Productivity

12 Digital Tools and Services We Use Every Day To Successfully Run Our Website

December 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

In today’s competitive world are you finding it difficult to enable your website to find a secure footing in the market? Are you looking for some ways to give a boost to your website and increase subscriber base? Don’t worry you’ve reached the right place to seek information.

Gone are the days when the internet was a new thing and was only accessible by tech-savvy people. Maybe back then it was just good content that made a successful website; however, things have changed. Now the Worldwide Web is bombarded with different websites, blogs, social media platforms, and business portals. In this vast world of coding, you might find it difficult to make your site stand out.

The Best Digital Tools and Services

In order to get the best results, you must make specific technical changes to your website. Don’t worry! We are not asking you to read up on coding and complicated software. All you need to do is to make the most of the various services that are available online. Not only do these help your website stand out but also increase the efficiency of your operations. So here is a list of 12 digital tools and services that we use to run our website successfully.

1. AWeber

Have you been losing traffic on your website lately? Well, one of the most important aspects of retaining and gaining traffic on your site is consistent interaction with users. It is also crucial to run campaigns to attract prospective subscribers.

AWeber offers just the service you require. It is an email marketing website that enables you to increase your subscriber base and interaction with existing users. The significant features of the service include sending email newsletters, auto-responding, managing subscribers, etc.

The service is also straightforward to use. All you need to do is to buy a marketing package suitable to your needs. The best part is its cost-effectiveness. It costs $19 per month for the first 500 subscribers after which you are charged only when your subscribers grow. You may also use the smartphone application to track the campaign. If you are planning to run online campaigns, this is your go-to destination.

2. Canva

One of the most challenging tasks in running a website is to make it distinctive. Although it is the content that ultimately matters, the graphics also play a crucial role. Can you imagine Facebook without its blue colour? There are also many psychological factors due to which people are drawn towards websites with unique graphics.

This makes it crucial to be focused on the looks of your website. Now you might be wondering; this will only make things more complicated for you. But wait for a second! There is one solution to your problem called Canva.

Canva offers you access to millions of fonts, images, and graphic designs. Even if you are not very tech-savvy, you can use Canva because of its simple drag and drop system. It costs about $12.50 per month for a professional plan. You can also purchase a customized plan for your individual needs.

So give a new touch to your website.

3. Animoto

Nothing is better than an excellent introduction to your website. After all, it is a good introduction that helps people understand the purpose behind your website. There is no better introduction than a video.

Well, there is an online tool just for that purpose. It is called Animoto. Animoto is an online service that enables you to make videos using images and clips. Mostly used by individuals for social media, the service has incredible applications when it comes to creating marketing videos.

You can select different video styles, images and add text and captions. Animoto is also supported in app format.

4. Deposit Photos

Has it there ever been a situation where you were unable to find suitable images for a particular post? Even if you did find an image, were the royalties insanely high? Then Deposit Photos is the service that you need. Deposit Photos is a cloud-based platform that provides you access to hundreds of thousands of royalty free images.

All that you need to do is to subscribe to it and pay a small monthly fee. This gives you access to thousands of photos which you can use commercially. So no more paying heavy royalties on the photos you use.

5. Camtasia

Camtasia is another software for you to edit video content. It makes it very easy to edit video content for your website. Camtasia is supported by both Windows and MacOS.

Just drop the images and music you intend to add to your video and start editing. Another incredible feature it enables is screencasting.

6. Asana

If you have heavy traffic flowing through your site and has a remote team, it might get difficult to manage the various tasks and assignments among your co-workers. This might result in inefficiency in completing essential tasks required for the proper functioning of the website. There is one app that solves this problem, called Asana.

Asana is like an office pin board in your pocket. All you need to do is to add all the participants using your website to your organization’s account. Using Asana, you can easily delegate important tasks and also follow up on the progress. The app automatically notifies the concerned person of the assignment. One of the unique features is that you can organize different tasks according to the day (or time) they are required. This gives you more leverage by helping you focus on important things like promotion.

Asana is a must for a commercial website as it brings out the best when it comes to efficiency.

7. Buffer

Buffer App is one of the incredible tools that you can use. Many times you might have found it very difficult to make consistent changes and updates to the social media accounts of your website. To hire a person to manage social media accounts is very expensive. Well, Buffer solves this problem for you.

The buffer provides you with a central access point to all your social media accounts. It enables managing these accounts without directly engaging in it. All that you need to do is to make schedules (on Buffer) for updates to be made and it will do the rest. If you intend to add a new post on your various accounts, all that you need to do is to add those changes to your Buffer account. The smartphone app makes things even easier. The costs vary from $15 for individuals to $399 for large organizations.

8. Snagit

Snagit is the most popular screencasting tool. If you make complex or technical content, this is a tool that you must try. Snagit, as the name goes, helps you capture photos, videos and even text on your screen. In addition to this, it provides you with access to the cloud-based portal where you can share and access other captured files. There are many unique features which enable you to make elaborate videos.

Try this, and you will find how easy it makes screencasting!

9. Time doctor

Time management is the most crucial aspect of managing a remote team. You need to be efficient in distributing and monitoring tasks among different freelancers, especially if they work remotely and charge on an hourly basis. Time Doctor is a software tool enabling you to manage your employees no matter where they are working from.

Time doctor also makes reports for you to analyze time taken for different tasks distributed among your team members. Don’t worry if your freelancers have a habit of taking small breaks as they can also pause time tracking when they are away from the screen. You can even take screenshots and video record the screens to ensure more efficiency of the work given to your team. This is a vital tool in today’s world. Remember the phrase “time is money?”

10. Google Drive/ Dropbox

Well, this tool does not need any explanation. This is one of the popular services of Google and like other Google services it is absolutely free. Drive has made online backup a household thing. This tool carries incredible applications for you as you manage your website; the most basic being data management.

From images to text files, Drive can handle it all. The best part is the different formats that it supports. You don’t need to worry about carrying a hard drive everywhere you go. Your data in google drive stays in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere. This is a tool that increases your efficiency in managing and accessing your important data from anywhere in the world.

11. Google business apps

These are a set of online tools available to manage your domain. This is the most enterprising service provided by Google. These help you manage email, revenue, traffic, and analytics. Another benefit is the centralized management of all your domains.

We mainly use it to get domain name email address but they have several other add-ons and features as well.

12. Upwork

One of the major difficulties in running a website is to find professionals for individual tasks that you might want to complete. These might include specific editing of graphics, marketing, management, etc. Upwork is a platform that provides you access to millions of freelancers that can help you with specific tasks.

Just post a job on the platform and wait. In a little while, you will start receiving applications for the position. Not only does it provide you access to freelancers but also, due to competition, helps you pick the best candidate.

These are the tools and services we use to manage our websites. Test a few and see the ones that you like best.

10 Important Tools Virtual Teams Must Use For Great Productivity

November 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The modern world is a fabric woven using the thread called ‘technology.’ Improvement in communication, technological advancement has brought a turbulent shrinkage of the fabric, binding it tightly. Faster communication mediums have seen the rise on a spectrum that dominates the world of busy-ness and business. Hence, it paved the way for virtual teams to appear.

Be it at schools or in international projects, and virtual teams have prospered through the ages of the internet. The term was coined and defined in technical terms in 2004, but its existence is older. Very often, in the modern day, any task, event, project, scheme, plan, etc. use the impoverishing technology of applications favorable to communicate. Use sheets and scales for measurements, amounts, and assignment of duties and delegations. Multimedia is a useful tool to give thought a picture, giving it and the path a vision.

And the sole point is: Technology has simplified living and leisure. For individuals and teams online, alike. More for teams since it offers the following advantages:

Technology has ceased the barriers in geography.
Electronic communication is the key. Now, thanks to technology, you do not have to meet your partners for every upcoming step of the process.
This technique has made the achievement of organizational goals facile.
Technology has overcome the challenge of time dispersion.
A virtual team follows the three-way convention of purpose-people-links.
- The goal of the creation of a virtual team is specified.
- The people meant to perform specific tasks via a virtual team are specified.
- The link is also determined. The link serves to create a medium of communication and development. Furthermore, various links, through applications, increase productivity.

And in the countdown listed below, we explore ten such applications that are feasibly convenient to use, not necessarily in the same order.

10. Snagit

Snagit, created and distributed by TechSmith, has been satisfying its customers since 1990. Being a screenshot program with visual and audio features have made it dear to virtual teams. Often the need arises when uncertainty in the programme needs to have consented. The exact same image of the uncertainty may not be accurately expressed in words. Moreover, suggestions and drawbacks sew themselves during the course of development. These changes require the sanction of all members of a team in order to make the necessary changes.

And Snagit is just the solution to your misery. The quick toolbar works at the speed of light, capturing the essence of your screen. It also allows viewers to preview their screenshot. With a few more productivity wizards on the window for modification, Snagit gathers the strings, edits it as quickly as you maneuver your cursor. With resizing and annotating features, Snagit is just the app to increase your productivity.

9. Camtasia.

Reputed for its screencasting facilities, Camtasia is a congregation of a recorder and an editor. The primary purpose of this tool is to record the working screen for tutorials and presentations. The next time you learn Python programming via YouTube, wonder whether the video was created using Camtasia. This application offers facilities inclusive of sharing in various AV formats such as MP3, MP4, AVI, WMA and many more. Zip can be created effortlessly using Camtasia. The screen quality is impeccable, embedded with enhanced audio features. What more, the latest version of Camtasia is updated with a humongous library of tutorials. Online text chats, telephonic conversations, etc. are standard to Camtasia.

8. Buffer App

It happens that in this busy era, scheduling of various priorities is to be done for an orderly performance. While you are busy with an important meeting, interactions with customers at a crucial time for better connectivity is necessary. Or, when you have to inform your teammates for a meeting, you are scheduling. Buffer fulfills this requirement for you.

Buffer helps in scheduling posts for your media accounts. There are specific time durations when a crowd from your audience is active. Engagement with the community is essential. Buffer does so by providing time slots at which the posts go live. Default slots have been issued in both the paid and unpaid forms, which are, additionally, customizable. It is available on almost all devices, making it universally accessible.

But not only does Buffer schedule, but it also analyzes the impressions and interactions. It provides reports on the same, determining the preferences of the user too. Team collaborators can be added to the social pages to allow multiple, authorized persons to monitor the page.

7. Skype

Did you know that even before Skype came to be associated with Microsoft, it was a freemium platform? It came into existence in 2003 furnishing telecommunications services such as voice and video chat and calls over multifarious devices. Transmission of multimedia, voice messages, instant and quick replies; all these dreams were realized by Skype over the years.

In 2011, Skype was acquired by Microsoft for a few billion dollars. And ever since, Skype has been satisfyingly compatible over operating platforms as well as devices. Some variably exciting features were introduced, and the same came to be recognized dearly by users. Additionally, Skype also maintains a directory that can be used to look up for a contact or an acquaintance. Additions and removals were made to the application for a long time. But despite all transitions, Skype still remains the most productive tool ever.

6. Asana

“Asana simplifies team-based work management.”

And that’s precisely what it does. Asana allows its users to add tasks, manage them, create projects and designate assignments to the team members. Deadlines can be specified conspicuously, and communication through the app is docile. Introduced in 2012, added features such as reporting tools, calendars, and views, team conversations in three continuous consecutive years. In the same year, an Android application also came into force. In further years, security measures by authorization and authentication were included.

And thanks to these progressive, futuristic features, Asana was named the Editor’s Choice 2017. A genuinely remarkable application meeting all the needs, indeed!

5. Time Doctor

Time Doctor allows you to set time-based deadlines in order to complete your tasks. This application lets you track the time you need to discharge your duties, measure and analyze it. Moreover, with the to-do lists equipped in the interface, it helps you maintain balance in your daily goals. If you’re looking for an app that eliminates distractions and helps you manage your time, Time Doctor is just for you.

Time Doctor is still evolving. Innovative features of this app help in effectively drawing your attention away from social media. Its interface is a gentle, relaxing green that signifies repose. Impending priorities take an organized space in your life with Time Doctor. And these very features make the application ensure productivity.

4. Dropbox

Dropbox was ranked 2 in the Forbes Cloud 100 list in 2016. Despite being subjected to criticism in the early years, Dropbox outgrew from the charges and accusations.

The cloud-based system of storage, Dropbox offers excellent and promising services. Folders can be created with authority and authentication sign-in in Dropbox. This, thereby, will limit the access to the owners and contributors only. The modifications made are saved in the server. Users of the application are entitled to avail storage of 2 gigabytes of storage. Moreover, Dropbox is now an application with countless features. It also won the Crunchie award in 2010 and the Editor’s Choice for Best Internet Application.

3. Google Drive

Most widely used and of trivial knowledge, Google drive is an unforgettable name in modern technology. Following a synchronization model of generous storage, the Drive is a secure platform operating on a multitude of devices, on the website, mobile, and computers. Offline services, download, and storage are extensively used by masses all across the world. A G-Suite, paid or otherwise, is accessible only to the owner and the shared persons only. And its easy interface is what makes Google our favorite!

2. Canva

Canva brings your ideas to life through pictures and graphics. Making designing easier, Canva makes use of the drag-and-drop facility that makes the utility very enjoyable. Unpaid or paid, a wide variety of facilities are available to the users. With a massive base of fonts, colors, shapes, templates, and tools, Canva is a beginner’s game as well as a professional’s piece of cake.

Until a while ago, Canva was operable only through their website and account. But now it has entered the mobile platform and designers couldn’t have been happier, creating and sharing with their teams!

1. Google Docs

Writing and sharing made easier. With spell checks and over a hundred font styles and related features, Docs also offer features to share the documents in a Docs format or a word document. And the sharing is done in three forms. The user has the ability to edit, view or comment in the document. And this very facility enables effective communication and improvisation in the plan. No wonder Docs are a happy place to settle for a sail in technology.

And here ends our list of the ten tools for productivity, curated for virtual teams. The next time, add the following to your choices and start exploring the same!