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What Makes a Great Magento Extension?

Steven on July 28, 2019

Magento is one of the best e-commerce platforms on the market. Most of its extensions provide flexibility and complete control in the checkout process with its unique and user-friendly features. There are plenty of Magento extensions available in the store, some of which are free and come with numerous benefits. A great Magento extension can provide you with an attractive and robust ecommerce business that puts yourself ahead of your competitors.

The problem with most e-commerce platforms is that most of the work needs to be done on your own. Oftentimes, you need to hire developers to do the work for you. But Magento extensions come with a wide variety of benefits that can make a dramatic difference on your website. What makes a Magento extension great is that it improves the look and feel of your website so you don’t waste time or money on improving it. Here are some key benefits of using a Magento extension.

Save Time

One advantage of using Magento extensions is that it reduces the time it takes to learn how to code. You don’t have to become an expert in coding or developing to use Magento. Most Magento extensions come with easy to understand instructions for installation and use. Some even come with expanded features that are automatically integrated into your website. After installing the extensions, you can immediately take advantage of the features and reap the benefits

Save Money

Great Magento extensions also reduces the time it takes to design and develop your website. There’s no need to hire a web design agency or a website designer. It eliminates the need for hiring outside help. Thanks to Magento extensions, you can improve the website on your own with limited costs.

Increases Competition

Great Magento extensions are the best way to stand out among your competition. It’ll provide you the competitive edge you need when you’re starting out in your business. You don’t need to hire developers since Magento developers work on these extensions themselves. This allows your e-commerce store to become the best in your industry.

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Provides More Shopping Experiences

Online shopping has increased in popularity and shows no signs of slowing down. It’s now convenient, easy, and quick thanks to the functions included the Magento extensions on your website. Your customers will have an easier time shopping thanks to the updated features the time it takes to check out. For example, the shipping suite gives you complete control over delivery rates and shipping methods. You can use the shipping suite extension to set rules to your shipping conditions.

Increases Interest and Sales

Magento extensions allow you to create a customized store that matches your ecommerce business requirements. It also provides more functionality than other e-commerce platforms. You have complete control over every aspect of your website. Magento extensions are developed and added to the store to meet the specific needs of the e-commerce store owner. Aside from helping you build a beautiful and functional website, sales will increase as a result.

Faster Load Times

You’ll experience faster load times the very moment that you use a Magento extension. That means your online store will be able to handle 10 million views in less than an hour. This is a result of faster processing of caching, querying, and reindexing, a strategic process in which Magento ensures that your inventory, product data, and URLs are updated with thse attributes.

This feature is more beneficial in Magento 2 and will have little impact on the overall performance of your online store. This new version of Magento also includes a recent version of PHP to improve the caching process and increase load times. These new Magento extensions have made Magento 2 more flexible and powerful than its predecessors. You’ll get to experiment with a wide variety of database systems, including Postgress, a system that’s popular with e-commerce website developers.

Better Mobile Shopping

As an e-commerce store owner, you know how important mobile shopping is. Nearly 50% of online transactions have been made through smartphones or tablets. Most of these enhancements from your Magento extensions can improve the mobile shopping experience. These extensions can also turn your online store into a mobile-responsive online store.

Most of these online shoppers love to use the search option. Searching has made it possible for customers to find the products they’re looking for. Combined with the increased speed and load times, the conversion rates will improve significantly with Magento extensions. Since Google measures the performance of your online store on mobile devices before using the desktop, it’s imperative to use Magento extensions that focus on mobile improvements.

Improved Testing Capabilities

You’ll also experience improved testing capabilities with these Magento extensions. On the previous platform, testing for bugs was a difficult process. It’s important for e-commerce store owners to embrace the wide variety of extensions and modules that can reduce these risks. This is especially the case for online stores that don’t have a large amount of traffic.

This makes testing an important factor for Magento extensions. It’s now easier than ever with the Magento 2 platform. You can immediately find out if an extension or its features would clash with your existing website. Some even include a built-in framework that runs automatic tests on any website, regardless of your customer base.

In recent years, recent customer trends have improved Magento extensions. Some of the best Magento extensions come with features such as increased efficiency, mobile responsiveness, and a streamlined checkout process. Any of the Magento extensions are ideal for e-commerce store owners who want to ensure that the checkout process is fast and efficient.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

5 Tips for Hosting a Successful Small Business Event

Steven on July 26, 2019

Planning a small business event isn’t easy. Any missteps can hurt your mission and have serious repercussions for your company. On the other hand, if you get everything right, a festivity like this can help your operations in many ways. For example, it can help you attract investors or increase your base of loyal customers. But how exactly do you host a successful small business event? Listed below are five tips you might want to know about.

Know what you want to achieve

You’d be surprised by how many small business owners in Australia believe hosting an event is a great idea but when asked what their goals are, they can’t seem to find an answer. To make certain this isn’t the case with you, start thinking about what you want your event to achieve as soon as you decide to host it. Do you want to draw attention to your newest product? Do you need financing for your next project? Or you just want your Facebook page to start growing? Know what your goals are and coming up with the ideas that’ll make your event a success will be much easier. Fail to do this and your event will turn out to be nothing but a waste of money.

Don’t forget about money

Obviously, hosting a small business event can be expensive. Not only do you need to pay for a venue but there also other aspects of it such as catering and entertainment. That said, it’s very important to establish a budget and stick to it when planning the entire thing. Having a clearly-set budget will help you avoid overspending and ensure there’s always some money left just in case some unexpected costs come up. One trick that worked well for many business owners is breaking the budget into small pieces. You can then assign those pieces to every aspect of your event and make certain everything goes as planned. Of course, keep a record of all your costs so that you can later determine whether your event can be labeled as a success.

Think about catering

There’s no point in hosting a small business event if you’re not going to serve food and drink. Forget about catering and you’ll see your attendees leave even before you get to say everything you want. When it comes to choosing food for your event, it’s important to have in mind that people know have different diets and getting something for everyone if your safest bet. For example, you can never go wrong with adding a few vegetarian options on your menu. Sydney experts in corporate events say that serving alcohol at your gathering is a perfect way to have everyone enjoy it. Therefore, turning to experts who offer professional alcohol delivery service in Sydney can turn out to be a great idea.

Delegate some of the tasks

You may believe that you’re capable of planning your upcoming gathering yourself but in reality, letting others help you is a much better idea. Juggling too many things at once means you can’t pay attention to details and details matter a lot when it comes to small business events. Luckily, all you need to do is turn to your staff members and find ways to include them in the planning process. Think about each of your employees’ strengths and interests and you’ll be able to assign them the roles they’ll enjoy. For example, if there’s an employee you know has a good taste in music, why not have them create a playlist for your event? This will allow you to focus on more important aspects of the planning process and ensure everyone enjoys the music at your event.

Get the word out

Depending on the type of event you’re hosting, you might need to promote it if you want to achieve all your goals. The good news is, there doesn’t seem to be a lack of channels you can use to promote your event. So, if you aim at reaching customers who might want to attend your event, using social media is a must. All you need to do is create a Facebook event and have your followers share it with their friends and family. In case there are important clients you’d want to attend your gathering, sending them a carefully-written email invitation is always going to work. Just don’t forget to include a signature that’ll help them remember your business. For local businesses, channels such as newspaper and radio commercials are guaranteed to work as well.

Final thoughts

Providing people with a fun event is a great way to help your business achieve its goals. The best way to do it is to start preparing on time and paying attention to every little detail. Have these five tips in mind and you should be able to host an event everyone will find memorable and enjoyable.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

Top Business Tips for Starting a Small Business

Steven on July 26, 2019

Starting a business is a dream most people have had at some point in their lives. However, very few people actually take bold steps needed to make this dream into reality. If done correctly, starting a small business can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can have in your life. While it will certainly come with a lot of challenges you are going to have to overcome at the end of the day you will be able to tell yourself that you’ve achieved something great which you can really be proud of. If you are ready to commit to the idea of starting a business there are certain things you should keep in mind that will help you set yourself up for success. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the top business tips for starting a small business.

Get personally invested

By far the most important thing to keep in mind when starting a small business is that you have to be passionate about seeing your business succeed in order for it to actually do so. Getting personally invested in your business will give you the drive to put in extra work and go above in beyond when working on it. On top of this, if you don’t feel connected with your business the work you put in will seem unfulfilling and you won’t be able to find the drive to keep going during hard times.

Secure your funding as soon as possible

Funding makes up the lifeblood of every business and as such is essential for its success. In fact, lack of capital represents one of the most common reasons small businesses fail, so making sure you have enough funding should be one of your top priorities. There are many paths you can take when deciding how you are going to fund your business. The one most people take consists of a mix of different sources of funding, most notably getting as much as they can by saving and borrowing from their friends and family and covering the rest with a traditional business loan or opt for quick easy loans in case they need the money quickly. On top of this, there are a lot of alternative paths you can take. If you think your business idea has the potential to generally interest people, you can try to get the money you need through crowdfunding or other alternatives such as angel investors or venture capitalists. At the end of the day, the path you choose should ultimately depend on your personal needs, possibilities, and preferences.

Find a partner

One of the best ways to make the process of starting a small business easier, especially if it’s your first one, is the find a suitable partner to help you through the endeavor. Not only will it become easier for you to fund your business but you will also have someone to bounce ideas off, share the workload with and if things go south, share the responsibilities with. However, you should remember that starting a business with someone can really impact the relationship you have with that person. So, you should make sure it’s someone you can fully trust and rely on to stick with you through whatever the two of you may have to deal with during your partnership.

Have a plan

While getting personally invested, securing your funding and finding a partner are all things you should do or consider before starting a business the one thing you simply just can’t go without is a plan. It will represent the foundation from which you are going to build your business and will also give you a constant reference point you will always be able to turn to and remind yourself of what your aims and goals are. A plan will also help you determine if your business idea is going to be worth the time and money invested in it, which is especially useful information especially if you plan on looking for outside sources of funding for your business.

Don’t stop learning

When starting a business, it’s important to keep in mind that everything should be viewed as a lesson. Even though there are extensive books and articles written on the subject, really knowing how to set up and run a small business from scratch is a skill that you can really only acquire through experience and a good attitude towards the whole endeavor. Because of this, you shouldn’t get yourself down when something doesn’t go the way you planned, instead, you should view it as a positive experience that will prevent you from doing the same mistake again.

Conclusion

While this list doesn’t consist out of everything you need to know when starting a small business, the tips listed here will help you put your small business on the right track for success and ultimately make the whole process a lot less stressful and pleasurable. With that being said, the most useful tip you can keep in mind when starting a small business is to just keep going. No matter how hard it gets or how many obstacles you face, the only way to succeed is to not give up and constantly strive to improve.

Local Branding

Office Storage: Smart Ways to Optimise It

Steven on July 26, 2019

Since the vast majority of people spend a large portion of their adult lives working, it becomes quite clear why office spaces should be neatly decorated and well-organized. Constantly having to wade through piles of various clutter can significantly hinder one’s productivity and motivation. That’s why every employer should aim at finding the best storage solutions for their office space and organize everything neatly.

Managing to find the right storage solutions can be somewhat tricky, however, and being able to organize and optimize everything can prove to be somewhat challenging. That’s why we’ve prepared a list of some interesting ideas you can optimize your office’s storage and create a functioning system that everyone can benefit from. Take a look.

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Try to go paperless

The first step towards a cleaner and more organized office space is certainly trying to go paperless as much as possible. Not only do paper copies of files create a visual mess – especially when not stored properly – but they also harbour dust, reducing in-office air quality by filling it with various allergens. Therefore, file away important papers you simply cannot have be misplaced, such as signed contracts, cheques and similar documents. Anything else that’s lying around your office in paper form you should simply scan – to create a digital copy – and shred or recycle some other way.

Create an activity centre

Next, you should create an activity centre in your office, especially if there’s a certain activity you perform frequently throughout your workday. For instance, if you are constantly reaching for a stapler or paper clips but you don’t have them organized at arm’s reach, you’ll be wasting a lot of time trying to find them. So, instead, you should organize all of the office tools you reach for regularly in one area, so that you know exactly where everything is the next time you need to use it.

Implement smart storage solutions

Furthermore, depending on the type of office, you will also have to add storage solutions so that you have a place to store all of the things you’re not using in your day-to-day, but that you still need to keep. So, the office storage solutions you choose to go with will depend on the line of business you’re in and the type of things you need to store away. Aside from that, you should organize your desk drawers as well by using drawer dividers and organizers, and you should also see to it that every type of document that’s still in the physical form has its rightful folder.

Label everything

A well-organized storing system wouldn’t really be possible without labels. Sure, you will have all of your files neatly organized in folders – maybe even colour coordinated – but there really is no way or need to try and remember what’s inside each folder. Instead, invest in a practical label maker and label all of your files properly so that you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily.

Declutter on a weekly basis

Aside from trying to keep your office neat, depending on the line of business you’re in, you should try to declutter your office on a weekly basis. Instead of waiting for the pile of files to become overwhelming and risking to lose something important in the process, you should see to it that at the end of every week, you go through everything that’s piled up during the week and organize it. File away everything you need to keep, scan the files you don’t need in physical form and recycle the things you don’t need. You can use various waste management systems to toss out all kinds of trash in a responsible manner, ensuring your business stays as eco-friendly as possible.

Archive old files

Some business documents, while still important, you simply don’t have to keep after some time. Put differently, they are still important to you as a business owner, but they bear no other relevance. These files you can either store away in your business’s archive or you can simply scan them and upload them to the cloud. The same goes for business emails you are no longer required to keep.

When organizing your office space, pay special attention to storage. A well-optimized storage system will mean a world of difference for both your business and your employees, to make sure that you do it right.

Local Branding Personal Branding

New Age Food Era: How Tech Improved Our Food and Lifestyles

Steven on July 26, 2019

Technology is improving every part of our lives and is having a great impact. Food is one of the categories that has certainly not been left untouched. And, no, we’re not talking about microwaves and electronic kettles – we’re talking real 21st-century changes that are having an impact on our lives and taking us into the future with the help of the food we eat.

Smart fridges and storages

How many times have you gone to the store to get groceries and forgotten to check whether you have milk at home? Somehow you just wish that your fridge could tell you what you have and what you should get. Well – it can. Smart fridges and smart storages have cameras that can give you a look inside your fridge no matter where you are. Some are even smart enough to recognize different groceries and automatically generate a shopping list. But it doesn’t end there. You’ve come home from work and you just want a nice, quick dinner but the ingredients you have on hand look like there’s no possible way they can be combined. Well, there are apps now that will tell you exactly what you can make with the ingredients you have in your fridge.

Smart homes

There’s no more worrying about whether you’ve left the stove on or if your freezer is working while you’re on vacation. With a smart home, everything is connected to your smartphone. Not only can you turn your lights on and off, but you can turn on your oven an hour before you get home to be welcomed by a cooked meal (or a slow cooker, if you want to be safe), check what temperature your fridge and freezer are at and literally even toast your bread.

Higher quality of ingredients

With evolving technology, we have more possibilities to eat various, healthy food every day. Things like freeze-dried fruit weren’t possible a few years ago, and they are such wonderful, healthy alternatives to regular sugar-loaded dried fruits. We also couldn’t understand the complex benefits that come from ingredients like pine pollen which are now readily available. Fruit and veg are picked in season and frozen nearly instantly to preserve their nutrients.

Food apps

Counting calories is boring and planning out next week’s meals is even worse. But you have apps today that do all the work for you. You tell them if you have any special requirements and dietary restrictions and you will get an auto-generated meal plan and shopping list for healthy meals throughout the week. Not to mention apps that help you pick out restaurants when you’re on the go and in a foreign country, meal delivery apps and various cooking apps that allow you to follow a recipe in real-time. It has also allowed cooks from all over the world to share recipes and tips through social media with millions of people.

Food technology

Cooking food isn’t what it used to be. We are using technology to prepare our foods in ways that couldn’t have been imagined just a few years ago. Sous vide appliances are now basically staples of the kitchen, and if you haven’t played with dry ice to fizzy up your fruit or create cool looking things, you haven’t lived. But chefs around the world that have access to more expensive toys are playing around with chemistry and technology to deliver flavors and textures we wouldn’t ever think to create.

Lifestyle apps

Eating healthy isn’t the only thing we’re getting help with. Nearly everyone is wearing FitBits, tracking their steps and planning out their workouts. You step on a stationary bike in a gym and it doesn’t just track how much you’ve pedaled, but how many calories you’ve burned, what your heart rate is and so many other things. Not to mention that there are scanners that tell you within seconds the amount of body fat and the overall state of your body.

So the tech has changed a lot, but it has unfortunately also made the unhealthy stuff more accessible and easier to do. So we have so many things at our fingertips, but we need to control ourselves and make smart choices – almost as smart as our machines.

Legal Branding Local Branding

3 Main Reasons You Have to Host an Open House

Steven on July 24, 2019

Selling a property on desirable prices is a difficult and time-consuming process as well. When you want to sell your apartment you usually think about different real estate agents and online advertisements of your property. The open house is a term that makes people think that they will face a strange type of peoples in their home. A huge amount will be required for the event of an open house. In reality, the open house is the best tool for the seller. The open house will bring customers directly to your doorstep. If you have an apartment in the Palm Jumeirah and you want to sell that apartment, then an open house will be a great tool for your selling process. The people who want to buy an apartment in Palm Jumeirah will visit your open house and will check your apartment without any long procedures. The open house will save you from a long time-consuming selling process. The open house needs proper ways and methods to attract customers. The following are the details of these ways by which you can make your open house successful and can get your desired customer and price as well.

It’s an Opportunity to Set Your House Apart from The Rest

Posting ads related to your apartment on the internet along with the pictures will not attract customers properly. The open house will allow them to visit your home and check everything without any realtors and other time-consuming processes. This type of open house hosting needs a proper home decoration. The decoration of your home will attract customers more. Hire staging company for furnishings. The good appearance of your home will make the process of selling faster.

Social Situations Ease Tension

In the open house, you will face multiple types of customers along with their agents. You and your agent can directly meet with customers and can discuss the process of your home without any embarrassment. These types of social events give a good and relaxed environment. The timely home viewing is usually not relaxed for you and the customer as well. You will get embarrassed by customers that come to visit your home at different times open house can save you from this time-consuming process by inviting all customers at the same.

Reduction in Marketing Cost

The open house will reduce marketing cost. You can easily sell your home by an open house as too many eyes on your apartment in a small duration of time will make selling process faster· The individual showings usually take more time and the open house can skip all these individual showings. The one-day affair is easy then every day showings of customers at your home doorstep.

Legal Branding

3 Questions You Have to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Home Warranty

Steven on July 24, 2019

Home purchase requires a lot of money as it is an expensive task. Buying a home requires a handsome amount of investment. You need to protect your investment as well. Avoid temptation by television and online ads pitching home warranties. The home warranties are the type of contracts that provide you guarantee to pay the cost of all types of repair, damage or replacement of appliances, plumbing, heating, and air conditioning systems if they stop working. The home warranties are a source of peace of mind but finding a better business bureau is necessary. As most of the companies deny to pay you the cost when you need it. To protect yourself from such type of scam and fraud is necessary. If you buy Dubai Land properties for sale and you are investing a huge amount, that huge amount should be protected from these types of fraud bureau.

The first step for buying a home warranty is to evaluate that this warranty is covering everything that you need? Study the contract properly following are the question you have to ask yourself before buying a home warranty.

Do I Already Have Protection?

The appliances of a new home are usually covered and sometimes the used appliances are covered as well if you have done the purchase with a credit card. Some credit cards have long term warranty. So if you don’t need any type of coverage than avoid buying a home warranty.

How Much Will This Warranty Cost?

Different kinds of plans cost you differently. These plans are of three types like a plan for a particular appliance, a plan for all your appliances, and a plan for your plumbing and electrical systems along with your appliances. The location of your home will affect the cost of a plan. You have to pay additional charges if anyone of your appliance is covered and has stopped working. The fee ranges from $60 to $125 for additional charges.

Am I Clear About What the Warranty Covers?

Carefully read the terms and conditions and the whole contract before buying a home warranty. Sometime misconception can put you in high money loses in the future. Most of the customer doesn’t get the whole contract and then make a company responsible for the extra charges. These contracts have different policies like some will cover your refrigerator but not the icemaker, some policies were only for water heater but not the hot water tank.

Digital Branding Personal Branding

Which “90’s” branding methods had a huge comeback in recent years?

Steven on July 24, 2019

They say that fashion always comes back – but only after 20 have passed. Nowadays, we are experiencing a comeback of the ’80s and ’90s in fashion, movies, TV series, and music. A music genre called synthwave emerged in the 2010s, while movies like Kung Fury and The Pursuit of Happyness dominate movie festivals around the globe. Stranger Things, a TV series running on Netflix, also pays homage to the ‘80s pop culture, with several themes inspired by Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter.

The same can be said about branding. Nostalgia has its place in branding, and can even further improve your efforts down the road. In this post, we will explore some of the best comeback methods in branding that stand available even for your small business.

Promotional Products

Promotional products were all the hype in the ’90s (especially in politics), and although they have lost some of their glory, that doesn’t mean they still can’t be crucial to your branding success. Most promotional products recipients can remember the name of the advertiser on the product and commonly do business with them, and rarely who doesn’t like receiving them.

Always popular promotional items are even available online and can be imprinted with your company’s name, logo, or message designed to increase brand awareness among your target audience. As one of the only forms of marketing that enable customers to interact with a brand on a physical level, promotional items often build a more memorable brand experience.

Coca-Cola’s Website – Now and Then

The company’s first website was launched in April 1995 and Coca-Cola even saved a screengrab of its black-and-white homepage that featured a Coke bottle going into space under the text “The Galaxy of Cola-Cola”. The website also had a featured link to click on the business’s shareholders’ report.

Nowadays, their site is more closely aligned with the brand’s focus on happiness, using the brand’s signature red in its menu bar and a tagline spelling – Open Happiness. The brand also uses a “Share a Coke” site, where you can customize your own bottle. In a modern world, where 75% of online consumers want personalized branding based on their interests, Coke is building a trend here. The company also has a separate consumer site from its corporate website that features information and articles for investors.

Converse – the Old School Way

In 1932, Converse signed basketball star Charles Hollis (“Chuck”) Taylor to help advertise the All-Star and through it, “delivered” their iconic nickname – the Chuck Taylor. They quickly became the most popular sneakers in the league. However, in the ‘80s, the competition, namely Adidas, Nike, Reebok, and Puma, became fiercer. Go to 1998, and you’ll find that Converse only claimed 2.3 percent of the market.

In the end, Nike bought the company in 2003. But this wasn’t the end of the Converse brand. Under new management, Converse went in a new direction by embracing their “old-school” style, which was liked by generations of rebellious rockers over the years. As an element of their brand overhaul, the company produced special Ramones and Curt Cobain editions of their Chuck Taylors.

Neon Signs in Advertising

Even though some might say they fell out of favor, neon signs are an excellent way of promoting your business in today’s competitive market. They’re ideal for situations where a business wants to start slowly and small and are particularly popular with restaurants, retail storefronts, and pharmaceutical stores. The signs can either communicate information with urgency or style and range from simple signs to complex art installation forms.

For starters, neon signs are highly durable and will last for a long time – their life expectancy is 10 years. Especially at night, neon lights can be very appealing to those passing by. If they’re used at the entrance of the business, most people will be captivated by their lights and possibly get lured in.

Branding, just like fashion, needs to follow real movements on the market and should follow them until it starts to create trends of their own. Therefore, there are no “passé” instances in branding – the only thing that matters is what works at this moment for product placement and selling. Following trends is a double-edged sword, but you can still cut your competition with it.

Legal Branding

Choice of the Right Credit Card Terminal Helps In Processing

Steven on July 23, 2019

You will come across a lot of different types of credit card terminals today to choose from. They can help you to make the right choice according to the type of business. It is also necessary to consider your specific needs for credit card processing.

The different types of credit card terminals come with different types of features but all of these are aimed at making your credit card payments acceptance a much easier process. Therefore, be knowledgeable and know about these types, their features and functionality before you make your final choice.

The traditional terminals

The traditional retail terminals are mostly found and are the best solution for businesses that operate with a face to face contact with the consumers. These types of businesses include:

A retail shop
A restaurant and even
Those that deal entirely in ‘card-present’ transactions.

Putting in simple words this means that in all these settings the cardholder physically possesses the credit card while making a payment.

In this setting, the ideal credit card terminal choice is a countertop PointOfSale model. In this type of terminal you will be able to:

Swipe the credit cards of the customers using a card reader to make and process the transaction
You can also process EBT or debit cards if you simply add a PIN pad on to the credit card reader.

In this system, ideally, there is a small printer connected to the card reading device or the Electronic Data Capturing machine. This prints out two copies of a receipt with the details of the transaction along with the date, time and amount of purchase. The reason for two receipts is:

The customer needs to sign on this print out called ‘charge slip’ which you have to retain as the vendor and
The customer keeps one for reference or disputes during charge-backs.

You may also use a countertop terminal for free credit card processing in a CNP or ‘cardnot present’ situation. This is especially a setting when gods and services are delivered based on the orders made through the internet, over the phone or faxes mails. All you need to do is type in the details of the credit card into the terminal to process the card and receive the amount of sale.

Few other types of terminals

Apart from the traditional credit card terminals that are usually used in a fixed set of a physical store, you will also get a couple of other types of credit card terminals to choose from.

You will get a wide assortment of mobile credit card processing solutions. You will need to set up a mobile merchant account with the credit card processing company for this by simply downloading their specific app to your tablet, laptop or smartphone. You accept both major credit cards as well as signature debit cards as and when you want no matter wherever you are.
Apart from that, you can also come across a virtual terminal which is the mark of modern development and use of technology. These virtual terminals are apt for online credit card processing using the electronic payment gateway to facilitate such transactions. This is a safe and secure way to get paid for the goods and services you sold to a customer. This state-of-the-art credit card processing platform will allow you to accept multiple payment types and all that in real-time.

In order to use these credit terminals all that you need is an internet connection and a web browser of your computer. You can combine these with a USB credit card swipe reader even to create such a virtual terminal. These terminals not only will allow you to use and process the major credit and debit cards but will also help you in ACH payments. In addition to that, it will also offer:

Shopping cart integration and
A hosted payment page.

All these are very useful for those e-commerce merchants who want to provide a better user experience and a faster and more secure service.

Look at the features

When you want to select the best credit card terminal for your business, you will need to know and consider the features that these terminals have. This is essentially required if you have diversified business and require more than one merchant account for that matter to process your credit card payments of different types.

There are several terminals that can process numerous merchant account transactions that are a good choice for a retail establishment to use especially if it has an online presence as well.
Then there are a few other credit card terminals available as well that are a good choice for businesses that share their space and a credit card terminal with a different business.
Apart from that, you can also choose the newer credit card terminal models that use IP connections rather than a dedicated phone line in order to connect to the browser and the credit card processor.

However, apart from the type and need of your business, you must also consider the internet speed and accessibility. Your choice may vary if your business has highspeed internet access or a DSL. This will speed up the processing time significantly and most importantly, you will not need to spend on an extra phone line.

Choosing a merchant account provider

Lastly, when you choose a merchant account provider, you may find it a bit confusing if you do not have the right information or do not conduct thorough research.

Start by checking up with Better Business Bureau or BBB to find a service provider with a sound and proven track record and no or not many complaints.
Also, make it a point that you investigate technical support options provided by the merchant account provider.

Check out their customer service hours, whether or not they have a toll-free phone number, the reasonability of their rates, whether there are any hidden fees not disclosed, and always think about the future needs of your business while choosing a service provider.

Digital Branding SaaS Branding

Google’s Loon Project and How it Works

Steven on July 21, 2019

Pervasive as it may seem, a majority of the world’s population lack access to the Internet. Reason? While few people are connected, about four billion people, as of late 2015 either can’t afford it as it is prohibitively expensive or they live in an area where it doesn’t exist, or they live in places where the coverage is inadequate.

In a bid to bring those people online, engineers at Google’s Loon Project announced back in June 2013 that it was building a network of high-altitude balloons to blanket the world’s poor, remote, and rural regions with 4G LTE signals beaming down from the skies to anyone with a 4G device.

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This technology would provide Internet connectivity to farmers living in remote villages worldwide to be able to gain access to weather data; rural people will be able to do research and seek online educations. This plan to simultaneously put 100 of solar-powered balloons in the stratosphere would have these four billion more eyeballs on Google search engine.

The first beneficiaries of this high-speed 4G LTE service provided by Google balloons would be people living in rural South America, Southern Africa, and Oceania before it is expanded elsewhere.

How Google’s Loon Project Works

Originally known as Project Loon, the technology behind the internet balloons was developed under parent company Alphabet’s experimental division, X. The project name Project Loon was appropriately chosen because it partially involves balloons and partially because it sounds looney. But how does it work? Read on!

1. Balloon

Project Loon balloons are made from three-millimeter-thick sheets of polyethylene and are a super pressure envelope. In other words, they maintain constant pressure when temperatures change. Partially filled with helium and powered by a solar panel for launch, the balloon swells to full size once they are 18 – 27 km above the earth’s surface in the stratosphere.

The balloons which are 12 meters tall and 15 meters in diameter are designed to withstand tough atmospheric conditions such as pressure differences, high winds, UV exposure, and extreme temperatures. They stay afloat for months at a time, by moving with the wind and a navigational algorithm is used by the engineers to ensure that they can move where they’re needed before they are brought down to the recovery zones for maintenance.

Along with the software algorithm, the metallic electronics box holds a flight computer with a battery; and a handful of radios and specialized antennas which relays internet signals transmitted from the ground, extending coverage over an area of 5,000sq km (1,931 square miles).

2. Network

Regional telecoms beam signals to the high-altitude balloons. With the antennas, each balloon wirelessly communicates with dozens of others to form one large communications network. One balloon relays the signal–like a cell tower in the sky–to a ground area many miles in diameter.

Meanwhile, download speeds can reach up to 15MB per second for 4G devices or 40MB per second on a Wi-Fi device. Notably, this concept had been tested with Wi-Fi, but Google abandoned the plan because it would have meant building a network of ground-based antennas, too.

With 4G LTE, people in even the most remote locations can have access to email and Internet in Quebec on a cell phone alone.

3. Balloon Navigation

Layers of stratospheric wind blow in different directions but in predictable ways and directions. Ground engineers steer the balloon up or down through layers to steer it north, south, east, or west.

Google engineers can lower the balloon by releasing gas from the envelope. In danger of bursting, Gas can also be vented automatically. To raise it, they release air. Using navigation algorithms based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wind-prediction data, they drive the balloon into the current that takes them where they need them to go.

You can find all of the details at Loon for All – Project Loon – Google