6 Steps Every New B2B Venture Should Adopt for Success in 2020

One of the most challenging factors of starting a new business is the high level of competition, limited budget and lack of experience. All three factors can lead your business to go down the line and eventually shut down before you actually hit the break-even point. However, we can help you change that with a few steps that we have saved in our playbook. All you have to do is utilize the following path and witness your B2B startup survive in this competitive modern B2B environment.

1. Finalize Your Product or Service

The first question that you should ask yourself while planning on starting your new B2B company is what you’re going to sell. There are millions of products and services you can choose to work on. However, your final decision should always be considering your current geo-location, budget and area of expertise. Once you have finalized the product or service you plan on selling, you can move forward with other factors of starting your new venture.

2. Come up With an Attractive Brand Name

Your goods and services will always be recognized by the brand name you choose to market. The name of your business or brand plays a significant role in your organization. You could go for something short and easy to remember, or if you are confident that your marketing strategies will help you survive, then you can even use your own name to launch your new business. However, considering the rising level of competition between B2B companies, we advise that you introduce a brand name that is both unique and catchy. If you can make your brand name to be remembered by all those that see your promotional activity, no one can stop you from reaching your next milestone.

3. Identify Your Target Audience

Though this may not seem like an important step, yet knowing your audience is essential to make sure your marketing efforts aren’t wasted. Once your brand name and products are identified, you have to determine which sector of the population you plan on reaching out to. If you are a toy manufacturer, you’ll be on the hunt for local and international wholesalers that sell toys. Or you can even attract leading supermarkets that have the potential to sell your products to the final consumer rapidly. On the other hand, if you are starting an organization that offers financial services and products like, insurance, bonds, or consultancy, then you’d have to look for both businessmen and individuals who are interested in investing their money.

Without knowing your audience, it might become a challenge for you to choose the right marketing technique and set the ideal budget for this purpose. Also, if you plan on focusing on social media marketing, then targeting an audience can save you both time and money in generating high-quality leads.

4. Manage Your Budget

Before initiating any sort of promotional activity, you have to determine the budget. Budgeting is a crucial step that all startups have to focus on. Once you are aware of how much and when you can spend what amount of money on promoting your brand and products, you can take better and smarter decisions.

5. Signup Your Business on an Online B2B Marketplace

One of the fastest and most reliable way of becoming a recognized business virtually is by merely joining a Chinese B2B platform or any reputable international marketplace for businesses. A B2B marketplace is an online platform that features international B2B companies that belong to various industries. Once you get listed on a B2B directory, you’ll eventually be seen by other buyers that belong to the same industry. Also, you can even use this directory to connect with your next lifetime client.

Apart from that, many leading B2B portals even offer additional digital services to help you become a competitive online brand. From creating your website to get it ranked and generating leads, all can be provided to you by such B2B marketplaces. Therefore, we believe such a platform is the perfect opportunity a B2B startup needs to survive in the B2B environment.

6. Choose the Best Marketing Strategy

Last but not least, you need to choose a marketing strategy that will help you generate leads and achieve business growth. This step is mentioned at the end, as without the above-mentioned plans; you can’t initiate your marketing campaign. Once you are done finalizing your product and brand, know your audience and budget, you can choose a relevant marketing strategy to kick start your promotional activity.

You can either go for traditional marketing or digital marketing strategies. Your choice will strongly depend on your product, audience and budget.

Wrap Up

Starting a B2B venture is no walk in the park. It can take years to eventually make enough to survive in this competitive market. However, with the right plan and resources, you can finally manage to succeed and set up a profit-making business. Follow all the steps mentioned above, so that you can prepare your venture to tackle all hurdles and survive this journey.

How To Make Creative Content Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business

When it comes to content marketing for small business, it’s usually defined as a practice of generating and posting well-written, well-researched and interesting content in a consistent fashion to form a following which will eventually lead to gaining new customers.

This type of marketing can be categorized as a very close colleague of conventional marketing and with a well thought out strategy, they can be combined to complement each other and in turn be able to amass your following that will result in increased awareness and sales.

Benefits of Content Marketing For Small Business

It is proven to be extremely beneficial and all small businesses out there should aim to develop a good strategy regarding this type of marketing for their business because through it, you are able to achieve a lot without spending too much money.

Some of the things you’ll get by implementing a good content marketing strategy are:

  • Increase your following by educating your readers and create a brand that readers can relate to
  • Rise above your competition who aren’t taking advantage of it
  • Get loyal customers who trust your name and brand
  • Continuously gain increasing amounts of traffic to your site where you offer your services
  • Gain more exposure to conventional and social media

How to Make a Creative Content Marketing Strategy?

1. Set your goals

Obviously we all should strive to make great content for our content marketing strategy, but that’s not all there is to it, especially when small businesses are involved. Just making the content, in most cases, wouldn’t be enough because you’ll have to know exactly what you need in order to get to the goals you set for yourself. Determining your goals is just as important as the quality of the content and your goals should be as follows:
Define the purpose of the creative content
Conceive a well-thought-out execution plan
Make sure there’s a plan B just to be safe

Once you have these three important parts figured out you can proceed on to getting a thesis writing service that will deliver some great custom creative content for your site if you don’t have the time to make it on your own. Thesis writers online are very skilled and very familiar with content marketing, so it’ll be a very simple way to get the creative content you need.

2. Figure out the needs of your readers/followers

Being able to produce specific content that your followers would engage with is the key to making your strategy work. Not even the best thesis writer can help you if you can’t determine the type of content your target audience is looking for and would most likely engage with.

Once you determine what your followers love to read and what they don’t enjoy so much, you can get your custom thesis writing experts on the job to tailor their content to your needs.

An additional way of getting more followers is by utilizing the power of dynamic content which you can adjust based on specific conditions that you can easily set up without any coding knowledge. When a user enters a site they will be shown specific content based on their likes, and location, so this way you will not gain more followers but also keep them engaged by using dynamic content on your website.

3. Make creative content for all of your goals

The content you’re making for your site shouldn’t be one dimensional, which means you should post various content that would have a different goal to achieve. Some of the goals you should want to achieve are:
Increase your brand awareness – this will help people get to know you and your business, they will notice that you exist on the market and it’ll peak their interest
Show your prowess in the field – this will show your audience and followers that you’re well educated in the field and it will make your much more trustworthy.
Encourage your customers to refer you to others – this is easily achieved by including a promotional code whenever you finish a business deal with a customer which can be a gift certificate that he can give to a friend or maybe some discount voucher he can get for the next time he uses your services if he refers a friend to your page.

4. Publish share-worthy content

Social media has grown a lot in the past few years and people are constantly hungry for content that would educate or entertain them in some way, so you should definitely aim to publish share-worthy content on your site to get the most out of your accounts on social media. Make sure it’s something that they can learn from or some entertaining facts that they would enjoy reading about because those are the crucial things that make people want to share a post with their friends and family.

5. Collect data and evaluate

So, what is content marketing for small business? It isn’t something that you should take lightly and just take shots in the dark, not trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. You’ll get the most out of it if you’re constantly monitoring how your readers react and how the content you’re sharing is performing so you can determine what you’re doing well and what you should change to get better results. It’s also very wise and recommended that you calculate your moves instead of just posting content blindly and hoping it will work.

Increase Your Website Conversion with 5 Simple Tricks

Living a modern world and especially running a business in the 21st century is without a single shred of doubt a tall order to face. All the modern companies are fighting for customers with the vigor that even the most desperate of warriors would have been jealous of. There is no wonder in the fact that having a popular website is one of the key elements for being successful in modern business. The principle at work here is pretty simple: the more visitors you have on your website, the more exposed your brand is, and the more exposed your brand is, the more customers you have. This article will tell you about five simple tricks that you can use in order to increase your website’s conversion rates.

Keep Your Content Original

Let us start discussing this topic from the end, and let’s talk about content as the world of the Internet is a truly tricky domain. Imagine a potential customer entering your website in the hope to find the information that he or she was craving to track down for months. They see a promising SEO title and click on the link. If your website has a credible interface, you can stay assured that an average user will not go to a free plagiarism checker in order to check your content for plagiarism. Nonetheless, imagine that your visitors have been searching for some information for their academic project or a business report. Supplying them with plagiarized information would only mean one consequence for you: they will never return and will tell others not to do so. Hence, one can get the plagiarism checker free from PapersOwl and sleep tight knowing that your customers will be satisfied. Of course, website conversion, first of all, depends on whether the users will be eager to even enter your website. However, making them want to return is also a powerful strategy for growing bulk of loyal users.

State Your Benefits

Whenever a user opens his or her browser and types whatever they need in the search engine, your website has five seconds at best to attract their attention. Therefore, the website headline must feature all the keywords that the visitors might potentially look for when entering a browser. For example, imagine a user typing “Metallica new album”. In this case, you need to render your website headline in a way that will tell your users that they can actually listen to it or find a direct link to in on your website. They do not need to read the news about it being released because the very fact that they search it online should already make it clear to you that they do already know about it. Remember, the percentage of your visitors is directly dependent on the likelihood of them returning to your website. Having them adding your address to the bookmarks is the highest point of success.

Here comes one more simple trick related to boasting your benefits off. If your website, for example, has a plagiarism checker that you want millions of users from all around the world to use in their daily academic and writing activities, double check that you do not expect them to type their search requests correctly. For example, foreign students who study ESL can easily type plagiarism checkers, and your website must be the one to let them check plagiarism. Checking a paper for plagiarism is a practical action that your users need to have done, so refrain from correcting their grammar and stylistics.

Privacy, Only Privacy, and Nothing but Privacy

It goes without saying that modern people are extremely concerned about their privacy, and their position is purely justifiable. Living in the world of elements conversion, where every click made on the Internet can submit bulk of your personal data to a private company, is a matter that most people take with the utmost precaution. Hence, whenever somebody enters your website, make sure that you supply the users with a privacy statement whenever they have to fill in an opt-in that will pop up in front of their eyes.

Consumers Reviews Are Important

Remember me telling you that you have five seconds to make people enter your website? Well, the situation is almost the same with making them stay on it. Hence, why won’t you include your best customers’ reviews somewhere in a sidebar of your website? Modern people are quite prone to believing in what the others have to say. Also, it would be great if the customers’ reviews would pop up in the search engine’s sidebar as well. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most effective strategies for making people entering your website.

Keep It Simple

Of course, surfing the net is much more pleasant when you jump from a website with a beautiful design to a website with splendid design. Nonetheless, namely, simple elements are exactly what makes your website great. Visual navigation through a website must be not a challenge but a walk in a park for your users. Hence, if you have already managed to lure them to enter your website, do everything you can to make them come back.

Concluding Thoughts

Regardless of what information or services your website offers to the users of the Internet, there are five simple rules that you have to follow in order to maintain it successfully. First of all, keep your content original for the customers to hold in high regard. Secondly, make sure that your benefits are visible in a glimpse of an eye. Thirdly, mind customers’ privacy and show them that you care about it. Moving on, it would be great for people to see what others have to say about your website. Finally, do not turn your visitor’s experience into an escape quest; keep it simple and let people enjoy the time they spend on your online platform.

5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Copywriter for Your Small Business

Words have huge power in the world of business. Both what you say and how you say it matter so you must make sure that your web copy is always well-written, engaging, and informative. Grammar mistakes, typos, and unclear messages will quickly repel your visitors. They will think that you don’t care about the quality of your content so the reputation of your small business will be damaged.

In contrast, if you imagine a beautiful website with high-quality content, the effect will be the opposite. Clear and interesting copy will attract visitors and turn them into customers. High-quality copy will increase your credibility so we recommend that you put some effort into it. However, small business owners have to deal with too many tasks at once: sales, marketing, business development, etc. The more your business grows, the more overwhelming the workload. It’s impossible for one person to work on everything, so if you want to have good copy on your website, you certainly should hire a professional copywriter. There are hundreds of websites where you can hire a copywriter for your business and sites like LegitWritingServices can help you choose the best one.

1. You Can Have More Time.

Creating engaging content takes a lot of time, and this is the main reason why you should hire a professional. Small business owners are always overwhelmed with work so it becomes really difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. If you delegate copywriting to an expert, you will have more time for work associated with decision-making. There is work that no one else can do, and hiring a professional will help you focus on it. Besides, you’ll be able to take a break and drink a cup of coffee.

2. Grammar Does Matter.

If you’re not a brilliant writer and your grammar isn’t perfect, it’s not a problem unless you need to write your copy. On the one hand, your copy must be consistent, engaging, and interesting. On the other hand, it must be spotless in terms of grammar because otherwise, it will damage your credibility and your audience will have a negative impression of your brand. In addition, you should make your copy perfect for Google.

Hiring a professional copywriter is a great solution because copywriters have strong writing skills and they know all the ins and outs of English grammar. You won’t need to puzzle over the various nuances of punctuation, trying to figure out whether you need to put commas here and there or not.

3. Copywriters Can Create Content in Different Formats.

You should also adjust your copy to different formats and create different types of content, including web content, blog posts, social media ads, emails, etc. Professional copywriters know what different kinds of content look like so they won’t have any problems providing you with copy for all the necessary channels. They can even write scripts for your videos or help create infographics.

Not only should you care about different formats, but you should also make sure that your copy is consistent. A copywriter can write a blog post and break it down into smaller pieces for social media or newsletters, repurposing your content and speaking to a wider audience. This way, your audience will be able to choose how they want to consume your content.

4. Copywriters Can Increase Your Organic Traffic.

Getting organic traffic is better than paying for ads. Of course, ads are important for businesses of any kind, but organic traffic can bring you legitimate customers, help you keep them, and lead to quick sales. Professional copywriters can increase your organic traffic by creating engaging content for your website and social media. Increased organic traffic will boost your revenue, and you will certainly appreciate your new customers. However, don’t forget to build good relationships with them so that they will want to come back!

5. You Can Build a Strong Online Presence.

Online presence is necessary if you want your small business to succeed. When looking for various products or services, many people don’t go to a specific website but simply google what they need so you must make sure that they will find you. In turn, your Google rankings depend on your content and your ability to optimize it.

Some people think that they will SEO-optimize their content by simply using as many keywords as possible but it’s a big mistake. In fact, you can even get penalized for it. Therefore, you should hire a professional copywriter who is familiar with all the features of SEO optimization and can optimize your content properly.

Wrapping Up

Small business owners often wear too many hats, trying to deal with all the business tasks all alone by themselves. However, such an approach will only make you feel exhausted, especially when it comes to creating copy for your website or social media. A professional copywriter will make sure that your copy is well-written, engaging, and consistent. Hiring a copywriter is a great investment because you will get effective content that actually works, attracting new customers and improving your search rankings.

Kubernetes: A Popular Container Orchestration Platform that Can Benefit Your Business

Container-based microservices architecture is a widely popular DevOps trend. This technology has significantly changed the way operations and development teams create, test, and deploy modern software.

Enterprises and developers love it because it helps make application development faster and simpler. However, by creating a completely new infrastructure ecosystem, the use of containers has also introduced new complexities and challenges.

With more companies—both large and small—deploying thousands of container instances every day, they need to find a way to manage this complexity of scale. This is where Kubernetes comes in. 

But what is Kubernetes, and where does it fit into the container and cluster management space?

The Importance of Containers

Software developers must ensure that the application will still run reliably when migrated from one computing environment to another. An example of this is when moving an application from an on-premise server to a virtual machine (VM) in the cloud or from a staging environment to production.

However, applications that come from different environments have different security and network requirements, making them incompatible with each other.

Containers are designed to address this problem.

All components of the application in the development environment are bundled up into one package, creating environmental consistency. This allows developers to deploy applications faster and more reliably, regardless of the deployment environment.

So, by using containers to package the application platform and its dependencies, the differences in the environment and underlying infrastructure, as well as the operating system distributions, are resolved. In fact, you’ll hardly forget about the infrastructure when you use containers.

Additionally, modular containers that make use of executable standalone software packages include every element and component required to execute an application. Organizations that are interested in a multi-cloud strategy can greatly benefit from using containers..

Implementing new applications or updating existing systems isn’t as easy due to software version and environment incompatibilities—even with DevOps. Containers make it easier to execute DevOps implementation, helping organizations enjoy its promise of rapid and efficient delivery. Containers help organizations avoid the headache of having to start over every single time they need to upgrade or update their applications.

However, you need the right tools and in some cases would need DevOps consultation services to execute this DevOps approa`ch effectively to application development and manage container platforms and technologies at an enterprise level. This is where container orchestration or container cluster management comes in.

A Closer Look at Container Orchestration

Containers have revolutionized the entire process of developing, deploying, and managing software.

The different services that make up an application are packaged into individual containers and deployed in a collection of virtual or physical machines in a containerized architecture. This article about kubernetes architecture describes this process in details. However, managing and scheduling separate containers of applications within multiple clusters have proven to be a challenge—giving rise to the need for container orchestration.

Container orchestration makes it easier to manage and schedule individual containers by automating the whole process. These orchestration platforms are based on open-source versions like Docker Swarm or Kubernetes. 

What is Kubernetes?

Originally developed by Google, Kubernetes is an extensible, portable, open-source platform designed to automate scaling, deployment, and management of containerized workload and services. It also helps facilitate both automation and declarative configuration. It has a rapidly growing ecosystem that has widely available services, support, and tools. The Kubernetes project was open-sourced by Google in 2014.

In practice, Kubernetes is often used with the most popular containerization platform, Docker. However, it can also be used with other container systems, as long as they conform to the Open Container Initiative (OCI) standards for container runtimes and image formats. And, since this is an open-source technology, anyone who wants to run containers can freely use it—whether it’s on-premise, on the cloud, or both—with relatively few restrictions.

Choosing the Right Kubernetes Management Platform

Here are a few things you need to consider when choosing a Kubernetes management platform for your organization.

  • Production-readiness. How ready is it for production? Product-readiness is a vital component of any technology, and that includes Kubernetes. So make sure that the platform you choose has all the features your organization requires to easily and effectively automate Kubernetes configuration. You also need to consider if it can automatically take care of all the management tasks in the cluster—as well as its ability to provide self-healing and scalability for your applications.
  • Future-readiness. How ready is it for the future? When choosing a Kubernetes platform, make sure that it has features that will allow you to run your applications practically anywhere without the need to adapt to the new hosting environment. This way, you can easily configure them anytime you need to do so in the future.
  • Ease-of-management. How easy is it to manage? Check if the Kubernetes platform includes automated intelligent alerts and monitoring. You should also make sure that the platform you choose provides you with a better way to view system status, events, errors, and warnings.
  • Support and training. As much as possible, choose a Kubernetes management platform provider that can give you round-the-clock support and training. 

When a provider, it’s vital that you choose one that offers a production-ready and cost-effective platform that streamlines and accelerates both the set-up and management of the Kubernetes clusters. This way, you can easily migrate your legacy systems to the cloud, while allowing you to seamlessly rebuild, replace, and maintain them in the background.

Conclusion

Kubernetes is a great DevOps solution for the automation of scaling, deployment, and operation of application containers—when implemented correctly. But if you get it wrong, you’ll end up adding an extra layer of complexity and cost to your infrastructure management.

This is because Kubernetes, for all its advantages, doesn’t come cheap. So save yourself the expense and headache by leveraging automation tools that provide future-readiness, production-readiness, ease-of-management, and the right support you require to use Kubernetes—minus the management overhead.

So, as your organization ramps up its container strategy, you need to educate yourself about all the possible difficulties and challenges—including misconceptions—regarding Kubernetes. Do a lot of research and compare different Kubernetes management platforms. 

Source: https://kublr.com/

Four Ways to Improve Security on Your Android

There’s no escape from the fact that cyber crime has encapsulated the entire world. With a professional software and multiple conning techniques, criminals can easily hack your phone at any time.To enhance your Android’s security, regularly update your router’s settings to block unauthorized access. This can be easily done by configuring your router through the admin panel, accessible via 192.168.l78.1. Regular adjustments ensure that your device connects only to secure networks.

If you have a lot of personal data stored in apps, you must go the extra mile to enhance the security of your phone. In this article, we will guide you through four ways through which you can improve your phone’s safety.

1. Set a Strong Password

You will be shocked to know that close friends and relatives are often the first people who hound your phone all the time. This means if you set a password that is inclusive of your first name or date of birth, your phone might get hacked by a close person in your absence. This is the main reason why you need a very strong and discreet password for your phone. Strong passwords that have multiple letters and signs are very difficult to open. Never share your password with a friend or anyone you trust the most. You never know about the change in somebody’s intention.

2. Install a Phone Tracking App

In case you lose your phone, you need to have something that can help you in tracking it as soon as possible. There are multiple apps that allow one to track the location of his/her phone in real-time. All you need to do is install a phone tracking app such as mspy in your phone and connect it with the same app in your laptop. This way, when somebody might steal your phone, you will be able to track the location and catch the criminal. Many people are confused whether mspy free trial version myth or reality? However it is a concrete app that has served thousands of people in the last decade.

3. Encrypt Your Phone

Phone encryption is imperative in today’s time when hackers can easily gain access to your data despite a strong password on it. Encryption is a process that converts the phone data into a format that doesn’t allow any unauthorized individual to access sensitive data without a phone key. This is very important if an unauthorized person gains access to your phone and tries to chuck out important information from inside. Luckily, some androids have a built-in encryption feature, however, many of them don’t have it. Therefore it is crucial to encrypt your phone as soon as you read this blog.

4. Revisit Your App’s Security Section

Have you ever noticed why the photo editing app requested you to allow access to the contacts list? Do you find it weird when a gaming application requests access to the pictures and other media? You’re asking yourself the right questions. Keep in mind; you are always in charge of navigating movements of such applications in your phone. Whenever you install an app, never allow it complete access on your phone. If you have the latest version of Android, go to settings, visit Apps section and then select any app you want. Click on the permission button and undo all permissions you are skeptical about.

So these were a few tips you need to consider if you want to enhance the security of your mobile phones. In today’s day and age, people conduct business transactions on their phones that is why it is important to take necessary measures to magnify the security wall.

Importance of Whatsapp Business in Retail Marketing

WhatsApp is a free messaging service. The “WhatsApp for Business” has been their first shot towards monetizing it, and it has provided the business holders with a great way to improve their brand status. 

Let’s get you some facts-

  • WhatsApp has 1.2 billion users out of which 70% use it daily
  • It is the second most used messaging app providing bulk SMS facility
  • Daily 100 million voice calls and 175 million regular WhatsApp status

For retail marketing, you need to offer your services to the right customers at the right place. If you look at the above statistics, then it is a no brainer where you will find a vast customer base. Let’s give you some more benefits of WhatsApp business now.

Update Your Service or Product Status

 WhatsApp is a convenient way to take your updates of services to existing customers. The conventional updating platforms do not guarantee that your customers will go over the message. But almost every user checks their WhatsApp messages daily. So there is no fear of missing. One such example is the service from BookMyShow. They were one of the very first users of WhatsApp business in India. They send booked tickets to the customers via WhatsApp.

For Sending the Reminders

 Does your business involve any recurring policy updates or recurring payment needs? If yes, then you can use the WhatsApp business to your benefit. You can send your customers reminder messages regarding the upcoming policy updates. You can also remind them of the payment due date via WhatsApp and be sure that they do not forget it. Your customers will also appreciate this service as they need the businesses to give rich customer experience.

To Give Customer Support

If you have unhappy customers, then it is terrible for the business. But do you know what is worse? It is not having a platform to address the issues of the customers at all! The WhatsApp business allows a streamlined conversation between the customer and the retailer. It makes the task of both parties pretty easy. The customers can explain their queries and the customer service can analyze and give suitable solutions quickly. The customers love the facilities where the issues are addressed in real-time. That is something that the standard customer service lacks.

Promote Your Product

 You also have the option to promote your range of products via WhatsApp business. WhatsApp supports different media forms such as photos, videos, audios, etc. that makes it a multichannel marketing platform. You can leverage this opportunity to create engaging demos of your product to attract customers. Such all in one opportunity is not present in other marketing platforms such as SMS. It is a significant advantage of WhatsApp in the SMS vs WhatsApp business debate.

To Get Reviews

 WhatsApp is a convenient way to get reviews and ratings on your services. It does not require the customer to download an app or go to a web page to rate you. This very fact will help you to get more reviews from valuable customers.

In a nutshell, the WhatsApp business will help you to reach and keep more customers by providing convenient two-way communication. If you are worried about the technicalities involved and need some assistance, then Textlocal will be able to help you out. It is a trusted service provider who will make it even easier to reach your potential customers.

Top 5 Useful Features for Your Social Media App

According to Statista, as of the third quarter of 2019, there were 2.47 million Android apps on Google play. Elsewhere, the Apple App store had over 1.8 million applications for iOS. 

In the light of these statistics, it is evident that there are tons of applications for users to choose from, meaning fierce competition for app developers across the planet. Therefore, to cut through the noise and attract as many users as possible, any application available on the market should offer an array of useful features. These provisions will make it a better option among others, thus boosting use, user loyalty, and engagement.  

List of 5 Essential Features for Any Social Media App

What features can you include in your social media app to ensure optimal use and best performance? Here is a round-up of the must-have characteristics for any well-performing application.

Authorization

Whenever a new user downloads and installs an app, it is essential to create an account. It can either be by using email or social media account. The latter is an ideal option if the person you want to sign up is important. It is also an excellent way to go since it is a less time-consuming approach. That being said, your authorization process will heavily depend on how you feel about linking a social media platform to your business/ individual application. 

There are several benefits to implementing social media authorization. One is that it helps businesses acquire users’ networks, thus assisting the brands in avoiding the creation of in-app user networks from scratch. Moreover, this form of authorization enables a business to acquire essential details from users such as email addresses, profile photographs, likes, and so forth. 

Customizable User Profile

Brands that allow their users to personalize their profiles establish better connections. Some of the ways that businesses can facilitate this are by enabling users to write their brief biographies, upload images, etc. 

Allowing users to customize their profiles comes with its advantage. See, by giving a specific user a name and a corresponding profile image, other members of the community will view the brand as more credible. In turn, this will make the brand approachable, thereby increasing the use of its associated applications. 

An excellent example of an application where this plays out is Yelp. By availing images and biographies of its users, this business-reviewing application gives more credibility to any feedback provided on the platform. 

With that cleared out, it is essential to appreciate that customization options should not be limited to the profile. Instead, your users should be in a position to edit other aspects of their accounts, for instance, add/ edit their community, add/ unfriend people, etc. If you want an application with this capability, be sure to hire a reputable developer to create a social network app for you. This way, you can give your app’s users more freedom to tweak their account settings to match their preferences.

“Follow” or “Friend” Functions

An excellent social media application should allow its users to connect. For this reason, you have to provide a feature that enables users to befriend and follow others. Contrary to what you might think, this capability is useful to applications even if they are not meant for socializing. 

Music applications such as SoundCloud and Spotify enable their users to befriend and follow others. In turn, this allows them to share tracks as well as know what tunes their connections are enjoying. 

When your social media application users can make friends and follow each other, they will become more attached to it. As such, they will want to keep using your app over and over. Moreover, by facilitating connections on your application, you get to understand your users better by examining the people they interact with and how they are familiar with each other. After that, you can incorporate a “suggest” functionality that allows your users to make more friends or followers based on their existing networks. 

News Feed

With a newsfeed, you will keep all of your users engaged. See, given that a majority of social media application users want to always be in the know, they will not mind an opportunity to access any content shared by their friends or followers. 

In line with that, if you have an application that helps users with exercise or dieting, you can integrate a news feed feature. It will enable your users to share their milestones, make relevant inquiries, and offer suitable recommendations. By doing this, you will make using your app more of a fun activity than simply watching weight. 

Push Notifications

Some applications perform way better when compared to others since they have features that bring the users back when being closed. These features are what we refer to as push notifications. By integrating them into your social media application, you can reach out to your audience more frequently and also increase retention. 

With this option, you can send notifications to users whenever there are new deals, sales, and so forth. This way, you will prompt your users to open your application. You can also send push notifications when a follower or friend responds to what a user did on the application. Consequently, this will make them either comment or like the response. 

Another thing you can do with push notifications is to remind your users to share your application with their friends or family. This way, you can help your business grow organically. 

Final Words

For success in social media application development, there is a need to pay attention to the features that keep users engaged. You have to conduct exhaustive research to identify the functionalities that most people like across various applications. In this case, it is particularly important to focus on your niche to avoid creating apps that do not appeal to your target demographic. 

To sum it up, the features covered in this article will go a long way in helping you develop the ideal social media application. It is understandable since most of the best-performing applications on the market today have these characteristics in common. So, the next time you want to create an app, or in case you already have one, you should consider integrating these features.  

10 Apps To Boost Your Productivity As An Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is faced with numerous competing tasks such that his energy and productivity may be compromised. Technology is one of the distractions, but it has redeemed its image by providing some of the most amazing productivity apps for entrepreneurs. Mypaperwriter.com provides professional writing services to save time and enable you to boost the quality of work you submit.

Apps enable entrepreneurs to focus on the tasks at hand, keep deadlines, and manage communication tools, among other functions. Boosting productivity requires a good time manager and maximum concentration. Here are apps that will transform your productivity as an entrepreneur and, therefore, enable you to hit your entrepreneurial goals.

1. Asana

Asana is the perfect project management tool. It combines assignment allocation, HR management, and deadline tracking in one app. A communication thread will be added under each task. A free version helps you to try out the features on offer. The premium version is affordable for all businesses.

2. Evernote

Entrepreneurs popping from one meeting to the other require the best note pads. Evernote enables you to take notes on your phone and transfer them across platforms. You can attach files and other documents generated or required for the meeting.

3. Buffer

Entrepreneurs today have to use social media for communication and marketing. Buffer is the perfect choice for passing information across different social media platforms. You can time your communications to update whenever the need arises automatically.

4. Dropbox

Access to documents and files while in the field is one of the biggest challenges for organizations. Dropbox solves the problem by allowing you only to tag a password along. You can drop the files from any device or location. This allows co-workers or entrepreneurs to access the documents anytime and from any location.

5. Monday.com

The apps are designed to provide a central point for controlling all your work. You can track progress and communicate with the persons involved through the platform. Progress is updated in real-time to assist in monitoring the performance of each stakeholder. It is one of the best organization tools for entrepreneurs.

6. DejaOffice

The app is designed for marketers, customer care reps, and salespersons, among others who have to deal with customer information. It is optimized for mobile use to allow you to access all data and information about your customers on the phone from any location. You can transact and make business decisions anywhere you go.

7. Square

Do you wish to take payments from any location and serve customers around the world? Square is the app to install. Since you can monitor financial transactions, it will be easier to serve your customers.

8. MobileDay

The app serves entrepreneurs who need to hop into video conferences at any moment. Once you set up the call, passwords will not be required. You can, therefore, hold your conferences anywhere and at your convenience.

9. InvoiceGo

A professionally looking invoice will get you paid fast. Since you are not always on your desk, you need a tool to send your most professional invoice.

10. HelloSign

Signing documents online or away from the office is tricky. Avoid wasting time by using HelloSign to append the signature wherever you are.

Bonus: Milanote

Milanote is an easy-to-use tool to organize your ideas and projects into visual boards. Milanote’s flexible drag and drop interface lets you arrange things in whatever way makes sense for your project.

There are many other apps to solve our daily entrepreneurial needs. Choose an app that will deliver the best user experience, especially through the provision of multiple features.

How to Increase Your IT Credentials with CCIE R&S Certification

Would you like to upgrade your skills in networking and become an IT expert? The CCIE R&S certification is what you need. The CCIE R&S goes for Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching. This credential is suitable for IT experts who want to go to the next level and learn how to operate and fix complex network infrastructures. As the IT job market is constantly changing, data processing professionals need to keep up the pace with all these changes. When you reach an expert level of knowledge, you will still need to put effort into grasping the latest market developments.

The Cisco CCIE Enterprise Certification and associated 400-101 exam will thus help consolidate your position in the industry with this top credential, and always propose you an advantage over the challengers.

This article outlines the details of the CCIE R&S certification attainment and gives tips for the successful passing of 400-101 test.

Process of Getting CCIE R&S Certification

The CCIE R&S credential requires expert-level knowledge. It is a suitable certification for senior network engineers who have 7+ years of practical experience. Even though there are no prerequisites on any training programs or certifications, candidates will have to pass several tests before getting the certificate.

They will have to pass first a written qualification exam. A lab exam where candidates will have to demonstrate their practical experience will follow. Therefore, having prior experience in related domains will help you to increase your chances to get a top score in 400-101 exam.

The first step will be to pass the CCIE R&S 400-101 exam which lasts for two hours. It covers all the topics related to networking concepts. Applicants will receive 90-110 items with questions related to the configurations, validation, and necessary troubleshooting actions for complex network infrastructure. Thus, you should know very well how infrastructure components work and interact with each other.

Once you have demonstrated during the written test that you have the right knowledge to obtain the CCIE R&S certification, you will move to the next step, which is the lab exam. It lasts for eight hours. The test covers various timed situations where you will have to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to earn this certification. In case you do not pass the lab exam, you shouldn’t worry too much. You can retake it within 12 months from the last attempt.

400-101 Exam Topics

During the written exam, you will receive questions on the following topics:

  • Layer 2 Technologies
  • Layer 3 Technologies
  • Network principles
  • Infrastructure security
  • Evolving technologies v1.1
  • VPN technologies
  • Infrastructure services

Lab Exam Overview

The lab exam lasts eight hours, during which applicants have to configure real equipment and troubleshoot the network within the limited timeframe, being supplied with all relevant Cisco documentation in the lab room. However, this exam requires substantial knowledge of protocols and technologies. Applicants are not allowed to bring any external training materials. Moreover, by receiving the grading from a proctor, the candidates’ performance is being evaluated. Proctors use an automatic system of grading to ensure high objectiveness. The lab test is split into two modules. The Troubleshooting module lasts for 2 hours. If time is not enough, you can ask for 30 extra minutes, which will be taken from the second, Configuration module. In case you finish the first module faster, the remaining time will be added to the Configuration module.

Recertification Requirements for the CCIE R&S Certification

The Cisco CCIE R&S accreditation is valid for two years. Keeping it active demonstrates your strong commitment to improving your career and becoming an expert in your domain. In case you don’t manage to pass the recertification exam, your certification will be canceled, and you will lose all benefits associated with it. You still have another year to renew your CCIE R&S certification and avoid the risk of becoming inactive and re-take the certification process. If you are not sure when your certificate expires, you can always check it in the Certification Status section. Just check the date on your license and calculate 24 months from it.

You should also pay attention to the following recertification conditions when the time comes:

  • Attend the Cisco Continuing Education Program and earn the necessary points for the extension, or
  • Get the passing score on a CCIE R&S written or lab exam, or
  • Pass the CCDE written or practical exam, or
  • Receive approval during the CCAr interview and board review.
  • Once you have the extension for the CCIE R&S certification, you will also automatically broaden the validity term for the CCNP and CCNA credentials.
  • You must wait 15 calendar days between taking written exam attempts.
  • If you haven’t met the CCIE recertification requirements on or before the cert’s expiration date, your CCIE credential will be suspended for one year, and you have one year to be recertified by passing the written exam.

Ensure Success in the CCIE R&S 400-101 Exam with Cisco Resources

  • Practice materials

Cisco is an appreciated IT certification vendor thanks to its variety of training tools. If you want to obtain a top score in 400-101 exam, you should start with the hands-on lab environment. You can attend the Mobile CCIE R&S labs overview, and utilize the full-fledged CCIE R&S lab exam study materials, stuffed with suggested learning, online resources, quick learning modules, and study documents, to name a few. Otherwise, you can check Evolving Technologies common for all certification tracks.

  • Individual learning materials

Appreciate the CCIE R&S technical workshops, written exam study materials, IT training videos and seminars, and many more possibilities proposed by the vendor for your 400-101 exam success.

Exam labs 400-101 Exam Training Options

  • Ambitious candidates will appraise the high-quality 400-101 Premium Package open for a discounted price of just $39.98. The bundle is set up with 700+ answers and questions, a reliable study guide and a training course of 65 lectures. This batch will equip you with practically all necessary knowledge you need to pass both the written 400-101 and the lab CCIE R&S tests! Before purchasing this premium bundle, you can try using free and updated exam dumps that are available at Exam labs website as well. They will give you the insight of what is waiting for you at the exam, thus you’ll hone your skills and be more confident at the exam.
  • Well, in order to be on the safe side, you are also recommended to check out the ETE test simulator rebuilding the actual exam setting. This software will enable you analyzing your study progress and defining weak spots, so don’t miss it to be comprehensively prepared for the exam.
  • Remember about 400-101 Training Course possibility to excel in your certificate acquisition! The top qualified IT instructors will share with you the information on the exam that you won’t find anywhere else!

Conclusion

The CCIE R&S certification represents your ticket for a secure and consolidated position in IT. If you are a senior network engineer who wants to stay updated with routing and switching developments, this credential is exactly what you need. Cisco is a valid and acknowledged vendor thanks to its reputation and comprehensive package of training materials to help you successfully pass the exam, proceeding arm in arm with Exam labs exam dumps and other training materials.

7 Great Project Management Apps for Teams

Project-Management tools help you to organize and systematize your project on a single platform. This software helps you categorize your tasks by telling you the ones who have been working on, the others that are being worked on by other members of your team, and the position of a project that is in progress.

1. Trello

You can add due dates, attachments, and any required comments on the work presented. It also helps save a lot of time since you have an entirely organized chart right before you, which helps you jump right to action from an idea to create different tasks and complete them instantaneously. So, let’s start with all the great Project Management Software for firms & businesses.

Trello is the first tool that comes to the mind of any individual when they’re discussing about project management tools. Trello is, although very fast and swift in its nature of completion of work, it does only offer a very limited array of email integration and a similar number of labels.

You can add multiple people to work with you on any project you are doing to planning to do, due to its collaborative feature. Along with its professional usage, firms use it widely to plan vacations and other leisure activities too.

However, there are so many other great Trello software alternatives that you can also check out to save you some time.

2. Click Up

Click Up is a very modernized and technical alternative to Trello. Not only is it proficient in task management but encompasses the ability to offer goals, reminders, docs, calendars, etc. Click Up is completely customizable and is useful for any and every type of team and field of work. Since it is based on common ground, all kinds of teams can use the same app to collaborate, organize, and plan their tasks, respectively. 

Features

  • Common platform for all users
  • Reliable and Consistent user interface
  • Free sources for training purposes
  • High ability for customization

3. Backlog

As a project management software, Backlog is the one that is very rich when it comes to the features. However, this does not result in any complexity in usage and lets it be rather simple. This software has multiple subscription plans as per everyone’s budget requirement and also remains relatively cost-effective. The good thing about these subscriptions is that they bill the entire company for corporate usage and not an individual.

Features

  • Multiple, creative template options
  • Automated system for creation and issuing of templates
  • Drop file-sharing system

4. Air Table

This software is suitable for businesses of big sizes and offers collaborative functionalities and tablet-friendly options. It also aids in setting your priorities and clocking schedules to the minute. This helps in effective alignment of work for a speedy work completion process.

Features

  • You can easily integrate social media and email IDs.
  • The platform and views can be customized
  • Records can be filtered and rearranged

5. Paymo

This is an application for project management that is used vitally to complete the project right from the time of its conception until the very end of it. It is ideal for businesses that are either small or are medium-sized, with more scope to grow. This software helps these businesses to simplify their complex procedures and processes and ensures the swiftness and fastness of the business that is being carried forward.

Features

  • It collates data from various other systems during the process of estimating a project
  • You can create a visual timeline of the work being done or the work that has been finished by you and your team
  • There is time tracking to ensure that deadlines are met regarding each and every task
  • It offers complete transparency between the employees and the manager

6. Process Street

This software contains maximum accuracy as a management tool meant for the workforce. It is best suited when there are repetitive tasks that need to be done by a company. Since workers may be on different levels of movement within their operation, Process Street helps to create workflow processes for businesses, to track them and optimize them as and when needed.

Features

  • Collaboration and integration available with over 1000 applications
  • Collaborating on the teamwork and being able to track the progress
  • Allows swift control and analysis of the business processes

7. Task World

This project management software is cloud-hosted and uses visuals for task management and planning ahead. It records all the changes that have been made or are being made and stores them in chronological order so that accessing them later does not prove tedious.

Features

  • You can add colored tags or labels to differentiate and sort out the tasks which you have to do. Color coded work descriptions have been proven to be done in a better manner due to its nature of visual appeasement.
  • If you want to keep your tasks under the veil, Task World also can help you lock the document or hide it from the other members of the team.

Summary

Task management tools abound. If one of the seven above does not fit your needs, check out this list of The 64 Best Free Productivity Apps of 2021.

A Brief Guide on Optimizing your Product Page SEO on Amazon

When users search for a specific product, listings don’t appear magically in a random manner with vendors hoping their product will be picked. You need to work hard on your product page and ensure that the SEO is fully optimized. Just like Google, Amazon is going to use an algorithm that will pick up on cues that are strengthened using SEO.

So before you spend money on an Amazon SEO consultant, you might want to follow some of the tips given below to see if it makes a difference. If nothing, this guide will help you reach the basic standard that any quality vendor would implement in their listings.

Keyword Research

Before listing your product, carry out some research on keywords depending on your target audience and the type of product you want to list. Focus on long-tailed keywords and keep your research consumer-focused rather than having a generalized viewpoint.

Even though your research will be focused on the viewpoint, you need to be as vast as possible with your coverage because even one missed keyword can make all the difference in the world. o streamline and enhance your keyword research process, consider using the best Amazon keyword research tools available in the market.

Be Smart with your Content

Now that you’ve got all your keywords figured out, you need to be smart when it comes to usage. First and foremost, make sure that you aren’t pasting all the relevant keywords wherever you can find some space. You need to be organic with their usage and keep the flow of information consistent and intact throughout the page. Even if you have every keyword possible included in your content, if the information doesn’t follow a format and comes off as forced, the search algorithms will ignore the content and your page’s ranking is going to suffer. Your keywords need to be integrated into the information of the product rather than the other way around.

When it comes to images, use high-resolution HD images with a zoom enhance function if possible. This improves the buyer usability experience on the page and by extension the Amazon website. The better the user experience, the better your page will rank as this is one aspect that the search engine algorithm also follows.

Be Consistent with the Formatting of your Text

Whatever font, size, and tone you might choose for the text on your page, you need to ensure that it remains consistent throughout its entirety. The inconsistency leads to bad overall user experience and is likely to impact your SEO rating.

Present information in an organized manner and use bullets for different aspects of information. Your font type and size should be the same throughout the description and you need to check on spelling and grammar as these small errors can also have a significant impact on your page rating.

Amazon Guidelines

It also helps if you read the Amazon guidelines. These aren’t just rules that vendors are supposed to follow, but rather a format which helps Amazon organize all its listings and makes it easier to display them to the buyer. 

Trendiest Ways of Food Services Using Digital Marketing

In this age of digitalization, being an owner of any foodservice, you must invest an amount of thought about an excellent online appearance of your business to reach more and more people, besides having an offline brick and mortar appearance.

It is particularly important for growing restaurants to stand out from the crowd and adapt to consumer trends and current events. Besides marketing great food, employers increasingly implement online food handler’s certification training to promote food health and safety at every step of the food preparation process. Knowing they are in for a delicious and responsible dining experience is a difference-maker in a dining industry that continues to bear the impact of COVID-19.

With the coming of social media networks, e-commerce websites, and mobile devices, getting your food service noticed depends a lot on the online recommendation, customer ratings, reviews, pictures of your restaurant with a pleasant ambiance, etc. 

Nowadays, several successful bakeries and start-up food services use the modern platform of digital marketing very skillfully to grow faster by applying tactics like an online ordering system, amazing visual content, loyalty programs, geo-targeted ads, and other online branded business identities. 

Here, in this article, we will be helping you with such enormous business ideas to land your food business strongly in an online platform.

1. Create a Food Blog:

Make an interesting food blog with lots of information, engaging stories, pictures of food, etc. You also need to update your page regularly and keep your page up to date show up in the desired place of the search engine results and drive a lot of traffic for your website. 

Also updating interesting things regularly will turn your searchers into the regular visitor of your page and the visitors into constant customers. For example, Ceres PR is one of the best Food PR agencies in the UK who post amazing blogs over many intriguing topics on their page to stay in good attention of the search engines. 

2. Share Engaging Posts on Social Media:

You should know the procedure of paid traffic driven to your blog by successfully using advertising campaigns through social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook. In this process, you need to invest a little bit of money, but it is definitely worth it. When considering the huge number of audiences you can be connected with, the amount of buzz you can create with your next food content launch. 

3. Approach Other Bloggers to Promote Your Business:

Find out some other bloggers who provide food services like you or other services and ask them to promote your page. Before choosing any ensure that the audiences of those blogs are the consumers that you are trying to reach. 

Today, one of the most widely used and successful strategies of digital marketing for food products is to collaborate with food bloggers and ask them to promote your food business.

4. Arrange Engaging Things like Live Videos, Online Contests, and Events:

To get more and more engaging audience for your page, you need to really interact with people through social media. You can host an open-house event, food tasting, or even a new dish launching at your restaurant. 

The easiest and useful way to broaden your exposure to the viewers is by running contests that demand your audience to engage with your social media appearance also you can arrange some exciting gifts. Another useful idea would be to promote your service through videos made with the past reviews you have achieved.

Having a convenient online food ordering system for your customers allows you to customize orders so that they fit with your brand identity.

Conclusion

So, in this article, we have tried to write down some beneficial tips for you to stand out with your foodservice. We hope it will be helpful for you.

10 Small Business Productivity Tips

As globalization changes the economic stage of the world, businesses at all levels are affected by a fault. This puts the small business at risk due to unforeseen changes. Thus, it is important that for a business to stay afloat, it maintains productivity and efficiency throughout its daily operations. However, this is a daunting herculean task for the management to sustain unless inculcated into the office work ethics and traditions. 

As the saying goes, “Success leaves clues”, meaning that by looking at predecessor similar companies, we can learn a thing or two, adopting best practices used in their business models. These practices are what has kept them self-sufficient and moved them to the top echelon of their various industries. Each of these companies achieved record-breaking levels of productivity for long periods. 

Hence, this write-up is about ways to help improve your productivity to better handle the ever-changing field of play in the business arena. Below listed are 10 tips to help boost productivity in your small business.

Be Efficient

Have you thought of how your job environment could better experience cost and time reductions in executing activities? That is what efficiency is all about. Here, from time to time, you ask yourself this question “Is there a better way of doing this?” This forces you to think of more suitable ways to ease the flow of work and achieve better results.

Like the adage more for less, when you’re efficient, driven resource allocation patterns change. You’ll get more results using fewer resources when they’re better applied. To do this, you’ll need to be flexible in your orientation to change without changing your goal in mind.

Thus, workers should have a human resource manager who creates an office workplace that breeds creativity. This gives room for workers to suggest better ways of doing things. Being hands-on, the workers are better suited to notice areas where improvements can occur.

Implementing employee performance management software can greatly contribute to creating an environment of efficiency and continuous improvement. By providing a centralized platform for goal tracking, feedback, and performance evaluation, the software empowers employees to identify areas for improvement and suggest innovative solutions. Moreover, the software enables managers to easily recognize and reward exceptional performance, fostering a culture of creativity and collaboration within the workplace.

Automate

As a small-scale business owner, it is important to reduce human labor charges wherever technology can suffice. Introducing certain technology and machinery reduces work lines with repeated tasks or job descriptions.

This reduces the number of workers needed there and increases the consistency of quality in work done. This helps to reduce the costs incurred when paying off labor wages and also other labor rights such as retirement plans and benefits. Also, it saves time since machinery does not experience fatigue as humans do.

Save By Outsourcing

Outsourcing is one of the ways of leverage which the entrepreneur uses to improve his yield productivity. It means giving out tasks that are done by yourself to other companies, individuals or groups to perform. As we achieve nothing great alone, this calls for the review of certain jobs though miniature. Check to see whether it is the cost incurred for performing that task is less than the price stipulated for subcontracting it out to another group/company.

For example, assignment help in Canada will base its written works from those outsourced by other Canadian companies or neighboring countries. These companies needing briefs or other literary works that could have been done but as a coping mechanism to cut costs have been outsourced.

Smaller businesses can also benefit from working with HR consultants to handle tasks such as recruitment, employee training, and performance evaluations. This not only saves time and resources but also allows the business owner to focus on key areas of their business.

Furthermore, through outsourcing your work-schedule is also made lighter, the only challenge to this is management and trust. The group must be known for integrity in work ethics and quality to ensure it doesn’t affect one’s overall performance. With this in mind, when outsourcing the company should be well vetted and analyzed to determine if they’re good enough for the job.

Collaborate

This involves putting in place systems that help to ease communication and encourage people. It is most needed in groups under the same unit or division working together on a similar task. Provision of amenities like videoconferencing, file sharing, contact archiving, general broadband internet database, etc. would go a long way to ease the ability to connect with colleagues, clients, vendors, etc. This improves customer satisfaction as ease of access usability is a well sought after criteria in business when dealing with customers.

It helps to trace and correct errors or points of conflict in production lines or the business model itself. By increased collaboration, in conflict resolution communication is more effective hence it is easier to pinpoint and isolate issues and their causes.

 

Delegate

Delegation is the new way of a shift in the power play in an office. It means to give authority to a subordinate to oversee and effect changes to a certain degree in certain areas of work. By putting the worker in charge, he or she becomes responsible for that work.

Delegation is unlike micromanagement, where the entrepreneur is the sole decision-maker. Here a certain amount of freedom is accrued to the workers to allow them to use their preferred work methods unless specified. To do this, some level of competence and reliability is required on the part of the worker. Hence it works best when the worker is prepared for delegation.

The delegation also increases the independence of workers on their superiors for supervision. By gaining experience without strict supervision, workers also build trust in their abilities and have increased knowledge and confidence. This further reduces internal bureaucratic systems that lead to complicated administrative procedures that are time-consuming.

Reduce Distractions

Distractions take on multiple forms but all achieve in delaying us accomplishing our set targets. To many entrepreneurs, distractions seem to not having much importance compared to their other challenges being faced by the company. This isn’t the case, as distractions are one of the main reasons for high unproductivity especially in small scale businesses.

Hence as an entrepreneur, it is important to reduce distractions experienced at all levels of the company to see improved productivity.

Listed below are a few examples of office rules to help curb distractions

  1. Keep meetings as short as possible addressing the issues brought up with an open mind.
  2. Take on more challenging work as this would allow your company’s general mind-set to remain compliant and active
  3. Reduce office chatter. Although social bonding is encouraged among colleagues, it is not tolerated during work hours.
  4. Workers should turn off smartphone notifications and shouldn’t be allowed to use phones during active work hours

Have the Right Tools and Equipment

A lot can be said about a workman just by looking at his tools and equipment. The same can be said about the quality and time taken on a service or products delivered by a company. It is wise to invest in good tools and equipment over time. This saves the company future cost incurred due to poor durability or accidents that would have happened.

Also, it helps to speed up the work rate. Workers having better precision and ergonomics relieving them of body pains will ensure the longevity of work. This goes to say the there will be better finishing since there’s a lot more attention to details in the products or services rendered. This leads to increased customer satisfaction, which in turn helps sales and marketing the company’s brand.

Offer Support and Set Realistic Goals

Goals serve as a means to checkmate productivity during a period. For productivity to increase, a small business should be goal-oriented working to meet specifications outlined goals and objectives.

Set specific goals every day for workers stating time frames as deadlines. This helps to keep in my mind the urgency of work to be done and prompts the worker to work. If the worker fails to achieve these daily objectives, an employer should issue a query. Then the worker should be interviewed whether he/she is competent for the job. Also, the goal and objectives should be revised to see if it is realistic and feasible.

Hence, with each difficulty experienced along the way by workers, management should provide support where needed. This support is to clarify, educate, correct and understand the issues arising from the work to be done.

Improve Workforce Conditions

There’s just a nice feel to a serene work environment that naturally brings out the best possible performance in a worker. This stimulates a deeper worker’s connection to their workspace making them feel more relaxed and at home with their office.

One achieves this through the following:

  1. Keeping the office clean
  2. Providing sufficient lighting conditions
  3. Reducing noise pollution to a minimum
  4. Providing health safety kits and equipment where necessary

Ensure Employees Are Happy

It’s been observed that the best performance is seen in companies having the best human relations with their employees. Happy workers are known to go the extra mile in doing tasks the right way without trying to cut corners. This gives the company a cumulative edge to improve productions and services rendered.

An increased feeling of self-worth in a company helps workers feel appreciated and indebted to the success of the company. One can achieve this through the following:

  1. Having personal relationships with your workers
  2. Develop and train them in their field of work
  3. Management should recognize and reward excellence in performance
  4. Management should request feedback and encourage them bringing up ideas for presentation to the management.
  5. Provide medical benefits
  6. Practice positive reinforcement.

Final Thoughts

Now that you understand these various interwoven dynamics of the things listed above, you’ll find out that the outcome of getting improved productivity is predictable. Hence, you begin to see the pattern to it and make the necessary adjustments needed to achieve the desired end goal

Sync Outlook Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes with your Android and iPhone

DejaOffice is rated 2019 Best Paid Android App for Outlook Sync by Lifewire!

The reason is simple.  It is the only App you can download on your phone that has Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes, just like Outlook on your PC.

Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes

The Magic of Outlook is that it keeps all your schedule in one place. But on your Phone, some vendors think you should use one app for Calendar and a different app for Tasks. DejaOffice offers a coherent whole so you can easily coordinate your data entry. You can turn a task into a Calendar event, or add a Contact location to a task.

Category Colors, Linked Contacts, SMS History, Caller ID

DejaOffice extends Outlook category colors to all the Apps, so your Contacts and Tasks can be arranged by color. Every task can have a linked contact. There is a system to record SMS text as history. When people in your database call, their contact info is displayed on your phone. DejaOffice is exactly what you need to make your phone an extension of Outlook on your PC.

Sync using USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DejaCloud

Easy sync options include USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth* and DejaCloud. (*Bluetooth is only available on Android, not on iPhone due to iOS restrictions). CompanionLink for Outlook gives you easy and automatic two-way sync from any Outlook Folder to your Android and iPhone. For ease of use, use DejaCloud Sync for two-way push sync that is fully automatic.

Free 14-Day Trial

This trial will synchronize all your contacts and calendar just like the paid program. All fields are included.

Click here to Download the Free 14-Day Trial

Check out the Video

Here are complete Set up Guides

CompanionLink for Outlook
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Average rating: 4.84 out of 5 based on 650 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $14.95 3-Mo Subs - $69.95 One-time License.

Sync any version of Outlook, Outlook IMAP, POP3 and Outlook 2010 Folders

CompanionLink will synchronize with any Outlook folder. You do not need Exchange or Office 365 to use it. You can synchronize to any Google account. Works with Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010. You can synchronize Contacts, Calendar and Tasks.

Telephone Tech Support

We also offer Telephone Tech Support at (503)243-5200 or email us at support@companionlink.com.

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How to Create a Killer Brand Name

Think about some of the biggest brands in the world, what do you realize about them? They all have names that you can instantly recognize and that you know what the brand is going to offer you and bring to the table.

When you have this in mind, then you are going to realize that having the very best killer brand name is what you need to make sure that your business is a success, that your company has the best chance of getting where you want it to be.

So, to help you to create a killer brand name we have put together some of our top tips on getting it right.

Think about words that match your vision and vibe

One of the most important things that you need to think about when it comes to your brand name is that the word that you choose matches the type of brand that you want to create. Think about words that you believe will give the right impression of your brand and appeal to your target audience.

Be different

If there is one thing that you can notice when it comes to some brand names it is that they follow a pattern. Of course, this makes it much easier to find a brand name as you can pull inspiration from others out there in the world, but you don’t want to blend into the crowd. Instead, be brave, be the brand that stands out, rather than the one that simply is following the crowd.

If you are stuck then use your surname

Whilst some of us are creative, there are also those who are not quite as able to think about an interesting and unique brand name. If you are finding it a huge struggle, then why not think about using your last name (just so long as it isn’t the lamest name in the world)? Some of the biggest brands in the world are based on the last name of the owner and creator of the business and they really do work!

Take a look at the dictionary

Another great idea is to find your brand name in a dictionary, to do this it is a good idea to look for words that relate to your brand, that have a meaning that is going to match what you are trying to offer and the audience that you want to appeal to. Just try and pick a word that is a little different and that stands out.

These are just some of the top tips to keep in mind when it comes to creating a brand name for your business. The best tip is to take your time, to focus and try and have fun with the process too, that way you can make sure that your brand name is everything that you want it to be. Whether you are wondering how to re-brand and get it right, or if you are starting out completely fresh, getting your brand name is one of those things that you absolutely need to get right. So, take the time and think about it carefully and we can promise you in the long run that things will all be worthwhile.