Category: Insights

Insights

Bring Your Startup Back on Track – Get a Debt Consolidation Loan

Miley on November 1, 2018

One of the most important things in managing a startup is to arrange for funds. You may get brilliant ideas in your mind for starting with the business, but giving the necessary support to the ideas to materialize needs money. Hence you need money to start things, and that is why you would need a startup loan.

What is a startup loan?

A startup loan is a great way to get your business funded. Many banks, organizations, investors, private lenders, online banks and such places offer loans for startups. The loan amount may be small or big. The motto of the loan is to fund the startup at the inception or to fund it at a later stage for development. You can get this kind of a business loan easily by applying to the right place at the right time. For this, your credit score must be healthy to prove your creditworthiness. If you are taking a loan for the first time, then also you can get the business loan at a little higher interest.

How to take a startup loan and how to prepare?

To get a startup loan, you will have to prepare a file that represents your business plans. Your entire plan for the business, detailed case study, market research, projections for the coming years, backup plans for crises management, and all such things with total calculations must be made clear in the file so that you can impress the lender. You can apply to traditional banks, and may also apply to private lenders and online banks through online loan agencies and loan comparison sites.

Things to consider while taking a startup loan

You can take one or more loans as needed for growing your startup from time to time. And this is pretty natural too. Entrepreneurs do take loans and raise funds from the market. And you can do so also. Just you have to be careful that you clear off the loan on due time without lingering on with late payments, and non-payments. To ensure the loan EMIs stay comfortable with the revenue generation of your startup, so that you may comfortably pay the EMIs, you should check that you get the loans at the lowest possible rate and longest possible tenure. A low rate and long tenure combination make a loan comfortable to bear and payback in most cases.

What if you are unable to pay the loan back?

You may discover or realize late that you are unable to pay back the loan. This may happen for a number of reasons. Your business may not do well, the entire business may fall sick or close, or you may mismanage the multiple loan accounts. Anything that results in delayed payments of the installments, or total non-payments, or skipped EMI payments; all results in two things, and that is the charge of penalties for the delays together with impact in the credit score.

The reputation of the business, its credit history all goes down with time, and you lose your creditworthiness in the market due to non-payment of loans. These things can get too worse to bring collection and recovery calls to you, disrupt your mental peace and wellbeing, get you legal notices and make the business even sicker under heavy debt. You may lose your staffs and workers owing to non-payment of salaries and bad reputation, and many more damages may come to the startup. Hence, failing to pay the dues on time can be fatal for the business and its reputation.

How may you get into trouble for multiple business loans?

Getting under the heavy pressure of multiple debts in business is quite common among entrepreneurs. And may cope up well with the situation while many fail. Failure to manage finances and debts is one big reason for many startups to fail. And that is why if you are suspecting any such scenario in the near future, you must act now, and get help now before it’s too late and your credit score and reputation get ruined.

Once your credit score is affected, your good healthy resort to take a debt consolidation loan to manage all the dues may not work, and you may never be able to consolidate your dues in a sorted way. Then you may have to look for other solutions like debt settlement or even bankruptcy, with the help of a bankruptcy lawyer in Phoenix, or wherever you are based, in severe cases. And naturally, such solutions are not great for your reputation or business health. Hence, a timely analysis of the situation to take the right step for getting out of multiple business debts is the best thing to do.

A solution to get out of multiple debts

The best solution to get out of multiple debts while you still have a sound credit score is to get a debt consolidation loan. A debt consolidation loan helps you get a loan amount as much big, which will help you pay off all existing dues in the market with the full and final settlement. This helps you get sorted and get rid of all dues which you were unable to manage. You get in return one single loan for a big lump sum amount which is still manageable to pay, because it’s tenure to pay back, and rate of interest are both favorable. Paying back a debt consolidation loan is easy for the lower rate of interest than what you earlier paid. Also, the long-term helps divide the loan amount into smaller manageable EMIs. Hence you can manage such a loan much better without taking any burden. More ideas about debt consolidation can debt relief programs can be obtained from important resources like nationaldebtreliefprograms.com.

Finally

Debt consolidation is a smart step in multiple bad credit management in an early situation when things are not gone too wrong that you are denied a consolidation loan. If your credit score goes too bad, then you may be denied the approval. Otherwise, you can get the loan and sort out things much easily, and bring back your business on track.

Insights

Best And Proven Ways To Save Money Designed For Single Parents Only

Miley on October 22, 2018

It is true that raising a kid is not an easy feat, especially if you are taking up this task as a single parent. So, if you have to due to unwanted circumstances, then kudos to you! It is no doubt to state that handling finances as a single parent is a major challenge. But, there is one major point of handling finances alone. It is perfectly alright as you are making all the financial decisions on your own without anyone poking you. So, you are free from the tasks of comparing or bickering budgets for sure.

Even after this point, it can finally be stated that maintaining a family’s complete budget as a single parent is no joke. As per one recent report by the US Department of Agriculture, the primary cost of just raising a child right from the birth to age of 18 will be around $233,610. With such a hefty expense for you to deal with, single parents might find it hard to just get by. Apart from that, the idea of saving money is also quite impossible it seems, at some point or time. Saving always stays right at the back due to other pressures of financial priorities. During such crucial economic conditions, going through debt settlement reviews can be a helpful solution for all the single parents out there for sure. Yes, it is true that saving money is not easy but single parents can often put money in a bank with some help. Some tips in this regard will work magically.

A plan creation for working your way out with bills

In case, you are struggling to find enough money for paying bills, this might be the first business order for you. For that, you have to head start by creating a schedule of each form of the regular monthly bill which is due. Then you have to compare that with the paycheck you get at the end of every month. Do you have enough money for making the payments?

It is really impossible to schedule bills due-dates to match with the paydays. So, it is always up to you for creatinga plan for ensuring that you have enough cash for bills.
One simple way to work on that is by creating separate bills pay savings account. You will have money automatically withdrawn from a regular savings account and then put into bill payment account.
By following this way, you can actually settle money aside for ensuring that the bills are paid always and right on time. Always be sure to update information and automatic drafts that you have for a setup.
Always remember that bills are going to be the first priority for not just you but for your kids as well. In case you are lacking money continuously and cannot pay bills, then you have to cut right back on some unwanted expenses for sure to avoid falling into some mishappenings in near future.

Have to adopt that minimal lifestyle

Minimalism helps in improving financial health quite easily. Living with less or minimalism means considering every purchase seriously before investing in it. Do you really need to add that item in your shopping cart list? Will it be of any use later or is it worth the money? You have to be sure of these points first before you can actually invest money in any product. If you can cut short your expenses that will be great for you.

Well, minimalism does not mean that you have to reside in a nearly empty place just to give you this title of a minimalist. By just adopting this minimalistic lifestyle, you can always reduce expenses greatly. You can always cut down anything in life that no longer serves the purpose that well or cannot bring the joy in your life. You can always find joy in living a rather simple life. In this article, you can read more about earning some extra money to reach “joy in your life” goal.

Have to prioritize emergency fund

Everyone is in need of emergency fund. And that calls for the single parents out there as well. These funds are perfect and quite necessary for just protecting the financial wellbeing of every individual.

Tragic things can happen anytime and even without any prior knowledge. For example, your car might break down or you may forget to pay a bill or might get laid off.
Avoid these events from ruining the finances you have right now. You have to prepare by just starting emergency fund right now and that will help you big time for sure.

If you can then sell items

Hosting a garage sale once in a while of the items that you actually don’t need it always a clever idea to earn some bucks and add those in your financial budget. In case you are unsure of how you can find some extra money for paying bills or adding into the emergency fund, then you can sell some household items, which you don’t use anymore. However, the items must be in good condition.

This step will definitely help in jumpstarting finances really well. Most of the people can easily have at least couple of dollars’ worth of the sellable items, which are just sitting around. You can easily host garage sales or just sell these items on Craigslist, FB or OfferUp.
You can use this money for saving some goals for sure. On the other hand, as an added bonus, by just cleaning out your space, you are already starting off with the idea of minimalism in full force!

Plan some special low cost celebrations

Just because you are cutting down expenses that does not mean you won’t have fun like you used to previously. Whether it is your birthday party or any special occasion, you can celebrate it with the same zeal and energy, but by just lowering the expenses for it. Contact only very close friends and family members for the party and cook food for them at home. It will help you to have fun and save bucks too. Following these steps are really amazing for single parents out there in saving money.

Insights

13 Common Problems for Small Businesses and How to Fix Them

Miley on October 22, 2018

If you are looking to start a new business, then now is the best time. There is so much possibility in today’s world for new ideas to become a hit and with advancement in technology, it has never been easier to start a new enterprise. Setting up a new business requires many things like an idea you trust in, the right opportunity, resources, meticulous research and understanding of the field you are entering in and a detailed and exhaustive study of the market. These are a few things that you will require while venturing in the business world.

But it’s not a smooth sail after you enter the ocean of opportunities. Starting a business comes with a fair share of challenges which will require skillful tackling. Your company’s growth depends on how well you handle these opportunities disguised as challenges. But to be able to turn any challenge into an opportunity for growth, you must be prepared for it.

Mentioned below are a few challenges that you might face while running a business. Understanding them will give you an advantage over them and will help you in your company’s growth by neutralizing them at an early stage.

1. Creating a Plan for Your Business

It all starts with a plan. You have to make sure that you have pre-planned how you are going to run your business even before you have any resources. Build an early plan for how much space you need for your business, the number of employees needed, the rent you might be paying, what amount you should be spending on your furniture etc. An early plan will help you in getting an idea about how much money you might be spending monthly. This will assist you in collecting money for your business and in taking a loan.

2. Time Management

Managing time can be a hard task for some people. But when you enter in business, it becomes essential that you manage your time efficiently.

While doing business, you have to pay attention to many things like finances, supplies, delivery, employees, etc. Failing at them can be a disaster for your business. Having a schedule will let you perform every task efficiently and will improve productivity over a period of time.

3. Customer Services

Providing excellent service to your customer is what should be your primary objective. Every business is customer dependent, and its success and failure depend on the kind of services it provides to its customers. If you lack behind in delivering your customer with a great experience, then it may work against your business. An unsatisfied customer can always leave a bad review. Avoid this by understanding your customer. Always promise what you can deliver and always deliver more than what they expect.

For example, this business insurance resource center includes:

• How To Manage Your Commercial Property Risks
• Office Insurance
• Consultant Insurance
• Videographer Insurance
• Top 11 HVAC Contractors Risk Exposures
• Legal Expense Insurance
• Why Personal Trainers Should Require Questionnaires From Clients
• Hair Salon Insurance
• Accountants Insurance
• Farm Insurance
• and many more

4. Choosing a Location

Having a suitable location for your business is very important. You can select a location based on the kind of services you are going to provide. If you are planning to be a restaurant owner or a florist, you should be looking for a location that is accessible and crowded; a market that will suit you well.

And if you are looking for a place to set up a warehouse or factory, then a discrete location out of a city which is connected to a road is what you should be looking for. You can easily select a location based on your business and the type of services you would be providing.

5. Targeting the Right Customer

Your customer base depends upon your product and the kind of services you would be providing, and after you have decided the services you would be offering, you should focus on reaching the targeted customer. Let us say if have decided your product and you know your preferred consumer base; your next move should be to contact them. If you have decided to own an ice cream shop, then your preferred customer should be kids, and if you have decided to run a sports equipment shop, then your targeted customer should be young and athletic people.

6. Keeping in Touch with the Latest Trends

Keeping a close eye on the market and the ongoing trends will help you in enhancing your business and making a profit. Staying in touch with the trends will reduce the chances of making any decision that can be against the market. This will save you a lot of money.

7. Being Innovative and Creative

Creativity and innovation will always keep you ahead from your competitors. Being creative will help you in standing out from the rest and in gaining new customers. You should always try new and bold ideas that are distinct from the league.

8. Keeping Your Competition Close

Watch every move of your competitors. Keep a track on what they are doing. You should not always try to follow them and do what they do, but watching their move can teach you something. Sometimes they may know something that might work fine for you.

9. Improving Your Sales through Marketing and Advertising

You can always improve your sales through proper advertising. In fact, seeking the services of a good marketing agency will give a boost to your business by increasing your visibility and helping you attract more customers.

10. Keeping Your Employees Satisfied

By keeping your employees content, you will ensure the smooth functioning of your business. Understand your employee and pay them well. This will improve their efficiency and will create a better work environment.

11. Managing Your Investment and Finances

While starting a business, you might need financial support. You can always take a loan, but make sure that all of your investment should not come from loan alone. It would be a bad idea to depend upon the loan solely. Whether it’s small business accounting, mid-sized or large-scale, it is essential to keep track of your finances at all time.

12. Choosing the Right People

Be it, employee or customer; make sure you work with the right people. The people you work with should share the same work ethics and principles. And the people you work for should value your product and the services you provide. Working with like-minded people will take your take company to new heights.

13. Keeping Track of Your Performance

Always track your performance. Whether you perform good or bad, always keep a record of your performance. There is always something to learn from your past, and there is always a room for improvement.

These are a few key points you should remember before you start a new business. They are guaranteed to help you in making your business a hit.

Author Bio

Tracy Watson is a business development manager at Accounting To Taxes- a well-known company offering complete finance and accounting services. She has always been a great contributor to the accounting industry and also responsible for branding and lead generation. And being a passionate writer as well she helps businesses with her informative articles.

Insights Martech Products

4 Apps that will help you stay away from any and every brain related problem

Miley on October 19, 2018

Studies conducted by various institutes have proven the importance of brain stimulation. It’s no secret that cognitive functioning declines as the brain ages. An active brain has a higher chance of surviving against age-related neurodegeneration than a slouchy one. Keeping your mind busy is vital when it comes to fighting off diseases as damaging as dementia.

Your brain needs the right nutrition and stimulation to keep working at its best. The human brain strives on challenges. It requires complex situations and problems to solve. Research reveals that problem-solving makes the brain healthier and assists in strengthening nerves. It helps generate new brain cells and makes the present cells stronger.

Similarly, people exercise to develop physical strength. Maintain their body, eat healthily and try to stay fit not only to look good but to also satisfy their self-esteem. The food you eat has a direct impact on your brain and the body. Lack of essential vitamins could be the main reason why you don’t feel like yourself. Longterm depression leads to a decline in cognition if left untreated.

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Brain fog, lethargy, and an inactive lifestyle are the problems faced by many adults. Sitting at a desk for long hours or staying immobile for more than 55 hours a week could cause mental problems. Minimal movements lead to a drop in oxytocin, a hormone that generates happy feelings and makes you lose your focus. The several hours spent in front of phones, televisions, and laptops is discouraged not only by ophthalmologists but also therapists. Continuous scrolling on social media apps can leave you isolated and cause feelings of depression. All these factors can eventually lead to brain damage.

Your brain is technically a supercomputer that performs multiple tasks per millisecond. It is the command center, and the tiniest malfunction could lead to a drastic change in your life. So how exactly can you keep your brain functioning properly and block the development of any brain-related problem?

You use the apps that improve your mind instead of those that damage it!

The claim that mental stimulation leads to enhanced neuroplasticity is the basis of the concept of brain training. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and adapt according to the stimuli available. Human evolution from the hieroglyphs to algorithms is proof of how vital neuroplasticity is to us. Working on this surreal ability of the brain is precisely what you need. Here is a carefully curated list of 4 apps that will help you stay away from any and every brain related problem and keep your brain functioning at its best!

Lumosity

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Lumosity, a colorful and fun app, is thought of as the original brain trainer. The app has millions of user who can’t stop singing its praises. It focuses on the five, central cognitive functions of memory, speed, flexibility, problem-solving and attention.

The app was developed with the assistance of more than a hundred researchers who helped in the designing of each of the games. According to a citing on their website, 4700 people participated in a study, and their cognitive progress had improved monumentally by the use of this brilliant app.

Dementia statistic state that better cognitive functioning delays the onset of dementia. Crosswords and Sudoku are great games for your brain. But apparently, Lumosity is better for your mind than the said puzzles.

Duolingo

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Duolingo is a creative app that helps you learn different languages. The cute bird themed app helps stimulate language, memory, and attention. A boost in these cognitive functions can help you focus today and prevent brain damage in your later years. Learning multiple languages is closely linked with a higher level of intelligence and quick decision-making.

Being multilingual in the globalized world of today would benefit your image too. You could probably impress that french girl you met online with your stellar command on her language. And, you could get brownie points for being poetic in the language too!

Elevate

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Elevate is the app for everyone. It helps you improve comprehension, makes you solve mathematical problems and helps you speak and write. This app was voted the best iPhone app for 2014. But what makes it stand out is the ability to boost productivity, earning power and self-confidence. It has an overall adult feeling due to the focus being on text instead of captivating visuals. The serious tone and goal-oriented nature of this app have made it a favorite among its millions of users worldwide.

Braintest

Braintest is a scientific app that helps detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and dementia. It is a cognitive screening app that saves you from the hassle of visiting a doctor’s office when you’re doubtful about your mental health. The SAGE-based app provides an assessment and not a diagnosis. You have the opportunity to test yourself in the privacy of your own home. The results can be printed and used as the starting point of your conversation with doctors.

Wrapping up

People over forty should be vigilant with any changes in their behavior. Subtle signs of behavioral changes are the earliest sign of mental decline. Forgetfulness, irritability, hypersomnia or insomnia count among other signals.

Sharpen your mind with brain training and practices of productivity to have a better life today and also reap the benefits of this mindfulness when age-related neurodegeneration threatens you. Focus on your diet and try to consume foods rich in brain-boosting powers like berries, leafy vegetables, and nuts. Try to move around as much as you can.

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Set reminders on your phone to drink water at regular intervals. This will give you the opportunity to not only stay hydrated but also walk to the restrooms. Waking up at an earlier hour keeps your mind focused for longer. If you manage to limit your use of social media apps, then you are surely on your way to achieving all your health goals!

So, download these awesome apps and start testing the limits of your mind today!

About the Author:

Alma Causey is a Freelance writer by day and sports fan by night. She writes about tech education and health-related issues. Live simply, give generously, watch football and a technology lover.

Development Insights Martech

Can You Tackle The Web Design Trends For 2019?

Miley on October 19, 2018

Withthenever-ceasing tech revolution, we will see many new Web Design trends in 2019. This web design company shares the expert tips to tackle them.

It’s coming to the end of 2018, and we have been facing a lot more new in the Web Designs and the related trends.

2018 has been the year of many revolutions in the digital trends, and when it comes to website trends, they are never ceasing.

A website is an online presentation of a business and helps to bring new customers to the business.

Thus, it is entirely necessary for any business to have a website design that creates a lasting impact on customers and helps to convert the prospect into potential ones.

However, having a beautiful web design is not pleasing the visitors if the website takes long enough to load.

Google stats say that if your website takes less than 3 seconds to load the visitors will be staying, but if it is increasing then 3 seconds, they are supposed to quit the site.

Stats say if it takes 1 to 3 seconds, the bounce rate increases by 32 % and when it takes up to 5 seconds, the bounce rate hikes up to 90% and it is only going higher with the increasing load time.

The stats will only give you a nightmare, and if you still don’t wake up and understand the trends, you may fall behind the track.

Here, I come up with some of the known, but highly essential trends to tackle with web design in 2019.

1. No Compromise on the Speed

We read it earlier that the load speed of the website is not tolerable by the users.

They only wait for 3 seconds to check if they can visit the website; if it takes longer than that, the chances are they quit the site without seeing anything further.

It seems like centuries passing through the time of visitors if they have to wait and couldn’t get anything by that time. Which, in the result, leaves the worst user experience.

Whether you are a beginner or a completely settled business, it is entirely necessary for your business to maintain the best user experience for your users.

You cannot afford an attractive website if it is not helping any users to stay on your site and bother to see your services.

The websites with beautiful but heavy graphics are going to make the web page load slower and irritate the visitors because they will have to wait long.

It is going to cause a significant loss to the business if your visitors have to wait for the website to load and eventually leave your site with no fruitful experience.

Being an entrepreneur, you need to work on this aspect to shine among the competition in 2019.

If you don’t understand how to accomplish it, take assistance from a reputed web design agency for your website project.

2. Keeping designs flat and simple

Wait, what? Am I asking you to keep the design simple?

Well, Yes and here I will tell you why to adapt to this trend.

It can be seen from the recent past years’ experience that the web design created with heavy and beautiful graphics makes the website slower to load.

Also, it is visible that web designs with neat and straightforward graphics draw more traffic because of two reasons:

It is quicker to load for the desktop as well as mobile browsers
They help to get high SEO value

However, it does not mean that the flat designs are only limited to two dimensions. It is sheerly related to the austereness and usability.

It is an aspect that focuses on making your design clutter-free and increasing the reliability of the website.

However, simplicity doesn’t make it uninteresting. You can get the website design development service that is smart enough to make a web design which is simple but elegant at the same time.

You can get the graphics design services those understand the best contrasting colors and appropriately visible and beautiful fonts and settle them as per your business website requirements. You can use this free sunflower svg bundle to create vibrant yet quick loading graphics.

3. Making Mobile Responsive Websites

It is only unnecessary to describe how much have the mobile phones taken over the technology.

No matter what the age of a person is, he or she is engrossed in the mobile phones more than the desktop computers.

Thus, pointless to explain how important it is for the businesses to get the Mobile Responsive Website Design Services for their business.

This has been an ideal trend now that every business chooses to have responsive website design services to be able to cater to the vast population group regardless of the type of devices they use.

Responsive website design means that the site can adjust as per the size of the device screen from which the user visits it.

It adjusts the website to be able to perform with the same efficiency even on mobile with which it delivers on the desktop.

If you are a start-up business and are not keen to invest highly in the design, you can take assistance from many of the best website design companies for small business.

4. Grid Layout

Grid layouts are the ones that we have been using since ages of the outdoor ads.

A grid system helps the website design company to maintain the alignment of the images, content, headlines, CTA irrespective of the medium they are working in.

Grids were kept out of the web designs for a long time making them more sloppy. It made users only to focus on the essential parts of the page.

However, later with the time, Grids came more into trends because of their look being different from other websites and at the same time not appearing as sloppy.

The designers at any responsive website design company can achieve this by breaking the grid pattern and cleanly planning the asymmetry.

Smart web designing company sites use the grid layouts differently by unusual placements, different colors & textures, irregular patterns, white space, and creative content.

These designs easily catch the users’ eyes and keep them engaged with the website with the delightful user experience.

5. Shapes

When it comes to designing, how can we forget about shapes on the web design?

In the tug of war between the flat designs and grid layouts, we see a simple yet an elegant trend of shapes shining out.

While keeping the design simple, the geometric shapes still give it an essential beauty to differentiate from a simple flat design and not making it a heavy loading design.

It is like a bridge between the flat design and grid layout giving the users an eye-soothing experience yet keeping them on the track with the website to focus on the essential aspects.

Smart website design development service providers know how to use this design element and fit them according to the personality of the business.

Like colors, shapes also represent emotions which the best website builder for small business also understands and delivers the design that looks like the complete online representation of the company.

6. More Advancements

The first advancement I will talk about is Video Backgrounds.

You might be thinking that just a minute ago you read that load speed is such a significant issue in the website conversion, but again I am discussing the videos on the websites.

However, regardless of the speed issues, Video backgrounds have shown up as more promising to boost up the conversion rates.

Videos have proven to be more interesting than text or images ever and hence if you design a website with an impressive video background, it is going to break those glass ceilings for your business in 2019.

Second, I would discuss Bots on your website. This feature is a very new yet useful element bringing a huge curve on the Web Design graph.

A chatbot on your website is always intriguing and bringing high conversion rates.

These chatbots encourage the visitors to talk to you or submit their queries on your website; which in return can bring your business a potential customer.

The top 10 website design companies across the world have mastered this skill and are up with innovative ideas to include in this design trend always.

Conclusion:

Well, these are some handful of the trends that we will see in the coming year 2019.

No one knows what the future is about to present to us. However, being future ready is what a business should always do.

Thus, it is quite advisable to hire a responsive website design company which can help you with the required website design development services.

Here, we come up as one of the Best Web Design Company in India providing effective web designs at the competitive website design India price.

Author Bio:

Manan Ghadawala, the founder of 21Twelve Interactive – one of the top Web design and Development Company in India and the USA, himself, is a seasoned Web Developer along with the extraordinary leadership skills which he applies to every project. He is a fantastic leader who stands as a backbone to his team and the company to achieve the desired success.

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The Constant Evolution of Voice Search

Miley on October 12, 2018

Technology is all around us, and there is no escaping it. The best thing is that it is continually evolving as technological breakthroughs are seen almost on a daily basis. One of the technologies which are getting better every day and making our lives easier is voice search.

When Did It All Begin?

More than half a century ago, IBM introduced IBM Shoebox which was the first speech recognition tool. The father of voice recognition devices was able to recognize 16 words and the digits from 0 to 9.

Mostly implemented by mobile device manufacturers, today’s voice technology gives users the ability to do online searches, find information about products, ask questions, ask for directions or for the weather forecast, and many other things just by talking to a device.

How Does Voice Search Work?

First of all, it processes and transcribes the human speech into text before analyzing it in order to detect questions and commands. After that, it connects to external data sources such as search engines to find the relevant information and translates that information into a digestible format to fulfill the user’s intent.

What Are The Best Voice Search Engines?

There is a continuous battle between big players to make the best voice search engine. This is good news as voice search assistants are becoming more and more sophisticated, thus making our lives easier. Let’s take a look at the top brands manufacturing these devices.

Google’s Google Assistant is powered by AI and is primarily available on mobile and smart home devices. It was launched in 2016, and the thing which makes it different from its predecessors is that it can engage in two-way conversations.
Microsoft’s Cortana was released in April 2014. Available in multiple languages, it has the ability to set reminders, recognizes a natural voice, and answer questions by using the information found on Bing.
Amazon’s Echo has many capabilities, such as voice interaction, music playback, creating to-do lists, and streaming podcasts, to name just a few. The best thing about it is that it can be extended by installing other functions which are developed by third-party vendors.
Samsung’s Bixby is a voice-powered digital assistant introduced in 2017. It is a major reboot for S Voice. Aside from being used on smartphones and other mobile devices, Bixby is included in Samsung’s Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators, which are the first non-mobile products to include a virtual assistant.
Apple’s Siri is part of its iOS, watchOS, macOS, HomePod, and tvOS operating systems. It works by using voice queries and a natural-language user interface to do actions such as answering questions, checking for information, navigating, and many other things.

What Lies Ahead?

As of January this year, around 1 billion voice searches were made per month, and in the next couple of years, 50% of searches will be made using the voice-enabled technology.

It is also predicted that in the years that follow the voice recognition market is going to experience huge growth, with an estimated $601 million in 2019 only.

Conclusion

We can definitely say that the future of voice-enabled technology is bright. The constant need for improvement is the driving force that makes companies produce the best voice assistants out there. Both the companies and their customers bear the fruit from it.

Development Insights Products

Ways To Prevent Mold Formation In HVAC Unit

Miley on October 9, 2018

If you fail to maintain your HVAC unit, the chances are high that it will grow mold. This bacteria and fungus then might get pumped out right into the air that you, along with your loved ones, breathe. This could result in you being the unwanted victim of respiratory problems and allergic reactions. So, it is time to learn how you can actually prevent mold from growing in the first place. If you have already been a victim of such an issue, you should consider getting professional cleaning booked in, be it via Willard Power Vac or any other service provider. But, by following the following simple and easy steps on a daily basis, you can prevent the formation of mold and avoid this issue altogether.

Make sure to clean your system whenever you get time:

The first step in this regard is to check on the cleanliness of the current HVAC system. Look for any of the areas which are damp or leaking. And then you have to confirm it by placing the right air fitters in those areas. The experts from reputed centers are here to help you with the cleaning of the air duct in case you are completely unsure of where you might want to begin with the unit. To prevent the formation of mold in air ducts, you have to keep a note of this point for sure.

Get yourself the best humidifiers as available online:

The addition of some terms like humidifiers, standalone heaters in homes and fans can help in regulating humidity in the air. It can further help in cutting back on the mold growth to a great extent. You have to buy the best humidifier, which will match your requirements well. Purchasing the best one can cut back down on how much you might have to spend on the cleanup services otherwise.

Keep the windows and doors closed:

Whenever the weather remains warm or damp, avoid opening doors and windows all the way around. Giving chance to the outside elements to enter your place can increase the level of moisture inside your house and that will affect the HVAC system to a great way. Shutting down the doors and windows will help in minimizing the air duct cleaning ordeal and will also help the system to remain clean and free from molds, if not more. As the products are not getting way too exposed to elements, so things are designed to act in your favor for sure.

For the concluding note:

Once you have learned the easiest ways to keep the molds from forming, you should start working on it now. To be on the safer side, keep the numbers of the experts handy. These professionals are licensed and they have a certificate to prove their worth. They know what they are doing and always ready to help you in the best manner possible. Once you have contacted the team for help, there is no need to look for any other secondary service. If the mold infestation is way too much for you to handle, then let the experts be your guide for the day.

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Increasing Sales of Online Fashion Store with Instagram Marketing

Miley on September 30, 2018

Acceptance of online fashion stores is increasing these days. With the advent of time, people are getting comfortable as well as accustomed to online shopping. As a result, they want more convenience in online-based shopping. It is a difficult thing to shop for fashion items, especially clothing items online. With the advent of many well-developed e-commerce websites for fashion clothing items as well as accessories, it has become simpler for the buyers to find products as per their preferences or choices. Along with adopting some essential changes to the e-commerce website for selling fashion items, businesses have to focus on business promotion or marketing to gain more traffic as well as visibility. For online marketing of fashion e-commerce store, different social media platforms can be used. Instead of conventional marketing, social media marketing works well for the online fashion stores. Now, different social media platforms are there. There are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These are the major platforms. Along with them, a lot of other social media platforms available. Using Instagram has certain benefits in the process of social media marketing. It can increase sales and give better profitability to your business. Here is a guide for you in this matter.

A Perfectly Created Instagram Account

It is to be noted that Instagram marketing would be successful once the foundation is strong. This is simply comparable to a building structure. If the foundation is not strong, building structure would not be strong. So, the foundation has to be strong enough. To work on the foundation, different strategies and expertise are required. To make the foundation strong, different techniques should be adopted. To create an Instagram account, you need to follow the basic procedure of signing up. Once you register with your account, you need to follow some simple measures. Here are the things that you need to ensure when you are creating an Instagram account. Make sure that you are following the steps as mentioned below with perfection.

Profile information: The profile should be stuffed with all the necessary as well as crucial information. It is important to understand all the things that are required for showcasing information on your profile. Right from the bio section to the contact section, all section should be stuffed with genuine and useful information.
Display Photo: A business profile on Instagram is not complete without a good display photograph. You need to make your profile photograph complete with the right selection of the display picture. Make sure that business profile picture for your Instagram account should come with business logo or emblem. It helps in creating brand awareness.
Verified Profile: You need to verify your business profile through proper documents. Not verifying the profile would not stop the copyright violation issues.

Once all these things are done, you are ready for an Instagram marketing job. Now, this job has to be conducted with perfection. The first step is planning. You need to chalk out the blueprint for the Instagram marketing campaign. Once the blueprint has been created, you need to go for the process of business marketing to enhance traffic for your website and eventually enhance your profitability. In order to learn more about this matter and to get brilliant social media marketing services, you can get in touch with Gramista.

Sharing Fashion Related Photographs and Contents on Instagram

Content is the king in the field of business marketing. You need good content to make the process of Instagram marketing seamless. You have to work on your content with more dedication. The aim should be developing seamless as well as lucid contents. When it comes to Instagram marketing, visual contents are used more than text-based contents. For visual content, you need to be unique just like the text-based contents. Basically, using photographs from other without permission may drag you into trouble. Using copyright protected photographs is a serious offense. So, it is important to create or craft contents with perfection. Now, when it comes to promoting fashion related website, you need to focus on the fashion domain. You need to focus on sharing contents that are related to the fashion industry. Popularly, businesses share photographs or their products on the Instagram account. Make sure that the products are showcased in a creative style. If they are not shown in creative style, they will not draw the much-required attention. It is also a good idea to go for a professional photo shoot with models for various fashionable garments and fashion accessories. Combination of all these things will help your business immensely.

Share Fashion Tips

The basic aim of Instagram marketing should be sharing such posts that can draw engagement. You have to engage the fans or followers on your social media activities or posts. Sharing the fashion tips is helpful in this regard. Your followers would love to get some unique and advanced fashion tips. They would love to get some great tips regarding usage of various fashionable accessories. Many businesses sell innovative fashion items, and people do not know how to use them properly. Videos can be created to show people how these accessories can be used to appear more fashionable. Overall, different techniques and methods can be tried to create awareness and share useful tips among the followers. If followers start getting something worthy from your regular Instagram posts, they shall keep in touch with you and encourage others to follow you. This is a common way of driving more revenue.

Celebrating Festivals with Discounts

Every buyer loves discounts and freebies. So, it is a great thing for the buyers, if they are offered freebies, especially during the festive seasons. To announce various discounts and freebies, you can use Instagram profile of your fashion e-commerce store. You need to create posters or interesting text contents to promote various offers and other related things. In this way, you can gain more potential buyers for your store, and that would eventually result in high revenue earning.

Author Bio

Harris is a leading blog writer and content marketing professional with thousands of real Instagram followers for his postings. To know about Instagram marketing, you can follow his articles and visit Gramista.

Development Insights

How Technology is Changing HR in Startups and Big Organisations

Miley on September 29, 2018

Companies spend a lot of money managing human resources. HR is big business whether you’re a small business, startup or a giant multinational. If you don’t get your HR right, you won’t have the right people working for you and you’ll end up failing. When it comes to HR spending, it’s obvious that the way businesses spend is changing. Nowadays, the startup, as well as the big company, is looking for technology – it can help companies save money. HR investment is particularly flowing towards human resource management systems, especially if the technology is also utilizing things like cloud computing and artificial intelligence. With investments clearly considering technology in HR to be such a beneficial force, what is the actual consequence for HR? How is technology changing HR in startups and big organizations alike?

Providing opportunities to outsource HR

One of the major ways technology is transforming HR is by making it another aspect the company can outsource. Outsourced HR has not been possible previously in a way that would have made it effective and beneficial. However, both startups and larger companies can now easily let third parties run the HR system. Technology can deal with most HR needs efficiently these days. Automated learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based platforms mean you don’t need a whole department to look after payroll, onboarding or even recruitment. Instead, the modern human resource management system just requires a few HR professionals to manage even large employee portfolios. Automation will provide companies with an easier and more cost-effective way of running HR. This doesn’t mean internal HR departments would come obsolete. It just means that organizations don’t have to build gigantic departments any longer and waste resources on professionals whose services they might not require on a regular basis. Instead, departments can become more productive and scalable, allowing companies to focus on the most crucial matters and to help the HR workforce they have to become more professional.

Improving HR’s understanding of employee wellness

Having an organization full of happy and healthy employees will mean the organization has a motivated and productive workforce. In the modern world, employee wellness and wellbeing are the most important things HR has to cover and technology is improving their understanding of these issues. Due to cloud-based technology and increasing focus on behalf of the human resource management systems to cover issues of wellbeing, employees and employers are better able to take charge of their health. The focus is flowing towards simply steps like allowing people to manage their healthcare insurance choices through these apps to promoting healthier choices. There is even emphasis on monitoring employee wellness with the help of wearables. By integrating some of these technologies with the HR’s human resource management system, companies are able to better assess how employees are doing, what kind of help they might need and how to support a more productive workforce.

Training the next generation of workers

Technology is having a huge impact on society and it’s changing many professions on the go. It’s only natural for HR to adopt a technology, as this can ensure the workplace as a whole is taking on this digital revolution. Many employees are entering workplaces that do not look anything like they did a few decades ago. However, for many millennials, technology might not have been part of training and certain digital aspects of the workplace are not something many of know prior to just trying them out. HR’s role has always been to ensure the workforce is up to the task and it has the right tools to operate with. In the modern world, this means helping employees embrace and use technology. The cool thing about this digital revolution is not that HR has to help educate employees but also the way they can train. This is because of the way human resource management systems have adopted cloud-based training as part of their appeal. HR doesn’t have to do traditional classroom and course-driven approach to developing talent. Instead, everything can happen according to the employee’s abilities and time. You can provide more personalized talent with modern technology, ensuring employees only learn what they need and do so at a time that allows them to be effective and productive.

HR success comes with the right technology-adaptation

HR is the key to business success and startups and big organizations alike need it to thrive. However, HR doesn’t just stay the same and technology can play a big role in shaping how HR works at any given organization. By staying on top of changes in technology, companies can also ensure their HR departments are effective and pushing them toward success.

Development Insights

Improving Your Customers User Experience: Micro-Interactions

Miley on September 26, 2018

One of the most important statistics in the world of marketing is the fact that a present-day internet user has a shorter attention span than a goldfish. That being said, you need to understand how to make them engage with your brand and your website without distracting them from your main objective, making a purchase, subscribing or further exploring your domain. Making your audience phase through pages and pages can be quite lucrative for your overall rank, yet, it really doesn’t do much to boost the overall user experience, especially if your loading time isn’t that impressive. Fortunately, with micro-interactions, you can do just that. Here are a few tips and suggestions.

1. Highly intuitive

The first massive advantage of the improved customer user experience through micro-interactions lies in the fact that they are incredibly easy to use. Think about the ‘like’ feature on Facebook. This universal symbol is more than a clear indicator of what the actual function does, yet, this is not your only option for micro-transaction implementation. In a lot of cases, the micro-interaction has a confirm button, which allows you to reverse the action before others are able to see it. Without this finality, your audience might be more content with playing around with your website, seeing as how they are confident that their interactions stay private until they deem otherwise.

More importantly, you need to understand that it is not a job of a micro-interaction to change the way your audience’s brain works, it’s only there to capitalize on this symbolism and association patterns. As we said, thumb up and heart were always positive symbols while the ‘x’ symbol, a broken heart, a minus or a thumb down always indicated something negative. Emoticons can also be quite efficient, seeing as how they have a simple graphic way of displaying approval and disapproval. Overall, you should study these behavioral patterns if you’re to connect with your audience.

2. Sense of control

As soon as they enter your website, your audience is in your domain, which is what robs them of some of their control. Sure, they’re there by their own will and they can shuffle through your offers, however, in order to make them really feel welcome, you have to show them that they are the ones whose actions matter the most. Any form of interactions can get you a part of the way but according to the guys from the digital agency from Melbourne, you can make all of these micro-interactions into a breadcrumb trail towards your CTA (call-to-action) button. After all, it’s much easier to make your audience interact with the most important element of your page if you’ve already persuaded them to do so several times over in the previous two minutes.

3. No need for the loading screen

The greatest advantage of micro-interactions is that they don’t require you to reload the page. Think about the Instagram ‘like’ button which immediately shows a red heart symbol (as opposed to the empty heart icon) when you click on it. Sure, interacting with your website in a different way would also be a probability, yet a loading screen can be a potential deterrent. By relying on micro-interactions, your pushing the biggest obstacle out of the way.

4. Keeping your users entertained

Depending on the content of your landing page or your platform, you might have a hard time keeping your users entertained. This is where micro-interactions come in, seeing as how they give your audience something to do every step of the way. By evoking emotions or using interesting animations, you can take this one step further.

5. Avoids unnecessary confusion

While this may not seem like that great of a deal, avoiding unnecessary confusion definitely improves your user experience. For starters, whether or not you’ve clicked a certain button shouldn’t be a concern with micro-interactions. On the other hand, if they’re poorly integrated or non-responsive, this could turn into an even greater problem.

Fortunately, most micro-interactions respond instantaneously, leaving your audience without a shred of doubt in their mind on whether or not the website received your order. Delayed reactions are even worse, especially when clicking twice on the same button has the potential to undo your first action. Overall, micro-interactions can be much more efficient at avoiding unnecessary confusion.

6. More reliable feedback

Due to the fact that micro-interactions make people more eager to interact with your website, you also get a more reliable feedback and an easier access to all sorts of user-related information. Most people automatically assume that we’re talking about the way in which your audience responds to your content but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sure, micro-interactions are great, however, each intractable element you add to your page requires some additional resources. In this way, you get to see first-hand, which of these buttons are audience-favorites and which, they could easily live without. In other words, you’re using micro-transactions in order to alter your own micro-transaction strategy.

7. More efficient instructions

Finally, learning of the example is probably the most efficient didactic method, yet, a lot of people are still quite reluctant to do so. Fortunately, with the help of micro-interactions, your users can get an emulation of using your app or platform in a safe, learning-friendly environment. Sometimes, simply highlighting or flashing a button that your audience should click next can help make this learning process more seamless. Moreover, this can help gamify the entire experience of using the app, which is definitely a trend that goes ever in your favor.

In conclusion

The best thing is the fact that these seven aspects aren’t the only ways in which micro-interactions stand to improve the overall user experience. Sure, no matter how ingenious, these features don’t have the power to make or break your brand, yet, they do act as powerful enhancers. In other words, they can make all your efforts better and more relatable, which is what your web design efforts and your digital marketing campaign are supposed to be all about.