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The Benefits of Online Training in The Healthcare Industry

What Is Online Training?

Some people refer to it as e-learning, distance learning or computer-based training.  Regardless of what you call it, online training is a type of learning system whose nature involves the dissemination of information taking place via an internet-enabled device. Multimedia elements such as web links, video, audio, images, etc. which are used in place of activities/materials present in classroom-based traditional learning.

Education/how we study and learning, in general, has been transformed by the digital revolution as well as the innovation of various technologies. Previously, where going to class was once king, that is no longer the case anymore as education has moved from blackboards and desks to the screens of our devices. Online learning is an excellent addition to classroom-based teaching as it provides unparalleled access to education regardless of the time of day. Thanks to online learning, learners can now get access to learning materials and tools that were initially unavailable once a leaner left the vicinity of the classroom.

 Online Training in The Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry has also not been left behind by the wave as medical practitioners have also jumped onto the online training modern trend. The seriousness of the healthcare industry demands that healthcare practitioners are efficient and effective in their roles. Part of being effective is ensuring that they are up to date with what is happening in the industry be it the introduction of new healthcare rules and regulations, clinical trials, medicine, disease, etc. Everyone involved in the healthcare industry from doctors, nurses and healthcare administrators are tasked with taking care of patients, and the best way that they can provide the much-needed care is by being knowledgeable. Online training offers them the opportunity to do so without withdrawing from patients. Some of the most popular online courses available through Serene Media are as follows:

Dementia Awareness

Mental Health Awareness

Infection Control

Equality, Discrimination & Diversity

 Advantages of Online Training for Healthcare Practitioners

The move from classroom-based education to online has brought with it advantages everyone and not just healthcare practitioners. Below are some of the advantages associated with this shift in learning trends.

Efficiency and convenience: One of the biggest benefits that online training/ learning in the healthcare industry has facilitated for is the ability to take a course and study from wherever the learner is on whatever device they own. Because online training is available 24/7, practitioners can work at their convenience choosing to study at whatever pace suits them. A leaner can repeat, skip, pause and continue with the different modules whenever they feel like it. This is a win-win scenario because healthcare practitioners can continue to give care while developing their skill and increasing their knowledge. However, since the interaction between leaners ad classrooms has reduced, there has been a lot of scepticism about online learning due to the misconception that online learning takes away elements of learning such as class discussions, the interaction between the tutor and the learners as well as quizzes and exams. However contrary to what people believe, online training is just as effective as classroom-based learning because most learning platforms offer quizzes at the end of modules, audios, text, discussion boards, and even workbooks. This way learners can come together to discuss emerging topics and share ideas concerning the various ongoing discussions.

Cost-effective learning: Traditionally, classroom-based learning has always been expensive. Doctors, for example, will spend thousands of dollars on medical school and even more should they decide to specialize in their field of interest. The expensive nature of traditional learning in the healthcare industry can be attributed to the need to pay for classroom space, pay for the trainers’ fees and learning materials. There is also the reduction in output that will arise when healthcare practitioners needed to take time off so they could attend classroom-based training. The evolution of online training has resulted in a massive reduction of expenses involved both for the practitioners and institutions simply because students can access the training and materials anywhere where there is a working internet connection. The output in healthcare institutions also goes unaffected as patients continued to be cared for while healthcare practitioners can study while they are on a break or have the day off. Since it is available and accessible to most, online training has levelled the playing field for learners in the healthcare industry. Learners who previously faced barriers of entry because their origin now has a fair and equal chance to grow increase their knowledge by enrolling for training courses available to professionals in first world countries.

Learning occurs in real time: As a time-sensitive and serious industry, the healthcare industry heavily relies on the availability of information so to enable it to function effortlessly. Health practitioners busy as they are, are always required to be well informed and updated.  Online training, as well as advances in technology, facilitates the seamless transfer of information as there are multiple databases that healthcare workers can reference. The training lessons/coursework on online learning platforms are usually up to date unlike traditionally where leaners would have to wait for the new edition of a book to expand their knowledge.  Finding information on online training systems/platforms is quite easy as most of the platforms have internal search engines that learners can use to find the information that they are searching for. Leaning platforms are equally just as helpful to healthcare institutions because employers can keep track of their employees learning progress if the training course is mandatory. Learners can also use the platform as a feedback mechanism on the efficacy of the training offered by the employer as well to interact and learn from each other as the platform becomes incorporated into their everyday lives. The agility of online training has set a new height for information dissemination, as well as the interactivity between practitioners within the healthcare industry.

Bespoke learning: Bespoke online training is quickly becoming popular as institutions and practitioners in the healthcare industry quickly realize that they can tailor the coursework/programs to individuals or institution’s needs. With bespoke learning, instead of having to undertake an entire course that could potentially be a waste of your time you can choose to learn about a specific topic only. Institutions in the healthcare industry can have different ongoing and mandatory courses for their employees. Tailor making of courses eliminates extraneous and unwanted content thus cutting down on cost.

It is favourable for different sorts of learners: Human beings are all different, and the same applies to practitioners in the healthcare systems. Equipped with audio, videos, text and image files online training is designed to cater to the needs of various learners. Some individuals learn better via auditory, visual and many other modes of learning. The different learning materials are great because individuals because better understand and absorb information outside of the limiting confines of a classroom. Since learners can learn at their own pace, it does not matter whether one is a kinesthetic, visual, sensory or auditory learner everyone benefits from the online learning structure because unlike before, as a learner you no longer have to keep up or be slowed down by other students. The role that information plays in the healthcare industry is too huge for any sort of information distortion or inaccuracy to occur. Learners learning at their own pace minimizes the likelihood of such occurrences.

Easy monitoring and administration of learning: In the healthcare industry, there are many different types of tools and systems designed to help healthcare professionals with the workload that comes with their jobs. The platforms where online training is conducted is an example of a tool that is helpful for both healthcare professionals and the institutions in the industry. If the institution allows it, administrators in the healthcare industry can receive information about their employees learning progress and even test score results where exams are applicable. All this information can be found in a centralized database which will allow for institution administrators to download different kinds of reports, certificates and view course subscriptions. Also, if an institution deems it necessary for its healthcare professionals to receive a refresher course, the hassle of having to arrange for either the trainer or convenient time and space for the refresher course to be undertaken is done away with. This is because the courses are readily available and can be taken in an instant or on a need basis.

Access to a community: Humans beings are creatures of habit and interaction with other people who share similar interests as yours is something that continues beyond the confines of social media platforms. Online training platforms provide professionals in the healthcare industry yet another platform where they can interact with each other. Thanks to online training ideas, questions and concerns can be shared on the platforms where other professionals in the industry can shed light on certain issues and even offer detailed insights into ideas that other individuals harbours. The healthcare industry is one that is one of the industries that records the most networking meetings and events. Online training only enhances the already existing collaboration in the healthcare industry as it eliminates both social and physical barriers that previously existed.

 Final Thoughts

A report recently released by the world health organization (WHO) indicates that there is a shortfall of healthcare professionals required to safeguard adequate global health. This report suggests that 7.2 million more individuals need the training to reduce the gap between the existing and the ideal number of healthcare professionals. This means that more individuals require training. Online training is an efficient and effective way that will bring the healthcare industry a step closer to being able to fill this gap. This is because the development and evolution of learning technologies ensure that learning materials are more accessible to people and the quality of education is not compromised.

While there are still quite a good number of people that will always prefer face to face classroom-based type of learning, online training is arguably taking over as the new learning model if the number of courses and masterclasses regularly being availed is anything to go by. In our opinion, the advantages of online training in the healthcare industry outweigh the disadvantages thus making online training something that most institutions and individuals should consider if they haven’t already.  Some of the disadvantages that can be linked with online training include:

The reduction of face to face interaction which particularly in the healthcare industry can be extremely crucial. Face to face interaction for healthcare practitioners is extraordinarily impactful, and it would be foolish to disregard the level of impact.

Online training is also more involving and is very dependent on the learner’s self-discipline. A lack of discipline on the learner’s part can result in them not mastering the content that they set out to learn.

The rampant increase in the number of online training courses and programs means that there are more and more courses that are coming up that are not accredited and are of a low quality which would be counterproductive for learners.

The ability to self-direct goes hand in hand with a learner’s self-discipline. If it is nonexistent, chances that a learner who lacks self-direction will interfere with their learning progress is quite high.

While it is impossible to substitute the hands-on practice that is required in the healthcare industry, in comparison to other methods of learning, online training comes a step closer to being able to disseminate the very information taught via lectures in the traditional classroom-based learning model. This is probably because of the models interactive and gamified nature that is capable of holding a learner’s attention. Unlike with classroom lectures where this is a possibility of missing out on vital information just because you took a bathroom break, with online training learners can pause and replay the module to the satisfaction or until they are sure that they have understood its fundamentals.

Online training is also excellent due to its self-guiding nature. Leaners are forced to carve out their learning paths and own their competency development. As opposed to being passive recipients of information, leaners in the healthcare industry can exploit online training platforms and empower themselves to the betterment of the industry. Similarly, institutions can also utilize the platforms potential to build capacity in various industry contexts.

    from https://serenemedia.co.uk/the-benefits-of-online-training-in-the-healthcare-industry/

from Serene Media - Blog http://serenemediaco.weebly.com/blog/the-benefits-of-online-training-in-the-healthcare-industry

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Dr Justin Bharat Talks About Using VR For Healthcare Training

Healthcare training plays a vital role today, and there are many ways of achieving this, but as technology advances, there is a need to take advantage of what is available. Online healthcare training has come on in leaps and bounds recently and obviously, this brings in many opportunities to advance this with new technology.

VR has already been used in areas such as Dementia Training for allowing carers to understand this illness better and we are looking at now bring VR to the surgery training spectrum.

This all really started for me way back when I was in high school and I was originally interested in video game development and around that time there was some illness in my family and it got me interested that maybe there’s a way to use software and technology which I was so passionate about to help people specifically with medical problems.

Then in college, I was studying biomedical engineering and my mentor had some pretty sage advice for me and he suggested that if I wanted to invent technology, that it’s best to understand the problems. So he thought the best way to do that in medicine was to be a physician. I followed his advice and I went to medical school at UCLA and then I stayed there to pursue my orthopaedic surgery training and subsequently also some specialized training in pediatric orthopaedics at Boston Children’s Hospital and it was during my training that I really discovered the biggest problem I feel is facing our healthcare system today. That’s how we train educate and assess our providers.

It was experiencing this problem and seeing it every day that led me to basically combine my passion for game development to try and solve this problem with virtual reality.

So then I thought, well what would you say is the most challenging aspect of the traditional training that we do with our doctors and surgical teams. What is it that is lacking that could improve the patient experience?

There are many challenges and it really depends on who you are and where you’re at in your career. If you’re talking about residents and training, the issue that they have is that there is just too much to learn and too little time to learn it, so it’s kind of basic math really. If you think about it every year, we are discovering new science, new medicine, new procedures and new technologies and devices and these, in general, are not replacing something but adding on, so added additional things we need to know and not only are there more procedures that we need to learn now but these new products tend to be more complicated.

If you think about it there are things like robotic surgery or image-guided navigation patient-specific implants, maybe people have heard of some of these things but whereas we used to be able to learn these new techniques that meant a few surgeries on patients, now these new techniques have data that sometimes you have to do it more than a hundred times on people before you can do it safely and up until then it’s much riskier, and in addition to that, there’s much less time to learn.

With residents, there were work hour restrictions imposed which were quite reasonable but now I’m a researcher – working only 80 hours a week and that lost a year of training time. Certain administrative tasks like electronic medical record system have shown up to now take up over 50% of residents and other physicians time.

Then there are cultural changes where people are now much more aware of who is operating on them, who are touching them when they’re in the hospital or the clinic and they’re less inclined for obvious reasons to have people practising on them for the first time.

For most of us the term virtual reality is pretty self-explanatory, but for those of us who aren’t familiar or intimately familiar with the term, what is virtual reality or VR as it’s commonly referred to? I think that’s a great question and I think the term itself has changed over the years but virtual reality in today’s day and age really refers to an immersive kind of interactive media experience in which the user will wear a handset so that looks almost like ski goggles that you put on your head and in front of you are special lenses for your eyes and then a screen, and within the headset are motion sensors and also some sort of tracking system to track the position and rotation of your head.

Once you put this headset on you are looking into a virtual world that feels like you’re actually there, and this is called a sense of presence. Wherever you look and wherever you move you will move within that virtual world and it’s almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Additionally, VR can have what’s called motion control so high quality via or tether VR will have one to one hand tracking so you can interact with the virtual world. With your hands, you can pick up objects for surgical simulation and can perform the procedure like hammering filling incisions and things like this so this is a critical component of modern VR that really enhances the immersiveness and interactivity.

There’s also the multiplayer aspect of it where many doctors or surgical teams are able to log into a program and are able to train virtually no matter where they are on the planet.

We recently announced our collaborative training functionality so we’ve had up to 15 people in our virtual reality training experiences and they’ve been all over the world, so we’ve had people from the east coast of the west coast USA, from the UK and other places, all in virtual reality training together and it’s really fun and exciting and very intuitive and natural.

This allows you to do is you can learn with teams without people having to travel or find time to get together in the same physical location and you can also capture expertise so you can have a world-renowned experts who live very far away able to train you personally in these very advanced techniques and you can bring this incredible knowledge set to very remote and rural areas that may not have had access to advanced surgical training in education and assessment before.

Another important aspect to team training that is a benefit of simulation within healthcare recently is what is called soft skills of leadership communication general workflow and efficiency and these are so critical for patient safety and this team training really gives you the ability to not only train but also evaluate teams and how they perform.

As you can see, the opportunities for VR in the healthcare market are boundless and we are very excited with the opportunities that VR represents worldwide.

  from https://serenemedia.co.uk/dr-justin-bharat-talks-about-using-vr-for-healthcare-training/

from Serene Media - Blog http://serenemediaco.weebly.com/blog/dr-justin-bharat-talks-about-using-vr-for-healthcare-training

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Tech Products for Dementia Sufferers

Before we look into what tech products are suitable for people living with dementia, let’s start by taking a look at what dementia is. Over the years, dementia has become a very common subject that is discussed in and out of the media. But what exactly is it? Dementia is neither a condition or a disease; instead; it is a collection of symptoms that affect a person’s cognitive ability leading to a declination in memory.

It is estimated that there are about 47.5 million people in the world who suffer from dementia. One of the most common causes of dementia that accounts for about 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases is Alzheimer’s disease. When a person is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it means that their brain has scarce nerve connections and cells cause the brain size to shrink. Alzheimer’s is usually linked to protein abnormalities inside the brain.

While Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common causes of dementia, it is not the only cause. Other causes of the disease include mixed dementia, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson’s disease among others. And while dementia is very common among people who are above the age of 65, it appears the disease is becoming more apparent in younger people as well.

 Effects of Dementia on People

It is estimated that more than 150,000 people are living with some case of dementia in the United Kingdom and more cases are still on the rise as people continue to age. Depending on an individual, the symptoms can develop slowly or quickly. Some of the symptoms include problems with recent memory, disorientation, difficulty in communicating, easily suspicious and irritable among others.

While psychological effects differ from one patient to the other, the most common factors tend to be forgetfulness. This is true for both family members and people in general as well as the environment that one is in. It’s no doubt that people living with dementia can easily get lost in streets that were once familiar and forget family members that were once dear to them.

And while people suffering from dementia have it rough, one of the most overlooked issues is the toil it takes on the loved ones such as family members, caregivers, friends and generally anyone that is around a dementia patient. While it’s not entirely impossible to cater to a dementia patient, it can be an exhausting undertaking if one isn’t well prepared to deal with the task.

Seeing a close relative become suspicious of you or not even recognize you can take a toll on anyone. But having to deal with it every other day can be hard. However, all is not lost. Today, given that there is more research being done on dementia, scientists and doctors are looking into the cause and solutions regarding the disease. In addition, given the technological advances, dementia technology and gadgets for dementia is an area that has continued to witness sporadic innovations.

As a result, there are several tech products readily available in the market that can help ease both dementia patients and their caregivers better cope with the symptoms. Such devices range from clocks to GPS trackers among others. Below is a review of some of the best tech products for dementia sufferers.

 The Best Dementia Tech Products

Digital Calendar & Day Clock

Although there are lots of digital clocks that are easy to read on the market, finding one that is specifically designed for people with dementia can go a long way in helping the lives of those living with the disease. This digital calendar and clock is specifically designed for dementia patients and shows the exact time, date and day of the week.

The best part about this clock is that there are no abbreviations used as abbreviations tend to be confusing for people suffering from memory loss. The high-resolution screen also makes it visible enough even in the dark, and it comes with no label for dementia or Alzheimer’s on the package so as not to cause any form of embarrassment.

It has multiple display modes that you can choose for your settings. In addition, you can also use the clock to set a medication reminder which ensures that your loved one takes their medication on time every day. The 8-inch glare display comes in handy given that it enables the elderly to view it from anywhere. The clock also has a multilanguage feature which means you can set your preferred language.

  Big Button Remote Control

Another useful tech device that you can get for a dementia patient is a simple TV remote controller. Even for someone suffering from dementia, a TV is a good source of information, entertainment as well as companionship especially when they are alone. You can make it simple for your loved ones to continue getting information and entertained with this Big Button Remote Control.

It not only has an ergonomic design, but it also works for cable box and TV which makes watching the TV and changing channels more intuitive and straightforward. The buttons are large and brightly colored. This makes it easy to identify which buttons are for what given that it only has an on/off button, a volume button, as well as channel and mute button.

Using this remote, you can easily program 25-30 channels that offer the entertainment you desire. In addition, the remote has a special lock feature that helps prevent any form of channel reprogramming and is compatible with most infra-red TVs and Set Top Boxes.

 Picture Phone

While smartphones have a lot more features, they aren’t designed to cater to the needs of people suffering from dementia. As mentioned, dementia patients need devices that are simple to use. If you are looking for a simple-to-use phone device, consider getting a picture phone. This phone is designed in such a way that it can be pre-programmed to call nine different people.

What makes it more fun is that you can stick a photo of the people you want under every button and when your loved one wants to make a phone call, they can do so by pressing the photo of the person they want to call instead of having to key in a ten-digit number. The phone has bright LED lights that light up whenever there is an incoming call.

Alternatively, you can opt to label the phone using a hand-written note or sticker if it’s easier for your loved one to read. However, the phone should first be set up by a family member or caregiver as the set up might be a bit of a challenge for a dementia patient. The phone also has a 911 button that your loved one can dial in the case of an emergency or simply have it reprogrammed to a different number that can be called in case you are worried that your love done can dial it accidentally.

 Memo Minder Reminder Aid

Even with our brains functioning properly, once in a while we do need a reminder to get things done. This isn’t different from patients suffering from dementia even though they may need it more than normal people do. The Memo Minder Reminder Aid is a device that comes in handy for dementia patients.

The device allows you to record a different type of messages for your loved one that are up to 20 seconds long. Whenever any motion is detected, the message is loudly played. These messages can also be deleted and re-recorded without the need for a memory card as many times as you would like.

One of the ways that this device is most commonly used by caregivers is having a pre-recorded message that acts as a warning to a loved one not to get out of the house at night and have it placed by the front door. The device can be combined with a wall timer and power supply so that such messages are said within certain time frames.

 35 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Not exactly a tech product, but this makes the list because of the hi-tech way this was designed. The 35-piece jigsaw puzzle is a product of Active Minds. The company won the National Dementia Care Awards for the category outstanding dementia product in 2015. This puzzle has been designed in collaboration with professional caregivers and dementia sufferers. It is a set of activities and games that are age appropriate for elderly people that are living with dementia.

The puzzle comes with guide assistance that has prompt questions that help start conversations and can be used to assemble the pieces. The puzzle is designed to reduce the problems that come with dementia such as boredom, sadness, and isolation. In addition, it is also believed that these activities have helped boost the quality of life of people suffering from memory loss.

The puzzle consists of large pieces that are organically shaped and can be built within the frame. This makes it easier for people suffering from their mid to last stage of memory loss to finish the puzzle with no assistance. The puzzle is designed to provoke conversations, memories, and stories.

 Radio Controlled Medication Reminder

Another excellent device that can be used to remind dementia patients that it’s time to take their medication is this Verbalise radio-controlled medication reminder clock. This digital clock is circular in shape and has a digital clock at the base. It is designed in black and white colors to make it easy for dementia patients to notice it.

By pressing the large button, the date and time will be spoken to your loved one in either a female or male voice. Given that the clock is radio controlled, it receives its signal from a radio transmitter that makes it possible to set the date and time as well as update them automatically in the event the clock changes. There won’t be a need to worry about constantly setting the clock and the only time you will need to do that manually is when the battery runs out.

The clock can be set to receive the UK, USA, Germany and Japan time signals. This means that when your loved one travels to these countries, they won’t need to change the time as it’ll automatically update the time. However, if they visit other countries, they’ll need to set the time with the help of their caregivers manually. The clock can’t be easily knocked over and can record up to eight daily reminders.

 GPS Tracker Watch

One of the most common side effects of dementia and Alzheimer’s is wandering. While your loved one might just set out for a simple walk, it’s easy for them to get lost given their forgetfulness. As such, having a GPS tracker watch can make a lot of difference and give you peace of mind. When a loved one wanders off, and you have no idea where they are, it can be very distressful for both the patient and family members.

This GPS tracking watch allows you to easily find the wearer given the features that it comes packed with. The watch works straight out of the box and has a unique mobile network that enables it to switch between every major network to ensure that the watch has a maximum signal at all times. This is done so as to ensure you can always track your loved one in case they go wandering without anyone’s knowledge.

Tracking can be done both indoors and outdoors and boasts a battery life of up to 120 hours. It has an SOS button that can be used in case of an emergency, an alarm, a voice messaging and a voice call. You can also programme the watch according to the specific geo zone you want. This way, in case the wearer leaves a given area, you can get notified.

  Final Thoughts

Taking care of a loved one who has dementia, Alzheimer’s or other similar conditions can be difficult for both the sufferer, family, and caregivers. However, it always doesn’t have to be complex, and all this is thanks to the continuous awareness and research being done in the field of dementia. While there is no current cure for dementia, tech products for dementia sufferers can help improve their quality of life.

When looking to buy a tech device for a dementia patient, consider the symptoms that they exhibit as some of these products may not work for all patients. Technology devices for dementia patients play a huge role, and it can go a long way in slowing down the effects of dementia.

  from https://serenemedia.co.uk/tech-products-for-dementia-sufferers/

from Serene Media - Blog http://serenemediaco.weebly.com/blog/tech-products-for-dementia-sufferers

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Top 10 Best Office Presentation Pointers

Even if you’re the best speaker in the world, you’ll struggle to give the best presentation in the boardroom without the right equipment. Presentation clickers are some of the most important equipment you should to have on your side if you want your presentations to rock. They are certain make your presentations more professional and vivid.

Essentially, they are designed to help speakers have more freedom and flexibility when using PowerPoint, Keynote or any other program. The wireless device allows advancing your slides at a distance while walking freely in the presentation room.

As a result, they improve how you engage and interact with your audience during a presentation. What’s more, most clickers are compatible will all computers operating software such as Windows, Mac or Linux.

Ultimately, a quality presentation clicker will advance your slides without any hitch. And the majority of models nowadays come with advanced controls and functionality. They make it easier for you to start, stop, go back or highlight the key points in your slides with no difficulty.

In this post, we review the top 10 best presentation clickers in the market today. We hope this post will help you find the ideal device for your needs. Shall we?

Our Top 10 Best Presentation Pointer Picks

1. Logitech R400 Wireless Presenter/Presentation Clicker

Logitech R400 is one of the top presentation clickers to consider whether you’re a student, teacher or corporate executive. The device comes with user-friendly keys which allow you to control your PowerPoint presentation with ease.

Its sizable range (up to 50 feet), gives you more freedom to move around when presenting to your audience. Besides the clicker has a miniature USB receiver that’s compatible with most computers. And to make your presentation more engaging and vivid, you can utilize the laser pointer to highlight or stress key points in your slides. It also works perfectly well on both white and grey projector screens.

What’s more, syncing the device with your PC is automatic; you won’t need to install any software provided there’s a wireless connection within reach. Moreover, R400 is compatible with Windows 10 and Vista. In the end, this is a solid product worth purchasing.  You won’t have to worry about battery performance issues as the remote’s AAA batteries can last up to 20 hours.

2. Kensington Wireless USB Presentation Clicker with Red Laser Pointer

If you’re only searching for a basic presentation clicker that will do the job perfectly, consider Kensington Wireless presenter and you’ll not regret any bit. This is one of the best sellers in the market. Many customers love the clicker because of its compact and ergonomic design, if not for its expansive range (65-feet).

If you end up buying this presenter, you’ll appreciate its comfortable size and the way it perfectly fits in your hand. Besides, the four-buttoned design gives you more options when controlling the flow of your slides. The laser pointer feature on the other hand gives you the freedom to highlight critical points in your presentation. The wide range allows you to walk around the room with freedom when making your presentation.

On connectivity, this is a dependable device as it connects with both Windows and Mac system via a USB receiver. No additional software is required when connecting it with your PC. Syncing between the two devices occurs automatically.

3. Red Star Tec Wireless PowerPoint and Keynote Presentation Remote Clicker

Red Star Tec Wireless Remote clicker is another top choice worth your consideration. The device is wireless by default, so you don’t need any wires or Bluetooth when connecting it to your PC (Windows or Mac) or tablet. Also, you don’t require any additional driver when syncing it with your PC.

Aside from impressive connectivity features, Red Star Tec Wireless Remote Clicker comes with a significant range. Meaning it gives you (the speaker) ample freedom to move across the room when making a presentation. Additionally, the laser pointer is included so you can highlight important ideas in your PowerPoint slides anytime

However, it’s crucial to note that 2 AAA batteries are not included in the package. All in all, Red Star Tec Wireless Remote clicker is a quality option to consider if you’re looking for a reliable and versatile presentation clicker. Moreover, the product is nicely boxed that you’ll likely mistake it for a gift.

4. August LP200 – Wireless Presenter with Shortcut Keys and Laser Pointer

August LP200 Wireless Presenter is another good choice you should seriously consider. The clicker comes with shortcut keys designed to help you intuitively advance or control your PowerPoint slides on the go.

You’ll have no trouble using the remote device as all you need is to plug and play and the device will sync with your computer automatically. This is possible because of the USB receiver, which enables you to quickly sync the clicker with a Mac or Windows PC. And the good thing is that it’s compatible with Windows 7,8,10, Mac OS and Linux.

It only takes a matter of seconds to get the connection right. What’s more, when you buy the presentation clicker you get a free eBook with lots of tips and tricks on public speaking.

To finish, if you are looking for a compact and lightweight clicker that will add professionalism to your presentation, August LP200 Wireless Presenter is a worthy candidate to think about.

5. Breett Presentation Clicker PPT Remote Control Presenter Flip Pen

Breett 2.4GHz Presentation Clicker is among the best remote devices in the market based on customer feedback on Amazon UK. The wireless presenter is easy to pair with a PC because of the plug and play feature.

Essentially, you’ll not need any drivers to start using it and it works perfectly well with Windows 2003, XP, 7, Android Mac OS and Linux. Besides, it supports variety presentation software such as PowerPoint, Prezi and Keynote. The presenter has enough of key shortcuts to make the job of controlling slides simple and seamless.

If you’re looking for more range; so that you can move around with freedom when making your presentation, consider this clicker. It has a wireless range of up to 100 meters—which is quite impressive when you compare it to other alternatives in the market. Additionally, it comes with a rechargeable battery.

6. BEBONCOOL RF 2.4GHz USB Wireless Presentation Clicker

Beboncool wireless presentation clicker is made with environment-friendly materials and comes with a laser pointer for highlighting essential areas of your slides. You don’t need any software when pairing it with your PC, due to the plug and play feature it comes with.

It’s compatible with all Windows and Mac operating systems. Also, it has a considerable range of up to 39 feet, so walking around the room should be a breeze. With the help of well-designed buttons, it’s easy to move from one slide to another. You’ll also get good service form this clicker because it has a long lasting battery.

7. AMERTEER Wireless Presenter Flip Pen

The Amerteer wireless clicker comes with a moderate distance range of 39-feet, which should be enough for walking freely in a large room. Its four-button controls allow any user to navigate or switch from one slide to another faultlessly. The laser pointer features make it easy for one to highlight any part of presentation intuitively.

Also, the device can be set up to connect with your PC (Windows or Mac) through the plug and play functionality. What’s more, the thin design allows it to be stored easily in a bag or pocket anytime. Lastly, the device uses only one AAA battery.

8. JSVER Wireless Presenter Laser Pointer RF 2.4GHz Rechargeable

With dimensions of 13.8 x 2.8 x 2 cm, and a range of over 100m, JSVER Wireless Presenter Laser Pointer is worth a mention. The presentable clicker comes with a rechargeable battery hence you don’t need to worry about your battery running flat.

The upgraded version comes with flexible button options that you can use to advance your slides. You can also switch window tab, increase or reduce volume, click hyperlinks, play videos, etc.

In addition, you don’t need extra software when syncing the device with your PC because of its plug and play feature. Moreover, the remote is compatible with all Window, Mac and Linux systems.

9. Doosl Wireless Presenter 2.4GHz PowerPoint Presentation Remote Control – Black

The Doosl Wireless Presenter is also among the top-ranked clickers on Amazon. It uses AAA battery which is easy to replace and connecting it to a PC or tablet is automatic because it comes with a Mini USB receiver.

It has a substantive wireless range of 100m thus it’s easier to walk around a large hall when making your presentation. The clicker comes with enough buttons to scroll the page up, down, exit or click full screen. It also supports a variety of presentation applications like Prezi, PowerPoint and Keynote.

What’s more, the clicker is power efficient as it comes with an extra switch for enabling power conservation.

10. Restar 2.4GHz Wireless USB PowerPoint Presentation Remote

Although last on our list, Restar Wireless Presentation Clicker is an impressive device worth getting. The clickers a substantial wireless range of 100m, meaning users have the flexibility to walk around a big room while presenting.

It also comes with laser pointer which allows the user to highlight the essential parts of any slide. In addition, you only need one AAA battery to power on the device and its compatible with both Windows and Mac systems.

Besides, you don’t require extra software to connect the device with a PC because it comes with a plug and play feature. Lastly, it contains enough button options to advance slides in any direction you want be it up, down, forward, backward, etc.

Office Presentation Pointers Buying Guide

Wireless presenters can make or break a presentation. If you want to present your ideas professionally, it’s highly advised that you purchase a wireless clicker to advance slides with simplicity. The clickers also enable you to walk freely in the room so that you engage and wow your audience. Because wireless presenters come in different shapes, sizes, and budget you shouldn’t rush your purchase decision. Here are some of the key factors to consider when acquiring these handy devices.

Features To Look For

On the surface level, most presentation clickers look the same in term of design and functionality.  As result, the only way you can distinguish one device from the other is by looking at features on offer.

Ultimately, it’s your needs that will determine what features you select. Remember, you may have to pay a little bit more in order to acquire a presentation clicker with more advanced features.

Design and Ergonomics

The design is another important factor to keep in mind when purchasing presentation clickers. One key design consideration that you should always factor when shopping for a clicker is the number of buttons.

Ideally, presentation clicker should have a moderate number of buttons. Many buttons can cause constant misclicks when presenting.

Also, the type of battery used is an important factor you cannot overlook. You should give preference to AAA batteries because they are easy to replace. All in all, it’s important to evaluate how a presentation clicker is designed prior to making a purchase.

Customer support

Lastly, when buying presentation clickers ensure you only deal with suppliers with great customer support. This means transacting with manufacturers that can easily be reached via online chat, email, phone, etc. In addition, check warranty information when you buy these devices. Remember, the length of the warranty will differ from one manufacturer to another. Some come with 90 days warranty, while others can extend up to 5 years.

Presentation Clicker Review Conclusion

Presentation clickers can enhance how you make your presentations whether you’re in the corporate or educational world. Ultimately, the best of the best clickers should have excellent design and lots of useful features. Good support is also an important factor to consider when shopping for these vital devices. +

This review post covers some of the best presentation clickers in the market.  We arrived at these choices after countless hours of research and testing. We purposely did all the work so don’t have to go through the same process again. Ultimately, your ideal presentation clicker will depend on your needs and budget. Happy shopping!

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/best-office-presentation-pointers/

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[tomheidiusa]

Top Tips for Excellent Work Presentations

All the best oral or written presentations whether they are in conferences, businesses, class or even TED talks share various things in common.

These things can be used to improve your own presentations. If you have or have to make presentations for your work, and find them a struggle, you’ve come to the right place.

In the following post, we have gathered our favorite techniques and tips for creating killer productions from some of the most famous experts and professionals in the industry.

Length of Slides or Scenes

One thing that all presentation experts agree on is that if you have too much text in a presentation, it will kill it dead. Seth Godin, who published an incredibly popular post on the subjected, suggest as his first rule that you should never have any more than six words on each slide.

He did not believe that there is any presentation that has such a complicated theme or content that requires that justifies breaking that rule. His rule for successful presentations is to make sure the text on each slide is like a chapter title for what he is going to speak about.

This helps to emphasize how important the oral side of presentations actually is. He also noted the importance of building rapport with your audience, making lots of eye contact and smiling at them.

Length of Presentation

When it comes to the length of presentations, Guy Kawasaki, a public speaking legend, suggests the 10/20/30 rule. It is his belief that the key to a good presentation is not having then just 10 slides, that the presentation should not last longer than 20 minutes and the font size used should not be smaller than 30 point.

This rule ensures that you concentrate on the main message you are trying to get across and only discuss things that are essential to making the point of the presentation clear to your audience.

Believe in What You Say – Be Genuine

The high-energy delivery with which Tony Robbins delivers his presentations is what has made him one of the most renowned public motivation speakers throughout the world.

He believes that the most important aspect of his presentation style is that he genuinely believes 100% in what he is saying.

That is what you should do with your own presentations – speak from the heart and tell them something real, because any information that is delivered without emotion will not be retained.

Make Use of a Remote

As noted earlier and by many experts, it is crucially important to smile, make eye contact with your audience and avoid turning your back to them or looking down at a computer or tablet too much.

Garr Reynolds, a highly regarded public speaker had some great advice on the subject – make use of a remote to advance the presentation and pause it when necessary, to keep things spontaneous, while controlling the general flow and direction of it.

Make Use of Fonts and Graphics

With so many free and great resources available on the net, the only excuse there is for using ugly fonts or graphics is not knowing how or where to find them.

Some excellent options for free fonts include Dafont or Fontsquirrel, while some great resources of free pictures includes Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay. You now have no excuses whatsoever not to use high quality, free fonts and graphics in your next presentations.

Concentrate on Value

Before he evens starts a presentation Tony Robbins believes it’s vital to get to know his audience and find out as much about them as he can. Once you know what they fear, need and want, the easier you will find it to add value. As he had stated in the publication Business Insider.

When you offer solutions to problems people are suffering from, you are providing them with real value they can take away.

Anything else you say will be just irrelevant and self-indulgent.

Don’t be Scared to Get Things Wrong

Steve Jobs was one for practicing exhaustively and meticulously before he gave any of his world-famous presentations. He even made sure he had anecdotes he could use if his technology failed.

He said once that when you get things wrong, you just need to admit them and improve. This provides a simple message – mistakes are inevitable, but they don’t need to ruin everything.

We hope you find the above tips helpful for creating amazing presentations that your audience will never forget.

  from https://serenemedia.co.uk/tips-for-excellent-work-presentations/

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[tomheidiusa]

Should I Buy a Mac or Windows Laptop for Work?

It can be daunting having to choose laptops for an entire office or team of workers. Particularly as everyone seems to have their own personal viewpoint. To help you out though, we have put together an easy-to-follow guide to the options open to you. It is worth noting that while we have presented the facts and thoughts here as a side-by-side comparison with a view to the choice being either/or, there are many businesses that choose to use a variety of Mac and PCs and users get the type of computer that best suits their department.

For example, employees in creative roles would get Macs, with other staff getting PCs or laptops. Further to this, there are some small businesses that leave the choice up to the staff themselves. This is good because it gives the employees the chance to choose the one, they work with best, but it can be a more expensive way to do things.

Check out our helpful guide that aims to point you in the right direction if you are scratching your head trying to decide which way to go.

Handling Employee Preferences for PC and Mac

The biggest difference between PCs and Macs is the OS or operating system. There are major differences in the menu configuration, while the interfaces, in general, are very different too and you will often find that shortcuts on the keyboard are different from both systems.

While it’s true that the PC and Mac hardcore fans are attached to their favorite style because of the interface the actual exterior is often a major selling point too.

While Macs tend to be more consistent in how they look and work, PCs vary considerably in terms of design from brand to brand and model to model. However, if you think that your employees prefer Macs because of their appearance and design, you could try and entice them to the Windows range of best work laptops side of things with something like a Microsoft Surface Pro or HP EliteBook.

If it is down to the ease of use or efficiency of one or there other, you will have a more difficult time convincing them to change.

Further to this, if you have workers who need to use special analytics, visualization, design software or extensive keyboard shortcuts may be more familiar with using a particular type of laptop.

While it’s possible to change from using PC to Mac or vice versa, it may be important to keep employees happy.

Pros of Windows Laptops & PC’s

Business Standard

Out with the design world, PCs are considered the business standard. PCs are used widespread and employees are likely to be comfortable and familiar with using PC laptops at work.

Many Options for Designs

As there are numerous different computer manufacturing companies, there are various options for designs. You are able to purchase hybrids, portable ultrabooks, powerful and heavy workstation laptops etc.

Better Customization

PCs and laptops can be easily customized, both in terms of their hardware and their software. Various manufacturers, such as HP, Lenovo and Dell, offer upgrades such as GPUs, CPUs, extra ports and other accessories. This is a big advantage if you’re looking to provide a workforce with differing needs.

Various Price Points

When it comes to prices, PCs are better than Macs in providing for different budgets.

Cons of PCs

Not as Stylish

While PCs are becoming more stylish slowly, there are various manufacturers that do not pay much attention to the aesthetics.

Security Software

When you purchase PCs, you need to purchase additional anti-virus security software. Although this is not a massive expense, but something you’ll need.

Some OS Updates Are Awful

Macs may not release updates regularly, but when they do it to add power or features. However, OS updates for Windows often are just minor upgrades, but often Windows will do things that are terrible, such as Windows 8 or Vista.

Quality Can Vary

As there are so many different manufacturers, the quality of PCs varies from computer to computer.

Pros of Macs

Luxurious Design

Compared to Windows PCs and laptops, Macs often operate and feel like luxury machinery. Apple is known as a company that produces colorful and bright displays, highly sensitive track pads and responsive keyboards. For various people, the quality of the aluminum chassis of MacBook is enough to invest in one.

Design Industry Standard

If you’ve got creative professionals or designers on your payroll, investing in Macs will keep them satisfied. Macs were really where graphic design started and the system is still a leader within the artistic community. Photoshop even started on Macs.

As a result, various designers honed their skills on Macs.

High Status

Although it’s not easy to admit, how we are perceived by others and status are many of the reasons people prefer to use Apple products. If your job involves impressing investors or clients, it could be worth investing in some fancy Macbooks for your staff.

Less Maintenance

Macs could be a good option if you are not comfortable with basic maintenance or can’t afford tech support. They are not often targeted by hackers and are known to require less maintenance.

Cons of Macs

Office for Mac

While in the past, you couldn’t get Microsoft Office for the Mac, that has all changed. However, if your workers are more familiar with using Office on a PC, they will find it harder to adjust to Office for Mac.

No Hybrids or Touchscreens

There are no Mac computers that have stylus capabilities, touchscreens or 360-degree hinges. Although there are tablets that do.

Limited Choice

Only Apple make Mac products. Therefore, when you buy a desktop or MacBook computer, you have limited options regarding configuration and design. When something breaks, you have to either pay the full Apple price or run the risk that comes from using third-party accessories.

Expensive

Mac products, by default, are expensive. This is because, in part, the high-status perception and luxury designs. There are no budget options.

Alternatives

Perhaps you want to consider an alternative to PCs or Macs. There are some OS that can be run on any machine, and a number of great Chromebook options for business too.

Alternatives OS

One way to give your staff some flexibility is to give them the option to install their own preferred OS. Ubuntu, the Linux-based OS is popular with those who don’t like Macs or Windows. It works similarly to another OS, but not quite as user-friendly and intuitive. While many don’t come with it pre-installed, it is fairly easy to install yourself.

Chromebooks

Chromebooks have come a long way in the past few years. The Pixelbook and its flexible touchscreen, stylus and high-quality chassis was what sealed its popularity. There’s even talk of Google including a dual-boot option that will allow users to switch between Google’s own OS and a third-party one. Even without it, Chromebooks are still a great option for small businesses.

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/mac-or-windows-for-work/

from Serene Media - Blog http://serenemediaco.weebly.com/blog/should-i-buy-a-mac-or-windows-laptop-for-work

[tomheidiusa]

Magento 1 End of Life 2020: Should I Migrate to Magento 2 & If So When?

So the saying goes, all good things come to an end. However, in the case of Magento, the good things have got better but not without a little sting in the tail. Magento 1, which is now in use with over 200,000 stores will stop being supported by Magento at the end of June 2020 with the express purpose of moving users over to the new powerhouse, Magento 2.

Magento 1.9 was initially released in 2014. That this is an open-source product and is still receiving security updates 6 years after the initial release is remarkable, particularly given the huge investment that has also been put into developing Magento 2 over the same time-frame. We should also credit Magento for sticking by the commitment they made in May 2017 to give 18 months’ notice for finishing their product support of Magento 1.

 There are a huge number of merchants that are still doing very well on their current Magento 1 platforms. For these sites that have been built over the last few years, it’s good to know that there is still time to maximise the value of their site whilst preparing for the move over to Magento 2. We would certainly recommend using this time to formulate a business plan and put in place a schedule for the migration to Magento 2 before the support runs out in June 2020.

With the all new Magento 2.3 now available, there’s never been a better time to migrate. The new version is a big upgrade over Magento 1 in quite a number of ways. You can see some of the benefits by viewing the presentation from this year’s Magento Imagine conference.

Another important factor when migrating that merchants should consider is upgrading to a later version of PHP. The latest supported version that Magento 1 can work with is PHP 5.6 but unfortunately, security support runs out for this on 31st December 2018. For this reason, merchants need to upgrade to a later version of PHP.

Quite a few are already running on PHP 7.0 through a development from Inchoo. However, the security support also ends for this soon, but Inchoo is working with Magento for an official patch to make it possible to have PHP7.2 with Magento Open Source 1 before the end of 2018.

Please note, however, even when this patch for PHP 7.2 support is released, this only gives you compatibility to the core platform.  Any extension or custom code will need to be reviewed manually and any incompatibilities with PHP 7.2 resolved.

Obviously, the size of this task depends on the size of your store and the number of incompatibilities within the store.  The whole site will need testing a number of times, as well as needing to make infrastructure changes, so a reasonable amount of time and budget should be put aside for this very important task. Given the short-deadlines, we would recommend getting started on this as soon as the patch from Magento is released.

While Magento has announced extended security support for older versions of Magento 1 (1.5-1.8), it’s not clear that the PHP 7.2 compatibility patches will be available for them. This may be another reason to upgrade to at least 1.9 to benefit from these updates.

In view of this, unsurprisingly many merchants will be thinking of changing to Magento 2.

Whilst Magento’s announcement makes it clear that you don’t need to do this immediately, remember that starting out on a major re-platforming project takes a lot of time, and consumes a large amount of resource, as business needs are identified. In essence, now is definitely a good time to start thinking about migrating, and the team at Serene Media are more than ready to help you get started along the exciting journey to Magento 2.

Find out how Helly Hansen boosted sales growth with Magento

Contact Serene Media to discuss your Magento project:  01234 324539  –  hello@serenemedia.co.uk

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/magento-1-end-of-life-2020-should-i-migrate-to-magento-2-if-so-when/

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[tomheidiusa]

Top 5 Best Interactive Whiteboards

When you are working with colleagues and collaborators in different parts of the country or, even more commonly, the world. To help with this increasingly more sophisticated tools to help make these collaborations possible have been required. One of these tools that have gained popularity with organizations in a wide array of sectors and industries is the interactive whiteboard.

What is an Interactive Whiteboard?

Remember those whiteboards that you used to have at school or perhaps in the conference room at work. You may even still use them. Well, an interactive whiteboard, often referred to as a digital whiteboard or smart board, is the technological upgrade of that old staple of the workplace and classroom.

Although they are not necessarily new news anymore, it is only in the last few years that companies have wised up to their use in the business environment.

If you have recently come around to the idea of buying one or are merely looking at this post to see if we can convince you, you’re very welcome. As there are now numerous models available at various prices, we’ve gone to a lot of trouble to provide a list of what we feel are the top 5 best interactive whiteboards on the market. This means that you don’t have to and can use this post, ideally as a guide to buying them, along with the five interactive whiteboards we picked out, we also round off this post with a useful buying guide that includes lots of information about the kinds of things you need to factor into your decision when purchasing one of these incredibly practical devices.

But first things first, let’s look at what we feel are the top 5 best interactive whiteboards available right now.

Projector ScreenModelEditors RatingViewViz-Pro Interactive Multi Touch Whiteboard 78-inchSMART BOARD SB660 Interactive WhiteboardCisco Spark Board 70 MonitorSmart Technologies 8070i 70" Meeting ProIpevo IS-01 Portable Interactive Whiteboard System

1.Viz-Pro Interactive Multi-Touch Whiteboard 78-inch

Screen size: 78-inches

Compatibility: Windows 10 only

Dimensions: 18.50cm x 12.30cm

The first on our list is this extremely nifty and new interactive whiteboard from Viz-Pro. It’s screen measures at a truly generous and expansive 78″ with a frame of 18.50cm by 12.30cm.

This is easy to set up, you just plug the USB cable into any computer with Windows 10 and it will be good to go. You no longer need to use a mouse or a keyboard with your computer. An update of many of the smart boards we are used to seeing, it doesn’t even need a stylus pen, so you can just use your finger to carry out numerous tasks. This includes applications, websites from which you can navigate around, select things, zoom in and out, write and draw on the screen.

Aside from the fact that it will only work with computers that run Windows 10, you also need a projector to make this smart whiteboard work properly. Considering its price though, if your computing systems in your workplace meet the requirements, you should still give serious consideration to this interactive whiteboard.

Pros

Incredibly intuitive, you can do just about anything you can on a computer on a bigger screen

Generously and comfortably large 78″ sized screen

Does not require a keyboard, mouse or even a stylus pen

Plugs into the computer via a USB cable

Cons

Only compatible with Windows 10 computers

Requires a projector

2. SMARTBOARD SB660 Interactive Whiteboard

Screen size: 64-inches

Compatibility: Windows 98 or later, Mac OS X Version 101.5 or later

Dimensions: 139.1cm x 105.4cm x 13cm

SMART Technologies are undoubtedly one of the driving forces and pioneers of the interactive whiteboard industry, so at least one of their entries had to be mentioned on our list for it to make any sense.

The Smart Board SB6600 is a much-needed update on the older models, where the company has addressed much of the customer feedback they received about previous models.

Given its incredibly compatible with virtually any modern Mac or Microsoft computer, it certainly has mass appeal. Much like the above model, you do not need a keyboard or even mouse to use the computer when its connected to the board via a projector. You can just use your fingers.

There is a wide array of software designed specifically for use with the SMART board. This includes Notebook, which allows you to capture annotations that you need and save notes. While the Recorder software, which is only available for Windows users, enables you to save data and audio to playback simultaneously, and the SMART Video Player allows you to write notes over still or running video.

You even have the choice, with this whiteboard, to use it in either a non-projected mode or a projected mode. The non-projected mode gives you the ability to save any dry-erase notes you make with a marker onto a computer, while the projected mode obviously gives you complete interactive with computer materials.

Pros

Full compatibility with both modern Windows and Mac computers

No need for a stylus pen, mouse or keyboard

Can be used to share across the internet with users in other locations, can swap screens with other users

Can be used with or without a projector, for different equally useful functions

Nice and generously widescreen

Cons

Some customers have noted that they ran out of space when using it to write with

3. Cisco Spark Board 70 Monitor

Screen Size 70-inches

Compatibility: N/A

The next item on our board is a little different from the others, in that it is a self-contained all-in-one device. It encompasses an audio-visual conferencing system, a digital whiteboard, and wireless presentation screen into one sophisticated, 70-inch screen. It really is like the Lamborghini of the interactive whiteboard sector and is specifically designed to make it incredibly easy to hold a multi-location conference via an interactive smartboard that you can also use during the conference to share screens, images and other important details with everyone in attendance.

With it, you can collaborate when your team is all together and under the same roof. However, the most important and unique features are that you can also collaborate with virtual meeting spaces so that the workflow continues before and after a conference or meeting. The Spark Board is capable of doing all these things because of its connection to the Webex service from Cisco.

There is not a lot you can’t do with this board as long as you have the appropriate subscription to the company’s service. The board has a capacitive touchscreen, embedded high-quality microphones, and integrated 4K camera. As amazing as this board is though, it’s also incredibly expensive. Which is a real downside. Though it was still highlighting just where the industry and technology are heading.

Pros

Does not require a computer, keyboard or mouse

Is self-contained and includes microphones, touchscreen and camera.

Provides you with one of the widest range of tools and services for powerful collaborations, whether you are in the same room as your team or not

Cons

The price means that it is more exclusively marketed towards the bigger companies and organisations with bigger budgets.

4. Smart Technologies 8070i 70″ Meeting Pro

Screen Size: 70-inches

Compatibility: A Windows and Mac computer with the Smart Notebook software

Dimensions: 168.5cm × 103.7cm × 33.6cm

Another Smart Technologies whiteboard is this SBID 8070i which is very similar to the other smartboard. However, this one benefits from a larger screen and the fact that two users can use it simultaneously. the screen knows and recognises the two users without getting confused.

It has also been designed to be compatible with Windows 7 and all the touchscreen gestures you can normally use with that operating system. Smart Ink can help to make your handwriting a little more legible by smoothing it our somewhat. Perfect for all businessmen and women that might have a lot of great skills, but handwriting is not one of them.

This is a great entry-level interactive whiteboard because although it doesn’t have the sophistication or incredible array of features that some of the others on this list do, it has been made with a lot of care and attention to detail.

Pros

Works with most modern Windows and Mac computers

Large 70″ screen

Two people can use it simultaneously without hassle or confusion

Cons

Quite expensive considering the limited ability

5. Ipevo IS-01 Portable Interactive Whiteboard System

Screen size: 40″ to 100″

Compatibility: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP; Mac OS X 10.6 or higher

Dimensions: 7.6cm x 4.1cm 4.8cm

The last item on our list is an interesting type of interactive whiteboard. It is not actually an interactive whiteboard on its own but when the IPEVO IS-01 device can be used with your own standard whiteboard or a projector surface to transform the surface into an interactive whiteboard.

It can be set up and fully calibrated in under 5 minutes and is compatible with various Windows computers and most modern Macs. With it, you can have a usable interactive area of up to 100-inches. This is definitely one for people who have an extremely limited budget and don’t need the fuller features of some of the other models on our list.

Pros

Affordable

Portable, and lightweight

Can work with suitable surfaces of up to 70-inches

Turns any suitable projector or existing whiteboard into a more interactive tool

Cons

Not an actual whiteboard on its own

Does not have the same functions as some of the more expensive, real interactive whiteboards on our list

Tips for Choosing an Interactive Whiteboard

We have hopefully help to highlight some of the great interactive whiteboards on the market. It can be difficult to find without the legwork we did to produce this post. However, in addition to the list of products, you need to give some thought to think about to help you whittle the choice you have down to best for your needs and requirements.

Budget

Obviously, you should never buy anything based on the price alone. But, considering some interactive whiteboards retail at in the 1000s, it’s worth considering the actual budget you have to spend on one of these tools.

How Frequent Will You Use it and What Will You Use it for?

Along with the price and your available budget, you need to think about often you will actually use an interactive whiteboard. If it’s not very frequent, it may not be worth the investment spending on one of the more expensive devices. You also need to consider what you will actually use it for too. This will help determine the kinds of features and capabilities you require from an interactive board.

Screen Size

As there are many different interactive whiteboards on the market, with different sizes – evident from our choice of item – you need to think about the dimensions that will suit your needs best. If you only have a small and contained group of people who will be using it at any one time, it doesn’t need to be quite big.

However, if you are looking to provide a larger sized group in your organisation with an interactive whiteboard, it makes sense that you should invest in one of the larger, 50″ to 70″.

Compatibility

Although many of the interactive whiteboards on the market these days that require a computer connection are designed to work with various operating systems, there are odd exceptions here and there. So, you should always check that the interactive whiteboard you buy is going to actually work with the hardware you have in your business computer setup.

Summary

It’s true that there are many interactive whiteboards on the market, but it doesn’t have to be a chore browsing through all of them to find the best that suits your needs and budgets. Rather, by using our guide to the 5 best interactive whiteboards and our buying guide.

Interactive whiteboards, whether they have the capability of linking you to other similar surfaces in locations miles away or are the simpler kind, are the future of business. They increase productivity and make it much easier to collaborate as a team more effectively.

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/best-interactive-whiteboards/

from Serene Media - Blog http://serenemediaco.weebly.com/blog/top-5-best-interactive-whiteboards

[tomheidiusa]

Should You Use a White or Grey Projector Screen?

The home cinema is fast becoming a must-have item for many people. Projectors are cheap and effective, and a spare room can easily be turned into a fabulous cinema room at little cost. But which are the best projectors screens and do you get it done right!? It can be disappointing when you have spent your money and the picture you get is poor, and there are a number of reasons why this can be so. The most common problem is with the screen, so let’s talk about how to get the best out of your equipment.

Do You Need a Screen?

So, you have a wide, blank wall that you are going to project your images onto. That’s great, and in many cases, it works perfectly. But there can be problems with this. You might think a wall is perfect, but there will be blemishes in the finish. The tiniest marks will show up through your projection and will be exaggerated. This can be distracting and will spoil the effect you are striving for. 

Another problem with this method is that you need to pick the background colour of the wall carefully. You also need to make sure the room is completely blacked out, as otherwise, you will not get the contrast effects that you need for a perfect and impressive picture. This is why many people buy a screen – you can get them in various types and sizes – and it really is worth the added expense. The choice here is whether you buy a white or a grey screen – so let’s talk about the benefits of each.

Why White or Grey?

If the idea of a grey screen is new to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Many who are new to the idea of home cinema systems are unaware of the benefits of a grey screen – there are downsides, too, which we will come to later – so we’re going to give you a quick look at what a grey screen brings to the party, and why you should consider one.

The main difference is in contrast and brightness. A lot of this depends upon how dark your room is. If you have a cinema system in a basement – or any other room where there is no natural light – you have the best room possible, as you can completely black out the entire room, and leave the only light source as your projector. This will give you the most impressive results.

In a fully blacked-out room, a white screen will provide you with excellent contrast, and you will be able to achieve impressive brightness and get a great picture. So why consider a grey screen?

The Grey Screen

Your projector can project everything but black; black is achieved by not projecting in those spaces. This is why contrast is a potential problem with home projectors and screens. On a white screen in a room that is not completely black, this will result in poor image quality where the darker shades of the image are. Hence the grey screen idea.

A grey screen will help you highlight the blacks against the whites, and will give you a better effect in a poorly lit room. However, this does not mean you should rush out and buy a grey screen, as it may not be to your satisfaction. It’s a personal choice as to how you like your brightness and contrast. For example, while a grey screen in a room that is not completely blacked will highlight the darker colours and shades, it will also slightly dullen the lighter ones; white will, of course, appear to be grey. This is why most cinema buffs opt for the white screen and the completely dark room.

Which is for Me?

This depends entirely upon where you put your home cinema system. If you are using a room that you cannot completely black out – a standard living room that you convert for cinema use occasionally, for example – a grey screen will certainly give you much better contrast, as it will highlight the blacks. If you have a dedicated cinema room, which of course is preferred, then you may find the white screen does everything you need.

If you have a room in mind check out how dark you can get it; make sure there is nothing reflective on the walls – fabric covering brings the best results – and test the room before you buy. This way, you’ll be able to decide whether you need a white or a grey screen for the best effect.

  from https://serenemedia.co.uk/should-you-use-white-or-grey-projector-screen/

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[tomheidiusa]

10 Best Projector Screens

10 Best Projector Screens

You’ve finally decided to join the bandwagon of cultured home theatre fanatics and are ready to get the best projector screen for your home entertainment. It’s about time you got one. But don’t worry, you aren’t late to the party. There’s always more room.

Whether you want to magnify your gaming adventure, splash a movie across a massive white wall in the evening with your family or have slides or photographs from your mobile device to a 100-inch plus screen, a good projector screen should be your top pick.

But why a screen projector and not your regular TV? You ask. Simple. When you need to binge-watch that loved Netflix series or the Manchester United vs. Arsenal game, your TV won’t be sufficient.

 Projector ScreenModelEditors RatingViewElite Screens ezFrame 135-inchThe Duronic Projector Screen FPS100/43 100-inchesHomegear 120-inches Projector ScreenVonHaus 90-inch Projector ScreenJago BELE01 Projector ScreenCelexon Home Projector ScreenThe Excelvan Portable Projector Screen 120-inchBPS Electric Projector ScreenBuild Excellent Projector ScreenBi-Office Projector Screen

 And that’s where the best projector screens come in. Although you’ll need to buy the projector separately, the 100 plus inches of the projector screen can only be defined as pure bliss. Projectors are made for serious home theater zealots, people who want more than what the ordinary TV can offer.

Here’s our list of the ten best screen projectors available in the market today to get you ready for the next series of Game of Thrones.

Elite Screens ezFrame 135-inch

As one of the best projector screen manufacturers, Elitescreens offers value for your money. That’s why the Elite Screens ezFrame projector screen tops our list. With this screen projector, you have 135 inches of viewing space. What’s more, with a 16:9 ratio, your view of any type of file will be fabulous. With a 4K Ultra HD and an active 3D projection ready, nothing prepares you for the amazing experience you are bound to have. The projector screen"s frame is coated with black velvet that helps increase the picture contrast as well as absorb the projector’s overshoot.

Setting up this screen projector is quite easy as there are only six pieces that you’ll need to assemble. In addition, the manufacturers have added a sliding wall bracket that helps slide the screen projector in a horizontal manner hence sitting properly in the center of the wall. The screen material is made from AcousticPro1080P3 that makes it acoustically transparent providing a viewing angle of 160-degrees. The transparency of the AcousticPro material makes it suitable for a rear-speaker set-up or hidden-speaker set-up. This makes it breathable giving you a more authentic audio experience. The reproduction of a real-world color is made possible by the matte white surface that gives an amazing color quality. With a two-year warranty, there’s no reason whatsoever why this projector screen shouldn’t be part of your home.

 The Duronic Projector Screen FPS100/43 100-inches

If you’re a Game of Thrones lover and enjoy it best with a group of friends or family, then the Duronic Projector Screen should be your next buy. As a portable projector screen, the Duronic wouldn’t have missed our list of the best screen projectors worth buying. The screen easily lowers and raises into a roller case making it portable. That way, you can carry it along to a friend’s home or your kid’s room for a late-night movie experience.

Its portability is made possible by a carrying handle and weighs only 1.3kgs. Besides, the screen is HD and 3D as well making it perfect for a both home, office, and classroom use. The super white matte used in designing this screen makes it thicker and whiter than most screens in the market. Besides, it’s compatible with all types of 3D or HD projectors. With a 4:3 screen, this projector screen can fit perfectly on your wall. Its set-up is also east and won’t take much of your time.

 Homegear 120-inches Projector Screen

With a 120-inch screen viewing area with 160-degree viewing angle, the Homegear projector screen can be used either at home or at the office. The black edge frames that are 3cm for the viewing area, offering the needed contrast when viewing. Moreover, the screen will enable you to view very vibrant and clear pictures as it comes with three black baked screens.

Its durable screen construction enables you to easily mount it to the wall. But its greatest advantage is the remote control that enables you to control your screen quite easily hence minimal movement from you. The screen can also be easily cleaned by using soap to wipe and comes with a masking border that’s used to enhance the picture contrast.

  VonHaus 90-inch Projector Screen

If you are looking for a multi-purpose projector screen, the VonHaus is one of the best projector screens to fulfill that function. You can use it both at work in the office or at home for watching movies or your favorite series. You can also use it to wow your clients with that awesome PowerPoint presentation.  The VonHaus projector screen can be mounted on a wall or ceiling using anchors and screws. The mounting holes make it easy to dismantle the construction with zero effort.

This projector screen is fully manual. As such, all you will need to do is pull it down using a handle. Worried about it rolling back up? No need. It has a self-locking mechanism that keeps it from rolling up. The black borders that are part of its built help improve the contrast ratio. That means you will be more than happy with the images on the screen. And if you are a lover of high definition pictures, then the 16:9 aspect ratio will be more than welcome. The screen has a gain factor of 1.1 that helps minimize light reflection. Besides, the manufacturers are super confident in their projector screen that they offer a 2-year warranty.

 Jago BELE01 Projector Screen

If you are in the market for an easy to use screen, then you can’t go wrong with the Jago BELE01. It’s quite easy to mount on a wall using anchors or screws and then pulling it down and enjoying the big game or your truly awaited series return. Depending on the screen length, this projector screen is available in different sizes that include: 1:1, 4:3, 16:9 among others. The screen has a three-layer that combines a dense fabric that has a vinyl covering making it crease resistant.

Besides, the screen is HDTV ready due to the black frames on the side that provide a much better contrast ratio. Moreover, the matte white screen for this projector screen has a gain factor of 1.0 which makes it suitable for your home.

 Celexon Home Projector Screen

This projector screen from Celexon has a modest and sophisticated design with a slim frame of only 29mm wide. The frame has a black velvet finishing that has a depth of 10mm. This helps maximize the viewing area and reduces the edge reflections. It has a unique fabric – a nano-diamond structure – that’s been designed specifically for it which allows it to offer a superb image quality, drenched colors and helps eliminate any unnecessary reflections. The cloth enables it to offer high definition resolutions of more than 4K image quality.

Besides, the matte white screen has a gain factor of 1.0 that has a viewing angle of 160 degrees. This makes it perfect for your home or office set-up without it being bulky or overpowering. Regardless of where it’s used, its high-quality design, as well as its sleekness, makes it a sight to behold. With the aid of springs, the fabric is able to stretch inside the frame to guarantee its firmness.

 The Excelvan Portable Projector Screen 120-inch

The Excelvan screen projector is one of the projector screens if you are looking for something that’s portable and can be used both at home, in the classroom or in a conference room. With a viewing angle of 160 degrees and a screen aspect ratio of 16:9, the images displayed on the screen will be beautiful, vibrant and lively to watch. The screen material is made from a PVC composite resin that is smooth with a surface that’s non-deformable. The white matte screen also has a gain factor of 1.1.

This screen is quite easy to set up. However, when opening the package, be careful so as not to wrinkle it. It’s light in weight and uses hanging holes for an easy setup. Additionally, it can be spot cleaned using water and mild soap. However, abrasives should not be used as they will damage the screen. With a 104 by a 58-inch screen, this screen offers you a much-enhanced viewing compared to that of a regular TV.

 BPS Electric Projector Screen

This projector screen has an HD matte white screen with a gain of 1.2 which allows you to have a great colour contrast as well as images that are sharp and bright. The screen material is also triple layered and is designed from black PVC, white PVC, and Terylene fabric. The 120-inch viewing space also makes it a plus for your home. Depending on your viewing, the BPS screen projector has two viewable aspect ratios – 16:9 and 4:3 – with a viewing angle of 170 degrees. The black borders enhance the focus and contrast of your picture.

In addition, it’s easy to install and can be mounted either on the ceiling or on the wall and works perfectly with all projectors. It has an RF remote control that makes it easy for you to operate it. It has a high-quality motor whose design equals no noise. With all the features available on this projector screen, what more would you want?

 Build Excellent Projector Screen

If you are in search of a projector screen that’s suitable for public displays, home theatre, office presentations as well as classroom training, then the Build Excellent is your answer. The matte white viewing surface material helps diffuse the light projected uniformly leaving you with a perfect colour reproduction as well as an amazing visual enjoyment.

With a screen inch of 100 inches, you get a viewing area of 87 by 49-inches and a screen format of 16:9. Besides, the matte white material has a gain of 1.1 which can be cleaned using soap and water. However, do not use abrasives as they’ll destroy the screen. The best part is that it’s easy to install and disassemble.

 Bi-Office Projector Screen

If there’s a projector screen that’s by far the easiest to set up compared to all the ones listed in our review, it’s the Bi-Office projector screen. It has a free-standing tripod that’s sturdy hence no need to worry your head about it falling. The steel case is also quite durable combined with a carry handle and chrome legs.

The matte white surface has a flame-retardant material that can be used with a screen format of 16:9 as well. The screen is also reflective making the projected images look superb. And if you are worried about quality, well you don’t need to. For its price, the quality is definitely on another level.

The post 10 Best Projector Screens appeared first on Serene Media.

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[tomheidiusa]

The 10 Best Tablets of 2018

The 10 Best Tablets of 2018

The market is saturated with thousands of tablets, how do you determine the right one for you? Whether you’re looking for an Android tablet, an iPad or Windows, there are definitely certain factors that you need to have in mind before deciding which ones are the best tablets for you.

Some of the best tablets on our top ten list have been tested by our in-house team to bring you a detailed list that’ll give you options to consider based on your needs and budget. While the Amazon Fire HD 8 makes it to our list as one of the best tablets below the £100 price tag the Apple iPads on our list take it for the more classic tablets. Surface Pro by Microsoft is our darling for a Windows tablet.

 Best TabletsModelEditors RatingViewAmazon Fire HD 8Amazon Fire HD 10Apple iPadAsus 10.1-inch Transformer Mini T102HA-D4-GRLenovo Miix 520 IdeaPadMicrosoft Surface ProApple 10.5-inch iPad ProSamsung Galaxy S3 TabAsus ZenPad 3S 10Lenovo Tab 4 8

 Factors to Consider When Buying a Tablet

While there are several factors to consider when buying a tablet, the below are should be top of your list.

Operating System

Just like your computer, you need to think of the operating system you need for your tablet. Apple iOS, Windows 10 by Microsoft and Google’s Android (including its Amazon variation) are the three main operating systems that you can consider.

Windows is ideal when you need a full-fledged office software with an added keyboard. On the other hand, Android tablets are suitable for eBook readers, media players and are great devices for kids. Certain Android tablets have better specs for their price range than you can get with the iPad. However, if you need a tablet that has a wide range of general-purpose apps, iPads take the crown.

Apple’s range of tablets has an added advantage over the other tablets due to its operating system –  Apple iOS –  for two reasons: it’s very intuitive and clean and has a wide range of apps that you can purchase from your tablet and works well with few exceptions.

A hardware choice from multiple manufacturers that are easy to configure, offer a notification system that’s top-notch, seamless integration with Google applications such as Google Maps, video chat, Gmail and Hangouts, a web browsing experience that’s fast and smooth is what you get when your tablet’s operating system is Google’s Android. Android tablets have an added advantage over the Apple tablets as it offers support for multiple user logins. This enables you to share your tablet with friends and family.

For a more traditional computing experience for your Windows software, Windows 10 is the OS for you. Buying a Windows 10 tablet lets, you run the complete Microsoft Office version. Besides, hardware add-ons and connectivity options for most Windows models are infinite compared to other types of tablets.

Apps

Apps are everything on a tablet. iPad tablets are the best when it comes to third-party apps that have been mainly designed for a touch-screen interface. There’s a vast library of games and programs that have been specifically built for Apple tablets. Apple’s App Store has a collection of apps that are well monitored and has every app that you could possibly think of. If you are shopping for a tablet that has a wide range of apps, your best bet is an Apple tablet.

Although Android has made some major strides in their app list by getting more developers on board and giving more apps that are of high-quality especially on tablets, they still can’t beat Apple. While it’s not easy to give an estimate of the number of optimized Android apps, they could be in thousands. Depending on the size of your tablet, the apps could look different. While an Android phone app may look fitting on a 7-inch tablet, the case may be different for a 9 or 10-inch tablet.

Windows 10 has an impressive list of apps that are over 100,000 as well as touch-screen friendly. Windows’ 10 main advantage is the ability to run millions of prevailing Windows desktop apps. However, some of the apps haven’t been designed for touch screens and may need a mouse or add-on keyboard.

Storage and Screen Size

The storage capacity of your tablet should be a no-brainer. Same to the size. Most people assume that the screen size is the same as the size of the tablet. The truth is, when they say a tablet is 9-inch or 10-inch, that’s the screen size.

Small-screen tablets are considered to be 7-inches while large-screen tablets are considered to be 8.9-inches and above. Samsung’s tablets, Apple’s iPads, and Amazon’s Fire are available in both small and large screens. More to it is the fact that there’s a blurred line between phones and tablets nowadays. Big smartphones – also known as phablets – are defying the need for one to carry another tablet. Case in point, the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S8+.

If you"re planning to use your tablet for web surfing and eBook reading, the screen’s resolution is something you need to factor in as well. The highest resolution right now is from the 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro at 2,732 by 2,048 pixels. Microsoft Surface Pro follows closely behind. If you’re shopping for a 10-inch Android tablet, get one where the screen resolution is 1,280 by 800 pixels.

The one advantage tablets have over laptops is the fact that they are lightweight. While they may not be as light as phones, they are far much better than laptops and much easier to carry around. However, holding a tablet for more than 20 minutes can make your hand tired. Most people prefer placing their tablets on the table or having them propped up when in use. Besides, very few tablets fit into a normal sized pocket. If you’re looking for something that can easily fit your pocket, consider getting a phablet.

Off-device storage (known as Cloud storage) is an alternative for most tablets – OneDrive for Windows, iCloud for iPads and Amazon Cloud Storage for Fire tablets. However, having more storage on onboard storage is always a better option. Photos, music, videos coupled with the apps on your tablets can take up so much space. Most tablets come with microSD memory card slots that allow you to expand the storage of your device.

Cellular vs. Wi-Fi Only Models

Some tablets can only allow for Wi-Fi connection while others have the alternative of cellular connection through your service provider. If a lot of your time will be spent on the go, it’s important to get a model that has a cellular version. This definitely adds the price of the device as you’ll have to pay for the cellular service.

Another option for getting online using your tablet is through your phone’s Wi-Fi hotspot. This option may not work with all tablets, and it’s crucial to ensure that you check with your service provider first. Alternatively, you can but a Wi-Fi hotspot device that won’t drain your phone’s battery.

Tablet Review

The tablets in our review list represent some of the best tablets that we’ve tested in the market – from the operating system to the price range. And with technological advancements, there are more tablets being launched every now and then. As such, we will constantly update our post to keep you up to date. That said, below are some tablets that you can consider when shopping for one. We hope you find something that suits your needs.

Amazon Fire HD 8

If you’re on a budget but still want something that can get the job done, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is your best bet. Retailing below £100, the tablet measures 8.4 by 5.0 by 0.4 inches and is just 13 ounces making it suitable for eBook readers as well as for light gaming.

While there are tablets on our list with higher resolution, the Fire HD 8 isn’t badly off at 1,280 by 800. The tablet operates on Android 5.1 and has 1.5GB of RAM. The tablet has two different storage sizes: 16GB and 32GB with the latter selling at $30 more.

It also has an external slot card for a micro SD card. While its interface may not be anything like Android’s the tablet runs full Android apps letting you have access to hundreds of apps. However, there are certain apps by Google like YouTube and some from Microsoft that are missing. For its price, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is a nice tablet for someone who has other alternatives.

 Amazon Fire HD 10

While the Fire HD 10 isn’t a modification of the HD 8, it sure can feel that way. Weighing 17.4 ounces and measuring 10.3 by 6.3 by 0.4 inches, this tablet is slightly bigger and heavier than the HD 8. While it’s not waterproof or rugged, the Fire HD 10 can survive a couple of dings and knocks, but if buying it for your kid, it’s ideal to get a case for it.

With a 2GB RAM, it runs on Amazon’s latest Fire 5.5 operating system. The RAM gives it a better user interface when compared to the Fire HD 8. You can open multiple tabs when surfing and has a 10.1-inch screen that has a resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 pixels.

When it comes to storage, you won’t need to sweat about that. It has a 32GB internal storage capacity that can be expanded using an external micro SD card of up to 256GB. For a $150, you get a tablet that can enhance your life in so many ways and is definitely worth the price tag.

 Apple iPad

When it comes to Apple iPads, the price is everything. And they are justified as they don’t compromise on quality and have hundreds of thousands of apps designed specifically for their tablets. The Apple iPad and replaces the iPad Air 2 making it bigger and heavier.

The tablet measures 6.6 by 9.4 by 0.3 inches and weighs 1 pound. Although it’s heavier than its predecessor, the difference can only be felt if you pay attention. At 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, the screen measures 9.7 inches and is a little brighter than its forerunner.

The Apple iPad runs iOS 10.3 which is the OS that all new Apple tablets are operating on. Its main camera is 8 megapixels while the front cameras is 1 megapixel. This iPad is suitable for reading, gaming, web browsing and watching of videos. If you’re looking to buy something in the Apple family for a start, consider getting this particular tablet.

 Asus 10.1-inch Transformer Mini T102HA-D4-GR

There’s something about a tablet that can also be used as a laptop with just an add-on keyboard. And similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro, that’s what the Asus Transformer Mini offers. Its glass body is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy giving it a sleek feel on your hands.

Measuring 0.5 by 10.2 by 6.7 inches makes it easy to carry in a bag amongst other documents. It weighs 1.75 pounds with the keyboard attached and 1.18 pounds without. It also comes with a stylus making it easy for you to scribble down notes.

Its resolution, at 1,280 by 800 is typical for most 10-inch tablets. Its screen is bright making it suitable for watching videos on YouTube and Netflix. The best part is that it has 4GB RAM with an internal storage capacity of 128GB. Its battery lasts up to 14 hours giving you ample time to get your work done.

 Lenovo Miix 520 IdeaPad

An upgrade from its predecessor, the Miix 510, there are certain features that underwent some updates to make it qualify on our list of the 10 best tablets of 2018. The Miix 520 also comes with a detachable keyboard and runs on Windows.

The screen resolution is HD at 1,920 by 1,080. The keyboard can be removed when you want to use it in tablet mode. It was designed to compete with high-end tablets/iPads as well as traditional laptops. Most especially, it"s competing with Microsoft Surface Pro and Apple iPad Pro.

This Lenovo tablet looks to give buyers something with multiple features for a fraction of the market price. With a useful stylus and its use of the Intel Core i5 processor, this tablet is ideal if you are looking for something to get the job done both on the go and in the office.

 Microsoft Surface Pro

When it comes to a 2-in-1 tablet, the Microsoft Surface Pro still takes the crown. Designed by the industry leader in office software, its one device that competitors are still trying to create. You can bet that this tablet won’t disappoint. The add-on keyboard feature makes it usable as a laptop in the office as well as a tablet during office meeting presentations or a late client meeting in the evening. Not only is it one of the best tablets out there, a lot of people use this as their main pc as well.

Top of the range model uses the Intel Core i7-7660U, 512GB SSD and a RAM of 16GB.

All the Microsoft Surface Pro models weigh 2.45 pounds with the pen and type cover, 2.41 pounds with the type cover and 1.75 pounds alone as well as measure 7.9 by 11.5 by 0.33 inches. The screen that measures 12.3 inches has a 2,736 by 1,824 resolution making it suitable for reading, surfing the internet and gaming.

Although it’s expensive, this tablet delivers the build and design quality with the overall performance and speed that media professionals,, as well as artists,, desire in their devices. If you’re not tight on cash and want something that’ll stand out, this is the tablet for you.

 Apple 10.5-inch iPad Pro

Apple has taken seven years to develop a laptop-class tablet that can eliminate the need for your laptop. This model succeeds the 9.7-inch model.

The screen’s resolution is at 2,224 by 1,668 pixels and weighs 1.03 pounds. While other tablets stand out for their battery power, this iPad Pro lasts close to seven hours before a need for a recharge. As for the storage, the price goes up depending on your storage needs, but the starting price is $329 for 32GB.

This iPad is fast, stable and powerful. There’s a lot more that you can do with this iPad if you choose to buy it.

 Samsung Galaxy S3 Tab

At 32GB, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Tab is the most powerful Android slate globally and one of the best tablets out there today. This tablet measures 9.35 by 6.65 by 0.23 inches and weighs 15.1 ounces. The 9.7-inch screen has a screen resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 which is similar to the Galaxy S2.

With 4GB RAM, this device runs on Android 7.0 Nougat making it more powerful when it comes to its processing capability. For now, the device operates on Wi-Fi only. The tablet comes with one memory size, 32GB out of which the only available space left when you buy is 18.5GB.  However, you can add a micro SD card of up to 256GB.

Its main highlight is the S Pen. This pen allows you to take notes and make drawings on your documents. Besides, you can also purchase a keyboard and have a mini-laptop when you need to use a keyboard.

 Asus ZenPad 3S 10

If you’re in the market for something that you’d like to use for watching videos and reading eBooks, while not spending a large amount of money, then this is the tablet on our list of best tablets to get for yourself.

Weighing 15.2 ounces, this tablet measures 9.47 by 6.44 by 0.28 inches and has a combination of dual speakers at the bottom that are powerful with a USB-C port. The screen has a 2,048 by 1,536 pixel. Running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, it’s quite fast compared to some of the tablets out there.

However, when it comes to battery life, the Asus ZenPad 3S 10 might not be the best option for you. Still, it’s a good device if you are looking for something that you can watch movies from.

 Lenovo Tab 4 8

This device is not only affordable, but for its price range, it performs remarkably well and has a decent battery life for average media use and easily justifies its position in our list of the best 10 tablets of 2018.

Weighing 10.9 ounces and measuring 8.3 by 4.9 by 0.3 inch, the device is ideal for listening to music or watching videos as well as surfing the internet. Now, it may not have all the feature that high-end devices have, but for its price, it’ll do just fine especially when you are on a tight budget.

The post The 10 Best Tablets of 2018 appeared first on Serene Media.

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[tomheidiusa]

Best Wireless Mouse

If you"re like me, then you definitely carry around your laptop mouse everywhere. But in the 21st century, it’s no longer just any mouse that counts. Gone are the days of the wired mouse. The modern wireless mouse has certainly seen to that.

Computing life has been made so much easier all thanks to one owning a wireless mouse. With it comes the freedom of no wires as you go around your work. While buying a wireless mouse may seem like an easy-to-do task, it’s the opposite.

Wireless MouseEditors ScoreModelBuyLogitech MX MasterLogitech MX Anywhere 2Evoluent VerticalMouseLogitech M570Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500

There are hundreds – if not thousands – of types of wireless mouse to choose from. All of them seeking your attention and wanting you to spend your dollar on them. Besides, some are tailored to suit diverse needs and cost anything from $20 to more than $100. So, how do you choose the best? That’s definitely a subjective question, but with any of our picks below, you most definitely can’t go wrong when it comes to choosing the best wireless mouse for you.

Logitech MX Master

Logitech has had its success with the MX series that has been a high-end mouse in its brand. But with the MX Master, Logitech went all the way when they did an update to one of their most loved MX performance models. While it retained the well-known MX line shape with the unique thumb rest flare, its body has been trimmed and shaped differently to have a higher back.

The scroll wheel now makes it easy to switch between scrolling faster and the friendlier single-scroll. All this without the need to press any physical button. Moreover, it has an additional secondary scroll wheel that lets you use your thumb to scroll horizontally. What’s more, the standard right, left and middle buttons combined with the back, forward and multi-tasting thumb button, all have Logitech’s programmable software.

Even with the re-sculpted look, the inside is what matters.  Besides the newly added rechargeable battery that’s permanent, it’s the only mouse in the market that works over RF wirelessly (using Logitech’s proprietary “Unifying” dongles, with one included) and Bluetooth, permitting dongle-free connection with most new tablets as well as laptops. The mouse’s bottom has an illuminated button that enables you to switch across three different devices without the need for an extra pairing and is connected via Bluetooth or dongle.

Even with all the positives, the MX Master has two drawbacks – the tiny and pointy forward and back buttons and the price tag. If those two are a turn off for you but still want something in the MX series, you can opt for the MX Performance or the MX Anywhere 2.

 Logitech MX Anywhere 2

If your laptop’s touchpad has become unbearable and you are shopping for the best mobile mouse in the market, your search ends now. The MX Anywhere 2 is the answer to your long search. Its designed with a small profile for easy carrying but still large enough to suit your hand. Besides the compact being designed to fit your hand, it also offers sufficient space on its left side to allow for two additional buttons when pressing using your thumb.

Since it"s built for mobile, there isn’t an arsenal of buttons that comes with it. Besides the said thumb buttons, it has a standard right/left click buttons as well as middle clicker positioned behind the wheel. The mouse wheel allows for horizontal scrolling and two tactile-based modes with the left to right tilt. It features a Free-Spin feature for an even spin and has a Click-To-Click feature for bump-based tactile feedback.

There are three ways that you affix your PC with the MX Anywhere 2 – using Logitech’s 2.4GHz wireless Unifying Receiver, Bluetooth or the with the included USB cable. Logitech’s Easy Switch platform found on this mouse makes it possible for you to pair three more compatible mice, with switching made easy through the press of a button at the bottom.

The dots per inch (DPI) sensitivity of the MX Anywhere 2 is between 200 and 4,000. This means that the mouse can be used on any surface – glass included – as the sensitivity has been designed using the Darkfield laser tracking system by Logitech that tracks any surface using a laser.

Designed for active computing, this mouse can last up to 70 days with one charge. It has an inbuilt battery that’s rechargeable. When you notice the battery is low, plug it into one of your laptop’s USB port. There has never been a better mobile mouse than the MX Anywhere 2.

 Evoluent VerticalMouse

When using a mouse, you need it to be efficient as well as comfortable. That’s what the Evoluent VerticalMouse gives you. It takes the shape of a dorsal fin. Your hand is elevated when using this mouse due to the flared base hence allowing for your forearm to be aligned with your wrist. The position has its advantage as it eases physiological stress thus reducing fatigue and the risk of getting the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

The mouse has three main divisions. The wheel and the button on the right-handed model are positioned on the device’s right side while the left side has a rounded indentation that your thumb can rest on. This way, you are able to have a 90-degree grip on the mouse in comparison to a standard mouse. The mouse’s ’top ridge has a series of blue LEDs that show the DPI level when in use.

One disadvantage of the Evoluent VerticalMouse is the lack of a click on the wheel. We can only hope that Evoluent will make changes when they make later changes to the design.

 Logitech M570

Although trackballs are becoming less and less popular, there are still a few that you can find. Even at that, it’s hard finding one that’s wireless. When it comes to a stationary trackball that is standardized with the ball positioned comfortably beneath the thumb instead of protruding under your middle and index finger, the Logitech M570 takes the crown.

The design ensures your fingers are free for clicking buttons on the wireless mouse and has a smartly-placed button browser that keeps your thumb on the ball. The ball requires no extra tabs or pieces for it to pop up and is easy to clean. In addition, it’s compatible with Logitech’s Unifying RF receiver.

 Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500

If you are tight on cash and are still looking for an economical mouse that can work the same way, look no further than the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500. While it may not have customizable accents and adjustable clicks, its wireless and will cost you less than all the other wireless mouse listed above. .

Using Microsoft’s Blue Track Technology, this mouse makes use of both the laser and optical features to track different surfaces. The mouse is also suitable for users that are either right or left-handed. And compared to the other expensive mice on our list, this wireless mouse can be used for close to eight months on a single charge.

The post Best Wireless Mouse appeared first on Serene Media.

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[tomheidiusa]

Why Social Media is an Important Part of Your SEO Strategy

Why Social Media is an Important Part of Your SEO Strategy

Back in the day, the marketing world was ruled by “the old Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”. This was before online marketing and an SEO strategy became a must have for any business besides the usual website presence.

Back then, all your SEO strategy needed to have and be good at was link building. There was nothing like Google penalties leave alone any objective whatsoever. All that mattered was the quantity of your links. Quality wasn’t the name of the game. And so, the higher the links on your site, the higher your website ranked on search engine page results.

Today, link building on its own doesn’t deliver the kind of results most businesses need. It’s no longer about the quantity but the quality. Furthermore, if your links are considered spam, Google will also penalise you which can greatly affect your search ranking in search results. As such, link building shouldn’t be the focus of your SEO strategy. Google has become smart and now uses social media to also measure the popularity of your website.

Having a social media presence is so crucial for any business regardless of whether your company was established before the birth of social media channels or just starting up. It’s now more important than ever to have an online presence than it was in the past. These new strategies need you to interact, engage and be dynamic for your audience. Social media is one of the channels where your business can freely do that.

Here are a few reasons why it’s important for you to include social media in your company’s SEO strategy.

Social media is the fastest way to build your online presence

The thing about link building is that you need content for it. But if your website isn’t ranked on the top pages of search engine results, how will people find you? It’s like creating signs to your website the only problem being that no one is looking. It’s like erecting a billboard on a deserted island.

On the other hand, social media is like a 24-hour battlefield where there’s always certain activities taking place every second. It’s a lively space where social engagement and interaction happens in real time. The real-time activity occurrence is what gives it that extra edge over link building. Therefore, it’s important for your brand to have a presence on different social media channels.

However, it’s important that you share content each day. If you are creating social media for the sake off and aren’t planning to post anything, then you are better off without one. For you to engage your audience and build your presence, you need to be both social and active.

Your social media accounts are the sure way for you to increase your presence online simply because that’s where everyone is. For you to reach the right people, you need to be consistent and build the right buzz for your website and brand. This is important since search engines crawl the world wide web for any content that matches a user’s search. If your social media can give that, then your online presence will have more impact on your business’ bottom line.

You get real traffic from social links

Research has shown that links form any SEO link building strategy rarely bring any new visitor to your site. In fact, it’s estimated that about 95 percent or more of such links bear no results. They basically sit on other websites but have no impact at all.

Google realised that by ranking websites based on the number of links and not quantity, they were allowing websites with junk and spam to fill the web. Most SEO link building companies would build links from sites that would never bring your business any kind of traffic leave alone a potential customer. Instead, to get the work done, they would fabricate links in order for them to boost your search engine ranking. Since Google changed its algorithms, link building no longer works, and by investing in it, you will be throwing away money that you could have invested in something else.

On the other hand, social links have the capacity to generate traffic to your website and increase your followers on your social networks. This means that these people can be converted into your customers and even promote your business.

Link building is just for social proofing

We can’t refute the fact that link building done genuinely can actually work. However, the chances are minimal. Why? Because Google realised that it was very easy to manipulate links than it is to manipulate social media channels.

The whole idea of Google using links to rank websites was considered as a vote for your site. This meant that the more links you had to your website, the more credible your website was. For some SEO companies to make money and prove that they were working, they began building links manually. Google, in an attempt to counter the fake links, figured that some links should matter more than others.

Yet again, SEO companies started shopping for websites that would give businesses the best votes or links. With this realisation, Google introduced the penalty and begun penalising websites with too many links that were of poor quality.

The manipulation of links is what made the link building process lack merit and hence why it isn’t effective anymore. Google has, therefore, had to rely on social media channels for social proofing since they are difficult to manipulate.

Your link building can be crowdsourced on social media

The thing about having a social media account is that you get followers who are into your brand and can like, comment and share your content. After all, how else will social media live up to its social name without those elements? This can be a big part of your SEO strategy.

Most companies have invested in blogs where they are able to write and share their own content. These blog posts can then be shared on social channels like Twitter and Facebook where page followers can then share them. Businesses can also make it easier for their followers to share their content from their website by adding social buttons. This way, once someone reads the content from your site they can choose what social channel to share it to, WhatsApp included.

The more people read and share your content the more interest it creates which helps increase your online presence, amass followers and boosts your page ranking – an essential part of your SEO strategy.

Social signals

You must have come across social signals at one point or another. And if you are yet, no need to worry, we will explain what it is.

Social signals are likes, pins, votes, shares and views that people place on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social sites that are then filtered out to the numerous search engines. That said, Google now uses your social media channels to measure your website’s activities. Do you frequently share content on your social media channels? How many times do people visit your website in search of social channels? How many followers/fans do you have? Are there social sharing elements on your website for visitors?

All the above factors used by Google is making social signals take over link building. Your focus needs to shift from building links to how healthy your presence is on social media. Why? Because company social media accounts act as a second customer service department. It’s where most people go to reach out to brands and products they use when they have questions or complaints. This helps build trust among customers who then give positive reviews on sites like Google Local.

The number of positive reviews your website gets plays a key role especially in local search engine rankings by Google. This simply means that Google uses online reviews from social media sites like Facebook to rank and index your site.

Social media helps you avoid Google penalties from link building

As mentioned earlier, a poorly done link building process can make Google penalise your website. It’s quite clear that Google doesn’t like aggressive link building. That’s why Google came up with the penalty in order to “punish” websites that were using fake links in order to rank high on SERPs.

These penalties are based on:

Use of wrong directories to link build

Using backlinks from shoddy sites

Blog comments spamming

Anchor texts and content that’s overoptimized

Too many ads on your website

Besides, Google is always updating their algorithm to make sure that websites abide by their rules. If your site is a party to any of the above pointers and you realise you no longer appear in the top searches of Google, just know that you are being penalised.

However, your social media can help you avoid getting penalised. All you need to do is ensure that your content marketing strategy is in sync with your social media strategy. This way, you will be able to build natural links that are real and most sought after by search engines which will help get your website rewarded.

Google+ is a Google darling

This is a no-brainer. After all, Google+ is a brainchild of Google itself. As such, Google will always factor in your Google+ presence. This means that just like any other social media account you have, your Google+ page can’t be dormant.

If you have a Google+ account, ensure that you at least post something more often on your profile or on other Google+ communities. By making these posts, you will be indirectly telling Google that you deserve to be ranked high on their search engine.

Tips on How to Boost Your Social Media

There’s no doubt that social media needs to be part of your SEO strategy. The seven pointers above are a clear indication. But what can you do to ensure that your social media is working for you?

Be active

There’s no way around this. Don’t just sit and expect your social media to rank in search engines or get followers if you aren’t sharing or posting anything. If you don’t have the resources, you can get a freelancer from sites like Upwork to ensure there’s always content that’s shared.

Encourage customer feedback

Your number one way of creating engagement on social media is through your followers. Encourage them to give feedback and write reviews about your products and services.

Use visual content

Visual content like infographics are a great way for sharing content. People are flooded with text content everywhere, and they want to put them off. An infographic is a good way for you to attract people and have them share it with friends.

Video marketing

Video marketing is the new thing. From live videos to YouTube videos, video marketing is a great and interesting way to share your content with your audience. However, ensure that your videos are short as most people first consider the length of a video before they decide on whether they’ll watch it.

Contests and giveaways

This is a great way of creating engagements and getting more followers. People like getting gifts and wouldn’t mind taking part in a contest on social media. To even make it more interesting, contests, where users have to get their friends to like or share their photos or posts, will always give you high engagement.

Show your personality

People want to have a personal connection with your brand. They want to know that there are actual people who exist behind your company’s logo. There are various ways that you can achieve this. Sharing live videos of your team working or answering your customer’s questions live is a great way to achieving this. This way, people connect with your brand on a more personal level.

Conclusion

In this day and age, there’s no denying that social media plays a very vital role in the success or failure of a business and its SEO strategy. You do it right, and you will enjoy the benefits of it.

As you start working on being more active on your social media channels, remember that you need to use clean tactics that will help boost your business and not get it penalised. Everyone is on social media. Position your brand, products or services to the right people, with the right SEO strategy and you will never look back.

 The post Why Social Media is an Important Part of Your SEO Strategy appeared first on Serene Media.

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/social-media-an-important-part-of-seo-strategy/

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[tomheidiusa]

How to Drive Local Traffic to Your Website by Getting to the top of Local Search

How to Drive Local Traffic to Your Website by Getting to the top of Local Search

How to drive local traffic to your website. If your business doesn’t appear on the first page of a Google search result, it’s hard for people to find you. This means that you won’t get as much traffic to your website as you’d wish.

Small businesses are usually greatly affected by this. Why? Because one thing they have in common is smaller budgets. At the same time, they are competing for the same visibility with big brands that are well known and that have already established a footprint. However, all hope isn’t lost. Google is known to be supportive when it comes to small businesses and have developed multiple tools and policies to enable companies – both big and small – to fight on an even ground to get to the top rankings of their search engine results page (SERP).

One such way is the local search that most small businesses can leverage on to get to the top results page. However, before your business can start appearing at the top of the first-page ranking, there are several steps that you have to do to get you there. Follow these steps and you will soon learn how to drive local traffic to your website.

In this blog article, we will break down the local pack for you, and hopefully, your company can leverage the local search better and start witnessing some great results. And just like any search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, even the local search doesn’t work overnight. It takes more time to build and get you to the top. Patience, in this case, is key.

What is a Local Pack?

For search engines to provide users with a better experience, they use a user’s location. We no longer live during the days when you would type in ‘’Emergency Electrician” and end up with results from the east coast to the north coast.

Search engines nowadays use people’s Geolocation and IP address to give users the best possible results for their search. Local search optimisation enables you to enjoy the benefits of local search visibility on the SERPs. A local pack is triggered when someone makes a specific search for a service or business in a certain location. Local packs are a list of businesses that offer their products or services in a certain locality giving search engines an additional layer of search results.

A local pack will not only give your business extra opportunities but more visibility as well. There are two main types of Local Pack also referred to as Local Finder. The two types usually have the same information with a slight difference. This is a great way to drive local traffic to your website.

Local Teaser

This type of local pack is mostly used by entertainment, dining and hospitality companies. When they show up on the search engine results pages, there’s usually a phone number, photo but no link to the website.  However, if you opt to click to any one of the search results, you will get to see a map showing other businesses with a link that takes you to their site.

Local Finder

The Local Finder happens to be one of the most used Local Pack. The main difference between the Local Finder and the Local Teaser is that the Local Finder has a link on the SERP. On the search results, you will find about two to three businesses whose contact details and other important details are available. This result will show the business name, address, phone number (NAP), star rating and business hours.

Importance of a Local Pack

Whenever a person makes a local search, a Local Pack appears 93 percent of the time in the number one spot and 46 percent of all searches made on the Google search engine. If your business is fully optimised for a local search on Google, you stand a high chance of constantly ranking at the top of the SERP making your business more visible to your audience.

Research from ThinkWithGoogle has shown that more searches with ‘near me’ have since 2011 increased 34 times with the highest searches as mentioned coming from smartphones. At the same time, 18 percent of people who make local searches on their mobile phones make a purchase the same day while 50 percent visit a store.

So, what exactly does this mean for small businesses? The more you appear on local searches, the more prominence and visibility your business gets. By appearing in the local pack, you will be driving direct traffic to your website which leads to increased revenue and lead generations.

A Local Pack can be very beneficial whether being used offline or online. It leads to increased traffic to your website as well as improved SEO outcomes. This way, small businesses can go ahead and outshine large corporates since Google’s bottom line is giving users the best results possible by pushing more local content for them.

Besides increased traffic, the online Local Pack benefits also include new customers and increased revenue as earlier mentioned. Local inquiries show up on Google’s first page and as we all know, rarely do users go past the first page. Furthermore, 78 percent of local mobile searches lead to most offline purchases.  Besides, a local study by Moz showed that while 44 percent of users clicked on the Local Pack results, 29 percent clicked through the organic listings, 19 percent the paid results and 8 percent refreshed for more local search results.

How to Make Your Business Rank for the Local Pack

Although Google continues to update its algorithms, there are so many factors that are taken into consideration despite the fact that you will only stress yourself out trying to figure out how to it works. However, experts say for you to get your business to rank on the Local Pack, three things play a significant role: Your Business Information also referred to as Google My Business Listing, Website Optimization and Online Reviews.

Google My Business Listing

Any business that needs to appear in the Local Pack needs to create a Google My Business Listing. There is no way you can make it to the top result page on Google if you lack this. The first stage is creating the page on Google and claiming your business. Once you have claimed your business, you will need to verify it and then begin optimising it to enable Google’s web crawlers to find you.

The information that goes to your Google My Business Listing is what enables Google to give the best possible answers to users. They ensure that everything that they show on the search results pages completely answers the searcher’s questions.

Google uses things like keywords, distance and category to do this. It’s therefore important that your listing is filled to a 100 percent and that all your information relating to your business is the same across the internet. If not, Google can punish you by removing you from the search engine results page.

Once you have created a Google My Business Listing, ensure that your NAP – Name of Business, Address of Business, Phone Number of Business – are right as they play a key role when you begin optimising your business for local searches.

When optimising your listing, ensure that the category, business hours, URLs, business hours, reviews, insights, photos, posts and business attributes are all correct and in sync. This you can do by managing your business’ citations.

Business Citations Management

A citation means that besides your business information being solely on your website, it’s also available on another website. A good example is a business directory listing. Such citations are either free or paid for. Most citations include the name of the business, address, contact information and a link to the official website. While some directories might allow you to write a brief description, others will have a call to action. Google needs consistency. For this to happen, you need to ensure your information is the same across multiple platforms. When building citations, ensure your website is linked to sites that are of high authority and relevance lest you get punished by Google for having low-quality citations that can massively affect your website’s ranking.

Web Optimization

Any small business that needs to rank on Google’s Local Pack needs to fully understand what Google looks at. There are three key things: relevance, distance and prominence or industry authority.

Relevance

Google’s definition of this is how well does any of the displayed listing match what a searcher is looking for. Having a completely filled out Google My Business Listing greatly helps users find the relevant information they are looking for.

As you’ve already listed your business’s address, all you will need to do is optimise your business location or service area page within your website.

Distance

For this to work, you need to use the right keywords. Each search result needs not be far from the location used. If your business doesn’t specify a search location, Google will do it on your behalf based on what it knows.

Prominence

The more prominent your business is, the more authoritative it is, and the more Google will always show it in top results. For your business to be prominent, several things are factored in. These include your articles, citation on directories as well as like links. Google tries to have a 360-degree understanding of your business to improve search results for users. You can build your links using inbound and outbound links as well as online references.

Online Reviews

Although your business will not always get positive reviews, still there is reason enough for you to get people to leave reviews for your business. Of course, negative reviews can be detrimental to your business, but you can choose to hide what reviews people see and which ones they don’t.

Online reviews are quite important when it comes to the Local Pack. Google considers the quantity of the review, velocity and diversity. Besides, Google reviews have a direct impact on the search engine ranking. If your business manages to get the most reviews, Google will automatically rank you at the top of the list.

A study on the on Google reviews and their impact on the visibility of search engines gave some interesting data.

The listing with the most reviews is usually 63 percent of the time on Google’s Local Three-Pack result.

Listings on the first three-pack average at least 472 percent more reviews than those listed on the second three-pack.

The three local listings at the top tend to have more reviews than the combined next three results.

The average listing on Google’s top three local results is 7.62 reviews while that on the second three-pack stands at a mere 1.61.

The above statistics is clear proof that Google reviews have a large impact on Google’s algorithm by influencing its decision-making process. Most consumers who do local searches are usually interested in buying a product or service.

Getting your business to rank in the top local searches can be a huge boost for your business online on the Local Pack. However, you need to remember that the Local Pack will list you and two of your competitors. What guarantee do you have that that consumer will pick your business and not that of a competitor? Yes, the online reviews.

As long as the reviews reflect positively on your brand, you will no doubt have a multitude of interested customers ready to buy and leave more positive reviews if your services are beyond their expectations. What this simply means is that your business can’t afford to not have an active Google review page. Besides, reviews tend to have more clicks as people want to know what other consumers are saying about your company, brand, products or services.

Once you’ve listed your business, it’s time to start getting in those reviews.

Final Thoughts on How to drive Local Traffic

If you are just coming across the Local Pack terminology today, it’s not too late to start implementing the above strategies and getting your business to where it needs to be. And if you think your SEO is enough, remember all the good perks that come with your business being on Google’s Local Pack. Armed with your Google My Business Listing, nicely optimised website and online reviews, there’s no need for you to lag behind and you will soon be learning how to drive local traffic to your website.

  The post How to Drive Local Traffic to Your Website by Getting to the top of Local Search appeared first on Serene Media.

from https://serenemedia.co.uk/how-to-drive-local-traffic/

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[tomheidiusa]

10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing

10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing

With a society that is more visual than ever, video marketing is and continues to be a big deal. In fact, the brain processes video content 60,000 times faster than text. Here we check out 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing.

Businesses are seriously investing and making use of video marketing to connect with their customers, generate leads and come up with innovative ideas.

In fact, it’s becoming a great marketing tool such that this year alone, more than 60 percent of small-business owners and marketers will invest most of their marketing budget into video marketing. And this move is, of course, worth it. Why? Because 92 percent of people who view videos share them with friends.

This clearly shows that video marketing is no longer an up and coming thing but something that is already here with us. People receive too many messages in text format. From emails to newspapers and the list goes on and on. So, in order for you to be seen and heard, video content is the way to go.

Although most video marketers are already investing in it, it’s not uncommon to hear some say that they are still trying to come up with more ideas in order for them to generate great content.

Of course, no one wants to make videos that won’t get any views. Still, the ideas are around us if we just paid attention. So, whether you are new to the video creation world or a pro, here are 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing that you can use for your business.

Customer Video Testimonial

Number one on our list of 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing is customer testimonial videos. Most companies that have done their own video testimonials for their products haven’t gotten the best return on investment. Why? Because people see it as another marketing gimmick. However, for your videos to be a success, there needs to be an emotional connection with your audience and how best to do this than to have your customers give video testimonials.

Research has shown that your customers can help sell your products or services much better than your in-house staff would do. This is because they’ve used the products and believe in it and wouldn’t mind sharing their experience with others. By interviewing your happy clients or making a short video of their feedback, you will basically be marketing your services through your consumers. This, of course, creates a personal and emotional connection with your potential customers.

User-generated Content

It’s no make believe that marketers do a great job when it comes to storytelling. However, as stated earlier, customers are more effective and convincing. User-generated content (UGC) is becoming more popular by the day. This is where showcase how they are using certain products they purchased. UGC is not only convincing but more powerful than most traditional marketing videos.

As a marketer, you can ask customers to come up with user-generated content. Run contests where you can incentivise your customers through monetary or gift rewards. UGC is also a great way for you to get customer testimonial videos. You can ask them to create videos or take photos of how they use certain products and give reasons as to why they choose your brand. Such content can then be shared on marketing emails, social media platforms and on your landing page.

Besides, a good social media platform to run such contests is on Instagram. Companies like BMW and Wayfair Home Stores are good in getting their customers to create user-generated content under the hashtags #bmwrepost and #wayfairathome. The fact that the videos aren’t done professionally makes UGC more authentic and credible.

How-to and Tips Videos

You need to choose your subject with care. People are fed up with content that is more marketing-related. In fact, such content whether text or video, have very few readers or viewers. Choosing subjects or topics where you get to solve people’s problems with how-to-videos is a great way to go about your video content ideas.

For instance, is you have a product that can be used in multiple ways, you can come up with a how-to-video on the different ways that your products can be used. On the other hand, you can give them tips or ideas on how they can get the best results from using your products.

When it comes to tips and how-to-videos, your blog can be a good place for ideas since more often than not, you’ve written about such things. In this case, it’s just turning them from text to videos. However, avoid talking too much about how good your products are as this is a good way of losing customers.

KISS – Keep It Simple & Short

Number four on our list of 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing is one of the most important. The first thing people do when videos pop up on their feeds is to check the length of their videos. After which they deliberate on whether it’s worth pressing play or not. Still, even after pressing play, most will abandon the videos halfway and continue scrolling through more content. Nowadays, it’s hard to get people’s attention.

Them watching your video is determined by the length first and not the content unless it’s very interesting. What does this mean for your business? The shorter your videos are, the better. If possible, keep your videos at a maximum of 15 seconds unless they are super interesting. However, it can be hard to do this. Studies have shown that the length of your video may vary depending on the platform if you are to get the best results.

According to data from HubSpot, for your videos to get relevant and actionable views, consider optimising the length as follows based on the different social media channels. 30 seconds for Instagram, 45 seconds for Twitter, 60 seconds for Facebook and two minutes for YouTube.

Also, when it comes to videos, consider including subtitles. Today, more than 80 percent of videos are watched on smartphones whether one is in the office, on the train back home or on a plane. In such instances, it’s always not convenience to have sound on, but with subtitles, your audience can still get to watch your videos.

Screencast Videos

If you offer online services, screencast videos are a great way to show your audience how to use the platform. This option is not only effective but affordable as well. You can choose to purchase screencasting tools or make use of the free ones. You, will, however, need to invest in a good podcast microphone.

For screencast videos, you will need to come up with a script on what you will be presenting to your users. You can make a PowerPoint presentation or capture your computer screen output. Once you have this ready, all you will need to do is turn on your screencast tool and begin narrating on your microphone as you would give a talk to a live gathering. Once done, you can upload your video to whatever video-sharing website your company uses.

However, if you prefer to host your website videos on Wistia or Vimeo, make sure you have a YouTube account as well with the same videos. Besides linking the videos back to your website in the description for SEO purposes, YouTube has one billion unique visitors each month who spend an average of four billion hours watching videos.

A screencast is ideal if you have a limited marketing budget and nothing left to spend on quality cameras.

Product and Feature Demos

This is another excellent way to demonstrate to your customers how your products or certain features work. There are some products that people will definitely need demos to know how they work or function. This makes it easier for people to fix them or use them without calling your customer care representatives.

Demos are an ideal way of demonstrating how your new products or features work. By showing your customers how your products work means giving them a presentation that solves their problems and makes them understand better your products. Even though screencasts are also ideal for demos, it’s best to give it a personal connection and put a face on it by having someone talking on camera.

If you choose the latter, it’s important that you invest in a good teleprompter that will make you look at the camera and avoid ‘shifty eyes’. Besides the fact that it’s portable, the Parrot Teleprompter is of great value as it can be used with a standard DSLR camera and smartphone.

Products demos are effective in that they can be of value to both existing and new customers when selling to them or when shared on YouTube to generate new business leads.

Live Videos

Besides social media platforms like Facebook making live video free, it’s also a fantastic way of interacting with your audience. This is a great way of building your community online and should not miss in your video marketing strategy. After all, all you need to live stream is a stable internet and a high definition camera for superior quality.

This is an intimate way of interacting with your audience. They can ask questions on the comment section which you can answer. It’s also an amazing way of showing behind the scenes kind of stuff or how your organisation works. Showing your audience, the inside of your organisation is a great way of baring yourself open to them. You can also have your Chief Executive Officer have a quick chat with his followers, especially if he has a large following.

Behind-the-scenes Videos

Most musicians have adopted the art of shooting behind-the-scenes videos into the production of some of their greatest hits. Same goes for movie projects. In fact, some of these behind-the-scenes videos get more views on YouTube than some artiste’s songs.

This a neat way of showing your audience and loyal fans an exclusive perspective on your product, service or something that they might know about your brand. This can either be done through a live video or a pre-produced video. Such video content will not only help you generate leads for your business and create audience interaction but can also help in conversions.

Expert Q&A Videos

Again, not all your video marketing content should come from you. Besides your customers, there are other ways you can generate content. One such way is through expert Q&A short videos. Depending on your industry, you could track down an expert to answer questions on a particular topic. This way, it’s not all about you and your company.

Not only is it a useful content idea, but you will be able to build correlations with other thought-leaders. For example, if your business serves the needs of startups, you could have an investor answer a few questions on how startups can get funding for their business. Such a video could then be shared with startup executives on your mailing list who are looking for investors.

Thank You Videos

You might laugh at this idea, but it’s definitely worth trying. Thank you, videos can actually be very short. Let’s say your brand gets a million followers on Facebook or Instagram, and you can create a short video thanking your followers. Also, if you notice you have a few loyal fans who always comment or share your posts on your social media platforms, you can do a thank you video and mention their names.

This will not only make your customers feel valuable but will also be a great way to show them that you care and notice them too.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are so many ideas that you can choose from when it comes to video content generation. Still, the above isn’t an exhaustive list. You can generate more ideas by listening to your customers and giving them what they need instead of what you think they want. If possible, even address some of their most pressing issues through video live videos.

Video marketing continues to be an effective marketing tool for small and large businesses alike. In 2017 alone, 74 percent of all traffic from the internet will be from videos. So, what are you waiting for? Make use of our 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing. It’s never too late to start your video marketing campaigns.

 The post 10 Ideas for Great Video Marketing appeared first on Serene Media.

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[tomheidiusa]

The Importance of Keyword Research

The Importance of Keyword Research

The existence of credible internet marketing tools has made today’s business landscape a very interesting territory for brands, services and products that want to succeed and leave their mark online. The importance of keyword research can’t really be overstated, and here we look at ways this can be done and some of the tools that can help you.

Having effective tools that help boost your internet marketing gives you an opportunity to reach a much wider and bigger market that no traditional marketing method would, especially for a brick and mortar venture. Therefore, search, ranks at the top of the list of the tools that can help bring lots of traffic to your site.

Whenever someone needs information about your product or service or needs to find more details before they make a purchase, 81 percent of the time they will rely on their search engine results pages. Furthermore, most of them will not even go beyond the first page and will usually click the first top three links. As an entrepreneur building a presence online for your business, your focus needs to be on ranking high up on search engine page results as possible if you are to survive the online marketplace.

And of course, with all that pressure, it’s quite easy to take for granted the importance of keyword research especially if you are new to the online space and have limited resources.

So, What Exactly is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the practice of studying and selecting words and phrases that your users will most likely search for on any given search engine that relates to your brand, services or products.

In short, a keyword is a term, phrase or word that a user keys in on their search engine to look up information either on Google, Bing, Yahoo or any other available search engine of their choice. Keyword research is how we ensure that we have our ears to the ground and are listening to our customers. Moreover, keyword research isn’t a one-off deal but an exercise that is done regularly.

For instance, if you are an advertising firm located in London, it would make lots of sense if someone is searching for ‘London advertising firm’ finds your firm listed on the user’s search engine results. However, for this to happen, you will need more than keywords. Your website must be optimised around these keywords to allow the search engine’s ‘spiders’ to crawl up the internet and dig this information.

As you think about keyword phrases for your site and why indeed it’s important, remember that we are Social and Hootsuite published a report this year that showed that half of the world’s population are using the internet.

Imagine that! A whooping 3.77 billion people are on the internet and that 50 percent of the global web traffic comes from mobile phones. This clearly shows that today, the internet is the most important avenue for reaching people and the importance of keyword research for your business. And even though your business can reach its audience online, you need to understand how to avail your content to them.

Why is Keyword Research Important?

For you to get high rankings on the internet, you need to start by finding the right sets of keywords. These keywords are what you will use in your internet marketing campaigns.

9 out of every ten users will look for information that they need on search engines. As mentioned earlier, they will type in a phrase or word that relates to what information they seek. That word or phrase is what we call a keyword. Let’s assume the user is using Google. Once the user clicks search, Google’s algorithms will filter through the mammoth amount of analysed and indexed web pages by its ‘spiders’. The ‘spiders’ are usually a software that crawls through each and every content of the various web pages that Google then matches with the keyword being searched for.

Keywords, therefore, play a very important role in matching content from your website to what your audience or customers are looking for. The chosen keyword phrases for your business needs to target the right traffic to your website – traffic that gets you conversions in terms of paying customers. Using the wrong set of keyword phrases will attract traffic that won’t bring any Return on Investment (ROI) let alone have a positive contribution to your business’ bottom line.

If your business is to succeed online, you can never ignore or not implement keyword research in your marketing campaigns. Keyword research is the single most important aspect of any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or internet marketing campaign. Why is my keyword research important? You might be asking yourself. Here’s why:

Tied to all your online activities

As mentioned earlier, both online users and search engines rely on keywords to find your website’s content. Whether it’s your website, blog, paid advertising or online marketing, everything needs to be tied to keyword phrases that relate to your business.

Right keywords result on high ranking on search engines

Using the wrong keywords will only have a negative impact on your business. It means you are pulling the wrong crowd and since they aren’t the right audience, they won’t buy. In short, it’s like having the wrong phone number, website link and wrong address in all your marketing materials.

Keyword and SEO

Keywords and SEO go hand in hand. Keywords need SEO and SEO need keywords for them to give you the best possible results you need.

Until you find the right keywords and phrases that will get your business the results you need, you won’t be able to optimise your site efficiently for search engines. For you to develop a successful online campaign, your keyword research and SEO must marry.

However, keywords keep changing based on what users want. As such, as a business, you need to ensure you are up to date with the latest keyword searches related to your business. Furthermore, you need to constantly update your keyword list and not just target words and phrases that are only popular.

Understand your audience

The thing about keyword research is that it enables you to discover and ascertain what it is exactly your customers are after.

For example, if you own a shoe store and sell five different designer shoes and realise that most of your clients only search for one specific shoe design, you can optimise your site using keywords that relate to that particular shoe. This will make it easy for your clients to find you and they can look at the other shoe designs you have.

What that simply means, is that your audience have allowed you to know what it is they want and by using those keywords, you show that you know what they need and that is what you are giving to them.

How to do Keyword Research

Once you begin to realise the importance of keyword research, you might wonder how it can be done efficiently to ensure you have covered all bases. Keyword research lies at the heart of every successful online marketing campaign. A few words that describe the content of your website makes up your keyword phrases.

The rule of thumb is using keywords that majority of people use when making searches online and yet used by a small number of your competitors. Having the right keywords means you are halfway into winning the battle but targeting those keywords rightfully means having a higher ranking on search engines and free organic traffic to your site.

How then can you achieve this?

Have an initial list of keywords

If you own a business, you can come up with an initial list of keywords. How, you ask. By putting yourself in the shoes of your targeted audience. Think of your brand, services or products and think of what you would search for if tables were turned and you were the customer looking to buy your own products. Here, you can use your own judgement to try and see what people would actually search for when it comes to the service or products you offer. Try to answer the what, where, whey, how and other probable questions your visitors may use.

Use keyword research tools

There are plenty of free and paid tools available on the internet that you can use to do your keyword research. Keyword research tools not only help your campaign but also help you filter through the initial keyword list you’d come up with. This way, you are able to identify which phrases are good when it comes to relevance and demand for search results. A good example of two great tools for your keyword research is the SEMrush and LongTailPro. We love the two tools not only because they are great when it comes to finding keywords but because they both have a list of features that work best for marketers or SEO specialists. Moreover, LongTailPro is the best long tail keyword search available in the market.

Use keywords suggestions to improve your shortlist

After the two steps above, you will need to refine your chosen keyword list. You can do this by making use of keyword suggestions to improve your shortlist by use of the keyword research tool you are using. For instance, if you are using the SEMrush tool, it can help you improve your shortlist by giving you better insights on how your targeted visitors add, remove or arrange words when they are doing an actual search. However, when perfecting your keyword phrases pick, you need to ensure that the final list just doesn’t relate to your site content but fully describes all that your content is about.

Broad keywords

Even though broad keywords work, businesses need to be careful when using them. Moreover, broad keywords tend to have lots of competition, and you risk attracting visitors that may not be the right target market for your campaign leading to a loss of revenue. Businesses that target customers globally stand a good chance in hacking broad keyword use. For example, “nail parlours” might work for a business that has several stores and has a presence in several countries. If, however, your business is located in one town, adding the specific town or state to your keyword phrase, e.g. “Manchester nail parlours” or “nail parlours in Manchester” can result in better brand visibility and a more targeted result. Use of specific search phrases can have a net positive impact on your business’ bottom line. This will not only lead to customer conversions but will also help with the ranking.

Product specific keyword searches

Most businesses offer more than one type of product or service. These are usually classified and put under different categories. As such, when performing keyword searches, it’s important to factor in all these categories. You can choose to target a specific service or product. Although it might be strenuous, especially for those with e-commerce sites that feature various categories, it will be worth your while. Having targeted keyword phrases that relate to specific products will increase your chances of engaging the right customers for the precise kind of services or products featured in a certain category.

Long Tail Keywords

When doing keyword research, you need to make use of long tail keywords. Long tail keywords don’t usually have lots of searches. However, anyone using a long tail keyword to perform a search means that they have a specific problem that they need an exact solution to. What does this mean for your business? It means that you also need to focus on researching long tail keywords that users may use when searching for content related to your business. By targeting several long tail keywords, you will be able to generate lots of traffic to your website. A useful tool to use for this is the Long Tail Pro we had earlier mentioned. Businesses or brands can get their long tail keyword phrases by adding more words to the already existing keywords. Using our previous example, “Manchester nail parlour” your long tail keyword phrase would be “who is best nail parlour in Manchester” or “find the best nail parlours in Manchester”. Most SEO experts usually use long tail keywords in blog postings so as to rank high up when it comes to SERPS. As a brand, you can never go wrong using a long tail keyword for your business.

  Bottom Line – The Importance Of Keyword Research

As mentioned earlier, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your audience and think of what they’d look for. Keyword research is an essential part of your online marketing campaign strategies. The better your keyword, the better results you get on search engines and the better conversions you are able to get from the right customers.

The post The Importance of Keyword Research appeared first on Serene Media.

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[tomheidiusa]

Why Website Design is Important

Why Website Design is Important

Are you content with your business’ website and wondering why your competitors keep paying and updating the design of their website?

For you, it’s enough that it’s functional and you don’t really care about the design. Well, this isn’t simply the case. There is nothing that is as important as your website design when it comes to your online presence. Even at that, you don’t have to spend a huge amount of money to get your website looking fresh and easy to navigate. All you need to do is find a web design style that works for you.

Of course, choosing to give your website a facelift comes with certain doubts. Your designer has told you that it will help your business generate revenue. Somehow you are still not fully convinced. However, studies have shown that well-designed websites are able to generate good customer traffic as well as increase conversion rates due to the improved user experience.

Moreover, designing a website is no longer a service but an art. Why, you may ask. Because it’s pretty much easy for anyone to put up a website in a matter of hours. What with the many tutorials and templates available online. Still, the question you need to ask yourself is whether it will deliver the right message and have a professional look altogether. Only a professional can ensure that your website is not only polished but functional as well.

Website Design is an Investment

Designing a website for your business or doing a facelift also pays off in terms of return on investment (ROI). Furthermore, it’s not an expense, but it’s an investment as it will go a long way in helping your brand building.

It’s therefore important that you hire a professional freelancer or firm to work on your web design if you don’t have an in-house expert. As mentioned, the design of your website isn’t an expense but is an investment. As such, you don’t want to pay someone to work on it and have them do a shoddy job that’ll leave you questioning your decision for a very important reason.

A professional and experienced web designer will usually advise on what’s needed and create one that is functional and gives the best user experience.

However, you can also consider having focus groups that can help you understand areas that need improvement on your website. For example, if you are a shoe company and you get very high bounce rates from your analytics, you can consider having a group of five people who are your target audience and taking them through each step until the purchase point. Observe whether they find it easy to navigate and whether everything makes sense. This is an ideal way to collect feedback and improve the user experience.

Why the Design of Your Website Matters

But how can the design of a website alter the success of my business? You ask yourself. There are plenty of reasons why a well-built website is crucial for your business. It will not only attract the right audience for your business but will also act as an avenue for lead generation and increased sales revenue.

Below are some of the reasons why your website design plays a very crucial role in the success or failure of your business.

Navigation

There is nothing as important as your website’s navigation. It’s what can make or break your site especially if your site has multiple pages. Navigation simply means that your website has an index of labels or a navigation bar that separates the pages on the website.

Your website should have a good navigation that can easily be manoeuvred by users. Simply put, your website’s navigation needs to be as flawless as it possibly can be. Any user should be able to travel through the entire site without a glitch. It’s easy for designers to get carried away with fancy designs.

However, complex navigation minimises the ease of use for most clients. Also, if people find it hard to navigate the pages of your site, you are losing out on potential leads and clients as most people abandon a website if they can’t find the information they seek due to the navigation.

Your website’s navigation is also important when it comes to your search engine optimisation (SEO). Rule of thumb: ensure that you think through the design of your website as if you were the client.  How easily would you want to find the information? Where would you place all the content you have? Remember, your website’s navigation needs to be so intuitive that your grandparents can make sense of it.

Brand building and consistency

People have most likely interacted with your company and are well aware of your brand colours, logos etc. No one would want to go online and see something different.

Brand building needs consistency both online and offline. You need to ensure that your stay true to your colour schemes, messaging and logos. Even if you rebrand, all your company presence needs to be the same and not have your website having the old details and the billboards the new ones.

The layout and fonts you use on your website are also very crucial. People searching through websites online for information are usually impatient, and little things like this can cost you a client or a potential lead. Ensure that your typeface guidelines, format and style are the same across all pages on your site.

It’s very important for your clients to recognise your brand regardless of the communication channel you are using. Too much inconsistency can leave your loyal and new customers questioning your credibility. And as we all know, building a brand requires a lot of work and sweat. You don’t want to lose the trust of your client because of something you can control.

Credibility

Your web design gives your business the credibility most users seek. As you are aware by now, most users will go online to research a company or business before making a purchase.

In fact, 81% of shoppers research a company online before they buy anything. This means that they want first to verify that your business is genuine and read through the review and comment sections. A well-designed web is therefore important for your online presence. The fact that a user can go online and find all the info they are after is a boost to your brand and helps them build trust with your business.

However, if you lack a website or your website’s design isn’t attractive or appealing, you stand to lose most of your customers. For most people nowadays, if you aren’t online, you don’t exist.

Content

You have most likely heard the phrase ‘content is king’. If you still think this isn’t true, then it’s about time you thought hard and long.

In the world we live in, content is everything. Well, almost everything. The right content will send people your way leading to increased site traffic and potentially increased leads and revenue. However, the wrong or misplaced content will only help in driving people away from your site never to return.

Besides communicating the positions and promise of your organisation’s brand, there are other reasons why the content on your site is important. It’s why you need a copywriter to work on your messaging and the content that goes to your site. Short, clear messages are ideal as they are easy for your customers to remember them. When it comes to content, it’s always advisable to keep it short and straightforward.

Short messages just don’t help readers remember. They help in decluttering your website. Too much text on any page on your website clutters it making it hard for users to read the page, let alone show any more interest in reading it further. An effective way of eliminating cluttering on your site is by ensuring the content is streamlined. Designers can include negative spacing when inserting texts into their designs. This way, readers are able to rest their eyes when reading eliminating tiredness of the eye.

Trust

It is said that trust is two ways and it’s earned not given. As a business, you can’t gain trust from your users until you’ve earned it.

There is nothing as important as building trust with your clients. For this to happen, you need to know them and the things they value. Finding ways to create a dialogue with your customers is one way of doing that. Marketing campaigns can be designed to help with this. Getting feedback from customers can help you understand them better and use what they positively resonate with to design a new website.

Having a website that’s trustworthy, welcoming and attractive will help your business increase traffic and overall conversion rates.

Competitors

If none of the reasons above seems appealing to you, you should definitely be worried that all your competitors have a website design and you don’t. If your website is anything but unprofessional and shoddy while that of your competitor is trustworthy and professional, you are fighting a lost battle as all your potential customers will go to your competitor’s site.

No one wants to be part of the crowd. Everyone wants to stand out. So does your business. Ensuring that the design of your site is stellar will set you apart from your competitors.

Depending on your industry, most businesses seem to have the same information only that it’s packaged differently. This means that you need to be more creative than your competitors and a polished web design can be the key that makes you stand out from the rest and make you the authority in your field of business.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

The design of your website influences how content is published is on the site. This, in turn, affects the way search engines crawl your website and index them among others.

Your SEO – which gives you free traffic and visibility – is something you can’t afford to joke around with. If your SEO strategy isn’t bulletproof and can’t accord your business its benefits due to the design of your site, you need to rethink the design.

There are certain elements of your web design that have a direct effect on the SEO of your site. It’s therefore important to ensure that your site is SEO-friendly so that search engines don’t have a hard time crawling up and indexing your site.

When getting a facelift or designing a new website, ensure you hire the right people for the job.

What Impact Does Your Business’ Web Design Have?

For most users, your website is their first interaction with your business. It’s their customer support and friend at the same time. As such, your website design has a big impact on your clients and in getting successful conversions.

Below are some pointers on how the design of your website impacts or affects your clients.

About four out of ten people fail to conclude simple tasks on most average sites. This is due to lack of organisation on the given sites, too many steps, scrolling, clicking, lack of enough information, difficulties in navigation among others.

Besides giving the right information, websites are supposed to help in successful conversion. An average person will only spend 60 seconds waiting for a page load. Some will spend only 28 seconds. If it takes more than that, they will move on to another site.

Too many stumbling blocks on your site leads to a decline in usability and decreased trust. This means that potential customers and direct leads will no longer be interested in making a purchase.

If you increase your website’s usability, 18 percent of the visitors to your site will most likely follow, comment or share your content or site.

Bottom Line

In the world we live in, it’s not enough to have a functional website. Having a website that’s highly usable, loads faster and gives the best user experience is what will set you apart from your competitors.

If your site isn’t attracting clients, it’s time to think of ways you can improve it and make it better for your audience. A good website design is like buying a pair of good shoes. It might cost you extra, but it will serve you a long time into the future. If you are still considering a facelift or whether you need a website in the first place, you are missing out on your clients.

 The post Why Website Design is Important appeared first on Serene Media.

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