Category: SaaS Branding

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

Google’s Loon Project and How it Works

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

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

Mongodb Fits In Modern Apps And Global Cloud Database Settings

If you are looking for the database of the future apps that will fit in and work perfectly in the cloud database setting all over the globe, MongoDB is the one you should consider. This is a general purpose, distributed and document-based database that is created with the aim to work for and with the modern apps and help the developers working in this most sophisticated cloud era. 

Once you use it or even finish reading this article, you will find that in fact there is no other database that is more productive than this to use in this day and age. The reasons to say it so bluntly and emphatically are one too many. 

  • This is the database management system that is used by millions of developers all over the world
  • It helps the developers to power and designs the most innovative products and services of the world and
  • Since the program or the developer needs to think in and of objects to come up with the best product or services this database tool will also do likewise and help you in the development project.

In fact, MongoDB is that specific type of document database that will store data in JSON like documents. Ideally, the industry experts believe that this is the most natural and effective way to look into or think about data. Though this is a much more powerful tool, however, it is also much more expressive as compared to the traditional row and column model.

The advantages of working with rich JSON documents are:

  • You will be able to work in the most natural and productive way
  • It will provide you with adequate support with an array of nested objective and values and 
  • It will allow you to create and use the most flexible and more dynamic schemas.

In addition to that, you will be able to use one of the most powerful query languages that are not only rich but is also the most expressive. This query language will allow you to sort and filter data by its respective field of any kind no matter how it is nested within the document.

Moreover, you will receive more than adequate support for combinations and other modern use cases that may involve one or a couple of the following:

  • A geolocation based search
  • A graph-based search and 
  • A text-based search.

All your queries are written will be JSON themselves and that means there will be very easy to compose. 

  • You will not need to concatenate the strings any more in order to generate the SQL queries more dynamically.
  • In addition to that, you will have all the power that is associated with a relational database and more. 
  • You will be able to make full ACID transactions and get the best support for joins in your SQL queries. 

The most important thing about it is that you will be able to compare two types of relations instead of one name, reference and embedded.

The global cloud database

The MongoDB Atlas will enable you to use and make the most out of the global cloud database when it comes to modern apps that need to be safely and securely distributed by default and accessible as a completely managed service on Azure, AWS and Google Cloud.  

  • This will provide you with a database for modern apps that are leading in the world and known to be a fully automated cloud service. This is practically run and engineered by the same team that is responsible to build the database. 
  • In addition to that, you will have operational as well as security practices that are proven and are built in the system to ensure that no data in the cloud fall into other lands due to a ‘cloud burst.’
  • You will also be able to save a lot of time and effort along with money when you automate a few specific automation tasks that are time-consuming and labor-intensive in nature.
  • When you have the easy to use user interface and API at your disposal you will not need to spend a lot of time in building your apps and even need less time to manage your database.

What does this mean? It means that the tool will help you in various tasks that are complicated and make it simpler for you. These tasks include both operational and administrative such as:

  • Infrastructure provisioning
  • Database setup
  • Ensuring availability
  • Global distribution
  • More usability
  • Proper backups and more. 

If you are not satisfied yet and want a few more reason to use MongoDB Atlas just as most reliable data management sites such as RemoteDBA.com and others do then here are a few more at your disposal:

  • It is more flexible
  • It is more scalable
  • This document database will ease and automate your job
  • It will fully manage the service on your preferred cloud
  • It will support global clusters 
  • It will work on all world class apps
  • It will also support for 60+ cloud regions across Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.

The system will take care of itself for all your sensitive data and secure it in its built-in security controls features. This will also be in accordance with the existing protocols and satisfy the compliance requirements and standards of the same.

Since this is designed for the developers who look for productivity, it comes with lots of features and functionality. It will help all builders all over the world to build apps much faster using more native tools that will eventually help in better manipulation, visualization and analyzing of the available data in the cloud as well as within the system.

Summing it up

If you want to reduce the workload of any or all of the critical missions of your business data then this is the best tool available for use. It is not only easily available but it is also known for its distributed fault tolerance. In addition to that, you will get a lot more backup options so that you can meet with your data recovery objectives more effectively and efficiently.

Author bio

Dev Ittycheria is the President and CEO of MongoDB Inc who values the cost of managing conventional databases. Using his advice you can avoid the mistakes in it and be as successful as RemoteDBA.com.

SaaS Branding

Boost Your SaaS Sales with These 4 Tips

This is a guest post by Anubhuti Shrivastava

Image source

 

In contemporary digital landscape, SaaS companies are growing like never before as more and more entrepreneurs have started embracing modern technologies to streamline complex processes and automate workflows.

Let’s understand the beauty of subscription model with the help of an e-commerce giant Amazon which started its journey by selling books on the internet in 1994. But today it has become the king of digital subscriptions with different services under one roof such as Amazon Prime, Amazon Drive & Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Music Storage, etc.

This shift is the proof that big brands have understood the significance of nurturing long-term relationships with customers and consider subscription model as the key driving force for optimizing revenue. But if SaaS is this simple, why it’s difficult to convince customers to sign up and purchase? Let’s find the answer.

The majority of SaaS company websites sell software directly to their customers. Conventional software distribution channels have been replaced with current on-demand, subscription-based delivery models. Also, more than 70% of software sales are no more based on channels.

But still modern SaaS vendors find it difficult to crack the unique code for SaaS sales.  The reason behind this can be the dependency of software vendors on direct sales. Or, absence of essential technologies and tools to facilitate a reasonable distribution set up including indirect channels, or the lack of knowledge about how to use CRM tools.

Moreover, SaaS founders have failed in identifying appropriate solution to every sales and distribution hurdle they face. Also, because every SaaS business is one of a kind with diverse requirements at different phases, it becomes even tougher to quickly boost the software sales.  Tensed? Don’t be; let’s look at the four major tips which SaaS companies can use for driving maximum sales.

  1. Exclusive Reseller Programs For Improving SaaS Sales Rapidly

These programs can be the lifesaver for SaaS entrepreneurs as they can help them in churning out revenues at extremely low margins. Here, you have to leave the stress of doing tedious and time-consuming task of selling on resellers and pay attention to creating better solutions. For instance, look at the popular SaaS based accounting platform Xero that has managed to add thousands of customers with the help of its unique reseller program.

  1. Comprehensive Application & Online Marketplaces For Making Buyer Journey More Convenient

The marketplaces have become an integral SaaS software-distribution medium. The SaaS sphere has three major types of marketplaces which are listed below:

  1. Add-on stores: Offer API-powered services to let programmers build over a SaaS platform. The Atlassian Marketplace and Salesforce AppExchange are the two popular add-on marketplaces for particular SaaS platforms.
  2. Full-service marketplaces: Offer real SaaS product and not a connector to a third-party site. These platforms make it easier for customers to acquire third-party apps without any need to leave the marketplace and sign up at some other place. For instance, ADP which is the world’s largest payroll company introduced a full-service marketplace with multiple third-party plug-ins and services under its umbrella for expanding the platform.

III. App directories: Use listing as the key traffic driver for off-site vendors. For example, sites like Capterra and GetApp drive traffic to the sites of software vendors where customers can buy the software.

  1. Unique Affiliate & Referral Programs For Acquiring New Prospects

These programs have been flourishing since several years and SaaS vendors believe these to be one of the best tools for acquiring new customers. Let’s look at both of them one by one:

  1. Affiliate Programs: SaaS vendors get into building a formal relationship with affiliate partners who give qualified leads back to the vendor in return of an incentive or portion of revenue.
  2. Referral Programs: Customers refer products to their peers in order to win an incentive or reward. Also, new customers get some exciting prize for trying out a particular brand.
  3. Direct Sales: An Evergreen Alternative

This approach still has the potential to drive maximum sales for SaaS vendors because of its effectiveness. Also, there can’t be any slip-ups when SaaS organizations sell their products directly to the customers and prospects.

Selling products directly isn’t as simple as it seems to be. But CRM tools can make this tedious task easy as these systems can help SaaS vendors to store and use customer related information efficiently.

There are multiple CRM systems available in the market but it’s important to choose the right one that has the potential to facilitate your sales process from the first touch point to the final sale properly. Also, a sales CRM tool allows SaaS vendors to provide their customer with excellent customer experience.

Being a SaaS vendor you can’t rely on one technique to crack the code for sales. Also, you can’t have one-size-fits all strategy to work for your SaaS model. Rather it’s important to acquire relevant technologies and tools that are flexible as well as scalable to grow along with your business.

Author Bio

Anubhuti Shrivastava is a content crafter at Arkenea and Benchpoint. She is passionate about writing articles on topics related to design and the software development industry.

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

iPhone Troubleshooting – Ways to Fix Complicated Problems!

 

Most of the people are facing problems with their iPhones which is really painful. In order to fix the complicated problems related to the Wi-Fi network and other glitches then one has to choose a genuine service provider who can fix every problem with ease.  Whether you have Mac or iPhone one needs to fix the complicated problems instantly.

According to professionals, most of the people are facing glitches related problems. They should update the new software and restore the phone carefully.  These are the most important things that will solve the complicated problems in the phone.  Before performing any task, one has to make the use of iCloud and backup the data carefully. After that, one can perform every task with ease.  If you are the owner of the iPhone, then you need to understand how to fix the common issues in iPhone. Let’s discuss the common reasons for iPhone repair.

  • Battery Related Problems – Battery drain has become a complicated problem. In order to maintain the backup of iPhone then one has to do a lot of things. In order to fix issues in iPhone then one should replace the battery. If possible, then one should make contact with a reputed service provider and make a replacement. Make sure that you are choosing a genuine service provider only that can solve the complicated issues with ease.
  • Fault in Buttons – Nothing is frustrating than faulty buttons because you cannot use the full system properly. If possible, then one has to visit a local service centre and replace the parts faulty parts of the phone. Sometimes it can be costly, but a professional service provider will fix everything with ease.  Apart from that, if you are facing problems in the operating system then on should update the latest software that will fix the problems.
  • Problem in Camera – If you are capturing an important picture and facing a particular problem in iPhone, then it can be frustrating. Most of the people are getting fuzzy or poor-quality images in iPhone which has become a complicated issue. In order to solve such problems then one has to replace annoying lenses instantly. After that, one will get high-end quality images with ease. If you are looking for the reputed service provider, then one should choose Platinum Phone Services Gold Coast iPhone Repairs that are providing high-end quality services at the discounted worth.
  • Crack in Screen – Most of the people are getting a lot of cracks on the screen which is really complicated. In order to get rid of such complicated damages then the individual should make the use of a screen protector that can be beneficial for you. Most of the service provider is offering the gorilla glass protection that is really great because one can get rid of complicated issues with ease.

Moving further, one should always make contact with a reputed or genuine service provider only that can instantly fix the issues in the phone.

Local BrandingSaaS Branding

4 Brick and Mortar Stores That Prove Physical Retail Isn’t Dead

Many people nowadays believe that retail is dead or dying. Since most consumers shop online, there’s really no need for brick and mortar stores, is there? That’s quite wrong actually. Sure, shopping online is more convenient and oftentimes cheaper but there are factors online shopping simply cannot provide. For instance, you’d want to try on the clothes or the shoes to make sure they fit and look good on you before you actually buy them.

What’s more, you’d want to see and try out a product to make sure it suits your needs before you order it. People tend to take things for granted. Just because people prefer to shop from home doesn’t mean there’s no need for retail. As a matter of fact, the retail industry is still pretty much alive and kicking with no signs of going out of business any time soon. In addition, people still prefer to visit brick and mortar stores whenever they can. That being said, here are a few brick and mortar stores that prove physical retail isn’t dead.

T.J. Maxx speed to market

T.J. Maxx or TJX is an American retail store that specializes in selling products at generally lower prices than other competitors. That alone is a unique selling proposition but that’s not the key feature TJX has to offer. What is it that makes TJX retail stores so appealing? It’s speed to market and empowering consumer decisions. As a matter of fact, TJX allows customers to cut deals on the spot.

What’s more, TJX renews its inventory as often as every 24 hours, meaning they constantly have a new assortment in the stores every day. TJX has well-over 3,800 physical stores in place with a goal of reaching 5,600 stores worldwide. Furthermore, their profits and revenue have been on the rise for the past 33 quarters in a row. The key takeaway here is that customers know that if they find something good in the store, it won’t be there tomorrow, so they buy on the spot.

A unique experience from Apple

Apple’s takeaway on consumers experiencing the product before buying it has led this company to open more and more retail stores. As a matter of fact, two-thirds of Apple’s revenue comes from its retail stores with the highest sales-per-square-foot in the retail industry. If you visit various Apple store locations, you’ll quickly realize as to why this company is betting big on retail.

That being said, Apple designed its in-store experience and trained their staff to provide mobile check-out with a focus on building relationships with customers and adding value to their lives instead of just sell them a product. Apple has over 500 stores worldwide but they also continue to innovate. Apple plans on improving its in-store experience by improving the hardware, software and architecture of its stores. Some stores now include a boardroom for the community and even a town square for bigger stores. Apple also plans on replacing around 35 stores with new ones each year.

Kuwaii’s strong values

Kuwaii is a fashion retailer based in Melbourne, Australia. They are focused on developing and designing top quality attire and footwear that’s made to last, which is the opposite of today’s fast fashion trends. Kuwaii’s first location opened in Brunswick, Melbourne in 2012 and the company doubled its size. They later opened yet another store in 2014 and doubled their business once again. How did they do it exactly? According to the Kuwaii’s owner, Kristy Barber, the secret lies in strong values and the local community.

Kuwaii’s key takeaway is that their items are created by hard-to-find artists and creators. Kuwaii supports and collaborates with artists and other brands by hosting sales and other events for them. Kuwaii also prefers to tell stories behind individual pieces of clothing and how they came to be. The fact of the matter is that you can attract consumers who relate to your values but only if you stick to your values at all times.

Books@One’s sense of community

If anyone can prove physical retail isn’t dead then it’s a retail bookstore. With the rise of digital formats, such as eBooks, people would think that hard-copy books will soon die out. However, every true book fan knows that nothing can replace paper when it comes to books, no matter how convenient eBooks might be. Books@One, a brick and mortar bookstore based in Ireland, is very well aware of how important books are.

Their goal is to not just sell books but create a sense of community where people can participate in events or simply sit down and enjoy a book while they sip coffee and chat with others. Their community-based initiative has the potential to change Ireland according to The Irish Times. For their takeaway on customer experience, Books@One owners Brid Conroy and Neil Paul said: “We’re creating an atmosphere where people engage with books in a communal way again.”

People are social beings, which means they need human interactions every now and then. Retail stores are there for when you want an experience you simply cannot have in the online world. That reason alone proves that brick and mortar stores aren’t going to die anytime soon.

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

The Significance of A Test Case Management Software for A Startup

A startup is founded by individual entrepreneurs or founders to search for a scalable and repeatable business model. In other words, a startup is a newly emerged business venture with an objective to create a practical business framework to meet the solve a problem or meet the requirements of a marketplace.

Majority of the tech startups require a test case management tool in order to streamline their testing efforts. Now the question arises, what is a test case management software? In simple words, this software assists you to manage and track your team’s software testing efforts.

Nowadays, startups are adopting effective test case management software because of the following reasons.

1. Create Customizable Fields According to Your Test Project Requirements

An effective test case management tool assists the testers to develop customized fields according to their particular requirements. Therefore, if testers are using an integrated or third-party data source, it will assist you by providing a flexible approach.

2. It Assists You to Save as Template or Make Copies

It will help you to produce copies of your test cases and store them as templates for the purpose of re-usability. Sometimes, writing test cases is a repetitive job. Therefore, this tool enables users to create test case templates that they can recall at the time of writing test cases. As a consequence, this saves time.

3. Attaches Important Screenshots

This enables you to attach imperative links or screenshots with your test cases. This option is available with all the imperative fields, as it makes the experience more enhanced. As a result, test cases turn out to be very understandable and comprehensive.

4. Keep Track of your Test Coverage

An effective test case management tool assists in creating comprehensive customized test reports. This will keep a track of your status, references and test coverage etc.

How Can Kualitee Help?

Kualitee is a cloud-based test management tool that offers both automated and manual testing. It will help you to create and implement in-depth test cases and test plans. In fact, you can the control to utilize and implement test cases as per your requirements. You can select test cases and use them again in regression cycles.

The export feature enables you to extract your work from CSV, Word, and PDF as per your requirements. You can create your test cases and test scenarios in the test management module. This will allow you to manage every step of your test case in a professional and formal way by using kualittee’s dedicated test management module. Many Gyms now a days use gym management software as well because nowadays every sector needs a smart efficient software to manage their daily tasks.

Author Bio:

Ray Parker is an entrepreneur and internet marketer with over 9 years of experience in Search Engine Optimization, Creative Writer and Digital Marketing.

SaaS Branding

The Pros Of A Balanced Scorecard

Recent research indicates that companies which use the Balanced Scorecard approach usually outperform those without a formal approach when it comes to performance management.

Here is a look at the benefits using a Balanced Scorecard will offer:

Better Strategic Planning

The Balanced Scorecard provides a robust framework for communicating and building strategy. Business models are visualized in Strategy Maps, forcing managers to consider cause and effect relationships. The process of coming up with a Strategy Map ensures that a consensus is reached when it comes to interrelated strategic objectives. That means that both future performance key enablers like intangibles and performance outcomes are identified to create a holistic view of the strategy. If you are wondering about this approach, here is a good post on how to use a balanced scorecard.

Improved Strategy Communication

Since strategies with all their interrelated objectives are mapped on a single piece of paper, it becomes easier for companies to communicate their strategy both externally and internally. This makes understanding the strategy easier and helps engage both external stakeholders and staff in the review and delivery process of the strategy.

Better Management Information

A Balanced Scorecard approach pushes organizations to think about and design key performance indicators that suit their strategic objectives. This way, companies measure the things that matter. Research shows that is true as companies using the Balanced Scorecard approach usually report much higher quality when it comes to how they manage their information and increasing benefits dictate how this data is used to guide strategic decision making and management insights.

Improved Performance Reporting

Companies that use a Balanced Scorecard often report and communicate performance better than those that don’t have a structured approach when it comes to performance management. Increasing transparency needs and requirements can be met if organizations create more meaningful management dashboard and reports to communicate their performance both externally and internally. This approach helps organizations identify what they should report, and a Strategy Map template is one effective way of visualizing performance, particularly if the various measures and objectives are communicated in traffic light format and color-coded management dashboards.

These are some of the compelling benefits the Balanced Scorecard has to offer; however, they cannot be realized if a Balanced Scorecard isn’t properly implemented or if one takes too many shortcuts when implementing it.

SaaS Branding

6 Essential Attributes Of Transformational Leadership

Positions of leadership are meant to be for service; you are more of a servant that is working hard to shape the way for others to follow. The strategies discussed below are meant to help you become a better leader and are worth implementing in your daily life.

1. Understand Your Leadership Style

You should start with understanding the kind of leadership style you have; your strengths and weakness so that you know which areas need improvements. You can start by answering this leadership style questionnaire to help you have an idea of how you do things.

After that, you can read about the various attributes of a dominant leadership style and see if the qualities you exude help or hinder your leadership. You will know what to address and how once you know which areas need improvement. There is a big difference between styles – for example read the differences between transformational vs transactional leadership principles here to get an idea of the differences.

2. Be A Role Model

You will know you are a role model when your followers idealize you. Idealized influence is often a sign of excellent leadership and is among the four primary components of transformational leadership. Such a leader has a character and behavior that encourage others to want to be the same. How they walk, talk, and related with others is something the team members desire to emulate.

So, work on being a role model, and you will exude the qualities that make you be seen as a good leader.

3. Have A Positive Attitude

Any transformational leader should be upbeat, having an optimistic attitude that members can find to be a source of inspiration. A leader that seems weak, disheartened, or apathetic will never inspire his or her group members.

You should never seem dreary or disheartened even when things look bleak. While it does not mean that you always need to have high hopes things will get better, you should exude optimism in the face of uncertainties.

4. Listen & Communicate Effectively

A leader will encourage one-on-one communication among the members of the team. Every transformation leadership will never fail to express sincere care and concern, and this can should be evidenced through verbal and nonverbal communication.

The channels of communication should always be open so that member feel that their leader is always reachable and available to listen to their concerns and give recognition for their contributions.

5. Inspire Creativity

A transformational leader is one that perks intellectual stimulation in others. The under your leadership often need encouragement when it comes to expressing their creativity. Therefore, always provide ample support when your present new challenges and help your followers to exercise their creativity to come up with solutions confidently.

You can achieve this objective by the challenges your present and what you wish to achieve (the goals) are within your team members’ abilities. The aim should be to get them to stretch their creativity to the limit without feeling that their shortcoming regarding the same is a barrier to their success.

6. Be Passionate

As a leader, you should show that you genuinely care about the growth, goals, and success of your group. That is how the member of your team will look to you for guidance. You should not come across as being only focused on achieving set goals, but how you do it; having the passion and enthusiasm to guide your followers through the process.

Kind of different ways of doing things, of expressing your zeal, or showing you are there for your group. It is about showing you care and you appreciate the input of each member of the team.

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

6 Things to Keep in Mind When Hiring an SEO Expert

Although search engine optimization can be understood and implemented by most people, businesses should still consider hiring an SEO consultant. Hiring an expert is important, particularly for business owners who are overwhelmed with business responsibilities and lack the time for their website SEO. A professional can also help if the basic techniques applied on your website are not yielding the results that you desire. When hiring an expert for your business, here are a few factors to keep in mind.

Experience

Given the rapid changes in the search engine algorithms, it is crucial to hire an SEO professional who has experience navigating the regular search engine updates without compromising or affecting the effectiveness of your campaigns. When it comes to SEO, you should never judge the experience of a consultant based on the number of years that they have been in operation. Be sure to check case studies that demonstrate the past success of the professionals.

Results

With an SEO consultant, you should pay attention to the results that they promise to provide. You should steer clear of professionals who give big promises like getting your site ranked on the first page of the search engine within a short time frame. Unless your business niche targets the uncompetitive keywords, it is impossible for anyone to predict the time frame required to achieve a higher ranking for any keyword phrases. A trustworthy professional will make realistic promises of results that they can achieve.

Customer reviews

When hiring an SEO professional, you should seek customer references. You should not just rely on the testimonials that are published on their websites. This is because it is easy for anyone to make up these recommendations or even pay other people to write biased reviews. Request the SEO expert to give you the contact information of about five references. Legitimate professionals will have this information available for their clients and you should be wary of consultants who refuse to provide this information. Make sure that you get in touch with these clients and inquire whether their SEO projects were successful and whether they would work with the consultant again. You can get a lot of helpful information from these reference checks to assist you in determining whether the consultant will be a perfect fit for the SEO goals of your business.

Industry presence

When hiring an SEO professional, you should consider their industry presence. You need a professional who has established him/herself in the SEO industry. Such professionals will regularly publish guest posts on renowned search engine industry websites, for example, Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Journal. They will also release white papers based on their experience and research and will be present in popular industry conferences. However, this does not mean that you should not hire upcoming SEO experts for your business just because they have not established themselves in the industry. With experts who have established an industry presence, you will be assured of getting excellent results because they already know their work and what is expected of them.

Provide clear expectations

Hiring an experienced and expert SEO provider is not an assurance that your campaigns will be successful. This is because it is difficult to tell whether your SEO plan will provide results just by looking at it. However, a good SEO consultant should explain to you what to expect when your campaigns are running. If you have already provided your needs and objectives, the professional should provide a detailed report on what he/she will do to meet your objectives. When it comes to SEO, metrics are crucial and by setting up clear expectations, you can easily determine the success of your SEO campaigns.

Cost of SEO services

When seeking SEO services, the fee charged by the consultant is a critical consideration. Very few businesses will have unlimited marketing budgets, and this is why you must consider costs when making your decision. You should be upfront about your SEO budget when speaking with prospective consultants. A good professional will offer ideas on what he/she can do with your specified budget and will inform you whether they are comfortable working within this spending limits. You should avoid consultants who are way out of your budget as it may strain your business financially.

Hiring an SEO consultant to help promote your business is a significant investment. As a business owner or website owner, you should mitigate your risks by hiring the right professional to provide quality SEO services. Therefore, keep the above-mentioned factors in mind when hiring an SEO expert to ensure that they have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to boost your website rankings and improve your business earnings.

Digital BrandingSaaS Branding

5 Ways How Knowledge Base Software Can Prove To Be Useful For Your Organization

The larger an organization becomes, the more important it is for it to ensure speedy communication between its employees. A customer service representative, for example, is going to need to be able to access information at a moment’s notice. After all, making an informed decision is one of the cornerstones of good quality customer service. A great way to make information readily available to all of your customer service representatives is to use a knowledge base software such as the one offered by Kayako. However, you might be wondering what a knowledge base software is in the first place.

A knowledge base is essentially a hub of information. It is a place where an employee of your company can put all of their findings and data in a way that would make it very easy to access. All it would take is a line of text and all of the information relevant to your search query is going to end up being presented to you. A knowledge base can also be used by CSRs to get their questions answered quickly without having to get up from their seat. There are clearly a lot of benefits associated with using a knowledge base. Here are some of the most prominent benefits that we have found.

#1 Boosts Efficiency at Work

If your employee has to scramble every time they need something, they are going to end up wasting a lot of time. Having instant access to the information they need can allow them to cut down on response and resolution times. This time will add up eventually until your employees are saving so much time that the number of customers they are able to serve will end up increasing significantly. A more convenient way of storing information also helps make work more dynamic. If your employee doesn’t have to scroll through endless lines of bland data, they are going to be more energized and therefore more proactive about the job that they are doing. It’s all about making life easier for your employees after all.

#2 Facilitates Employee Cooperation

One of the most important things to work on in your company is making sure that all of your employees are working together. This creates a sense of synergy that can allow your company to move forward because all of the cogs in the machine will be working in perfect harmony with one another. A knowledge base software allows your employees to communicate with each other much more efficiently. Instead of having to get up and go to where their fellow employee is to ask a question, they can just do that through the knowledge base software. Since cooperating and collaborating with their fellow employees will have become so much easier, your CSRs are probably going to end up doing it a lot more often which will definitely contribute to an overall feeling of synergy in your workplace.

#3 Helps Preserve Knowledge

Not all of your employees are going to treat your company as a lifelong employment opportunity. Everyone wants to move up in the world, and for the current generation working for too long in the same place can end up being a boring experience, so you should expect a lot of your employees to move on to greener pastures eventually. However, just because you are losing an employee does not mean that you have to lose the work that they have done. Through a knowledge base software, you can keep your employee’s contribution to your IP secure and easily accessible for all future employees.

#4 Allows Employees to Work Remotely

We live in a day and age where coming to the office is no longer a requirement in order to be a good employee. Nowadays you can work from pretty much anywhere and do a fine job. A knowledge base software can allow your employees to work remotely. It also makes it possible for satellite employees to communicate with one another, sometimes despite never having met each other! This can really improve your prospects by hiring employees that might have seemed impractical before due to how far away that employee is from your office.

#5 Improves Customer Satisfaction

Needless to say, a knowledge base software is going to really improve how your customers feel after they have phoned in with a complaint. Faster response and resolution times mean that your customers will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly they can get done with the call or chat. This is going to keep adding up over time until your company has a stellar reputation for the customer service that it provides. A knowledge base software can thus contribute a lot towards making your company’s future a lot more secure than it might be right now.