One may have a small consultancy or a busy e-commerce site, but how quickly and how frequently an internet connection can be accessed can make a huge impact on operations, productivity, and profit. Speed isn’t merely a luxury. It’s a requirement.

That’s why speed and reliability have never been more important in business connectivity — and why investing in business fiber internet makes sense.

Speed and reliability matter for business connectivity for these six reasons.

1. Productivity Ties to Performance

When you have business fiber internet, that means a faster connection for employees.

With an unstable or slow internet connection, mundane tasks like sending emails, opening cloud applications, uploading files, or using video calling will take longer. These small pauses can accumulate into dozens of hours of lost time every week.

2. Dependable Communication is Not a Choice

Performance and speed are important company-wide. A connection that is jittery will result in lag, dropped calls, or frozen videos — disturbances that not only irk employees but also undermine customer confidence in client communication.

In law, medicine, finance, and other fields, faulty communication can have disastrous results. Having access to a fast, stable internet connection ensures that crucial conversations happen without interruption so your business operates effectively.

3. SaaS and Cloud Computing Depend on High-Quality Connectivity

Many companies have moved from on-premises infrastructure to cloud computing and software-as-a-service applications like Salesforce, QuickBooks Online, or Google Workspace. These applications require solid, reliable internet to function well.

If your business is constantly plagued with lag and downtime, your cloud-based platforms are liabilities rather than assets. Speed provides quick data transfers and real-time updates, and reliability provides access to critical resources when they are needed the most.

4. Customer Experience Depends on Internet Performance

Regardless of whether you have an e-commerce website, a help desk ticketing system, or a reservation system, your clients do business with your company through the web. If your web access cannot handle high-speed data transport and real-time service, your customers will encounter delays, timeouts, or no response at all.

These types of technical problems can damage your reputation, lead to negative online reviews, and prompt customers to switch to your competitors. Conversely, quick and trustworthy connections ensure seamless transactions, faster service, and overall better experiences — the ultimate customer satisfaction and loyalty drivers.

5. Downtime Means Lost Revenue

An hour of lost internet can cost a small business hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars. For more established businesses or online-oriented businesses, losses will likely be much greater. Beyond the immediate revenue loss, downtime also affects customer trust, employee morale, and corporate reputation.

Responsive internet eliminates these dangers. Most dedicated internet solutions, including fiber-optic connections, come with service level agreements guaranteeing high uptime — typically 99.99% — and offer remuneration if the levels are not achieved.

6. Gives You an Edge Over the Competition

In the age of the internet, your online connection is just as important as your physical network. Firms with better connectivity can outmaneuver their rivals by reacting faster to shifts and opportunities in the markets, engaging more successfully with customers, and capitalizing on new technologies.

Innovation is about speed and reliability. It enables quicker rollout of new services, more responsive customer service, and better agility in responding to changes in market conditions. Organizations that invest in their connectivity infrastructure position themselves to be leaders and not followers.

As every second counts and more business is done online, a rapid, dependable connection becomes mission-critical to staying productive, competitive, and connected.

Whether you’re working to boost day-to-day operations, support a remote workforce that’s expanding, or deliver round-the-clock service to your clients, an internet connection upgrade is an investment in your company’s long-term success.

Don’t let connectivity issues hold you back. Business fiber internet is a game-changer you can’t afford to ignore.

Photo Credit

Image by AMIRUN BEGUM from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Jamie Lansley

Jamie is a freelance writer who covers trends in business, technology, and health. She loves to go skiing, camping, and rock climbing with her family.

Search First, Ask Later

People Google you before they meet you. This is true in dating, hiring, business deals, and even friendships. According to a 2023 survey by Harris Poll, 71% of people trust Google results more than a resume. That means your search results are your new business card.

If your top results include old tweets, bad press, or nothing at all, you are losing trust before the first handshake. A clean and strong online presence sets the tone before you ever speak.

The Problem With Bad Press and Dead Links

Old News Never Dies

One of the biggest issues people face is how long bad news sticks around. Google indexes old news forever. That arrest from college or an angry blog post from 2015 still shows up. Even if it was dismissed or fixed.

You can delete negative news articles from some sources, but not all. In some cases, you have to use content suppression strategies to bury them. Either way, ignoring bad press never works. You have to take action.

Inaccurate Info Hurts You

Wrong job titles, outdated profiles, or even people confusing you with someone else can cost you real opportunities. You have to control the narrative. And that means being proactive.

Where to Start: Google Yourself

What You Find Might Surprise You

Open a private browser window. Type your name in quotes. Add your city, profession, or company. Scroll through the first 3 pages. Take screenshots of anything negative, outdated, or confusing. That is your current reputation.

Check:

• Google search
• Google Images
• LinkedIn
• Reddit

People search websites. You can’t fix what you don’t know.

Clean Up What You Can

Start With the Basics

Update your LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and any public profiles. Use the same clean headshot and short professional bio. Be consistent.

Remove old posts that don’t reflect who you are now. Ask blog owners to take down anything inaccurate. If you find a news article that’s hurting you, try contacting the editor to request a correction or removal. In tougher cases, you may need legal help.

If you can’t delete negative news articles, use SEO and content creation to push them down. Most users never go past the first page of search results.

Own Your Name in Search Results

Build Out Positive Content

The best way to control your online reputation is by creating new, high-quality content. This pushes bad content lower.

Start with:

• A personal website (use your name as the domain if possible)
• A blog with weekly or monthly posts
• Press releases if you’re in business
• Interviews or podcast appearances
• Guest posts on trusted blogs
• Profiles on review sites or industry platforms

Make sure each one uses your name naturally in the headline or page title. Google picks up on that fast.

Create Content That Sticks

Think Evergreen and Relevant

Content that ranks well is usually helpful, searchable, and long-lasting. Aim for how-to guides, expert tips, or personal stories that relate to your field. Use your real name in the byline and keep the tone simple and honest.

One founder I worked with wrote an article titled “What I Learned Failing My First Startup” and posted it on Medium. It now outranks the local news article about his company going under.

Use Google Tools to Your Advantage

Set Up Alerts and Monitor Regularly

Google Alerts is your early warning system. Set one up with your name in quotes. You’ll get emails every time a new page with your name is indexed.

Use a tool like BrandYourself or Mention to track mentions across the web. Some reputation tools also show sentiment analysis so you know what people are saying, not just where.

Engage, Don’t Hide

Positive Activity Builds Trust

People with strong online reputations aren’t perfect. They’re visible. They post updates, share ideas, and interact. This shows you’re active and current.

Comment on LinkedIn posts in your industry. Answer a few questions on Quora or Reddit. Share your opinions without being offensive or political. The goal is to leave a trail of positive breadcrumbs.

One recruiter I spoke with said, “I skip candidates who don’t exist online. If I can’t find you, I assume you don’t care or have something to hide.”

Use Reputation Tools When You Need Help

You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

There are companies that specialize in this. If your problem is complex or legal, a reputation expert can save time. They use tools the public doesn’t have access to.

If you’re not sure where to start, a consultation with a reputation firm can help you map it out. They can show you how to build content, delete negative news articles when possible, and create a long-term strategy.

Key Stats to Remember

• 88% of people read reviews before deciding to trust a brand or person
• 45% of employers screen candidates using search engines
• Only 6% of users go past the first page of Google

Final Thoughts

You are what shows up when someone searches your name. If the results are blank or bad, it’s time to fix that. Building a strong online reputation doesn’t have to be hard. It just has to be consistent.

Start small. Clean up what you can. Post one good piece of content each month. Own your name and control your narrative. Because someone is searching. Right now.

Photo Credit

Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
AMRYTT MEDIA LLC GUESTPOSTLINKS.NET

+17196002784
email us here:  hello@guestpostlinks.net

Visit us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guestpostlinks/
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Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, improving your conversion rate is one of the most effective ways to grow your business.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you increase conversions and make the most of every site visit.

Simplify Your Site Experience

First impressions count. If your website is cluttered or hard to navigate, visitors won’t stick around. Focus on a clean layout with intuitive navigation.

Make sure your site loads quickly on both desktop and mobile. Use high-quality product images, clear categories, and a simple checkout flow.

Every click should bring the visitor closer to a purchase, not push them away.

Write Product Descriptions That Sell

Generic product descriptions don’t move the needle. Use clear, benefit-driven copy that answers the key question, “Why should I buy this?”

Highlight what makes the product unique. Address common concerns, use everyday language, and always include size specs or FAQs where relevant to reduce hesitation.

The more clarity you offer, the more confident customers feel in clicking “Add to Cart.”

Build Trust with Reviews and Guarantees

Buyers want proof. Displaying reviews and testimonials directly on your product pages helps create trust. Real feedback from real customers can make all the difference for someone on the fence.

Also, consider manufacturer-secure payment badges and free return policies.

These trust signals reduce anxiety and make people more comfortable buying.

Use Visitor Identification Software to Understand Behavior

Knowing who visits your site and what they do while there can reveal exactly where you’re losing sales.

With visitor identification software, you can see which companies are browsing your store, which pages they are spending time on, and where they drop off. This type of insight helps you understand buyer intent and tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.

You can track which products are getting attention, which traffic sources bring high-value visitors, and how returning visitors behave compared to first-timers.

The more you understand your audience, the better you can serve them, and the more conversions you will drive.

Reduce Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment is one of the biggest conversion killers. To combat it, streamline your checkout process, remove unnecessary steps, and avoid forcing account creation.

You can also offer multiple payment options, show shipping costs early, use exit-intent pop-ups with a discount or free shipping offer, and send follow-up emails with a reminder or incentive to complete the purchase.

Even small fixes in the checkout process can lead to big gains.

Use Personalization to Boost Engagement

Customers are more likely to convert when they see content tailored to them. Show related products based on browsing history, use pop-ups, or change dynamic content depending on where the customer came from.

Personalized emails based on past purchases or items left in a cart make the shopping experience feel relevant. People are more likely to follow through when they feel engaged.

Leverage Scarcity and Urgency

Time-sensitive offers and low stock warnings can prompt faster action. Display messages like “Only three left” or “Sale ends tonight” to encourage buyers not to wait.

Just be sure it’s real; false urgency may backfire and damage your brand. When used correctly, scarcity is a strong motivator.

Improve Mobile Shopping

More people are shopping on their phones than ever before. If your mobile experience is poor, you’re losing potential customers.

Make sure buttons are easy to tap, text is readable, and checkout is simple.

Speed matters too. If your mobile site takes too long to load, visitors will bounce.

Test your mobile site regularly and make improvements based on user behavior and feedback.

Offer Fast, Reliable Customer Support

Sometimes customers just need a quick answer before they buy. Offering live chat, a chatbot, or even a visible support email can make a difference.

Fast support builds trust and helps clear up confusion that might otherwise stop a sale.

Always A/B Test Everything

Don’t guess; test! A/B testing lets you compare two versions of a page, headline, button, or image to see which performs better. Test one element at a time and keep track of what works.

Use the results to make decisions based on real behavior, not assumptions.

Over time, these small improvements lead to big results.

Conclusion

Turning visitors into customers and boosting conversions doesn’t require major overhauls. Often, it’s about fixing the friction points, making things clearer, faster, and more personal.

Use tools like visitor identification software to understand what’s happening on your site, then test changes, optimize your pages, and make it easier for people to say yes.

When you focus on the full customer experience—from first click to checkout—you’ll see the impact where it matters most: your bottom line.

Photo Credit

Photo by AS Photography on Pexels

Clear and Compelling Homepage

Start with a concise, attention-grabbing headline summarising your unique selling proposition (USP). This should immediately tell visitors what you do and why they should choose your business over competitors.

Include a brief introduction to your business, highlighting your key products or services. Use engaging visuals, such as high-quality images or a short video, to showcase your offerings and capture visitors’ attention.

Incorporate clear calls-to-action (CTAs) that guide visitors to take the next step, whether that’s browsing your products, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting you for more information.

Ensure your homepage is visually appealing and reflects your brand identity. Use a colour scheme and design elements that align with your logo and overall brand aesthetic.

User-Friendly Navigation

A confusing or complicated menu structure can frustrate users and lead to high bounce rates. Keep your main navigation menu simple and clear. Limit the number of top-level categories to around five to seven to avoid overwhelming visitors. Use descriptive labels that clearly indicate what users will find in each section.

You could implement a sticky header that remains visible as users scroll down the page. This ensures that navigation options are always accessible, regardless of where visitors are on your site.

For larger sites with multiple pages or product categories, include a search function to help users find specific information quickly. Ensure the search bar is prominently displayed and easy to use.

Security Features

Implementing robust security features is essential for building trust with your website visitors With increasing concerns about online security and data privacy.

Secure your website with an SSL certificate to encrypt data transmitted between your site and users’ browsers. This is particularly important if you’re collecting any personal information or processing payments online.

Ensure you’re compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements to protect customer payment information if you’re running an e-commerce site.

Implement strong password policies and two-factor authentication for admin access to your website to prevent unauthorised access.

Regularly update your website software, plugins, and themes to patch any security vulnerabilities.

Include a clear privacy policy that outlines how you collect, use, and protect visitor data, ensuring compliance with UK data protection regulations like the GDPR.

About Us Page

Share your company’s history, mission, and values. Explain what motivated you to start the business and what sets you apart from competitors.

Include photos and brief bios of key team members. This adds a personal touch and helps visitors connect with your brand on a more human level.

Highlight any awards, certifications, or industry associations that demonstrate your expertise and credibility. You can add customer testimonials or case studies on this page to provide social proof and build trust with potential customers.

Clear Product or Service Information

Create individual pages for each product or service, with comprehensive descriptions that highlight features, benefits, and specifications.

Use high-quality images or videos to showcase your offerings. For products, include multiple angles and the option to zoom in on details. For services, consider using infographics or explainer videos to illustrate your process.

Include pricing information or provide easy ways for visitors to request a quote. Incorporate customer reviews or ratings to provide social proof and help potential customers make decisions. Ensure all product or service information is up-to-date and accurate to avoid confusion or disappointment.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO ranking can be tricky to navigate, so stay up to date with the latest developments. Conduct keyword research to identify terms and phrases relevant to your business. Incorporate these naturally into your website content, including page titles, headers, and meta descriptions.

Ensure each page has a unique and descriptive title tag and meta description to improve click-through rates from search results pages.

Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content in a logical hierarchy, making it easier for both users and search engines to understand your page content.

Optimise your images by using descriptive file names and alt text, which helps search engines understand the content of your images.

Create a sitemap and submit it to search engines to help them crawl and index your website more effectively.

Contact Information and Location

Include a dedicated ‘Contact Us’ page with a contact form, email address, phone number, and physical address (if applicable). Consider embedding a Google Map to show your location, especially if you have a physical shop or office that customers can visit.

If you have social media profiles, include links to these on your contact page and in your website’s footer. For businesses with multiple locations, provide a store locator tool to help customers find their nearest branch.

Mobile Responsiveness

Implement a responsive design that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes, from smartphones to tablets and desktop computers. Test your website on various devices and browsers to ensure a consistent and user-friendly experience across all platforms.

Optimise images and other media for fast loading on mobile devices to avoid frustrating users with slow page speeds. You can use mobile-specific features, such as click-to-call buttons for phone numbers, to enhance the user experience on smartphones.

A Digital Flipbook

Incorporating a digital flipbook into your website can provide an engaging and interactive way to showcase your products, services, or company information. This innovative format combines the familiarity of a printed catalogue with the interactivity of digital media, offering a unique browsing experience for your visitors.

A digital flipbook allows you to create a virtual publication that users can flip through, just like a physical book or magazine. This format is particularly effective for presenting product catalogues, company brochures, or annual reports in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner.

To create a digital flipbook, start by designing your content in a PDF format. Then, use a flipbook creation tool to convert the PDF into an interactive digital publication. Issuu can help you to create a digital flipbook that will help your business stand out.

Accessibility Features

Ensuring your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is not only ethically important but also a legal requirement in many cases.

Use clear, readable fonts and ensure sufficient colour contrast between text and background. Provide alt text for images to describe their content for users who rely on screen readers.

Ensure your website can be navigated using a keyboard alone, without relying on a mouse. Use descriptive link text rather than generic phrases like “click here” to help users understand where links will take them. Provide transcripts for audio content and captions for video content to make them accessible to users with hearing impairments.

Analytics and Tracking

Implementing analytics tools allows you to monitor your website’s performance and make data-driven decisions to improve user experience and conversions.

Set up Google Analytics or a similar tool to track visitor behaviour, including page views, time on site, and bounce rates.

Use heat mapping tools to visualise how users interact with your pages, identifying areas of high engagement or potential frustration.

Implement conversion tracking to monitor specific actions, such as form submissions or product purchases.

Regularly review your analytics data to identify trends, popular content, and areas for improvement on your website.

Photo Credit

Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
John Smith

John Smith is a seasoned digital marketing expert with over 15 years of experience helping startups and small businesses build strong online presences. As a former web development lead in London’s dynamic tech scene, John has a keen understanding of what makes a website not only functional but also compelling. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge on website design, SEO, and user experience to empower new businesses to succeed in the digital landscape.

Thankfully, there are ways in which you can help bridge this gap and lessen the negative implications of the digital divide.

What Is the Digital Divide?

Those unfamiliar with the term may be wondering what the digital divide actually is. Put simply, the digital divide is a term that’s used to describe the disparity between those with access to the internet and other forms of digital technology and those without it. The digital divide has been observed in three forms:

• The gender divide: It has been found that females are less likely to have access to the internet than their male counterparts.
• The social divide: It has been found that those in lower social class stratifications typically have less access to the internet than their counterparts in higher social class stratifications.
• The universal divide: This refers to the fact some individuals with physical disabilities may be unable to access the internet due to physical limitations.

What You Can Do to Help

Now that you’re aware of the digital divide, you may be wondering if there are any ways you can help. Luckily, there are things that you can do to help bridge the digital divide and help more individuals gain access to the internet. Here some things you can do to make an impact.

Support Political Initiatives to Increase Internet Access

As bad as the digital divide situation may seem, there are initiatives that aim to help bridge the gap. This includes legislations at the federal, state, and local levels. Some politicians have even attempted to provide free internet resources to local communities. Wherever you are, make sure to keep an eye out for initiatives like these and make sure to support them in any way that you can. The more people who are able to do this, the greater the chance of real change happening.

Support Programs That Promote Diversity

A large part of the digital divide is the lack of access to the internet that many people experience as a result of their background and social situations. Whether it’s college programs or large-scale businesses, organizations that promote diversity help to bridge the digital divide by offering more opportunities for growth and upward social mobility to those in need. By supporting these programs and organizations, you support more people gaining access to technology and the internet in an age when those have become some the most important resources to find opportunities.

Donate Your Old Technology

Many of us have a junk drawer full of old phones, tablets, or laptops. Instead of letting them just sit there, you can make an impactful difference by donating these items to those in need. Whether it’s to an organization or to someone you know, providing people with the technology to access the internet can help bridge the digital divide and give individuals more life-changing opportunities.

Spread the Word About Places with Free WiFi

Whether it’s a little coffee shop or a local library, almost every community has places that offer free WiFi. Unfortunately, many people may not be able to afford internet in their homes, so being aware of resources such as these can make a huge impact on those people’s lives. Whether you create an online forum or post flyers around your neighborhood, getting the word out about locations with free WiFi can help bridge the digital divide in your community.

Get Creative

The problem of the digital divide is a big one, and finding a solution is easier said than done. Luckily, you have the power to make an impact and help bridge the gap. Solutions start with people, and you have the power to come up with ideas of your own that can make an impact on your community and maybe even the world.

Create the World You Want to Live In

It’s easy to hope that a solution will just appear one day and bridge the digital divide. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that’ll happen any time soon. Rather than just sitting back and watching, you can make an impact and do your part to help others and bridge the digital divide.

Whether it’s supporting helpful legislation or spreading the word in your community, you have the power to make a difference and help find a solution to the problem.

Photo Credits

Image is from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren

With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

This is a complex question and requires a good look at technological trends to help us predict where this trajectory might lead us in the future.

Smartphones

One of the most significant technological shifts in the last half-century has been the advent and widespread adoption of smartphones. Fifty years ago, the idea that virtually every single human on the planet could own a device small enough to fit in a pocket yet powerful enough to make the wide expanses of the internet available in an instant was laughable. And yet that’s exactly the state of the world, a reality that has fundamentally changed huge parts of the way we live our lives.

In 2020, over 50% of American adults reported that internet access is essential for their livelihoods. Teenagers clock in an average of 7 hours per day on their phones according to some estimates. An estimated 90% of the world’s population uses a smartphone daily.

These numbers obviously represent significant smartphone usage. It also represents something that’s not talked about as much as it probably should be: smartphone and technology addiction. Smartphone addiction can cause several negative effects that compromise normal life for huge numbers of people. It can significantly dampen quality of life, mental health, and more.

As we continue to study the effects of smartphone usage on our personhoods and populations, we will get better insight on how such fundamental changes in our behavior will affect us in the long-term. It will likely be a bittersweet awakening, as we are even now beginning to discover.

In addition to the effects that prolonged and heavy smartphone usage have on our individual health and well-being, the nature of smartphones themselves create significant implications. Smartphones are uniquely powerful devices. Their internet connectivity, capacity for GPS and locational tracking, hardware capabilities that allow things like audio, picture, and video capture, and more all mean that smartphones can be used to accomplish an incredible number of tasks.

However, these functionalities are manipulatable. Instances of hacking, monitoring, tracking, and invasion of privacy through usurping private smartphones have already been identified around the world at varying degrees, scales, and severity. Governments, private corporations, and cyber criminals can use smartphones to accomplish a number of insidious things that can harm or endanger ordinary people. These stories will continue to surface. We must be aware of the powerful tool we carry in our pockets and how possible it is for others to hack or compromise it.

Internet of Things

Another emerging trend within technology is the Internet of Things (IoT). This refers to adding technological or connection capabilities to traditionally inert objects. From smart-home technology that allows you to answer the door from your phone regardless of your location to remotely connecting to your car, the IoT is a quickly expanding field with huge possibilities. IoT technology can offer huge benefits. The convenience of being able to manipulate items in your home or keeping better tabs on the security of your property is a huge selling point for the countless consumers taking advantage of these technological offerings.

However, just like smartphones, IoT technology is exploitable and creates new possibilities for harm, damage, theft, manipulation, hacking, and more. When elements of your home, car, or other items are all controllable over the internet, these systems are breachable. Along with the advances come heightened risks.

Device Usage for Children

Another technological trend that is changing rapidly is the amount of technology being used and implemented for children. The COVID-19 epidemic that began in 2020 had overwhelming effects on the lives of virtually every person on the planet – it expedited the necessity and use of technology in many respects, notably within education. However, technology usage was already increasing for even young children even before COVID-19 made its way onto the scene. Children, even infants, are also estimated to spend up to 7 hours a day on screens.

Psychologists, child development specialists, teachers, medical professionals, and more are expressing serious concern over children’s heavy average technology use.

That technology usage can have serious negative impacts on children. These can include impairing the normal development of social skills, physical and physiological effects such as harmed eyesight and lessened sleep quality, diminished amounts of physical activity and exercise, and more. Children as young as 1 year old often master technological skills like manipulating iPads but struggle with basic motor functions, fundamental social skills and cues, and more.

Though attention to these realities is rising and beginning to reach wider audiences, the change has been so rapid that we probably won’t be aware of many long-term effects until it’s too late for current generations of children to curb technological use in masse.

Increasing Digitization of Information

Another technological trend taking the world by storm is the vast increase in digitization across several arenas, industries, and economies. Cryptocurrencies and internet banking have moved much of the world’s financial transactions completely online into virtual and digital realms. From taxation to personal identification to health industry information systems, official information and documentation increasingly exist in exclusively digital spaces as well. Personal information and records are stored digitally by more people than ever before. As with just about anything, these systems afford both benefits and drawbacks.

While digital information and processes can in some ways be more accessible, convenient, and secure, they are also more susceptible to different problems – breaches, hacking, misuse, and more.

Technology’s advances have made unprecedented things possible. They’ve revolutionized healthcare, education, business, global connectivity, and transportation. But while technology can help us accomplish things we couldn’t have done before, it comes at a high cost. We must tread carefully into the coming decades and very seriously evaluate technology’s effects on us, both positive and negative, to avoid what could become significant problems in the future.

Photo Credits

Play Image from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren

With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

The primary objective of your web design should be to promote your business. Understandably, your business might have lost a bit of market presence. It can be due to the closure of your brick and mortar store. Or maybe your company did not have an eCommerce platform before the pandemic. Whatever may be the circumstances, you have to understand how much the damage has been, and how you can regain your market position. Your web design should get your business trending again. For that, it should create brand awareness and a level of trust in your product once again. Your web design company can include some of these elements on your website to achieve the results.

COVID-19 Message on a Slider

The slider is an effective billboard on your website pages, so use it to present a special message about your business strategies for COVID-19. It can display how your business and your customers have been affected by the pandemic. If your business is unaffected by COVID-19, you can use it to display a message that can build customer’s trust in your products. Your web designers can achieve the same objective by adding a secondary banner on your homepage if you don’t want to introduce a slider to your web design.

Create a Landing Page for the Slider

The slider will not provide ample space in your web design to present details of your efforts to fight the crisis. So you can create a separate landing page that has the specifics. You can use it to convey

• A message of care.
• Any business disruptions that may affect a customer’s orders.
• Steps that were taken by you to ensure the safety of your products and services.
• Your business policies regarding the protection of your employees.
• Any community or non-profit work that is undertaken by you.
• Helpful resources for your customers.

An Entry or Exit Pop-Up

If you do not want to dedicate your slider towards a COVID-19 message, you can use an entry or exit pop-up to convey it. Web designers can easily add these pop-ups to your website design and can appear when a customer enters or leaves your page.

Use Logos to Build Trust

Consumers want to purchase products and services from trustworthy sources during the pandemic. So if you have not done it already, include logos of trustable businesses that you work with on your website. They need not be your customers but could be your vendors or stakeholders as well. Badges can also achieve the same purpose. They can be badges of awards that your company has won recently or in the past. Or they can be reviews and recommendations from notable businesses and media houses. You can ask web designers to add a section on your website that can display these logos and badges.

Video Marketing

You can use pre-recorded videos on your website to explain your products and services. These videos are a useful way to introduce your consumers to what you offer. You can also use them for digital advertising on YouTube or social media. Videos have become the latest trend in websites and can achieve exponential results to regain your customers as well as attract new ones. Videos tend to be heavy and may increase your website loading speed, so work with web designers in ways to incorporate them intelligently.

Improve Your Content

Your content is not only a valuable tool to educate customers, but it can also be useful to improve your search ranking and attract more traffic to your website. Your web design company should use the latest search engine optimization techniques to improve its visibility. They should also work with your content team to ensure that your blog posts and graphic designs get optimized for web crawlers. Several techniques can be used to achieve search engine optimization, so ask your website designers before you introduce fresh content on your website.

Sometimes it is situations of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic that can jolt us into action. We hope that you treat this crisis as an opportunity in disguise and utilize your resources to strengthen your website and online presence. Digital markets are going to be the future of every business in the world.

Photo Credit

Photo is from unsplash

Guest Author Bio
Bitan Mukherjee

Bitan has been a business consultant and a writer for the past seven years. He is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs in their endeavors to achieve success in their enterprise. Bitan also moonlights as a photographer and a chef sometimes.

Today, more than ever, our kids are digitally connected at rates that weren’t even comprehensible 20 years ago. We are raising the first digital natives, a generation that can’t remember a time before the Internet, smartphones, or wireless technology. While our technology and devices can be wonderful tools to help us connect with a world of knowledge and each other, we need to be aware of the ways technology might be keeping our kids from exploring nature and the outside world.

The Danger of Too Much Technology

Along with the undeniable perks of today’s technology, we are starting to notice some drawbacks that come with owning devices. In fact, teens are spending a daily average of 9 hours consuming media in one form or another. Yes, this number includes watching television or doing homework, but a majority of their time is occupied by scrolling social media, streaming, or playing video games.

That number is so alarming that even childhood development experts and medical professionals, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, are beginning to recommend limiting the amount of time children and teens spend in front of a screen. In addition to cyberbullying, online predators, identity theft, and sexting pitfalls associated with technology, consider the following potential dangers our devices might be posing:

• Documented increased levels of anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem occur with social media overuse.
• Poor posture and a lack of ergonomics can cause joint and neck pain.
• The fast paced stimuli devices provide can alter brain development.
• Glowing screens and interruptions from devices can disrupt sleep patterns.
• Devices can limit face-to-face interactions which can interfere with a child’s speech, bonding, and communication skills.
• Studies have found children feel slighted and unimportant when parents engage on their phones or devices at times when they should be interacting with the child- such as, school events, family dinners, or games.

Nature Calls: The Benefits of the Great Outdoors

Granted, technology does have a place and time in our children’s lives. However, we need to step back and look at the benefits nature provides that our kids might be missing out on when they are plugged in all the time. Listed below is a small sampling of the emotional and physical benefits nature provides kids:

• Outdoor play gives kids opportunities to develop their observation and creativity skills which, in turn, leads to higher levels of learning readiness and scores on tests.
• Being outdoors can boost a child’s immune system through exposure to good germs and bacteria living in the dirt and ecosystem. Also, we can’t forget about gaining healthy doses of Vitamin D from sunlight.
• Exposure to green spaces in several studies has been shown to reduce the symptoms of ADHD in kids.
• Being exposed to sunlight can set our natural biorhythms and can help develop healthy sleep schedules.
• Increasing physical activity can lower the probability kids will experience obesity, hypertension, or heart disease as they age.

Ways to Disconnect Technology and Head Outside

We know that too much technology can be detrimental to our kids, but a primary reason they are staying inside is due to their devices and the comfort of home. While we can admit our tech isn’t going to leave us anytime soon, we can challenge ourselves to reduce the negative impacts our devices have on our children. With a few mindful choices we can strive to balance technology and nature by providing plenty of chances for kids to get outdoors

To help kids put down technology and head back outdoors, please consider the following tips:

• Let kids earn time for technology by rewarding them for every hour spent outside.
• Aim to spend one hour daily outside as a family. Try a game of catch, garden, or take a walk together.
• Designate zones in the home that are technology-free. We like keeping electronics away from family dinners and out of bedrooms.
• Embrace a technology “curfew” every night where all electronics are powered down at a designated time.
• Find free or low-cost community events to attend as a family.

What are your thoughts on technology vs. nature? How do you get kids to unplug and enjoy outdoor activities?

Photo Credits

All photos from Shuterstock

Guest Author Bio
Amy Williams
Amy Williams is a free-lance journalist based in Southern California and mother of two. As a parent, she enjoys spreading the word on positive parenting techniques in the digital age and raising awareness on issues like cyberbullying and online safety.

Nowadays, teenagers spend a lot of time using their gadgets and often their parents do not have a clue who they talk to or what type of information they look for on the Internet. Possible threats in the digital and real world make parents take actions. Some may resort to using parental control tools designed for phones and tablets monitoring. Here I will tell you about one such tool – Pumpic, a multi-featured parental control app.

Compatibility

For starters, the app supports most smartphones and tablets. Android devices are to be operated by Android 2.2-6.0.1, they should also have an inserted SIM-card for proper monitoring. iOS users have also nothing to worry about. Pumpic is compatible with all the iOS versions starting from iOS 6.0. Some features may require specific OS version. The list of Pumpic features is available on their website.

Monitoring platform and features

Pumpic developed two separate options for iOS and Android devices considering the fundamental differences of these two operating systems. Under the iCloud solution all the monitored information is uploaded together with the iCloud backup. Monitoring is invisible since you connect the subscription to the device only by entering your child’s Apple ID and password. Thus, you need to make sure that the target device is backed up regularly to receive updates. The scope of iCloud features is slightly limited with regard to the fact that not all of the information can be backed up. The Android solution, where the Pumpic app is directly installed on the device, has something more to offer.

Both solutions include: monitoring of call history (time, type, duration, name and number of the contact), SMS (as well as MMS, iMessages), location, photos, browser history, bookmarks, contacts, calendar (scheduled plans and events), KIK and Whatsapp.

Android solution users can also benefit from Videos, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype, Snapchat and Instagram monitoring. Keylogger (tracks all the keystokes typed on the target device), creating location geo-fences and alerts as well as some parental control features such as locking the device with a password, blocking unwanted websites, limiting the usage of apps and blocking incoming calls and SMS by number.

Root and jailbreak requirements

Plenty of parental control apps may require jailbreak on iOS and rooting on Android devices to get access to more monitoring features. In fact, Pumpic does require rooting to monitor Emails, IM chats and Social Media (Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Kik, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat), Browser history, Websites Blocking and Bookmarks (Android 6+) under the Android solution. Luckily for iOS users, the iCloud solution is non-jailbreak which makes Pumpic a simple and convenient app to monitor child’s iPhone.

Pricing

Pumpic offers two packages for Android users with regard to the included features (Premium plan costs $33.99 and Basic is at $23.99). In turn a 1-month iCloud plan costs $39.99.

How to monitor?

Control Panel is your personal account which becomes available immediately after registration. Here all the information will be stored in the relevant sections (Calls, SMS, Location, etc). You are free to set up parental controls of the children’s phone (limit the usage of apps or block unwanted websites), track its movement on the Google map and observe all the other activities: calls, SMS, photos and so on. Control Panel can be accessed via any device so each parent can monitor the child separately. It is available via any web-browser on your phone, PC or tablet. There is also an interactive Pumpic Demo of the account on the website for you to check what the monitoring will look like and form your own opinion about the app before purchasing.

To sum up this app will track your children’s whereabouts, monitor who they are talking to, what they are talking about, protect them from undesired websites and applications and so much more.

Photo Credits

Screen captures from the Pumpic App
Featured image – pixabay Creative Commons

Guest Author Bio
Jana Rooheart

Jana Rooheart works as a blogger to make this world a bit better for kids. She lives and works in Kansas City, a place where she grew up and started a family. She has a Technology degree from Kansas State University. Jana is interested in anything connected to modern technology and parenting. Currently, she is an e-safety consultant at Pumpic and an independent blogger. You may contact her via Google+ or Facebook.

For over a century, visions of the future have contained images of enormous screens used for video calls and “smart homes” that could respond to us using voice. Home automation has long been the cradle of invention for machine learning interfaces, where today their service can be integrated into everything from refrigerators to cars.

When you speak to Alexa, or Siri, or Cortana, or Google Now, they provide hands-free access to everything online and within the Cloud. You no longer have to scroll or click; all your requests are fulfilled via voice command. According to this website, consumers use voice assistants in their home more than anywhere else – at 43%. Using hands-free voice assistants on the road while driving ranked second at 36%. A widening scope of devices – lighting systems, music programs, televisions, home security technology and more – are able to work with personal voice assistants, bringing a multitude of home services together to create the possibility of a total smart home environment.

Growth and Competition

Even when conversations were misconstrued, early voice-driven intelligence users were eager to speak to Siri, despite her limitations. Then and now, she doesn’t always hear directives correctly the first time around. Her flippant answers seldom deviate from her programmers’ script and belie her ignorance. Fortunately, if you tire of Siri, you can choose to chat with her competition.

Google Now is at your service, and Facebook’s M, though still in development, is also an emerging contender in the space. Microsoft recently introduced Cortana, and Amazon is behind the popular Alexa who, among other places, lives in the “Echo”, a speaker device compatible with numerous home products and software programs. These increasingly-sophisticated helpers proactively listen to your every word. But while they fulfill requests, give directions, and create other reminders, they also retain a “memory” record of every operation.

Learning from the Mirror

The Internet has quickly evolved to become both a ubiquitous experience, and one that is increasingly “personalized” – thanks in no small part to the ambitious A.I. algorithms driving advances in natural language and machine learning systems.  

Current virtual assistants reflect our desires, but do little to stir or instigate new patterns of thought. The A.I. programs working today are able to predict “preferences” by analyzing repetitive actions and previous data activity. As such, there are serious concerns that relying upon the intelligence of a machine will inevitably work against us to reduce our capacity for spontaneity, limiting our knowledge in the longer term.

Talk to your assistant, and you add to the growing treasure trove of user information – expanding her understanding of you, as well as where you fit within larger subsets of population data. Virtual assistant “brains” live in the cloud. Rather than relying on programmed, call-and-response type conversations of the past, voice-driven softwares interact using flexible code to better understand larger groups of people at once. To better synthesize knowledge from spoken language, Alexa and other helper bots use massive artificial neural networks to “train” and learn how to make more accurate inferences. These enormous networks depend upon unthinkably large amounts of data, but with users inputting millions of pieces of information every second of the day, it’s not necessarily in short supply. Complex beyond the bounds of human capacity, machine analysis techniques are now crucial to the process itself. Alongside Amazon, Apple and Google are also immersed in deep-learning research.  

“At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labor becomes abridged,” wrote Charles Babbage, creator of the first mechanical computer. Voice-assistants are moving us towards new breakthroughs in efficiency, helping us outsource mundane daily tasks and to-do’s, and coming ever closer to comprehending our more complex wants and needs. But as we reshape our world around this new technology, it’s hard to predict just what we’ll lose in translation.  

Photo Credits

Photo 1 – pixabay public domain
Photo 2 – pixabay public domain

Guest Author Bio
Kate Lindsay

Kate Lindsay is a writer and blogger based in the Windy City. Fueled by coffee and chocolate, she’s an MSU alum with a passion for recycling and refurbishing old furniture. Her favorite Girl Scout Cookie is the trefoil.