Email is the easiest and fasted way to communicate with your customers. The senders need to write the message and send it to the person with whom he wants to share the information. Email in offices is mostly done for official purposes; however, it can also be used for illegal activities like exchanging sensitive information of customers to others in return for money. This could violate the data protection act and result in huge penalties for a company.

It is an effective corporate security measure to use an email monitoring software that can track the online activities on the net through the mail. This software can track the incoming as well as outgoing messages of staff, thereby providing complete ease and relaxation of data security of the office.

There are many types of email monitoring software that are available on the internet. Some of them can be downloaded freely and require no paid subscriptions. However, some software also requires paid subscriptions for full access to the software.

Reasons to use Email Monitoring in your Company

• Keep watch on any targeted device: – Mails can be sent from the phone and on desktop or laptops. Hence track the email activities of employees can be a difficult task, especially for the call center industry where employees have access to customer’s sensitive information. Using email monitoring software can be useful for securing the stored information that is used for official purposes only. You can track the email activities on any targeted device using this email monitoring software.
• Observe the quality of email within the company: – Sometimes, email can be perceived as harassing, even if people claim it is a joke These could be observed easily using email monitoring software. This software is easy to install as they are compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems.
• Keep track of spam emails: – If the emails are registered on third party websites, then it pushes unnecessary information and sends spam emails. These emails consist of links that can potentially harm any computer and increase the risk of a virus attack.

Best Email Tracking Software in 2020

Email tracking software: – It is the best email tracking software that can monitor the email activities and can be used in the sales team to track email engagement with industry-standard metrics.

Outreach – Email tracking software: – This is easy to use email tracking software that can track the email activities and is one of the best-known software for bloggers. They can reach their targeted audience by sending their emails to their prospects. It helps you to outreach your existing customers.

Freshsales – Email tracking software: – IT companies, Customer care help desk and other IT supports company uses CRM software. They need to monitor the activities of their staff through the internet. This tool can easily detect any illegal activity and alert the business owners about any potential harm of data leaks.

Data stored in the office should be kept for office use only; hence it is the duty of every business owner that they monitor their staff’s email activity using email tracking software.

Education serves to impart knowledge, values, and critical thinking strategies to someone. It is the main activity that goes on in schools and other learning institutions. Non-formal, formal, and informal are some of the forms this systemic process can take on. Similarly, training is grouped in the bracket of education since it aims to provide learners with skills and abilities. These attributes are essential since they help people to figure out how they can apply their acquired know-how to solve problems.

As such, there are numerous strategies that schools and other institutions employ to provide workers and students with an education. Entertainment is often viewed as something that people engage in to relieve stress or for enjoyment. Games are a typical form of such leisure activities. Gaming is mentally stimulating due to its ability to provide intrinsic motivation and challenge the cognitive aptitude of the players. Therefore, education and entertainment can work hand-in-hand to make the former more engaging and effective. This article delves into the strategies we can use to integrate the two concepts and come up with a curriculum for training.

Moving Away from Gamification to Implement Game-Based Learning

Gamification refers to using the standard principles of playing a game in a different context or activity. All this is done as a way of encouraging people to apply themselves to the exercises. However, people often misunderstand the terms. The elements of the typical game that gamification uses are listed below.

• A point-based reward system where the player would receive some score for achievements.
• Creating a competitive environment where participants challenge each other to achieve specified goals.
• Ensuring that there are rules and regulations which must be followed by the contestants.

Game-based learning turns the process of receiving an education into a game instead of applying the elements of playing it. That is, the teacher does not attempt to incentivize the students to learn through introducing leaderboards and a scoring system. Instead, they convert the course content into a game that teaches the student class concepts as they play it. In this case, the student can progress through the gameplay, and their level indicates their understanding of a subject. 

For example, if you want to train your students on how to become a competent essay writer, you can work on their spelling through a game. Hangman is a fantastic example of how children can learn grammar in an environment that is fun for them. With studies showing that interactive playing can help you retain and recall information, gaming can have a positive impact on education.

Applying Game-Based Learning in a Classroom Setting

First, you need to understand the students you want to teach. People have different aptitudes and abilities when it comes to learning various subjects. For instance, a student may be drawn more towards STEM courses instead of literature needed for students who’d like to be a paper writer. Of course, it is still vital to encourage them to improve in the areas that they are experience challenges while enhancing their skills in what they are already great at doing. Once you have such a profile worked out, you can design learning programs for each student that will help them increase their scores in their problematic subjects. At the same time, they will have an opportunity to get better at their strong ones.

Secondly, teachers should ensure that their students are engaging with relevant content as they play. For this step, it pays to play the games yourself so that you can check the concepts that are taught. Otherwise, you may risk your students rejecting the games since they do not offer much or any assistance in their academics. Think of this step as ensuring that learning is the focus of the game. Plus, some games tend to be quite complicated and even in how they let players interact with it. Using them for the learning process might end up stifling the education aspects of the game.

Lastly, teachers should make their students accountable for the time they spend playing. Keeping a watchful eye on their progress does not remove the stress-free elements of the game. Instead, you get the opportunity to see how well they are doing. After all, outcomes need to be measurable if you want to continue directing the students to areas they can improve in their academics.

You can start by finding a platform that allows you to follow up on the results of your students’ playing sessions. This monitoring system will help you ensure that your game-based learning strategies are working.

Marketing always deals with the analysis and strategic thinking regardless of the popularity or complexity of a chosen solution. Therefore, a marketing strategy that will work best does not necessarily mean that it is currently in the trends or copies example of large corporations like Apple and Amazon. The year 2020 has already shown itself as turbulent and unexpected with a great number of financial shocks, trade wars, and the Covid-19 situation, which has already paralyzed most of the world and marketing ways.

Nevertheless, such conditions also show which marketing strategy to choose because there are not so many options due to globalization, outsourcing, and limited resources. The key is to invest in education in marketing. Since most people turn to remote servicing these days, educate and provide the content that actually teaches the customers about the ways how they can benefit from an unusual living environment or restricted opportunities.

Best Marketing Choices in 2020

• Personalization. Add some personality and human voice to your marketing strategy. It means that it is best to avoid generic messages that only aim to sell a product or receive more subscribers if the talk goes about social networks. Most people listen to friends or follow the trends that are popular in their social circle. In some cases, there are celebrities who share a Twitter post or tell the reporters about their experience. While it is mostly a media hype, it still has a personal message that some people can relate to. In practice, it is a personalization philosophy that drives people towards particular decisions. If you speak from the company’s experience or endorse a famous person, it will make a major positive difference.

• Social media presence. A good marketing strategy online means more than just creating a page on Facebook or adding information to a blog. The secret to success is in keeping the information updated and regular. As the practice shows, building a strong social media strategy means researching the target audience to find out what kind of information is in demand and what is missing from the global Internet network. Start by outlining the social media strategy to analyze what has worked and what could be improved as the sales or number of visitors changes.

• Unique content. The major problem with choosing the right marketing strategy is the lack of unique content or the inability of employed specialists to provide information with a low similarity index. Thankfully, you can use Samplius regardless of text length without paying a dime. All it takes is some time to review the highlighted parts in order to change them later.
• Even if you find it difficult to write your own content, turn to PowerPoint slides or short presentations where all the important information is outlined just like a thesis statement. As most students already know, the only way to avoid plagiarism is to check things twice!

• Investing in research. Even though it is always linked to certain expenses or a considerable amount of time, invest in researching your marketing subject at greater depth because it will not only make your content powerful but will also help a particular company or a project to stand out. The same relates to most marketing college tasks when some research has to be done in order to get good grades and find reliable argumentation. Considering checking topicsmill.com for great essay ideas if you are in a writer’s block or need to boost your brain for creativity. After all, a good topic always needs the facts to support each claim, so even an hour of research matters. Ensure that you write down and organize all the interesting facts discovered.

• Live streaming and education. Some call it social distancing or stay-at-home concept as we live through the pandemic times, yet live streaming quickly becomes a marketing strategy that unites people from all over the world more than ever. Implement video lessons, marketing campaigns, competitions, and surveys through the video blog to attract more visitors. Create collaborations, presentations, and answer the questions of the followers’ live. There has never been a better chance to explore what is in demand and educate yourself in terms of communication skills.

Podcasts and Collaboration

Far not everyone is capable of filming a movie or creating fancy video blogs where all the latest updates are outlined in a style of Hollywood hits. Luckily, the old radio concept is alive more than ever as we have online Podcasts, which has already become one of the most popular marketing strategies in 2020. Even most students these days use collaborations when they need to promote something or organize a social campaign within the local community. At the same time, hosting Podcasts that deal with your ideas also means that you can invite various specialists in the field without leaving the comfort of your home or a workplace. Explore available opportunities, build your audience, make comfortable schedules, and use information that you already have. You can use any advertisement during the talk, so there is no pressure like it is done on TV or Youtube videos.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

LinkedIn

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.

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.

If you are looking for ways to improve your productivity, then you don’t necessarily need several ping-pong tables or to turn one of the conference rooms into a meditation room. There are other methods that could make you better at your job. In a second, you’ll learn about the apps that could make you more efficient. Let’s go!

DejaOffice

DejaOffice is an excellent app if you are looking for an intuitive CRM platform that will allow you to strengthen the relationships with your clients. It will have a positive impact on your sales, marketing, but also on the customer experience. What’s most important is that you can access all the vital data from your smartphone.

Faxburner

Sending faxes might be a bit troublesome, though there’s a way to make this entire process easier. You don’t need a fax machine – you can send and receive faxes with your smartphones or iPad. You can also archive old faxes or create new ones from multiple photos. It is especially great if you don’t need to send faxes often, and purchasing a fax machine is out of the question – with Faxburner App, you won’t have to pay a dime.

Expensify

If you need to travel a lot, then keeping track of all the travel expenses might be a bit challenging. Thankfully, Expensify can take care of this issue, making it much easier to not get lost in the chaos. If you give this app a try, you won’t have to worry about the lost receipts.

Trello

Trello is an excellent app if you want to track the workflow of your team. It allows you to make large projects considerably easier. You can create a transparent plan, where everyone has certain tasks assigned to them. This way, you will be able to tell right off the bat whether things are progressing nicely, or if your team needs more time to accomplish the goal.

Google Ads

Google Ads is a great tool if you want to be able to check the results and the current state of your ad campaigns anytime and everywhere. You don’t need a PC to see if there are any alerts, or to implement some changes – all of this can be done via your smartphone!

Asana

Asana is a project management software that allows you to track the progress of your team toward the goals. It is especially useful if you want all the processes that take place in your company to be as transparent as possible. In just a few seconds, you can check how your colleagues are faring when it comes to their projects, and it allows you to react more quickly if a need for any adjustments arises. It is also possible to check who is responsible for the projects that you are interested in, which makes the communication smoother. At the same time, you can comment on your colleague’s progress, without having to set up in-person meetings.

Skype

Although it has quite a lot of competitors, after all those years, Skype is still the number one app when it comes to video calls and voice calls. You don’t need to pay anything for your calls, which is especially useful if you often need to contact clients abroad. The video quality is superb, you can also send pictures, or just send messages!

Insightly

If you are looking for apps that will make it easier to manage your team while at the same time improving the customer experience, then you should consider checking out Insightly. This excellent CRM can help you when it comes to marketing, sales, but also with making sure that all the projects are delivered on time.

SignEasy

Signing all the necessary documents might not be that easy, especially if you often travel, without being able to access your PC. Thankfully, it is enough if you can access your smartphone to sign the documents legally. You won’t need to bother with faxing or scanning the documents – it is 2020 already, and there are quicker methods. This app can save you time that you’ll be able to spend in a more productive way.

Bonusly

If you want your colleagues to not only work hard but also to feel appreciated for their efforts, you should ensure that everyone in the company is aware of their accomplishments. Bonusly can raise the morale of your team by promoting exceptional performance.

Take a pick!

Even if you try to control yourself when it comes to the time that you spend on looking at your phone, you should consider using apps that could make your performance better. They won’t magically transform your career, but some of them could have a very noticeable impact on your productivity – why not try out some of them?