excessive talking with the people in the backseats or using your phone while driving.
Consequences of Road Accidents
● Physical Impact
The physical impact of a road accident includes different types and levels of cuts and burns. Furthermore, if the severity of the accident is intense then the impact can lead to different types of fractures and tissue damages too.
● Emotional Impact
On the emotional front, accidents can have a massive impact on our mental health. Since an accident catches the victim off-guard, it can trigger an unusual trauma that can be difficult to handle at the time of the incident.
However, with time and effective therapy, you can recover from its effects and continue your routine. You should also be aware of legal steps in drunk driving cases, as they have an emotional impact on victims as well as the accused.
Road accidents are impossible to avoid. Irrespective of the intensity, these happen regularly worldwide. This is why drivers across the world are advised to follow the most common road safety rules that will help them avoid any unwanted accidents from happening. Since these accidents are mostly triggered by individual mistakes, it is every individual’s responsibility to care for both our and others’ safety.
Road Safety Tips and Advice: What Not to Do was last modified: July 29th, 2024 by Allen Brown
