Marketing automation is a fancy term that encompasses a few different automated features connected to email marketing. The idea is to take repeatable tasks and either to run them in a series for a select group of customers or to respond to the actions of an individual customer (like an opt in to a newsletter) which automatically triggers sending out a “welcome” email and subscribing them to a mailing list.

Automation cuts down the amount of work involved with being a blogger and dealing with email marketing. Once your readership goes above 50,000 a month, you will likely start to have problems with time management and will need automation to save time in your busy day.

Marketing Automation vs Marketing Automation Workflows

Don’t be scared off by the idea of ‘workflows’. This simply means a series of planned steps. With marketing automation, it’s about automated actions and responses that get triggered in response to a website user’s behaviour or perhaps, something in their profile.

In terms of marketing automation workflows, this just means the step-by-step things that happen once a workflow is triggered automatically. We’ll be covering some examples shortly for workflows that bloggers can use.

How is Marketing Automation Workflow Different from an Autoresponder?

With marketing automation workflow, it can be any kind of automated tasks in a series. A mailing-list provider can make it possible to create many types of automated workflows around email based entirely on what the blogger wants. All interactions are focused squarely on using information stored about email subscribers and generating emails based on a series of conditions being met. An autoresponder is only one of the things that marketing automation is capable of.

Think of it a little bit like the popular IFTTT app which allows users to create applets that permit different apps to share data automatically based on conditional statements. Therefore, when a tweet is added to a blog’s Twitter account, this can be set up to cross-post to its Facebook page automatically. While smart tools like IFTTT help apps with different data stores to work cooperatively together under the permission of the user whose data is being accessed, marketing automation workflow is based on automating marketing efforts using email and an email service provider.

Workflow for a Newsletter Opt-in

The workflow for a newsletter opt-in is something that most bloggers are already familiar with, so it’s a good example here. When a blog visitor chooses to opt-in to the email newsletter by adding their email address and clicking “Subscribe”, they are agreeing to receive an occasional email from you. Perhaps there’s an offer of a lead magnet too in the form of a free eBook.

Once they’ve clicked “Subscribe”, the workflow for ‘Newsletter Opt-In’ moves into action mode based on the user’s behaviour (the supplied email and hitting the “Subscribe” button). An email is created using a standard template with the email content already pre-made. The email is addressed to the subscriber (if they also supplied their name) and then sent automatically to them. The workflow then adds their email address to the correct mailing list. The email also includes a link to access the free e-Book.

Once on the subscriber mailing list, when a new blog post is added, all the subscribers automatically receive an email notification too.

Workflow for On-boarding New Buyers

Where the workflow differs from, say, an autoresponder, is that it also supports a different kind of automation like what to do when someone buys a product. The system can verify whether the buyer is a previous subscriber or not, and whether they were a previous buyer or not. This can be done by searching for their email address in the subscribers’ mailing list and the buyers’ mailing list.

Following a purchase, the usual purchase confirmation email goes out including details of the purchase. If asked whether they wish to subscribe to the newsletter at the time of the purchase, they can also automatically be added to the subscriber list too.

As a new buyer, they can be on-boarded by receiving a series of emails that are sent to all new buyers promoting the latest training courses you offer or your best-selling products they might be interested in. Again, buyers should be asked if they wish to do so, not automatically subscribed. If they’ve agreed to it, then the workflow runs until the complete sequence of emails to new buyers has completed its cycle. While the cycle is running, other emails are halted to avoid confusing the customer with different communications.

There are different ways to use automation to make your blogger’s life that bit easier. Different forms of automation are certainly one area that’s worth investing time and money into. It literally makes your daily life easier and it scales affordably as your blog’s audience grows in size. This leaves you free to craft more blog posts and create new courses to sell.

Mission Possible: 15 Maneuvers To Strike Conversion Optimization

Conversion rates are likely to cause anxiety. Here’s a couple of potent remedies to make your worries disappear.

The Basics of Conversion Marketing

It all starts with Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), a system called to convert visitors of the website into active buyers. Generally accepted successful e-commerce conversion rate hovers around 2%. This figure shows how many people out of the total number of viewers should make a purchase or perform other desired actions on the page. On the way to this benchmark, Conversion Optimization has to be carefully looked at due to a range of reasons:

• firstly, engaging a regular audience in a more consistent customer behavior is more cost-effective than winning new visitors;
• secondly, a higher rate of conversion automatically brings us to a better ROI;
• finally, conversion optimization allows to eliminate risks of limited attention span and keeps visitors busy with tailored assortments of goods.

Having emerged from the demand of e-commerce marketers to reinforce a potential of their sites, CRO has become important for seasoned e-business sharks and enthusiastic neophytes alike. Components of success are manifold, and we’re now looking at some of the most trusted ones.

1.   Pin down your acquisition strategy 

Campaigns might show disappointing results unless backed up with a goal that empowers decision makers to make right moves.

That’s why defining the acquisition strategy prior to conversion rate activities is critical. Whether you rely upon networking or direct marketing, this constituent should be taken into consideration for a more profound analysis. After all, nobody wants to shoot off-base.

2.   Choose a proper pricing strategy and software

Price has always been an overriding factor in trade, and e-commerce is no different. An eternal battle over the best deals continues with no room for rest nor minor details.

Even price tags have chopped in, taking up their position among influencing factors. The way the client perceives the price falls under the influence of the overall presentation of each deal.

Fortunately, optimal price challenge can be substantially facilitated through utilization of almighty price optimization software and automated processes. Manual strategies have already lost to smart powered solutions that compare, analyze and adjust promptly on an automatic basis.

3.   Create an A-list of referring URL’s

In spite of being commonplace and obvious, this trick is neglected too often. E-marketers routinely lose sight of their major traffic contributors. Nonetheless, it is a great opportunity to understand why prospects come to your page and draw conclusions.

4.   Avoid over-categorization

The deeper you go into the hierarchical categorization of your site, the more confused your visitors become, and their chance to find what they’ve been looking for is dwindling.

Items with common attributes, which fall under the same types and classes, should not be divided into separate genres. This way the structure will remain clear, and, what is especially important for online stores, filters won’t ignore the products potential buyers might take an interest in.

If you follow this advice, you won’t end up among an astonishing 54% of e-commerce players who get it all wrong.

5.   Make your phone number visible

An instantly visible phone number is another example of what small things can do to enhance the overall picture. Big font and wisely chosen positioning encourage prospects to come into contact, make inquiries and take further steps.

It’s a sort of a call-to-action trick, which won’t cost you anything, but will most definitely reward you with much-anticipated calls.

6.   Go the extra mile with testimonials

It is not always easy to get your clients write an insightful testimonial. However, it is worth investing time and effort. Believe it or not, 92% of people are reported to give credit to peer recommendations, whereas over two thirds of users place confidence in testimonials, even though they’ve never met a referee.

7.   Apply promotion management

Promotions have become a household name. 38% of social network users alone have admitted being in a constant search for exciting offers, while almost 70% of mobile gadgets shoppers reveal their ongoing interest to retail coupons, — a study shows.

In order to get the situation under control and benefit from the users’ habits, sellers increasingly frequently turn to promotional software, which has already transformed into an integral part of fruitful e-commerce.

8.   Implement live chat programs

Live chats can be great, creating an impression of 24/7 two-way dialogue with your audience. However, if you go for this option, make sure to master your software. Never display “out of office” messages suggesting customer’s return at a more appropriate time. Otherwise, it’s simply better not to have any chat at all. 

9.   Say “no” to a-dime–a-dozen stock images

A picture paints a thousand words unless it has been seen a thousand times. Relevant personalized pics accumulate more credibility and willingness to act, even if they are less well-honed than the ones found in the image bank storages.

Study findings illustrate how modern users respond to preppy looks with a stunning smile vs real people with credentials. Take a wild guess at which of the two pictorials worked better.

10.   Learn the digital ropes 

Conversion rates deserve a proper tech. Today the market is replete with software and hi-tech solutions for almost everything imaginable. Google Analytics, Crazy Egg eye tracker, omniscient Inspectlet and other sets of webmaster tools will hang around on your journey to a better understanding of customer’s moves.

It thereby becomes possible to identify the strengths and shortcomings of each page. Another good idea is to setup A/B testing to establish which positions convert better.

11.    Create meaningful content

Technologies rock, but they cannot do everything. Don’t forget to support your products and services with valuable, engaging information.

If the amount of data is insufficient, your prospect will leave. On the flip side, you can win new followers by simply giving more information than your business rivals. But then again, the texts should be relevant and helpful.

12. Go “Free”

E-commerce experts observe: once users see a tempting “Free” sign, they are more likely to buy. According to the 2017 Pulse of the Online Shopper survey, nearly two-thirds of shoppers admit that free shipping is an important factor influencing their final decision. 

It’s a secure “good deal” that calls for action and appeals straight to the subconscious. Following this principle, some retailers are said to slightly increase products prices in order to afford a free shipping option. 

13.  Don’t banner-blind your users

Modernity is bringing more and more things to the table, and banner blindness is among them. This term is used to refer to a condition when users pass by endless banners and ads without even noticing them.

So-called ad blindness, whether it’s conscious or subconscious, reduces the power of the message you hope to communicate. The best way to banner-blind your audience is to enable an automatic image slider somewhere on the website. While withstanding this ill-fated attempt to get them hypnotized, visitors develop immunity (read: indifference) to every other element of the page. And a little later, they are ready to close that browser window for good.

14.   Shed colors upon your call-to-action buttons (CTA)

Sometimes all we need is just a tiny prompt. Highlighting the buttons which inspire to proceed with the order might be that missing piece of a puzzle you are digging for.

And the same goes for useful links, which may be replaced with buttons to powerlift your watchword. But do not overdose: as few as one CTA per page is enough. By the way, marketers have elicited a confusing effect on excessive choice.

15.   Demonstrate your credibility

Customers want to know they are safe and sound prior to disclosing credit card details and other sensitive information. So, gain reputation and the trust of your audience. Standard security tips include:

• implementation of commonly accepted methods, such as PayPal;
• SSL installed at checkout;
• GeoTrust, Norton, McAfee and other kinds of security certification seals.

As the CXL Institute study reveals, 62% of shoppers experience a certain degree of anxiety related to safety concerns when buying online. Upon that, they react equally well to all popular badges with good standing.

Final word

Everything comes at a price. A nice website alone cannot drive sales and grow revenue. But the moment you fortify your strategy with smart moves and learn from the experience of others… Bang! You see your conversion rates move up. That is to say, grab the tools and gently chisel marble slab of your start-up into e-commerce masterpiece.

All of us know that a regular cigarette is a paper tube containing shredded tobacco and a filter on one end; however, many people have no idea what a vape smoker is inhaling from. The terms vaping and electronic cigarette has led to a lot of confusion for many people, mainly because they assume that an e-cigarette is a high-tech variation of the conventional tobacco cigarette. However, this assumption is totally wrong.

In this modern day and age when everywhere you turn there’s some sort of device or gadget being used, you will definitely notice that more and more people seem to prefer vaping (with the use of a product called electronic cigarettes) over the traditional smoking cigarettes. The word ‘vaping’ was coined due to the inhalation of vapors instead of smoke.

Electronic cigarettes were actually designed as a substitute for regular cigarettes. Most of the time, those who think about buying an e-cigarette are either recreational or hardcore smokers already. They ponder on using e-cigarettes specifically for health reasons, or they just aim to quit smoking for good.

There are actually many benefits when one switches from traditional smoking to electronic vaping. You can still have your nicotine fix through vaping while enjoying the many health benefits over traditional smoking such as eliminating the smoke stink, avoiding teeth stains, not having to deal with the possibility of causing a fire, and overall improve your health and breathing.

Benefits of Vaping and Why it is Better than Traditional Smoking

• Say goodbye to bad odor, teeth stains and discolored skin

A traditional cigarette’s tobacco scent and smoke chemicals is very powerful and this manifests in a smoker’s clothes, lungs and even their breath. Anyone who smokes know that these chemicals are not good for their health, discolors and dries up the skin, stains the teeth, damages the lungs and interrupts the normal circulation of blood.

The burning up of nicotine, tar and other nasty chemicals makes these substances stick to just about anything, leaving a bad smell in their wake even after the smoker has finished his cigarette.

On the other hand, vaping involves vapors that are inhaled, leaving little to practically no smell at all. The vapors disperse into the air, their scent fading quickly or just leaving a slight scent of pleasant fragrance that vanishes quickly.

• Save Money

Who doesn’t love the idea of being able to save cash while still being able to have your daily dose of nicotine? When you switch to vaping, it saves you a significant amount of cash. Everyone knows that tobacco products can be quite costly, especially if the user is a chronic smoker. They are willing to spend several hundred dollars on a monthly basis just on tobacco.

When it comes to vaping, buying a kit will last for a long time already, especially if you choose a quality brand product. The expenses to vaping would be on atomizers, batteries and e-liquids that can cost anywhere from $20 to $50, depending on how often one vapes. By switching to vaping instead, it has been estimated that one can save at least half of the money spent on regular cigarettes.

Take note that as technology advances, new vaping products will only get to improve and perform even better as well as they also can become even more affordable.

• Opens up a world of variety

One of the best benefits of vaping is that users can select their preferred styles and flavors. There are many different methods to vaping, and each comes with a special device having its own unique features and accessories. Vape users can also choose the appropriate nicotine level that they need to help them avoid cigarette smoking once and for all.

• No more ashtrays, lighters, open flame and fire accidents

Since there is no real burning involved, vaping is actually much safer than regular smoking. You definitely have heard some news before about fire-related incidents that have been caused by a mere cigarette not entirely put out and carelessly thrown away by its user. With an e-cigarette, you won’t ever have to be prone to accidentally burning yourself or others from an open flame or hot point that can burn up, leave holes in clothes and items, or start massive house or brush fires.

• Social Approval

In today’s time when people are becoming more health conscious and genuinely care about the environment, smoking a cigarette is now considered a horrible vice with several laws and legal restrictions that aim to deter tobacco smokers.

According to the World Health Organization, around 600,000 people die yearly due to second-hand smoke exposure. Bhutan, Costa Rica, Colombia, Uruguay and Malaysia are some of the many countries that have imposed very strict anti-tobacco laws. In Bhutan, if you’re found guilty of the offense, you will be slapped a sentence of 3 to 5 years in prison without any chance of being granted bail.

The odor coming from electronic cigarettes is much lighter and pleasantly tolerable for those around you. If you’re a chronic cigarette smoker, for sure your habit can make a negative impact on your social life, most especially if it turns out your partner is a non-smoker. Smoking a tobacco product is considered to be irresponsible, rude, and despicably intrusive when done indoors and close to people that do not smoke.

• Improved Health, Lung Capacity and Breathing

Standard cigarettes are comprised of various chemicals and substances that are detrimental to your body and health. Even though both contain the addictive substance nicotine, there is evidence suggesting that vaping or the use of e-cigarettes is safer and not as harmful to one’s health when compared to smoking cigarettes, because there’s significantly less toxic chemicals contained in them than in a tobacco-filled cigarette.

Research has shown that smoking cigarettes can cause heart disease and stroke, pneumonia, circulation issues and cancer. According to a study published by the NHS, long-term vaping is ‘far safer than smoking’. After switching to vaping, people reported feeling better already, saying they were less irritable, their skin looked better, they had improved circulation, improved sense of taste and smell, and they were coughing much less. Several other studies have concluded that vaping is definitely much safer and not as detrimental to one’s health as compared to smoking tobacco.

The modern SEO system is as of now tough for local businesses. Business listings of Google Maps’ have been trimmed from a most extreme of seven links to three in indexed lists. Google My Business has advanced into a listing which highlights components that replace online life (GMB Posts), the forums (GMB Q&A), and incorporates numerous purposes of conversion, bringing about guests never again expected to visit your website for the data they require. Over that, all that incredible work being done to make valuable content is frequently gobbled up by Google highlighted snippets notwithstanding when you do get the best ranking.

With the expansion of voice search, we can anticipate that things will shake up much all the more, displaying more difficulties and open doors for search advertisers.

Of note is Google’s declaration of Google Duplex at their I/O meeting in May. Google Duplex will call local businesses for you, recreating the human voice as nearly as could be expected under the circumstances, and its artificial intelligence (AI) will have discussions with staff to create reservations and orders for your benefit. There is a considerable measure of moral ramifications of this innovation, however for the reasons for this article we will center on how this identifies with purchasers’ present utilization of voice assistants.

Why voice search matters to small business

In recent research, buyers were asked how they utilized voice search and voice assistants for local business. The questions your audience are asking about future improvements in voice search and demonstrated that, of all the potential uses for local business, individuals just truly need to have the capacity to book the restaurant tables and order the food without conversing with any people.

The best three most requested voice search capacities include finding restaurants, markets, and food delivery, with apparel, convenience, and pharmaceutical after firmly behind. It’s fascinating to take note of that food; lodging, attire, and solution are practically ‘absolute necessities’ in the advanced world, so it shouldn’t be excessively of an unexpected that these come in first.

These outcomes immovably go down Google’s techniques on voice search. In case the Google Duplex is as intense as it appears, businesses could before long be training staff on how to perceive and address an AI assistant on call.

How regularly do individuals search for local businesses by utilizing voice search?

The Voice Search for Local Business Study likewise uncovered that 46% of voice search clients utilize voice search to discover local business day by day. That is about portion surprisingly with a voice collaborator on their telephone asking Alexa, Google, Cortana, Siri and companions for points of interest on local businesses relatively each and every day.

How increased of Voice Search brings new opportunities? Voice search has picked up so much footing that its place in the hunt biological system is practically anchored, and the consequences of this for local businesses is colossal.

What can local businesses do with voice search?

In spite of the fact that multiplication in homes is on the ascent, voice search is still in its relative outset so while neighborhood businesses can complete a considerable measure to help the odds of showing up in voice indexed lists, it’s essential to consider it to be a developing innovation and plan for the future and additionally the present.

In the event that your neighborhood business site isn’t completely increased with organized information, its substance isn’t as liable to appear in voice scan for non-business-related inquiries. Google has said that organized information is just going to have a greater influence in positioning for rich outcomes and highlighted scraps, so it bodes well to future-confirmation your site by including all the pertinent organized markup you can.

What do consumers want most from voice search?

Once your organized markup is set up, it has returned to great out-dated neighborhood SEO. At the point when searchers utilize voice hunt to locate a local business, they’re well on the way to be given outcomes from the Google Local 3-Pack. Positioning here is subject to an assortment of elements, however, the key regions to consider are:

• Importance to the inquiry and associations with different locales applicable to the business
• Noticeable quality: survey appraisals, says via web-based networking media and in the press
• Vicinity: how shut the business is to the searcher.

At the point when voice search is utilized ‘in a hurry’, nearness plays a considerably bigger factor in rankings as Google realizes that individuals moving around will probably need something close to them than somebody stationary, at home or at work, who might design their trip and for whom vicinity isn’t such a key factor.

Tips for Optimizing for Voice Search

• Make content pertinent to their necessities
• Tailor your Google My Business posting points of interest, portrayal, and classification to suit what individuals in a hurry are destined to scan for.
• Continuously listen up for your rivals in voice list items. In case they’re catching that basic in front of the rest of the competition in rankings, it’s a great opportunity to investigate what they’re doing.

Conclusions

Voice search is developing exponentially, and when something turns into this unmistakable it profits the significant web crawlers to roll out improvements to the ways they work to make these encounters more liquid and charming for the end client. Your part in this is to be set up by future-sealing your site with a blueprint, by guaranteeing it’s completely versatile responsive (for when voice query items raise site bits on portable), and by continually remembering the changing idea of purchasers. Connect with Student Help Website and get more information that you need to know.

Guest article written by: Saun is a digital marketing expert and has been associated with cdr-report.com since its start. He works with clients around the globe and has helped nurture several start-ups into successful businesses.

Plants need optimal conditions for them to grow. Moisture, warmth and oxygen are the conditions required for a seed to germinate. However, in the later stages of growth, a lot more is needed for a plant to thrive. However, if you live in an area where the conditions are not optimal for plant growth to occur, this does not mean that you cannot have your small garden or even do large scale farming to supplement your income. This is all thanks to technological advancements. From your high school science, you probably know that photosynthesis cannot occur without light. You might be living in an area where you do not get much natural sunlight, and you therefore need a substitute for it. Also, during winter, there might not be enough sunlight for your plants’ needs. Additionally, if you want to have a small garden indoors, the plants will not be exposed to sunlight, and they might therefore not grow well. Grow lights really come in handy in such situations. Below are some of the benefits of using grow lights.

Benefits

• With artificial lighting, it is easy to control the plants’ life cycle. This is because you can control the intensity of light delivered to the plants.
• You can still grow your plants even in the absence of natural sunlight, so your plants can still thrive during winter when the daylight hours are shorter.
• You can grow your plants indoors. This is great if you have limited space, for example, if you live in an apartment where you have no space outdoors to do your gardening.
• It is possible to control temperatures in a grow room. You can therefore maintain the temperature at a level that is optimal for the plants’ growth.

Some tips to help your plants thrive

• Keep your plants as close to the source of light as possible. This will help to improve the quality of the yield. However, make sure that the light source does not touch the plants as this can be detrimental to the health of the plants.
• Get lights that are sufficient for the size of your garden. If you have a big garden, you will need more lights than if you have a small garden. Experts recommend having a voltage of about 20 watts for each square foot.
• Grow lights emit less heat than other lighting methods. So your plants will need less water than they would if you were growing them in natural light.
• You need to ensure that the lights are not emitting too much heat as this can affect the plants. Place your hand under the lights to test how hot they are. If they are too hot for you, they are probably also too hot for the plants. Move them up a bit higher to reduce the heat.

For the best results, make sure you buy high-quality grow lights such as those recommended by Green Depot Denver. You should also use them in the recommended way in order to get optimal yield.

The move to the cloud has been high on the business agenda in recent years; a 2017 RightScale study found that 85% of enterprises are using a hybrid cloud strategy. Few businesses are operating solely in the cloud, as organisations blend public and private cloud services with more traditional on-premise solutions.

63% of businesses, however, plan to move their entire IT infrastructure into the cloud (CIF), indicating the importance of the cloud in business strategy. But there are significant barriers preventing businesses from implementing more cloud solutions.

For many businesses, the move to the cloud marks their first step on their journey towards digital transformation. Full utilisation of the cloud demonstrates a business’ commitment to true business transformation. Digital transformation is more than just a buzzword; 4 out of the 10 current market leaders will be displaced by innovative and agile new businesses that focus on digital transformation, according to the Global Centre for Digital Business Transformation.

A recent Oracle study conducted with business leaders and IT decision makers indicated they are facing a number of challenges when it comes to implementing cloud services. A key finding was that many organisations fail to align business goals with IT projects; 62% of respondents said this affected their ability to implement the cloud and other innovative technologies.

Before a business can digitally transform, it must rethink the role its IT department plays in that transformation. Rather than a necessary ‘break-fix’ solution as it once was, IT is now a strategic resource for businesses and should be the department driving digital innovations. Transformational technology needs to be seen as an investment, and one that can deliver a significant ROI, rather than merely a cost.

The drivers of business transformation often face resistance around the business, from the leadership team to entire departments. Legacy systems and resistance from the teams that use them – largely HR and Finance departments, according to Oracle – present another barrier to integrating cloud services. While integrated cloud services would be an obvious solution, it’s not that easy for IT: 41% cited a lack of understanding around the need for cloud integration from departments outside of IT.

So how can you help the departments stuck on legacy systems to understand the many benefits of the cloud?

It’s important for IT to have total control over the technology purchased and implemented in their businesses. Respondents cited managing shadow IT as a difficulty, whereby departments outside of IT purchase and implement systems and applications without the permission, and often knowledge, of IT. This leads to the aforementioned issue of departments on legacy systems. Even if those systems are more forward-thinking, the integration of other applications isn’t often taken into consideration like it would be if IT headed the project.

By taking control of a business’ entire technology stack, IT can implement a solid technology strategy that encompasses all of the tools and systems necessary to the business. IT can then ensure the business has a base upon which to build innovative technologies – that often comes in the form of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).

A key element of getting your resistant departments on board is the ability to prove the benefits of the cloud. An immediate ROI can often be seen in reducing the number of servers your business requires, which in turn reduces the office space needed to store them. Take Dynamics 365 for example. A cloud-based business management solution, Dynamics 365 Business Central is a solution designed for businesses who have outgrown their entry-level accounting software or those looking to move away from legacy systems. It aims to be simple to implement, making the migration less of a headache for IT.

There’s a misconception that cloud products are more expensive than on-premise solutions, but this isn’t the case at all. The per-user-per-month subscriptions, offered by Microsoft for Dynamics 365 and a number of its solutions, drive down costs and offer flexibility for growing businesses. Dynamics NAV brings “the full capabilities of Dynamics NAV” to the cloud, and through its subscription costing significantly reduces the investment needed for a market-leading solution. Further, a Microsoft study with business leaders found that using the cloud offered increased employee productivity and significant cost savings.

Chances are your business has already moved to the cloud in some capacity, but it’s likely you’re not getting the most out of your investment. It’s also very likely that you’re facing resistance from your wider organisation when it comes to implementing more cloud services. Attitudes towards IT departments need to change in order for cloud services, and wider digital transformation, to be taken seriously. Ultimately, these attitudes probably won’t change unless there is hard evidence of its benefits.

If you’re my age, meaning you’re floating somewhere in between the first and last millennials, you probably remember a childhood with much simpler technology. The early years comprised tinker toys, VCRs, cassette tapes, and your parents’ polaroid camera. Your mom showed you Windows Paint on Microsoft Windows 95, and your dad still held on to a typewriter. In 2000, your mom took a web development class where Cascading Style Sheets was the cutting edge technology.

It’s probably safe to assume most of us (baby boomers, gen Xers, and millennials alike) have seen those posts floating around the internet that say “Only 90s kids will remember…” followed by a list similar to the one above. Although millennials are often regarded as being too attached to technology, those of us that are old enough seem to have a fondness and nostalgia for the simpler things.

On the Crest of a Big Change

Matthew Woodings, VP of Cloud Operations at HotSchedules, was nine years old when War Games hit theatres. “It looked so cool and I wanted to be a part of that.” he said. 

Woodings and tech have been good friends for a while. After completing his Ph.D in 1999, Woodings was a software developer for a startup, Viviance New Education. Frankly, I assumed he would share my enthusiasm for the old days.

“Most old school tech got me out of bed at 3 am for one reason or another,”  Woodings said.

“I do have fond memories of early technology but I’m not sure I miss any of it.”

Woodings was CTO at HotSchedules from 2003 to 2013, and played a large part in rebuilding their software. In 2018, the company has 33,000 customers and is just short of 2 million managed users.

As far as changes go, Woodings said standardization (such as browser standards and programming language standards) has made life a lot easier. Coding libraries and frameworks can help with rapid development, but he also believes there can be a downside.

“A lot of these development tools have meant fewer people actually know what’s going on ‘under the hood’,” he said. “So when things don’t scale or have issues there are few people with skills to resolve them.”

As far as tech’s future goes, Woodings said he doesn’t think we’re in a bubble, but we are “on the crest of a big change.” Things like Big Data and AI will soon change the way we think and interact.

When asked what aspects of tech could still be improved, Woodings said all of it. “If we think we’re done, we’re not looking hard enough,” he said. “As we carve our way into the future and drag everyone with us, we need to be able to save people from themselves.”

Woodings said he has survived on very little sleep throughout his career, but the excitement of paving the way to the future keeps him going. It is also what keeps him from smashing a keyboard into the wall. He said frustration is a part of it, but he always believes there is a solution or a reason as to why something may have gone wrong.

As more and more companies build a larger digital presence, developers are in demand more now than ever. There seem to be endless options available for novices to acquire the skills to start a new career, whether it’s through a coding bootcamp or an online course.

“If you’re doing this to make money, you will fail,” Woodings said. “Do this because you get a kick out of doing it. I have only ever seen passionate people succeed in this field.”

A Passion for Problem Solving

When Rachel Hammond was four years old, she fell in love with the NES she received for Christmas.

“When playing Super Mario Bros with my older sister I knew I wanted to make games when I grew up,” Hammond said. “That never really went away.”

Hammond recalls teaching herself how to program as early as middle school, begging her father to buy her a compiler which was incredibly expensive at the time.

“I used to have to go to bookstores and thumb through books that cost upwards of $100, hoping I could spot something about what I was having trouble with and hoping I could remember it when I got home,” she said. “I just couldn’t afford to take the knowledge home with me.”

Hammond has been working in game development professionally for the past 15 years. She believes the internet is both great and terrible, but it has been the most useful innovation when it comes to her work.

“When I have a question about how something works, when I get an obscure error, when I’m needing to figure out how to solve a complicated 3D math issue, I can just look on the internet and find advice and tutorials and videos with animation explaining everything.” She said.

Although Woodings and Hammond work in vastly different areas of tech, their views on the future of the industry are quite similar. Hammond agrees that potential developers need to have a passion for problem-solving, and not just a paycheck.

She also has similar views on the side effects that come with rapid growth and development. That is, a lot of bad code can come with it.

But another issue is security, which she believes is too often overlooked even at big tech companies.

“As an industry, our rush to develop so much so fast has frequently seen card castles built on foundations of sand,” Hammond said. “Security breaches like LinkedIn, Sony, and Gawker are only the beginning.”

Simple Solutions to Difficult Problems

Senior Software Engineer at Enola Labs, Marty Burolla, shares Hammond’s enthusiasm for the internet, and how it allows communities of developers to come together.

Burolla started his career before the internet was popular. He is an avid cloud technology fan, and likes how the cloud “has provided simple solutions to hard problems.”

Although technologies such as file sharing and large scale databases have been around for some time, Burolla said the innovation is in how these technologies are being packaged, designed to scale, and offered to the public.

“I had no idea there would be a sense of community with respect to software development,” Burolla said. “No problem is too difficult to solve when everyone contributes to a solution.”

As for where technology goes next, Burolla said he has enjoyed watching companies compete over the cloud, but a more recent interest of his has been quantum computing.

“It’s exciting to think that I might see the benefits of quantum computing in my lifetime,” Burolla said. “It’s quite possible that quantum computing could take off faster than anybody can anticipate, especially now that early prototypes are connected to the internet for people to explore.”

Over the past two decades, technology has evolved faster than most people ever thought possible. But for those making a living in the field, it’s only the beginning. As development progresses, users will need to continue weighing its risks and benefits to determine where it takes us.

Guest article written by: Brigeda Hernandez is the Marketing Assistant at Enola Labs Software, a software development company based in Austin, TX. Brigeda enjoys writing about technology and its impact on business processes and everyday life.

Hello, small business owner. Don’t worry, we won’t take up too much of your time. One question: How is business? Is it booming? Do you have more traffic coming in than you know what to do with? Are you managing your growth and capital in ways that are setting you up for success years from now?

Or are you struggling to maintain your balanced budget, wondering how you can generate more traffic and more revenue? Do you find yourself scrambling to set up new marketing techniques that initially sound great, but fall hopelessly short when you look at sales totals at the end of each month?

It is not often that business owners are satisfied with the traffic they are generating to their websites. While there is a wealth of information out there in cyberspace as to what to do to increase web traffic, most of it is scattered and ineffective. You may have thought that setting up a website was a “one shot and you’re done” tactic, and that you could let the world wide web do the lead generating for you.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Making a name for yourself on the internet is serious business, and it is a process that never ends. Never. A website is like a garden; it will need constant attention, management, and updating in order to be optimized for your customers.

Just how do we optimize? We have endless to-do lists, we have invoices to pay, we have product to generate, we have customers to contact. What can we do to simplify and streamline the process of building our internet brand and making sure that we have what it takes to succeed?

Following these five simple steps to website optimization will not only make you more visible, it will create systems for you that are nearly effortless to maintain and improve on a regular basis.

Optimize your web content!

This is the foundation of all things digital; optimizing your website content so that Google notices your digital footprint will ensure that you are placed higher in their ranking system. More visibility equals more customers. How do you optimize your content? By updating your material on a regular basis, using relevant search and key words, and adding content that is of value to your potential customer base. You should be writing and producing content with your target audience in mind, so when they go in and do a search for products and services, yours are placed right in front of them. Think of Google as your personal assistant in getting this optimization done, so play nice!

Utilize the power of social media!

Fifteen years ago, it was laughable to think that social media could be used as a marketing tool, but the face of e-commerce is changing, and it’s necessary to keep current with your own marketing strategies. Sharing new product and service information via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is a good way to get others to share and circulate your information as well. Again, the more visible you are, the more likely you are to be found.

Consider content outreach and guest postings!

No matter how loyal your customer base is, it will always be necessary to generate new business. Getting tried and true content republished on large media outlets is one way to ensure that new audiences will be exposed to your business. Offer to be a guest poster, displaying your products and services similar to putting an ad banner on a well-known website. The more you post, the more people will see.

Create and put systems in place that generate recurring traffic!

Have you considered sending out blast surveys asking your customers what they want and need? How about follow up emails asking about order fulfillment that also weave in additional product offerings? Use giveaways and sales as incentives to get customers to give you their personal contact information, and then begin building a database that keeps getting larger and larger as satisfied customers refer friends and family to you. Customers, both satisfied and unsatisfied, will talk, so make sure that what they are saying about you is positive.

Repackage and repurpose!

Statistically, the more quality content you generate, the more likely it is that you will be noticed by search engine algorithms and by customers. Do you think you’ve maxed out your content ideas? Try these on for size:

• Include infographics in your blog posts
• Create slide shows using previously shared content
• Convert blog posts into newsletters and share with subscribers
• Turn previous content into a video or a podcast
• Spin your blog content and add to other sites to increase visibility

Where there is a will, there is a way….and another way of saying it. You are far more creative than you give yourself credit for, so keep generating those marketing and sharing ideas!

With these simple actions steps, you have consistent tools to take your marketing strategies and your website traffic to the next level. Get ready for increased sales and revenue as you apply these strategies to grow your business in ways that you never dreamed about! Here’s to your continued growth and success!

Guest article written by: Caryl Anne Crowne is a contributing author and media specialist for Allegra Marketing. She regularly produces content for a variety of blogs that center around digital and print business solutions and ideas.

Discovering a website hack on time is very important; if you detect it late, it would already have caused you great damage. Here, in this article, we’ll be discussing WordPress website hacks and how to know if your WordPress website has been hacked.

Why hackers love WordPress websites…

Hackers, as we know, are always after things that are popular on the internet. WordPress is definitely the most popular among all CMS platforms and powers over 60 million websites today. Hence, it’s quite natural that hackers target WordPress websites; statistics are that every single minute there are over 90,798 hack attempts that are being made on WordPress websites.

What kind of WordPress websites are attacked?

This is an irrelevant question. Hackers can target anyone and anything. Any person, any network or any website can be hacked. But still, to make it simpler, let’s put it this way. Hackers are always looking for common security errors that website owners make and vulnerabilities that websites have. In other words, a hacker always targets a website that is weak. The key, hence, is to fortify your website against hacking attacks. Still, if by any chance, there happens to be some vulnerability or error and a hack happens, it’s always good to spot it on time. For that, you need to be aware of the hack signs that you have to be on the lookout for. Here we go, discussing WordPress website hack signs that could help you take timely action and avoid incurring big losses:

1. You get the “This Site May Be Hacked” message

If, while going through the search engine results, you happen to see the message “This Site May Be Hacked” right below the link of your website, it’s a clear indication that your website is hacked. You should act immediately because any user who’s perhaps searching with a keyword for which your website is ranking would come across this message and would avoid your website.

2. Spam emails that are sent from your website

If there’s any indication of anyone getting spam emails from your website, you should think of taking some precautionary measures. Hackers, when they get control of websites, especially those with a clean record, they use it to send spam emails to unsuspecting people. You should always remember that email servers have security measures in place that would detect websites sending out spam emails and then blacklist them. So, if your website is sending spam emails, it could also end up being blacklisted and that could cause you much loss.

3. Your website becoming slow and unresponsive

Whenever a website becomes slow or unresponsive, it could be a sign that it has been hacked. But there could be other reasons as well. The website would have had a sudden increase in traffic and that too would cause such an issue. At the same time, if your WordPress website has been hacked, it would definitely become slow and unresponsive as hackers would most probably be using the website server to carry out malicious activities.

4. Visitors to your website get redirected to some other site

If any visitor to your website complains of getting redirected to some other website, it could be an indication of a website hack. Hackers would hack your ranking WordPress website and redirect users to some other website that they are using for executing some other purposes. This would also lead to a massive fall in traffic for your website.

5. When an antivirus flags your website as unsafe

When an antivirus software starts flagging your website as unsafe, you need to do the checks and see if it’s hacked. Antivirus tools are designed to protect users from websites that are hacked and hence infected with malware. This is to protect the users from getting their systems infected.

6. You discover themes or plugins that you haven’t installed

If your website administrator finds themes or plugins that weren’t initially installed on your website, then it’s best to check if the website is hacked or not. Hackers, in order to create backdoors on a website that they have hacked, sometimes install plugins on it. This would help them later to have an access to the website even if it’s cleaned by a security expert and the infected is removed. So, if ever you find any plugins or themes that you hadn’t installed on your WordPress website, then it could probably have been hacked.

7. When your web host disables your website or issues warning

If you get a warning mail from the web host or if your web host disables your WordPress website, then it’s almost certain that your website has been hacked. Sometimes the web host would send you details of the exploit and also give you a deadline to fix the issue failing which your website would be suspended. Shared hosting providers, who host multiple websites on the same server, would be extra cautious and may straightaway disable your website so that others don’t get affected. Take quick action and repair the issue so that you don’t incur huge losses.

8. When your website gets blacklisted by search engines

Search engine crawlers always check websites to find out if they are compromised in any way. On finding a compromised website, the search engine would immediately blacklist it. So, if under any circumstance, your website gets blacklisted by a search engine, you should immediately look into it and confirm if it’s hacked.

9. When you detect new admin accounts that you hadn’t created

If ever you detect new admin accounts that you hadn’t created for your WordPress website, it could be an indication of a website hack. Of the many roles assigned by WordPress to website owners, the administrator has access to all the areas of the website. The others (editor, author, contributor, SEO editor etc) may have limited access only. So, hackers who compromise your website would quietly create admin profiles so that they can later start handling your website as per their requirements. So, if ever you find a new admin account that you hadn’t created, do the needful and get things mended on time.

10. If your website comes up during searches for illegal medicines

This is something that shouldn’t be happening! If your WordPress website shows up during searches for illegal medicines- Nexium, Viagra etc- you should take it as an indication of a hack. Your website might have nothing to do with these medicines, but users searching for those medicines would find your website listed with descriptions mentioning these medicines appearing below the website link on the search engine. This would affect the traffic greatly and you could end up suffering great losses. Take action immediately and fix the hack.

Guest article written by: Julia Sowells is a security geek with almost 5+ years of experience, who writes on various topics pertaining to network security.

Video production is a process that involves the production of video content, according to en.wikipedia.org. Video production has become a huge part of paint information in the society today. It is through video production that some products have gotten a chance to enter into the market. Video production has also enabled companies to increase the awareness of their products. Visuals play a very big role in the business industry today. Some customers have learned about products in the market through commercials that run on their television screens, or even quality pictures on billboards. It is therefore wise to consider marketing your product in a way that involves a lot of visual aesthetics. Videos or even motion pictures enhance the ability of the customer to understand the product better. Clients may disregard a video or picture depending on its quality. To avoid any of these damages to your brand, use the following tips to select your next video production company.

1. Credentials

Technology is evolving very fast. The normal camera you used to use might soon be outdated. This is because new gadgets in the film industry keep getting into the market. The new gadgets offer better services. How many types of grip truck packages does the production house offer? You should ensure that the video production house you are hiring has its own studio and equipment. The studio is where most of the production is done, and also where they store their equipment. A video production company with its own equipment and studio will charge you differently from those video companies that don’t own a studio. Equipment may also involve lighting equipment. It will be wise for you to know whether the company has its own cameramen. An experienced company will have its own cameramen.

2. Reviews, clients, and reference

Getting referrals from friends or family members will help to save you the time of searching around. It can be difficult to start looking around for a reliable video production house. It is cumbersome to research all the video production houses in your locality. However, when a friend offers a referral, it becomes easier to research on. Working on references is way easier because you will be choosing from a smaller pool of options. Sometimes you can even visit a review site. From the review website, you can choose the one that intrigues and meets your requirements. In other cases, you can ask for a client list. Previous clients can give you information about the services rendered by a certain video production company.

3. Your goals

Your needs should always be first. The commercial you intend to do should be the main concern because from that advert, you intend to gain more clients and more revenue. Does the production company have the right equipment to ensure that your commercial is a success? The company should incorporate most, if not all, your ideas in the visuals. Always know what you want and be specific about it.

4. Price and quality.

Different video production companies charge differently depending on the nature of the commercial you intend to do. If your commercial may involve shooting from different places, this will definitely be more expensive than a commercial done in their studios. Some companies may offer the same services at a cheaper price. Can they provide the quality that you desire? Always insist that the company provides high-quality services.

In everyday life, it’s often said to be a bad thing if someone has their head in the clouds – but, in the world of business, the difference probably couldn’t be starker. Well, this is assuming that “cloud” refers to cloud computing, the infrastructure of which can help to ease many business processes.

If your firm already runs several cloud-based operations, when should you start spearheading a more thorough transition? Here are signs that you should do so sooner, not later.

You are spinning a complex web of integrated services

One issue with maintaining just a few processes in the cloud is that, if you drag your heels in spreading the cloud magic further, you could inadvertently garner a bewildering patchwork of software. Different applications could serve different purposes but fail to work well together.

Does the complexity of your corporate network mean that integration points falter or bottlenecks appear to customers’ annoyance, possibilities raised by Inc.? The cloud could iron out many creases.

Your budget scarcely covers setting up and running a data centre

Bringing all of your company’s data management under a single, integrated system could initially seem like a good method for cutting away the complexity of a messy application patchwork.

However, this move could be hindered in its effectiveness if you establish your company’s own data centre. After all, buying equipment and hiring technicians for that facility could burn up much of your business budget. Jumping to cloud computing instead can prove more financially palatable.

Employees often make trips away from the office

Today’s workforce is often a highly mobile one, aided by the ready availability and adoption of functionality-heavy mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Therefore, with a cloud solution in place as well, working routines don’t need to be strictly tethered to the bricks-and-mortar office.

The growthbusiness.co.uk website points out how this arrangement can enable you to lower the tally of workstations on the premises and, for further cost-cutting, let some staff work from home.

You are uncertain about your firm’s growth prospects

Naturally, we are all ambitious for our businesses, but the future can be unpredictable. For this reason, there remains the heart-sinking possibility of you bulking out your company’s reserve of servers and licenses in anticipation for forecasted growth that ultimately fails to materialise.

Fortunately, scaling up cloud computing services can cause much less heartache. Your cloud provider can simply, in minutes, add to your existing package as you need – and can afford – extras.

You need to back up data in a dedicated way

If you store data through traditional means, you will need a backup plan especially for this data. Otherwise, data could be permanently lost in the event of a disaster.

However, if data is stored in the cloud rather than a physical unit, your company doesn’t even need a backup plan. Your company’s data will remain available to internet-connected staff.

Corporate data is backed up only to physical servers and data centres

One reason for the riskiness of storing data physically is that, if your premises’ security is breached, physical units like laptops and computers can disappear as a result. You would no longer be able to do anything with the data on this equipment as a burglar takes it far from your business base.

Reassuringly, confidential information can be remotely deleted if it is cloud-based. Cloud platforms also throw up security measures that, for aspiring thieves, can be fiendishly taxing to break.    

Staff members feel limited in their means of collaborating

With many of your staff members probably in geographically disparate locations at any given time, this could obviously add friction to their use of communication channels to interact with each other.

Fortunately, you can throw away many fetters by replacing them with a cloud computing solution, which would let your personnel share data and collaborate across physical boundaries.

RedPixie, a British provider of enterprise cloud services, is one example of a company capable of helping businesses to prepare a cloud solution conducive to hassle-free collaboration.

Your workforce would be comfortable with a cloud transition

Though we largely advocate moving to the cloud, you should postpone the switchover for your own business if its staff are reticent about the prospect.

The Business Journals notes that internal IT staff could fear losing their jobs in a cloud move, while other workers might favour owning – rather than renting – hardware. Why not show staff that the cloud is transforming how the finance products are being forecasted for risk, among other benefits?

UX design has been a hot topic not just inside the tech world but even outside. But, due to some buzzwords, legend belies reality. You might have heard your colleagues commenting about UX designs, but there is still quite some ignorance around this term actually. There are some myths revolving around careers in UX design, which need to come in the limelight. It is mandatory if you are actually planning for a career in this section.

Myth 1: UI and UX designers perform the same task:

This is a rather common misunderstanding among people. They believe that UI and UX designs are same. Well, the truth is not even close! Even though UI and UX designers often work together to cover a project, but they are given different job roles to perform. A simple difference might solve the issue.

• UX design is a procedure used to enhance user satisfaction. It works by improving accessibility, usability and pleasure, which are parts of interaction between user and items.
• Then you have UI design. The primary aim over here is to focus more on actual interface elements and their designs. It helps users to interact well for accomplishing application based goals.

While covering UX design procedure, the designers have to concentrate on easy navigation purposes, or easily understandable program. They will let you know about the areas to click to reach your destination. Then you have UI designers, who will concentrate on ways the user feels after using the program. They will think about the logical hierarchy to typography and interface. They will think about color scheme and about the design patterns to be recognized from other options.

Myth 2: Anyone can easily hold the position of UX designer:

Well, this isn’t the truth actually. Not everyone has the capacity to hold the position of UX designer. Working in this area will not just require you to love people but you have to be extremely curious on their things they do and why. In case you are not a person-people and you don’t have any curiosity regarding their behavior, then this career choice might not be a good option for you. To be a successful UX designer and be a part of UX staffing, there are some essential personal traits you need to have.

• Curiosity: Being curious about people will not be an important part of your job but it will have marked effect on how much you love doing it. Most designers are quite fascinated by workings of human minds and would spend hours studying human behavior.
• Empathy: While going through user research, UX designers have to go through regular interaction with groups and individuals as they clearly navigate product. You need to have this power to see product from perspective, irrespective of what your own needs might be. You have to put yourself in your user’s shoe to understand their thoughts and create a better user experience.
• Communication skills: You are not just going to interact with your target audience online but have to give them a call or go for face to face consultation. You might further have to communicate with CEOs, developers, designers and project managers of the company. So, your communication skills need to be at par with experience and knowledge. At some point, you may further have to explain what you are doing and why it is so important.

Myth 3: You must have proper programming skills to become UX designer:

This is clearly a myth as you don’t need programming skills to become UX designer. Being able to proficiently communicate with your programmers and know how they are working is quite important and part of your job. Whether in any large corporation or a startup venture, you have to work quite closely with the developers for reaching your project goal. The developers are likely to work a lot for transforming design ideas into working real website. So, the way you are going to approach the relationship will be the one to determine failure or success of your project. There are some proven ways to work with development team.

• Transparency: Developers always have to be transparent about what they are doing for achieving best results. They have to explain their steps clearly and even those points, which aren’t working.
• Honesty: UX designers have no other option but to be open with developers, while discussing the end result of the item.
• Involvement: UX designers need to communicate well and proficiently with development team straight from first till last. They have to maintain this involvement all the time. This will help them to get a clear idea of things, which might work and those, which may not.
• Work on same team: If it is possible, ensure that you work with the same team as programmers. It will lower the chances of disagreement and miscommunication as you are communicating freely with the team.
• Always be realistic: When you are all set to send design for rather implementation, you should take time to talk to developers about realistic timeframe. It will help everyone to be on same page with expectations.

Myth 4: You need ideas on graphic design to become UX designer:

UX and graphic designs are quite different. Graphic design talks about the aesthetic part of a product, which are colors, decorations and fonts. It dictates on ways a thing should look. On the other hand, as discussed already, UX design works hard to make user experience a memorable one, to help them reach their goal fast and on time. It generally focuses on structure and logic behind elements that you actually get to see or interact with. Then you have graphic designers concerned on the ways that element might look. So their works are completely different and not even close to any similarity!

Get rid of the myths:

If you still have these myths covering your thoughts, you may not succeed in UX design as your career growth. So, if you really want to be a part of this designing team, make sure to learn more about the myths and get to the core of their realities first. It will definitely help you with the rewarding answer.

Nowadays, digital disruption is the norm in tech-centric era. And within the technology space, open source is now driving many technology innovations.

What is Open Source and Open Data ?

Open Source is a collaborative and transparent business model that facilitates sharing of ideas within the tech community. Big well-known companies like P&G, BMW, Ford, Facebook and Twitter are excellent examples of successful implementation of the open source technology. Fo example, when in software development something is referred to as “open source”, it means that people can modify and share the code because its design is publicly accessible. Anybody can modify the code to suit their own needs. For example, code can be shared among developers so they could learn from each other and advance the sector.

As for the Open data, the idea behind it is that some data should be freely available to everyone, without restrictions from copyright, patents, etc. For example, open knowledge: scientific, historical, geographic content.

Open source projects

There are thousands upon thousands of open source projects that bring about innovation. Some do so on a small scale, while others are thinking massive and global. Of the thousands of of open source projects out there, we have come up with a list of 5 that are working on very interesting useful projects.

1. OpenClinica

OpenClinica is the world’s first open source clinical trial software for electronic data capture (EDC) and clinical data management (CDM). It has been built with open standards to make clinical research possible in more than one hundred countries. A rich community of innovation has arisen around OpenClinica making it both a robust and uniquely flexible platform used across diverse types of clinical research.

2. BlindSquare

Using data from Foursquare and OpenStreetMap, this navigation app provides audio directions for visually impaired residents to move around their cities more easily.

3. City Maps from Tourists Feelings

The aim of this project is to map tourists’ perceptions of different urban areas through data retrieved from vacation rental platform Airbnb. After their stay, Airbnb guests score their feeling about the neighbourhood using a star-based rating system. The aggregated rating of each Airbnb listing is publicly accessible, and given the widespread expansion of this platform, a large amount of data is available for the most visited cities. When overlaid on a map of the city, the data reveals interesting geographic patterns and exposes subjective perceptions on safety, upkeep or convenience.

4. Museum Stat

Museum Stat is the result of a collaboration between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Drexel University. It is an online platform to support museums, communities, and researchers across the country using open data from the Museum Universe Data File (MUDF). This is a great resource bringing together various sectors to facilitate more outreach, casemaking for grant writers, and a tool to measure the impact of the arts on individual communities as well as the nation as a whole.

5. East Coast Greenway Map

The East Coast Greenway Alliance recently launched this web app that not only facilitates tourism but also promotes environmental conservation across 15 states and more than 450 cities and towns along the United States eastern seaboard. The interactive data visualization allows visitors to map the best hiking trails and bike routes all along the greenway starting at any entry.

I hope you found these open source projects interesting! If you know other ones that deserve to be included in this list, share them in the comments section below.

Thank you!

Guest article written by: Ekaterina Novoseltseva is a CMO at Apiumhub – software development hub, which is specialized software development and software architecture.

If you are looking to do some serious travelling it is likely you will want to take your tablet with you. Tablets are the perfect way to take a huge amount of devices with you in one product. Tablets can be your book collection, guide book, maps, research tool, music catalogue, camera, notebook and communication tool. With all these functions in mind, it’s one of the most important pieces of kit in your travel arsenal. So which are the best tablets for travelling with this year?

Amazon Fire HD 8

The Amazon Fire HD is a great budget option for travellers looking for a reliable tablet. The display is a solid 8 inches which makes it small enough for convenience but big enough to watch TV and movies comfortably. The graphics are fine for playing video games or online bingo games with a suitably bright and colourful screen. Although the resolution isn’t the best on the market, it is good enough for most purposes. The 12 hours of battery life on the Amazon Fire HD is actually really good compared with many higher priced models. At only 13 ounces, it is also a decent lightweight option for when on the road.

The basic storage of 16GB might not be enough when travelling, so you may want to increase this to the 32GB option or use the micro-SD slot to add more temporary memory. The higher memory option obviously costs more but it could be worth it so you can load up some movies and games for long-haul flights. As for appearance considerations, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is attractive and comes in a range of colours. Of course, it’s a good idea to get a case for it for protection and this will customise the looks even more. You can buy the Amazon Fire HD 8 for around £85, so this is a great budget option.

Microsoft Surface Go and Pro

An interesting travel tablet that allows for a greater range of activities is the Microsoft Surface Go. This tablet is larger than the Amazon Fire HD at 10 inches and comes with an optional keyboard in the cover, so it is great for working on when you need to type more than the occasional email. This tablet runs on Windows 10 software and although it isn’t the fastest tablet on the market, it is still decent and you can easily play games and run apps. The display is bright and the tablet is attractive in style, while the memory stands at an impressive 64GB or 128GB and you can also use the micro SD slot for adding more memory. Additional extras include the handy Surface Go pen.

This tablet is a touch more expensive than some but for the extras it offers, it can be worth it if you need the keyboard option. Microsoft Surface Go is something a bit different in the tablet market, so it is quite a popular option among its niche fans. For those looking to get serious work done on the road, you might consider the Microsoft Surface Pro, which has a longer battery life and a larger screen at 12.3 inches. This also has a USB port, larger keyboard cover and a memory of 1TB. The Microsoft Surface Pro is a replacement for a full laptop and an ideal travel-sized version for working while you travel.

The Microsoft Surface Go costs from around £380 and the Surface Pro starts at around £600.

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 4

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 4 is another tablet option for travellers whose focus is on battery life. When travelling, it isn’t always easy to charge a battery or plug in our devices to a mains electricity supply. So having a long battery life can be a huge plus point in any piece of technology. This tablet can keep going on its battery for up to 20 hours which is much longer than most tablets. It is also surprisingly cheap. You can get an 8 inch screen size or move up to the plus model with a 10 inch screen. There are also different memory options, including 16GB and 64GB, along with faster processor and higher resolution screen for a more deluxe version.

Although the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 4 isn’t the fastest out there, it can handle all the usual tasks, such as watching movies, playing games and using apps. There is also a micro SD slot for adding more memory and for extra security you can take advantage of the fingerprint scanner, which is a cool extra. At just 10.9 ounces this is a lightweight option for travelling. The basic Lenovo Yoga tablet starts at around £150.

Apple iPad

The iPad is probably the best option for all-round performance and general use. The lowest-priced model has had its specification updated recently so this makes it even more attractive. The latest iPad for 2018 has a 9.7 inch screen with a non-reflective coating to make it more comfortable on the eyes in bright light. So if you want to use this outside on your travels, it makes it more user-friendly. The weight is average and perfectly fine for most travels at 1.03 pounds. The battery life is average at around 10 hours.

One of the best things about the Apple iPad is that it gives you access to the Apple Store, which has so many apps and games that it will keep you entertained for hours. The newest model also has the Apple Pencil, which lets you write and doodle even on the basic model. The basic version only has WiFi internet access, but you can use a Sim card with a higher spec version to allow roaming. For general tablet use on the road, the Apple iPad is a great choice. You can buy the latest iPad from around £300.

Whatever your travel plans this year, you can pop one of these tablets in your bag for reliable entertainment on the road.

Even though the bone conduction had been used in many fields like audiology, otolaryngology and for other hearing fields but at present it had been used as one of the main hearing aid. Like the other type of the hearing aid the bone conduction headset does not block out ambient noise.

How bone conduction headphones work when you on?

It occurs when a sound travels through the bone of your skull to you inner ear. The conduction would occur every time when you speak and explain about why does the voice sounds rather higher oblique when you are listening for yourself on a tape recorder. The bone conductor itself offers a deeper full sound and audiologists would know that when the sound travels in the form of waves and when it hits the eardrum it would translate them into a series of the mechanical vibrations.

When the sound first enters into the ear your pinna focuses it into the auditory canal and then on the ear drum would get vibrated sympathetically to sound. But when the sound increases then sure there is a lot of possibility for your ear to get damaged.

How the bone conduction helps in hearing? Usually a person can able to hear by both ears as well as through using bones and eardrums. Mostly the person can able to hear the sound by eardrums only, it would be thin and coin shaped membrane. The main function of the ear drum is used for transmitting the sound from the air to ossicles which had been present in inside the middle ear.

At last the signal gets completely converted it and amplify vibrant in the air to the vibration in fluid. With the help of eardrum the signal gets converted into vibration and transmits them to cochlea. Sometimes the vibration directly reaches the inside of ear neglecting your eardrums this helps for hearing your own voice.

For what the bone conduction had been used?

The bone conduction headphones acts as the best medical hearing device that is useful for the people who have some problem as like hearing loss. The aid that had been fixed in it is used for transmitting the noise by straight conduction via facial bones and head in the way of the inside ear.

It includes the tiny titanium embed or sound processor. This had been designed mainly based on your natural ability to transmit sound that is through the bone conduction system and the sound would get send out in the structure of vibration to the inside ear efficiently through passing inside your middle ear.

The bone conduction could have a record and play back option it is because the skull would control the small frequencies enhanced than air, many people are recognized in their own voices to be lesser than other.

Features of using the bone conduction headphones

It can able to help you by giving better crowed or noisy situations. It would allow you for the sound that would helps for many people for improving their speech and understanding. Hearing up with the natural bone conduction would result in the natural sound.

When you lost your hearing from one side then there the one implant would works by transmitting the sound. In most cases the hearing loss happen due to the damages that had happened to your eardrums. But the bone conduction does not make use of eardrums. Those who have hearing problem can able to hear clearly with the help of the bone conductions.

The best bone conduction headphones

AfterShokz bone conduction acts as your best friends

These headphones are designed in the comfortable manner and it would suit inside your budgets. After wearing it sure you would get some changes and this would suit best for the person who get bored and irritated of using the old type of headphones for too long times.

• These headphones are cool in design and good for you to use. Check out what the experts have to say about AfterShokz bone conduction headphone.
• It seems to be wireless and designed for a safe component from the earbuds and the different earphones technologies.
• It gives a high quality of sound.
• It would be lightweight, sweat proof and has a multi pairing and gives a comfortable situation.

You can get a good companion through using the JUHALL bone conduction headphones

• This headphone is easy for you to set up and its design would be classier.
• You can able to hear everything with the clear sound quality.
• It acts as a perfect fit for your ears and give you a comfortable feel.
• It is fast as well as it gives you a complete security for your ears.

As like this you can able to find out the massive of design and featured bone conduction headphones. While picking them when you compared its features and picked up the best then sure through that you can able to avoid the hearing problems and enjoy everything.

Growing your business usually requires a lot of time and effort. However, these tips will help you make this happen faster and easier.

Scaling your business is a challenge that requires a lot of effort on your behalf. In the beginning, you’ll need to wear many different hats as you deal with sales, marketing, taxes, corporate compliance, customers, and so much more on your own each day. At the end of the day, this takes a toll on you. Fortunately, there’s light at the end of this long, hard tunnel. Along the way, you can rest assured that this is better than the alternative: A life-sucking 9-to-5 job with the security of a guaranteed paycheck at a high mental or emotional price. By buckling down, clearing your mind, and looking at things in perspective, you’ll be able to easily identify ways you can grow your business and make more money quickly. With this in mind, here are a few business growth strategies that will take your business to the next level quickly and efficiently.

AI Helps You Work Smarter

Entrepreneur says you can convert your business metrics into data points which you can then turn over to an artificial intelligence engine that will optimize many things (e.g. price, digital marketing spend) for you. This is just one of the many reasons why it’s crucial to get familiar with machine learning and artificial intelligence. You have two great options available here:

• Google Cloud has built-in tools for automation and Google’s latest advancements thanks to regular updates
• Microsoft Azure is a first-rate competitor for Google (it’s even priced competitively)

With one of these machine-learning tools in place, you can achieve maximum efficiency and turbocharge your business.

Build A Brand Image

While it’s fine to start small, you’ll want to create a website soon. There are a few ways to do this, including:

• Onepagelove.com offers many one-page templates aimed at the startup market. You can quickly create a slick-looking site that helps your brand grow.
• Out-of-the-box e-commerce sites are also great since they let you hit the ground running with everything your business needs. You won’t have to pay designers’ fees or struggle with sorting through tedious payment options.

It’s also important to understand that your brand is much more than your website – it’s everything you do and how you do it. This includes employee engagement, which should start at the top from the beginning. Everyone’s attitudes and interactions need to reflect your brand in a positive light, otherwise, everything will fall apart. You need a strong foundation of understanding, ownership, and accountability – all of which stem from your internal brand strategy. How your employees treat your customers is a reflection of your brand. This is why your staff must act as brand advocates, but for them to do this they must first love what they do and want to be part of its success.

Use the IOT or Cloud Technology

Put the cloud to work for you with things like a cloud-based phone system to work for you.  There are several reasons why you need to use the cloud today, including:

• Making the IoT accessible to anyone
• Being able to quickly build, test, and iterate business ideas without being a programmer by using clicks, not code
• Adding customer context to your device data
• Getting a complete picture of product usage and performance by associating IoT devices with real customers
• Creating real-time interactions by having a cloud-based business phone system 
• Developing meaningful customer experiences across all your connected products

Expand Business Globally

Entrepreneur says finding a platform that’s reached saturation will help you grow your business quickly. These include:

• Amazon’s FBA service for those who are selling products in the e-commerce world
• Upwork for those who are selling services
• AirBnB, InvitedHome, and HomeAway for those who are in the business of renting vacation homes

Create Both a Sales Cycle and Business Cycle

Your sales cycle begins when a customer shows interest in your products or services and ends when they buy something from you. Herein you also have a business cycle in which you focus on marketing and driving people toward your product or service. When you first start your business, you probably won’t have the money to establish a business cycle, but this is where big corporations live. They spend their money creating traffic. You can automate this by finding a business cycle that gets constant attention to your business.

Embrace Digital Transformation

Yocale Business says your business model isn’t sustainable if you stay the same, become reactive, or act complacently. Longevity is found in your capacity to change – not to tell your customers what you already have. This is why the way you launch your brand is probably going to be really different from how you market it in the future. As your audiences’ needs change, the way they want to receive information will also change. By evolving with digital trends and outsourcing where you can, you’ll have a good growth strategy in place. While this isn’t always easy, it’s vital that you embrace the technologies and efficiencies afforded throughout today’s digital era and experiment with new ways to enhance your customer’s experiences.

Strategic Outsourcing

Growing your business means passing some responsibility onto others – even outsourcing some of them, especially when you’re short on resources. This shouldn’t scare you if you clearly define the work, closely manage it, and make sure it remains aligned with your goals. Successful outsourcing will drive transformation and help you achieve broad strategic goals. This will requires you to follow a disciplined process that maintains your focus on taking the right steps and making the right decisions.

Learn from Leaders

Fast Company says you shouldn’t fail to see what other leaders in your industry can teach you. This includes things like:

• Learning to thrive in a chaotic situation
• Taking advantage of the right training when it’s offered to you
• Figure out what your business could do better and then invest some time in those areas to improve them
• Focus on targeted areas throughout your day instead of trying to multitask
• When something goes wrong you need to shake it off and keep going
• Building a cohesive team that works together is important

Guest article written by: Mila Jones is a Senior Business Consultant, with rich experience in the domains of technology consulting and strategy, she works with both established technology brands and market entrants to offer research inputs and insights on leveraging technology as a source of strategic competitive advantage. She is a prolific author and shares her expertise with tech enthusiasts on popular digital publishing platforms. Twitter: https://twitter.com/miilajones

The art world is a challenging one to make money in. You spend countless hours producing different pieces, but you struggle to sell them for an amount of money that you can live off of so that you can continue to create more work. There’s also the issue of exposure: you probably don’t have the budget for a TV commercial, and local galleries will only get you so far.

This is the digital age, however, and e-commerce is a favorite way to shop. In a time where people are searching for deliverable goods and safe drop shipping suppliers, there have never been more opportunities to find potential customers. If you sell over the internet, you can reach an immense audience, and you can leverage marketing techniques other businesses use every day.

Write a business plan

Like any business, you should have a plan. This plan is subject to change, and you might alter it frequently, but having a fluid one is better than not having one at all. Set goals for yourself and ask questions such as: how much do you expect to earn over the next year? When do you anticipate money coming in the most? How much work do you need to sell to reach those goals, and what will you do during the slow months? When you have a plan, you can react more quickly when things go differently.

Feel free also to conduct a market analysis. Who are your competitors? Artists might find themselves thinking, “Well, every other artist out there,” but if you have a target audience, you can narrow it down. You would never dream of copying someone else’s work, but you can copy their strategies for selling it. Maybe they write blogs, use social media, enter contests, or even make SEO efforts. Find out if whatever is working for them will work for you, too.

Have your own website

While there are platforms out there that allow you to share your work on them, it is wise to have a website dedicated to your brand. Alan Bamberger from ArtBusiness.com says that “free websites and fee-based multi-artist web hosts can also compromise the presentation of your art by placing obtrusive advertisements or links to their companies on your pages. Incentives for visitors to leave your site and go somewhere else are NEVER good. Some of these sites can even compete directly against your site in online searches.”

You do not want to lose valuable traffic, so make sure you have you have your own domain name. Doing so will also establish legitimacy and credibility.

Take advantage of Instagram

You know you need to be on social media, but figuring out Facebook and Twitter is tricky. However, Instagram is ideal for artists. Not only can you post almost full-screen images of your work, but you can also make your page “shoppable,” enabling visitors to purchase pieces directly from your profile.

Remember to post frequently so that people are incentivized to follow you. Not everyone will be a customer—just fans—but they are essential to your business as well, and they can advocate for you free of charge. The more fans you have, the more popular you become online, and the higher the chances you have of making a sale.

Submit to General Public

The company General Public, founded by actor Portia de Rossi, prints 3D replicas of your paintings. If you submit your art and the company accepts it, they will reproduce copies called synographs, which include the texture of your work instead of turning it into flat poster versions. Purchasing a synograph is as close to buying an original work of art you can get, and artists receive royalties for each sale.

Network

Never forget to network, whether in-person or online. If you meet with collectors, investors, gallery owners, fellow artists, and others, you gain exposure and can win over advocates who will keep you in mind next time someone asks, “Do you know of any talented up-and-coming artists?”

Make yourself available on social media. Many companies respond to comments and questions, so you should do the same. Even if viewers are only fans and are not in a position to purchase your work, it’s good to let them know that you appreciate their kind words, which encourages them to share your art with their peers.

This process differentiates you from creating just another online “museum.” If you connect with people who love what you do, you strengthen your online presence and let visitors know that you see them, too. People often enjoy opportunities to discuss their favorite pieces with creators, and you have a chance to tell them more about your story and what each work means to you.

Art is an integral part of culture, but creators still need to make themselves known. How will you go about selling your work online?

If you take a stroll around Silicon Roundabout in London or the business parks of regional cities, you’d be forgiven for thinking that technology startups are everywhere these days. The UK’s tech sector is believed to be valued at over £180 million, so it’s no surprise that there are so many firms all jostling for business in the marketplace of great futuristic ideas.

But technology startups don’t come out of nowhere, and they’re usually funded by a firm of venture capitalists, which takes a stake in the firm in return for giving out cash. Other tech companies are funded by people known as “angel investors”, who are individuals providing what is often early-stage cash and a close, guiding relationship. In some cases, investment even comes from friends or family. This post will explore what each of these mean – and what it means for those founders, developers and others who are at the cutting-edge of technological innovation every day.

Venture capitalists

Venture capitalists are responsible for funding a lot of modern Britain’s startups, and given that the sector has plenty of cash in it at the moment, it’s really no surprise. Venture capital (VC) firms tend to see investing as a profit strategy, rather than – as an angel investor might – a pleasure or a sideshow, so it’s competitive to get access to a particular pot of VC. Venture capitalists tend to have strict criteria by which they judge the companies they choose to invest in – and once they’ve made the decision, they’ll be looking for evidence of profitability so that they can earn back their stake.

Angel investors

Angel investors are different to venture capitalists in a number of ways. First off, angel investors tend to be individuals (although not always): they will seek out fledgling firms looking for money, and provide this support in a targeted and individualised way until the firm can move on to the big, scary world of VC. Usually, they’ll take a stake – although for many angel investors, the benefit is derived from imparting wisdom to the newer entrepreneurs. Unlike venture capitalists, angel investors don’t usually take a highly strategic approach, and don’t end up relying on the returns from successful proteges as part of a business model.

It’s possible in some cases to locate an angel investor among people you already know, such as business connections, but many British entrepreneurs use websites such as AngelList to narrow down their search and find people who can provide the help they need. Other sources of angel investors are the business sections of Slideshare and LinkedIn, and they’re two places where Dexter Coleman-Mitchell and other major investors are active, so they’re worth looking at.

Personal investment sources

For the lucky few, however, there’s no need to enter the dragons’ den at all. Those who are relatively new to the sector may struggle to believe it, but it’s definitely worth noting that lots of investment in technology firms actually comes from people’s own personal or family sources of cash. Increasingly, investment in the technology ideas of your children or grandchildren is seen as a way to support them, as it frees them from the burden of working for another employer and allows them to chase their own dreams in a way that may one day bring financial reward.

The upside to this, of course, is that there’s no application process. However, as with many VC and angel investor cases, there are some horror stories. There’s always a risk of families falling out over the direction of a startup, for example, while those who invest in their children’s tech firms without having any tech knowledge may not be best placed to provide the expert advice that many angel investors can give. Despite having to go through a rigorous and demanding process in order to secure the cash, the other main advantage of applying to a VC group or an angel investor is of course that the achievement is yours and yours alone – and it can only be taken away as a result of established business processes rather than family whims.

Getting investment for a tech startup can be a tough job, especially if you don’t have the backing of private sources of income. However, it’s definitely possible to do – especially if you can find an angel investor or VC provider who is willing to take a punt on you and your idea. By working out what sort of investor you need to approach and how you can do it, you’ll be giving yourself the best possible odds of securing that all-important funding.

For the better part of an adult life, the only thing you will spend more time on outside of work is sleeping. People identify as their job and without it can become lost, stressed and without purpose. Millennials have seen the negative impact of this mindset and are pushing for change – this has led to emergence of the side-hustle. A side hustle is any type of employment undertaken in addition to one’s full-time job. A side hustle is generally freelance or piecework in nature, providing a supplemental income. Side hustles are often things a person is passionate about, rather than a typical day job worked in order to make ends meet.

However, when it comes to this modern-age idea, most individuals don’t know where to begin. Here we have a list of common, yet successful ideas that can help with your side-hustle creation.

Start a niche E-commerce company

Consistent income with few touch points, an E-commerce company is a common type of side-hustle. All you need to set up an E-commerce store is a bit of background in website design, plus an understanding of your product and market. An ideal E-commerce store will operate in a niche, staying away from corporate juggernauts. An example of this is a product like Eftpos paper rolls which is low cost, niche and hands off. It is a good option for the individuals that are busy most of the time and have only a few hours to give to their business.

Buy & Sell Products

There are many individuals that have a hidden talent. They can prepare hand-made jewelry or find a diamond in the rough. If you are one of the few people in the world with one of these talents, it’s time you monetized it by sharing it with the world. Scan sites where people sell their old second-hand products, find some that you can fix, touch-up or you know are worth more value and then sell them on yourself. If you do this right, you can have fun, hone your skills and make some money in the process.

Freelancing

Passions can also be money-makers. With the expansion of the internet has come online platforms where you can advertise your skills and start a freelancing job. Freelancing also offers you the freedom to work anywhere at any time. Examples of common freelance jobs are

• Copywriting
• Data entry
• Web development
• SEO marketing
• Video making and editing
• Proofreading

Blogging

Blogging often takes time to monetize but it will give you the chance to create, make money and indulge in your passion through writing. i.e. If you know how to cook you can start a blog about all the amazing recipes that you’ve found or created, or just write about the benefits of different food items. With the passage of time more people will start reading your blogs and your revenue will increase accordingly through targeted advertising offerings.

Surveys, games, and ads

There are many online platforms where you can generate income by completing surveys, watching ads and playing different games. It is rarely taken advantage of and may not yield huge monetary results, but it only takes a few minutes of your time.

Bottom line

One of the most important things to remember is that a side-hustle is a secondary income, not primary. Much like anything though, it’s an effort-based occupation where you will be rewarded accordingly. Without doubt there are many individuals that are making millions from a side-hustle that has grown, however, you must remember that it took them months or years to get to this stage.

As the old Chinese proverb says, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now”. You are the key to your side-hustle’s success, and to succeed you only have to start.

Birth of digital media and the entry of ecommerce have transformed the entire business landscape. Having completely influenced the way people purchase goods, the ecommerce’s market capital is currently worth $22.1 trillion (according to the latest UNCTAD estimates) and the online sales are continuing to grow at a whooping rate of around 10% a year.

Among the ecommerce models (B2C, B2B, C2B, C2C), B2B ecommerce is growing at a phenomenal rate and it is expected to veil the conventional B2C ecommerce very soon. By 2020, global annual revenue of B2B ecommerce would reach $7 trillion mark!

Understanding the B2B marketplace landscape:

The major reason behind this B2B ecommerce boom is that the online media has given the businesses leniency to interact without the need of middlemen. A B2B marketplace lets multiple buyers and sellers to exchange goods and services dynamically with reduced costs and streamlining their supply chains.

A B2B marketplace selling includes variety of things such as,

1—Wholesale businesses.

2—Distribution relationships with large or chain retailers.

3—Selling to organizations (corporates, SMEs, schools, non-profit organizations and more).

4—Suppliers selling to resellers.

When it comes to starting an ecommerce marketplace, a well-defined and equally evolving strategy is crucial. The initial phase involves attracting key players to the marketplace. Therefore, the primary focus will be on the rapid growth of membership and transactions necessary to achieve a particular mass that is needed for the marketplace to sustain.

Before looking into the best strategies for building an ecommerce marketplace, you should consider the following questions.

-What type of businesses are in the marketplace? (Audience)

-What are the offerings provided by the marketplace to these businesses? (Features)

-How does the e-commerce marketplace owner capture profits, and from whom? (Revenue Channel)

-How are the prices determined for the items that are bought or sold? (Pricing model)

-What are the types of restrictions for accessing the ecommerce marketplace? (Access)

-Who are the admins and moderators and what is their control over rules and regulations of the marketplace? (Control)

Having thought about the following goals, here are some best practices and suggestions that can help you establish a successful B2B ecommerce marketplace.

Defining core values and understanding the B2B e-marketplace players.

A successful B2B ecommerce marketplace is expected to provide unique and compelling offerings that will differentiate it from its potential competitors. Hence, addressing these five important constituencies that determine the value net of a B2B marketplace is very crucial.

-Sellers

-Buyers

-Service providers

-Competing marketplaces

-Transaction influencers

Sellers and buyers are the primary players in a marketplace. But, with the current level of offerings that other B2B marketplaces provide, other factors should also be equally considered.

Transaction influencers can be the point of trust who can help in increasing the liquidity in the ecommerce marketplace by inducing transactions between the buyers and sellers. In B2B markets, they often reside within the buyers and sellers. Identifying these influencers and providing a space for their participation is an important aspect of a B2B ecommerce marketplace strategy.

Providing value-added services as per the needs of Buyers and Sellers.

With a variety of options to trade from, the B2B consumers are in continuous research of online destinations that ease their purchase journey. According to a survey by Forrester, 33% of the research is conducted in online consumer marketplaces, 26% from the search engines and 17% from the business marketplaces.

Value added services like provisioning product related information, order tracking, logistics, insurance and easy financing options like EMIs can help to ease the transactions within the buyers and sellers.

Easy account registration and extensive integration.

Business buyers expect their ecommerce experience to be Omni-channelled and as easy as shopping anywhere online. Streamlined mobile and web applications, integration with social media channels and effective on-site search are preferred by 72% of the B2B buyers, reports a survey from Forrester.

A true B2B ecommerce marketplace experience should allow visitors to instantly access the pricing tiers and product details with or without easy signup options.

Providing multiple product catalogues and pricing transparency.

Transparency in pricing and product details is the most important factor for businesses to retain and repeat purchases. Providing them a variety of options is even more important than lower prices.

Hence, your B2B ecommerce platform should have the ability to automatically generate volume based discounts, fixed prices, minimum and maximum purchase and quantity increments.

Varied purchase options.

According to CloudCraze’s report, 52% of the B2B buyers and sellers said that a convenient payment process is their foremost concern. B2B customers often prefer instant and direct payments offered by payment cards and top Payment services like PayPal.

One of the largest ecommerce agency (trellis) quotes that 50% of the buyers prefer online payment cards, 19% prefer payment services like PayPal and 28% of them opting for transactions through traditional purchase orders.

Mobile accessibility and customizable storefront.

The next main concern after a convenient payment process, as said by CloudCraze’s survey is the mobile access to the seller’s commerce platform. Econsultancy (a UK based news magazine covering business use of interactive media) reports that Mobile traffic grew to 58% of the total online B2B traffic with an increase of 42% over the span of 5 years.

B2B transactions completed via mobile devices grew 63% year over year and exceeds 45% of the total online sales.

Minimal maintenance and upgrades.

When Magento informed that their first version would no longer be supported, many budding ecommerce marketplaces paused their operations in order to upgrade to its newest version. This time sensitive change brought huge losses to the B2B marketplaces, where the customer’s retention rate was very crucial.

Hence, in this age that focusses on platforms with simple and agile environments, you need not spend your precious time in upgrading or worrying about downtime. 

We hope that the above information will be helpful while you are framing a business strategy for your B2B ecommerce marketplace. With your business needs and target consumers in mind, you can either opt for turnkey B2B marketplace script for faster and easier deployment, or start everything from the scratch if you have well-built ideas and resources.

Opportunities are enormous in this $7 trillion industry and taking these strategies into consideration while designing your marketplace can get you ahead of your fellow competitors.

Key takeaways from other well-established marketplace models.

One of the most popular ecommerce marketplaces focussing on B2B sales is DHgate. With an aim of connecting small and medium sized businesses within China to the rest of the world, it currently has around 25 million listings with 900,000 suppliers, having buyers from over 230 countries. There is no membership fee when a buyer or a seller registers and they are charged only when a transaction happens. It offers high quality products that is unique to the marketplace and cannot be found anywhere else.

Another popular B2B marketplace is eWorldTrade, which is fairly new to the industry and has gained a good reputation quickly. It is the only B2B marketplace offering 10 leads at free of cost when you signup. It has its operational units all around the world. Many small and medium scale businesses that failed to make an impact within their markets have benefited from eWorldTrade. Due to its path-breaking business model, lowest wholesale rates and fast delivery worldwide can be easily expected from eWorldTrade.

Guest article written by: Jessica Bruce. I am a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. I also report on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry. Follow me on Twitter @Jessicabruc, Google Plus, Quora.