For all of the good that comes with running a remote business or virtual team, there are a number of unique challenges that emerge when you’re no longer interacting with your people face to face. Confusion and miscommunication are chief among these issues.
3 Tactics for Reducing and Avoiding Confusion
Virtual teams are great. Not only do they provide a tremendous amount of flexibility, but they also allow each member of the team to work in an environment that’s comfortable and suited to their own needs. However, ignoring the shortcomings of virtual teams does everyone a disservice.
If you want your business to run as smoothly as possible, you need to be forthcoming about the challenges that exist with communicating 100 percent virtually. More specifically, you have to address the issue of confusion and the friction that exists when communicating tasks, facilitating feedback loops, or managing projects.
While nothing can replace the clarity of face-to-face interactions with your team, there are ways you can reduce confusion in a virtual setting and enjoy optimum productivity and efficiency. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Set Ground Rules
The first step is to establish clear and precise guidelines for how team members are to communicate with one another. This might seem like such an obvious thing, but the reality is that everyone has their own preferred methods and modes. By creating ground rules, so to speak, you cultivate consistency and pave the way for less confusion.
For example, how should new assignments be distributed? (Is the project manager supposed to send an email, make a phone call, or schedule a Zoom meeting to discuss?)
Or what about simple details like receiving a message on Slack? (Consider creating a universal symbol of acknowledgment that the message has been received and read – such as a checkmark or thumbs up.)
Little details like these can help your team avoid the issues that so-often plague virtual teams and put a chokehold on productivity.
2. Choose the Right Medium
Be intentional with the various forms of communication you allow in your business. While there is no shortage of options, some solutions are much better than others – particularly when clarity is the primary objective.
Email: Good for non-urgent messages where you want to document something and/or provide thorough detail. Also great for sending large attachments and links that someone needs to open on their computer.
SMS: Designed for short and concise messages. Ideal when you want to get straight to the point. SMS emphasizes clarity by forcing you to strip out any filler language and focus on the “meat” of the issue.
Video conferencing:If you have something important to discuss with a group of three or more, a quick video conference can help you get on the same page with one another. One of the biggest benefits is the ability to see body language.
Voice call:Looking for the quickest possible way to communicate an idea without the possibility of the meaning being misconstrued in a text format? A voice call allows you to explain yourself and leverage inflection and tone to ensure complete clarity.
There’s a time and a place for each of these modes of communication. The important thing is that you set clear rules on when each is preferred so that your team knows what to do in any situation.
3. Practice Empathy
If you want to reduce confusion, you (and your team) must learn to be empathetic with the person you’re communicating with.
“We often think that others are more in sync with what we’re thinking than they really are. The obvious fix for this illusion is greater empathy,” Harvard Business Review mentions. “Put yourself in the position of the other person. Actually visualize that individual in his office as you send him an email.”
Remember that simple details like grammar and spelling can make a huge difference. Always read your message prior to identify issues like misplaced commas, misspelled words, missing words, etc. Correcting an issue like this upfront can prevent unnecessary back-and-forth.
Restore Clarity in Your Organization
A healthy amount of clarity within your organization can help you avoid and overcome a litany of issues that so often plague virtual teams. By emphasizing frictionless communication, you’ll find it possible to get more done in less time (and with better quality).
Now’s the time to step up and embrace this all-important challenge of restoring clarity to your business. Which tips will you put into action first?
How to Reduce Confusion When Communicating Virtually was last modified: January 25th, 2021 by Alex Sanders
LinkedIn has established itself as one of the most effective social media platforms for more than 675 million+ individuals, established businesses, and startups around the world.
Contrary to popular belief, LinkedIn is not just a place for text-heavy B2B content. Video content on LinkedIn now outperforms traditional text content in both impressions and generated links.
Whether you are a sole proprietor or a large business representative, incorporating video into your LinkedIn marketing strategy is a must for your online success.
With that said, let’s break down a few of the preliminary steps you need to take before you get down to creating your video.
Things to Consider Before Creating a LinkedIn Video for Business
On LinkedIn, it’s a little more complicated than the basic “point-shoot-upload” approach. If your created videos don’t bring the expected results, you definitely know what we mean. For everyone else – you need a more thought-out video marketing strategy.
The main purpose of a LinkedIn business video is to guide your buyers to the next stage of their journey on your page. While your main goal is to figure out what types of videos are missing from your purchase funnel and fix the issue.
Before you make your perfect LinkedIn video, make sure you remember the following steps:
Get to the point fast;
Call to action wisely;
Add captions.
Perhaps, your video content lacks quality for your funnel. You might want to think about videos that help your customers solve problems they face when looking for products/services like yours. Make your customers believe that your solution will definitely work in their unique environments.
Here’s what you should do:
Audit all your existing video content and identify where it fits into your purchase funnel;
Make sure your video content helps customers solve their problems or, at least, defines and explains them;
Ensure your videos explain how your product/service works and why it’s the best on the market;
Analyze your competitors. Address each of your competitor’s videos comprehensively starting with likes counting and studying comments and ending with the number of shares.
You have to understand exactly what types of LinkedIn videos are created by your competitors, how they inspire their customers to purchase products, and if the main message is relevant to their customers at different marketing funnel stages. Pay attention to CTA-links (Call To Action links) in videos of your competitors and find out if they really work, i.e. there’s enough visitor engagement (comments, likes, shares).
Now, let’s take a look at different types of videos on LinkedIn, understand how they apply to your strategy, and review the best practices for publishing each of them.
LinkedIn Video Types
Keep in mind that by choosing the right types of videos for LinkedIn, you can “humanize” your brand and build trust with your customers while accelerating sales cycles and turning curious observers into loyal customers, and later into advocates for your brand.
To engage your customers, apart from the video types described below, you can also make other types of videos as follows:
Live videos. These types of videos are highly popular today. They will help you answer all questions of your visitors and potential customers, find out what challenges they meet, and improve their experience with your solutions. Live videos are also great for marketing latest offers to boost your sales;
How-to videos and online guidelines are also a smart idea. You can show your customers that you really care about them by sharing useful knowledge and helping them learn something new about your products or services;
Interviews will allow your customers get valuable insights from industry experts and improve your brand’s reputation;
Behind-the-scenes videos will let you get closer to your customers by providing them with an opportunity to take a closer look at what’s going on “in the kitchen.”
Now let’s get to the main LinkedIn video types.
LinkedIn Native Videos
LinkedIn native videos are videos that you post to your timeline on LinkedIn. Videos can be professionally created or shot via your smartphone and posted directly. You upload such videos to LinkedIn by clicking on the video icon in your feed and then choosing videos from your local files.
Because of LinkedIn’s prioritization algorithms, video content tends to get more impressions and engagement. The more users interact with your native video, the more LinkedIn shares the video with other users, even those outside your network.
LinkedIn native videos are a great tool for showcasing your experience, brand, services, or products. By creating a compelling native video, you can increase your visibility and expand your business by spotlighting your brand.
Recommended settings:
Video file size: anywhere between 75KB and 5 GB;
Minimum video duration: 3 secs;
Maximum video duration: 10 minutes;
Captions: optional (recommended to increase engagement);
LinkedIn Native videos can be vertical or horizontal. Vertical videos will be automatically cropped into a square;
The acceptable aspect ratio for the original video is 1:2.4 or 2.4:1.
Format:
Resolution: 256 × 144 to 4096 × 2304;
Recommended video quality: 1080p;
Supported video formats: AVI, MP4, MKV, FLV, MPEG-4, MPEG-1, ASF, WebM, QuickTime, WMV2, WMV3, VP8, VP9, and H264 / AVC;
Recommended file format: MP4. Many companies export video in MP4 by default. However, you can always use a video converter to convert your video into any format you need.
LinkedIn native videos are a great way to showcase your skills and represent yourself to the world. Check out this stunning video CV, a great example of a journalist’s video resume.
LinkedIn Video Ads
LinkedIn Video ads are commercials that are displayed in the feed. These are mostly company videos aimed at increasing brand awareness among potential customers, as these videos usually get more impressions and engagement.
Recommended settings:
Minimum video file size: 75KB;
Maximum video size: 200MB;
Minimum video duration: 3 seconds;
Maximum video duration: 30 minutes;
Video caption: highly recommended;
Sound: highly recommended.
Size:
Video ads on LinkedIn can only be horizontal. Vertical videos are not supported;
Pixel/aspect: 360p (480 x 360; wide 640 x 360); 480p (640 x 480); 720p (960 x 720; wide 1280 x 720); 1080p (1440 x 1080; wide 1920 x 1080);
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9 (wide).
Format:
Recommended export quality: 1080p;
Video ads on LinkedIn only support MP4 videos;
Supported audio formats: MPEG4 and AAC.
Your LinkedIn video ad can be a success or breakthrough factor for your business. That’s why you need a video that can increase conversions. Here’s an example of a great marketing company ad for your consideration.
Embedded Videos on LinkedIn
Most brands upload videos to video platforms like Vimeo or YouTube and then link to them on LinkedIn. You can embed videos either as an update or as a post. LinkedIn embedded videos are displayed in your LinkedIn feed exactly as they look on the initial platform. Their titles are usually at the bottom of the player.
Best settings:
Video length: LinkedIn doesn’t set a limit on the length of embedded videos;
Video captions: optional (but recommended);
Sound: optional.
Aspect ratios:
All embedded videos have the same size and resolutions as the original videos posted on your chosen video hosting platform;
Orientation: embedded videos can be vertical or horizontal;
If you want your LinkedIn audience to subscribe to your company’s YouTube channel or if you just want to share a video, you need the right template for that. For this, you can address Animoto. They are able to provide you with tools for creating a high-quality video that can be embedded into LinkedIn with ease.
LinkedIn Company Page Videos
Many established companies post different videos on their business pages. LinkedIn Company page videos were launched in 2018 and since then have proven effective in increasing brand awareness and attracting potential customers. According to LinkedIn, videos from a corporate page are five times more likely to generate discussion among members than any other type of content.
One thing to remember when using videos on a company page is to ensure that the video actually contains some useful information for your followers and is not a simple promotional piece.
Recommended settings:
Minimum video file size: 75KB;
Maximum video file size: 200 MB;
Minimum video duration: 3 seconds;
Maximum video duration: 30 minutes;
Recommended video duration: 1 minute to 3 minutes;
Sound: optional;
Video captions: optional.
Aspect ratios:
Orientation: company page videos can only be horizontal. Vertical videos are not supported;
Aspect ratios: 4:3 to 16:9. Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9 (widescreen).
Format:
Recommended export size: 1080p;
Video resolution: 360p to 1080p;
Supported Video Format: MP4;
Supported audio format: AAC and MPEG4;
Supported frame rate: 30fps or less.
LinkedIn company page videos are a great tool to showcase the main values and features of your business. Here’s a nice video of a creative video ad agency to check out for inspiration.
Best Video Editors for LinkedIn
Sharing raw video footage on social networks like LinkedIn can be problematic for a variety of reasons. The video you recorded using your smartphone or cam may not meet some of the platform’s specs, which makes editing your videos, before sending them to LinkedIn, even more important.
In addition, learning how to use desktop or online video editing apps allows marketers to tailor each video to the requirements of the project they are currently working on. Thus, building your video editing skills will help you create videos that tell your story exactly the way you want it to be told.
However, before you start polishing your skills, we recommend choosing the right video editing software that provides all the tools you’ll need in the LinkedIn video editing process.
Instead of using complicated video editing software, you can try the following apps that support Windows, Mac, or can be used online. They will greatly facilitate the video creation process and provide a wonderful experience.
Here are some of the best video editors you can use to create videos for LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Price: free trial, various subscription plans available. Subscription Plan – $39. 99/year. Perpetual Plan – $69.99 (one-time fee). Bundle Subscription Plan – $99.87/year. Automatic updates, cancel any time.
Compatibility: Windows (Windows 7/Windows 8.1/Windows 10 ( 64 bit OS ONLY)), mac OS
In addition to numerous video editing features, Filmora X offers screen recording tools that allow you to capture any activity on your screen. Regardless of which method you choose to capture your footage, Filmora X lets you import all the files into your project in just a few simple clicks.
The timeline contains visual and audio editing abilities, graphics, and texts, allowing you to combine multiple videos into one, add text overlays, or create the perfect soundtrack for all your videos. You can import music from your PC or choose a song from Filmora’s royalty-free audio library (for free).
The main Filmora X features and advantages are as follows:
Keyframing feature (custom animations);
Huge Video Effect Library (transitions, filters, titles, and motion elements);
Green Screen feature (change your background);
Split Screen feature;
Motion Tracking feature;
Audio Ducking feature;
Color Correction feature;
Color Grading;
Speed Control;
Hotkey Commands;
Social Media Export;
Automatic updates;
No watermarks;
Free tech support;
One-year unlimited downloads from Filmstock Standard Library;
New effects every month.
The Wondershare video editor also offers support for a wide range of video file formats, including 4K, so you can edit footage shot on action cameras and all other types of digital cams.
You can export videos in all file formats, compatible with the LinkedIn platform and many others including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. It’s up to you to decide which file format you’re going to use for different projects.
Price: Free trial, subscription plans start at $169.99 per year. The Individual plan costs $249.99 (one-time fee).
Compatibility: Windows, macOS. 30-day money back guarantee.
Like Filmora X, Camtasia offers powerful screencasting features that can be useful if you want to create tutorials, video tutorials, explainer videos, or business presentations.
The all-in-one video editor lets you trim or cut every video clip you import into your project so you can remove any objectionable material or parts of the video footage you don’t want to include in the final video. You can also add transitions between clips to avoid hard cuts or apply visual effects that highlight colors in the video.
Camtasia has a rich audio library that contains royalty-free sound effects and music that can be used in every project you edit with this software tool. The screen-recorder from TechSmith allows its users to add quizzes, captions, annotations, and headlines to their professional-looking videos to improve their educational potential and raise customer engagement levels.
Price: free trial available, Professional – $15/month (annual package), Team – $39/month (annual package)
Compatibility: online tool (Windows, macOS, iOS). All plans include unlimited video creation, unlimited video downloads, social sharing, and an impressive music library.
Creating a LinkedIn or any other type of video with Animoto is amazingly fast and easy. You just need to choose a template, add videos or photos to your project, and export the video.
All templates offered by this platform are fully customizable, which means you can change their aspect ratio, add titles/subtitles, or apply visual effects to every new project you start with Animoto.
You can add as many new text blocks, images, or video footage to your project as you want, and in case you don’t have your own material, the platform lets you browse stock sites where you can find photos or videos you can use for your project.
However, all your videos, created using a free version of the tool, will have Animoto branding on them – you will have to purchase one of the available subscription plans to remove the branding.
Animoto offers thousands of licensed tracks to choose from and add to your videos. Each template has several recommended songs that perfectly complement its style and mood.
That’s it for now!
We hope our article helps you when creating your perfect video, whatever your goals may be. We wish you inspiration and quality content to successfully promote your business! Good luck!
How To Create A Killer Linkedin Video was last modified: April 4th, 2025 by Roy Emmerson
Business phone calls are daily bread to every company, big or small. After all, businesses need to interact with their customers and partners; otherwise, they’ll miss opportunities and eventually fail to grow and prosper. That’s why an effective communication channel is necessary for this line of work.
Reliable services, such as Weave phone systems, can help you make your business calls more organized by improving customer service, reducing pressure on you and your employees, facilitating workflow, and promoting the growth of your company. It also helps you reduce performance costs over time. If you don’t have a phone system yet, consider getting one as soon as possible.
However, there’s much more to business calls than meets the eye. A phone and an answering machine are not enough! Fortunately, there are many strategies and smart solutions that will facilitate this important activity.
If you want to learn how to make your business communication more efficient, using a single cloud PBX communication service that unifies business phones, video conferencing, texting and collaboration under a single phone number is your best option.
Keep reading to learn why an effective communication solution is indispensable for your business.
Invest in a Reliable Phone System
Proper communication is key to every successful transaction, agreement, and business activity. A day at an office can turn into chaos if the communication channel is disrupted and there’s nothing to keep it in order. Fortunately, there’s an excellent solution – a business phone system based on SendMyCall Virtual PBX.
Prioritize Your Calls
Big and small companies deal with clients, partners, and other people on a daily basis. If you want your business calls to be organized, you need to figure out who needs your attention first.
Some business operations won’t happen until you resolve an issue with other partners. A good rule of thumb is to keep a schedule and note down people and places that require a phone call from you. Then, start making calls from the most to least urgent.
Keep Track of Your Business Calls
In every company, employees must know who’s responsible for each task. If you work with multiple clients and need to make several phone calls every day, you should specify who takes care of which ones. To improve the communication channel, you may consider creating a system where you’ll keep track of all the calls you and your employees make. This way, you’ll be able to oversee progress, analyze results, and delegate tasks.
Keep a Message Pad Nearby
You know how it is with clients and business partners – they all have thoughts, opinions, questions, and ideas they want to share and hear your response. A message pad is a great tool that will keep you focused during a call, help you organize your thoughts, and allow you to note down important remarks you can use for reference later on. Sometimes the old-school pen and paper method is the best and beats digital notebooks hands down.
Remember About Phone Etiquette
Making and answering phone calls can be challenging – not everyone knows how to do it in a professional manner. However, you need to be sure that you and your employees can communicate with your clients effectively. For that, you must be familiar with the phone etiquette.
Here are some of the best practices you should follow:
Be prepared for each conversation
Answer promptly
Announce yourself
Stick to your agenda
Be an active listener
Be mindful of your tone
Recap your conversation
End the call on a professional note
Send a Follow-Up Email
When you’re finally done talking on the phone, you can sigh with relief and go about your day. However, if you managed to take notes in your trusty message pad, you may realize your job is not done just yet. Many important decisions and things happen over a call. Your client may have a specific request or come up with a question or an issue that requires you to do some research and prepare an elaborated written response. As such, you should send a follow-up email containing the most important points and information, as well as declarations of your future actions.
Don’t Forget About Time Management
All of the tips mentioned above will help you organize your business calls. However, you shouldn’t forget about another essential aspect of this activity – time management. You can delegate the tasks, have the best phone system available on the market, and multiple clients who need your services, but all that will be for naught if you lose track of time.
You need to know when to make your phone calls, who needs your attention first, and how much time you can spend talking on the phone. The best thing you can do is to be prepared before you dial a number. Make sure you know what needs to be discussed and what kind of questions may appear. Having a document with frequently asked questions and answers can speed up the process – feel free to come up with one if it applies to your line of business. Additionally, answer in a timely manner, be precise, and keep your calls short. After all, you don’t want to make people think that your phone call could just as well be an email.
The Bottom Line
Business calls are a crucial part of every company’s usual functioning. Not a day goes by without phone calls, emails, and messages. You need to communicate effectively with your clients and business partners – otherwise, you’ll never get the results you hope for.
There are some strategies that will make this task go easier. In this case, proper management is key, and an efficient phone system can work wonders in your company. Hopefully, the tips mentioned above will help you organize your business calls better. Feel free to implement the changes in any areas you think need improvement and wait to see the results.
8 Great Tips on How to Organize Your Business Calls was last modified: November 20th, 2023 by Jennifer Clare
Many security measures for your website lead to the best and safest practices for individuals and organizations. We live in a time when cyber crimes are rapidly increasing and developing with every passing day, and assuming various forms.
It is no longer only the responsibility of large corporations to maximize their security measures, as cybercriminals have shown they are prepared to attack any potential victim with sensitive information. This means anyone with valuable data or intellectual property stored online could be vulnerable to attacks.
One security measure that can be taken is the use of a security certificate for your website. Security is a valuable asset that will help in the growth of your web project. Security certificates may be an attractive feature for your customers, clients, and partners. SSL certificates can also secure payments, reduce cyber risks, and increase your search engine ranking.
Another way that you can generate interest in your web project is by optimizing your content to meet the demands of search engines. Check this guide to SEO for the best way to approach search engine optimization.
What Are Security Certificates?
Some websites are made more secure with an extension to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, whereby the HTTP protocol becomes HTTPS. The extra S stands for secure, and it means that the data exchanged on these websites is encrypted.
To obtain an HTTPS connection, you need a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate. These certificates enable a secure connection through an encryption process.
SSL and TLS certificates use cryptographic key pairs to connect the identities of websites and companies through digital documents called X.509 certificates. For each key pair, there is a private key that is kept secure and a public key that is widely distributed.
The public key can be used to encrypt messages that require the private key for decryption. The person that holds the private key can use it to sign digital documents, including web pages, which can be verified by anyone with the public key.
The standard encryption of these certificates uses 256-bit strength and 2048-bit RSA key. SSL and TLS certificates are compatible with almost every major browser and device. It is usually possible to obtain an unlimited server license, which means you can install it on multiple servers.
SSL and TLS certificates need to be signed by certificate authorities (CAs) that are widely recognized and trusted. CAs need to be accepted by client software, which includes operating systems and web browsers, and they must be subject to frequent and thorough audits. Popular CAs include Symantec, DigiCert, RapidSSLonline, and SSL.com.
How to Obtain a Security Certificate for Your Website
It is relatively easy to obtain an SSL certificate for a web project, and there are certain steps that need to be followed.
Decide the Type of Certificate You Intend to Use
It is more common now to use TLS certificates, the upgraded version of SSL certificates. However, as more people are familiar with the term ‘SSL,’ it is often used to refer to those which are technically TLS certificates.
There are three categories that SSL certificates are divided into based on the validation process.
Domain Validated (DV): This is a low form of verification that only proves you own the domain for the website for which you need a security certificate. These certificates are more affordable and only take a few minutes to be issued.
Organization Validated (OV): For this type of verification, you also need to prove details of your organization and a local presence, verified by a phone call. OV is more expensive, and it can take up to three days to be issued.
Extended Validated (EV): This validation requires DV and OV validations to have been completed. It is a more rigorous process that requires companies to have been in operation for a minimum of three years, and it is not available to individual users.
Obtain a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
It is an application holding the details of the domain to be certified. After completing the CSR, your certification authority (CA) will send you a confirmation email. Provided that your request is legitimate, it will be validated, and your CA will issue your SSL certificate.
Install Your Digital Certificate on Your Server
This is usually a straightforward process. You can obtain a step-by-step guide from the relevant server. You can use an SSL checker tool to ensure the certificate has been correctly installed on the server.
Buying an SSL certificate is a wise security measure to take for any organization that is running a website. You can obtain one quite easily and quickly. It is always a good decision to improve your cyber defenses and reputation with a recognized security certificate.
How to Get a Security Certificate for Your Website was last modified: January 21st, 2021 by Joseb Builder
If you’re thinking of spending money on assets now so that you can strengthen your wealth portfolio in the future, there are a lot of great ways to get started. You can experiment with different currencies, look into opportunities with real-estate and bonds, or you can go for the most common option with stocks.
Today, we’re going to be focusing on that last option. Stocks are often the go-to pick for many beginners who aren’t sure where they should be investing their money for long-term growth. It’s often easier than you’d think to find a company that you’re interested in and agree to take on a share for a certain price. However, before you dive too deep into this landscape, or experiment with day trading, you need to learn how to choose stocks.
Finding the Right Opportunities
If you’re looking for some excellent beginner-friendly investment ideas, make sure that you don’t take anyone else’s advice too much to heart. You still need to make decisions on your own, which means doing your due diligence and performing plenty of research before you spend any cash. Ultimately, figuring out how to succeed in this ever-changing market is a process that takes time and practice. The good news is that there are a few golden rules which might help to guide you when you’re in the initial stages of building a portfolio. These are:
Always diversify as much as you can
Make sure you invest in companies and industries that you understand
Don’t do too much too fast
Avoid high-volatility and risky stocks (like penny stocks)
Learn the basics of evaluating your options, and commit to constant learning
It is a good idea to get advice from one of the many online investing resources such as Investment Honey. While you shouldn’t just blindly follow their advice, it will give you a good starting point to research further.
Remember, that first point is crucial not just when you’re building a much larger portfolio over time, but when you’re first getting started too. You need a variety of different kinds of shares and assets in your portfolio, as this will help you to hedge your bets against any losses. Just remember that diversification doesn’t mean jumping into asset types that you’re not comfortable with, or businesses that you don’t understand.
Take it Slow
As exciting as it might be to jump into the fast-paced world of the stock market and start exploring the options available to you, it’s important not to move too quickly. Remember that flashy stocks aren’t always the best way to build wealth, and high-volatility options can be dangerous when you’re not experienced enough to respond to the ups and downs of the industry.
If you’re brand-new in this space, it’s usually a good idea to create a foundation for your portfolio based on established businesses that you’re comfortable with. If you want to look at individual stocks, familiarize yourself with some of the best ways to evaluate them, and remember to keep yourself open to ongoing education as you continue working on your portfolio. Even the best, most successful financial experts in the world don’t think that they know everything. Making sure that you’re always ready to learn and adapt is crucial.
How to Choose Your Stocks: The Beginner’s Guide was last modified: September 17th, 2021 by JJ Watt
VPN or the Virtual Private Network provides its users a secure connection to another server then to the world wide web. It gives its users a sense of anonymity on the seemingly safe but hostile world wide web and secures their data and browsing activity. But how can small businesses benefit from this service? Let’s find out.
What makes a VPN service the best?
The best VPN services are those that can do so much more than absolute anonymity, mask your location, secure your data, and safeguard your internet browsing activities. As per Observer.com, here is a list of the best VPN services, which are handpicked for their speed, iron-clad security, and surfing capabilities. Search online and read reviews so you will know if the VPN service is reliable in protecting you or your small business.
How can small businesses benefit from the best VPN services?
The capabilities of a VPN service are varied but they all have a universal goal, to protect its users from unscrupulous individuals who just want to wreak havoc or take advantage of the weakness of the internet framework. Small businesses can benefit from this protection. But how? Here are some ways where the choosing a VPN service can help you with managing your growing business.
Enhanced Online Security
Poor IT infrastructure is what makes an individual vulnerable to hackers, malware, and viruses on the world wide web. However, building a robust internet framework would need not only financial capability but a handful of IT experts. And this cannot be afforded yet by small businesses. By subscribing to a monthly VPN service for your online transactions, you can better protect your data and your consumers’.
Every hack starts with knowing the details of your IP address. And VPN secures your computer by masking or changing your IP which makes it impossible to harm or harvest data from your device. The same VPN IP address is being used by other users as well who avail of the service. So your device cannot be traced. It is in this scheme that you get some kind of anonymity when doing transactions online.
Access Public Networks Safely
Public wifis are what in the IT world is known as an unsecured connection. This is because everybody can use it and there are no protections afforded to the individual. When you are on a business trip, it would be inevitable to use the hotel or cafe’s wireless internet. The best VPNs can safeguard your data and transactions without having to log on to your device at home.
Most public Wi-Fis are home to hackers that are after your sensitive data such as your name, address, birthday, and passwords for your email and others. This happens because when you log in to the public network, they get to snoop and see what you’re doing remotely. They may not be seeing your face but they can read through the jumble of codes and protocols.
Remote Access
Another cool feature of the best VPN services is that it can give you remote access to your data and files in the office when you’re traveling. This is possible because your IT guy can store all your company’s software, files, and other data on one data center where everybody that has been given authorization can use all the programs and files on that data center. If you have a personal VPN service, then your IT personnel need not spend a hefty amount on your networking gear. And you can work anywhere, anytime with enough internet security for your device and your data.
No-Fuss Set Up
VPN services don’t need cables and what-nots to operate and give you internet security and safeguard your information. It only needs a stable internet connection. When using a VPN service the first time, it can be mind-boggling because of the almost alien terms and protocols. But fear not. Most VPN services nowadays offer a virtual setup, where you just log in your details and it does all the work for you. What you only need to do is wait and press “Enter”, “Enter”, “I agree”, and “Okay” and you’re all set.
Since VPN has been launched to the public for quite some time now, its interfaces have gotten better. Letting anyone who is not really well-versed in internet network setup use the service in a breeze.
These are just the three benefits that the best VPN service can give you. Others include giving you access to websites that are otherwise censored in countries like China and mask your current location. All these can help in making sure that you are well protected when on the world wide web with less money to spend.
How Your Small Business Can Benefit From Using the Best VPN was last modified: September 15th, 2021 by Allen Brown
Are you still processing payroll manually? Do you use software only to track employee hours through a time clock? When you process payroll manually, you’ll certainly come to understand the process inside and out and hone your payroll processing skills. However, payroll skills won’t help you scale your business.
If you’ve got 5 or fewer employees, you’ll survive with manual payroll for a while. However, to scale and grow your business, you’ll need to start using payroll software.
1. Scaling your business requires simplifying processes and systems
Scaling a business requires simplifying operational processes and there’s nothing simple about a manual payroll process. It takes an incredible amount of time to manually calculate wages, overtime, and taxes, not to mention the lengthy process of cutting, signing, and delivering checks by hand.
If you offer 401(k)s, benefits, commissions, bonuses, sick pay, vacation time, or retirement plans, you’re looking at a full-time job just processing payroll. When all your time is tied up, you’ll never scale your business.
Payroll software simplifies, automates, and streamlines virtually the entire payroll process. You can even get software that comes with advanced features that make life easier for you and your employees.
For instance, Paylocity allows your employees to access a portion of their earned wages before payday. You can also monitor metrics and trends through a visual dashboard to make better hiring and budgeting decisions.
To make the right business decisions, you need access to the depth of insights only software can provide.
2. Payroll software eliminates careless mistakes
Careless mistakes are all too easy to make when crunching numbers by hand. Pushing just one wrong button on your calculator or misreading a number on a piece of paper can have devastating consequences. You might pay an employee or vendor too much or too little, withhold the wrong amount of tax, or misrepresent your available cash flow and overspend.
Using a paystub creator eliminates the majority of oversights and careless mistakes.
Integrating advanced payroll management software streamlines these operations further, ensuring accuracy and compliance across all financial transactions.
As long as the data is entered into the system correctly, the risk for mistakes is greatly reduced. With an automated payroll system, the majority of data will be retrieved directly from time clocks, electronic W2 forms, and standard settings.
3. Payroll software makes it easier to open new locations
When your goal is to open new locations or sell franchises, you’ll need all the time you can get. Using payroll software will free up your time so you can get your new locations up and running.
When you find good payroll software, you can also recommend that your franchisees use that same software to help them streamline operations. After all, when they succeed, you succeed. However, just make sure you don’t require your franchisees to use specific software or you risk creating an employer-employee relationship. Global Franchise Magazine explains this in detail and shares why it’s a good idea to simply “strongly recommend” specific payroll software and HR tools rather than require their use.
4. Payroll software creates consistency that keeps employees happy
Maybe you don’t make payroll mistakes all the time, but only every few pay periods. The moment those mistakes start to inconvenience your employees, they’re going to look for another job.
For instance, say you have to short a future paycheck because you overpaid on a current check. Employees will generally be forgiving if this happens once. However, additional issues will be met with frustration. When small mistakes become a pattern, employees won’t stick around.
Consistency is a critical requirement for scaling your business and applies to every system and every aspect of your business. Creating consistency around your payroll practices is necessary to keep employees from getting frustrated and getting a job with your competitors.
You don’t want to lose your best employees when you’re trying to scale your business. Dealing with turnover, interviews, on-boarding, and training will take your attention away from scaling your business.
Scaling your business requires a commitment to simplicity
Complex systems don’t scale easily. Processing payroll manually is a complex system. If you scale your business with a manual payroll process in place, you’ll multiply your payroll workload each time you grow a little bit. As you start forming new partnerships, you’ll increase the complexity as well.
Hanging onto a manual payroll system will hold you back in your efforts to scale. Using payroll software will reduce complexity, increase simplicity, and create the foundation for smooth scaling.
4 Reasons Payroll Software Supports Scaling Your Business was last modified: March 14th, 2024 by Alex Sanders
You have probably heard people talking about modern automation numerous times. Maybe you have an idea what it’s all about or maybe you do not. If by chance you do not know, you should try to research more as it has affected many aspects of human lives.
When you hear about modern automation, you should think about a self-governing system consisting of machines that perform different tasks. A series of programmed commands are what guide this system to do what is supposed to do and execute the needed results. This is why computers have been the center of modern automation.
Now that you have read a few details about modern automation, you are maybe thinking about applying it in your factory or industry. There is a lot more that you need to know before applying it. Below is a discussion of some of the things concerning modern automation that you need to know.
1. Modern Automation Increases Productivity
With modern automation, control systems, information technology and machines are used to increase productivity during the production of goods and service delivery. Also, they increase the efficiency as well as the speed of the tasks performed. The machines perform a lot of work within a short time. Besides, they carry some tasks that human beings cannot perform.
2. Modern Automation Lowers Production Costs
Some of the big automated machines perform tasks that should be performed by many people. Imagine buying such a machine and doing away with the many people that perform the task that it is supposed to perform. You will definitely save a lot of money and achieve economies of scale.
For example, with automated panel assembly, only a few workers are needed to operate the machines as compared to a large workforce required for manual panel assembly. Further cost savings can be seen through reduced human error and increased efficiency.
3. Modern Automation Can Be Applied In Economic And In Everyday Activities
Industries can buy different machines and use them to perform different industrial processes. For instance, if you are in the pharmaceutical industry, you can buy a bagging machine for packaging drugs in small bags. You can know more about these machines by looking at an automated bagging machines website. This type of machine can also be used in cosmetic industries for packaging cosmetics in small sachets.
Have you ever thought about how a dishwasher or a washing machine operates? These are examples of applications of modern automation in everyday activities. Washing machines and dishwashers are programmed to wash clothes and dishes respectively according to the instructions given by the user.
4. Technologies Have Developed Out Of Modern Automation
Think about robotic technologies. These technologies were developed in an attempt to replace human labor with machines. They involved the designing, construction, and the use of robots to perform different tasks. Robots are now used to perform tasks in environments that can be hazardous to human beings. Also, people prefer to use them where repetitive work has to be done since human beings are likely to get bored with doing the same things all the time.
Robots are used in the motor vehicle industry to move automobile body parts during assembling. Also, they are used for loading and unloading different things during production in many industries. A lot of industries have replaced human labor with robots because when programmed well, they are able to repeatedly do the same activities perfectly.
5. For You To Experience The Advantages Of Modern Automation, You Need To Maintain Your Machines
For a machine to serve you well, it needs to be kept in working order. Do not start looking for maintenance services when your machines break down. Rather, have them checked regularly to ensure that they are in good working condition.
6. With Modern Automation, Good Quality Products Can Be Developed
A lot of people associate good quality products with human labor. However, this is not always the case. With human labor, products that vary are likely to be developed since it is hard for human beings to repeat the exact things that they have done. However, with machines this is possible. This is why a lot of consistency in the quality of products produced will be noticed when machines are used during production.
7. Modern Automation Has Led To The Efficient Use Of Raw Materials
With modern automation, industrial processes are better controlled. This means that the raw materials to be used in different industrial processes are known and can be controlled. Where will the misuse of raw materials come from when raw materials are efficiently used?
Imagine how the world would be like if machines were not in existence and every task had to be performed by human beings. Modern automation has made work easier in many places. For instance, people use machines to perform different tasks in industries. Robots have come to existence due to this and are now used in many industrial applications.
What You Should Know About Modern Automation was last modified: May 22nd, 2024 by Charlene Brown
Many dismiss email marketing as something that worked in the past and which people tire of quickly, eventually unsubscribing from your list. However, nothing is further from the truth. For every $1 that you spend on email marketing, it is projected that you’ll get a $42 return on investment (ROI). In addition to this, 81% of small businesses rely on email marketing as their primary customer acquisition method.
Firstly, to be successful at email marketing, you need to have an email list. This is not just any old list of email addresses. This needs to be a targeted list of people interested in what your company has to offer so that when you send through your monthly newsletter or sales promotions, they won’t unsubscribe.
Moreover, to increase the efficiency of your email marketing campaigns, you should increase email deliverability using an SPF checker and follow the necessary email security steps.
In addition to this, you need to make sure that your list is well segmented so that you send promotions, which are relevant to a specific set of people, to these individuals and not others. For example, if you’re a clothing retailer which sells both men’s and women’s clothing, if you have a promotion on your ladies’ range you don’t want to send this mailer to your entire database – you would want to send these mailers to just the women on your list.
Optimize For Mobile
With more and more people reading emails and surfing the Internet on their phones, you need to provide your readers with emails that they can easily read on their mobile devices.
Most bulk email-sending services have the option for you to see how your email will look on both mobile and desktop so you can make sure that you are happy with how it will look to both sets of audiences.
Design Your Content Well
If you want to get the most out of your email marketing efforts, you need to design your content well.
To promote click-throughs to your website, don’t give too much information in your email. Rather, craft your content in such a way that it piques the interest of your readers and want to click through to your website to find out more information.
Use Social Media To Extend Your Reach
Give your email additional legs by sharing it on social media. There may be people on your social channels who aren’t necessarily on your list. By making the email publicly available, you’re increasing the reach of your communications and are possibly even gaining new subscribers for your emails.
Analyze Your Analytics
It’s one thing to send out emails, but you need to measure how well/poorly they performed and use that information to make changes to your next send to achieve better results. Just like when playing right here, you want to measure your success in money.
When you’ve mastered the basics of email marketing, make sure that you’re consistent with sending out your communications so that your readers will look forward to your emails.
Why Email Marketing Is Effective At Driving People To Your Website was last modified: January 31st, 2024 by Mark Morrison
In the seven years between 2013 and 2019, worldwide mobile traffic increased by 222%. In the third quarter of 2020, traffic from mobile devices generated 50.81% of global Internet traffic, and mobile tech trends continued to skyrocket. From these stats, you can see that traffic originating from mobile devices is on the rise. For marketers as well as business owners, this means that it is necessary to make sure that people who access your website from their smartphone or tablet have the same experience as a person who is accessing your site from a laptop or desktop.
People Prefer To Shop Online
Online shopping has been around for several years. However, over the past year, it has gained popularity and has become the norm rather than the exception.
While the first generation of online shoppers would prefer accessing the eCommerce sites from their PCs, now people prefer to shop using their smartphone or tablet. They expect to be able to make their purchases via an app as this provides a seamless, mobile-friendly experience as opposed to having to access the shop’s desktop site.
The Mobile Device Is The New Shop Assistant
Consumers nowadays are informed and thoroughly research what they want to buy before they even set foot in a shop. Also, they will prefer to use their smartphones to assist them in making purchasing decisions instead of asking a shop assistant. In fact, studies reveal that 84% of in-store shoppers use their mobile devices when making a purchase.
With most shoppers having their mobile device at close range while in malls, this provides a great opportunity for other shops in the center to serve notifications to people’s phones based on their preferences and where they’ve shopped before.
People Want Easy Answers
When researching products and/or services that they want to purchase, people don’t want to have to work and want to find the easiest solution in the least amount of time. Taking out a smartphone from a handbag or pocket and quickly typing in a search query is simpler than going to a laptop, which is why this is the preferred method of looking for things that they need.
Mobile Marketing Trends For 2021
If you would like to succeed in mobile marketing in 2021, there are some trends that you can’t ignore.
Optimize Videos
For several years, video marketing has consistently been the most effective traffic source, especially on mobile devices. This year, it projected that over 75% of mobile traffic will come from videos so this is a good option to invest in.
Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertising is set to generate far more click-throughs than ‘normal’ digital advertising. This means that you should be putting together a budget for this in your overall marketing plan.
Invest In A Mobile App
As we mentioned earlier in this article, more and more people prefer to shop via their mobile devices and want apps to help them facilitate this process. They also use apps for just about everything, to watch movies and chat to friends via popular apps. If you have eCommerce as part of your sales strategy, you need to consider investing in an app seriously too.
Why You Can’t Ignore Mobile Marketing was last modified: August 7th, 2024 by Mark Morrison
In 2020, there were over 3.6 billion people worldwide who were using social media. This number is likely to reach almost 4.41 billion in 2025 and will probably climb exponentially after this. These figures make social media usage the most popular reason why people go online.
With an ever-growing population of people being dedicated to social media networks, you cannot afford for your business not to be on social media. However, with so many marketing choices available, it can be difficult to choose which network is right for your organization.
We must caution against trying to have an active presence on all social media channels as, to be successful, it is necessary for you to keep up an active presence on all of them. If you spread yourself too thin, you could end up neglecting them, and getting stressed out. This is a risky spot to be in as a neglected feed could show consumers that your business is no longer active. So, rather choose two or three social media networks that you want to invest your time and energy in.
Here are a handful of the available social media networks and will show you what they are best suited to showcasing.
Yelp
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you may want to consider putting up a profile on Yelp. This is a directory of businesses that you can browse based on your current location or a location that you set manually. On each business’ page you can review the company, which means that people browsing your listing can make an educated decision about choosing you.
YouTube
Whether you own a B2B or B2C business, you need to be creating video content and putting this on YouTube as this is the second-largest search engine next to Google as video marketing is becoming an increasingly useful way of getting your brand out there. Grow your business by growing your channel’s YouTube users. In terms of SEO traction, YouTube offers the maximum traction.
Instagram
This social media platform is driven by pictures that people take and upload to their Instagram pages. With the ability to now upload video content to the platform, Instagram allows your audience to get behind your brand, get invested and follow your every move. This makes it a great platform for you to share your brand.
Pinterest
An often-overlooked social media network is Pinterest. Often thought of as just a platform for people to share their crafting and home improvement ideas, it has become a great way to get content going viral. So, if you have great-quality pictures that display aspects of your product and/or service offering, you should give Pinterest a try.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is definitely the best platform for business-to-business marketing as it allows you to post professional content about your company’s goals and achievements so that you can generate a conversation with your potential customers. Moreover, based on the latest survey, LinkedIn is the #1 social media channel where IT companies choose to publish content and advertise their services.
If you want to play on this site, just remember its business orientated so you must act accordingly.
Marketing is not an exact science as what may work for one organization may not necessarily work for another. The trick is to try out the platforms you think may work for you and measure the results. If they don’t work, don’t be afraid to stop with what you’re doing and try another platform.
What Are The Best Social Media Channels To Market Your Business On? was last modified: October 18th, 2021 by Mark Morrison
It’s easy to make mistakes when it comes to starting your own business, especially if it’s your first time. There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to running a small company or even just being self-employed. Of course, one of those mistakes is believing that you won’t make any errors. The idea is not to avoid them—if you tried to do that, you’d also avoid the risk that is inherent to a successful business—but to minimize the ones you do make and bounce back from them with resilience. The common ones listed below can all be avoided.
Neglecting Your Personal Finances
You might think that your personal financial situation is irrelevant when you’re starting a business and that you only need to worry about your business finances. However, this is not the case. Your own finances might be a factor with investors and lenders. If you can pay off any debts before you get started, you should. If not, you might want to look at how to better organize them. For example, you might have several student loans that you can consolidate as a single payment with a private lender. This could also reduce your monthly expenses. Having your personal finances in order also means you have a better idea of how much your business needs to bring in if it is your sole source of income.
Insufficient Planning
If you are not seeking loans or investments, you may think you don’t need a business plan. However, it’s always a good idea to write one even if it is not as extensive as a formal one you would prepare to get others interested in your idea. Writing a business plan forces you to be concrete about your mission, your finances and your marketing. You’ll be better able to anticipate any obstacles that could arise and may see blind spots you did not consider. You may also want to think about whether you might want to hire other people even if you are a sole proprietor. For example, you may want an attorney to look over paperwork or an accountant to assist you with your taxes.
Marketing Errors
Creating a marketing plan should be part of your overall business plan, but it is so important that it should be a consideration all on its own. You need to know who your customer base is and what they want. A particularly common mistake is for people to assume that because their friends and family think their business idea is good, it must be. You need to look beyond your immediate circle. Some market research, including reading some industry literature and doing focus groups or surveys, could help.
Undercharging
People often start out charging too little for their products or services because they are afraid their customers won’t pay for them otherwise. There are a few problems with this approach. One is that customers may think of the product or service as low quality. Another is that it can make it difficult to raise your prices later. When setting your prices, be sure to keep your overhead in mind on top of your pricing.
Avoid These Mistakes When Starting Your Business was last modified: January 18th, 2021 by JJ Watt
