10 Time Management Tips for Entrepreneurs

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Thornie Longmuir

Time, one of the most valuable resources for busy entrepreneurs, should be valued above anything else. Yet, entrepreneurs are expected to strategize the marketing campaigns, plan their budgets, set meetings, and engage in active networking all the time.

But how to find enough time for all those facilities? In fact, time management tips, as suggested by pro essay writers from Essay Shark, might assist entrepreneurs in managing the resources properly. This is extremely applicable even when it comes to time management, a truly scarce resource in modern business realities. So, let’s review the most accurate time management tips for entrepreneurs, which would save you some time in the intense realities of entrepreneurship.

1. Scheduling

Keeping in mind all those countless tasks and responsibilities that should be handled daily, entrepreneurs shouldn’t rely too much on the memory. Even if entrepreneurs are masterminds of the contemporary world, it’s somewhat common to forget or misremember important details. So, using a scheduling platform of some sort, such as Google Calendar or any other cross-platform application is a must. Basically, if you comply with the regular addition of events and tasks to your schedule, your productivity and KPI would enhance accordingly.

2. Prioritization

This specific rule is extremely applicable to the vast majority of entrepreneurs, who are obsessed with an immeasurable flow of tasks regularly. Only by prioritizing, entrepreneurs might omit distractions and burnout. The prioritization best represents its validity in terms of putting the most important tasks first. One of the most viable tools is the so-called prioritization and delegation matrix, which might become your roadmap. By doing so, even the busiest entrepreneurs might ease their daily workflow by not being distracted that frequently.

3. Pareto Principle

If you’re a genuine entrepreneur, don’t you dare forget about the Pareto Principle. Basically, this rule, which is also known as 80-20 rule, states that 20 percent of all work is responsible for 80 percent of all results. Once you secure yourself on a top management position, the application of prioritization, delegation, and Pareto rule might boost your time management skills as well as the overall success of the team. In the modern world of technologies and mobile appreciation among business entrepreneurs, you might even download some specialized Pareto mobile apps. With their use, you’d emphasize planning over the mere allocation of duties and tasks.

4. Start your Day Earlier

When it comes to a daily schedule of entrepreneurs, each minute matters. Although daily scheduling is usually one’s responsibility, starting a day earlier might be a panacea for busy weekdays. With some extra time early, entrepreneurs are most likely to boost their daily performance. Despite the fact that this rule is applicable only to some entrepreneurs, meaning that it’s not universal, business people should facilitate this habit to accomplish genuinely outstanding performance results

5. Long-Term Roadmap

Another valid option for time management is a deployment of healthy alternatives to ordinary to-do lists. By creating a meaningful long-term roadmap, any entrepreneur is capable of measuring the empirical progress with abstract objectives. Even if you’re working within a small team of five people, the presence of a long-term roadmap is a determinant of your management skills and functionality of yourself as an entrepreneur. Regardless of what measurement techniques you apply, be sure to measure your KPIs and compliance with predetermined aims and objectives.

6. Give Yourself Some Rest

Yeah, you read it right. Time management should not be misinterpreted as a framework for fast burnouts and uninterrupted work for twelve hours daily. But how really a break might be potent in terms of time management of entrepreneurs? The answer to this question is somewhat simple. By taking a couple of breaks during your working day, you’re most likely to return to work being more focused and energetic. Although you might perceive ten-hour brainstorming marathons as something useful for your business, we commonly advise not to get lost in the middle of that process because of no rest.

7. Filter

If your entrepreneurial tasks are focused on the web presence, you’re most likely to know how distraction works. Messages on the social media services, updates on LinkedIn, and new blog posts from the competitors wouldn’t make your day more productive. If you’re required to spend some time in front of your desktop or laptop, don’t forget about filtering the quality and quantity of the displayed web content. Sometimes, the best decision is to close all the tabs and switch off all notifications and just stay focused on the task. It wouldn’t be a big of a surprise to tell that this tip will have noticeable implications on your daily schedule

8. Avoid Multitasking

One of the most harmful habits of busiest entrepreneurs is multitasking. In the modern business climate, it’s naturally believed that multitasking might be a panacea in time management and allocation of tasks. Unfortunately, this rule works just the opposite. The main problem with multitasking is the overall amount of distractions you make each time you switch to another task. The problem is that you wouldn’t boost your productivity with this technique since it works not as one could perceive from the first glance. Omit it for the sake of time management and overall productivity.

9. Productivity Spot

This tip is universal to all entrepreneurs all across the globe. All you’ll have to do is to identify and stick to your beloved physical space, which best boosts your productivity and comfort. For some, such a productivity spot might be the office, while others would universally prefer their homes or coworking spaces. Regardless of your choice, just stick to the location where your value-added actions are best seen.

10. Exhale

No, this tip isn’t about breathing techniques. You should always remember that your business idea or entrepreneurial startup should aim for excellence, but not by all means. Regardless of the niche, you’re aiming to capture, no business might become a market leader in just a few weeks. So, if you’re struggling with time management by obsessing yourself with too many tasks regularly, just try reassessing your attitude to long-term success. In most cases, your success will come sooner, but not earlier; so don’t be that overwhelmed and allocate your workloads adequately.

In Conclusion

In case you strive for excellence and long-term growth of your entrepreneurial project, don’t forget about the aforementioned time management tips. When it comes to vital recommendations and suggestions, the unveiled above top ten tips would definitely assist your endeavors. So, if you’re looking for maximized results in less time, let those time management tools and tips become your habits and norms.

Affordable CRM for Small Business – DejaOffice PC CRM

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Wayland Bruns

Why pay monthly for an expensive Cloud-Based CRM when you can own a PC based solution for a one time price? With DejaOffice you can work on PC or Phone even when offline, and then sync when you are back online. Simple Customer Relations that includes History, Follow Ups, Email Forms and more.

Featured in Forbes

Forbes writer Gene Marks has highlighted our product DejaOffice PC CRM in an article titled On CRM: Is A CRM Necessary? And to answer the title question: Yes – as long as you want your business to grow!

DejaOffice PC CRM is an affordable solution for Small Business. It is a PC based Contact manager. You buy it as a one-time perpetual license. There is a Multi-user version available, and also an Outlook Add-In. Make notes, schedule, call and delegate tasks. DejaOffice provides a complete solution for Customer Relations from your PC and your Phone.

Pro – Multi-User

A five-user license for $199.95 one-time purchase; DejaOffice provides everything you need for shared scheduling and contact management. Each of your staff logs in with their individual ID. The Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes can be shared, or be individual per each staff member. Each person can elect to make a Contact or Event Private, in which case no one else can see it. If a staff members changes you can easily re-assign their activities and tasks as a batch. DejaOffice is everything you need for the small office except for the monthly charge. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/pro/.

Outlook Add-In

DejaOffice PC CRM for Outlook gives you an Outlook Add-In. This is an action panel that gives you CRM features from inside the Outlook Email window. Whenever you view an Email in Outlook, it shows you the phone number, time zone and history notes for that Contact. You can easily drag and drop an email to create a new contact, calendar event or task. Integrate CRM into your Outlook CRM Experience with DejaOffice. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/outlook/

Standalone

DejaOffice PC CRM Standalone will install your PC and let you import data from Palm Desktop, Outlook, Google, or DejaOffice on your phone. It provides a simple and secure way to track your customers and calls, follow up on tasks, and make notes. The cost is just $49.95. Check out our DejaOffice PC CRM video tour.

If you currently use Palm Desktop you know that Windows 10 is giving some headaches in the file structure. Here is a handy video on How to Migrate Palm Desktop to DejaOffice PC CRM.

Express

If you currently use Act! or GoldMine, you can integrate DejaOffice into your current CRM database. Use the express version as an Act! Add-on to quickly handle history and activities, and also integrate with Outlook and DejaOffice Mobile CRM. Act! does 1000 things that DejaOffice will not do. But if you want to quickly add notes, activities and sync to Mobile, DejaOffice provides a great way to handle basic CRM functions on your PC Desktop. https://www.companionlink.com/pc-crm/express/.

Free trial

Download a free trial today. As a part of this trial we will email you setup guides and we will help you get started. There is no risk. See how productive your day can be when you put Customer Relations back on your PC where it belongs!

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

How Many Devices Does Your Connection Go Through Before Reaching a Website?

Posted on September 27, 2019 by James Keenan

All of us use the internet extensively in our day to day lives, but few of us really think about how it works on a fundamental level. Understandably, most people assume that the inner workings of the internet are far too complicated for them to understand. Let’s change that, shall we?

Aside from satisfying curiosity, it seems that, given the prominent role that the internet plays in our lives, we should have a better general understanding of how it works. With modern high-speed internet connections, websites and online services load in seconds. This can mask just how much is going on behind the scenes whenever you connect to the internet and leave your homepage.

Requests and Responses

A simplified explanation for how the internet works would be this: you (the client) sends a request to a website (the host). The website sends back a result, which is then displayed in your web browser. This all happens so fast that you might not realize there are several things going on under the hood when you connect to a website.

Most websites consist of a variety of different elements, each of which needs to be requested individually. The underlying code of a webpage, written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), tells the browser what it needs to request in order to display the webpage, as well as general instructions on how to display it correctly. This enables dynamic websites that display differently according to the device being used.

Before data is sent back to the client from the host, it is broken up into thousands of packets. Each packet contains a tiny bit of information about the file, which the browser then reassembles. These files can be divided into two categories – assets and code files.

These files contain code that can be written in a number of languages – HTML, CSS, Perl, JavaScript, etc. Assets include images, video, audio, and any other media to be displayed or downloaded.

Servers

Websites that you connect to are hosted on servers. You can think of a server as a big, internet-connected computer. Servers that just need to serve up website data might be quite basic in terms of computing power. However, you can also rent servers that have the specs of a high-end gaming rig.

More complex websites require more powerful servers and websites that experience huge volumes of traffic often utilize multiple servers, with auto-routing protocols directing new users to servers where the load is lightest.

Servers have operating systems installed – usually special versions of Linux or Windows. These operating systems are designed to sit on servers and handle their connections. Think of the operating system as one of those switchboard operators that used to route phone calls. When a client connects to a host server, the operating system knows what to do with the incoming connection.

When the server receives an HTTP request, it knows how to process it and, if successful, return an appropriate response.

Protocols

In order for the client to communicate with the host, they need to both use a common set of protocols. These common protocols ensure that any devices that need to connect to the internet are able to do so. Without this standardization, different parts of the internet would require different software for access. Conversely, different protocols can be used, as in the case with TOR, to create networks that behave differently.

There are two protocols that are fundamental to how the internet works – Hypertext Transfer Protocol, Transmission Control Protocol, and Internet Protocol. Collectively, these are the protocols that allow online devices to communicate with one another.

HTTP: This protocol defines a common language for the client and the host to use to talk to one another. Requests that you send to online servers will be in HTTP format.
TCP/IP: These communication protocols dictate how data travels across the internet. Specifically, the IP Layer is responsible for directing packets to a specific computer. The TCP Layer is responsible for directing those packets to the right port on the client computer, so they go to the right application.

Domain Name Service

Consider the URL, ‘http://www.example.com/pogs/boglins’. The ‘example.com’ part of the URL contains information about the host’s location and identity. The ‘/pogs/boglins’ part of the address specifies which bit of the website you want to access. You can think of the first part as being like a phone number, which puts you through to a particular business, and the latter part an extension that enables you to connect directly to the right phone.

But computers don’t work with words, they work with numbers. The URL example.com is nice and easy for a human to read, but it’s not what your computer wants. In order to connect to a host, your browser needs to know the IP address of the server you are trying to access.

In order to find the IP address, your browser performs a Domain Name Service (DNS) Lookup. This process is akin to a person looking in the phone book for a telephone number.

When you register a domain name, you are assigned an IP address. So, when example.com is registered, it is added to the domain name registry, along with the associated IP address. When a browser performs a DNS lookup for example.com, it will find the associated IP address of the server where the website is stored and will establish a connection before sending the users’ request.

HTML

The main component of most webpages is an HTML file. This is the source code of the web page; it contains all the instructions a browser needs for displaying the page correctly. It also tells the browser what assets it needs to request from the host.

Each additional asset represents a different request between the client and the host. Sometimes, the HTML code will call for an external script, perhaps a Python or Perl script. Within this script, there may be subsequent calls for other assets. No assets are loaded unless they are requested, however, many web browsers will cache certain elements so that if you visit the page again, you only need to load content that has changed.

Loading a Website

Let’s take a look at how all of those individual components come together when you load a website.

When you click a hyperlink or enter a URL into your web browser, your web browser performs a DNS lookup, which tells it the IP address of the server hosting the website you are requesting. It then establishes a connection with the host using the TCIP/IP protocol.

Once a connection is established, the client sends an HTTP request to the host, either asking for the homepage, or for a specific page or file.

If the client’s request is successful, the host will send the data requested. Before the data is sent back to the client’s web browser, it is broken into packets. The web browser then takes all those individual pieces and puts them together into individual files. Initially, this is usually the HTML source code for the web page, which tells the web browser what assets to request and how to display them. The browser then renders the website you see.

Whenever you connect to a website, there is a lot more going on than it initially seems. Think about how many individual elements make up the websites you used every day. Even though it happens in the blink of an eye, your web browser and the server have to do a lot of communicating.

How to Get a Good Deal on Your Website Hosting

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Parth

If you have a website which you use for business or if you have a personal website, there is one thing for sure, you have invested heavily in that website whether it be with time or staff time or money. You may have spent a great deal of your hard-earned money employing graphic artists, content writers and so on to have your website ready for use. You, therefore, need it to be hosted in a way that will offer you reliability, service, and efficiency.

Hosting, for those who are unclear, is simply a way of you having your website displayed on the internet for others to see and access. In the same way that you would save your own documents on your computer, a web host will save your website on to their server and then provide access to the internet for all to see and use. The aim, of course, is to have a web hosting service provide you with this service at the best possible cost while not compromising on service, not all providers are the same.

A reliable provider will make sure that your website has no ‘downtime’, in other words, periods when your site cannot be viewed by others. If you are a business, you will certainly want to have a stable service. Verpex is one of the best providers for this type of hosting solution.

To ensure that the hosting company will fix any issues such as loading time or downtime, it is better to get managed WordPress hosting.

Web hosting should offer you a choice of packages to suit your individual needs and a good provider will be able to work with you as your business grows. Features such as automatic back up, having a free domain or SSL certificate could be important features.

It can be quite an overwhelming experience when you go to search for website hosting options as there are a number of ads for you to work your way through and not all will be offering the level of service or expertise that you need. So, how do you go about getting a good deal on your website hosting?

Bluehost is a company recommended by WordPress. They offer different types of hosting, so whether it be Shared, VPS or Dedicated hosting services, Bluehost will be able to accommodate your needs. They are a large, leading provider who has been offering hosting services for many years and so comes with a track record. They are well-reviewed from many satisfied customers.

You can access coupon codes in order to be able to get a good deal on their services.

If you’re on a budget and worried about your hosting speed, it may come as a surprise that there are a lot of cheap web hosts that can be fast, like these tested by Top 10 Website Hosting. They have a nice comparison chart showing the response times also along with recent data from customer service interactions.

Bluehost deals are some of the best around and in addition to being well priced, the service is also first class. There are deals to be had on all of their packages and with the versatile nature of what they offer, there will be a package to suit all needs.

Bluehost offers excellent customer support so whether you are a veteran user needing some specialist advice or whether you are a new user starting at the very beginning, the team is always on hand to help with all inquiries. They are experienced, so your call will not be a frustrating experience! You can choose from a number of contact options.

7 Best Ideas to Improve Your Business Website Content

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Joshua Robinson

Digital marketing, a.k.a. the art of online promotion, revolves around content. Without content, businesses would not be able to communicate their messages and promote their products. After all, content is information that is packed in specific ways, all depending on the purpose of a business.

Running a business website is simple. Running a successful business website is complicated. Why? Because for a site to be effective, it needs to feature high-quality content. Unfortunately, that type of content doesn’t grow on trees. It costs time, attention, and money.

If you’re a business owner or a website content writer and you’re currently looking to skyrocket the quality of your website content, you’ve landed on the right spot.

In today’s post, I’m sharing several techniques that should help you improve the quality of business website content. No rocket science here, just useful advice that should be tested and implemented!

Speak to Your Customers

High-quality content is simply content that resonates with your target audience. If the information that you pack into articles, podcasts, videos, graphics, or whatever type of media type you decide is absolutely relevant to your prospective customers, you can consider your content highly qualitative.

Speak to your customers. These are the individuals who are already trusting your brand, so they wouldn’t feel harassed if you were to ask them for feedback. Ask them what they like, what they dislike, and what can be improved. Do it manually or leverage surveys.

Make it Visual

Over 80% of digital marketers leverage visual content in their social media campaigns. Over 32% of marketers suggest that visual content is the most important type of content that they’re producing. Surprisingly or not, roughly 80% of internet readers are skimming through content before making a decision to consume it all.

I hope I’ve made my point. Visual content is extremely important and should be an important part of any content marketing campaign you develop and execute. Add relevant images in your articles, use videos when you have to, and link to relevant infographics to summarize a lot of information.

Study Your Competitors

By working as a marketing executive at a leading dissertation help online company, I have discovered that the single best strategy to optimize your content is to pay attention to the competition.

Your competitors are trying their best every day. If you’re an underdog, you clearly have to learn from them. If you’re on top of the ladder, you can still learn from every mistake you discover.

I’d highly suggest you take advantage of competitor analysis tools to study and assess the topics, performances, and influencers that your direct competitors are presenting.

Moreover, pay attention to their website’s design, to how they structure their content, and also to their sales funnel. If a competitor is performing great, become one of their leads by following their email newsletter.

Start with the Benefits

To immediately attract and retain the attention of your readers while crafting blog posts, start by exploring an issue and quickly jump to the potential benefits that the reader can reap if the problem is solved.

Promise that you’re going to help him achieve whatever he needs to achieve (directly or indirectly) and then honor your promise. The first paragraph is extremely important because that’s where readers usually decide if it’s worth continuing.

Improve Your Headlines

When a prospect enters your website, he’ll be immediately looking for short sentences that are supposed to lead him to solutions. When scrolling on social media, users are mainly assessing headlines – if they’re attractive, they click; if they’re not, they skip.

To improve your headlines but also your copy writing material, take advantage of power words. These are simply emotional words that create an immediate emotional reaction. They’re extremely persuasive because they’re immediately spotted by the subconscious minds of the prospects, making it hard not to click.

Use a Conversational Tone

Business content should be fluid and easy-to-digest. If you want to keep your reader hooked, be conversational and add a bit of personality in every piece of content you publish on your site.

Throughout articles, ask questions even though your readers can’t answer. Write like you’d talk to someone face to face. In fact, a good way to make your content conversational is to imagine that you’re speaking to your ideal customer. You can also leverage text to speech tools and create your text content without typing.

Optimize your Content

When contemplating the enhancement of your content with essential SEO elements such as vital keywords, it’s worth considering the services of a skilled content writer from Compose.ly. Remember that humans and the automated tools responsible for constructing search results evaluate every aspect of your website. The quality of work is guaranteed by an expert and is worth the investment.

Proofread Everything You Publish

Lastly yet very importantly, proofread all of your content before publishing. A website that contains errors is not worth trusting.

Takeaways

Content is undoubtedly the most important element that businesses need to constantly upgrade and perfect. Content represents communication, and communication is key to the success of any modern business.

I often advise new entrepreneurs that before worrying on how to create a website, they should worry about what type of content they’ll regularly publish on that website and how will they keep their content’s quality high. Take advantage of today’s tips and tricks and take your business website content to the next level as soon as possible!

DejaOffice changes for Mapping and Location

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Wayland Bruns

In March 2019, Google announced a new policy for Geocoding – Map Lookup. We use Google Geocoding for the Address Lookup feature in our PC, Android and iPhone Apps.

The change is significant. After providing us this service for free, Google is now proposing to charge $0.05c per lookup. There are complexities in the lookup on whether it is just text, or whether we download the map picture and the location picture. Overall, our DejaOffice users do about 50,000 lookups per month.

Not wishing to get a $2500 bill, we are moving to other options. For DejaOffice for iPhone we have switched to Apple maps which are being supplied for free.

For DejaOffice for Android we tried using Bing Maps, but they wanted to give us a $5000 bill because they count lookups differently than Google. Also their Geocoding library is not nearly as complete. We have moved to OpenMaps, but they immediately issued us a warning that we have too many customers trying to map at the same time.

So we are now playing with a hybrid solution. We feel the real culprit for us is just a few people who are mapping their whole database on a regular basis. So we have slowed down that process and shunted it to OpenMaps. You can still do it, but the Map process is slowed to one lookup per second, so a 3000 record database will now take more than an hour to look up.

We have reverted Contact and Calendar location mapping to Google – because it’s just a much better service – as long as you do it one at a time.

We still expect a bill from Google. But we are hoping it is small enough to just absorb so we don’t have to create a billing system.

4 UX Design Tips to Build Users Trust

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Michael Kelly

UX designers understand the importance of building a site that can not only grab user attention but also gain their trust. Hence, below are a few design tips that will help in building trust:

1. Think Like the Customer:

While building a site, step inside the customer’s shoes and understand if they would trust the website you are building. Firstly, answer the question- do you trust it? You can take the opinion of your family members to understand if they would trust the site.

Adding pop-ups may be a design trend but asking your customers to opt-in as soon as they land on your page is not a great design as they do not even get to understand about what your brand offers to make the decision of engaging with it hence this is not helpful in building the customer trust. Let the customer read about what your brand offers and once they are through to the end of the page, you can prompt them to engage with your brand by adding screen pop-ups.

2. Add Testimonials and Reviews:

Your product may be great, and you must have mentioned that on the site, but potential customers will not believe that unless someone else says the same thing about your brand hence rating and reviews of your product is important to attract new customers. But do not only post your best reviews as that will again cause a sense of doubt. Even if you have negative reviews, post that with the resolution you gave to the customers. Potential customers also like to see how you handle dissatisfied customers.

3. Use Personalized Images:

Adding images from stock media does not really look very professional as every blogger also does that hence hire a photographer for a day and get a photoshoot done which will be more relevant to the company and people can connect more with the brand as they can tell the difference.

4. Be Transparent:

Another trust factor which is important for your audience to engage with the site is site security. By asking your users to engage, you are asking them to enter their personal data which they will be skeptical of giving you until they are sure your site is secure hence create a privacy page which explains where you are going to use the user data and how do you protect your data privacy. Also, include the third parties that would be using the user’s data. If you are using analytics to track user behavior, mention that as well. Allow the users to also opt-out from your list easily whenever they wish to, this will develop their trust in your brand.

Conclusion:

Conversion is only possible when your audience can trust you and it is not an easy task to gain their trust. And with an increase in the number of frauds and data breach, a customer trusting your brand becomes that much tricky hence run targeted campaigns and use your existing customer experiences to bring in new customers. A website which is transparent, honest and gives a good user experience is a stepping-stone to gain users trust.

New in 2019: DejaOffice PC CRM featured in Forbes

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Wayland Bruns

Forbes article highlights DejaOffice multi-user CRM

Author Gene Marks has highlighted our product DejaOffice PC CRM in an article titled On CRM: Is A CRM Necessary?

To answer the title question – Yes, a CRM is absolutely necessary for every small business. The only question a business should have is how much to pay on a one-time, monthly or annual basis.

CRM Stands for Customer Relations Management and it is the primary system a business has to track its prospects and customers. Every time a customer calls, emails, texts or visits a business, the nature of that interaction should be recorded in company records. Later, this information can be used for marketing new products, or renewing agreements, or engaging the core sales cycle of the business.

Without a CRM you are blind. Every customer interaction is done without context, or understanding the past relationship. This leaves your customers open to your competitors, and you lose your niche.

With a CRM you have effective communication. Your customer remembers you, and you can do the courtesy of remembering the customer. If your business can survive on 300 customers, how much better will it be with 600 customers or 900 customers. The purpose of computer automation is to delegate the responsibility for remembering the details to a proper database and not just carry it in your head.

Gene concludes with the question: “Wouldn’t just a simple, inexpensive system that enables your group to share accurate contact, history, notes and calendar information take be sufficient?” and answers with ” For many, it just may. And for $200 (and a few bucks extra for support), it could be worth the try.”

Click Here to try out DejaOffice PC CRM for Free

Thank you Gene Marks and Forbes!

DejaOffice PC CRM Pro

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Average rating: 4.84 out of 5 based on 79 reviews.

Free 14 day trial. Price $199.95

Galaxy Note 10-Plus – First impressions from an Android App Developer

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Wayland Bruns

I’ve been using it for a week now as my personal phone. I have always been a great fan of Galaxy Note phones, and have used Note, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and now 10. The Kindle App is my primary library now, and also I read a lot of news stories. I have several investment apps that show charts. I like the larger screen size for that.

Here’s my first week’s impressions:

Size

Not a problem at all – same width and height as Galaxy Note 9-Plus, and slightly thinner. The screen is huge, but the phone itself is the same size.

Moving Apps

Samsung SmartSwitch moved nearly all of my apps and settings. It is really mysterious what it moves and what it does not move. My pictures and documents move fine, and the app icons, and some of the app settings. A couple of my Critical Apps did not come up and I had to reinstall, notably Investing.Com, Fidelity, Worden and Kindle just needed a new login. My morning wake up up alarm moved, but did not turn on or have the right tune – two days to fix that.

Here are instructions to move DejaOffice. It took me less than a minute.

Bloatware

Samsung removed a lot of the bloatware that interfere with Galaxy Note 9. That’s good. But then they added even more. After an OS update the old phone goes through optimizing 144 aps, and the new phone does 265 apps. so it looks like they added 120 background apps. It takes about an hour to turn off and disable things like “Ant” which I guess is a radio, Flipboard, Samsung Pay. The Samsung browser now had bloatware in the browser to tell you to sign up for Samsung Pay. More and more I use the Duck Duck Go security browser on my phone. I’ll do a blog post on that soon.

On-Off Button and Bixby

After forcing Bixby on us in Galaxy Note 9, Samsung is allow you to turn it completely off in Galaxy Note 10. So it’s off for me. Mysteriously Samsung now use the old left-side Bixby button as the on-off button. After 6 years of turning on the phone on the right side, I still think this was a “wrong decision”. The right side button worked great. Why move it? I find many old habits will have to change. When I view the phone in landscape mode in my holder, on/off was on the top and easy to hit. Now it is on the bottom and I have to remove my phone from the holder to turn it off.

Cost

For me cost is a factor, but it is required that we have each of the newest phones i the office for tech support purposes. I pay $41 per month for T-Mobile jump plan, plus $11 per month for insurance, and the Jump cost for this phone was about $250, so figure $75 per month for the newest phone for me.

I do not believe 5g will really change how we use phones, so I would not recommend the cost for 5g, at least not yet. Maybe not ever. I’m a big fan of Mid-Tier phones like Nokia 7.1, OnePlus, and the mid-tier Galaxy line. I think this is a better use of money. A top tier phone is like a new car – the resale drops 40% of your investment in the first six months – so it hovers halfway between luxury and waste of money. But if you want the leading edge of phone design, Galaxy S10-Plus is the best 2019 will have to offer – At least until iPhone 10 comes out.

Special features of DejaOffice:

Time zone management, so when you land your Calendar doesn’t go wonky
Calendar Colors that match Outlook
Templates that save time entering new Appointments and Tasks
Persistent alarms to be sure I don’t miss anything.
Recurring tasks compatible with Outlook
Optional: Franklin Covey task priorities A1, B2, C99
Works same on Android and iPhone, Phones and Tablets.

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Set up Direct Sync Android to Outlook using a USB Cable
Set up Encrypted Wi-Fi sync
Set up Encrypted Bluetooth Sync
Set up Secure DejaCloud Sync (*Recommended)

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How to Secure Your Voice and Video Data

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Jessica Davison

Communication is an integral part of the business process. You have to keep in contact with all colleagues, employees, employers, and clients to ensure everything is running smoothly. Digitization of the real-world tasks has made things easier, faster, and more efficient. There is, however, one drawback that came with it. It has made us more vulnerable to security threats. Digital platforms aren’t very secure unless you take additional precautionary measures. Here I have shared how you can keep your voice and video data secure from unauthorized access.

Get a Secure VoIP System

VoIP is an efficient communication system that uses hardware and software with a medium of internet. You can make audio calls and send files to other people connected to the same network. Many businesses are using a VoIP system for communication within their organization. It is considered secure as only a selected number of people can access it. Acquire services of the best VoIP company to ensure no outside threat can breach your security. A good VoIP company has features of advanced cloud-based technology, HD voice quality, customizable service options, and extra layers of protection.

Use an IPS

Installing a powerful firewall and an additional Intrusion Prevention System will make it difficult for unauthorized users to access your system. The IPS will monitor the entire network and filter all unauthorized, unusual, and insecure activities. A lot is done while filtering these three things. It leaves almost no possible way for an exploiter to enter your system. A new user trying to access information isn’t something an IPS can’t notice. As soon as it will detect anything like this, it will block it and notify the administrator.

Encrypt Your Transmission

Encryption is the most reliable method to secure a communication line. A hacker might be able to break into your system, but he won’t be able to get any information if your data is encrypted. Encryption is a process that converts data into an unreadable format. This data is decrypted only when it reaches its destination that has the key to turn it into its original form. Usually a powerful cipher encrypts the data, and a decipher to decrypt it – both use the same key generated by the system.

Create User Profiles

Make your communication network limited to only relevant actors. Create user profiles of all employees that work in your organization and allow only them to make a call or share files. This will ensure the overall security of your system. The exploiter will be left with only choice to hack an employee’s account, and that’s also not as easy it may sound.

Restrict Calls

Have your IT manager configure dial plans of the system you use and restrict communication to ensure even an insider can’t do any harm. This step will allow only a defined type of communication in only a specified manner. You can allow only eligible devices or users to make calls. It will also give you the option to authorize access only at specific periods of time. You know the timings of your employees and when they need to send a file or make calls. If you restrict the schedules, no one will be able to exploit your system even he has access to a user account.

Phone Applications That Can Save Your Business Time

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Vasya T

Introduction

Technology has changed the world of business through the development of small business software which makes it easy for business owners to run their businesses smoothly. Different business applications have been developed to replace manual activities as well as the chances of errors which could result in losses. Software for small business provides the owners with applications that serve different purposes, such as the time management apps for saving time and payment apps for effective correct payment calculations.

How to save your business time

If you are seeking to increase the productivity and market share of your business, then all that you need to use a good business application which helps in the management of your activities. EduJungles, a company that specializes in essay writing, has provided different tips on how to save one’s business time. Among such tips is the utilization of business applications depending on the activity that you wish to manage. The applications play a substantial role in making the life of an entrepreneur easier as compared to the absence of such apps. For instance, there are apps that help in payment processes, time management, and organization, among others. Time management is among the most important factors which facilitate the running of a business.

Asana

Asana is one of the best organization apps developed through modern technology to help businesses in effectively managing their projects. The application facilitates team communication hence making it easy for the team members to track the progress of the project. They are able to communicate in one place, and this is known to make it easy for them to coordinate activities regarding the project. The application can be used both on the web and on mobile phones. It facilitates teams by making them organize, monitor, and manage their project objectives. Therefore, if you are seeking to keep your teamwork on schedule, then this is the best application to use. It will not only facilitate the completion of the project but will also keep the team members motivated.

Dropbox

Dropbox for business is a storage tool that provides the user with a secure collaboration platform for all their business files. The tool is secure, and therefore, one does not have to worry about losing their files to hackers. It also allows a person to share the files whenever they feel like. The tool helps in saving an individual’s time through the reduction of the amount of time spent in searching for business files in different locations in the computer. Whenever and individual wishes to review a particular business file, they can easily do it by accessing the Dropbox.

How to start a business in college.

There are many ways through which an individual can start a business in college. All that you need to understand is the various applications that can be used to run the businesses easily. Hence, once you have come up with an idea regarding the business you intend to run, you can seek the help of an expert on the best apps to use. For instance, a service that sells college essays would be a great starting point for business in college. It is a business whose demand is high, and therefore; it would not be a challenge in getting clients. A great mobile app for this business would help on how to track business expenses.

Any.do

This is categorized as one of the organization tools that helps a business in the management of their lists, tasks, and notes. The business has plenty of such activities to coordinate, and if not well-coordinated, then that could result in huge losses. The manual coordination of such activities is hectic and enhances the chances of making errors. Hence, this application has been designed to facilitate the running of a business. Any.do provides small business owners with an opportunity to share business files hence making it a perfect application for the management of projects through collaboration with the team members. It can also be applied in big businesses since the sharing function makes it easy to collaborate a project within a team.

Where to find the money for a business.

Coming up with a business idea is something that many people can easily do. However, coming up with the money required to run such a business is what makes the whole idea a challenge. Capital is not only required to start a business but also to boost its activities whenever it is less productive. Writemyessayforme.co.uk provides a list of ideas on where to find the money for a business. Among them is being funded by shareholders. Also, an individual can also acquire a loan from various loan applications. The applications allow an individual to indicate the amount of loan that they wish to collect and the time when they should make the payment.

Harvest

This is a business application that plays a substantial role in small business owners by helping them to perform a time-based reporting. Through the application, businesses can manage time tracking, expense tracking, and invoicing. These are some of the aspects that business owners find it difficult to manage manually due to their chances to bring errors. Therefore, in the case of a small business owner, the application would be pf great help in avoiding the errors which could, in turn, affect the profitability of the company.

Nexonia

The Nexonia application allows the user to enter their expenses and in turn, submit them for approval. An individual can also work offline and submit later at a convenient time. The reports are thus synchronized and made available from both the mobile application and the web interface. The application helps in putting an end to the wastage of funds through business trips since the trips have to be approved on a case-by-case analysis. Company employees hate the idea of having to file crumpled receipts after a trip. However, through Nexonia, the company is able to adhere to the set policies regarding trips. It’s a simple solution to complex problems, and it has become famous.

Conclusion

Who could have thought that the process of running a business could get this easy? All the appreciation goes to the advancements in technology which has made it possible to create the various business applications through business management software. It is the obligation of a business owner to identify the applications which best suit the activities of their business. Different business apps provide distinct services depending on the kind of activity that someone wishes to manage.

Most Effective Business Strategies for Small Business in 2020 and Beyond

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Kym

Small businesses need effective business strategies to keep up with the market due to the number of competition existing in the same industry. Keeping up with the latest business news and trends can help small or starting businesses to plan how they can utilize those changes to grow the company’s brand recognition and sales.

The effect of technological revolution businesses are experiencing is changing at a rapid pace, producing massive numbers of information, progress, and technology in a short amount of time. Keep in mind that the most effective business strategies prevent you and your company from potentially wasting time and effort.

For small businesses to stay and flourish in a competitive market, they’ll have to utilize the innovation of technology in their business strategies to stay on the cutting edge. Thus, here are the most effective business strategies for small businesses in 2020 and beyond.

Using Chatbots to Automate and Enhance Customer Communications

Chatbots are one of the most effective business strategies because of their ability to think and respond to queries similar to a customer service representative. Due to the advances in technology, machines and software are enhancing their capabilities in artificial intelligence and natural language processing.

The machine learning code inside artificial intelligent machines and software has been programmed in a way to understand queries similar to a human being’s thinking. Another special feature of the machine learning code is that it allows chatbots to gain experiences and learns them to improve how they interact with customers and handle further conversations.

The importance of using chatbots in business processes is to enhance customer communications and improve customer engagement. Since chatbots are capable of handling a huge amount of customer interaction-based problems, your business can then deliver a better experience to them, expanding your business’ reach.

Social Media Marketing Experts Will Be Key

Social media marketing is a necessity for businesses because it’s an effective way to drive audience engagement to gain attention for the products and services you provide. It was even found that over 70% of small and starting businesses used social media to expand their reach and boost brand recognition in the past years.

It’s essential for small businesses to share content by posting blog posts, image updates, texts, and videos, on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In that way, your small business can be one step closer to achieving your branding and marketing goals to grow your business.

Go Cash-Free

Another main issue that small businesses face daily is the costs of running a business. But, due to the increase in technology accessibility, you’ll be able to use smaller and smarter systems to increase efficiency and improve your manufacturing methods.

Taking advantage of technology can help you overcome the business infrastructure costs with new plug-and-play features that can provide you cheaper access to large-scale business infrastructures.

Takeaway

Business owners should always keep in mind to keep up with the latest news and trends in the industry to make the growth of their small business a success. Even though the small business level is constantly changing, taking time to plan out effective business strategies and utilizing new trends is the best way to stay on the cutting edge in 2020 and beyond.

Do You Need Identity Theft Protection

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Steve Jones

The 21st century has never been known as the age of safety. From the silent hackers on the net and the countless commercials for various security agencies, we are constantly reminded to defend ourselves against a possible threat.

Millions of identity theft cases are reported each year. You are a victim of those cases if someone uses your data, such as credit card information, to commit criminal deeds. Identity theft organizations pledge to protect you from these and other similar situations. But before you leave all your personal information in the care of security agencies, take a minute to think if you need their services.

The Services

Before you run off to an identity theft protection company, ask yourself if you know what it is they do exactly. In most cases, these agencies offer three primary services. These are monitoring, alerting, and recovery.

Monitoring

Identity theft companies monitor all your credit, and other accounts you left in their care. In case something unusual occurs, they will alert you right away.

Alerting

If someone tries to use your info for their gain, security agencies will know. Therefore, so will you. In most identity theft cases, people are not aware that a breach happened until it’s a little too late.

Recovery

Just like with other crime victims, like those affected by identity theft, for example, will be offered help if a security breach occurs. Identity theft protection services offer you insurance policies for stolen money. Some agencies can recover up to 1 million dollars from unauthorized transactions.

DIY

If you take a moment to think about it, you might notice that the essential services of identity security companies can be done without their assistance. You don’t need help to keep track of your credit score and other bank details.

As soon as you realize that someone stole your information for personal use, you can, and should, contact a federal agency. And after you have alerted the authorities, you can freeze all your accounts by contacting the bank.

The Need for Identity Insurance

While the steps to protect yourself from identity fraud seem simple and easy to manage, this type of crime occurs more often than we want to admit. Your online presence leaves a mark, and all trails lead back to you. Identity security agencies observe and make sure that no one traces the clues back to your info.

If you were a victim of this type of crime, then you should seek the help of professionals. And security agencies are not for individual faces only. Some packages cover the whole family.

Keeping track of your credit records can be an exhausting task, but following the spending of the entire family can be overwhelming. If you feel more secure to leave your data in the care of professional hands, then you have no reason to seek the help of an agency.

Should You Get Identity Insurance?

These security agencies offer legal services for legitimate threats. Although you can perform their essential functions on your own, this should not hinder you from seeking help if you feel the need. They can monitor multiple credit records for you. If you have fallen victim to this crime, you will be notified, and the agency will help you to recover the money.

5 Writing Apps to Boost Your Business

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Joshua Robinson

In today’s business marketplace, most resourceful entrepreneurs are building long-lasting brands. The less resourceful ones are struggling to position their brand properly, mostly because they are not leveraging the right strategies, the right people, and especially the right tools.

Nowadays, content is extremely important. But not just any type of content, but highly qualitative content that is designed to serve the reader’s interests, needs, and problems.

Of course, developing top-notch content is not so easy, especially due to the fact that every niche is overcrowded with competitors. To gain competitive advantage, every webmaster, small business owner, or marketer should take advantage of the best writing tools online in order to improve their content development performance.

In today’s post, I’m sharing 5 writing apps that can help you boost the performance of your business by allowing you to strategize, develop, and promote your content effectively.

Trello

Trello is a popular app that can help you skyrocket your business’ writing productivity while automating your business processes. Whether you’re writing on your own or dispose of a team of professional writers, Trello’s boards, lists, and cards can help you keep everything in check.

You can create goals, deadlines, and assignments while also keeping track of everything that you and your team produces. If you’re having trouble with organizing your content schedule, Trello is the way to go!

Email Excellence

Here’s an excellent underrated tool that can help your email marketing efforts big time!

Email content is extremely important in the last stages of a sales funnel. Once a person finds out about your brand, you should slowly cultivate a relationship with him in order to generate trust.

Email excellence is an email productivity app that allows you to go through, organize, and respond to your business emails in a truly effective way.

If you’re not able to write effective email content, you should consider investing in professional services. One good option would be to leverage academic writers from Edubirdie, which are totally familiar with email writing practices. The greatest thing is that they’re also using the Email Excellence app.

Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is a different kind of writing tool, one that allows you to speak rather than write and get your content ready for publishing. Just like Google Voice, this app uses voice recognition features that allow you to talk instead of write. As you speak, your words will appear on the screen.

You can even speak commands like “delete the last sentence” and the tool will do that for you. The benefits of this tool are quite significant:

It can be used both on desktop and mobile devices.
You can produce more content in less time
Your writing will sound conversational. This is exactly what business writing is about.

Hemingway

There’s quite a big difference between writing and business writing. A content that is designed to reach the eyes and ears of potential customers needs to be simple and clear. Most customers are looking for easy-to-read texts that help them understand the real benefits of a brand or product.

Hemingway is a free online app that allows you to simplify your content’s readability. Simply copy-paste your content into the app. The tool will automatically detect “readability” problems such as passive voice uses, sentences that are hard and very hard to read, and too many adverbs.

Once your text is analyzed (it happens instantly), the sentences that need to be modified will be highlighted. In some cases, the tool will even recommend simpler alternatives.

Enloop

Writing business plans has always been a time-consuming task. Very few writers are familiar with what it takes to craft an effective business plan that does not only convince clients but also makes them crave for a collaboration.

Enloop is a tool that provides a lot of effective templates that can be easily modified and turned into personalized business plans. If your business presents a constant need for business plan help and financial forecasting guidance, Enloop will do wonders for you!

Final Words

Content marketing is a key strategy that you cannot ignore if you want to reach the top of the ladder. Rather than spending a lot of money on employees and freelancers, simply tap into the power of online writing tools. Check their benefits, test them out, and see if they suit your needs. If they don’t, only then consider hiring. If they do, you’ll be saving a lot of time, attention, and money along the way!

3 Digital Advertising Techniques You Should Consider

Posted on September 5, 2019 by James Tom

Are you looking for new ways to advertise your business? It may be that you want to promote a specific product, re-brand or reach a new audience, and to do this, you will need effective advertising tools. When deciding on your advertising strategy, you should consider the different types of digital marketing you could use, as this is the most effective way to promote your business, engage with your target audience and boost your sales. Take a look at these popular digital advertising tools, which will help your business create an online profile to be proud of.

Virtual Reality

One of the most forward-thinking tools is virtual reality technology, which is designed to create situations which feel entirely realistic for the user. While this is a fairly new advertising tool, it has been beneficial for a variety of industries. This includes the property sector, with companies like RW Invest using it to market their off-plan buy to let properties. Potential investors can plug into their VR devices to discover what the final product will look before they make any investment commitments.

Car companies, like Renault, also use VR technology as an alternative to test drives, which has resulted in a massive boost in car sales. This is also a cost-efficient and timely way of advertising their car models, as it avoids any car handling errors and enables staff to make immediate sales on the day.

Social Media

Arguably the most effective marketing tool is social media advertising, as it allows businesses to connect directly to customers. The majority of companies utilize social media to advertise products, communicate with customers, collect data and more. By using social media, companies can cut costs massively, and although some elements involve payment, there are many ways you can promote your business for free on sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Businesses have an unlimited amount of options when advertising on social media, although you need to make sure that you choose the right tools for your sector. Many industries have found success on Instagram, which is the fastest growing social media platform in 2019. The Instagram Stories tool has been especially effective, with spend statistics showing that the overall amount spent on this type of advertising has doubled by 18%. Stories ads are excellent for one-off promotions, as the advert will only last for 24 hours, so it forces customers to act fast, helping them make quick sales.

This is due to the effectiveness of swipe up option which links straight to their site, enabling customers to purchase their products in one or two clicks.

Streaming Services

With the popularity of Streaming services such a YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, Satellite Radio and others, streaming advertising solutions are a smart place to consider placing advertisements. With more services moving online only and with a large portion of the world using streaming to get their news and entertainment, this is a great option to consider to reach a larger audience.

Email Marketing

The effectiveness of email marketing is definitely underrated, as many companies brush it aside, as it is seen as one of the most annoying types of advertising. Despite this, businesses have found great success with email marketing campaigns. This is most likely because their email campaigns feature high-quality content and uniquely connect with their target audience.

Email marketing experts believe there are several guidelines you should follow to ensure your campaign is successful. This includes using the sender’s name in the email. Common email tools like GetResponse, Constant Contact, and the many MailChimp Alternatives make this customization possible. You should also make sure you send out emails at prime times in the day to ensure you connect with your target audience at the right time. It is also essential that you keep content as simple as possible in order to generate clicks and potential sales.

4 Software Tools to Boost Your Business

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Addison Burke

4 Software Tools to Boost Your Business

There are over 342 million domains registered around the world. That’s hundreds of millions of businesses all fighting for the same thing: More growth, more customers, and more revenue.Growing your business isn’t as easy as setting up shop and watching the customers walk in.

Now, growing a business is more competitive than ever. Here are four software tools you can use right now to boost your business and overtake the competition.

1. All-In-One Business Software

Managing a small business is one of the hardest jobs out there. From booking customers to follow-ups, invoicing, payment processing, and marketing, customers require more attention than ever. Managing these factors without software is difficult and far less efficient.

While CRMs can be fantastic for client and customer management, they don’t give you a full-scale business toolset. Meaning you have to source potentially dozens of other tools for each step of the process. Instead, consider using an all-in-one business software.

For instance, if you are a service business, Housecall Pro caters directly to your niche, offering business tools for each step of the process from lead generation to sales and building future loyalty:

If your business is focused mostly on online products or services, consider using a software like Oracle NetSuite, where you can manage everything from accounting to CRM and ecommerce tools, too:

Want to streamline your business growth? Start using fewer tools, and instead, use the right ones. Consider checking out the battle of Kartra versus Builderall.

2. Podcast Hosting Software

Podcasting has taken the world by storm in the last year alone. While the concept is far from new, podcast listening and creation has surged, proving to be a fantastic tool for business growth. Millions of people worldwide tune into podcasts daily, and many businesses have developed their own to build brand awareness:

Creating a podcast is a great content marketing tool you can use to bring in more organic traffic. On your podcast, you can cover topics related to your business, services, and products, to subtly sell without selling.

Via better podcast marketing, you can help your brand grow through more than just written words on your blog.

Using a hosting provider like MELON or BuzzSprout, you can upload your podcast to all podcasting directories from iTunes to Spotify and more:

3. Writing and Grammar Tools

Content marketing is king. But, you likely already knew that. If you want your business to generate organic leads, you need to develop stellar content in your niche that solves a problem. However, the blogging space is saturated. It’s crowded with websites that already have heavily established domain authority.

Domain authority is a ranking of your backlink profile, which is a big determining factor in how well you can in turn rank on Google. Your writing needs to be error-free, and compelling enough for people to continue reading (and crave more).

Using the best writing tools, you can start to refine your tone, voice, and style. These will help you create a unique perspective that stands out.

Want more organic traffic? Start writing better content that is unique to your industry. One resource to assist you in writing is Sqribble Ebook Software.

4. Photo Editing Software

According to a recent Backlinko study, images in your content marketing are critical for delivering better user experiences and can even impact ranking ability. When it comes to boosting your business, images can be utilized almost everywhere from online to offline channels:

Social media
Content marketing
Email marketing
Direct mail

Whether you want to develop an infographic or utilize them directly on a landing page, photos should be a big part of your marketing strategy. They can also help humanize your brand by serving as social proof for potential clients and customers. Use high-quality photo editing tools to get the job done and improve your business growth.

Wrapping Up

Boosting your business growth is more than just hustling now. While more time to make more sales is great, competition is stiffer than ever. You need to provide great service and impeccable marketing to your target market. Using these four software tools, you can do just that.