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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.

Image Credit

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

Local Branding

Why are Advertising Signs so Important for Local Businesses?

Steven on July 20, 2019

If you’re in business and have a physical location, it’s vital you have a strategic approach to driving customers through your door. With so much focus on online advertising media such as Facebook, Google Ads, and other platforms, it’s largely forgotten that bricks and motor stores can still use traditional means to promote their business.

One such method that is so frequently overlooked is signage. Although adding custom signs to your business may not seem like an innovative idea, not implementing this basic marketing method can have detrimental effects on your business.

Here are 5 key reasons you can’t overlook signs for your business.

1. You can capture passing traffic

Signage, such as signage for restaurants, is an effective way of encouraging those walking past your location to stop and come inside. Generally, there will be two types of people who pass your premises: those who are aware of your business and those who are not. Your signage effectively has the same result for each type of person (ie. it gets them into your store) but for two different reasons.

For the people who have not heard of your business, you are actively promoting it to them, showing them you exist and potentially gaining a brand new customer. For those who have heard of your business, you’re reminding them you exist. You see, people need to see your brand or offer several times before they act, so giving them a sign on their way past may just be the push they need to take action.

2. It’s the silent salesperson

Your signage effectively sells all the time. It takes no breaks. It doesn’t take sick days. And it sticks it out during the holidays. Your business’ signage is the best salesperson you’ll ever have because it constantly reminds people of your brand or tells people about your special offers. It works 24/7 to keep you top of your customers’ minds.

3. It’s cost-effective advertising

Generally speaking, signage is one of the most cost-effective advertising methods you can use. While there may be a sizable initial outlay, once your signage is up, there are no real ongoing costs.

Unlike pay per click advertising or the monthly costs of search engine optimization, your cost per view technically decreases each time somebody looks at your sign! Providing you opt for a good quality sign, you’ll get years of advertising from a single one-off investment.

4. It connects online with offline

It can’t be denied that businesses must have an online presence these days, but for businesses with physical locations, it’s important to blend that with your offline presence too.

If someone has been exposed to your business online, you need a way for them to make the jump from the digital world to the real world. So many people shop online because it’s easy, so you must ensure that you make shopping at your physical store just as easy. Business signage acts as a guiding light to your location, which is vital when you’re trying to prove that customers are better off coming down to your store than buying goods and services online.

Think about it, if you saw an ad online for a moving sale and there were no moving sale banners at or near the house you arrived at, would you bother getting out of your car or would you go to the one down the street that did have signage?

5. It puts you above your competition

If there are a high density of businesses in your industry in a similar location, your signage can make or break you. It can be the reason customers choose your business over the others… or it can be the reason they choose the others over you.

For that reason, it’s not only important to have signage, but it’s crucial to have great signage. If the signs outside your business look old and run down, or they just don’t look professional, it can be as detrimental to your business as not having signage at all!

6. Repeat Business

It’s important to understand that signage isn’t just an important visual component of your external marketing too. Once your customers are inside, you want to make sure you do everything you can to encourage them to come back again.

Repeat customers are your best customers, so you must display signage detailing promotions or showing them why they should connect with you online.

The Bottom Line

It’s really simple! Make sure your business has professional signage which reflects your business and gives customers a reason to come in. Whether it’s vinyl window signage, A-frame boards or flags and banners, you can’t afford to not have it!

Digital Branding

How to Strengthen Your Brand Using Facebook Stories

Steven on July 19, 2019

https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-samsung-laptop-computer-near-black-ceramic-plant-vase-162622/

Facebook is one of those platforms that is constantly pumping new features. Facebook Live was introduced a couple of years ago, but that was not all. It did not take too long to launch another improvement – Facebook Stories.

The number of daily Facebook users is in billions. And everyone knows that when something has a lot of people in one place, it makes that place a perfect target for marketing and promotions.

The following Facebook stories guide will reveal how businesses can use this recently introduced feature to boost their sales, and what are the best ways to do that.

Perfect Location

Let’s start with the fact that Facebook Stories appear at the top of the application. It means that whenever someone logs in, it will be the first thing they see. You could not ask for a better situation.

Freedom of Creativity

https://www.pexels.com/photo/working-in-a-group-6224/

You have a fair share of built-in tools to go crazy with your creativity. Filters, masks, emojis, you name it. There is no need to bother with looking for outside help, everything is already there for you.

Authenticity

One of the most difficult things in any business is to gain the trust of your customers. One of the most common techniques to accomplish that is by showing your authentic side.

Facebook Stories are the perfect format to take small steps and show your followers that there are plenty of things going on behind the scenes. Introduce them with the employes, share exclusive information, and just show them that you care about establishing a real connection.

Insights

Keeping track of everything that you do is crucial. It shows where you need to improve, especially if your goal is to reach more people.

Facebook Stories are part of Facebook Insights. You can analyze the demographics of those who are viewing your stories and figure out the ways to improve the campaign.

Popularity

Despite being around for only a couple of years, Stories have made a big impact. Facebook numbers say that roughly 500 million users are using this feature. Leveraging that for your brand should be a no-brainer.

How to Make the Most out of Facebook Stories

Now that you are aware of all the benefits, it would be wise to move on towards the ways to maximize the efficiency of the stories. Here is what you can do to stand out from the competition and lure more customers:

Sense of Urgency

Stories will stay up for 24 hours. Some would argue that this is nothing but bad news. However, the reality is quite different.

You can inject urgency by making people begin to fear. What is there to be afraid of? Well, the phobia of missing out is real. If you introduce the tactic of offering something exclusive via stories, you can expect a lot of followers to be on a constant lookout for them.

Lure them in by announcing a weekly giveaway via Facebook Stories, or exclusive information. This will ensure that your campaign becomes successful.

Focus on the Brand

Despite the fact that stories are short, they can still work great if you want to showcase your brand. Create something that is unique to your brand. Meaning that the colors, font, background, use of emojis, etc. are relevant to you, and only you.

It is quite difficult to accomplish that, mostly because it is easy to get lost along the way and take things over the top. To make sure that this never happens, make sure to check out how other companies are doing it, and learn from them. Also, it would not be a bad idea to have a dedicated position for this job.

Collaborate

https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-hand-fist-bump-1068523/

There are plenty of other companies and influencers who would be more than happy to give you a hand, especially if you are flexible and willing to work out a great deal.

Seeing you cooperate with big players will do wonders for your reputation. It will increase people’s trust of you tenfold when they see someone that they like together with you.

Create Something Memorable

Facebook Stories can be a great way to leave a long-lasting impression and accomplishing that is quite easy.

Imagine that there is a bit event coming up, or a new product that you are about to reveal. Create a series of stories leading up to that. Start with a teaser, then reveal bits of information little by little, until you reach the crescendo.

Include people who are participating in the event, or those who have worked on the product. This particular idea works on so many levels and is perfect to enhance your brand.

To conclude, after reading this one, you should no longer be surprised to see so many businesses focusing on Facebook Stories. It is one of the most rapidly-growing techniques on the internet marketing front. You should get on it as well before it becomes too saturated.

Legal Branding Local Branding

Real Estate Revolution through Blockchain

Steven on July 18, 2019

Traditional real estate sector is quite hectic for both agents and customers. People are trying to find out a reliable means of investment. Innovation in blockchain technologies means that the real estate sector has no need to rely on traditional documents procedure and sales procedure. The reason behind this is that property ownership, titles, insurance, and escrow processes are moving onto the blockchain. Dubai real estate sector is shifting towards a blockchain that will be much flexible compared to the traditional approach of investment. All you need is just to search and purchase on a single click. For example, if you want to know about apartments available in creek harbor for sale, you can simply click Apartments for Sale Creek Harbour and the list of apartments will appear. Technology has made life easier and reduced complexity to a great extent.

Blockchain, an appealing force

It is an encrypted electronic record of data on a distributed archive where data is stored over a variety of system and shared simultaneously. The business process can be streamlined within the real estate sector and much more.

For instance, real estate property is to be transformed. Blockchain creates different methods for real estate investors and agents.

Blockchain creates New Methods for Real Estate

Various land registries projects have been proposed by different countries that make use of smart contracts and blockchain technology.
Blockchain will ensure trust and transparency in property transactions that will improve real estate systems and bring liquidity to the real estate market.
This technology will increase liquidity in terms of property fractionalization which is a radical new approach. It will gain momentum by keeping tokens or units in the residential era.
Blockchain will set up a market for people who are interested in investment but not have resources.
Tokenization will lead to a positive impact on the market. Properties can be sold out on a single click.
Moreover, property agents can have a broader range of roles and dealing the customers about the investment process and how to make use of fractionalization property approach.
Not only the current methodology of buying and selling will be improved through blockchain but also it will result in a positive attitude of customers. How we invest, how we live, how we pay for accommodation all this will be reliable through blockchain.

Digital Branding

Basic Checklist for Beginners Starting Their Own Blog

Steven on July 18, 2019

So you want to start your own blog? Now is the best time to create your own place on the internet. Blogs have been used for the past twenty years as a way to share your ideas, build an audience, and even earn an income. With some bloggers making over a million dollars a year, it’s no wonder this is becoming such a popular side-hustle or full-time gig.

If you’re planning to start your own blog, for example a Food blog or some other niche you’ll need to do some preparation. Choosing a food blog names would be the first step. While it might seem as simple as just slapping together a page on a free platform and clicking publish, there’s a lot you need to know, from branding to content creation. In this guide, we’ll go through the basic checklist for beginners starting their own blog.

1. Self-Hosted Website

First thing’s first: you need a self-hosted website. Why self-hosted? A self-hosted website is one that you own. You own both the domain name and hosting, and that means you’re fully in control. When you host a website on a third-party platform, you’re not in the driver’s seat.

You can’t control your content, who has access to it, or how you interact with search engines. Ultimately, it’s too limiting. The good news is you can start a blog for just a few dollars a month. There’s no excuse not to make this small investment.

2. Quality Design

Next, you need a design to make your new self-hosted website shine. There are a number of free templates available, especially if you choose to use a popular Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress. From there, make sure your template or custom design has been fully customized.

Give some thought to the basics of branding. Here are some questions to guide your search:

Colors – The foundation of any brand should be your colors. Consider the psychology behind your color picks. How do you want your users to feel? For instance, red is shown to make users excited, black is associated with luxury, etc.

Logo – You’ll also need a logo for your blog. If you’re working with a limited budget, you can just start with your blog name as a logo and grow as you develop.

Fonts – Similar to colors, your font choices will help define your brand. However, make sure all of your font choices are easy to read on all devices.

Visuals – Finally, what visuals will you include within your design to make it more engaging to your audience?

3. Content Strategy

Now that you have the first must-haves out of the way, it’s time to create quality content. A blog without content isn’t a blog at all. Who is your audience? Who is it you’re trying to talk to? Remember, if you’re talking to everyone, nobody will hear you. You need to be specific with your audience if you want to be successful.

Today, the best kind of content is long-form content. That means your posts need to be at least 600+ words and offer real value to the users. A lot of new bloggers treat their websites like an online journal. This won’t get you taken seriously, and it’s hard for users to really engage with your content in this way. Focus on content your audience is searching for already.

4. Social Media

How will you bring users to your blog? You’ll soon learn you can’t just click publish and expect people to pop up from nowhere. You need to promote your blog, and an inexpensive, effective way to do just that is through social media.

While posting your blog posts and other content on social media is great, don’t underestimate the power of video. A startling 85% of online users in the U.S. watch video content already, so you want your blog to be included in this percentage.

If you’re not a skilled video editor, don’t worry. You can use a tool like Movavi to do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to editing. Movavi Video Editor Plus is a great tool for beginners and bloggers of all levels. With easy-to-use intro makers and simple design elements, you can have your first video published in seconds.

Better yet, there are even blogger effects designed for content creators like beauty bloggers, travel bloggers, and so on. Your first video editor shouldn’t be expensive, so this is the perfect choice. Soon, you’ll have endless content to promote on social media and your own blog.

5. Stay Consistent

Last but not least, you need to stay consistent. Very few bloggers were a major success overnight. It takes time to make an impact, so don’t be afraid to give it your all. Set major goals for yourself as well as smaller goals. See how far you’ve come.

Blogging is an art form that often seems easy from the outside. Once you’re doing it yourself, you realize just how many hats you need to wear to be successful. As soon as you start building your audience, you’ll realize it was all worth it.

Get Started Today

It’s never been a better time to start your own blog. Whether you have experience working online or this is your first undertaking, there’s no reason not to get started. As far as investments go, blogging is an affordable undertaking with a huge potential for payoff.

It’s time to start your own blog and see how far you’ll go. Just keep this checklist in mind to make sure you’ve got everything covered from start to finish.

Legal Branding

Why Must You Not Keep Track of Technical Debt?

Steven on July 16, 2019

Persnickety coding style problems, a bit of copy and paste, incorrect variable and method naming, coding that does not adhere to the standards, and trivial bug issues are irritating. However, these technical debts (TDs) are not worth monitoring. You can take care of such problems in daily opportunistic refactoring. When you code the next time, you should clean up erroneous coding. If you do not, then nobody will. It will not cost you anything. Even if you choose to be complacent and think such problems do not exist, nothing bad will happen to you.

According to an article published on https://www.huffingtonpost.com, focusing unnecessarily on TD affects the product, customers, and engineering teams adversely. However, some TDs are bad. For instance, Heartbleed must not appear even in your backlog. You must fix it right away. Ensure that you can create a patched library immediately. All things other than this are of less priority. If the software has a new version and a few bug fixes, it does not matter. Avoid upgrading for the heck of it because it is a sheer waste of time. There are possibilities that you will come across new issues with no or little result. Read on to learn why you should not waste time tracking TD.

When You’re Unaware of TD

Do you know which is the scariest of TDs? It is that you are unaware of, which you did take on without knowing. It happens when you do not know about the same. You ended by making some poor design decisions, and you were in the dark as to how to use the software framework in the right way. You did not know how to shield against the major security threats. Such TDs should not be on the backlog. If there are new developments, like someone with more knowledge and experience joining your development team, or facing hacking issues, or you are audited, such debts might come to the surface all of a sudden. Else, TDs keep accumulating behind the scenes without you knowing about them.

TDs too Big to Manage

You will find other TDs that are hard to cope with and debt that you took on too fast, making an incorrect guess or decision. It may be possible that you did not know that you were wrong, but now you realized. You or someone else chose the wrong language, architecture, technology stack, and framework. You find that the system fails to scale or has an unreliable under load, rife with security loopholes, which are hard to change. It is not possible to refractor out of this. All you can do is put up with the issues as best as you can, or begin from scratch. Tracking TDs on your backlog is nothing but a futile effort.

Solve Now or Never

You resorted to shortcuts to roll out the code for quick feedback such as prototyping and A/B testing. There is a possibility that you will need to write the code again or throw away the same. Therefore, why fret overwriting the code for the very first time. These TDs are strategic ones, which you can take on and at least for some time. If you have more questions about TD, you can visit sites like https://www.nationaldebtreliefprograms.com/. You tried to fix bugs under pressure but failed to do so in the right way. You wanted to get it done quickly, and the results are far from satisfactory.

Code Works but Hacked

You find that the code is working fine, but it is hacked. You copied too much and pasted excessively. You did not care to follow the rules, conventions, and guidelines. You did not review the code, did not perform code testing or tried any one of these methods. All you did is leaving the same in some debugging code, and therefore you will have a tough to maintain it.

Get the Job Done Soon

You need to get the coding right soon, clean it up, and rewrite in a couple of weeks or months. Else, there is a possibility that TDs will never get paid down. The more it stays, difficult it is for to validate or doing anything about the same. Moreover, if it is working fine and all have other jobs to do, why track in the first place? The need for doing something about the same will fail. And if it continues like this, you will eventually forget about the same. Whenever you see it unsolved, you will feel bad, but you will overcome that feeling.

Fret not. If you are fortunate, the TD will get paid down without your knowledge. An individual may refractor some coding when altering, or may even remove the same because the features are obsolete now. This way, the TD will vanish from the code base, though it is still visible on your books.

Avoid Monitoring TD, Manage the Same Well

You may feel that monitoring TD is the most reasonable thing you can do. If you fail to track it, you will never know about its scope. However, what things you register in your backlog shall never be correct, foolproof, or complete. You will never know how much TD you have because of some hidden debt that you take in without your knowledge. You can be in the dark if you do not understand the nature of the TD or have not discovered it yet.

If you are not ready to do some tracking of your TD, it is a sheer waste of time for all. Therefore, only keep track of debt that the product owner and the team agree that it must be paid off. Once you are sure of this, you can pay the same off as soon as possible. Maybe within one, two, or three sprints, you can pay off. If not, choose to ignore the same. Take some time out to refractor instead of creating a huge backlog. It does not mean that you are irresponsible. Instead, it is all about being sensible.

Conclusion

Now you know that you should not track TD, but make an effort to manage it well. TD is a reality for all application development teams. Ensure that it does not go out of your control.

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Simple Ways Apart From Budgeting And Negotiating To Manage Finance And Debt

Steven on July 16, 2019

Money is an important thing that will help you to buy things that you need and want but it is essential that you save them as well. Since money plays a very significant role in your life, you will need to manage it properly and strategically. This will give you a lot of mental peace, financial strength and happiness as well.

Therefore, if you find yourself in a sticky situation you must know the ways to manage your debts and handle the situation. There are many such ways that are easy as well as effective in managing your money and pay all your debts off easily and quickly.

Budgeting is one such way which is perhaps the most significant aspect of crafting a strategic and proper debt management plan. A proper budget will help you to:

Know your source of income
Know all your expenses
Curb the unnecessary expenses or those that can be postponed temporarily
Evaluate your assets and liabilities to find the net worth
Consider all your debt obligations and
Create a plan to pay off your debts accordingly.

When you make some alterations and curtailments in your spending habits, you will be able to save a lot of money and pay off your debts effectively without fail.

Another important aspect of finance and debt management is negotiating with your lenders, especially when you have multiple credit card debts that you want to settle for a reduced amount. However, you are advised to go through several debt settlement reviews to be sure that this is the best possible option as compared to debt consolidation, balance transfer and filing for bankruptcy.

Considering other options

You must look beyond budgeting and negotiating to ensure you have a strategic debt management plan designed for you. You may even consider consolidating your debts. This will help you in several ways such as:

You will reduce the number of debts by rolling them into one
You will have only one monthly bill and creditor helping you in keeping proper track of your payments
It will eliminate the chances of falling behind on debt
It will reduce the number of your monthly bills
It will have a bigger loan, the lower rate of interest and an extended time period to repay your loan.

A balance transfer is another way to consolidate your debts, especially credit card debts. However, you will be better off if:

You calculate the Annual Percentage Rate or APR before you choose a particular card for balance transfer and
Also, consider the interest-free period to find out whether you will find it comfortable to pay your entire debt within this introductory period.

You can also take help of the expert debt counselors to decide which method you will follow to repay your debts, snowball method or avalanche method. The counselors will help you in many ways such as:

They will help you to prioritize your debt whether you it will be feasible to pay the high-interest loans first and then the low-interest ones or the other way round considering your financial situation.
They will also give you helpful tips about whether or not you should stick to secured loans or unsecured loans when you want to consolidate your debts. Ideally, stick to your secured loans is considered to be the most useful way to improve your credit score as you will have more money in hand to repay your other debts once you pay these off in full.

In short, the debt counselors will help you to get a better idea of debt and finance management, easy and effective disbursement, and to choose the most viable and feasible option.

Different types of debts

When you consolidate your debts it will have a positive effect on your finance and debt management. However, you will need to consider all different types of loans that are there such as:

0% APR credit card
Personal loan and even
A home equity loan.

You must choose the one that will best suit your purpose, financial condition and your ability to repay it on time and on a regular basis. This is another aspect in which you can take help of a credit counselor.

Suitability of debt and its payment will largely depend on the available cash. It will also depend on other aspects such as:

Your financial resources
Your credit score and history of payments
Your personality and
Your willingness to get rid of your debts.

Therefore, if you want to make a strategic plan to pay off the consolidation loan, you must first consider your financial strength and then weight it with the pros and cons of each of these available loans.

Take the help of the experts

You will need to choose the right type of loan to repay your existing loans simply to assure that you do not find yourself in further debts. A credit counselor will help you to make such a choice as well as suggest the best and most effective ways to get rid of your debt.

You will need to know the basics of financial management as well that will help you to create a corpus by curtailing a few of your expenses to repay your debt. Apart from all these, the credit counselors will also help in negotiating with your creditors to reduce the rate of interest or to get some waiver in fees.

The credit counselor will also help you to plan your repayment options which will involve:

Analyzing your debts
Prioritize these
Plan for your repayment.

Lastly and most importantly, they will be by your side till the time your financial stability is restored. They will analyze the terms and conditions attached to all the different types of loans available. They will make sure that the rate of interest is lower than the average interest rates of all your multiple loans. They can even help you to choose a bank or a credit union to take out a consolidation loan.

Therefore, planning is the most crucial part of the finance and debt management which starts with budgeting and ends with financial freedom.