Author Archives: David Jones

5 Online Collaboration Tips for Successful Blogging

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Thanks to the internet, people from across the world are now as connected as ever. Online stores, industry news sites, and blogs; professionals with the right skills and talent can now contribute to these websites without the hindrance of location. All it takes is to establish a seamless collaboration platform that improves communication and productivity between online teams.

If you’re a blog owner and constantly outsource remote contributors, then here are five essential tips and tools that will help you maximize their productivity:

1. Use a Project Management Tool

First things first, you need to have a tool that will enable everyone to know exactly what they should be doing. The traditional practice is to use emails as the primary means of communication. While this still works, it’s difficult to convey the sense of urgency even if you specify deadlines in the email. This can make it difficult for your writing team to keep up with the editorial calendar, the blog’s quality standards, and each other when working on collaborative content.

CoSchedule

This is why the first software that every blogger should use is a project management tool such as Trello and CoSchedule. These tools offer a visual interface that can be used to assign tasks, set deadlines, and manage the workflow of every team member. Trello is a little more straightforward than CoSchedule, which can be seen as an advantage. It offers a fast user interface that organize projects into cards, which can contain an indefinite number of tasks. Each task may contain checklists, in-depth details, comments, attachments, labels, and deadlines.

On the other hand, CoSchedule provides a host of useful features that are specific to content marketing. It offers a comprehensive marketing calendar, social media scheduling, and integrations with other productivity apps such as Evernote and Google Docs.

2. Meet Occasionally

A team with mutual respect between each member is far more capable in functioning together and accomplishing goals than teams with little to no communication. However, not even the best online collaboration and communication platform can foster trust and team spirit. This is why you should also arrange occasional meet-ups that will allow teammates to get to know each other and discuss big goals with clearer detail.

W1 Office

Renting a co-working space for facilitating meet-ups is a good way to go, especially since it allows your team to do something that’s not work-related afterwards. It should be easy to find co-working space services in your area. For example, if you’re living in Seattle, then you can use a service like Office Nomads. For UK-based teams, then you may opt for W1Office.

Alternatively, you can still hold meetings online with a platform like GotoMeeting. It is a popular online meetings tool that features a simplistic yet functional interface. You can easily hold ad hoc meetings, collaborative discussions, presentations, and so on. It also allows you to organize and manage a list of meetings to stay ahead of your schedule.

3. Keep in Touch All the Time

Apart from an online meeting tool, you also need an online communication platform that will keep everyone on the same page – at all times. Remember that a team needs constant communication to work faster, brainstorm content ideas, share suggestions, and finish projects faster.

Slack

One of the best tools you can use for this would be Slack. Despite its name, it is one of the best online tools you can use to maximize productivity and foster team effort. It gives users access to direct messaging as well as channels that may facilitate specific conversations. For example you can have a channel for your content development, social media, and security teams to keep the discussions on-point.

Apart from sending messages, Slack also enables you to share files and integrate other enterprise tools for quicker access. This means members no longer have to check each individual tool for updates.

4. Store Files on the Cloud

Although Slack, Trello, and a lot of online collaborative tools include a file sharing feature, you still need a full-fledged cloud storage app to make your files accessible to everyone. One advantage of this is that you can have a single place for all your files, whereas sharing them with other collaboration tools means looking for the specific conversation first.

Google Drive

Today, two of the leading cloud storage platforms are Google Drive and Dropbox. Although Dropbox is also feature-rich, Google Drive offers more storage space (15 GB versus only 2GB on Dropbox) on the free version, which is already a huge difference. Furthermore, Google Drive includes easy integration with Google Docs, which can be used for quickly proofreading content submissions by writers.

5. Invest in Editing Tools

Although Google Docs is useful for making quick edits and comments, bloggers can also use editing tools to proofread and polish articles. Some of the factors that you should never overlook are grammar, spelling, and the readability of an article. However, a simple spell-checking feature in word processing apps cannot reliably detect these issues, particularly when it comes to grammar and readability.

Grammarly

This is why you should consider using Grammarly – a web-based editing tool that checks your article for grammar, spelling, and readability issues. All you need to do is to paste your document and the tool will automatically highlight the problem points and provide you with revision suggestions. If you run a blog with multiple authors, ask them to use Grammarly first or some of its alternatives to automate and make your editing process simpler.

It’s worth noting that Grammarly can be integrated with your browser as an extension. It will then check everything you type in your browser – highly useful if you’re creating social media posts or editing blog posts directly from your CMS. Check out this link for more information on how it can be used for blogging and other writing activities.

Conclusion

Today, going the remote route and eliminating the physical barriers for collaboration have been highly effective for developing great blogs and other forms of online content. Although you have access to the global pool of talent, remember that you also need the tools that will help you manage a great team. Keep in mind that it takes the collective effort of your entire editorial team to establish an authoritative blog.

Originally posted on June 22, 2016 @ 2:11 am

5 Time-Saving Tips to Boost Workplace Productivity

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Time management problems in your business? With today’s technology, procrastination is always within the reach of anyone, even during hours of productivity. According to statistics, about 89% of employees “waste time” during office hours. 57% of this number spends over 1 hour per day, while the rest loses about 30 minutes.

For managers, these figures call for immediate action. Frankly, you cannot eliminate media consumption – the number one driver of wasted time – as it is embedded in the lifestyle of Millennials. What you can do, however, is to implement strategies that will rally your people and restore the maximum productivity of your team.

Here are some of the best solutions you can do for a more productive workplace.

1. Conduct Online Meetings

An excellent way to improve the time-efficiency of your team is to offer faster options for everyday workplace activities. For example, you can choose to conduct online meetings as opposed to relying solely on face-to-face interactions. Online meetings give your team the ability to participate in meaningful conversations without leaving their workstation. With a platform like ClickMeeting, you can further communication and collaboration without disrupting the workflow of your employees.

ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is a platform that can help you host online conferences thru video or voice calls. It can also be used to produce webinars that streamline training and knowledge transfer processes, which will contribute to unlock the maximum efficiency of your team. Of course, it can also be used to eliminate location barriers for remote teams.

2. Encourage Smart Use of Social Media

Social media is one of the main reasons employees are wasting time at work. It is, however, a powerful networking tool that can be beneficial to grow businesses. You only need to encourage your tea to use social media the right way.

Keep in mind that your employees are the face of the business. They are your brand ambassadors, and they can extend the reach of your brand through social networking. Just remember to specify the rules that promote the responsible use of social media.

Of course, brief social media breaks allow employees to de-stress and recharge. Breaks will help your team maintain peak performance in prolonged periods. A good rule is to enable them to take 15-minute social media breaks after 90 minutes of intense work.

3. Eliminate Email Use

Many businesses that allow remote workers still utilize emails as the primary medium of communication. Although emails are still useful for sending in-depth messages as well as attachments, emails may not be the fastest option, especially without an app that aggregates your mail like Mozilla Thunderbird.

Trello

Email inboxes are also quickly cluttered with personal messages, newsletters, spam, and other non-work-related items. In other words, their only not ideal if you want to maximize the productivity of an employee. That said, you are better off with an online project management platform like Trello, which can be used to assign teams and deadlines for each task.

4. Minimize Use of Mobile Devices

Even if your employees learn to use social media smartly, they may still be interrupted by random phone calls and text messages. These distractions may come at any time and employees usually underestimate the impact of texting on productivity. This is why you need to enforce policies that can limit their access to mobile phones.

However, a mobile device policy may depend on several variables such as the size of your company, the type of industry you are in, and the weight of the workload. For example, it is imperative to prohibit mobile phones for employees who drive or interact with customers in person. However, for offices, mobile phones may be allowed as long as they do not impede the team’s timeline. Just remember that a mobile phone ban for a particular employee is in order if it led to a delay or missed deadline.

5. Minimize Unnecessary Office Chatter

Last but not least, one of the most common office distractions is none other than a chatty workmate. It is, perhaps, the most annoying and disruptive time waster since it can affect the productivity of other employees.

ChatterBlocker

Dealing with office chatter, however, involves several strategies that may not be easy to implement. Some short-term solutions include posting a sign that discourages chatter and closely monitoring employees during office hours. For the long-term, you can transform the office into a cubicle setup to discourage constant chatting and promote better focus. You can also use a noise masking software like ChatterBlocker to blur out a noisy co-worker.

Conclusion

Remember that a business’ success ultimately relies on the people running it. With everybody’s cooperation, no challenge is too big to overcome. It is only a matter of implementing the right office rules that bring out the best in everyone.

Originally posted on July 8, 2016 @ 9:49 pm

Four Tips For Marketing Your New Business

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You started a new business and now it’s time to get it launched and let people know about you. For some small businesses, marketing is the hardest part. They don’t know where to start, what marketing tools they should enlist, and they don’t know how they are going to afford all of those tools either.

With the internet it has gotten easier to get your name out there, and it has opened up more free opportunities for marketing businesses of all kinds, and of all sizes. Mainly you just need to put in the time and energy. To get the most out of marketing, here are four tips to consider.

Pay For Advertising

First off, don’t neglect paying for advertising. While you can print your own simple business cards for what seems cheaper at home, paying someone else to do it can give you a more attractive, and professional, looking business card. If you feel as though you don’t have enough startup cash left to cover some small advertising fees, consider getting a small loan.

You can find great paid advertising online, through search engines like Google, and even through Facebook. And advertising with these companies is well worth it. You may also want to consider advertising in your own local papers, especially if your business has a brick and mortar entity.

Get Local

Speaking of local papers, don’t neglect your local crowd. Even if you’re a book writer, you still want to advertise local where you may make more sales simply because you live in the same town. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the novelty of your business venture.

Also, make sure that you are using local keywords when it comes to social media and blogging. If you’re one-of-a-kind in your hometown, that is a great added selling point. But, if you don’t point out where you are from, who’s going to know?

Use Social Media

Social media is an excellent place to use free marketing. It gives you an outlet to get on the same level as your customers and potential clients. They can feel like your business is on the same level since you are both using social media for staying in touch with the world.

Use it to share coupons and sales info, which can help you attract new customers. People love free things, and discounts, so use social media to take advantage of the things that will attract them to work with your business.

Get It On Paper

Business cards are still a must for businesses great and small. They are a compact item that can easily be handed out to promote your business, and allow people to know where to find you when they are in need of your products and services.

You may also want to consider other paper marketing tools, like brochures and flyers. These are great tools whether you use them right in your store or you hand them out to people at trade shows. Brochures are used to completely introduce a person to what your business has to offer them, and you don’t even need to speak a word!

Originally posted on August 28, 2016 @ 5:25 am

How Important Is Web Hosting For Your Online Business

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How Important Is Web Hosting For Your Online Business

When it comes to online businesses, many marketers are preoccupied with aspects of site design, content strategy, and internal link structure. Although these factors are critical, a faulty web host can render all your efforts useless.

Remember that your web hosting solution must not be a rushed decision. Sure, any company can offer a 99% uptime guarantee, 24/7 customer support, and “unlimited” hosting. However, you need to dig deep and find the best host that will suit your specific needs.

Without further ado, here are the important factors you need to consider when picking a web host:

1. Pricing

As you may already know, looking for the cheapest web hosting solution is asking for trouble. Keep in mind that reliable hosting requires top-notch server infrastructure. Furthermore, you need to consider your options carefully when it comes to hosting prices. Popular hosts do not have a huge discrepancy in the monthly subscription price. However, if you look at the big picture, a few bucks in between can have a substantial impact on your budget for the long-term. Triple-check each web hosting package and make sure you are getting the value you paid for.

2. Specialization

Not all web hosts are the same. Some hosts have all the resources for full-fledged online stores, while others are meant solely for blogging purposes. That said, you need to look at a hosting company’s track record and check their experience with particular website types. Aside from checking the host’s main website, a good strategy is to look at customer reviews and identify where they are from.

3. Server Specifications

A straightforward approach in assessing the capabilities of a web host is to check their server specifications. Look for technical details like RAM, CPU, and storage drives; as well as account limitations like additional domains and backups. If you are planning to run a data-intensive site, such as an e-commerce store or cloud-based app website, then you need a hosting solution with high-end infrastructure. You also need to consider the top-tier hosting solutions for sites that accommodate heavy traffic.

4. Customer Support

You can determine the kind of experience you can expect from a host by checking customer reviews and feedback. However, the best way to learn more about a company’s competence in providing support is to test the waters yourself. Go ahead and make a direct inquiry about their solutions and assess whether they do a satisfactory job of providing the information you need. A real question to ask is whether they have a 24/7 in-house staff or if they outsource their support team.

5. Additional Features

At the surface, most—if not all—hosting companies offer the same promises. However, if you look carefully, certain features actually set them apart. For example, one company may use energy-saving facilities to cut monthly costs while another offers a free domain. Just make sure to consider your company’s needs and identify which add-ons are beneficial to you specifically.

6. Email Features

Most hosting platforms should offer a built-in email server. This feature allows you to use your domain name address for sending emails rather than using a third-party email provider such as Gmail or Hotmail. However, you should also check if they have features such as spam filtering and advanced account management.

7. Control Panel Interface

While it is imperative to focus on the experience of your users, you must also consider your experience with a hosting company’s interface. Keep in mind that managing the backend of your website can be stressful, especially if you are faced with a cluttered and disorganized control panel interface. That is why you need a host that makes simple tasks a breeze—from setting up FTP accounts to installing a CMS.

8. Reputation

To finalize your decision, make a quick Google search about a hosting company to decide whether they are a reputable brand or not. Keep in mind that you are basically putting the growth of your business on the line by choosing a web host. Looking for in-depth reviews and blog posts about a host should offer you the assurance and peace of mind.

Recommended Hosting Sites

To help you in the selection process, here are the takes of experts on some of the most reputable web hosting services in the industry:

  1. SiteGround – When it comes to performance and uptime reliability, SiteGround is one of the best options. Perhaps its only downside is the relative costliness of packages as opposed to other alternatives.
  2. HostGator – One of the most popular hosting companies for bloggers, HostGator offers remarkable customer service as well as an easy-to-use control panel. Their hosting solutions, while not cheap, provide excellent value for stable performance under heavy load.
  3. BlueHost– BlueHost is scalable, fast, reliable, and comes with economical prices. Despite this, you will rarely experience slowdowns and significant downtimes. The only downside is that live support is not as fast as it needs to be.
  4. InMotion – While inexpensive, InMotion does not fail to deliver top-quality performance. You can expect minimal downtimes and consistent speeds all year round.

Conclusion

Picking a web host is one of the earliest decisions that can determine the direction of your website. Hopefully, the points above helped you make a decision and establish a sound basis for a highly successful website.

Originally posted on August 3, 2016 @ 3:44 am

Getting the Job Done: 5 Productivity Tools for Startups

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A priority of startups is to expedite growth without having to spend much due to their limited budget. Below are tools that will help them increase productivity without compromising funds:

RecruiterBox

Recruiting Software and Applicant Tracking System Recruiterbox.com

Advanced features:

  • post job opportunities, manage candidates, and collaborate with colleagues on a single platform
  • create customized questionnaires that applicants will have to answer so you can collect rich data to help you make informed decisions
  • manage and develop your recruitment process using the platform so you can manage which stage the candidates are in your hiring funnel

Growing your startup means getting more people. Also, getting more people means going through lots of applicants for the position in search of that person who will help you get the job done. The process of filtering applicants and following up on them is no joke, which is why there is a tool like RecruiterBox that will help make your job easier.

The web-based application allows you and your colleagues access to the progress of your hiring process using any device online. You can submit an opening in your business to online job boards and tip search engines so you can attract as many people as possible. Receive the emails of applicants from the platform and makes decisions with your colleagues on who gets hired or not.

WorkflowMAX Job Management & Resource Scheduling Software

Job Management and Scheduling Software WorkflowMax

Advanced features:

  • manage projects in a single place online
  • assign employees to collaborate so
  • check job orders and progress

As a startup founder, you want all operations to work on a single platform so all projects, tasks, and accomplishments are stored in one place. Through its Job Management Software, WorkflowMAX helps you simplify the process by allowing everyone in your team to be accountable for their actions.

The software allows your employees to keep tab of their respective tasks and measure their performance based on the quoted time by the client. It also lets them workflow bottlenecks that are preventing them from maximizing their productivity. For managers, they can see all the hours punched in by team members in an organized manner so your startup can send invoices to clients without any problems.

Streak

Streak CRM in your Inbox

Advanced features:

  • works seamlessly with Gmail so you retain all your email threads with important people
  • score leads based on the emails you sent them so you can follow up properly
  • merge and split email threads, set reminders for emails that you need to take care of later

Email is one of your main forms of communication with clients, business partners, and potential customers. While there are customer relations management tools available to help you manage your emails with these people, you can start with this Gmail-based CRM.

It is a simple tool that lets you should organize your communication with people related to your business. You can create boxes for them and score them depending on which part they are in your sales funnels. It also provides you with helpful email features like snoozing messages, setting reminders, and sending templated messages so you can clean up your inbox and send emails in less time.

ClickMeeting

Web Conferencing Online Meeting Software ClickMeeting

 

Advanced features:

  • hold online meetings with your team on HD video and clear audio
  • share your desktop to attendees as host and even pass keyword and mouse control to them
  • record audio of meeting so everyone can focus on the

When hosted poorly, meetings can be a waste of time. More importantly, for business owners and entrepreneurs on the go, more time is waste travelling from their home to the meeting room and back.

ClickMeeting hopes to bridge the gap between proper communication and productivity by giving you the ability to host online meetings. Talk to your team and discuss business matters as you would in a meeting room but in front of your computer whenever, wherever. The platform also provides attendees a seamless way to collaborate and participate in effective ways such as screen sharing and drawing tools, among others.

Slack

Slack Be less busy

Advanced features:

  • better message and uploaded file search functions to help you keep track of the conversation
  • integrate with third-party services so you can conduct business in a collaborative environment
  • text formatting and customizable UI for a better user experience

Messaging apps are known to sap away time from work. However, Slack is known for getting teams to do their jobs faster. You can create different channels based on different topics so you can organize the discussions and keep the noise to a minimum.

Unlike most messaging apps, you can integrate productivity apps like Google Drive and Dropbox so you can drop and drag files in their pertinent channels and keep them there for as long as you like. Also, you can customize the text, sounds, and colors in each channel so you can have a more immersive experience using the app. Using Slack effectively will lead to less email exchanges and more direct messages with people who matter.

There are more productivity tools for startups

The five tools mentioned above are just some of the many that can help your startup blossom and grow into a fully fledged business. If you know other productivity tools that entrepreneurs can use to get things done, share them by commenting below!

Originally posted on June 6, 2016 @ 6:55 am