Mohit Tater's Blog, page 573

10 Ways in Which Formal Business Education Can Help You Run Your Start-up

Launching your own business is a bold career move.
Although there are rare cases of successful entrepreneurs who rely on their own
instincts rather than formal training, there’s no doubt that a business
education helps start-ups survive.

1. Motivational Skills

Finding the inspiration to turn an amazing idea into a
business is almost the easier part of the journey. However, every enterprise
soon encounters difficulties that make enthusiasm rapidly disappear. Business
courses teach how to develop
motivational skills to maintain a high level of interest primarily by
forewarning the most common obstacles. You’ll learn tips on how to
remain calm when dealing with emergencies and how to effectively pace yourself
to achieve the long-term goals of your business.

2. Business Knowledge

Formal business education provides at least the basic skills of accountancy, stock control and finance. You’ll also gain an understanding of your legal obligations regarding leasing premises, employing staff, tax, import tariffs and commercial law. These issues are sufficiently complex to prompt educational establishments such as the Hult International Business School to offer advanced training for experienced entrepreneurs to refine their skills even further. A thorough knowledge of how a business actually relates to state regulations and other businesses is essential to enable your start-up to function correctly.

3. Learning by Example

Discovering how other business owners overcame
adversity to establish successful ventures is beneficial. Business schools
often invite successful entrepreneurs to share their stories. Some of them will
even be well-known personalities. As a business student you have the privilege
of meeting business executives you might already admire. Being able to ask them
questions about the difficult aspects of your start-up is a worthwhile
experience. Some may even take a personal interest in your ideas.

4. Establishing Business Contacts

Start-up owners who have not had the benefit of formal
training often find themselves isolated. Your business will have a greater
chance of success if you can establish a network of contacts. Trust is a vital
factor in avoiding many commercial disasters. At a business school you’ll learn
of reputable organizations and individuals you can rely on in every situation.
Sharing your journey with fellow students and entrepreneurs will give your
start-up an advantage in the world of commerce.

5. Research Facilities

By following a formal business education you have
unlimited access to official data. Discovering detailed information about your
chosen business idea can directly affect the decisions you’ll make. Research on
similar ventures, products or who your customers may be provides you with
valuable insight. Access to complex analytical data will help your business to
grow from the beginning.

6. Time Management

New start-up owners are often overwhelmed by the volume and diversity of the tasks they need to address on a daily basis. Formal training provides crucial advice on time management skills. Learning how to use your time wisely will enable you to establish a successful business framework. You’ll learn how to prioritize specific tasks and when to delegate. Finding out the recommended amount of time you should regularly devote to the different aspects of your start-up will enable you to establish efficiency.

7. Understanding Economics

A business course will explain the process of
understanding how wider financial issues can directly affect your start-up’s
investment and earnings. Advice on how fluctuations in interest rates can be
successfully counteracted will help you budget your expenditure. With adequate
training you can quickly adapt the customer to investment ratios that are so
important to success.

8. Marketing Skills

Every business relies on imaginative marketing techniques to generate interest and sales. Tuition from experienced entrepreneurs on how to make the most of social media and promotional campaigns is an invaluable experience. Learning how to identify your marketing targets and when to change your tactics will ensure your start-up is adaptable.

9. Project Management

A business course involves a thorough understanding of
project management. You will learn how to expand the initial idea into a
successfully completed enterprise. Project management includes detailed
planning and compiling analytical reports and presentations in order to raise
appropriate financial investment. Ensuring arrangements for each stage are
implemented within a workable time scale requires organizational skills.

10. Confidence

A formal business education creates a dynamic
entrepreneurial atmosphere. Being aware of the vital elements of commerce
develops your powers of critical reasoning, cognitive thinking and objectivity.
It enables your start-up to have significant advantages over your business
rivals. Practical advice such as identifying business opportunities and how to
transform those ideas into realistic profitable ventures will provide you with
the confidence to thrive as an entrepreneur.

The post 10 Ways in Which Formal Business Education Can Help You Run Your Start-up appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

5 Ways to Enhance Daily Operations in Your Startup

Startups are called startups for a reason.
There’s really nowhere else to go but, up….From finding the right employers,
to establishing your processes from the ground up, you’re building your startup just how you
envisioned it from its inception. But there is a method to this madness, we
assure you. While it would be fun to impulse-buy ping pong tables and electric
scooters for the whole office, it’s simply not feasible on a startup budget.

TL;DR: you’re going to have to
do some picking and choosing when it comes to what you do with that tight
budget. But consider yourself one lucky startup pioneer, because we’ve got some
tips and tricks to help you refine your workflow and help enhance your daily
operations. Read on for 5 tips to guide your startup to a more profitable (and
sustainable) first year.

1) Connect with industry leaders

You’ve heard it about a thousand times, “it’s not what you know, but who you know.”
While this adage does have its fallacies, it certainly rings true in the
startup world. From building a customer base to brainstorming improved
workflows, using your network is essential to establishing a successful new
business.

Whether you connect
with leaders through an online startup network like Gust, or in person at a
networking event, there are many benefits to establishing a connection with
others in your industry. Some of these benefits include:

Capital raising opportunitiesPersonalized feedbackAdvice on management strategiesInsight into tools that improve
performanceCustomer referrals and strategic
partnerships



2) Invest in the right technology

It’s 2019, and there’s really no denying the
fact that our lives revolve around technology. And this fact can be extremely
helpful to startups—especially if you’re in the tech industry. But, it can also
create room for chaos if you invest in tech tools that have
little to no impact on your daily operations.

Before you sign up
for the latest software program or online app hoping it will solve your startup
woes, you should be sure to do your research. Not sure where to start? Here are
some research tips to help you choose the right tech for your organization:

Industry-Specific: There are tons of tools out there that claim to address all of your budgeting concerns, communication issues, and calendar troubles—but if the product isn’t tailored to your industry, it’s probably not going to do you much good. Make sure you get a product that has been designed by leaders in your industry with your pain points and processes in mind. A startup tax firm for example, may want to get and online tax software for tax professionals, whereas a content marketing agency may opt for a marketing campaign tool for content.Reasonable Contract: There’s nothing worse than signing onto a contract that binds you to hefty monthly payments and a seemingly impossible cancellation process. Before you end up in this startup nightmare, make sure you’re clear on the terms and conditions of your contract. This will save you time and money if you can avoid a budget-threatening cancellation fee and a battle with customer service.Educational Resources: Technology is only as useful as you make it. Most tech companies will offer educational resources and support staff to help you transition to a new product, which can make training more effective and ease the change in process.



3) Provide proper training

As previously mentioned, training your staff
on your tech stack is important—but it should really be a part of all of your
processes. This will make your whole operation run smoother, and calm
frustrations from staff that crave direction and documentation.

4) Keep up with trends

Startup culture is
always changing—and that’s what makes it such an attractive world to work in.
You may have thought your company was at the top of its recruiting game when
you introduced a free snack shelf to the office kitchen last spring, but now
your competitor’s got an in-office cold brew keg to keep their staff at their
optimal caffeinated levels at all times.
Moral of this startup story is: you’ve got to keep up with the latest industry
trends if you want to recruit the best in the biz and earn some buzz about your
company.

5) Adjust accordingly

Anytime your business adopts a new tool or process, there’s going to be a calibration period in which you’ll have to evaluate and adjust to the new system. Be patient. Addressing issues right away will save you time solving complexities down the road.

The startup world is exciting and ever-evolving,
but startup woes are a real thing. If you want to enhance your daily operations
seamlessly, simply follow these 5 tips.

The post 5 Ways to Enhance Daily Operations in Your Startup appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Best Hiring Practices for the Startup Business Owner

In the early
stages of your startup, your most important decisions are your hiring
decisions. Hiring is one of the most important aspects of any business, but
it’s even more crucial for a startup.

Your startup
company will have to overcome obstacles that established companies don’t have
to deal with, like building a steady cashflow, earning a solid reputation for
the brand, and raising awareness about the product or service that your company
offers. To overcome these obstacles, you’re going to need employees who are
absolute warriors. They need to be smart, driven, and passionate about what
your startup does.

It’s not easy to
find those kinds of employees. If you’re going to obtain a staff that’s going
to lift your startup—and not sink it—you’re going to have to employ the right
hiring practices. Here are some of the best hiring practices for a startup
business owner.

Write a Great Job Listing

It all starts
with the job listing. Every job listing needs to list the basic qualifications
a candidate needs to perform the job well. But if you’re going to find great
startup employees, your listing needs to go beyond that. It should emphasize
that you’re only looking for employees who are willing to work long hours, and
who are ready for the blood, sweat, and tears-hard work that it takes for a
startup to survive.

Furthermore, the
job listing for each position should feature a very broad and diverse set of required
skills. Startup companies don’t have money for a large staff, do it’s important
that your employees have a wide skillset so they handle doing multiple roles in
the company. For example, it’s great to get an employee who can do sales, but
who can also start a blog
for the business.

A networking site like LinkedIn.com can be your best friend. The site allows users to claim certain skills, which can be verified by colleagues within their professional circle. It’s a great way to scope out prospective job candidates, and learn whether or not those candidates are as qualified as they claim to be.

Pre-Employment Screening

A pre-employment screening is a must-do for every business. Have a screening company run a background check on each of your prospective job applicants. They’ll provide you with a background check report that will let you know if a job candidate has a criminal record. Pre-employment screenings are one of the easiest and most effective ways to make sure you’re only hiring employees who are responsible and who won’t cause any safety concerns in the workplace.

Have Your Job Candidates
Audition

Sometimes, the
standard interview isn’t the best way to discern the most driven employees. Try
having your employees audition for the roles they’re applying for. After
they’ve submitted their resume, have them perform a task that would be similar
to what they’d do in their position at the company (for example, have a
copywriter write a sample blog post for the website). This is a great way to
evaluate the real skills that your job candidates have.

Run a Group Interview

Group interviews
are a great way to see which employees are going to bring truly unique ideas to
the table. It’s important to remember that a group interview shouldn’t be a
“who’s the loudest and most outgoing?” contest. There are lots of quieter
people who won’t be super outgoing when they’re interviewing with others. Use
the group setting to find employees that have unique perspectives that are
different from the pack.

Experience Matters

Lots of startup
companies opt to hire younger and less-experienced employees because
less-experienced employees are cheaper. The logic is that these employees are
more hungry for success, and they’ll work extremely hard. That may be true, but
when it comes to management positions in marketing or business development,
it’s more important to have experienced professionals who know what works and
what doesn’t work in their fields. You can’t afford to have inexperienced
employees in those kinds of leadership roles. If you have budget concerns about
hiring industry veterans, learn how to negotiate
salaries as a startup.

Choose Freelancers

For a startup
company, it might be cheaper to hire freelance workers than to hire in-house
professionals. The positions you can freelance include:

CopywritersGraphic designersWebsite managementSocial media management

You might even be able to hire freelancers to work in sales. You can find a strong pool of freelancing professionals on a freelance app like Upwork. There are lots of available freelancers on those apps, but finding the best ones can be difficult because you have so many options. If you need some tips, read our article on how to choose freelancers for your startup.

Now you’re ready
to go! If you use these hiring practices, you’re sure to get employees who are
going to take your company from startup to success.

The post Best Hiring Practices for the Startup Business Owner appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Innovative Ways to Make Visual IVR Work For You

With all the attention on new digital channels for customer engagement, there is a misconceived notion that voice is no longer a viable customer service channel. Nothing could be further from the truth, as voice still remains a primary tool in resolving issues related to customer service.

Most voice engagements start with an IVR
system. With today’s modern IVR platforms, that’s not a problem. Well-designed
IVRs with integrated speech recognition and natural language processing
capabilities can help solve many customers’ issues quickly and efficiently and
is helping erode any misconceptions about IVR.

But digital technology is also creating
opportunities to evolve the IVR experience beyond voice, with visual IVR, for
instance. Visual IVR merges IVR with digital technology, bringing it to
smartphone and other digital device screens to give customers a user-friendly
and easy-to-use self-service alternative to voice. Not only is it useful in
situations where voice calls would be disruptive but visual IVR also increases
resolution times because of the ease of reading and clicking, as opposed to
listening to IVR prompts.

Visual IVR effectively turns traditional IVR
trees into clickable representations on screens that allow customers to
navigate any number of self-service capabilities to access information, update
accounts, make payments, make or change appointments, or any number of other
tasks. In fact, visual IVR offers many more self-service actions than
traditional IVR, because it enables easy and accurate data entry and
collection, which can then trigger additional processes internally.

Because many engagements begin with customers
looking up contact information on websites, visual IVR can be easily integrated
into existing customer service solutions. Phone numbers on websites can be
replaced by “Contact Us” buttons that launch the Visual IVR application. It can
be integrated into mobile apps as a customer service or contact function. It
can even be offered as an option within voice IVR systems, allowing customers
to receive a text message with a link to the visual IVR app. Of course,
customers should still be given the option to call customer service at any
time.

Here are some innovative ways companies are
already using visual IVR to create better customer service experiences.

Troubleshooting

Both service technicians and customers
themselves can have access to visual IVR scripts that help solve issues related
to a product or service. Service techs are able to find information quickly on
specific problems and receive prompts as to how to resolve issues, while
customers may often be able to resolve their issues without even requiring a
service appointment. In both cases, visual IVR reduces customer service calls
and the need to explain issues over and over again to live reps.

Product
Activation/Registration

Many products require registration for
activation or a warranty coverage. Visual IVR gives customers a simple,
easy-to-navigate interface that allows them to submit their product
information, as well as activate their purchase or register it for coverage.
This is a quick and easy replacement for traditional phone calls or mail-in
alternatives.

Incident Reporting

Power outages, gas leaks, cable outages,
inaccurate electric meter readings and other similar issues result in heavy
inbound call volumes. These can often be very easily communicated through
visual IVR applications, which trigger additional actions for technicians,
response teams, account reps, or other appropriate personnel. Customers,
however, do not have to wait on-hold to report their incidents and are able
receive faster response times thanks to automation, which can also prioritize
events based on urgency.

Appointments

Visual IVR also provides an easy mechanism for scheduling or changing appointments. Customers can be alerted via email or text message, or even phone, that they have an upcoming appointment or that they need to schedule one. They can then make, confirm, change, or cancel appointments using a visual interface. The use of digital technology can significantly reduce call volumes for appointments, leaving agents available to handle more urgent or complex concerns.

Insurance Claims

Insurance companies can enable customers to
report incidents using a visual IVR script that lets them start the claims
process and can even allow them to attach photos using their smartphone
cameras. The claim initiation process is expedited thanks to the integration of
customer records, allowing the provider to connect the phone number with
covered vehicles – and of course allowing for alternate information to be
provided as well when needed, such as if a traffic accident occurs in a rental
vehicle. The entire digital process is completed quickly and customers receive
immediate confirmation of the claim, along with follow-ups from the carrier.

Travel Reservations

Travelers frequently have to make, amend, or
cancel their flight, train, hotel, rental car or other travel-related
reservations. These can often be complicated by a high volume of calls,
particularly when they result from flight delays or cancellations. Visual IVR
allows customers to adjust their itineraries without having to wait in queues
and allows automated systems to use real-time information to provide the best
possible outcomes.

Collections and Payments

When accounts are past due – or even in cases
where customers need immediate transactions to keep up – they often call
companies. Visual IVR gives them the opportunity to perform the same actions
digitally, using secure, compliant visual IVR applications that allow instant
transmission of payment details.

With Visual IVR, Companies
Can Focus on More Urgent or Complex Customer Needs

These are only a few of examples of how visual IVR can be used to reduce the burden on call centers, while bridging the IVR and digital worlds to deliver a better customer experience. There will always be a need for live agents – and customers should always have the opportunity to easily reach them – but automation technology can simplify many of these interactions and give customers another option for conveniently achieving their objectives.

Using non-invasive digital interfaces, visual
IVR eliminates the need to listen to lengthy IVR menus, decreases repetition of
information thanks to digitally-collected data, and reduces hold and call
times, all leading to shorter engagement times and enhanced resolution.

For businesses, it means a cost reduction due
to fewer calls and zero outs, as well as lower voice IVR costs. Visual IVR also
means live agents are able to focus on more urgent or complex customer needs, increasing
their level of satisfaction and creating a more efficient customer service
organization, overall.

The post Innovative Ways to Make Visual IVR Work For You appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Fantastical 2 for Mac Review

“Fantastical 2 is the calendar
app your Mac has been waiting for.” – The Verge

Fantastical 2 is an app for macOS and iOS that allows you to use natural language to create events and reminders. It seamlessly integrates with the calendar apps on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Creating a reminder for an important meeting with a client or an appointment with the doctor is very simple. Just type in the words as you would do while texting a friend, and the reminder gets created within seconds.   

Fantastical
2 takes care of your scheduling. It’s like a personal assistant. Once you
install Fantastical 2, you will be able to focus on your work and other
important things. You don’t have to worry about missing an important meeting or
an appointment. Fantastical 2 also has a mini-dashboard which stays open no
matter what you are doing on the app. This way, you are always aware of your
upcoming events.

Fantastical
2 is created by a San Francisco-based company called Flexibits. Flexibits
develops apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad devices. Their main motto is to provide
a fantastic user experience by understanding and stepping into the shoes of
their users. It is owned by Michael Simmons and Kent Sutherland.

“Fantastical 2 is a
crazy-powerful calendar app for your Mac.” – Wired

The
main purpose of this app is to provide you with a seamless list of reminders
and events, which can be accessed from any Apple device. You can delete or
modify the list at any time. 

In this section, I will
demonstrate how to add Events and Reminders to Fantastical 2 with the help of
screenshots.

As mentioned, Fantastical 2 calendar app can process text input and intuitively create an event or a reminder for the specified date and time. So, no more struggling with complicated user interfaces that cause headaches. Fantastical 2 is hassle-free and great for beginners who have never used a calendar app before.

Specifying a calendar or reminder list

While
typing to create a reminder or an event, you can access any particular calendar
or an existing reminder list. Just type a slash(/) followed by the initial
letter of the calendar or reminder list name.

In
case of multiple lists starting with the same letter, Fantastical will
auto-suggest the names in the form of a dropdown list. Using the arrow keys,
you can select your desired calendar or reminder list name.

Creating reminders

When
you begin typing a sentence in the text box, Fantastical understands your needs
and creates an event. You don’t even have to select the date. You can just type
the event name, followed by the corresponding date and time.

However,
if needed, you can manually create an event by clicking on the toggle slider at
the top right of the new event area. In my opinion, this will never be needed.

Here are some examples of
sentences you can type in the text box.

Family vacation from August 9-18

Finish important task by Thursday

Flight 593 on Monday 3pm EST to 6pm
PST

What I like

Creating a to-do list or maintaining a journal can be very difficult if you have a busy schedule. Fantastical 2 allows you to use your voice to add events and reminders. And the natural language processor is extremely effective and accurate. It really saves your time and energy.

My recommendation

I
definitely recommend getting this app if you are constantly being late to
meetings or missing out on important dates. Fantastical 2 will intelligently
remind you of your commitments so that you can relax and focus on being
productive at work.

I
also like apps that use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.
They keep me way ahead of my peers and give me an unfair advantage. Moreover,
once you install this app, you will not need any other reminder app on your
devices. 

Pricing

Unfortunately, there is no free version of this app that you can use indefinitely. But, Flexibits gives you a 21-day free trial to use and evaluate it. You may cancel at any time. I guess three weeks should be more than enough to see whether it adds any value to your life or not. No risk! No obligation! If you like the app after the trial period, go for it. You can buy it for $49.99.

The post Fantastical 2 for Mac Review appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Alfred + Alfred Powerpack Review

Alfred is a productivity app for macOS. Its features like hotkeys, keywords, and text expansion make you a more efficient Mac user. Alfred 3 is the latest version of this app. In this post, I am going to review Alfred and its add-on, Alfred Powerpack. 

Alfred
3 is tailor-made for people who work on many different projects at the same
time. Entrepreneurs, businessmen, artists, computer programmers, etc love and
adore this app. It helps them keep their files and folders organized and
accessible.   

Alfred
Powerpack can be integrated with macOS. It enables you to customize your Mac in
an imaginative way. Powerpack is an extension to Alfred’s core functionality.
You can explore the internet faster with higher accuracy.

It
also integrates with popular search engines such as Google and YouTube. There
are many such advanced features in Alfred powerpack that I will share with you
in this post.

Running
with Crayons Ltd is a software organization based in Massachusetts. They have
been developing application software for Apple devices for a decade. Andrew
Pepperrell and Vero Pepperrell founded Running with Crayons Ltd in 2010.

Alfred
was launched by the above-mentioned gentlemen. They have years of experience in
building and testing stunning user interfaces. Majority of their efforts are
directed towards bettering the existing Apple software with the help of
third-party apps like Alfred.

In this section, let’s have a
look at some of the key features of Alfred 3.



1) Search and browse with ease

This
feature allows you to find files on your Mac with zero effort on your part.
Constantly Switching tabs can slow your productivity. It can also be
distracting. You might come across some other files on your computer which can
hijack your attention. Alfred 3 shows you preview files that you frequently
use. It intelligently prioritizes the search result as per your needs.

2) Save energy and time by typing
less.

Every
time you clear the cached file on your browser or disk, you lose all the
previously accessed URLs. This can be irritating because you have to type the
whole URL again or perform a Google search for it. Alfred solves your problem
by saving all your history in its own folder. Moreover, to find local files
like images or videos, you can use Clipboard History. 

Alfred 3 can be upgraded with its
add-on called Powerpack. Powerpack focuses on customization of the Mac. It is
powered with the following features.



1) Snippets & auto-expansion

Snippets
are shortcuts you can create for the frequently typed text. You can expand
these snippets into their full-form by simple putting an exclamation mark
followed by the snippet name. This not only saves time but also prevents typing
errors. As you are more likely to make a mistake while performing a mundane
repetitive task.

2) Built-in iTunes Mini Player

Alfred
Powerpack is powered with an iTunes Mini Player. To listen to a song, all you
have to do is type “itunes” in the text area provided by Alfred. Once
the iTunes window opens, you can type in the name of the song, album or artist.
You can use arrow keys to select your desired song or playlist. The complete
process is mouse-free and takes only a few seconds.

What I like

I am
impressed by how easy it is to find files and search the internet with Alfred.
My Mac has millions of files and most of them are named poorly. So, by typing a
few keywords from the name of the file I am searching for, Alfred suggests me
all the files containing that keyword. And it shows the results in an
easy-to-read dropdown list. The same process can be used to perform searches on
the internet.

My recommendation

Alfred + Powerpack is one of the best productivity apps for macOS.  Other apps like Spotlight or Quicksilver can do a decent job but only in comparison to Alfred 3 –not the combination of both. Alfred is much faster than any other app in this category. Plus, sharing your data is totally safe with Alfred. It is reputable and respected in the market.

Pricing

Alfred 3 has a free version. In comparison with the other similar apps in the market, you get a lot more features in the free version. I am sure there are some people who will be completely satisfied with the free version. But if you not one of those. Powerpack is available at only $ 29.69.

The post Alfred + Alfred Powerpack Review appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

8 Web Design Tools for Beginners to Help You Work Smarter [2019]

Creating and designing a website can become really frustrating, even if there are plenty of tools you can use that are easily available on the internet. Because each tool varies in how it works, and its capabilities, finding the web design tools for a website you’re making can be a source of stress, even if what you want to achieve looks pretty basic. While almost all web design tools have the same capabilities, your skill level as a web designer will be a big deciding factor on what web design tools will be perfect for you.

Before you fully unlock your potential, beginners and even intermediate web designers have to tinker with a particular tool first and discover all of its features and capabilities in order to work smarter down the road. Constant learning and discovery are also important, not just for your skills as a web designer, but also for the quality of work that you’ll deliver for your clients.

As new technologies continue to improve day by day, enabling your web design to adapt to its environment is a vital component of website creation. To perfectly summarizes A web design company in Philippines saying “because of today’s technology, company websites must adapt to responsive design to be able to keep up”.

To make it easier for beginners to utilize the newest web design programs, you should be able to work smarter. Here are 8 web design tools for beginners you might find useful.

1. Sketch

When making a website, having the best images and visuals comes as a given. But it seems there are still some who keep using Adobe Photoshop – even if there’s now Adobe XD which was built with wireframing and prototyping in mind – when conceptualizing and creating UI designs.

Sketch offers an easier means to sort through all your web design documents, which allows for easier revisions. Sketch also publishes documents in relatively smaller file sizes compared to Photoshop because images are vector-based in Sketch. This ultimately saves precious storage space and dramatically speeds up load times, which is crucial for visitor engagement and conversion.

If you’ve been using Photoshop to learn the basics in web design, it might be time to expand your skill set and discover a new platform that’s more convenient to use.

2. WordPress

Touted as one of the most popular blogging and content management platforms, WordPress is a self-hosted platform which provides full control for web developers and web designers alike. Though it could be a bit complicated when using WordPress, 30% of all websites are estimated to be using WordPress.

You might encounter a bit of a learning curve when using WordPress for the first time, as it could be a little bit more complicated than Shopify or Weebly. However, once you get the hang of it, the possibilities with WordPress are endless. With thousands of website plug-ins and a few more templates you can readily use and customize, WordPress might just become your go-to web design platform later on.

Most important of all, WordPress is free to use, though you’ll have to shell out some money to buy a domain, as well as for their hosting services. This is a great tool for building blogs and websites that don’t require too much space.

Image by:WordPress Org.

3. Linksplit

In recent times, A/B testing has become an effective technique to gauge the performance of a certain aspect of a website. Linksplit is an amazing tool that lets you do A/B testing at a larger scale. If you want to get insights from every single button on your freshly-designed website, using Link split will make it a lot easier for you.

Linksplit currently allows you to seamlessly split your website traffic between two iterations of your website’s design, providing you a simple yet in-depth look at your visitor’s preferences. It’s free to use for the first 10,000 clicks, so this should be a great addition to your workflow especially when working with average websites.

4. Figma

Are you working with more than one designer in building a website? If you find it hard to collaborate with other designers, Figma might just be the right tool that you need. It allows designers to work simultaneously and collaborate in real-time, minimizing the need to coordinate through email. It’s also available within most-used browsers, or you can install it on your PC running on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Figma is basically an interface design tool and somehow resembles Sketch. The advantage of using Figma is that it supports an array of platforms, allowing you to collaborate more seamlessly. Figma users also found it convenient since it also supports mock Multivariate testing and makes small changes fast. This platform currently has a free and a paid version with expanded capabilities.

5. GIMP

As a beginner, one of the most irritating roadblocks is when you’re using cracked, unverified software. Thankfully, GIMP is a free, open-source image editor perfect for web design. GIMP has the most resemblance with Adobe Photoshop, so those currently using Photoshop should find ease in migrating to this platform. Though you might find it a bit complicated to use at first, it’s a cool product which has almost all the tools you’ll need to work on image editing and web designs.

6. Avocode

Uploading your website’s design elements by coding can be complicated, especially for beginners. Having been built by the same group that made CSS Hat and PNG Hat, Avocode makes it a lot easier. This platform can automatically analyze your Photoshop or Sketch documents that allow for faster processing. In fact, you can even install a Photoshop plug-in so your image files automatically sync to Avocode with just a click of a button.

If your skill level is more advanced, you can also copy and paste a website’s design code and manipulate it in a text editor. With this, Avocode gives its users the ability to preview the design and have access to the layers required for the design. By making it easy for front-end developers to write codes for apps and websites from Photoshop or Sketch, Avocode is creating a fluid platform that can assist in all your web design needs.

Avocode comes at a monthly cost of $14.

7. Squoosh

Are you striving to publish a high-quality website but worried about large image file sizes? Squoosh will make this happen with ease. Built by Google, Squoosh is a free app that allows users to compress any photos or images while maintaining its quality.

Its simple interface supports easy drag and drop, making it very enjoyable to use. After selecting the preferred compression setting, you can have your compressed images exported in an instant. More interestingly, Squoosh can work offline, so you can continue working even without an internet connection – perfect for jet setters!

8. Web Design Proposal Tool

As a web designer, dealing with clients and closing deals is vital to making your business and reputation grow. However, for beginners, this can be tricky without guidance from industry experts. With the Web Design Proposal Tool, creating proposal documents for prospective clients is essentially magic!

Using the Web Design Proposal Tool adds credibility and professionalism to your work. Its free version allows you to save your proposal midway then come back with all the required proposal details filled out.

When using this tool, you just have to enter the required details on their platforms such as your client’s details, goals, and objectives, results expectations, your project timeline, as well as terms and conditions. Otherwise, you can customize the required fields to your liking. When done, you can instantly export a Word document and send it straight to your client for their review.

Work Smart

No matter how talented and dedicated you are, web design can become overwhelming, especially when working with websites with multiple pages. Which is why having familiarity with these tools is very crucial even if you’re just getting started in the industry. Remember, working smart is always worth it.

The post 8 Web Design Tools for Beginners to Help You Work Smarter [2019] appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Why Entrepreneurs Should Learn to Deal with Stress Positively

Stress has become a
harsh reality of the modern world. It is difficult to lead a successful life
without any stress. There is always going to be something that is going to
stress you out. Because it is always going to be there, it is a good idea to
learn how to deal with stress.

Everywhere you
look, you will find people searching for ways to deal with stress. Yoga and
meditation classes have become hot commodities. If you are thinking of a new
business idea, start a class with someone who knows about this, and you are
sure to be successful. Everything has become so stressful that people will pay
just to relax.

Startup founders
and entrepreneurs suffer from this mostly because they have the added stress of
their livelihoods relying on the success of their venture. Many put all they
have into their business, which enables them to carry stress and anxiety around
because the risk is so high for them. While it is already there, why not learn
to deal with it and use it as an advantage to succeed.

Some stress is actually
good for you because it helps you push yourself and get work done. Healthy
stress is a necessity in a very competitive world. It can be good if you know
how to take it a positive way.

How do you do that?
How do you turn a stressful situation into an advantage? The main trick is to
see a stressful situation as an opportunity. When you do that, it will motivate
you to overcome a challenge or accomplish a difficult task. After you finish
conquering whatever it was that was causing you stress, you will feel a sense
of satisfaction and accomplishment. These feelings are very important for your
wellbeing.

Stress is unavoidable in today’s work culture. How you perceive it has a huge hand in how you succeed. Gaining success at the cost of your mental wellbeing isn’t exactly worth it. What’s the point you can’t enjoy it?

We have to teach
ourselves to be more receptive of the situation and to react more positively to
a stressful situation. This comes from a positive mindset. If you have
conditioned yourself to take every failure as a lesson and every success as a
stepping stone, then it becomes easier to deal with stress.

When you perceive
stress in a negative manner, that is when it becomes a threat because you see
it as a threat. It doesn’t only affect your mental wellbeing; your body falls
sick too. Your work also suffers. So there is no winning with this mindset.

If you need help
changing the way you deal with stress, try meditation. It really does help you
relax your mind and be more mindful about the things around you. It will make
you more aware of where you let your mind wander and help you control how much
energy you spend on what kind of thoughts. It helps you get in touch with your
inner self and brings you in peace with yourself. When you can look at things
more objectively, they will start seeming less daunting.

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Top 5 Search Engine Marketing Tips and 3 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid

Search engine marketing (SEM) can prove to be one of the most effective and reliable tools if you want to increase the accessibility of your website. SEM can bring customers to your site by establishing a strong web presence of your site and ranking it high in search engines. If you are unfamiliar with different SEM techniques and do not know how to implement them, I advise you to take help from internet marketing professionals such as Tim Schmidt Author. I am doing my part and offering you top 5 search engine marketing tips that can help you succeed online.

Understand Your Customers

Understanding
who your customers are and what they prefer is the most important aspect of
marketing. If you know your customer’s requirements, you can target keywords
that are popular among them and come up with customized marketing strategies
catering to their needs.

Use the Right Keywords

Target keywords that are both popular and relevant to your niche. Use keyword search tools such as the Google keyword tool. Go after keywords that define your business and try to use specific phrases. Additionally, find out keywords that people are typing in Google Search to find a certain product or service. Optimize your content for that to get organic traffic.

Use Social Media

You can
effectively use social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter for
marketing. Joining a social network allows you to interact with your customers
more often and increase your customer base.

Start a Blog

This is somewhat
similar to using social media. However, when you start a blog, it is
exclusively for your own website/business. A blog lends credibility to your
business if you maintain it over time and promote valuable discussions on it.

Add Testimonials

Adding
testimonials to your website would make a big difference in your profits.
People are more likely to make a decision in your favor if they know that your
products/services have already been tested by others before them.

While you look to follow these tips, please make sure you do not make the following

3 common mistakes in your search engine marketing campaign.



1. Using
highly competitive keywords

In every industry, there are certain
relevant keywords, and obviously, they are very competitive. Such keywords will
need higher bids and may result in higher acquisition costs. I advise you to
target your niche and use unique and relevant keywords to avoid high
competition. 

2. Landing pages that complicate the visitor’s
experience

If it takes actual effort on the visitor’s part
to decide whether your landing page gives them what they have been searching
for, it is very much likely that they will not visit the page again and go for
a competitor’s service. To avoid that from happening, you should work on making
the landing page experience smoother.

3. Avoiding keyword negatives

If your campaigns make use of broad match
keywords, it is quite probable that you will be matched and served to keywords
not suited to your product or service. I recommend you carry out regular campaign
optimization by running search query reports. Properly utilizing keyword
negatives optimizes the effectiveness of your marketing budget.

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Leverage the SEO Strategies to Enjoy Growth in your Business

In the present day and age, a small
independently owned venture to the large scale conglomerates, everyone is
indulged in the online marketing campaign for their services and products. The
best way to achieve online marketing is the SEO or the Search engine
Optimization. 

What is SEO?

If you are unaware of what exactly
comprises SEO, all you need to do is read on. SEO is the single most vital tool
that enables your domain or landing page to rank higher with the user-end
search results. There are many ways you can achieve this. Starting from unique
and quality driven content, to properly implemented keywords, the options are
galore.

However, there is the thing about technicality that you need to keep in mind. It is one thing to learn and read about SEO over the internet and quite another thing to implement the said strategies in the real world. To make you work easier, all you need to do is invest in a professional and expert third party agency to do the SEO for you, like the Fyrebird. Get hold of your expert and take your business to unforeseen highs. 

In the following section of the
article we have gone over a few key strategies to implement for your business
venture with respect to search engine optimization.

Let us have a look at them,

It all
concerns the content, promotion and marketing

The content is still the king and
there are ways that you need to go about posting the content so that it reaches
the masses. Just having high quality and unique content is not enough these
days. There are a few ways you can achieve this,

Since you don’t live under a rock, you will have multiple social networking profiles including the Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. If you are already on the platforms, how about you start by leveraging these accounts to drive your content to the masses? Schedule a post or link about your campaign on the networking platforms.



What you need to understand about these networking platforms
is that each and every network is utilized for a different purpose. E.g.
Twitter is best for engaging audience and build up the status of the
influencer. Facebook is a multipurpose platform and Pinterest is a photo
sharing app where you can share unique visuals about your campaign, products
and experience.



There are paid social media promotions available to you
concerning the posts and you can experiment with the type of campaign that is
best suited for your venture. You will need to invest time in trial and error
but you will be better off for it.



Employ a social media team or a group of tech-savvy experts
to maintain and update content on the social media platforms.



Always make sure to avoid promotional content on a daily
basis, since users won’t take to it kindly.



Keywords and
keyword research

Keywords are what the users punch in
to search for unique content and services. So you need to have strong, unique
and well-implement popular keywords and phrases to drive the inbound traffic
into your domain.

For the perfect keyword, a lot of research is necessary and this is where the expert help is highly sought after. Your expert is not just responsible for the research of the keywords but also for the proper implementation of the same in the content and articles according to the industry guidelines.  You can invest time in doing the research all by yourself using free to use online tools including the Google AdWords.It is vital to use tools that allow you to monitor the most popular keyword searches all around the world in real time. A professional tool will also inform you about the availability of a specific word or phrase. There are professional tools that can help you with the research and implementation like the SEMrush. Additionally, you need to keep in mind that using too much keyword to misuse the search engine algorithms will earn you penalties without having any significance effect on the inbound traffic.   



While trying
out the linking features

Links, whether inbound or outbound
are the pillars on which your success will base itself in the long run. The
number of referrals is the sign of trustworthiness and professionalism.

The more inbound and outbound links you have in your
articles, posts and contents, the higher your inbound traffic gets thereby
increasing the visibility and trust.Abusing the linking features is called Black-hat SEO strategy
and you should avoid such duplicitous means at all costs. There are strict
guidelines to follow while implementing keywords and therefore having the
expert to help you is a great idea.   The quality of the outbound and inbound links reflect the
uniqueness and worth of the content with respect to the users, so make sure
most of the links are directed towards authority content on the internet. The phrase or word on which the hyperlink is inserted should
have similarity with the topic in hand to make the content user-friendly and
transparent.



Yes,
proof-reading and correction/maintenance is required

There are certain mandatory parameters
that you need to fulfill with respect to the Contact, About Us, Privacy policy
and Terms/Conditions of Use. All of the mentioned points should present
themselves clearly to the users at the homepage or the domain landing page.
Additionally, there are few things you need to do. These are listed as the
following,

HTML sitemap is highly important which are accessed by users all around the globe. You need to update the sitemap regularly. You need to submit the sitemap to the admins at the search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo so that the content, updates and the domain is properly indexed.Google webmaster tools are important as well which will enable you to index and monitor traffic for your domain. You can even communicate with the search engine admins in case something goes wrong. 

Yes, you do need the professional
help to keep tabs on the current trends and technology available to you for
devising SEO strategies for your campaign. Pick up the phone and contact your
expert immediately.

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