Stages of Grief for Small Business in Crisis

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Wayland Bruns

Things are looking up! I’m feeling hopeful about the future.

It’s not the news. There is nothing to make anyone happy in the news. The Virus is grinding on – neither accelerating or decelerating. Politicians posture and push but nothing seems to be getting solved.

In places that are “Opened up” people are still staying at home. It looks like legislation is not having influence on the pace of the economy. The pace of the economy is awful; with 20% of the US Population out of work. Everyone is concerned about their budget and no one is spending freely. This makes business growth nearly impossible!

Stage 1: Denial

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross proposed the 5 Stages of Grief, the first of which is Denial. Most small business owners hit this stage sometime between February and April, as we pondered how this virus would affect us. The first week that sales were not as expected. The first time we felt fear that a loved one would be endangered by this virus. The first time we looked at our IRA and recognized that years just got added to our work-before-retirement plan. Our first reaction is that it cannot be happening!

Stage 2: Anger

Anger converts your internal pain and directs it outward. Surely someone, somewhere is responsible for this problem. Surely it is their fault that I am suffering. The virus is merely a bit of protein, and we do not get angry at a bit of protein as much as we do how other people respond. We are angry at people who endanger others, people who travel and the travel industry that allow the virus to spread. At governments who, even if acting in good faith, make announcements and rules that we do not agree with.

Stage 3 – Bargaining

If I get saved from this, I promise I’ll call my parents every week, be kind to my children, never raise my voice again. Please save me from the pain of not knowing what comes next, or how to navigate the business decisions. Should I apply for a loan or furlough staff? Do we place advertising to increase sales, or decrease costs by putting all expenses on ice?

Stage 4 – Depression

When your energy is spent, a quiet sadness descends. I do not even know how to handle the situation. Each day becomes an endurance race to cope with new phases of the crisis. I envy small business people who can smile through anything, comparing my insides to their outsides.

Stage 5 – Acceptance

Kübler-Ross ends here stages on a hopeful note. Once you have accepted a loss, you can settle it and move on. This week I feel I’m reaching this phase, but then some news comes my way and I’m back to Depression and Anger.

Enduring the Covid Era

Our current problem is not a one-time loss but an ongoing disaster. Think about 9/11 when 3,000 people died in one day. This left a lasting scar on the national psyche, changed the nature of business travel, and changed the balance of federal spending between domestic and military spending.

Covid is taking 1,600 people per day currently, so a 9/11 every two days. And it is not ending. 10,000 people a week, 40,000 people a month. The scope of change in government spending, national priorities and the nature of our community is 100 times what we did in 9/11.

This a hinge moment, a generational shift, an epic event. It is so new we do not even have a name for it. In ten or twenty years, people will ask “what was it like during that time?” What will we say?

Navigating Your Business Forward

How do we move forward, even against the tide of the ongoing epidemic still coming in? Kübler-Ross gives us a blueprint. No need to hurry the stages. Move through them with self-care and understanding. Take time now to look with clear vision on what is happening now. Find your point of acceptance and start building on it.

I am coming to an understanding of what is motivating my customers right now, and how to fulfill small needs for them right now. For now, I can listen to their words and help the best I can. This will be my blueprint forward.

You would not be in Business if…

Small business is a mixed opportunity. You have complete control of your actions and a clear vision of how these actions become sales and solutions for your customers. It is the choice of an entrepreneur is to make less money and have more control.

You control yourself, and to some extent you can control your vendors and staff. Depending on your style you try to convince, force, cajole or entice these forces to align in your chosen direction. You have no control over the world at large, and to try to exert control will only sap your self esteem.

I am finding the tools are at my fingertips. I can make decisions that seem to bring light to those around me. At CompanionLink we have found some minor cost savings. We have purchased a small amount of equipment and furniture to upgraded our staff home workstations which improves our quality of life and quality of work. We are shifting our marketing and product strategy to focus on customers who are buying products right now.

These are small steps, but these are making business meaningful for our team. When the crisis stops spinning, we hope to be on top. It is the best we can do in an unstable economy.

Maximizing Business Efficiency and Speeding up Internal Workflow Using Automated Transcription

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Bernadine Racoma

Do you want to grow your business? Then automated transcription might be the way to go. If you want to find out more about that then take a look below.

Saving Time and Money

Corporate transcription was usually done by in-house digital experts but now it is possible for you to hire someone outside your company to take care of the job for you. If you find that your company deals with a lot of data, then it may help you to hire a transcription service. When you do, you can then count on them to help you to interpret any data you have, and they can also help you to take a lot of notes and in a very short space of time. If you are having to do this by hand right now, then you’ll be glad to know that you can save hours of time by investing in a transcription service. Of course, if your team are saving time, then this will save you money so it’s worth keeping that in mind.

More Accuracy

Another benefit of automated transcription software is that you can get way more accuracy when your team are trying to sift through files. If you work in the field of forensics for example, then you will need to listen to hours of audio files sometimes and you may even need to work hard to try and document each and every spoken word. This can be time-consuming and sometimes your team may miss out on phrases. This is the last thing that you need. If you have a quality automated transcription service on the other hand, then you can easily get everything you need written down and this can really help you out.

Data Protection

If you have a lot of data to deal with then you may be tempted to send it off to various external sources. Sometimes this can put your business at risk far more than you realize. If you want to avoid this then automated transcription is certainly the way to go. When you hire a service like this you can easily count on them to handle everything you need and in a very short space of time. You won’t have to worry about your data being infiltrated and you won’t have to worry about people listening to your text and potentially breaching confidentiality.

More Accessible Formats

Lastly, automatic translation can help you by giving you access to way more accessible formats. When you do look into translation, you will soon find you can give your team a written copy of a document, but you can also provide it to them in an audio format. If you have people who work at your company who are hard of hearing or deaf, then this will really help them out and it shows that you are an inclusive organization.

Of course, there are so many benefits to automatic transcription and when you look into them you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to reap them.

3 Ways to Boost Employee Productivity in Your Office

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Evelina Popova

Results derive from productivity, and productivity in the modern workplace is directly linked to employee happiness. Bosses have tried to incorporate many different strategies to increase productivity, but in the end, if an employee is happy to be working, they will work at their optimum rate.

Several aspects will impact an employee’s happiness in their job, ranging from comfort to joint-rewards. While boosting employee productivity won’t simply happen overnight, by integrating a few new strategies, you should see some long term benefits.

Never Undervalue the Power of Comfort

Just because someone has a desk, a decent computer, and a chair doesn’t mean that they’re comfortable. An uncomfortable employee fidgets, is distracted by discomfort, is more inclined to vacate their workspace and will potentially distract others. Having the right tools and equipment is key, with ergonomics being the most important factor in selecting this equipment.

There are several aspects to consider to achieve a prime ergonomic workstation. Overall, it comes down to the chair, potential foot stand, the positioning of the keyboard and mouse, and the monitor height. To get started, if working from the ground up, the chair is the factor that can be changed with the most significant immediate impact. For example, the range of new-age ergonomic Steelcase chairs has been designed to consider the range of postures that modern workers find themselves in throughout the day.

Maintaining Social Order and a Professional Atmosphere

Employees won’t be happy in a hostile or toxic work environment: bosses need to encourage a healthy, respectable, and friendly atmosphere that promotes engagement as much as it does productivity. However, having a friendly work environment can go too far the other way, with employees being more focused on the social aspects than the work at hand. The trick to achieving this balance is to cultivate a social community within the office space.

Another great option for your employees is wellness and motivation workshops. If you go here for corporate wellness solutions, you can find various workshops that will help your employees maintain a healthy work-life balance and boost their productivity. These workshops can include stress management, time management, healthy eating habits, and physical activities.

As noted by Small Business, incorporating a social element into the organizational structure helps to reduce stress and tension in the workplace. As it is work, stress and tension will always arise at some point, but with a community in place, employees are more inclined to help shoulder the burden – strengthening the community feel further. If employees are encouraged to communicate with management and their employees, the threat of stress or tension derailing a project is limited.

Making Work More Enjoyable

Providing perks and specific time periods dedicated to promoting the happiness of your employees is often appreciated by your office workforce, provided that it doesn’t hinder important tasks – which can then cause stress and tension. A good way to achieve this, along with promoting a sense of community, is by setting up team entertainment-driven activities.

The choice that gives you the most options in a way that will appeal to the most people is through a TV or projector hooked up to a Kodi Media Player. With television shows, films, and live sports a tap away, you can bring the office together to enjoy some viewing. Of course, to fully utilize the streaming box, you’ll need to deploy the best VPN for Kodi, which grants you access to the whole spectrum of the platform.

During major sporting events, such as the World Cup or Olympic Games, your employees can come together to enjoy certain events. Or, week-to-week, you can introduce them all to a new show, giving them time to see more episodes periodically. This will bring them, and perhaps yourself, together in a joint interest, provided that no one has seen it before or is inclined to spoil the show.

There you have it: comfort, community, and entertainment can all help boost the happiness of your employees and, therefore, the productivity of your office.

3 VoIP Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2020

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Grace Murphy

It has not even been 150 years since Alexander Graham Bell made history with the very first telephone call on March 10, 1876, but how the times have changed! Can you imagine what the inventor of the telephone would think today if he suddenly found himself in a 21^st century call center? Most businesses no longer utilize hardwired phone systems, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become the industry standard for commercial telecommunications. Even a decade ago it would be difficult to imagine just how far VoIP would advance and this is why it is so important to keep abreast of cutting edge trends when debating the benefits of VoIP over traditional telecommunications systems. Here are just three VoIP trends you cannot afford to ignore in 2020 going forward.

1. Rapid Decline in ‘Traditional’ Phone Systems

First, and foremost, you can safely assume that there will be a rapid decline in the number of companies using traditional, hard-wired telecommunications systems. With VoIP so much more cost effective than traditional phone lines, a greater number of businesses will be abandoning those archaic systems. Bear in mind that VoIP calls carry no long-distance charges so the cost of communications will have an immediate impact on profitability.

2. Greater Focus on In-App Integration

This is probably going to be the most popular of the VoIP trends you can’t ignore in 2020. How often have you become frustrated trying to flip back and forth between screens and apps while trying to carry on an intelligent conversation by referring to data or information needed in the moment? In 2020 and beyond you will see a greater number of developers integrating VoIP into their apps which will significantly reduce wasted time. However, it may be difficult to find the right VoIP software for your needs. A comparison of features like those found on the piesync.com website will be an invaluable resource. ‘RingCentral vs. Aircall: which VoIP phone software is best?’ is definitely worth a read.

3. Mobile Technology

Many of today’s businesses have a large mobile workforce. This has led to some amount of frustration when choosing the right VoIP platform. Some simply do not lend themselves well to mobile access. What about that worker who is out in the field on a call and in need of information stored on the company’s server? The right VoIP software can allow for seamless integration whether out in the field or in office. This is even going to be more prevalent as 5g networks continue to roll out. Not only can remote workers access all the same information they have at their disposal in the office, but they can do so with speed never before imagined.

There is no doubt that within a few short years there will be few hardwired phones in homes or commercial offices. Not only are VoIP communications cost effective, but they allow for greater integration with vital applications. The greatest concern would be finding the right VoIP software that includes all the features you require. This is also why it is important to do a product comparison before choosing a platform for your needs. Take the time to do a bit of comparison shopping and research and you will find the right call center software that meets your needs.

Efficient Collaboration Is The Key To Survival For Businesses: Tools That Will Help

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Costa Lamprou

Online collaboration for projects is definitely not a new concept. However, it’s almost mandatory needs are surely new to most businesses.

With that said, adapting to the changing circumstances is the key to surviving in this increasingly competitive business landscape. When this change requires your business to move its functions on the web, it is important to ensure you and your team have access to all the necessary tools they need to carry out their day-to-day tasks.

While your task of ensuring individual assignments are being completed on time may not have changed drastically, the part of your business that was dependent on effective collaboration currently requires serious attention.

The first step in ensuring your teams are able to efficiently collaborate on projects from the comfort of their homes is to provide them with all the right tools for the job.

Here’s a list of the type of collaboration tools you should be making available to your teams:

Video Conferencing Tools

This one is a no brainer, video conferencing tools are the most basic need for effective online collaboration. Thanks to multiple industries feeling their dire need, and the controversies regarding data integrity surrounding current players like Zoom, we now have a number of brilliant tools in the market for the same.

There are even web conferencing tools that are designed to serve specific functions of your business, like employee onboarding and training.

Virtual Whiteboards

Virtual whiteboards are exactly what their name sounds like. Designed to facilitate seamless flow of creative ideas, these tools come loaded with a plethora of collaboration features that can be customised to your unique needs.

While simply having a whiteboard that gets updates across multiple screens in real time is extremely convenient, features like interpretation of mathematical and chemical equations, presence of a chat feature, among many others, make these tools really handy for a number of scenarios.

Cloud File Sharing

Cloud based file sharing has a number of advantages. Firstly, they allow your teams to bypass the file size restrictions present in email clients, enabling them to seamlessly share documents, videos, graphics, even software with each other.

Second, storing your data on the cloud ensures better data security and makes it available to everyone at a single place. Your data lives on the cloud, so it remains safe, not only from miscreants, but from the dangers of human error as well.

Online Shared Document

Online shared documents are one of the most convenient collaboration tools to ever exist. These documents automatically save any changes made to them, and update them for any user they are shared with.

Platforms like Google Docs work in a manner that is very close to the traditional document platforms like Microsoft Word. They even provide users with a feature that automatically saves the history of all the changes made to a document and offers the users the ability to revert to an older version at any point.

Messaging Tools

Messaging tools allow for instant exchange of short messages and files, that may not require the use of email or the cloud drive.

Moreover, when most of your team members are working from home, there is hardly any “coffee break conversations” happening. Having a messaging tool that connects them with their colleagues allows your employees to stay in touch with them and nurture the interpersonal relationships within your team.

Conclusion

Having the right tools in your arsenal is sure to boost the efficiency of your team’s collaboration projects. These were just some tools that we think are essential for effective collaboration.

Did we miss out on your favorite tools? Tell us (and everyone else) about them in the comment section below!

Small Business Success Planning in Spring 2020

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Wayland Bruns

As I write this, we are ending our second month of the full crisis. Everyone has gone grocery shopping with a mask on. Toilet paper is sometimes available in the stores. Many small businesses have received some sort of funding, and in many states the unemployment kicker has relieved the worst of the rental defaults and hunger. The world is coping. But our world is irrevocably changed. We now think every time we “walk through a door”, we don’t touch handles or elevator buttons, and we view all strangers with cautious distance.

How to Cope

The first problem for small business is to cope with what we have. It’s been two months of payrolls and excruciating decisions about cuts, expenditures, debt and payments. Whatever liquidity you had in March is with you for the long run. Your customer base, your weekly sales and your weekly costs are going to be set in stone until the crisis ends. My business tools are not sufficient. There is no way to plan when the picture changes monthly. There is no way to predict whether there will be more gifts from Congress, or more pain from Customers reneging on agreements.

When will it end?

People will not be “normal” until we can mix freely with strangers without danger. That means we must have herd immunity and it must be verified. Immunity might be conveyed by everyone getting the illness, or everyone getting a vaccine. It might also be conveyed by the new cases decreasing to such small numbers that we are confident strangers are virus free.

None of these things are going to happen in 90 days, and probably not in 2020. The logistics of a vaccine are staggering. If there was a vaccine today, it would take a year to create enough doses to vaccinate half the world population. Here in the US, a vaccine would be dedicated to high risk individuals for at least the first six months. With flu vaccine, it takes two weeks to take effect, and does not confer complete immunity. So we could well be into 2021 or 2022 before anything comes close to normal.

The Crisis Shapes our Future

In my view, the future is bright, but with painful changes. Connected Services are going to have a heyday – starting with Zoom but moving to everyone who can deliver business products online. The gig economy will shift as more people move into front-line delivery roles. Brick and Mortar will shrink dramatically as the simple act of walking in the door carries risk. A friend noted that Boeing has recently laid off 1200 engineers, and they will never be rehired. Without herd immunity in a year or two, high paying jobs that are tied to “walking int the door” will be lost forever. The economy will not crash, but will change profoundly as market sectors shift.

Opportunity for Business

The opportunity lies in re-calibrating and focus on new venues for sales. A catering friend says that they delivered 150 food boxes as a drive-by fundraiser for a charity. Both the charity and the caterer are struggling to innovate, and whether they succeed is not important. What is important is they worked together to test a new concept.

At CompanionLink, our loyal customers provide our best inspiration. We can work together to generate innovative ideas. My role is to put away my ledger and help my customers succeed. Their success will feed our success.

My competitors are in the same boat as I am. Suddenly it is time to benefit from years of free service or generous policies. Here at CompanionLink we have always had free tech support even to customers who spent minimal amounts of money many years ago. I am surprised today at how these people are so willing to support us by purchasing a low cost upgrade or suggesting a new avenue of business. (Thanks Guys!) On the other hand, companies like Microsoft, Comcast and Verizon have spent the past half-decade raising prices and canceling service to past customers. I know people do not have the same level of loyalty to them as they had in the past.

Focus on Enjoying the Now

We are just two months in to what may be a five-year economic transition. The 1972 Stagflation crisis ended with IBM, Wang, and Dec replaced by Microsoft by 1978. The 2002 Dot-Com bust saw Novell, Symantec, Kodak and Blockbuster die, while Facebook, Amazon and PayPal were born. The trend looking forward is connectivity – helping customer achieve their goals without face-to-face meetings. Values, flexibility and efficiency will get you to that customer. Until then, we have today. Dogs and Children will still enjoy this day so take time to play with them. Plan and test new ideas, see what works, and move upward with your life. This is nothing I planned, but it gives me the opportunity to excel in new areas, and for that I am grateful.

Get Instagram Followers and Grow Your Business

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Heather Turner

Social media undoubtedly have a significant impact on every aspect of people’s lives in the present century. Among the various top order social media platforms, Instagram is the one showing the most promising growth in terms of popularity among general users as well as businesses. More and more brands are featuring their products and services on this trending photo-sharing platform.

The diversity of users and the versatile reach offered by Instagram make it the top priority social media platform by advertisement campaigners. The same reason explains the hype for getting more and more followers and likes. If you are also interested in increasing your follower count on Instagram, keep reading this post.

How to Boost Your Follower Count?

Various businesses resort to several formulae to increase the number of people following their personal or brand pages on Instagram. Since Instagram is composed of a mixed crowd with varying tastes and interests, there is no generalized thumb-rule method. Some of the companies try and increase their following manually. They opt for organic growth by studying their audience. This strategy, though effective, takes a lot of time and effort to bear fruits.

The most observed trend, followed by modern business houses is to buy followers on Instagram. This method is instantaneous and far easier compared to organic growth. You can pay for it and get a solid number of followers to count overnight. This way, the minimum milestone of 10,000 and even 1 Million becomes easier to achieve than ever before.

Get Real Followers on Instagram

There is a common question asked by social media influencers and businesses regarding the concept of buying Instagram followers. They are worried if these profiles are not authentic. If you have the same query, here is the answer. The best companies selling likes and followers on Instagram are aware of your anxieties and they have given a lot of thought and effort on the subject.

Top-order agencies providing followers and likes on Instagram can guarantee you that your follower base will be increased and that too with real profiles. You can buy real Instagram followers who would certainly increase not only your stats but also visibility and exposure.

How to Get Maximum Number of Followers?

You have to devote time and effort to establish a follower base worth advertising; there is no short cut to that. Even if you buy Instagram followers cheap from verified agencies, your work does not end there. You have to share content posted by related pages and accounts. Reposting is a great way to attract users. Moreover, you must study your existing followers, know their likes and interests, and produce quality content. You have to make your followers feel valued by responding to their comments. Follow these steps and see the difference by the bulging stats of your profile. Grow your follower count and make your brand well-known in the market.

What Types of App Could Help Enhance How You Use Your Android?

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Evelina Popova

It is estimated that an average smartphone user has between 25 and 30 apps on their phones. It is also suggested that, while there are 2.5 million apps in existence, we tend to spend 70% of our phone time on the most popular 200 of these apps. Having so much choice from so many different aspects can be difficult – do we want game apps, entertainment apps, or useful apps to enhance our day-to-day lives? Here is a handy round-up for some of the apps you might not know about that can really enhance your Android experience.

Productivity Apps

Teachers loved telling us that we wouldn’t be able to carry a calculator in our pockets when we grew up so we needed to learn the quadratic formula, but it turns out they were wrong. As well as being able to sync to our desktop PC and laptop features, our phones can be incredibly useful themselves. They can enhance our productivity with time management apps. This can maximize how we use our Androids. First off is the Todoist app, which presents an easy to use task manager. Gaining rave reviews, the app helps us take a jumble of tasks and see them in a clear manner.

HourStack is a useful app that allows us to segment our tasks by time and see how long they are taking to complete. The overview option allows you to see what is consistently overrunning and what you are doing quickly. This information can help you manage your time better. For a more professional time-tracking app, try Hubstaff. The PomoDone App allows you to connect with other time management apps to use the Pomodoro Technique or frequent breaks to make you more productive.

Emergency Apps

While we might not want to think of the worst happening, it’s always good to be prepared just in case it does. The police are suggesting that people download the What3Words app. The app has segmented the world into 3m squares and gives each 3m square a unique three-word combination. This allows emergency services to pinpoint your exact location – or could be used with friends to find exact meeting points. Studies estimate that 5,761 phones are dropped and broken every hour. Sometimes, these physical accidents can lead to software accidents. Our phones might delete chunks of data, including media, app settings, and contact information.

There is a handy tool that lets you restore contacts on Android devices, as most online data leaves a shadow. This can give you peace of mind in case your phone does decide to try to wipe itself. You will be able to retrieve numbers of friends, but most importantly you will be able to get back any professional or business-related numbers. Friends can be tracked down on social media, but professional numbers might be harder to find again. It also allows you to use Easy Backup to ensure there is a saved copy of your data.

Entertainment Apps

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” so it’s important to have some apps that give us some reprieve. Of course, our go-to streaming services are key. With everything from Spotify to Netflix and Disney+ offering free trials before committing to an account, you are able to sample the streaming sites to find the one most suitable for you. There are also game apps that are specifically designed for smartphones. There are the classics based around Mario, which take the characters and themes of the franchise and update them for mobile play. There are also the AR games such as Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which theme the game around your direct environment.

Square Enix ported many games from the consoles to be playable on Android phones, including Final Fantasy. There are also the more intensive games, including Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Fallout Shelter by Bethesda. Fortnite and Minecraft remain popular for Android phones, especially given how invested you can become with the games.

Finding the right combination of apps can give us a more enjoyable and productive experience with our phones. We might fill our homepage with apps that help us live more streamlined lives. Or, we may plan ahead and ensure we have the tools at our disposal for any number of emergencies. Or, we may simply want to max out on games and other activities that don’t make us any smarter but do give us a dose of much-needed fun.

How to Create a Mobile-friendly Website

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Claire Ward

With more and more people accessing websites from their phones, your website must function just as well on mobile devices as it does on a desktop. Here are the essentials you need to know to create a website that is easily usable on both iPhones and Android phones.

Outsourcing Is Often the Best Option

Any website requires expert UX and UI design, but it’s even more crucial for mobile-friendly sites. User experience design encompasses all aspects of a user’s interaction with your website, while user interface design has more to do with your site’s look, feel, and presentation.

If you want your website to flourish, consider getting a professional UI/UX designer, like Clay, on board. The famous San Francisco design and branding agency Clay puts user experience at the heart of everything it does. And the firm began life focusing on mobile apps, so it is the perfect UX design company to hire.

You may even consider outsourcing all of your website development needs to a web design company. Small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from outsourcing as much as big businesses because it enables them to use technologies without having to build them from scratch.

Outsourcing also allows you to save costs in the long run and have access to larger pools of experts. Find out more about how to outsource web development for your mobile-friendly website.

Make Your Website Responsive

There are many more things that must be considered when creating a mobile-friendly website than for a website that can be accessed on desktops. A crucial element for a mobile-friendly site is responsiveness.

A responsive website contains all of the same content regardless of the type of device that’s used to access it, and it alters the way the content is displayed and arranged to suit the size of the device screen. Furthermore, a responsive design is great for Search Engine Optimization; it is Google’s preferred format for mobile websites.

Do Not Use Flash Animations

Using flash animations throughout your website is a bad idea, so don’t do it. Flash can slow down pages’ load times, it is bad for SEO, and it simply doesn’t work on many browsers and devices. Neither iOS or Android support flash.

Include the Viewport Meta Tag

Using the viewport meta tag is essential, as it is an easy way to control your site’s appearance on a mobile device. If your website page opens the same on a desktop and the small screen of a phone, mobile-site users will have a lot of difficulties scrolling from side to side to read each line of text and to view all the content. By using the viewport meta tag, you ensure that all browsers will fit the width of your website’s pages to the screen of the specific device being used.

Use Big Buttons

It’s easy to click on website buttons when accessing a site from a desktop. But trying to click on tiny buttons with your fingers on a small phone screen can be difficult, especially if multiple buttons are next to each other. Indeed, such designs can start to cause real frustration and irritability to your website visitors, and that is the last thing you want. The problem is solved easily, though. Use bigger buttons. And make sure those buttons are reasonably easy to use on all devices.

Use Large Fonts

Size matters. That doesn’t only apply to buttons. It also applies to fonts. Reading on small screens can be challenging, so it is always best to use a font size of at least 14px. It is also best to stick to standard fonts because unrecognized fonts can make it slower for your website to load on mobile devices.

App Study Highlights the Diversity of Mobile Gaming in 2020

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Evelina Popova

Android and iOS-enabled devices are essential tools that play a key role in so many aspects of our lives. However, as well as being vital in a business sense, they have also become a big part of how we wind down away from the world of work.

Both of the mobile operating systems have proven themselves to be effective gaming platforms through the years and new figures have put a spotlight on the huge success that such apps are enjoying.

Huge Success

According to VentureBeat, a new study from intelligence body App Annie has revealed there were 13 billion new mobile game downloads across the globe in the first quarter of 2020. It was also estimated that consumers spent more than $16 billion on such games across the three-month period, with gaming accounting for 85 per cent of spending on Google Play and almost two-thirds on iOS.

However, one of the most striking aspects of the research was how it highlighted the range of different forms of gaming that are doing well on mobile. For example, while the mental puzzle title Brain Out was named the top game in terms of downloads, PUBG Mobile was found to have the most active users.

When it comes to consumer spend, the Chinese version of PUBG known as Game for Peace came out on top, but it was followed by the online battle arena title Honour of Kings. The study also found that established names like Pokemon Go, Minecraft Pocket Edition and Candy Crush Saga continued to be popular with many people. You can bet there will be more options in the future.

Plenty To Offer

Such findings clearly indicate the diverse range of gaming genres which have been able to find a home on mobile.

While it is not represented on App Annie’s findings, Gaming is also expanding the number of games available with online games being embraced on both smartphone and tablet. For example, Betfair is one of several brands which offers it services via apps for both iOS and Android devices, with the software meaning that members can easily play the new Betfair games offered by the company while they are on the move.

Bubbles are one of the most popular “aim and shoot” games in the app store. They’re easy to play, but difficult to master.

The importance of mobile has also been demonstrated by the fact that so many established names from other parts of video gaming have embraced it in recent times too. Crash Bandicoot has become one of the latest well-known characters to take the step, following the likes of Call of Duty into the area. eSports favourite League of Legends is also on its way as well, with Wild Rift being a version of the game specially built for both mobile and console.

A Key Mobile Activity

Mobile devices are capable of so many different things these days, but it is clear that gaming has now become a key activity that many people are using them for.

The App Annie findings put a fascinating spotlight on the state of play in mobile gaming at the moment and it will be intriguing to see how matters develop in the months and years ahead.

Print Stamps Online for your Custom Handwritten Letters and Parcels

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Gremal Ebal

There is some kind of mystery about handwritten letters. But in our digitized world, sitting down and writing a letter feels absolutely archaic. Maybe it’s because we are too busy to actually write or maybe it’s because we don’t even know where the envelopes are sold. However, writing letters is incredibly beautiful. It enhances creativity and connects us to others in the deepest ways.

The majority of us send emails and text messages to communicate- both professionally and personally. Sending emails or text messages is easy and surely convenient. When you think of it, is there anything email can’t do these days? It can never replace the feelings attached to handwritten letters.

So here are some reasons why handwritten letters will always have a special place in our hearts even in 2020.

Make Your Special Occasions Extra Special

Imagine your friend has suffered a loss, and they are very sad. Now imagine you send them a quick WhatsApp text or an email to pass on your condolences instead of a handwritten note. Does it sit right with you? If you think about it, It doesn’t feel personal and truthful.

We now even have e-cards, these e-card companies print on demand your words on cards for you. But in certain circumstances, you can not replace a handwritten note. It can be an absolute disappointment to receive an ecard or an email instead of a handwritten note or letter on special occasions.

Receiving Letter In The Mail

Receiving a handwritten letter can be an instant mood booster. Going through those dreaded brown envelopes and finding one beautiful letter in the pile can put a smile on your face.

Most of the post we get through our doors is either bills, leaflets from the supermarket you will never visit. But a custom printed gift card envelope with a handwritten name can be a breath of fresh air and make you feel special. And the thought that someone stopped for a while, sat down and penned down a letter for you is truly magical.

Make It Personal With A Handwritten Letter

Writing a letter is not easy, you need to put some effort into it. It is also very time-consuming. It demands care from the writer and leaves the writer feeling vulnerable. It is more personal than an email or a text message on many levels.

Use Your Brain And Pour It All Out

Typing out your feeling is convenient and easy. It is almost mindless. But writing a letter is more difficult. Every word and every line is full of meaning and thought, writing is more permanent and long-lasting. It takes courage and can be overwhelming to write a letter.

A Handwritten Letter Brings A Bunch Of Feelings With It

Touching the words someone has written for you from across the world is bound to give you a swell of love and respect. With handwritten letters, you get to forever cherish the feelings of gratitude.

Handwritten letters are indeed pleasant to send and receive. But do you even know where the stamps are sold? No, they don’t come with your amazon subscription. But relax, you don’t have to run to the post office to purchase them. You can now print stamps online at home with ease and enjoy writing letters.

Professional Liability – How to Find the Right Insurance That You Need

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Bernadine Racoma

Small business owners have a lot to consider when looking for the right coverage for their needs in today’s modern world. The addition of technology into the small business world makes it even more complicated to keep your clients information safe and secure. This is where professional liability insurance can become an extremely beneficial resource.

Professional Liability insurance protects your small business from a lot of very complicated situations that you may find yourself in. Being a business owner is more complicated than ever, and it is worth a little money spent every month to have someone backing you up if you find yourself in a sticky situation.

This article is going to dive into how professional liability insurance against risks can protect you in the modern world of technology. Whether you like to believe it or not, many of these small business hacks can open you up to a world of trouble in the long run.

Small Business Productivity

Small business owners are busy people. Unlike people who have built corporations, they are doing most of the heavy lifting all by themselves. It is natural that small business owners would be on the lookout for loopholes and tools that will make their lives much easier.

This is where small business owners begin to turn to third party apps for their phone, websites on their computer, and even software that they can download to their laptop. While these services might boost their productivity, it is important for small business owners to make sure that these third party services do not open them up to trouble with their clients.

Phone Apps for Small Businesses

Using an app for a small business on your phone can be a great way to make things easier for you. You might need an app to keep up with ordering or to store customer information. Using a carrier like My Choice insurance Canada is beneficial to keep your liabilities covered.

In some instances, you may even decide to have an app created for your small business. In this instance, your app may be downloaded to customer’s phones. This is a common business plan for stores that use rewards for dollars spent in the store.

Either way, you need to make sure that your professional liability insurance policy will cover either of these instances. For example, if you have customer information stored in a third party app on your phone, will your insurance cover a data breach? Or will your insurance cover the cost of a new phone if your app causes a customer phone to die? These are legitimate questions that could be costly.

PC and Phone Security

Making sure that the computers and phones used inside of your business are secure is another crucial point for the small business owner. Breaches in these areas could be costly.

Final Thoughts

Liability is a serious concern for many small business owners. Technology has only created an even larger area for small business owners to consider when building their insurance policies. Whatever you do, make sure you are completely covered.

UI Design Tips for Creating a Business Website

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Claire Ward

Every business needs a website these days. But if the site doesn’t employ UI design principles, it simply will not attract as much traffic and be able to convert those visitors into customers. The interface through which visitors interact needs to be as near to perfect as possible. By using the right UI design methods, that’s undoubtedly achievable.

Design Your interface with Your Target Audience in Mind

Before designing an interface, it’s vital you define how people will be using it. You can then tailor it to a specific demographic. Visitors to websites and apps interact in two different ways: directly and indirectly. The former includes tapping a button and swiping a card, while the latter involves things like pointing and clicking a mouse and typing into a form field. By understanding who your users are and what devices they are using, you can come up with informed decisions on how to design your interface. For instance, if your target audience is seniors who have limited dexterity, designing with a touchscreen in mind could be best. If your interface is primarily for people who interact with apps via a keyboard, you will want to support common keyboard shortcuts, so that time spent working with a mouse is minimized.

Compare Other Websites in Your Sector

The UI design principles you use to create your website should be based on your specific business sector, as some designs work better for some industries than others. You should take time to study other websites and apps of businesses operating in your industry so you can best see how users are interacting with content. It’s also always good to keep an eye on your competitors so you can provide better options than them. For example, if you are in the online video game business, you will want to check out other gaming platforms. It’s also recommended you look at how users in different countries interact with websites, so you can tailor yours to suit your target audience. For instance, look at how a Casumo NZ differs from a website in the US.

Give Acknowledgements When Actions Are Taken

UI design is all about making your website easy for visitors to use. So, the last thing you want is for your potential customers not to understand what’s going on. Therefore, it is best practice always to acknowledge when an action has been taken. For example, if a user clicks a button, you should provide an indication that the button has been clicked. You could do that by making the button turn another color once it has been pressed, or you could animate the button so that it appears to sink into the page after being clicked. And if it takes a while for content to load, ensure you include a loading icon so that people know their action is being processed. Whenever a visitor to your website takes an action, a small acknowledgment can make all the difference to the user’s experience.

Consistency Is Key

If you want to turn traffic to your website into actual customers, it’s essential your site is consistent throughout. That means using the same design principles for each page. For example, don’t place the menu on the top of one page and at the bottom of another. And don’t use one font type for one blog post and a different font type for another. If your UI design is not consistent, visitors to your website will find it difficult to navigate and access content. People should know exactly where everything is on your website and be able to navigate to different pages and forms within three clicks. By being inconsistent with your UI design, you will confuse visitors. Do that, and they will leave your website as quickly as they reached it. If you want to turn visitors into customers, website design consistency is crucial. You should also make sure your UI is correct for the platform. For instance, iOS apps can work differently to Android ones, and desktops have different needs than mobile sites.

5 Time-Saving Tools for Blogging to Grow Your Business

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Joy Mayo

Developing a blog to grow your business is a very good idea, yet you need to know what tools and platforms to use in order to market your business well and meet the needs of your target audience. These days the demand for quality content is high; one can start an online business with a blog with minimum investments by incorporating effective marketing strategies to grow revenue. Blogging, in general, is so popular these days that the main goal of each business should be about standing out and being the best of the best. There are a lot of tools that can help you make your blog successful, here are the ones you need to take notice of first of all when planning and creating your content.

Keyword Planner

Keyword Planner will help you drive more traffic to your website. If you want to have a popular blog these days, it is not enough to just create interesting content to steadily grow your business. It is also important to incorporate effective SEO strategies and use the keywords people type into their search engines, like Google, when looking for something. Keyword planner will help you find those keywords so that you could use them in your articles and get more people to visit your website and learn about your business. The tool will show you the search volume of each keyword and help you determine what keywords will make your content more popular. You can use this tool free of charge, but you will first be requested to start a Google Ads account.

Google Trends

Google Trends works perfectly when combined with the Keyword Planner. This tool will help you come up with popular article topics as you get to discover what is trending in the world. You can select a specific region based on the location of your target audience and see what interests people most of all in that area during a certain period of time. Thus, if you write an article or create content that follows the trending topics, you will get more blog visits and potential customers. This tool will also help you in drafting your content strategy and defining seasonal trends, discovering your target audience, and learning how to create content that works as effective unpaid marketing for your business promotion and popularization. You can use this tool free of charge as well, which means that you don’t need considerable financial investments to get your business up and running.

Canva

Verbal content always works better when there are some visuals accompanying it. It’s easier for people to comprehend information when they can take short “visual breaks” and think about the information they received. That’s why it is important to maintain a visual-verbal balance on your blog, and Canva is an excellent tool for that. You can upload your own photos here or use the ones that are already provided on the platform. You can edit the photos, add some graphic and verbal elements on the pictures, layer in some text, add your logo, promotion, or some CTA (call-to-action). This platform is also free of charge, but you can upgrade your account to get access to more tools and advanced functionality.

Buzzsumo

This tool will help you understand how your content performs on your blog and social media platforms. You can see how many people like, interact, and share your content, which basically defines the engagement rate. What makes Buzzsumo even better is that you can also analyze the content created by your competitors and learn from their success. Monitoring content performance is crucial when marketing your business since you need to always adapt in accordance with the needs and feedback you get from your target audience. All you need to do is enter the URL of the content you want to analyze, be it an article or a social media post, and the tool will show you how popular that content is across different platforms. You can use this tool for free, but it is better to upgrade your subscription to get more detailed reports on content performance.

Hemingway App

If you are a student trying to create an A-level paper, it is best to reach out to an essayservice, but if you want to create a blog article on your own and are insecure about your writing, you should use the Hemingway app to polish it.

The popularity of your blog and, in turn, your business depends on how easy it is to read and comprehend your content. Hemingway app will help you make your texts readable and easy to understand. It shows you when a sentence is too long or wordy. You will get a chance to get rid of unclear syntax structures, passive voice, vague phrasing, and other elements that complicate your writing. All you need to do is copy the text you need to have analyzed, and paste it into the app. It will give a grade to your content and provide feedback on the things you need to improve.

Phone Apps That Help Your Company Be More Efficient

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Sasha Karlsen

Although most of us spend considerably too much time using our smartphones, it doesn’t mean that it is impossible to use your phone to your advantage. We are used to various functions our smartphones are capable of, such as GPS, radio, or flashlight, but that’s not all. You can download apps that will help your business. In a second, you’ll learn more about apps that will make running a business much easier. Let’s go!

Google Translate

No matter what kind of a company you are running, most probably you’ll have to interact with clients from different countries. You don’t need to learn multiple languages – there are apps that can help you communicate with people from foreign countries! There are apps that will require a monthly fee, but with even as simple an app as Google Translate, you can achieve surprisingly much. If you install this app on your smartphone, you can use your camera to translate texts in real-time!

Rep

If you want to make sure that people know your brand, you should make use of modern methods. Rep allows you to connect with the influencers to make your brand and products more recognizable. You can also analyze the estimated impact every cooperation could bring. With the help of influencers, you could even organize competitions among their fans with various products with your logo as a reward. There are dozens of companies, such as TeeJunction, that allow you to customize different items.

Making sure that you attract people who are the most suitable for the positions for which you are recruiting is essential if you want your business to grow. No matter how much of an excellent and wise leader you are, you won’t be able to develop your company on your own. You need others, and LinkedIn is a great tool to contact people that would help you thrive in this competitive world. That’s not all! You can also check what your competitors are doing. This way, you won’t unexpectedly find yourself behind the curve. The world is moving at an incredible pace, and it is crucial to monitor what your competition is doing, or you might risk losing your customers.

DejaOffice

If you think that there is a little bit too much chaos in your company, then this app could make your team more productive. You won’t have to worry about not knowing how different tasks are progressing ever again! It allows you to check whether your team has a long way to go before the project is finished, or if you are near the end. At the same time, the entire team will be aware of what needs to be done.

Evernote

It is likely that you communicate with other people across other platforms, which means that finding important files could be difficult. Do you have it saved on Google Drive, or perhaps you received it on Slack? Evernote is great if you often feel lost in the chaos. It allows you to save notes, pictures, or even record your own voice so that later on, you won’t have to search for the crucial information – you’ll have everything in one place. It makes managing large projects much easier, though you can use Evernote to save private notes too!

PayPal

It’s no surprise that PayPal is an online payment system that is extremely popular, especially among small businesses. Why? It is very easy to use, which means that even people who are not particularly internet-savvy won’t have a problem with setting up a PayPal account. If you own a small business, then you won’t have to worry about the monthly fees – that’s because there aren’t any! Depending on the volume of the sales, the payment fees for small businesses vary, the maximum is 3.4%. There are no hidden fees, which is why PayPal became such a dominant force.

Upward

If you think that LinkedIn is an excellent platform with which you can find employees, but you would like to broaden your choices a bit, then Upward is a great choice. You will save a lot of time, as this app allows you to post job offers on multiple platforms. You won’t have to go on each platform individually. Instead, it is possible to respond to the candidates from within the app. If you get an overwhelming amount of responses, then you can also quickly sort candidates.

The winds of change

A significant portion of your employees will spend too much time on their phones, checking Facebook and Twitter, but there are apps that could help you save some time, money, or make your employees more productive. Some of them might even affect the way things are done in your company, but if you don’t want to stay behind, you should learn that developing your own company requires implementing changes. All of the previously listed apps are easy to use, which is crucial, especially when it comes to industries where people are not IT-experts. Some of them have a free trial period, others are outright free, which means that you can try them out, without risking anything. If you notice that they have a positive impact on your company, you could consider choosing a premium option.

6 Useful Apps That Could Decrease the Costs of Running a Business

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Sasha Karlsen

Running a small business is not easy, though the recent events have made this process significantly more difficult. Even with the financial support provided by the government, many businesses will go under. It means that in times like this, any way of saving money should not be ignored. In a second, you’ll learn about apps that could help you decrease the costs of running your business.

Connecteam

An easy way to save money is to get rid of the landline and use apps like Connecteam instead. This way, you won’t have to worry about the costs of the calls. It is especially important if your employees are located in multiple countries – the costs of everyday communication via phone would be exorbitant. Thankfully, with Connecteam, you can have live group conversations, each employee can “react” to new developments, and the entire internal communication becomes much smoother. The cheapest available plan is free for up to 200 employees. At the same time, although the app has a lot to offer, it is easy to use – you won’t get lost among all the cryptic features.

HyreCar

If you don’t want to purchase a car, but it is not rare that you need a vehicle, then you could download the HyreCar app. It doesn’t matter if you need a car to deliver some materials, or simply go from point A to point B – this app will make the process of renting a car extremely easy. Alternatively, if your company owns a car, but you don’t use it very often, then you could use this app to rent it to someone else, and at least make some money!

Rescuetime

If you think that you, and your co-workers, might have trouble avoiding distractions, then the Rescutime app could make focusing much easier. If you install the app, you’ll know how much time you spend on various apps, websites, and on your projects. It doesn’t require manual entry – the app will do that for you! You can block the websites that you frequently visit when you are procrastinating, which can improve your productivity. Being aware that your time is tracked can give your willpower a boost that could help you finish your projects quicker, which would save you some stress as well. You might be initially surprised by the amount of time that you normally waste, though you are not the only one. Once you have all the data, you can start creating a better plan for every day.

Paribus

If your company often purchases products online, then Paribus could help you decrease the costs. How? The app monitors the prices of the items that you’ve purchased. If there is a price change, Paribus will let you know, which means that you can get back the price difference. Some of it will go to the app owners, but you’ll get back the majority. This way, you won’t have to track the price changes yourself, which means that you’ll be able to focus on other, more essential tasks. If your company regularly orders products from the internet, the app could save you thousands of dollars a year.

Wave

If you cannot afford costly accounting software, then you could use Wave instead. It will take care of all the expenses and invoices – there is also an option of scanning the receipts. The easy-to-read interface makes it easy to see if your business is in an excellent financial condition, or whether the financial situation is dire. The Wave app is completely free, without any hidden fees for small businesses. Okay, so how does it make money? In the United States and in Canada, it also offers payroll services for a reasonable price. The option to allow your business to accept online payments costs up to 3.4% + 30¢ (bank payments have a 1% fee).

Abukai

If traveling a lot is one of the key features of your job, you should consider installing Abukai. Why? There’s nothing fun in looking for the receipts from the hotels and trains for expense reports. With Abukai, the entire process will become much easier. It allows you to scan invoices and receipts to generate reports with all the essential information automatically. 12 reports per year are free – if you need them more frequently, you might consider purchasing a premium plan.

Managing a company is not easy, though in recent times, staying floating became even much more challenging. It will take some time before things get back to normal, which means that for now, decreasing the costs of operating the business is a priority. Depending on your industry, apps could help you decrease some expenses. Most of the ones that you can find on this list are free or at least have free trial periods. Hopefully, they will help you survive this difficult time.