Category Archives: Small Business Solutions

5 Things To Consider Before Hiring A Credit Repair Company

Posted on by Pete Brown
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Are you planning to secure a loan or to buy your first home? When you are planning to do these things, your credit score is an important factor. Even when you are investing or saving up, your credit score is directly affected.  

A good credit standing is your ticket to getting that big plan into a reality. Poor credit standing won’t allow you to qualify for a credit card application or a mortgage application. Your credit score directly affects your financial security. So, if you are having a hard time making your credit standing look good, you may opt to hire a credit repair company. Rebuilding your credit score takes time and a lot of theoretical knowledge, which can drain you out or gets you burnt out. You would not want to go through all the stress in trying to level up your financial standing. 

A credit repair company will take care of your financial standing so you can have more time in other areas that you would like to work on. Also, you can save time and money since rebuilding your credit score is a long process that involves dealing with difficult people. In addition to that, there are tons of credit repair companies out there. So, what are the things to consider before hiring a credit repair company?

Here are some things to consider before hiring a credit repair company:

1. Experience and Track Record

It is crucial that you choose the right credit repair company for your needs. There are many credit repair options to choose from, you just have to select the best. Look into their years of experience and how well they performed over the years. You would want to make sure that the company you chose is well-established. A well-established credit repair company knows the ins and outs of rebuilding your credit score. You might want to consider also reading their customer reviews and testimonials. You need to choose a top-notched credit repair company with seamless customer service.

2. Turn Around Time on Deliverables

It is also vital that you check in with a credit repair company that would serve you in the quickest possible time. Some companies would deliver for about a month or weeks; some also can guarantee you to deliver fast results. You can inquire about the delivery time, so you can check if it fits with your need and how urgent your need is.

3. How Much is the Fee?

Some credit repair companies offer a “pay per delete” one-time payment which involves the removal of negative items on your existing individual credit report. Your credit score shows how reliable you are as a borrower. Removing late payments and other negative items will help your credit standing. On the other hand, some companies charge monthly for their services. These two (2) options have their own pros and cons, so it is important to choose which is best suited to your needs and think of how it will affect you in the long run. A good company wouldn’t force you to pay for something upfront unless they have delivered their services to you.

4. How About the Legalities?

You wouldn’t want to be scammed right? It is best also to check if the credit repair company that you plan to hire is fully operating under the Federal and state laws. Also, a reputable credit repair company adheres to licensing and bonding requirements, which vary from one state to another. This is to protect you from any misconduct during the engagement. A legitimate credit repair company will provide you a written contract stating your legal rights and the services they provide. Legit companies do not hide anything from customers. 

5. Don’t Forget the References

You can request references from your preferred credit repair company to check how competent and reliable they are. These references consist of customers that they have worked with, in the past. It will enable you to clearly see how well they performed and serve their customers. If a credit repair company refuses to do so, you may refer to a legal counsel who can vouch for the company’s legitimacy. 

As a customer, you should be extra-cautious when choosing and working with a credit repair company. Since there are many credit repair companies, you should be able to differentiate a legitimate one from fraud or scam. You should see to it that the credit repair company you chose supports and will address your current financial situation. Since there is no one size fits all, your friend’s credit repair specialist may not work for you, so choose what is best suited for you. In addition to that, you need to consider its reliability as to how true they are in terms of delivering results. A good credit repair company does not lie in the results they can offer. 

4 Furniture Pieces for Your Small Business Office

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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Every business needs proper furnishing. Even though we’re living in the age of coronavirus, some offices are still functional, and some people need to go into the office every once in a while. If you’re about to start a business, it is high time you begin shopping for office furniture. Of course, there are a few considerations that you should bear in mind before doing that, like the quality of the furniture, durability, and the price. You should also consider the cosmetic effect it will have on your space and whether or not it can be integrated into your décor. The last thing you must consider is usage. 

Here are 4 furniture pieces you can start with.

1. Communal Work Desk

It doesn’t matter what type of office you’re going to run, as all offices must contain a communal workspace. Communal workspaces are basically where employees do all their brainstorming. It is also where customers and clients are brought to for meetings. Staff meetings also require a specific kind of space, so a good communal desk in a spacious room is all you’re going to need. You might also need more space, larger disks, and tables as your business grows. This is why you need to consider dedicating more space in your office for meetings and make sure that you’re purchasing sturdy, durable desks.

If you’re running one of those businesses that have decided to omit the usage of individual work desks and start working collaboratively, your need for communal work desks will increase even more. While you’re at it, be sure to check shared work desk ideas on the internet to get ideas on the best decorative options that will suit your office décor.

2. Ergonomic Chairs & Furniture

You might think that office chairs are the least of your worries, as you can find office chairs of all shapes and sizes anywhere, but it’s advisable that you carefully consider what type of chairs you purchase for your office. Since you’re going to be spending most of your time sitting on one of these chairs, you’ll need to make them as comfortable as possible.

Businesses from all around Lion City are always looking for a furniture shop in Singapore that caters to office furniture needs. You need to do your research before you make any purchase, especially when it comes to something as important and long-term as an office chair.

You might already have some memories of previous office chairs, which were constantly causing you back, shoulder, and neck pains. This is why you must invest in ergonomic chairs, which have proven to increase employee productivity. Ergonomic chairs are adjustable, which will maximize the user’s comfort and, therefore, allow them to work for an extended amount of time without having to worry about shoulder or backaches.

You might also want to consider getting a new set of ergonomic furniture. This can be useful, especially for those who haven’t furnished their office yet. Ergonomic pieces of furniture can work best if combined, so make sure that you get adjustable desks, keyboard and mouse supports, and monitor arms to increase comfort and productivity. The more ergonomic pieces you have in your office, the more productive your team members will be.

3. Office Cubicles

Cubicles have quite a reputation among employees. They’re notorious for not preserving employees’ privacy, but let’s face it, today’s modular office cubicles aren’t those cramped grey cubes that were once used in offices. They can be quite comfortable, flexible, and adaptable if you choose the right ones for your work environment. Modular cubicles are easy to repurpose, depending on your needs and those of your employees. You can also organize cubicles however you want according to the space you have available in your office. You can either section them into smaller groups or arrange them into small clusters for large collaborative teams. Modular office cubicles will make use of every inch of your office to ensure that you won’t need any extra space. They also encourage a collaborative work environment, which can be useful for businesses that have frequent cross-department relationships.

4. Storage Furniture

There are hundreds of businesses now that are opting for paperless options instead of the endless amount of file cabinets that consume a lot of space in your office. While going paperless is crucial in terms of saving time, money, and space, you might still need storage space for the documents which you required by the law to have a paper-based form of, like invoices for example. Luckily, you can get storage spaces and keep them hidden away (under the desk for instance), as this will help save more space.

Getting these pieces of excellent furniture is going to help you to a great extent in the long run. However, you must be sure that all the pieces of furniture you get are all well integrated into your office decor. Otherwise, they would stand out like a sore thumb. You should also make sure that the furniture pieces you choose are functional and that they’re not just there to make a decorative effect.

High-Tech Solutions Every Architecture Firm Will Benefit From

Posted on by Pete Brown
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Modern tools provided through digital solutions have become more prevalent and popular. These include machine learning and artificial intelligence to work with fabrication technologies and Big Data. Its impact on our daily lives has captured the interest of various firms regardless of size and scope. The digital aspect of construction is being utilized in every infrastructure and communications technology.

Here are some useful high-tech solutions used by every architecture firm:

Modernization of Prefabrication

From 3D printed models to precision-made construction materials, digital fabrication has made some headway in the architectural industry to create precision products and prototypes at an improved pace along with the versatility to accommodate changes. And it is through the high technological innovations such as precise laser engraving and CNC cutting that has become possible to realize even the most sophisticated design ideas.

Because it’s driven by sophisticated software solutions, it is now relatively easy to create high-quality designs using various materials, which could have been tedious and costly if done manually. Companies are often embracing copper cutting with lasers because of the unique and aesthetically appealing finish they can achieve from this process. Plus, it can be used for various applications such as signage, interior design elements, and architectural details.

When coupled with advanced virtual reality design models, prefabrication has evolved in its quality and precision. This reduces the variability of the project and allows for better control of resources. The modern technologies that are available off-site have compensated for the shortage of skilled workers on-site. Production plants also have a controlled environment specifically configured to optimize the manufacturing and assembly of the required components. This allows for better checks and reviews to improve quality control as well as maintain the safety of all the workers involved. 

Modern production control methods use RFID tracking to control supply chains of prefabricated materials. With tracking devices attached to every component, it makes it easy for them to streamline the process and effectively coordinate with other processes. Modern designers can benefit from this technology in reducing waste regardless if it’s a housing project or a major infrastructure endeavor.

Sustainable Technologies

Today, going green is the only way to be a responsible member of the architectural industry. Using sustainable methods means reducing your negative impact on the environment from the building perspective. But how does it benefit a firm? On the business side, with the widespread awareness of climate change, consumers have begun to tag and criticize irresponsible business practices while praising and endorsing those who are mindful of the environment. 

Designers consider different aspects of the structure and its surroundings as well as its process to come up with a sustainable strategy. Some of the things taken into account include:

Active and Passive Sustainable Designs

Architects and engineers use efficient electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and other systems to reduce the project’s environmental footprint. Passive methods make use of the surroundings like climate and sun orientation when considering window placements and how to manage sunlight and natural ventilation. This reduces the need for electricity for the HVAC and lighting. In certain places, they use thermal mass techniques which use solar energy by incorporating thick walls to absorb heat during the day to provide heating during the night.

Renewable Energy Systems

The use of solar energy has recently become more popular because of the advancement in producing affordable solar cells to convert light into energy. Buildings and houses integrated with systems that harness solar or wind energy have become more common as designers and consumers recognize the value of renewable energy.

Green Building Materials

The use of recycled materials is not only environmentally friendly but is also cost-effective. Architecture firms make it a priority to source raw materials as well as prefabricated components from vendors that are environmentally responsible to ante up their sustainable strategy.

Virtual Reality and 3D Printing

For many decades, Computer-Aided Designs (CAD) have become pervasive in architecture stemming from other industries such as shipbuilding, aeronautics, and automobiles. It changed traditional techniques as designers can now create complex 3D designs as opposed to a 2D representation. However technology did not stop there, nowadays, many architecture firms use augmented reality or virtual reality. This transformed designs from being visual to achieve a sense of being physically performative. 

Simulations allow architects to embody temporality, fluidity, change, and motions consequently influencing people’s interaction with their surroundings. From the initial concept of the building to the last finishing touches, virtual reality lends itself to provide an architectural experience to the user. During the design stage of the project, it allows clients to explore the structure far better than a 2D image, they can take a closer look at each corner of each floor and request changes prior to its implementation. Firms can invest in Virtual Reality and make a great impression on clients as they make real-time changes to accommodate their requests.

Although 3D printing technology has been around since the 1980s, it wasn’t until the last decade that it has become more accessible and affordable. 3D printing saves time in making models in two ways: it can virtually create unlimited copies of an object and revisions are easily done through its programming software. 

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things refers to a concept of connectivity, this particularly involves connecting basic or “dumb” things to the internet. You may have Alexa or any other smart devices in your homes like your thermostats, video doorbells, and coffee makers but designers are taking this concept to drive changes in the design and construction ecosystem.

Building Information Modelling (BIM)

BIM generates a model of the building and sorts out all of the plans. This enables different building plans to be updated simultaneously. By installing sensors into the building to read energy usage, foot traffic, temperature trends, and more, designers will be able to make the right adjustments or improve on future plans.

Green Systems

Humans tend to forget a lot of things and one of them is to turn off the lights when you leave the room. Through IoT, a designer can reduce the building’s energy consumption and CO2 emission without relying on the people.

Technology generally pulls other technologies forward. With the advancement of modern applications to provide better solutions, the building industry can benefit from these developments to take the business to the future. As architecture proceeds to make a physical and socioeconomic impact on the people around them, they have taken a deeper look into the digital solutions and advanced methods to cater to the demands of today’s market.

How To Use The PC And Technology For Entertainment Purposes

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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The PC has a very broad range of applications, such as watching movies, interacting on social media, and playing games. The list goes on. Still, many people don’t really know what to do when they get online. Whether due to habit or lack of knowledge, a lot of people still only edit word files and read the news on their PC. If you’ve got some extra time, why not try some of the many different forms of technology entertainment.

Technology Provides Endless Options For Entertainment

There are so many different things to do with modern technology, sometimes people get lost. Like trying to choose a single bag of chips when there are no less than 150 varieties available at the local supercenter. Of course, you could just download a new e-book from Amazon and be done with it. For your convenience, here is a list of some of the best computer activities. If you’re to be getting a lot of screen time, it’s best to invest in an ergonomic gaming chair to maintain proper posture.

  • Watch movies or TV series
  • Play games and simulators
  • Consume news from a variety of sources like independent citizen journalism 
  • Interact on social media. Try something other than Facebook. Like Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram 
  • Listen to some new kinds of music. Why not try out some Mongolian throat singing
  • Learn a fun new skill or research something you’ve been curious about
  • Read an e-book
  • Go shopping!

Gaming Is The Go-To Form Of Digital Entertainment For Today’s Youth 

If you’re under 40, there’s a good chance you are interested in gaming. Never before have so many people across so many generations been into the same thing as they are now with gaming. If you’re looking to get started with this hobby, it’s best to read some console vs. PC reviews before committing to a particular gaming platform.

You’ll need a little equipment if you’re going to spend a lot of time playing. You might consider investing in a gaming desk and gaming chair. There’s endless equipment you can buy to enhance your experience regardless of whether you decide to go with a console or a PC. It’s likely you already have a PC which makes PC gaming the most convenient at first glance. But unless you’ve recently bought a high-end PC loaded with RAM and a top of the line GPU, you probably can’t play the best available. Consoles, such as the PS5 or the XBOX Series S, are the most convenient ways to play. 

Of course, you might be a seasoned player looking to spice up your performance or change gameplay. One way to change your gameplay experience is to use cheats. Game cheats are a great way to enhance your gaming experience. These are wildly popular. Even though they came out years ago, GTA5 cheats and The Sims 4 cheats are still some of the most popular game enhancements. 

If you want a better entertaining experience without investing in the old games, go for online games. Games like Solitaire or Hearts and similar games can be played online without any need of downloads and loads of memory.

Online card games such as Freecell Solitaire are fun and free ways to spend your time gaming online.

A Plethora Of Digital Media Options At A Click Of A Button

It was mentioned in the list, but it’s worth bringing up digital media again. If you’re just looking to relax with minimal effort, indulging in some binge-worthy entertainment is the best route. There is a mind-boggling amount of new original media being brought to the consumer across many different platforms.

Regardless of whether you go with Netflix, Amazon Prime, or some other high-quality streaming service, you’ll find more fascinating entertainment than you could watch in a lifetime. Each streaming platform has a variety of classic films and TV series. This is in addition to the gripping original content. 

With so much difference in available content across the different platforms, it can be hard to choose which is best for you. But if you’re still paying for cable television, the decision is simple. At $100 plus dollars a month, you could subscribe to all the major streaming services and still save $50-$60 a month. People that make the switch are generally happier as they have much more content available on-demand and for a fraction of the price(without complicated contracts and fabricated taxes and fees). You can also access your premium streaming service on your PC, phone, tablet, or laptop with no additional fees. You can even login on to your friend’s smart TV when you go for a visit.

PCs and other forms of modern digital technology have the potential to entertain more effectively than ever before. The Next time you’re bored and sitting in front of your computer looking for something to do, try out one of the several suggestions detailed here instead of just scrolling through Facebook.

How To Reduce The Noise Generated By Your Computer

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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Having a loud computer can be annoying for several reasons. Whether you are trying to get some work done, hoping to socialize online, binge watch your favorite series, or run a movie marathon, having a noisy computer can be very disturbing. To fix this issue, we are here to tell you how you can reduce the noise generated by your computer. 

Determine Whether The Issue Is Internal

Usually, the reasons behind the noise generated by your computer would be the hard disk and the fans. The hard disk retrieves data by spinning its platters that can generate noise as they spin. The graphics card, processor, and motherboard in a computer produce heat which the fans work on eliminating. Fans can make noise if they are not powerful, too small, or have become loose. If the reason behind the noise is internal, or a result of the fans or the hard disks, then it is suggested that you take immediate action. 

The computer repair in Douglasville, GA can lend you a hand in this regard. They can take a look at the internal components of your computer and determine the cause of the noise. Once they have identified the problem, they will provide you with an appropriate solution to fix it.

External Noise Factors

A loud computer does not always indicate a crucial issue. Any loose components, either internally or at the computer’s frame can vibrate and make noise. If your keyboard is worn out, it can also make more noise than usual. Keyboards are typically noisy, and the typing sounds can be distracting. A quiet keyboard that is useful for both gaming and work can be a quick fix for this issue. If your computer is not necessarily new, then it may have acquired a lot of dust or lint which would possibly block the fans thus creating noise. 

Blocking the Noise

The easiest fix to the loud noise produced by your computer would be to block the noise. If your computer is missing its rubber feet, it would vibrate more and result in more noise. Get rubber feet replacements and place your computer on a flat surface, or place the computer on soft surfaces or a carpet. Your computer is also more susceptible to overheating when the room is hot. There are cooling pads that are made to cool your computer down, reducing some of the noise and vibrations. 

Taking Further Action

If the previous step didn’t fix your problem, then you need to follow through with a more detailed procedure. You need to remove the back of your computer and carefully examine its interior. Look for any loose compartments or screws and tighten them. You should replace any worn out or missing gaskets or grommets. Use a soft brush to remove the dust off the internal computer pieces. You can also use a can of compressed air to help remove the dust more effectively. However, be careful not to blow it directly on the fans because it can ruin them. Installing dust filters can also be very useful. They will ensure that your intake fans let very little amounts of dust through your case. You should consider upgrading to an SSD, or a solid-state driver if the problem is coming from the hard disk. It is important that you move your data so that you don’t lose it if the hard disk totally fails. 

A Deeper Solution

If none of the previous solutions work, then you have a more serious problem. Replace your fans with one that has a lower decibel rating and moves more air. Before you buy it, you need to know the size of your current fans and buy the new ones in the same size so that they will fit. Though, your power supply might overheat. 

This is because it might not be able to manage the functioning capacity and load that the new components will apply. Buying a new power supply with a fan to help it cool down would be a fix to this potential problem. Consider adding sound insulation to your computer. It will be an effective way to block any additional noises but may cause more heat and lead your fans to work harder; so you need to be careful. 

Take It To a Professional

If your computer is still relatively loud, then you should take it to a professional. Dabbling any further may be counterproductive and may cause further damage to your computer. The professional will be able to diagnose your problem and handle it professionally. 

If your computer generates noise, it is a sign that there is something wrong. Whether it is a minor or a major issue, it can be very frustrating. To be able to deal with the problem, you must first identify how serious it is. Luckily, our article provides steps that will help you deal with the smallest issues that call for quick fixes, to ones that require more complicated measures. 

Software Programs You Should Have For Your SEO-Related Needs

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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There are so many strategies entailed in SEO that you’ll be hard-pressed to find one program to cover all your needs. SEO experts usually take advantage of multiple software programs to get the job done. If you’re wondering where to get started, here are the most essential programs you should have for your SEO-related needs. 

SEO Keyword Tools

While the SEO process is long and arduous, it always starts with looking for relevant and well-ranking keywords. To start your journey, you’ll need an SEO keyword tool that delivers a variety of jobs. First of all, the tool should help you look for relevant keywords according to your business’ niche, making sure that it gives you a clear idea about the search intent behind it. More often than not, the keyword we want and the one we’re looking for are different. The tool should also give you an idea about the performance of these keywords, how your competitors use them, and other long-tail keywords related to the ones you’re researching. The tool should provide you with metrics to give you insights into the keyword volume, CPC competition, and seasonal trends.

Backlink Analysis Tool

Every SEO practitioner knows the role that backlinking plays in your SEO strategy. Sean from SEOSorcerer.com explains that backlinking is a vital factor in SEO that helps you increase the authority and presence of your website. The strategy entails other websites placing links referring their visitors to your website. While there was a time when the number of backlinks was all that matter, the search engine algorithms have since evolved.

Nowadays, both the number and the quality of the links matter. That’s why you need an accurate backlink analysis tool to help narrow down authority websites and devise your backlinking strategy accordingly. Check out linkchecker.pro for backlink monitoring and building insights.

The best tools have a large database of backlinks through which they can help you understand why some sites had linked to your competitors but not you, for instance. You can also buy backlinks to up your ranking and build more traffic.

Analytics Tools

SEO involves a lot of on-site and off-site work. For on-site performance, you want to use an analytics tool then helps you improve the features of your website. The tool will start by performing a website audit, after which you’ll get a comprehensive report regarding all your pages and the existing issues. The best tools give you step-by-step advice as to how you can improve the performance of your website for better ranking and user experience. They can also give you a competitor analysis so you know where you stand from the competition. Better yet, you can start by analyzing your competitors then devising your strategy for a shortcut. 

SEO Checker Tool

For off-site performance, you want to use analytics tools that alert you to how your website is performing on the search engine result pages (SERPs). These SEO checker tools help you monitor your performance on the SERPs, generating reports so you can analyze your website’s performance. The most important feature of SEO checker tools is that you can submit your website’s sitemap for indexing, after which you can optimize your website for better results.

Report Generating Tools

For more detailed insights, you want a report generating tool that briefs you on areas you wouldn’t normally check. These tools can simply be plugged into your website’s URL, or any other website for that matter, to generate a full report of the website’s performance. Detailed reports can help you check under-the-hood stuff, like HTTP Headers Check, that you’d normally forget about. 

Reputation Management Tool

Ensure your corporate brand is improving by using reputation management software. A tool like this will track your online presence, monitor your online reviews, and warn if your brand name is being damaged. The most important feature of reputation management is to respond to bad reviews and engage people to place good reviews.

Marketing SEO Tool

Once you set up your website according to the SEO guidelines, you’ll want to stay updated with new upgrades and optimize your website accordingly. Maintaining your website for SEO algorithm changes or upcoming trends requires the use of a sturdy marketing SEO tool. Using this tool, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your ranking, explore the online scene for new trends, and jump on new ranking opportunities as soon as they arise. 

Although there are various SEO software suits that claim to cover all SEO-related needs, they still have a long way to go before being comprehensive. Until that happens, you’ll be better off using different software programs for specific SEO tasks. Some of the main programs you’ll need are keyword, backlink analysis, analytics, SEO checkers, report generating, and marketing SEO tool. If you still need help, you may need to contact an SEO Expert to assist you with your marketing needs.

Expert Tips for Creating a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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Running a business during the times of the pandemic and long after it, is a completely different ball game altogether. It’s important to adapt to the ever-morphing marketing trends if you want to even have a shot at staying on top of the game.

Identify the Goal

Just as with any marketing plan, it is imperative to start off with defining clearly what the goal of your digital campaign is. This needs to be a detailed culmination of all the points you want to hit when creating your strategy. First and foremost, how you will get your brand out in the most effective way into the digital platforms that you plan on infiltrating, the kind of people you want to target, and what your sales plan is. After that, start tracking those goals through goal tracking.

Now more than ever, digital marketing is at the forefront in the world of business, and it’s important that you create an efficient marketing strategy that is aimed at digital avenues. This is why we’ve collected some expert tips that will help you create a successful marketing strategy.

Get Professional Guidance

You may or may not have been in the market with your business for quite a while, but the point is, digital marketing is different. It wouldn’t be wise to work off your own assumptions and research alone because there are many factors in play that you may not be aware of. This is why it’s always advisable to hire a professional company that specializes in digital marketing. Look up the best online marketing gurus and utilize their services to get yourself a detailed plan underway. These companies understand the digital market well and will advise you on what possible moves you have as options, and working together, you’ll be able to come up with the best plan moving forward.

Solidify the Digital Sales Funnel

Generally, it’s important for you to understand the Digital Sales Funnel, and to do so you need to have the basics clarified. The funnel includes 4 major points that you must address, and includes:

  1. Investigation and research: Learning more about the market in question and finding out more about the necessary details within the digital market. 
  2. Methods of Discovery: Finding out how to best have your clients and potential clients discover your services in the most effective way possible.
  3. Retail: The process of providing you services and products.
  4. Customer Loyalty: How to keep the clients loyal to your company. 

Mastering the digital sales funnel is key to ensuring that your strategy is bulletproof and that you’re ahead of the game when it comes to problem-solving any possible issues that may come up during the marketing process. 

Specialize in a Demographic

It’s easy to get greedy and aim to infiltrate a wide demographic, but it’s certainly not wise at all. The smart thing to do is to see what your services and products provide, which demographic would suit best, and focus your digital marketing plan to appeal to these very people. Once you have covered this demographic and solidified it, only then can you start to think about appealing to another demographic.

Analytics Are Essential

Nothing is going to be fruitful in all this planning and plotting if you don’t have real statistics to work off of. The beauty of marketing in the digital world is that it is much easier to analyze the statistics and response rates because everything is online and therefore, on the record. You need to hire people that specialize in analytics so that you’re getting accurate information and reports that will ultimately guide you in the right direction of what you need to do next.

Creating a successful digital marketing strategy takes planning, effort and sometimes the help of experts. The world of digital marketing is different in many ways, and this is why you need to heed expert advice such as the points mentioned here. You may have a successful business or even a winning business plan, but all that will amount to nothing if your marketing is not on point.

The fact of the matter is, we now live in the digital age, where the bulk of business potential lies in the online world. This is why it is imperative that you not only educate yourself about digital marketing and the variety of platforms available, but you must also utilize the help of professionals who have been doing this for a while. These people understand analytics and the market as a whole, and will be able to provide you with accurate reports and ideas on what you need to do in order to infiltrate the digital world of marketing for your business to be successful. 

Want to Optimize Your Website’s Speed? Here’s How

Posted on by Wayland Bruns
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People tend to spend more time online these days. With almost everything we need are provided on the internet, it has become more of a necessity than just a pastime or leisure. Along with this, the amount of websites and online businesses on the web has risen too, and this caused major traffic and slowing on other sites. Fortunately, today’s internet speed has coped with this, and it’s still improving up to this day.

Studies show that in 2019, an average person spends almost 6 hours and 42 minutes on the internet. This is almost half of the time that we are awake, assuming that we are getting 8 hours of sleep. Because of this, one of the problems that remained is the speed of the websites themselves. Due to faster internet connectivity, people have become less patient while waiting for a page to load. 

To avoid such a dilemma, it’s necessary to know how to optimize your website to handle traffic and gain more enjoyable visits. 

Basic Things About Website Speed

How Fast Should a Website Be?

The recommended website speed by Google is under 2 seconds, at least for most eCommerce sites. Webpages load piece by piece and it differs for every site. There is a high probability that users will leave a page if it loads for more than 3 seconds

In the U.S., the average loading time is 15 seconds. It is even slower than the recommended time but still does the job. Having a website load slower than that can cause less traffic, and users won’t have the time for the page to load. This may result in a drop in ranking and other competitors will take this chance to take your spot and push you lower in the search list. Many companies use page speed boosters make increase the speed of the page load.

What Affects Website Speed

Every element affects the speed of a website. The website size, which usually includes a lot of unique characters, may result in slower loading time. It is the same case for large files. They tend to be slower to download, and therefore may contribute to the occurrence of a problem in the process.

Sometimes, the problem is not the website, but your device’s internet speed. Still, a good website can withstand such circumstances and can still load despite the said issues.

How to Assess Website Speed

There aren’t many ways on how to determine the speed of your web pages other than using website speed evaluators (aside from the slow responsiveness whenever you try to load it). Here are some of the best tools to help you determine the improvements needed in your website’s speed:

Pingdom

This is a great tool for analyzing web speed. It determines the history of a website, makes directions on the optimization, and releases easy to understand reports. It is free to use, and they also have apps that you can use on your Android and iOS mobile phones.

GTmetrix

GTmetrix determines the elements that make your website slow, which is a good thing because you will know what you can do to improve the situation right away. It also provides accurate data results. You can even set alerts that will automatically inform you if your website begins to work slower.

YSlow

YSlow also summarizes every component of your site and gives you a report that includes recommendations on how you can improve its state. 

Sitechecker

This is an all-in-one SEO platform for performing high-quality SEO audits and constant monitoring of your website. Using Web Speed Test by Sitechecker you will be able to analyze the loading speed of your website or a specific page and get a detailed report on all the problems that affect the loading speed.

How to Improve Website Speed

Here are some of the ways you can do to improve the speed of your website:

Shrink Images

Images, especially the ones in larger sizes, can be a very heavy component for a web page to load. This often results in others not being able to view the pictures depending on the device and internet speed they have. You can still show pictures in HD but in lower sizes. This way, it will be easier to load and it won’t take that much for it to be seen by your visitors. 

Delete Cache

Caches are prearranged storage that stores temporary details to help websites, apps, and browsers to load at a faster rate. You will encounter it in almost every software. It expires after a certain amount of time and does not add to the loading process of a page. If it ever reaches beyond the recommended data, which can happen at some point, you can delete it without any consequences and make browsing at a faster rate.

Create an Intuitive Web Page Design

Yes, an excellent web design also helps in optimizing the speed of a website. For example, choosing the right font to use on the interface helps a page to load faster. In this case, Open Sans loads the fastest. According to the folks at somethingdesign.com, intuitive web design determines the visitor’s experience on the page. It also contributes to the increase in traffic and the speed of the page. 

Quality of an Intuitive Web Design

Responsive

A great web design responds to the user’s preferences. Whether it is the flexibility in terms of the orientation of the device or the screen size like in mobiles, it must be adaptable. The elements need to shrink or grow depending on what the situation is asking for. A great web design is versatile and can accommodate various users and visitors.

Consistent

Harmony is pleasing to the eyes. Consistency creates a distinct character in a website that the users will remember. It is the brand that will linger in most people’s minds after they visit the site. The limitation of the design to one common set also helps in a faster loading process. The less unique individual designs, the faster a page can process data.

Easy to Use

Complex web design is not attractive to users at all. It only creates confusion and this usually results in them not coming back to the website. This also means less traffic, fewer sales (for eCommerce websites), and less reliability for people seeking immediate results. 

Engaging

People have different preferences when it comes to the structure and design of a web page. Some like it more to be minimalistic, while some appreciate patterns and loud colors. Whatever design you choose, it is important to consider what is pleasing to the eyes of most users. Be creative and try something new. 

No one likes waiting, and that applies to websites as well. Every single second is important to keep your page in demand to visitors. Even if your website is informative and engaging, if it is slow and takes too much time to load, it will not attract many users. Keeping your page at a stable speed will not only be accessible and fun to visit for most people, but it will also increase the traffic that you need to be successful.

Are All PCs Good for 3D Modeling?

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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All tools that are used for 3D modeling are intensive, to say the least. Some examples of those tools are Maya, 3D Max, AutoCAD, and Revit. A good CPU is required when working with these programs. The reason is that these tools can make a significant workload on your RAM and CPU that needs to be brought to a minimum. It is also required for that very reason to have large storage and a high RAM. 

The best would be the computer that has a relatively large screen size and a higher resolution. Gaming laptops usually have great performance and graphics that will suit your 3D modeling needs. All that being said, the question arises, are all computers good for 3D modeling? If you were pondering over and seeking answers for such a puzzle, then this article is for you. 

PC Multiple-Core or CPU Highest Clock Speed?

3D modeling will require you to be in front of your computer and to sit patiently and manipulate the 3D software. The software you are interacting with uses the hardware that is running on differently. Meaning, the calculations processing of the PC is different than on the CPU core. 

To elaborate, the computer not being able to offload other cores, which leads to having a multiple-core PC will not improve the speed of processing. It would be wise not to focus on a PC or laptop that has multiple cores but to search the one with a CPU that possesses the highest clock speed. 

What is Needed for Faster Performance?

The CPU performance with the multiple cores does have the highest speed score, however, the heat limits and power consumption could affect the overall workload. The more cores the CPU has, the laptop or PC is more power-hungry as a result. 

More heat is produced, which could be affecting the efficiency as well. For that reason, it would be wise not to go overboard. Because the more cores the CPU has, the lower the clock speed is, while fewer of them make the process much faster. 

How to Choose a Machine for 3D Modeling?

There are two choices as far as building your workstation. The first would be to build your own PC. The second is to purchase a machine with all specs already built-in. No matter if you are looking for the best laptop for 3d modeling or the best PC, both options have their pros and cons. For instance, building your PC will let you customize the hardware while at the same time, the price might be a bit high. So if you have a budget, you could try out this option. In case you would like to save up some money, there are few things to focus on when looking for already built-in laptops or PCs. Look for appropriate RAM, CPU, and graphics card. 

Graphics Card

Graphic cards would process the visuals and the outputs of the monitor. While some CPUs do not have their graphics chip built-in, some do. The computer, which is good for 3D modeling, does not need an additional GPU attached to the monitor. In case your processor has graphics that are integrated, the output goes from the display adapter to the motherboard. 

If you are planning to do video rendering, graphic design on your computer or to conduct 3D rendering, machines with discrete GPU are the best. Have in mind that a discreet CPU is not integrated into the CPU and that it comes with its circuit board, which needs to be plugged into the motherboard of the PC express slot. 

Assembling a “Perfect” PC

In some cases, building up your own PC can be less expensive than buying an already pre-built system. Although rare, it is still possible. The advantage is that it will give you more freedom when it comes to the parts you want to get according to their performance and price. 

Assembling a PC can be quite an intimidating experience if you are doing it on your own, although there are many tutorials online that can help with such a task. Before deciding to build up your own PC, it would be wise to do the research first. Here are some of the components you might need in case you are considering to find everything on your own:

  • Computer case
  • Cooling
  • CPU 
  • Graphics card
  • Input devices like keyboard and mouse
  • Memory
  • Monitor
  • Motherboard
  • Operating system
  • OS
  • Power supply unit
  • PSU
  • RAM

Many PCs and laptops are at your disposal, and many of them can handle your 3D modeling experience. If you are searching for one, it would be wise to dwell on this information and according to it, make the best possible decision. After doing some educated research, you will surely be able to obtain the machine that will be able to sustain anything you throw at it. 

How to Save Money using Power from Renewable Energy Sources

Posted on by Pete Brown
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More and more people are delving into the use of renewable energy sources because of the various benefits that it yields. For one, you will be able to reduce your carbon footprint and help the earth heal. But perhaps, the most notable advantage of using renewable energy sources is the significant amount of sum that you can save. This article tackles the ways on how you will be able to save money using power from renewable energy sources.

Reduced Energy Bills

One of the primary ways for you to save money using power from renewable energy sources is by reducing your energy bills. In this case, you can use a solar panel savings calculator to have a good idea of how much you can save on your monthly electric bill if you use solar panels instead of connecting to the grid. While it is true that you need to shell out a significant upfront cost to acquire solar panels, the amount that you will save when you no longer have to pay a hefty amount for your monthly electric bills will prove to be worth it.

The reason behind this is that solar panels are durable, with a typical lifespan of 20 years. Thus, for sure, you will be able to earn back the amount that you used to purchase the panels in the 20 years that you no longer have to pay for any monthly electric bill.

Protection from Price Fluctuations

Another way for you to save money using power from renewable energy sources is by being protected from price fluctuations. Like with other consumer commodities in the market, the price of electricity can also be affected by inflation, which means that you may have to pay more for the same kilowatt-hour consumption in the future. As a result, you need to shell out a bigger sum.

With the use of a renewable energy source such as solar panels, you are protected from these price fluctuations because you no longer depend on the grid for your electricity needs. Rather, you only need to leverage the energy from the sun, which is free.

Eligibility for Green Energy Incentives

To encourage more and more people to switch to the use of renewable energy sources, many governments are providing tax incentives to their people who will go about this route. Thus, if you decide to leverage renewable energy sources, you may be eligible for certain tax incentives or write-offs. These can drastically reduce the number of tax dues you need to settle later on

Perhaps this is the best time for you to delve into the use of renewable energy sources for your home, as well as for your business. Apart from being able to reduce your energy bills, you are also protected from price fluctuations. You even have the opportunity to earn decent revenue from the use of renewable energy sources, as well as be eligible to receive green energy incentives. Make sure to take advantage of all these perks by switching to the use of renewable energy sources.

Guide To Customer Communication While You Work From Home

Posted on by Roy Emmerson
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Here we consider the best approaches and proven tactics that will help organizations improve customer communications when working remotely.

Working from home is the reality many of us have been dreaming about while others have been afraid of it. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced almost everyone to get used to remote work. It has exposed us to challenges that pushed us out of our comfort zone. One of them is a remote customer communication process. It has also become a big reason for businesses to love the Internet even more than before.

Communication is essential for project success, as it helps set trust-based relationships and mutual understanding between stakeholders. It provides  smooth collaboration and results in business success. When most countries are locked at homes again, we need to rethink a customer communication strategy and adjust it to remote teamwork. 

How to Approach Customer Communication in The New Normal

McKinsey & Company defines three pillars of clear messaging to customers during the pandemic: transparency, customer protection, and customer outreach. 

Transparency means giving customers the behind-the-scenes views of the options you consider for them and perspectives that may come true for your business in the post-coronavirus world. Better to share honest predictions without sugar-coating, as it will help your company build trust with customers. 

Customer protection implies that you need to add more compassion to customer communication procedures and inform people about measures taken to ensure a safe and convenient experience with a brand for them. “Now” requires us to keep in mind the overall social mood affected by global critical events. Thus, support teams should be even more empathic when communicating with customers.  

Customer outreach means you should constantly keep the conversation with your customers across different channels. Talk to them, update them, and repeat the important information about the changes in your processes once again to ensure that it’s delivered successfully to everyone in your community. 

Customer Communication Channels & Tactics You Should Know

Considering “psychological” approaches to customer service, it’s also essential to take a closer look at digital channels making communication with consumers more effective when you work from home. Many companies have started using VoIP phone systems as alternative solutions in times of uncertainty.

Other businesses have considered unified communications as the best option for improved workflow and customer relations. However, customer communication options aren’t limited to those mentioned above. Here we present proven tactics that will help businesses empower customer service. 

Interact on Social Media

The first rule for digital business success is to be where your customers are. To be more specific, it’s on social media. Social networks are one of the most popular online communication channels. Imagine 74% of users log into Facebook at least once a day, with 51% of them logging in more than once a day. 

Social media is the first place modern customers expect brands to interact with them the most quickly. Consider that 40% of customers who send complaints on social media expect the company’s reply within one hour.

With tools like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, businesses can answer customer queries almost instantly. Many organizations consider them as the most effective medium for customer service and create separate brand profiles entirely dedicated to customer support.  

Incorporate a Live Chat

Live chat is a technology incorporated into a website that allows customers to stay in touch with their favorite brands round the clock. This customer service tactic has been widely used before and gained even more popularity today when most teams work remotely. With tools like HelpCrunch live chat, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty since your brand is always easily accessible online anytime.

Communicate via Email

Email communication might seem a traditional and very obvious practice. Probably, yes. However, it doesn’t also mean it’s inefficient. Emails are another way to stay in touch with customers while working remotely. According to research by Epsilon PeopleCloud Messaging, email is the most critical communication channel between companies and consumers because it’s personal, reliable, relevant, and targeted. Businesses can use email marketing to update customers about the changes in processes during the pandemic. 

Use Video Conferencing

Another actionable tactic to get in touch with customers is by using video conferencing tools and apps like Skype. Along with the top productivity apps, they help improve the overall team collaboration and performance when you work from home. Although it might be challenging to apply to customer communication in B2C companies it is particularly efficient for the B2B world. When organizing real-life meetings has become unsafe and almost impossible due to travel restrictions, video calls have become even more important. 

B2B customers may want to schedule a video call with the company to discuss their purchases or collaboration details. Thus, video conferencing tools are gaining popularity quickly, especially during the lockdown.

Engage Through The Content

However, all of these channels enable companies to set a direct and effective dialog with customers when teams work remotely, there is one more way to communicate with customers. It’s through the content. It’s recommended for businesses to reimagine their content strategies from the customer service perspective. 

For example, your brand can assist customers remotely by publishing how-to articles, guides, tutorials, or explainer videos to enable people to provide self-service. You can also store the “help” content in special online knowledge libraries or the FAQ section on a website.

It’s crucial today since many people feel anxious regarding the challenges and innovations encountered during the coronavirus. While you might have heard tips about diversifying your content earlier, it’s now recommended to prioritize the content informativeness even if it requires sacrificing content diversity.  

To Wrap It Up

Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, this guide to customer communication might be helpful. These actionable yet straightforward strategies will empower brands to cater to the target audience’s needs and increase loyalty. Hopefully, they have also inspired you to and will help you improve support service and bring customer relationships to the next level regardless of the coronavirus recession and pandemic.


[Infographic] Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Communication Strategy for Remote Teams by Team Communication App

Top 10 Apps That Increase Your Business Productivity

Posted on by Genia Genia
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When choosing a mobile application for solving some business issues, users often focus on all sorts of priority apps, taking the choice of specialists who know the market. The problem is that there are a lot of such ratings. To make the full picture of the situation, we have to study a huge number of sources offering business apps.

Many business tasks can be simplified with top business apps. These range from service or tracking apps, to development and web page building apps. The top business solutions are readily available and at your fingertips.

Their assortment on the market today is impressive. It should be noted that some of the listed developments function and apps like Edubirdie works only on laptops and desktops. But most of the applications are also adapted for mobile devices.

Bynder

Good brand management makes your business instantly recognizable and trusted, like a delicious restaurant people love. It brings in new customers, makes them happy with your quality and service, and sparks excitement about what you offer. Invest in your brand, and watch your business flourish!

Evernote Scannable

This top business app is created for both OS Android and iOS. Evernote is an application developed by the creators of one of the most convenient note-taking programs. It helps to quickly and accurately scan documents and other necessary things. For example, contracts, invoices, a check from a store, or a business card of a partner. Unlike a regular photo taken with a phone camera, Evernote Scannable automatically detects the document, its location, and immediately makes a scan.

Wunderlist

This is another business time management app. The Wunderlist has different functionality. This business app helps you create shared task lists with your partners, employees, or family. A perfect business application like best EMR for urgent care can be synchronized with several gadgets and opened from a tablet, smartphone, computer, or smart watch.

Keynote

If you have to make frequent presentations, choose one of the top business apps. Keynote is what you need. You can control presentations from your smartphone, iPad, or Apple Watch. In other words, Keynote turns a gadget into a remote because it functions in a similar way. Please note that the developers of the app didn’t care about the Android owners. Therefore, Keynote only works on iOS.

WhatsApp Business

This app is different from the regular WhatsApp messenger and is specially designed for entrepreneurs. Among business applications, this is a simple and practical option. Here you can add your account information, work email address, or store address. To communicate with customers, you can write a greeting or goodbye which will appear in the dialogue.

Do not confuse this application with another messenger from WhatsApp Business API. Unlike the usual WhatsApp Business, this business app is paid and used in large companies. Includes features such as sending bulk messages, manage multiple WhatsApp business accounts, automating messages and more. While the application is available only to Android owners, the developers have already announced its release for iOS.

TINYpulse

When it comes to decent business apps, TINYpulse is another top choice. The app collects feedback from employees. If you feel that not everyone on your team is happy with the way things are, send out a simple survey to employees. Employees will be able to anonymously share what they do not like, what they would like to change, and how they feel in the team. You will receive valuable information and get to know better how subordinates live.

QuickBooks

Whether you are in business or freelancing, keeping track of your finances is always very important. QuickBooks has a version applied on a computer and a smartphone. With the help of such business apps, it is convenient to maintain records, calculate income and expenses, or send invoices to customers. You can see the current sales figures or check the latest payments directly from your phone.

Things 3

The developers of Things 3 believe that a productive person should not bear all their tasks in mind. It is much more rational to concentrate on solving them one by one. The recommended business app fully meets this theory. Things 3 helps to create tasks and subtasks, categorize them by importance and due date. The following application saves time. But most importantly, the list of all tasks is always at hand.

HootSuite

If your brand has many followers on different social networks, it can be inconvenient to control everything at once. In order to make multiple posts on Instagram and Facebook, you have to constantly switch between applications. HootSuite developers have solved this problem.

With the HootSuite business app, you can manage all your accounts, publish content, reply to all emails and comments with a few clicks. You will also find many HootSuite Alternatives with more extensive features and lower pricing.

Spark

This is one of the in-demand business apps that somewhat resembles HootSuite. If you have multiple personal and work addresses on different services, Spark can help you combine them. You will get a handy list of all emails and many other functions. The available function of team discussion is the general chat between employees. Previously, the application was only available to iOS owners, but a few days ago it was released on Android.

Bookmate

All entrepreneurs know how important it is to constantly learn new things. But not everyone has enough time for this. The Bookmate app allows you to listen to audiobooks while on work travel or while driving. Audiobooks are far from revolutionary but they are still a great way to gain new knowledge.

Business apps remind the user of an important meeting, the deadline of a project, keep notes, connect with colleagues hundreds of miles away. However, when there are too many applications, the convenience and safety of their use become questionable. The optimal solution may be the introduction of a corporate social network as an integrative system that works on the principle of “all-in-one”.

The list above was composed with direct help from Kyle Drummond, a financial advisor from DirectLoanTransfer, which is specializes in quick payday loans,

What You Need to Know About AI Marketing

Posted on by Pete Brown
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There are many ways of describing marketing, one of which is by advertising, flyers, or even just printing ads. This activity attracts and encourages individuals to endorse a brand or products and services of a business. The distinction between the old way and the industry’s new approach is noticeable. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), various companies are depending on their reliable efficiency to grow their business.

The question is, what are the things you need to know about AI Marketing, and how does it affect your company? We’ve gathered some helpful guides for digging deep into AI Marketing in this post.

What is AI Marketing?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, a software built in a machine that can think on its own without any human intervention. The primary role of AI is to see patterns routinely made by humans and have their way of solving a problem. On the other hand, Marketing is the process where the company uses to lure the public to use their products or services. With the two being combined, it creates endless possibilities in making a new wave of processes that can help businesses grow instantly.

Experts believe that about half of the manual tasks will be automated over the next 10 to 20 years. For others, it can both be an advantage and a drawback. Why? Let’s say an entrepreneur has an online company and has recruited a few workers to respond to customer inquiries or concerns, but if you add a chatbot to your online platform, it will be able to respond to you with fewer numbers of employees that will save you a lot of money.

Predictive Analytics

This amazing capability of AI Marketing comes in handy for predicting future outcomes from the company’s data or also called Data analysis. According to experts, it can easily pre-determined what will be the next step or the right move to take and helps to answer the company’s business questions such as below. 

  • How many percentages does a customer buy the product?
  • How many customers will stop supporting them to buy products?
  • What is the rate of customers who are likely to buy annually?
  • What are the traits of each of my customers?

Predictive analytics can answer them in real-time and saves a lot of time and effort in analyzing them manually. It creates a better customer experience as it targets the exact wants and needs of each individual. Not only will you predict the result but also the chase to obtain loyal customers as well.

Clustering and Customization

This is a combination of supervised and unsupervised learning. It is a process where each customer is being categorized according to what are their usual activities on the site. For instance, customer A usually searches and buys boho-inspired home furniture, while customer B likely to lean more toward minimalist designs. All customers that have the same taste will go together under each category. According to the digital marketing experts at smartboost.com, making segments will fasten the process of knowing how many percentages the outcome may be. It can make your company grow and build its reputation by making the customer experience personalized.

Recommendation Engines

The method used by advertisers before that is the if-and-then method, posing the question, what if? To distinguish cause or scenario in running a company. It looks for patterns based on the metrics collected data, can detect or predict potential problems with the aid of AI technology. It advises or suggests a necessary behavior after analysis. It is an essential way to avoid bumping into major issues in the future.

Natural Language Processing

One of the most important parts of AI Marketing is Natural Language Processing; it indicates how the customer feels, what they say about the product, or how much they like using it. Simple as it may sound, but it helps to know the feedback of each customer to be able to adapt and grow from it.

Psychographic

It is where the personality, interests, attitude, and behavior of customers have. Uncovering who they are and why they buy the product or avail the services. It is also a crucial factor to build a strong structure in AI Marketing. 

With the aid of technology that paves the way to speed up long hours of work in a minute or two, marketing has grown tremendously. AI Marketing has a lot to offer, from gaining a better understanding of your customer, knowing more about their needs, and to have an improved customer experience for everyone.

How to Map Your Sales Territory Effectively

Posted on by John Brooks
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Businesses spend a lot of time and money to create the perfect products and services to sell to clients. However, it can be difficult to determine if the business is thriving without the use of a sales territory map. We will be discussing the benefits of using a sales territory map and how to create one.

What is a Sales Territory Map?

This type of map is a way for your employees to assign sales based on the area. It gives the sales team a plan of action in regard to where they will be focusing their efforts, and which areas still require claiming. This will make it easier to determine where your team is at all times and to ensure that sales reps are not overlapping each other while they work. Your team members will also appreciate the use of a sales territory map because they will be receiving new leads at a consistent pace. This gives them more opportunity to collect bonuses and earn promotions. The benefits of using a sales territory map include increased sales, rising above the competition, identifying new customers, and better serving existing customers.

Using Mapping Software

Mapping your sales territory can be done with the use of mapping software Maptive.com, powered by Google Maps, is a good example of mapping software that can help you achieve data leads and improve your sales numbers. There are a few different steps that should be followed in order to achieve your ultimate sales territory map.

Step 1: Create a Custom Map

Creating a custom map is simple, as all you have to do is enter your location data into the software. When creating a sales strategy, the data will usually include information about the item or service purchased and the area where the customer lives as a minimum. This data can be manually entered or imported from a spreadsheet.

Once the data is uploaded, you can customize your map. For example, you can use the filters to show certain data types and hide outliers to analyze the numbers accurately. You can also use tools to help you organize and analyze your data to suit your needs.

Step 2: Use the Boundary Tool

Maptive offers users a boundary tool, which makes it easier to divvy up the information. You can create boundaries based on zip/postal codes, cities, states, or countries. If these options don’t work for you, you can create custom boundaries and draw them in yourself. This is a good method for sales teams who have previously worked within certain areas that are not contained in established boundaries.

At this point, you can incorporate demographic data into your selected regions. This data includes statistics about the population’s: race, age, education, gender, median family income, and others. By examining this data, your sales team can determine who their customers are, and how they can adjust their advertising to appeal to potential new clientele.

Step 3: Use the Heat Mapping Tool

Heating mapping is another tool that you can try out. This tool allows you to plot your sales on the map so you can see which areas are generating more revenue for your company. The data is coded with colored circles, indicating how dense the sales are in that area. When the sales density increases, the circle changes to red. Any areas on the map that are not red are opportunities for you to expand your marketing campaigns.

Step 4: Use the Route Optimization Tool

After using the boundaries and heat mapping tools, you will better understand which areas are doing well and which ones could use some more attention from your company. This is when you can use the route optimization tool to your greatest advantage. This tool will allow your sales representatives to plan the best route that they can take between client meetings. On a typical day, the sales rep might be attending meetings all over town. This tool will cut their commute time in half, giving them more time to spend with potential clients. You will be able to plan the shortest route to get to multiple locations, and you can also check the projected ETA to ensure that it is the most efficient use of time.

Energize your Storefront with Attractive Textile Frames

Posted on by Marunis Nutma
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Attractive textile frames can feature your products and bring in new customers. You can change them easily, making eye catching displays that draw people to your business. Drukbedrijf has recently expanded its range of textile frames. In addition to free-standing and wall frames, you can now also choose LED and ceiling frames. This way you can provide every place in your store, showroom, store window, office or other space with a beautiful visual design.

Change your Advertisements in Minutes

The advantage of a textile frame with a canvas is that the cloth us super easy to change. This way you can change prints every action, promotion or every season. On the textile frame there is a mechanism that allows you to easily tension the fabric into the frame. So a textile frame is ideal as a temporary advertising tool!

Eyecatcher: Textile frame with LED

Are you in retail and would you like to have your shop window to light up the evening? Then opt for a textile frame with LED lighting! With the help of the uniformly distributed lighting, the colors of your fabric come to life. Even in the dark! A textile frame with lighting is available as a free-standing textile frame and as a wall frame.

Advantages of a free-standing textile frame

You can use a freestanding textile frame as a display for in a store or store window. Another way to use the frame freestanding is as a partition. Ideal to create more privacy or divide up a space.

Textile frame with photo

And textile frame is not only ideal for business use. You can also use it to freshen up a room at home! Printing on a textile cloth gives a sleek and razor-sharp end result. A textile frame is ideal if you quickly get bored of an interior piece, because you can change your image or design regularly. The textile cloths with tendon can be ordered separately.

In addition to various textile frames, you can also contact Drukbedrijf for all your other printing work. For example, you can have the super popular tissue paper (translation: vloeipapier) printed with your own design. This relatively new product is popular because it gives your packaging a more luxurious look in no time. Because the online print shop excels with challenge. Contact them for special customization. No challenge is avoided!

How a Website Downtime Can Affect Your Business (and How to Prevent It)

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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When it comes to owning a website, it’s vital that you do everything on your end in order to ensure that your website is fully functional and hence doesn’t suffer from any regular bouts of downtime. Downtime leads to many drawbacks that are ultimately going to affect your SEO, increase the bounce rates, as well as tarnish your companies credibility and sometimes even lose your loyal customers. All of this is going to cost you sales and revenue, which is something that you definitely want to prevent.

All of that being said though, what are the main causes of downtime, and what can you do exactly in order to prevent it? 

In this article, we are going to discuss the most prominent reasons why websites go down, as well as how can you ensure that you minimize the possibility of that happening.

What’s dangerous about websites being down?

As we have previously mentioned, website downtime is pretty much synonymous with profit loss. The exact amount of money that a business will lose as a result of downtime varies from website to website. 

One of the more extreme examples is when one minute of website downtime in 2018 caused Amazon.com to lose around $1.57 million every minute. Now, surely, most sites aren’t going to see such a drastic loss as Amazon did, but even though that is the case, no company can really afford to just throw away profits like that, especially since they could easily be saved – considering proper planning and failsafes aren’t being overlooked.

What circumstances cause website downtime?

Website downtime is, in most cases, curated by similar factors. Once you get to understand them, you can take all the necessary measures in order to minimize the possibility of the website downtime happening for longer than a couple of minutes, even seconds. 

The most prominent factors that result in a website downtime include planned downtime due to different upgrades or tweaks, hardware or software malfunctions, malicious attacks from a third party, as well as different issues caused by your hosting providers. It’s crucial that you keep these issues in mind, as well as that you take time to understand why and how do they happen in order to be able to begin to develop a plan that’s going to minimize your website’s downtime, or so that you can improve a plan that for dealing with such scenarios if you already have one.

Make sure that you have a plan for these scenarios

It is vital that you remember the fact that your website’s uptime isn’t something that should solely be ascribed as the responsibility of your hosting provider. As experts on this topic from magento maintenance services explain, planning on how to minimize website downtime starts as early as website design. Basically, a proper website designer is going to make sure that all the necessary precautions and measures on their end have been made even before the website has actually launched.

Another important precaution regarding planning is to partner with a quality website monitoring service. Basically, they are going to be able to will notify you the very moment that your website downtime has occurred in order for you to be able to immediately go to work so that you can fix the issue or perhaps put a failsafe plan into place if the issue has happened to be a result of your hosting service. Magento as an ecommerce platform can be used to specifically cater to you and your business and customer needs.

Take time to look for quality providers

It’s vital to note that quality providers aren’t only going to notify you of a total website failure, but they are also going to ensure that you are notified of any existent trends that could indicate that your site is going to go down. They are also going to notify you of any performance issues, and the best of providers will even allow you to put failsafes into place automatically.

Communication is vital

Make sure that you remember that you alone are able to put the above-mentioned failsafes and precautions into action and still happen to encounter unexpected downtime in addition to already planned downtime that your site encounters. So, what’s the best way to handle these issues? Basically, it all boils down to communication. 

Make sure that you utilize social media platforms in order to communicate any issues regarding both planned and unplanned downtime with people that visit your website. When it comes to unplanned downtime, it’s best that you maintain transparency throughout the incident. It’s crucial that you provide updates regarding how the issue is being handled as well as when the site can be expected to be up again. 

In case of planned downtime, you should post a notice to the pages of your site days prior to it happening in addition to doing so on social media. The more you communicate with your audience, the higher the chance that they are going to be forgiving when the downtime occurs.

To wrap things up

In the end, it all comes down to taking time to do all the research necessary in order to be well informed about both the reasons and the results of these scenarios. Doing so is going to enable you to plan in advance, hence making the possibility of downtime affecting your company way lower.