Erik Qualman's Blog, page 478

Online Blackjack, Craps and Roulette are Going Social

For many players, the appeal of sitting down for a table game session in their local brick-and-mortar casino isn’t the prospect of profit, but rather the chance to meet new people and having a good time together.

Classic casino games like blackjack, roulette, craps, and baccarat are all social games to some extent, with players sitting alongside one another while sharing a common goal: to beat the house. Over a few hours spent playing table games, you can easily meet peers within your profession, folks hailing from your home state, or perfect strangers blessed with a pleasant personality.



Online Gambling and Social Interaction

Credit Image / Image Source: washingtonpost.com

According to a study published by Michigan State University in June of 2015, “Worldwide, the online gambling market has nearly tripled in the past decade, from $14 billion in 2005 to $41 billion in 2015.” As casino gaming continues to enter the online realm, however, much of its social element can become lost in translation. As players sat behind their laptops or tablets to enjoy a session of virtual casino gaming, there was always the risk of casino gaming being boiled down to what was essentially a solitary activity.

Fortunately for fans of online casino gaming, the latest technological innovations to transform the industry are turning a previously personal experience into a more personable pursuit. Thanks to the introduction of features like ‘live-dealer’ and multiplayer gaming, players are able to connect directly with peers all over the planet.

Today, playing your favorite casino games online doesn’t have to be a silent experience spent alone, and you can enjoy pleasant conversations with your dealer and fellow players through a combination of chat functions and live streaming.

The concept behind live-dealer casino gaming has revolutionized online play, bringing the sights and sounds of a brick-and-mortar casino directly to your screen. With a living, breathing dealer working behind a genuine blackjack, roulette, or baccarat table, live-dealer games record the action on high-definition cameras and stream the scene straight to players. As noted by an article published by Canadian Gaming Lawyer Magazine in 2014, “there are an estimated 173 million people playing social casino games worldwide … (and) Morgan Stanley reports that social gambling is a $1.7 billion industry within the $391 billion global gambling industry.”

In 2015 a study entitled An Exploratory Study of Interrelationships Between Social Casino Gaming and Gambling observed that “Social casino games represented five of the top 23 Facebook games in 2013 based on user popularity, Facebook implementation, growth and overall quality.” Comparable to a conversation held on Skype or FaceTime, these games replace the artificial graphics and animations of traditional online casino gaming with a friendly dealer, actual chips, and cards hitting the felt. When you have a question about the game, you can simply type your query into the chat box. Within seconds, the dealer on hand will look you right in the eye and provide an answer, before wishing you luck or congratulating you on the latest win.

Part of the allure of any casino game comes from the air of excitement surrounding the table. Just imagine the most celebrated film scenes depicting roulette games in popular culture. From James Bond’s preference for “Black 17” in Diamonds are Forever, to Rick Blaine tipping a man off to his rigged wheel in Casablanca, personal interaction typically takes precedence over the in-game action. And for good reason: someone sitting in silence while the wheel spins simply lacks entertainment value.

Credit Image / Image Source: Tumblr.com

The same is true for online casino gaming. While a traditional session of online blackjack can be stimulating on a mental level, the lack of conversation can soon turn the game into a mind-numbing affair. The advent of live-dealer technology changes that, however, by connecting players to each other and the dealer, replicating the live casino experience more accurately than ever before. Another improvement offered by live-dealer blackjack and other games is the inclusion of bilingual dealers capable of serving players from several distinct nationalities. Now, if you’re curious about doubling down in a certain spot, but you feel more comfortable speaking in German, your live-dealer game can accommodate without a hitch.



Multiplayer casino games are here to stay

Social games and multiplayer casino games are another great way to make the experience more social, as players thousands of miles away from one another can revel in the excitement of a big win together. The system used to make live-dealer games economically feasible involve simultaneous live streaming of the same table to hundreds of individual players.

During a game of multiplayer roulette, for example, everyone involved shares the same dealer and wheel, but the chips on your screen will be colored differently than your virtual table-mates’– just like you’d see at an actual roulette table. While you watch other players place their bets, a convenient chat function enables you to communicate directly with them to create a genuinely social experience.

Credit Image / Image Source: PokerNews.com

Perhaps you’re curious about someone’s interesting betting strategy, or you’d just like to congratulate them for finding the right number at the right time. Whatever it is you’d like to talk about, multiplayer roulette, and other table games like blackjack and baccarat, give you the chance to reach out and tell people what you think.

People play casino games online for any number of reasons, ranging from the availability of game types in their area to plain old convenience, but no matter why you play, making the game more social is a winning proposition. Nobody likes to win (or lose) alone. Part of the thrill comes from celebrating alongside others.

In a brick-and-mortar casino, these celebrations are usually based on high-fives and claps on the back, but online casino games lack this physical dimension. By bringing your game to a live-dealer or multiplayer table, you can replace the high-five with a chat message directed at recentwinners, or even a simple smiling-face emoji.

However you choose to celebrate, you’ll soon discover that playing a socially-connected form of your favorite game blows the alternative out of the water – even if we have already warned about the risks of over socializing. The first time a stranger sends you a message congratulating you on a well-timed wager, you’ll instantly realize the benefits of this new wave of online gaming. Encouraging words can help keep you focused during a downswing, and questions about your strategies and systems can challenge you to expand your mind and improve your game. And, as is the case in a brick-and-mortar casino, the casual conversations you’ll enjoy at the table can actually be expanded into genuine friendships, as you discover players in the game who hold similar interest and ideas.

Casino games should always be entertaining above all else, and by combining chat functions with live dealers, socially-driven online casino gaming is indeed the wave of the future.

We hope you found the above promoted content as entertaining and helpful as we did!

 

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What You Need to Know About Sitemaps

If you incorporate advanced elements into your website, then it automatically functions better on the World Wide Web. However, it is very significant to know that what all you should incorporate. The components are multiple and you need to priorities as per the weightage of each of them in making your website successful in the clutter of the web. Sitemaps are one of such components, which are required to rank your website on the top of the search engine results. They also add to user experience of the website visitors. This increases the average time per user spends time on the website.

Visual sitemap is very important for your website as it increases the visual appeal of your website. At the same time, it offers you navigation support for your web space and empowers your visitors to surf through the different pages easily. Whether you have a huge eCommerce portal or a small blog, you would require a visual sitemap, which is a pathway to each tab or page of your website.

Basic info about sitemaps

Sitemaps are important for your website as they help in strengthening the SEO of your website. They ensure that your website is indexed on the top in search engine results. You can sort all the categories and subcategories of your pages. The expert web designers and developers are very much aware of the concept of visual sitemap and their impact on the growth of the website.  But, the new developers might not know the concept in beginning. They need to expand their knowledge and discover about the benefits of having an up to date sitemap installed with their websites to ensure growth in tough competition of today.

A website having an excellent sitemap integrated to it would always be more organized. The sitemaps function as architectural framework of the website, making it easily accessible for the users. The first time visitors can also get a detailed pathway to visit through different pages of your website without any hassles. Also, when search engine bots go for indexing, they would prefer the websites, which have sitemaps in place. The preference in ranking is given to the websites, which are optimized in terms of content, keywords, interlinking and site mapping.

There are mainly three types of sitemaps-HTML, XML and text. Each of these has their precise specifications and is used in the websites to meet different purposes. Therefore, the developers should take a note of the distinct features of each of the sitemap types to finalize the best ones for their websites. Generally HTML sitemaps are a list of links and hence it is used in the small websites, on the other hand, XML sitemaps are used in complex web portals. Text sitemaps are less popular in modern times. Since the competition on the web is so high, so it automatically becomes challenging if one is not using the updated technology.

How to install a visual sitemap

The process of installing a visual sitemap may sound like climbing the Alps, if you look at the complex coding done behind the setup. But, the good news is that you can find a visual sitemap generator tool on the web, which is easy to use and people without the knowledge of HTML or any other programming language can use it effectively.

The visual sitemap generator has all the key features built in. Hence, it has a handy and ready to use product for the developers. They can install the software and command it to add a sitemap to the website. The software also offers free plugins such as Google analytics and other SEO support plugins. This helps you to keep a track of the growth of your website to search engines.

The visual sitemaps are the XML sitemaps, which are way different than the traditional concept of site mapping. They are not visible on your website but their work is to provide URLs to the search engines. This automatically helps you to improve your rank in the indexing of search engine result pages. Hence, whenever a user searches for relevant keywords for the search engines, you get to explore more visitors on your website.

Choosing the best visual sitemap generator

Once you have understood the concept of website mapping, you would definitely want to install the best tool for generating suitable sitemaps for your website. It hardly makes a difference whether your website is static or dynamic; you require a sitemap for that. To integrate the finest sitemap without any errors, you need to have a credible sitemap generator.

There are several sitemap generation tools such as DYNO Mapper, which are loaded with quite exciting and advanced features. The key thing is that this particular sitemap generator is very easy to use. The first time users can also begin to use it without facing any troubles as there are easy instructions also provided. You can follow the step by step process, empowering yourself to achieve more.

Should you create a sitemap manually?

Once you have understood the concept of generating automatic sitemap creation for your website, the question pops in about manual sitemap generation. What should you prefer-visual sitemap generator or manual process of creating and integrating a sitemap to your website?

Experts answer this question in favor of automatic visual sitemap generator. They strongly recommend it as a better option to add an error free sitemap to your website quickly. Visual sitemap generators like DYNO Mapper help you to get the desired sitemap added to your website with all the required benefits. The manual sitemap creation can be a very tedious task. It is difficult to run the testing checks and find errors. Even if you find the errors, it is difficult and tricky to fix them. Therefore, even if you have a huge portal or a small website, use the ready to install sitemap generator tools and enjoy ranking your website on the top of the search engine results. All you need to do is stay up to date with the technology.

 

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Making Mistakes in the Establishment of Your Brand

If you are setting out as a business or personality with significant presence on the web, you’ve got an uphill battle ahead of you. The internet is packed with people and products that already do what you do, more or less. To make a place for yourself in hearts, minds, and wallets of the great unwashed masses, you’ve got to distinguish yourself in multiple ways. And you’re going to make some mistakes along the way. Some of these mistakes might stick with you, other might disappear. Still others might be forgotten for a long time, only to emerge years down the road at the worst possible moment. Knowing which is which, and dealing with them accordingly, is the key to long-term success in your growth as a business or personality. Here are the different kinds of mistakes, and how to deal with them.

1)     The Flash in the Pan. Most of your missteps will be of this variety. Just look at Donald Trump’s Presidential candidacy to understand how past mistakes don’t necessarily hurt, if you have the money and ego sufficient to ignore them. Most mistakes don’t come back to haunt you at all. This is an important thing to realize. As far as the internet is concerned, anything that has been out of mind for 48 hours or more is old news. In a world where every possibility is just a few clicks away, you’re floundering efforts to make a place for yourself will be quickly forgotten. Grow a thicker skin, give yourself a break, and move on.

2)     The Growing Concern. Of course, some internet misdeeds flare up into scandals. If you have one of these growing in your business, it’s time to assess the situation realistically. The worst problems have to do with the erosion of your reputation. If people think your business can’t be trusted, this perception will have a corrosive impact on your ability to grow. The competition that the internet makes possible makes businesses of all types an increasingly consumer-focused affair. A good Reputation Management Company can be just the thing to smooth some of these issues over. Let’s say, for instance, that you had a rash of poor service several months back, when your shipping vendor went out of business. Negative word of mouth online can fester and grow, and it can be really helpful to have a company like the one linked above to help scrub away some of the problems before they grow into big problems. This is especially appropriate if the problem has since been remedied.

3)     The Old News. If a forgotten issue from the past comes back to haunt you, take the necessary responsibility and press on. Resist the need to be defensive. Your future success depends on your ability to act like an adult during scandal and prove your worth by correcting the wrong and moving forward.

You will have a greater chance of success if you grow your business, while managing your mistakes well. Stick to it, and they won’t hold you back from achieving your goals.

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Facebook Now on Flights

A Dynamic Trio..

Want a universal messaging app? Well do we have news for you. Microsoft is unveiling a messenger app fit for a tripod, kind of. At this year’s Build 2016 Conference held in San Francisco, Calif., Microsoft dropped some atomic news. Their new mobile update (Microsoft 10) will include a messenger app functional with Instagram, Messenger and Facebook. This is a gigantic win for Windows 10 since the app will be universal, meaning it’ll adapt between PC, tablet and smartphones. Considering the current Instagram app for Microsoft looks like it was coded in the Stone Age, this should help Microsoft gain some much needed ground with the young folks. The update is currently available, and here’s what you can expect to see. (Source Mashable)

Facebook Now Available on Flights…

 

The social network just partnered with its first airline so the messaging never has to stop even if you’re on the go. Facebook messenger will now be available with KLM Dutch Airlines so passengers can check-in, make travel adjustments, and chat with customer service all from the messenger app itself. Facebook launched messenger for business last year as an effort to become more like Asian messaging service WeChat. If you’re not familiar, WeChat allows you to perform a range of tasks from hailing a cab to scheduling your favorite dentist appointment.

David Marcus the vice president of messaging products for Facebook stated, “You have so many different channels to communicate with services and businesses and all of those things are imperfect, but they all bring something. What we have been able to do is bring the best of each of these methods inside one conversation that happens in Messenger.” This is an effort on Facebook’s behalf to keep things simple and we like the sound of it. (Source MSN)

Worried About Your Tinder Date?

Well the worrying stops now. Mashable is helping you prep for your upcoming date by eliminating the jitters. In their three minute guided meditation video they teach you all the mechanisms to erase doubt and win prince charming or Mrs. Right. If you don’t believe us swipe right and plan a date for tomorrow. Happy Skinny. (Source Mashable)

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Google Fiber Introduces Fiber Phone

Google Fiber Introduces Fiber Phone

Google Fiber is trying to make landlines cool again. On Tuesday, Google announced FIber Phone. This isn’t your typical landline. Fiber Phone is modernizing the “home phone” as we know it. Fiber Phone costs an additional $10/month for Google Fiber customers and gives you unlimited local and nationwide calling. International calling is also available with rates similar to Google Voice. Fiber Phone is cloud based and can work with your current phone number (yes, your mobile phone number!). Calls from your mom can be received on the landline, through your laptop, or your cell phone. Fiber Phone bonus – Voicemails are transcribed into text messages or emails. #LandlineMakeover (Source: Google Fiber)



Sports Fans Meet Virtual Reality

March is coming to a close and so is March Madness. While everyone’s brackets have been destroyed (thanks Kansas and MSU), some are still hanging in there (looking at you, UNC). The NCAA has partnered with CBS and Oculus to bring you the Final Four in virtual reality. Presented by Voke, basketball fans will be able to use Samsung Gear VR along with the NCAA March Madness Live VR app for the ultimate viewing experience. What if I don’t have Samsung Gear VR? You can get a small sense of the immersive experience through NCAA’s Facebook page which will have 180-degree viewing. Your welcome for you 42” virtual vertical jump. (Source: Mashable)

That’ll Be $3 Billion

NTT Data, Japan’s former telephone monopoly has made their biggest acquisition this week. For $3.05 billion, NTT Data has bought Dell’s technology service business. The acquisition comes from NTT wishing to better their North American presence. The purchase is helping Dell smooth some of the $43 billion debt they acquired after their purchase of data storage company, EMC. (Source: Re/code)

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The 3 Necessary Steps & Tools to Successfully Launch a Mobile App

 

https://pixabay.com/en/imac-apple-mockup-app-ipad-mouse-606765/

Planning to launch a mobile app to promote your business? Be careful; a rushed app that offers no additional value to your target audience will only hurt your brand’s image. Keep in mind that developing a successful app involves a tremendous amount of effort.

After building a working app, you must carefully monitor how well it performs. This way, you can improve the usability of your app by identifying its strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, you need to develop a marketing strategy to make sure your app will be downloaded and used by the right people.

To help your app gain a solid footing in the mobile market, here are the essential factors you should consider:

Identify the Target Market and Gain Insights

No matter how well you design your app, not everyone will appreciate it. However, it is your job to those who will. One of the foundations of a mobile app strategy is to define your target market. This comprises of the people who will benefit from using your app.

By figuring out the particular group of individuals who will benefit from your app, you will give the development process a meaningful direction. Start first with the problem that your app is trying to solve. Along with solving for a problem you must also optimize it to align with the preferences of your target market.

You can use the Persona App to build audience or buyer profiles so you can better understand your target market. This tool allows you to create “Personas” that represent your audience based on their behaviours, demographic, and goals.

You should also conduct surveys using a tool like SurveyMonkey to gain valuable insights from these personas. Ask questions such as, what aspects of your app were disappointing, which design elements need improvement, and anything else that can help you set objectives for your development team.

Test, Test, Test!

Once your app works and fulfils the objectives based on your target market’s needs, it must undergo a series of tests to ensure that everything works as intended. This will also enable you to gauge the performance of your app so your development team can find room for improvement.

One of the best ways to test your app is to let actual users be the judge. You can use TestFairy – a mobile app beta testing tool – to help you obtain valuable user feedback. TestFairy also provides you with complete logs, crash reports, and recorded video clips to help you learn how an average user navigates through your app. This will help you detect its strengths and weaknesses firsthand.

To make sure all your app development goals are met, you can work with companies like BoxUK, who offer software development and usability testing services. This is an excellent way to go if you want the development of your app to be overseen by qualified professionals. Gaining assistance in your app development also gives you more time to focus on marketing.

Marketing

The next essential foundation of a mobile app strategy is marketing. By now, you should have a comprehensive profile of your target audience. What you need now is to establish promotion channels that will help them find your app.

First, you need to identify the unique selling points of your app. Why should users choose your app over similar competitors? These reasons should be clearly visible on your app’s page in stores. Your app’s page should be optimized for maximum discoverability. Include keywords/common search terms in the app name and description. Be sure these keywords are visible within the first two to three lines of the story.

Marketing your mobile app also involves several other promotional activities such as launching a beta testing campaign. If you’ve been following this article, then you should already be done with this. The rest of the activities include creating a preview trailer, blogging about your app (and the development process), outreaching to influencers, and promoting your app in social communities such as online forums.

Measure Performance

Apart from the performance of your app, you should also measure the performance of your marketing strategy. You need to keep up with post-launch marketing strategies that ensure you keep attracting new users while retaining the current ones.

For this part, you should consider paid marketing channels through ad networks and social media. Facebook Targeted Ads, Promoted Tweets; these are all great channels to target people with specific interests. Additionally, you can rely on cross-promotion networks for apps such as Tap for Tap to leverage the ad space present in other apps. If you following these steps and use the tools mentioned then your app should be well on its way to success. 

We hope you found the above promoted content as entertaining and helpful as we did!

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Telling Your Brand Story on Instagram – 3 Key Strategies

Good marketing means visuals. No one has ever argued about this. Since marketing began, in the 1800’s, advertisers understood the importance of visuals to enhance their advertising. Handmade flyers always had drawings on them, because visuals attracted attention. As newspapers and magazine came to the forefront, ads always had visuals. Fast forward to color and TV – advertisers took full advantage of visual media to promote their brands, and the visuals have always been more important than the words.

Today, advertising on TV is considered nothing more than an interruption, and commercials are either muted or fast-forwarded through. Online, however, businesses have the opportunity to use visuals in new and unique ways and to capture viewers with photos, infographics, videos, and more. ROI research, in fact, states that the results of a recent study show that readers and viewers are more apt to follow brands that use visuals and more likely to share those posts within their communities.

 Instagram is Totally Visual and Thus Surging in Popularity

In marketing, visuals are far more appealing than text. This is why even text content depends upon visuals to engage readers, as businesses court customers and tell their brand stories. Audiences what to “see,” not just read. Many marketers don’t stop to think that images all by themselves can tell a story too, even a brand story. In fact they can, if they are carefully crafted to convey the “plot.” And trust and relationships can be built just as well using photos and videos as they can by text – sometimes even more. Here are three key strategies to use your Instagram account for storytelling and promotional benefit.

 1. The Story and the Tone

Each time you post on Instagram, you will be telling a story through your images – a story that promotes your brand and you. You will need to clearly identify the story to be told and then carefully select those images, photos, videos, etc. that tell your story well.

 Maybe your story is about happy and satisfied customers using your product and you have photos that they have shared with you. Maybe you will use a carousel with 4 separate photos.


Maybe you have a great, enthusiastic team, and you want to highlight them to your followers.
Maybe you have a cause, and you want your followers to know that you are socially responsible. Your story might be a video of your team at an event of that charity.

ModCloth, a women’s clothing retailer targeting the female millennial generation, does a great job of this. Daily, they have new posts of their customers modeling their clothes; they run contests regularly, such as this one below. Customers were invited to submit a name for this dress. To enter, they had to re-post the photo, tag @ModCloth and use #ModCloth.

Immediately, followers are engaged and excited. The re-posts allow ModCloth to connect with the communities of its current followers, spreading its brand and its story exponentially.

You will also need to determine the tone of your story – is it humorous, serious, highly technical, poignant or quirky? This may determine whether you use a video, photo, an infographic, or carousel. You might want a video if you plan to show your team involved in something; you might want a carousel if you show customers sporting your T-shirts; or you could just use a single photo as Toms Shoes often does to show its charitable work. This online shoe retailer donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes bought. And they often show photos of happy kids and volunteers, to remind followers how important their purchases are:

What a great feel-good story, and what a great relationship Toms is building with its customers, current and future. These posts are widely shared, as followers, particularly millennials, want to engage their communities. Stories can appeal to specific audiences, and Toms uses its knowledge of its audience to select its posts.

Millennials, who accounted for over $5 billion in Internet sales in 2014, have two very prominent traits. First, they rely on their communities for advice and recommendations on companies with which to do business; second, they want to do business with companies that have social responsibility. As long as Toms continues to tell its charitable outreach story, its brand spread is guaranteed among this highly important customer base. It is now a company worth $625 million, and growing daily.

A Note about Video: If you intend to use video as a part of your Instagram marketing strategy, you do not have to hire a professional videographer to create it. In fact, video with a “homemade” feel is more popular. But use a good tool/app to edit them. There are a number of great ones that allow you to edit wither in real time as you are filming of after you have finished. Videohance is one of these tools, along with many others.

 2. Promote Your Brand Using Any or All of the Following Tactics

 Partner with influencers in your niche. You do this the same way you partner with influencers on your blog. Find those influencers, follow them, like them, and request to re-post their stuff on your account. Ultimately, you will be able to request a reciprocal arrangement, and they will re-post your content too. This helps you develop a much larger audience. And when an influencer re-posts your posts? Your brand gains credibility. These relationships and alliances that you begin on Instagram can then carry over to the same alliances on other social media channels.


If there are related businesses that serve your demographic, pay for sponsored posts with those accounts. Their audience becomes your audience too. This is not a hugely expensive strategy, considering the benefit that you may get from inserting yourself into new online social communities.
Put CTA in captions and visuals, instructing users to click the link in your bio to get something of value – then, gate that value to get an email address. This builds your target market and allows you to continue to grow your email marketing list, which you will use to promote your brand, your story, and your value to customers and potential customers. Often, email is the first step in moving readers/followers into your sales funnel.
Put a link in your bio that takes followers to other valuable content that relates to your current post. This content is most often housed on your website and your blog. And be certain that the content to which you are pointing your followers is highly valuable to them. There is nothing worse than a viewer being re-directed to content that is boring, irrelevant, or useless. You will have lost those followers forever.

And how do you promote your Instagram business? Tweet me to share your thoughts!

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Get More Social in Promoting Your Company Website

Making sure your company’s website stands apart from competitors should always be high up on your list of priorities.

With that being the case, take a few minutes to think about if your site is actually accomplishing this mission. If the answer is no, what do you intend to do about that moving forward?

Far too many business owners spend so much time worrying about myriad of other tasks that they fail to give their websites the time and devotion needed to make them true winners. As a result, the probability of missing out on consumer revenue is high.

So that you’re not one of these businesses, what can you do to make your company’s website stand out?

Design a Winning Site Today

Before you tell the world about how great your business website truly is, make sure you have a site you’re proud to showcase to consumers.

Start by reviewing the site regularly to see where it is winning and where it may be coming up short.

Look at your website traffic, a good indicator of what consumers and those in the business community think about your site.

If your numbers are consistently good, take that as a compliment, but do not become complacent in thinking there is never room for improvement.

When it comes to the design of your website, is it something you as a consumer would find attractive? If not, what area or areas would you restructure?

Also, are you designing the site yourself, in-house with the help of graphics and I.T. people, or are you outsourcing the site’s design to professionals?

If finding the right web design company should be high on your priority list, make the right decision today.

As important as the design of a business site is, you can never underestimate the importance quality content brings.

If your content is so-so at best, do you really expect to bring in high numbers of traffic, especially those consumers more apt to buy your products or services?

Your blog content, press releases, white papers and more should all be of value to the industry you represent (and especially consumers in need of such products or services). Secondly, quality content will help your site rank higher on search engines such as Google, giving your brand more notoriety.

Are You Social Enough?

With the right design and content that will grab people’s attention, deciding how to go about receiving that attention is also an important piece of the puzzle. This is where social media plays a key role.

When you make the right calls as they relate to social media, your brand and specifically your website stand to prosper.

So, how do you go about putting the correct social media game plan in place?

Start by determining if you can (and want to) be active on one or two sites or a number of social networking venues.

If you’re doing most or all of the social media promotion in-house, you typically have more control of what takes place, though that doesn’t mean you can’t outsource your social needs. As mentioned, outsourcing what needs to be done socially is an option too.

For those choosing which sites to shoot for, your typical big-time players such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. are good starters. One word of caution; don’t try and be too many things to too many people.

Sometimes it is best to focus your social media needs on a site like Facebook and go from there.

Facebook continues to be the social media king, this despite the inroads that venues like Twitter and Instagram have made on the leader in recent years.

Whether you are promoting blog content, press releases highlighting your company and industry, upcoming webinars and conferences, make sure you’re focused on getting your message out there to the right audience/s at the right time.

Speaking of time, when to promote your website and other company-related items on social media is also something you need to be aware of. Finding the best times to spread your messages socially will benefit you in sending more website traffic your way.

When you get more social in promoting your company website, the benefits can be never-ending..

Photo credit: stargroup1.com

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FBI Hacks into iPhone without Apple’s Help

What to Tell Your Old boyfriend…

I don’t need you. This is exactly what the FBI told Apple after successfully hacking into the world’s most famous iPhone without help from The Fruit. Remind me: The FBI asked for Apple’s help to open an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, a gunman in the December shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., causing 14 people’s deaths. Apple said no way Jose – if we write such a program then all iPhone users security will be compromised. The FBI finally figured out how to access the phone without a special code written by Apple. In a two-paragraph filing on Monday, the Justice Department said it had “now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple.” Mic officially dropped #boom. (Source: New York Times)

What Happens When You Forgo Your Selfie Power?

Right, like that’ll ever happen… We hope (scared cat face emoji). Shootlr is a new app available for IOS and Android that works on similar grounds to SnapChat. Except one major difference is Shootlr works with selfie requests on the fly. What do we mean by this? Let’s explain…

#1) You receive a Shootlr notification from your friend Tom

#2) You open the app and a three-second countdown immediately begins

#3) Your selfie is taken and immediately sent to Tom.

There you have it, the selfie game has changed. Here is their promo video. Would you send a selfie request to your latest crush? Selfie theme song: “You’re So Vain.” (Source: Tech Crunch)

Screenshotting Will Cost You 2 Years..

Yup you heard that right. The UK has made it illegal to screenshot Snapchat images and it could land you 2 years in the brink. Culture minister Ed Vaizey stated, “Under UK copyright law, it would be unlawful for a Snapchat user to copy an image and make it available to the public without the consent of the image owner”. He went along to say anyone that shares images of a sexual nature could face additional time in prison and an “unlimited” fine amount. The UK is enforcing what we like to call  #DigitalReputation procedures nationwide and if you’re not sure what that means we’ve got you covered here. (Source: Mirror.Co.UK)

In Case You Missed It…

Hijacker of the EgyptAir flight MS181 flying from Alexandria to Cairo was arrested yesterday following negotiations with EgyptAir via Twitter. EygptAir officials negotiated with the hijacker  (who has yet to be officially named) via Twitter to release 55 passengers and several crew members after he commandeered the flight with the use of a suicide belt.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades stated the hijacking was a non-terroristic act and the intention behind it was the hijacker wanted to see his former wife. The flight landed in Cyprus around 9 a.m. and passengers and crew members were released shortly after. Thank you Twitter and very well played EgyptAir. #BigWin. (Source: Mashable)

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Wearables Lead the Way as IoT Comes into Its Own

The Internet of Things (IoT) has entered the rapid growth phase. Millions of new devices are being added every day. According to a recent report from BI Intelligence, there will be 34 billion “smart” devices connected to the Internet by 2020, a huge increase from a mere 10 billion devices in 2015. That means factories across the globe will churn out over 24 billion new IoT devices in less than five years.

The massive data stream that will be generated by the IoT is both a potential treasure trove and a Pandora’s Box. Not surprisingly, marketers are salivating and making plans to exploit the IoT-fueled growth of Big Data, while privacy advocates and cybercrime experts are sounding warning bells.

Of note, one of the fastest growing sectors in the Internet of Things is the wearables segment.



More on expected growth of IoT

According to BI Intelligence, close το $6 trillion will be spent on developing the IoT in the next five years. Moreover, it appears businesses will be the driving force behind many IoT solutions. For businesses, the IoT can lower operating costs, improve productivity, and lead to the development of new products and new markets.

Government agencies across the globe are also interested in boosting productivity, decreasing costs, and generally improving the quality of life for citizens, which means these agencies will also become large-scale adopters of new IoT ecosystems.

That said, consumers are likely to be somewhat slower than businesses and governments in adopting IoT solutions, but within five years consumers should become the driving force behind mega-scale, globalIoT ecosystems.

Wearables driving the growth of “digital health”

Wearables are also a big part of the recent push towards “digital health.”

Digital health is a term describing how various new technological developments are transforming modern healthcare. Eric Topol (among others) has described how new digital technologies, social networking, mobile connectivity, rapidly growing computing power and Big Data will take advantage of wireless sensors, genomics, imaging, and health information systems to recreate modern medicine.

Wearable fitness trackers such as the FitBit Surge smartwatch(priced at around $250) includes a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, food tracking and GPS functions. All of this information is collected by a slew of sensors in the device and can be used to provide more customized experiences or improve health outcomes for the user.

Moreover, the growth of new digital health apps and third-party support tools is gradually increasing the impact of Big Data analytics, and this trend is just beginning to gain steam. Health care industry analysts highlight that the age of “personalized medicine” is on the horizon, and that sensor loaded wearables will be a big part of this new health care delivery model.

The analysts also point out that the smartphone has already become the de facto sensor hub for wearables, and is rapidly becoming the preferred consumer engagement platform for both health care consumers and providers.



Latest trends in wearables

Digging deeper into the subject, we can identify three major trends in the wearables sector in 2016:

1) Massive growth in smartwatch sales

2) The first wearable products with technology integrated into clothing

3) Increased use of wearables in business

Smartwatches are the big deal today, with all of the major consumer electronics firms launching new wrist-worn devices.

The first couple of generations of smartwatches used Bluetooth to connect a smartphone, permitting owners to monitor their various physiologic readings, control the camera and music player as well as check messages on the small screen.

However, many consumers are not happy about having to use two devices. Related to this, a number of consumer electronics firms have recently released smartwatches with built-in connections so their owners can make and receive calls without a phone.

With smartwatches available at great deals from coupon providers like Frugaa, a number of manufacturers are already moving beyond purposed devices such as jewelry & headsets and are working to develop new types of smart clothing with additional functions.

Research firm Gartner anticipates that smart clothing (or smart garments) will become the fastest-growing category of wearables within just a few years, growing from a mere handful of sales in 2014 to at least 26 million unit sales of smart clothing-related wearable in 2016. As you can see wearables don’t appear to be wearing-out anytime soon.

We hope you found the above promoted content as helpful and entertaining as we did!

 

 

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