Productivity Tips to Increase Efficiency in The Office

Posted on by Claire Ward
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We all love the end of a productive day, right? The fact that you managed to close a sale, complete a script, or finally fix that bug in your code makes you feel useful and important. It’s days like this that make you love your job and think all your effort is worth it. 

Sadly, not all days can be like this. In fact, some days in the office can be frustrating and unfulfilling. On the other hand, some days just pass by you and you live the office trying to figure out just what important thing you accomplished. 

So, how do we make it work? How do we get the wheel spinning until the next great, productive day? Well, everyone has their tricks, and that helps improve productivity just a little bit with each day. This way, before you know it, things start moving smoother, and your efforts will have more impact. 

We had a chat with several successful employees and entrepreneurs and made a list of the top three productivity tips everyone swears by.

Use of All the Tools at your Disposal

We have access to a world of information (freely available) and tools, but we seem to forget about it quite often. 

Younger generations (aka millennials) know that Google holds most of the answers. As such, when they can’t figure something out, they start a search quest that will eventually provide some helpful advice. 

The same goes for various office tasks that can be solved in just a minute with free tools available online. 

For instance, you can combine PDFs online (for free) without raising any privacy risks. You don’t have to call the IT department for this. The same goes for other tasks like saving your PPT presentation in PDF format or sending a large file to a customer. 

There are lots of tools available online that can shorten the time spent with technical office tasks. You just need to search for them!

Know your Productivity Cycle

During the day, our mental focus and motivation go through several ups and downs. 

For instance, almost anyone we know has a down period right after lunch, between 2 and 4 pm. During this time period, your brain is barely moving and you feel like taking a nap right under your desk!

However, you still have to work, but there’s no way you can come up with something creative, insightful, or original. So, why not do some of those menial tasks (like answering emails, checking the calendar, filing the new project, and more)? This way, when you hit a productivity peak, you can work on a more complex and important task. 

The secret here is introspection. Observe your behavior on the timespan of one week and identify your productivity cycle.  

The To-Do List

Make sure that you end the day with tomorrow’s To-Do list and try to have everyone in the office do the same. This way, when the new day starts, everyone will know what tasks to tackle and in what order. 

However, the To-Do list must contain some specifics as to the time that should be dedicated to a task, the level of priority, and more. Luckily, we don’t have to use post-it notes or any kind of paper to put this list together. There is a wide range of apps (for mobile and desktop) easily available online. 

In addition, if you use a mobile app, you can add to the list and make changes even after you’ve left the office. 

In Conclusion 

In the end, there is no one miracle solution for better productivity. It’s important to keep an open mind and try various solutions until you find the right ones for you. 

5 Steps to Test the Security of Your PC

Posted on by Aleksandra Bondrenko
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The P in “PC” stands for personal, as your device contains a whole load of personal and sensitive information about you as its user. This simple enough reason is why lots of people can become quite obsessed with protecting their PC system.

Constantly testing if your system is secured enough from hacking and other kinds of cybercrime attacks is a wise, responsible move no matter what your job is or what you use your PC for. If you’re ready to test the security of your PC, here’s how:

1. Check your OS

Check your OS and figure out if it’s up to date. Your operating system is never a perfect operating system, as those with malicious intent are always trying to find their way into your PC through your OS. This is why OS developers are always hard at work at finding these bugs and flaws, and even perform ethical hacking on their own systems to make sure an OS helps keep your information safe and secure.

Your responsibility as a user then is to make sure that your OS is always updated to the latest patch. Many of these patches are optional, and OS manufacturers will still allow you to use your system without these security patches. However, it is always recommended that you install these upgrades and updates as soon as they come out, because not doing so can compromise your system’s security.

2. Check your settings

There’s a software application known as the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, and it’s supposed to help a user check how their Microsoft OS and Office programs are doing in terms of security settings. For starters, it checks your account passwords and makes sure that they’re strong and difficult to guess, it checks if your system gets automatic OS updates, and it even checks if your user accounts are given more privileges than they’re supposed to have.

You can also choose to check your settings manually, or opt for other analyzer tools that may be more robust and inclusive. If you’re going to check out MBSA alternatives, you only need to make sure that the tool you’re using has a good reputation and doesn’t open you up to vulnerabilities.

3. Check your internet browser

Keeping websites safe and secure is a priority for many reputable companies nowadays. In fact, they even perform all kinds of website testing or outsource these services to third-party software testers. These tests ensure that not only is a company’s website safe and secure, but that it’s also optimized for compatibility, usability, and performance across many devices.

However, you can’t just leave it up to the websites you’re visiting to protect you and your data. You need to protect yourself from your end too.

Make sure that your internet browser is updated to the latest version, and any and all plugins that you’re using are updated and safe to use. If they’re not up to date, they may leave you vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. If you rarely use a plugin, it’s best to just uninstall it rather than leave it running and outdated.

4. Check your firewall

For many, firewall security settings on devices run on Microsoft and MacOS are enough to ensure that you and your system are virtually hidden from hackers when you’re online. Wrong port settings, on the other hand, reveal you to hackers and give them an entry point into your system. Viruses and other malicious programs may have changed your port settings without you knowing. Testing your firewall and checking your port settings is a great idea. While you’re at it, you might also want to install an anti-virus software too.

5. Check your social media accounts

Your social media accounts are jam-packed with information, and you might want to double check which and how much of these data is available to the public. Oversharing information on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social media platforms is so commonplace nowadays that it’s so easy to overlook information that you might have rather not shared.

Make use of your social media accounts’ privacy settings. Check your profiles from an outsider’s POV, and remember to keep private and sensitive information away from feeds and timelines.

SQL and Your App

Posted on by Edward Roesch
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For those just starting their coding journey in app development whether for iOS or Android choosing what you need to know can be a daunting task. Which language to learn? What UI and UX concepts should be focused on? For those developing apps, more questions need to be answered. How do I access user data? How can data be stored and accessed efficiently to make the feature set truly stand out?

SQL and the Beginner

As alluded to above if you are just starting on your coding journey choosing languages and supplementary technologies is a daunting task. Monthly articles surface as to what the best or most popular languages are but they lack detailed information. The same can be said for frameworks and supplementary technologies. What makes matters worse is new technology is constantly being developed that seems to just add to the confusion of those starting out.

Rather than giving you several trends and popular languages, this article is intended to clear up any misconceptions regarding SQL. First, it is often asked whether SQL can be used to develop apps. Here the answer is a definite no. Before your heart sinks to the floor, it is important to note that SQL is a supplementary technology, it is powerful but it is not a one-stop shop for app development. Rather, it allows app developers to create and manage databases.

Data for the App

In many instances, as the more experienced developers reading this article will know, apps are often just a database hidden behind impressive UI. Even where apps perform other functions they make use of databases to store customer information which in turn can be used to develop better marketing campaigns via the use of analytics. To do this the data needs to be readily available and SQL is the tool for that.

In the wild, a lot of developers have found that SQL is the perfect supplement to a Java development services interface with SQL being able to feed data to the app. There is one important thing to remember though as SQL’s major currency it is important backup SQL database.

Ease of Use

SQL can’t really be considered a programming language in the same sense that Java, C#, and Python are. Developers will often compare SQL, or Structured Query Language to give the full name to the technology, to HTML in that it is designed to be a simple language to fulfill the desired end. In the case of HTML, it provides the structure to web pages. SQL is a data management language that helps users, and developers, to easily access specific data stored in databases. This is primarily done by inserting data into specific tables so that the data can be easily accessed when required. This makes the language both easy to learn as well as easy to use.

Conclusion

While SQL is not the answer to all an app developers’ prayers, it is a great tool for data management that is both easy to learn and use. For those just starting on their coding journey SQL can be learned in conjunction with other languages and fills the gap between a pretty looking app to one that is both pretty and functional.

Best Apps for Project Management

Posted on by Ahsan Raza
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Find the best Project Management Software Android Apps which can be helpful and effective for your projects and to meet with your specific objectives to achieve progress. There are numerous ideas and interesting plans which can be helpful and effective to make progress and to install it to get instant benefits due to the user-friendly interface and delivering the right achievements form the great plans. Project management software Android apps are of different types and in each app, the functions, features, and working criteria are different depending upon the specific sort of business plans and having the best remarkable features.

There are numerous Project Management Apps for Android which can be easily accessed by implementing through effective useful resources. Find numerous and attractive ideas to choose the best plan and achieve your progress through step by step guideline. In product development, analysis, requirements, knowledge, and skills have great value. The efficient use of the knowledge and skills makes the people perfect and prepare them to get the instant benefits too from smart feature plans to achieve the progress from step by step integrations and using the perfect tools to become expert and proficient in specific project planning.

In most of your design needs revision and clarification and then to handle it to use the specific tools and tricks. Choose the right collaboration and productivity tool to execute your project apps and then to make progress by following step by step guidelines. There is a massive range of ideas and plans which can be effective and interests printed to make the perfect and the ideal solution according to the specific business requirements. Reaching your crucial project milestones can be achieved with successful integration and following all the parameters to use intellectual skills and explorations of business ideas with a user-friendly project management app.

Wunderlist, Trello, ClickUp, Notion, ProofHub, Wunderlist, and Nifty are some of the best examples of the best project management tools that can be download to achieve the progress and to make effective business plans by successful planning. Detailed features and prescription of each Android app can be found on the website.

There are numerous Android Apps that are built-in only to execute the best project management and to achieve instant results. Some of the apps are freely available and some are paid. App store reviews and user recommendations can help the interested communities to get benefits and to make sure about unique features and explorations of the apps on behalf of the authentic and versatile feature plans.

There are numerous plans and strategies which can be full and effective to make progress in a specific time frame and to get help from the efficient use of the apps from the specific time frame. Almost everything belongs with practical field knowledge and facing the real challenges to which the competent people can solve on behalf of the perfect analysis and finding the perfect possible solutions. In the free version, the features are limited and in paid versions, the features are according to the business requirements and to use the full-fledged benefits from the efficient use of the apps.

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Making Your Ideas Come to Life: An Intro to 3D Printing

Posted on by Claire Ward
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3D printing is an excellent technology that can be used by both hobbyists and industrial-scale companies. But it all starts with an idea, of course. You’re likely aware that 3D printing is very commonly used for creating action figurines, board game pieces, and miniature house models, but did you know it’s also used in the aerospace, automotive, and robotics industries?

You’re probably not trying to 3D print parts for a DIY rocket ship, and you should probably be aware there’s a ton of FAA licensing required to even attempt launching a rocket, but we all need to start somewhere. So whatever your idea is, whether it’s printing your own Batman figurines or more practical and cool 3D prints, we’re going to go over some of the basics of 3D printing and where to start.

How and why beginners should outsource 3D printing work

Before you fully commit to the world of 3D printing, it’s a good idea to outsource your early ideas first. This will give you a better idea of what 3D printers are capable of, and what they aren’t, as well as save you a significant chunk of money on the upfront investment of purchasing a 3D printer and the necessary materials.

This is because beginners will typically fall into two camps. The first camp will buy a budget 3D printer that is not capable of professional quality, and have bad results with their initial ideas. The second camp may spend too much on a high quality, 3D printer, then decide it’s not for them after all, and have wasted a lot of money.

By outsourcing your early 3D printing work, you’ll save a lot of money and can request work done on different types of AM systems, and then ask questions to the company about their process and get help deciding on which 3D printing technology is best for you.

Using a professional service such as 3D Hubs, which offers 3D printing in Nashville and Austin, you just need to upload a CAD model, get a free quote, and then you can receive your parts in as little as 2 days.

This also gives you the opportunity to speak with professionals on the different processes and materials used in 3D printing, depending on the job being done, which can help you ultimately decide what type of AM system you’ll buy down the road.

What are the different types of 3D printing processes?

There are many different types of 3D printing processes, but some are more commonly used than others depending on the type of job being done.

Hobbyist 3D printing such as model figurines and game board pieces would typically use SLS or DLP because of the high level of detail available, whereas large industrial parts would more commonly use FDM process.

Is this making your head hurt? Let’s briefly examine what each of the common 3D printing processes means.

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

SLS is used for both prototyping and small-batch production of functional plastic parts with good mechanical properties.

In SLS, a laser selectively sinters polymer powder particles, fusing them together and building a part layer-by-layer.

MultiJet Fusion (MJF)

HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) can be used for both prototyping and small-batch-production of functional plastic parts.

In MJF, parts are built by jetting a binding agent onto thin layers of polymer powder particles (typically nylon) and then sintering them using an IR heat source.

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS)

DMLS produces high performance, end-use metal 3D printed parts for industrial applications in the aerospace, automotive and medical industries.

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

FDM is the most widely available 3D printing process, mainly used for low-cost prototyping and design verification with very fast turnaround times.

Stereolithography (SLA)

SLA is most suitable for visual applications where an injection mold-like, smooth surface finish, and a high level of feature detail are required.

Similar to SLS process, SLA uses a laser to trace out and build individual layers, but SLA uses a liquid resin instead of the powder used in SLS.

Conclusion

There’s truly a lot to understand about 3D printing, and that’s why we mainly recommend outsourcing your initial ideas first, and talking with the company about their recommended process for what you have in mind.

Tips for Working with Remote Workers

Posted on by Carol Trehearn
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Whether your business has been using remote workers for years or has just started doing so; there are some unique challenges you need to overcome to get the most out of the setup.

To help you benefit from employing remote workers, here are five tips to help you perfect the process.

Get the Right Setup

Before you start hiring lots of new remote workers, it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right setup. If you don’t have this in place, it’s going to be impossible to get the most out of whoever you hire, and you’re going to waste their and your time.

Make sure that you’ve got everything you need to communicate with your potential employee, and that you can easily share the information you need to share.

You might have an urgent need to transition to remote workers, but you’ve got to make sure you’re investing in remote work monitoring software at the same time.

Invest in the Hiring Process

Just because this employee will be working remotely doesn’t mean you should pay any less attention to the hiring process. You still need to find the right person for the job, and they still need to be a good fit with your company.

The process of hiring online might look a little bit different, but you’ve got to find a way that allows you to get to know your candidates. Remote workers are the same as office-based ones, you need the right people, and you don’t want to be looking for new employees constantly, so put the effort in to get the decision right the first time.

Sort Out Payroll

Make sure that everything is set up with your payroll to accommodate remote workers. There shouldn’t be much difference in this aspect between a remote worker and an office-based one, but it’s worth double-checking to make sure you’ve got everything sorted.

When an employee isn’t physically meeting with you, it’s important for trust that payments go through on time and correctly. With the right payroll software, you can ensure this is all taken care of automatically, and you don’t have to worry about it.

Furthermore, if your remote team includes employees working overseas, partnering up with an EOR that offers Global Payroll Services will simplify the entire process.

Work on Communication

When you’ve got the right software setup, this becomes much easier, but you’ve still got to make sure you’re focusing on communication.

When you’ve got everyone working in one office, communication should come naturally, but when you’re dealing with remote workers, you have to work a bit harder at it. That doesn’t mean you can’t communicate even better than when your staff are working from the office; it just presents slightly different challenges.

Keep People Involved

Make sure that you’re giving your remote workers regular feedback and make them feel like they’re part of the company. They might be working remotely, but they’re still working towards the same goals as everyone else.

You must continue to give them a sense of identity within the company by keeping them up to date with what’s going on and involving them in what’s happening.

Is It Possible to Virtually Protect Your Data from All Threats?

Posted on by Allen Brown
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The internet is an amazing place where you learn new things, research different topics, manage a business, or even communicate with people. However, it does come with a level of risk because some people enjoy compromising your sensitive data and hacking your platforms. Luckily, you have several ways to protect yourself, your data, and your websites online. You just need to figure out which one you need to keep everything you manage online safely secured. Read on to learn about the ways you could safeguard your data from threats and if it’s possible to protect yourself from everything. 

Encrypting your data 

One of the ways that you can shield your data from threats is by encrypting it. You need to invest in strong encryption processes and you need to understand how it works. Think of it as a protective sheet that conceals all your information in several secure vaults. The files get encoded and it’s only accessible by specific online users that have permission to see the information. One of the strongest levels of encrypting your data is the AES 256-bit encryption. You could invest in the AES 128-bit, but it doesn’t have the same strength and concealing algorithms. You can rest assured that your online platform’s data is scrambled, encrypted into different pieces, and hidden from any outsider who tries to steal information. 

Proper Authorization

You need to have a proper authorization plan for your online platforms to keep your users safe. Websites need authorization protocols for transactions, financial activities, editing, sending, and a lot more. Thanks to the developments of technology, a great option would be a virtual Dataroom to allocate all the information, manage it accordingly, give specific people proper permissions, and to go through several transactions and record entries safely. This virtual system will have every user verify their identity before seeing any type of information or finalizing any type of transaction. This is extremely helpful because any outsider won’t be able to get the proper authorization and permission. Also, you will see the names of every user and you can rest assured that no outsider/hacker can see, manipulate, or steal anything.

Creating Strong Passwords

You should implement a system that demands every user and new visitor to create strong passwords. This can increase their level of protection and decrease their chances of getting hacked. One of the easiest ways to have stronger passwords that can’t be cracked too easily is by having a long password with a mix of symbols, numbers, capitalized letters, and even special characters. This can make your passwords extremely unlikely to crack. Also, have automatic reminders for users to change their current passwords regularly for safety reasons. You never know what could happen and you should be prepared by preemptively creating a new password minimizes any chances of an online threat.

Maintain a Good Reputation   

Most threats or attacks can be because you didn’t maintain a good reputation online. Depending on the case, you or one of your users might have done something terrible or said something offensive. Anything you do or say online can be stuck forever, fixing it will be costly and time-consuming. Some hackers compromise your accounts as a way to take revenge or to mess up your life intentionally because of what you’ve said or done. This is the same with your users if they managed to provoke the wrong people. It would be wise to invest in a tool that protects your online reputation. This is good for social media outlets that may have questionable content or history that might damage you in the future. This is another way to preemptively take the first step in protecting yourself before a cyberattack even happens.  

Constant Back-Up Procedures

You will need specific procedures and steps that can give you a constant back-up of your personal information and sensitive records. This is for you and your online users or clients. Some attacks could come in the form of taking control of an entire platform and then deleting all the content. This shouldn’t be a major problem if you backed everything up. You would keep all the delicate files, numbers, transactions, history, phone numbers, names, and their professions. All of this information can be stored in a remote and secure server that only you have access to. You should make the right decision on hiring the best web host. They would have the means to safely back-up your files. You won’t have to worry if you ever get targeted for a ransomware attack that holds your information, blocks you from seeing it, or prevents you from controlling your platform. If it’s saved somewhere else, then you won’t suffer a serious loss.

Antimalware and Antivirus Programs

Everyone will need proper antimalware and antivirus programs for constant protection. These programs are designed to pay attention to any sudden changes to the system’s framework, a penetration attempt from an outsider, or upgrading your system with stronger protecting protocols. You will get notifications and alerts if anything bad or unusual is happening, giving you the head start you need to fix the issue quickly. Also, these protective programs are always updating because the digital world isn’t flawless. You will always have a platform that has loopholes, weak spots, and openings that hackers find out about. These programs help you defend yourself and your platform online from any phishing attempts, Trojans, spyware, worms, or any other type of malicious software that can harm you and your platforms online.

Most people believe that the digital world is safe and they forget about the possible negative outcomes of having online platforms. Anyone can be a target for a cyberattack. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner, an up and coming entrepreneur, a housewife, or even a kid that just plays online video games. Everyone can be vulnerable to a cyberattack, but several developers have come up with ways to strengthen those possible vulnerabilities and conceal your data from unwanted eyes. Nothing is impossible yet because hackers are always finding ways to penetrate servers and platforms, but developers are always coming up with updated ways to prevent any possible hacking attempts. 

How to Download Videos on Your PC and Transfer it in Your Phone

Posted on by Allen Brown
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Smartphones have become so prolific that almost everyone has one in their pocket at any time. These devices are making it extremely easy to access all kinds of information in an instant. However, they aren’t without their flaws. 

One of them is the fact that you can’t really do much with them if there’s no internet. More importantly, you can’t access videos online without the internet. To watch your favorite show or music videos offline, you’ll have to download them first. Here’s how you can do that without breaking a sweat. 

How Can I Download a Video Directly to My Phone? 

You can’t. It’s not that it’s technologically impossible, it’s that neither Google nor Apple wants anything to do with it. Downloading videos is a massive headache in terms of copyright.

Because of that, you won’t find any legitimate apps that allow you to download videos from places like YouTube. 

Instead, you’ll have to first download the video to your PC, and then transfer the video to your phone. Although it might sound complicated, it’s not. All you really need are the right tools for the job. 

Downloading the Video 

As of yet, most video streaming sites such as YouTube don’t have a download option. They only allow you to stream the video. To go around this issue, you’ll need to get yourself a video downloader of some sort. Speaking of which, not all downloaders are created equal. 

You’ll need to dig into different features this type of software offers. The people behind Viddly YouTube Downloader say that choosing the right file parameters is essential when downloading a video from any source. After all, the idea is to get a video of optimal size and resolution for your phone. 

Choosing the Right Format and Resolution 

When you decide to download a video using video downloader software, you’ll be presented with various options in terms of video format and resolution. Both of these are important as they directly impact the size of the file, as well as the picture quality. 

Phone screens are way smaller than your average TV or computer screen. There’s no need to run a 4k video on your phone since it most likely won’t support it. So far only Sony has seriously dabbled in 4k reproduction with their Xperia line. 

If your source video is 4k, you can save a lot of room on your phone by downgrading the resolution. In fact, you can go past full HD, if storage is an issue for you or if you plan on downloading more than one video. 

As far as video format goes, you’ll want to select the right one for your phone. Both iPhones and Android phones will run a variety of formats, so make sure to select the one that works for your device. 

Download and Transfer 

Once you’ve selected the resolution and format you want, go ahead and download the video to your PC. Once it’s on your hard drive, you can proceed to transfer it to your phone. 

  • For iPhone

If you run an iPhone, you’ll first want to sync up your device with your computer using a cable or WiFi. Keep in mind that the procedure is different depending on the type of computer you have. Macs offer native syncing with iPhone, while Windows machines don’t. 

When your iPhone syncs up, open the Finder feature and select it in the dropdown menu. 

Next, select the Movies tab in your button bar and click “sync movies to (name of your device)”. Lastly, check the box next to the video you’ve just downloaded, and click apply. 

  • For Android 

If you have an Android phone, simply hook it up to your PC using the USB cable. Once the connection is established, you’ll get a prompt where you can select the “Use USB for Transfer” option. This will open up the file manager on your PC, allowing you to transfer the file to your phone by dragging it over. 

All you need to do is select the right folder where you want your video to be transferred to. To do so, just navigate the folder tree until you find the right location in your phone’s memory. 

Practice Makes Perfect 

If you decide to make a habit of downloading videos and saving them on your phone for offline use, you’ll quickly figure out the settings that work for you. We’ve given you a brief rundown on how to transfer video to your phone. 

However, if you want to, there’s a lot more information out there that could potentially make your experience even better. Over time, you’ll optimize the entire process and make it even easier. 

What You Need to Create Your Small Business’ Social Media Page

Posted on by Chloe Evans
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Nowadays, social media are the most popular platform on the Internet, even more, popular than most standalone sites. People become lazy, and they don’t want to make extra clicks or taps to buy something. So, transferring your shops into social media is a great idea! Also, you may create your store in the social media exclusively, without the brick-and-mortar equivalent, thus saving money for rent. Social media also present you with a great opportunity to auto-track your customers’ flow, analyze the demographics, and plan your own strategy.

Right Before You Start

Make a plan first. Social media are free to use and already have all the instruments needed for a great ad campaign. But they still are just tools for your strategy. Giving up planning and just posting everything you want is very tempting, but without a promotion content plan, you won’t be able to post consistently and track your progress (these two factors are essential for the successful ad campaign).

Set your goals and objectives and plan your milestones. Make them reachable and easy to understand. Remember that it is better to make more milestones, dividing your big goal into the small ones. Use the SMART acronym to check your goals: make them specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Set the exact metrics and assign them to your goals. Are you going to have 100 subscribers in a month? 1000? 5000?

If you do have a social media account already, make an audit of it. Check the number of your subscribers, their activity, the number of your leads for the last month, etc. Compare what you have with the social media of your competitors. Learn from their mistakes, not yours, and borrow their successful moves to use in your strategy.

Get inspired not only from your competitors but from other businesses. Study the most prominent cases of social media ad campaigns, read their success stories and learn from their strategies. You may even ask the owners of these businesses to share their stories with you in more detail and answer your questions.

Create a content plan. As we said before, consistency is one of the most important things in social media marketing. Choose the frequency of your posts (not less than once a week, but twice is much better) and the themes you are going to use. Try to start using a 80\20 content rule. 80 percent of your content should be entertaining or educating, just giving your audience the reason to follow you. 20 percent of your content can be the direct promotion of your products.

Decide What Social Media Platforms You Are Going To Use

Learn about the core audience of the different social media networks. How is an average Instagram user different from a Facebook or Youtube one? Who has more chances to get interested in your products? What are they interested in except for your products? How can you use it in your ad campaign? Decide on types of promotion: it can be PR or advertising, also, you can use special services to promote your brand.

Read https://likesfinder.com/jarvee-review to help your small business to start on its path to success.

Expand Your Audience

After the defining of your main potential clients, you may think about the directions for the expansion. What can you offer for their families? Friends? Kids? Neighbours? Or should you try launching a completely new product to cover a new niche? Maybe, you should expand internationally, considering the new culture, new demands and new economy?

Get feedback. The central part of promoting your goods in social media is building relationships. Always answer the direct messages, create interactive posts and competitions, address your audience directly. Don’t be shy to promote your brand values; it will help you build trust and get you an audience that shares these values.

Learn your tools. Each social media network has its own tool set that helps you to promote your goods, and it is optimized for exactly that platform. Learning these tools will open the way to a successful ad campaign that will reach as many potential clients as possible. Usually, these tools are completely adjustable, letting you choose any demographics, any country or even the interests of the people or the smartphone models they use.

For instance, there is an easy way tor to share YouTube videos on Instagram, which avoids needing to download videos from YouTube.

Using social media for promoting your products, or even for creating a full-fledged store is easier than you think! It still demands consistent and devoted work, though, but the simple rules listed above will give you a good start to your marketing success!

Top 10 Virtual Travel Destinations for Instant Positive Relaxation

Posted on by James White
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Has this summer totally ruined your plans for going on a sunny vacation or seeing famous spots all over the world? The fall has just begun, and with all the COVID restrictions you might need to keep your travels on hold for a while. However, there are no barriers to virtual traveling that has another benefit—it is free! Using online street views, you can enjoy virtual trips anytime and get inspired by them without even leaving your home. Here, we have gathered for you the top-10 world-famous landmarks to visit online.

1. Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt

If you want to visit this great historical landmark and see one of the biggest mysteries of Egypt on the inside, you can fully rely on websites providing a 360-degree view. Choose an adventure instead of procrastinating, and you will see how your everyday routine gets bright and sunny.

2. Taj Mahal, India

The city of Agra has never been so close! The white-domed mausoleum of the Taj Mahal tells the story of love, faith, and wealth of the Mughal emperor who made his way into the history and hearts of tourists. Arabic architecture is one of a kind, and we highly recommend checking out this landmark in a 360-degree view.

3. Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Japan

If you’ve always wanted to meditate in a Buddhist temple, you have to visit Kiyomizudera online. Traveling is the best way to study history, architecture, and life. If you don’t have time for it, ask a history buff to write an essay for me and get your work covered while you enjoy the views from the wooden stage that made this temple in Kyoto world-famous. Add a cup of green tea and repeat “om mani padme hum”, and you will immediately feel more positive and relaxed.

4. Colosseum, Italy

Rome might not be as busy in times of quarantine as it was before, still, you can take a virtual tour to Colosseum whenever you want without being afraid of the crowd. Especially when lighted up during nighttime, the amphitheater will put you into the atmosphere of glory and take you away from everyday troubles.

5. Palace of Versailles, France

Do you think that the period of quarantine is the best time to visit the principal French royal residence?  You might be right! Using a 360-degree view, you can stroll around the deserted chambers and walk in the royal garden that looks as magnificent as the palace itself.

6. Sydney Opera House, Australia

Because the quarantine has changed the way we get to the art, now you can access many of the opera house content online. From a virtual walk around one of the most famous buildings in the world to performances and behind-the-stage talks, you can get it all on the web.

7. Hollywood Boulevard, LA

If an actual trip to LA is not in your plans right now, you can still admire its iconic street with its museums, shops, and footprints of stars. Explore the Walk of Fame using street view and check how many of your favorite celebrities you can spot here.

8. International Space Station

In case you are fascinated with the idea of space trips, check out the view provided by the International Space Station. Find out how it looks on the inside and imagine yourself being an actual astronaut. You can check the view from the Earth orbit and get a little more dreamy in the middle of an ordinary day.

9. Machu Picchu, Peru

If you are not a fan of crowded cities or space equipment, you will like visiting the ancient city of the Inca online. The ruins of Machu Picchu hold many secrets of how the city might have looked when people lived there. The citadel also opens a magnificent view over the Andes that will help you get rest from reality.

10. Tikal, Guatemala

If you like ancient sites like Machu Picchu, you will also fall in love with this one. An ancient citadel in the rainforest, Tikal is one of many temples and palaces built by the Maya in Guatemala. You can submerge into the history of America anytime using online models and real-time views of this grand monument.

6 Reasons why Small Business does not Trust the Cloud

Posted on by Wayland Bruns
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Small Business people live by the seat of their pants. They sole entrepreneur knows exactly how hard it is to build a customer list and market to those customers. Middle managers of large companies are hired into their position, maintain it for a period of time, then move on for career growth. This is an entirely different process than a small business owner who is fully invested in building the business from the first day.

One durable trait of small business people is that they do not trust external vendors to handle their core customer management functions. As shown in the chart by Forrester Research, despite 30 years of Cloud Based CRM products, a vast majority of small business still use a PC or On-Premise CRM solution for their core Contact and Accounting functions.

1. Not Sorry I’m Sorry Letters

Every small business owner has used an AOL or Yahoo account, and knows that online vendors are merely a target for hackers. What is worse, the online vendors take advantage of bias consumer protection laws and legal agreements that leave them with no responsibility for anything they do. Anyone who has spent years building a customer list gets completely frustrated to learn from an “I’m Sorry” letter that their customers were stolen and being marketed on the dark web.

2. Insatiable Costs

There is not a single SaaS product that is less expensive to own than a PC based product. Microsoft Office 2010 cost $199 for a perpetual license, Microsoft 365 costs $99 per year for the same features. QuickBooks 2012 cost $190, and QuickBooks Pro in 2020 now costs $299.99 per year. There is not a single common product that is less expensive as a SaaS than it was as a perpetual license. SaaS never saved anyone any money – it was used as a cover to provide less service for a higher price.

3. Unexpected Downtime

The promise of SaaS is that since they take care of the equipment, they will responsibly ensure there is no down time. The reality is that every service has down time and aside from pestering you with message about it, unexpected downtime is a serious cost to business. Whether it is a network backbone or local internet issue, a business that relies on internet service has a real vulnerability to uncontrolled downtime. A business based on in-house software may have a failed computer, but this is a fixable problem. Anyone who has sat for hours waiting for some uncontrolled event knows this.

4. Poor Technical Support

The past days of PC Software gave us a time when you called for technical support and received it. There was no guarantee of quality, as Franklin Covey learned when they outsourced their entire product team to India, and lost their product position in the market. But for the most part, you knew if you needed help you could get it on the phone. Today, no SaaS product provides adequate support. They merely listen to what you say and blandly tell you to try a different browser. It is impossible to reach someone who cares.

5. No Loyalty to Customers

Customers are often loyal to a product, but that loyalty is not reciprocated by SaaS vendors. They treat customers as throw away goods in their constant effort to charge more for less service. This comes in the form of email marketing that shows little concern for small business priorities, cost management or offers for the best price. Every small business knows the frustration of making a large purchase, only to see it go on sale shortly after – without any way to get credit for the sale price. To buy the wrong product and be told you cannot refund it (Apple -I’m looking at you!). SaaS vendors take zero responsibility for mis-information on their website.

6. Blackmail

Years ago, Blackmail was a crime. But with SaaS, every vendor has their moment where they inform their customer to cough up money now, or you will never see your data again. The heart of this is the ambiguity over who owns the data on the SaaS service. The customer has carefully curated and added the data, but the vendor may not reciprocate and provide robust tools to extract it or migrate it to another platform. This leads to a standoff where the SaaS vendor literally blackmails the customer when the customer attempts to regain control of their on contact and opportunity lists.

Blackmail is compounded by the short half-life of SaaS vendors. Every few years, a vendor change hands, and their careful customer support policies of “We will never sell your data” or “We pride ourselves on our service” changes overnight to a very cold “If you object to this you can end your service but never see your data again.” Check out Sunrise Calendar, SwiftKey Keyboard, or Picasa.

Summary

DejaOffice has disrupted CRM by introducing affordable On-Premise Customer Management. Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, History, Deals, Follow Ups and Sync to Android and iPhone built into a product that costs just $59 per user. Compare this to similar “low cost” SaaS products that are six times more costly and you cannot even call them if you have a question. If you run a small business, and have experienced any of the frustrations above, you will save time, money and frustration by switching to DejaOffice today.

DejaOffice PC CRM Pro
Average User Rating:
Average rating: 4.84 out of 5 based on 79 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $199.95

The Best Way to Unlock iPhone 7 in 2020

Posted on by Addison Yes
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When the iPhone 7 came out in September 2016 it caused a storm of fanfare. It had the best performance and battery life of any iPhone, an advanced new camera, and was splash and water-resistant. Apple sold almost 40 million units in the first quarter alone, making it the best-selling smartphone ever at the time!

It’s no surprise then that there are still a ton of iPhone 7’s in the second-hand market and the homes of users worldwide. While technology moves quickly, the iPhone 7 remains a great little device, even compared to its modern counterparts. But odds are if you’ve got an iPhone 7 lying around its probably locked to the network you purchased it from, making it less valuable to sell or more difficult for you to use affordably.

Searching the internet can return to a whole load of ‘dodgy’ suggestions, including ‘jailbreaking’ and more. But there’s a convenient, reliable and 100% guaranteed way to unlock iPhone 7 and that’s with DirectUnlocks.

Sometimes a service cannot unlock your iPhone 7 when it’s disabled or iCloud locked. In this case, the easiest way to get into your iPhone is to use StarzSoft KeyPass.

Why Unlock iPhone 7?

If you’re one of the many people who like me, have got an iPhone 7 lying around your home, there a number of great reasons to want to unlock it now.

  • Flexibility – Contracts may offer affordable monthly payments when purchasing expensive devices, but you don’t always get the best deal. When you unlock iPhone 7 you’re free to choose any SIM on any network that suits you.
  • No Roaming Charges – When traveling abroad, you can avoid expensive roaming charges by simply purchasing a local SIM card with a suitable package.
  • Better Resale – Your iPhone 7 is worth more when it is unlocked, you can achieve 20-30% more in the resale market and give buyers more flexibility.
  • Convenience – DirectUnlocks will unlock your iPhone 7 remotely from the comfort of your own home, you don’t need to worry about sending your device anywhere or leaving it in a store.
  • Permanent Unlock – Even if your device’s firmware is updated, DirectUnlocks permanently unlock the device, meaning even after this the device remains free to use on any network.

How DirectUnlocks Unlock iPhone 7

So when you Unlock iPhone 7 or Unlock iPhone 7+ with DirectUnlocks, you’ll want to know how do they do it, right? Everybody knows of a local high street iPhone repair shop, while these guys might be able to unlock your iPhone if you’re lucky, there’s no way to know how reliable they are or what the level of service they offer is. You could strike gold, but you could also come up short.

Even if they’re able to unlock your iPhone, you will have to leave your device with them whilst they unlock it. Many of us depend on our phones, we rely on them for everything from regular functions to storing confidential information. Leaving your device with a strange is both inconvenient and a security risk.

DirectUnlocks specializes in the most effective solution available, which is IMEI unlocking. There are a number of reasons why this is the best method available to unlock your iPhone. IMEI unlocking works by getting a third party company to whitelist your iPhone in Apple’s own database. This means your iPhone is permanently unlocked, without the iPhone’s performance or warranty being affected. However, even if you decide to IMEI unlock, it’s important to choose the best company. Just like high street stores, there’s good and there’s bad.

So, if you decide to unlock your iPhone 7, there are a few things to look out for. You want to find a company that is convenient, delivers the unlock quickly, is affordable, and offers great customer service. With more than 8000 reviews and over a decade of experience DirectUnlocks ticks all of these boxes. The process is incredibly simple, simply head to DirectUnlocks, in minutes you’ll be on your way unlocking your iPhone 7 with no need to send the phone anywhere, no downtime, and no security concerns. DirectUnlocks customer service is available to help guide you through if you encounter any issues and will keep you updated throughout your order completion.

How To Get Free Instagram Followers and Likes

Posted on by Adriana S
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Undoubtedly one of the great challenges today is to have followers on the different social networks, but today we are going to talk about one in particular focused on smartphones and that has become so popular, Instagram, and through an App, it will give us the possibility to add followers and long-awaited “likes” on the publications we have and the new ones we are publishing.

Instagramers have the possibility to grow their accounts exponentially, through an application called GetInsta, which has added and brought together real people to follow and like each other, trying to generate a great community.

Everyone can get their benefits by following others or liking each of the posts. With this system, you can get free Instagram followers and likes for your own accounts and also for each of the posts you make on Instagram.

Something important and that you will surely be interested to know is that downloading GetInsta to get free Instagram followers and unlimited likes is very easy, especially easy to use, but it is worth mentioning that above all its use is 100% safe, with GetInsta being a Instagram likes application of the best that exist.

Let’s talk now about the features that GetInsta brings us:

First of all, we will have security and privacy. GetInsta is developed by professionals, it is a 100% safe and clean application. It does not contain malicious software and above all without risk or surprises like other applications that make use of your data without your consent. You can get totally organic follower growth along with real Instagram likes and keep your account seamless.

This app is undoubtedly of high quality: its operation is real and organic, because the users are exactly real Instagram users, they are not fake Instagram bot users generated by nothing. The followers and likes you get are from Instagram accounts that are active and the most important thing is that they are real. Therefore, when your followers increase, the likes will increase at the same time. All the followers and likes are made in a reasonable time, in an organic and natural way. There is no risk of being sanctioned by this social network.

You don’t need to spend money to get followers and I like you. It is 100% FREE and unlimited. What you need are coins, which is a system that uses the application itself and what you have to do is acquire said coins as it is used, but when you log into GetInsta for the first time, you will get 1000 free Instagram followers trial, and can be used to buy followers and likes. To earn more coins, you have to do easy tasks within the same application, therefore the more you use the more growth you will have.

The application is available for Windows, Android, and iOS platforms, where its developers invite us to try it for free and can download from its official website: GetInsta

We just have to download, register, log in and start adding followers, it’s that simple.

The Latest Business Software You Need to Try

Posted on by Allen Brown
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When it comes to running a business successfully, it is unheard of to do so without having the right kind of software. And, as technology becomes more and more adaptive and advanced, there pretty much isn’t software out there that doesn’t cater to any kind of need in your business, regardless of the field that you are working in. If you’re just getting your business started, it’s essential that you are aware of the latest options and what it is you need in terms of software in order to run a successful business.

Customer Relationship Management

There isn’t a business model out there that does not rely in one way or another on its client base. And for this very reason, your company needs to utilize the best CRM software available. It’s important that you understand the details of how your customers and clients shape your business, and accordingly, you’ll be able to have the most suitable CRM. This goes a long way in managing large volumes of inquiries and sorting them out, and by doing so, you’ll be able to cater to all your customer’s needs, allowing your reputation to stay on top of the pile. 

EHS Management

The value of any company’s Environmental, Health, and Safety measures have never been as relevant as it is after the onset of the pandemic. If you are planning on opening up your offices for people to come into work again, it is imperative that you invest in a decent EHS management software in order to keep records efficiently and to comply with any laws that are put in place. From monitoring safety incidents to managing health and safety campaigns and audits, EHS management is an essential part of any successful business.

When it comes to managing safety in the workplace, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be taken care of. When you come to pick an EHS software, make sure that it is compliant with your settings and that it can take up heavy storage as well.

Accounting and Payroll

You cannot run a business without having a solid accounting foundation. And you can no longer have a solid accounting foundation without the right software put in place. Depending on the kind of business that you run, you need to see what software would suit your needs best and make sure that you stay up to date on the latest in the market, as this is one genre in terms of software where there are consistent upgrades.

Project Management

The days of paperwork and saving files all over the place on different programs are long gone. What you need for proper project management is a software that is made for managing projects specifically. This is the best way to go because everything concerning the project is uploaded onto one platform, along with any communication concerning it. This way, it is much easier to track details and be better organized.

Internal Communication

Your business needs to have the software installed exclusively for communication. Such software is designed in a way where you can create different channels and organize and separate the members of each one according to the project or department. This way, you are able to keep a record of all conversations happening internally in case you need a reference for any reason. You also have an easier way to talk to everyone and make company-wide announcements without having to worry about sending emails and who saw them or not, as such software creates notifications both on laptops and phones alike.

Document Management

We already create files and folders on our computers to manage our documents. However, when you’re running a business, the situation becomes more complex, and you need a lot more space than one computer system can handle. Investing in a document management software will do wonders in organizing all of the company’s documents in an automated and organized way that will make it easier for you to refer back to them when need be, keep details such as date and creator, and notify you if any changes are made. That’s not to mention the limitless space that you can have if you pay the price for it!

Optima Tax Relief Reviews Key Items Taxpayers Need to Remember When Filing an Extension

Posted on by Addison Yes
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If you filed a tax extension because you needed more time to file your taxes, it’s important to know that you have until October 15th before the IRS considers it late and places additional penalties against you.

Optima Tax Relief reviews what a taxpayer needs to know when filing a tax extension:

  1. Get your tax refund ASAP. If you expect to receive a tax refund after filing your taxes, the IRS recommends filing as soon as possible in order to get your money quickly. For those who are expected to receive a refund, the IRS typically won’t penalize you.
  1. Pay off your tax debt as soon as possible. Taxpayers are advised to pay off their tax liability by the initial tax deadline but if for some reason a taxpayer needs more time to pay off their balance, the IRS provides payment options online in order to help avoid staying compliant and out of collections. 
  1. Avoid interest and penalties by filing on time. The IRS strongly recommends that taxpayers file their taxes before the final tax extension deadline of October 15th in order to avoid failure-to-file penalty and the IRS tacking on additional interest. 
  1. What to do if you miss the tax deadline. If you forgot to file your tax return, not to worry, the IRS offers the option to file a tax extension. Taxpayers have up until October 15th to prepare and file their tax return to the IRS. Although the IRS prefers taxpayers to file on the initial tax deadline, they understand that unexpected circumstances may arise that could cause a taxpayer to miss the initial tax deadline. It is also important to know that even with a tax extension, this will not stop additional interest and penalties from adding up. 
  1. Those serving in the military have more time to file. Members in the military or for those who are serving in a combat zone, the IRS provides more time to file. These taxpayers usually have up to 180 days after they leave their combat zone to both file returns and pay any taxes that are due.

7 Ways to Market Your New Business

Posted on by Bridget Quinlan
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Entrepreneurs often fail to market their startups due to inadequacy of resources. However, they fail to realize that while a limited budget can impact their marketing endeavors, it doesn’t necessarily need to sabotage it. There are many ways in which startup marketing can be achieved, even on a shoe-string budget. 

First and Foremost, Draw Up a Marketing Plan

Create a marketing plan. Identify what the goals of your startup marketing will be, the techniques you will use and the measurement tools you will require for analyzing the profitability of your marketing efforts. A well-documented plan will help you stay on track with your marketing goals and ambitions. Tailor your marketing to your specific industry. For example, if developing a car wash business plan, your marketing strategy might include coupons, cross-promotions with local mechanics and local radio and print advertising.

Include an Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short description of your business. Not only are attention spans getting shorter, few people have time for a detailed and nuanced explanation of what your startup business has to offer. One of the many advantages of having a ready elevator pitch for your business is that it allows you to market anytime, anywhere.

Get Involved

Don’t have the money for traditional advertising? Don’t lose heart, there are other ways to get the word out. One of the easiest ways to raise awareness of your new business is to actively participate in local community gatherings. Sponsor neighborhood events or print out and distribute flyers for business to event audiences.

Collaborate

Cross-promoting can have significant benefits for your new business. If there’s a company that offers products/services in your business ballpark – but not necessarily in your business niche – reach out to them. Persuade them that collaboration is possible and engage in some healthy cross-promoting. Even better if the business you are cross-promoting with already has a customer base.

Network! Network! Network!

Networking can be time-consuming and exhausting, but the benefits are unparalleled. Try to grow a network by initiating conversation with people you find interesting. A reliable business network can really help a new business endeavor stay afloat, even in difficult times.

Don’t Be Shy About Asking for Referrals

If you’ve already gathered a bunch of customers who’ve purchased your products/services, contact them and ask them if they’d be kind enough to leave you a referral. The importance of social proof in marketing efforts cannot be denied. Customers today are always on the lookout for reviews and recommendations of products/services before making their purchase. A good word from a past customer can go a long way in securing your next potential customer.

Focus on Building Customer Relationships

One-time buyers might bring your new business immediate profit but establishing a loyal customer base will extend long-term gains for your business. Make your existing customers feel special and valued and they will make repeat purchases from your business. Strong business-client relationships can provide a steady stream of revenue income for your new business.