How to Take Your Blog to the Next Level

If you are writing a blog, then there may be a couple of reasons why you started doing it. One was, more than likely, that you simply love writing and you had a story you wanted to share with others. The other reason might be that you wanted to share your stories and get paid for doing it. If you were one of those writers in the latter category, then you have probably been working hard to get your visitors up and getting those companies to pay for advertising and to offer you products. However, it isn’t always as straightforward as you would imagine, and there can be a variety of obstacles in your way that you need to overcome. Here are some ideas to help you take your blog to the next level.

Decide on Your Route to Making Money

There are many ways that bloggers can turn their blog into a money-making enterprise, but, not all of these ways will work for every type of blog. You need to be aware of this and think about how you can make money that fits in with your visitors and your genre. For example, if you were writing a blog about knitting, then trying to sell shirts or hats might not work (unless you have knitted them, of course!). Other forms of income from a blog will also depend on how much traffic you can get to your site. Many advertisers want to see hundreds of thousands of visitors before they decide to offer you ad space. However, by approaching smaller companies, perhaps those local to you, then you might find more interest.

Affiliate Programs

For some bloggers, one of the best ways that they can earn money is to use an affiliate program. Essentially, they are the same as any web-based advertising, in that a company will pay you to place an ad on your site. The difference is that with an affiliation program someone not only has to click on the ad, they also have to make a purchase. The owner of the site will then get a commission on the sale. Many big companies such as Amazon use this way to sell advertising, and it is popular among many bloggers. The only thing to be aware of with the affiliate program is that you need to have a large following for it to work effectively. Otherwise, you won’t be getting the traffic you need to gain the sales.

Post Regularly

To achieve more money from your site, there are a few things you need to do. The first thing is to get more visitors coming to your site. According to one SEO in Brisbane, the key to getting reoccurring web traffic is to focus on evergreen content topics. Put simply, evergreen content refers to content that never goes out of fashion or becomes dated. By focussing on evergreen instead of news topics, the content is far more likely to attract long term visitors to your site. Most bloggers who are doing their blog for a hobby, may post once a week or so, which is fine, but to maintain a regular following, you need to be consistent. Try to post your blog at the same time each day and on the same day each week. That way, your readers will know when your next post is coming. Posting at various times will only serve to get your post missed by your fans.

Keep Your Content Fresh

Another part of creating a successful blog is the content that you post. It needs to be fresh and relevant to your blog or people who follow you might be turned off. For example, if you blog about cooking, your readers will want cooking related posts. If you start to blog about fashion or movies, then they might become bored and move on. You should also be making your posts interesting to the eye. By adding photos and video clips to your post, you will gain more attention than one which only has text. Remember to make sure your photos and videos are not breaching copyright, and using your own photos is by far the best way to avoid this.

Maintain a Presence on Social Media

Part of a bloggers life is social media; many bloggers regularly use Twitter, Facebook, and now Instagram to comment and post their thoughts and feelings. It is a good idea to be as prolific as possible on social media to get your name out there and to start attracting followers. The more followers you have, the more chance you have of getting them to read your blog. When thinking about posting on social media, you need to be careful about what you comment or post. Big companies won’t want to associate with someone that is being rude or trolling others.

Give Your Site a Lift

An attractive looking website is as much of a draw to people as the content on it. Part of keeping your viewers is minimizing the ‘bounce rate.’ The bounce rate is the time it takes someone to arrive and leave your site. The longer they spend on your blog, the better it is for you, because it means they have found something that has engaged their interest. If you have a high bounce rate, then you need to think of ways you can get people to stay longer. Apart from creating more engaging content, you can also change your website design to make it easier to navigate and brighter to the eye.

Write for Other Popular Sites

If you are trying to build readers to find better advertising, then writing for other sites can be a quick way to gain readers. You need to be aiming for sites that are more popular than yours so that you can attract readers across. It is important that your articles are relevant to your blog site as people will be coming across expecting to see more of the same topics. You should also be saving your best and strongest posts for other sites because you want them to be engaged by your opinions.

Offer Something to Your Readers

Some bloggers will try to engage more with their readers by offering them something for free. If you are a blogger that is offering help and advice to other bloggers, then why not offer a free eBook or PDF file with hints and tips. It will encourage people to click on your site to download the eBook and hopefully stick around to read other things. It is important to mix your blog with your social media for this, tell all your followers that you have a new eBook that can help them and include a link to the download page. If you want to add other tips or tricks, you can offer that for a small fee which will be an attractive offer to those that liked the first one.

Asking for Donations

Some people have successfully sought revenue from their readers or viewers by asking for donations. YouTube video makers are among those that are the most successful with this because they are asking for donations to add content or keep their content running. Those who donate are often given added extras or bonuses as a way of encouraging others to do the same. A similar plan can also to be having a paid or subscribed section of your website. Behind the paywall, you would have other content that is better or add extra content to that you have already uploaded. However, this isn’t the most popular with readers or viewers, unless you are a popular blogger that is offering something exceptionally good.

Merchandise

A good way to spread the word about your brand is to offer merchandise from your website. You need to have a good following for this, or no-one will want to buy it, but it can generate good revenue for you. Think about how your blog logo will look on your merchandise, will it look good on mugs or t-shirts? Perhaps you can create a design for other things such as hats or pens? Try to tie-in your merchandise with your blog, for example, if you are writing about movies, maybe you can create some 3D glasses with your logo on them? It will be both functional to those who love movies, and also a way for them to show they like your blog.

Selling Ad Space

One of the best ways to generate money from your blog is to sell advertising space. Many companies will gladly pay for you to show their ads on your site. However, for the bigger companies to do this, you need to have a lot of viewers to your blog. For most sites, the companies will scan your site for keywords and place an ad based on that. It makes their ads more relevant to your site and therefore more likely to be clicked. If you are just starting your blog, then signing up to Google AdSense or a similar service from Bing and Yahoo! will give you some income early on. Once you have started to gain more visitors, you can use more lucrative ad networks.

There are many ways that you can add elements to your blog to raise money for you. All you need is to think about what method of revenue will suit your blog the best.

Business Ideas Perfect For Anyone With A Passion For Tech

For anyone with a tech-savvy mindset, when it comes to starting a business, a tech-based venture could be the ideal option. When it comes to a businesses success, the key is knowing as much as possible about the area that you are going into, which is why it’s important to think carefully about your passions and interests before settling on a business type to focus on.

The fantastic thing about tech-based businesses is the fact that there’s always something new to focus on. You see, when it comes to the rate that technology is changing it, it’s fast – there’s no getting away from that fact. So to be able to keep up with the rate at which technology is changing, you need to be a tech-minded individual. Otherwise, you may struggle.

Do you believe that your mindset for technology, will allow you to build and run a successful technology-based business? If you do, then you may want to take note of some of the business ideas below that are perfect for anyone with a passion for technology.

Blog consulting

Are you a blog expert? Have you been successfully running your own blog for years or have a sound understanding of WordPress and Blogger and the whole blogging platform? If the answer to this is yes, then working as a blog consultant could be a fantastic business choice. Believe it or not, blog consulting is a highly lucrative business, especially as there are more bloggers than ever before attempting to make their blog their main income stream. The problem is that many bloggers don’t understand what it takes to rival the world’s most successful bloggers, which is why they may struggle to monetize their sites and make a success of them as a business venture. Luckily, this is something that you can help with, which is what makes a business in blog consulting so indispensable.

Computer repair and maintenance

Do you have a technical background and a good understanding of computers and how they work? If the answer is yes, then perhaps starting a business that offers computer repair and maintenance services could be an excellent move to make. You can choose to cater your service to one PC operating system, such as Windows, or you can choose to cater to all systems – it depends on where your knowledge and specialism lays. The fact is that you will find businesses in every sector struggling with their computer repair and maintenance, sick of over-priced fees and poor service, so if you can offer a higher quality service, you will be set for life with a client base that will convert to using your services.

IT training

Do you have an exceptional gift for IT? If you are the kind of person that knows everything that there is to know about IT, then perhaps you could consider working in IT training. When it comes to using IT confidently, there are a lot of people – mostly older people – who lack confidence and are unable to make the most out of IT, which is something that you could change with some basic IT training classes. You could also choose to offer some more advanced classes, depending on how your ‘students’ progress and how much knowledge you have. You could offer these classes for small groups, on a 1-to-1 basis, as well as online, so that people who aren’t local to you can still take advantage of them.

IT support

A large percentage of smaller companies don’t have the money for full-time IT support. This can mean that should their systems go down, it could cause major problems for their business. That’s why so many smaller companies are now choosing to outsource their IT needs to freelance IT support specialists. If you have a deep knowledge for computers and software, and a strong understanding of how to deal with common IT issues, such as malware attacks, then starting an IT support business could be an option worth considering.

Social media consulting

For businesses of all shapes and sizes, social media is a powerful marketing tool. However, the businesses that benefit most from this form of marketing are small businesses, as they can’t always afford to utilize all other, more expensive, marketing platforms that are available to them. What with there being a high number of small businesses starting each year, as you can imagine there is a strong call for social media expertise, assistance, and management.

App creation

Apps are big business today, which is why running an app creation business could be a good move to make. Providing, of course, that you know enough about app creation to do so. If you want to succeed in app creation, you need to have a strong insight into creating an indispensable mobile app, and what it takes to do so. You need to know how to design and create apps, how to market them, and how to ensure that they are highly successful.

Web design

If there’s one thing that every single business needs to have, it’s a smart and stylish website that has been impeccably designed. While a lot of small businesses owners make the mistake of attempting to create their website themselves to cut costs, the fact is that without a professional website that is fully responsive and set up to work well on mobile devices, a business has a much higher chance of failure. If you can offer an affordable and professional web design service that is suitable for smaller businesses, you could have a highly profitable business of your own on your hands.

When it comes to starting a successful business, one of the most important factors is that you choose to run a business that you have the knowledge and experience to make a success of. That’s why, if you have a passion for technology and a keen understanding of various areas of tech, it makes sense to consider launching a business that’s technology related. Bearing that in mind, hopefully, the ideas and suggestions above have given you a better insight into the types of technology-focused businesses that have the potential to be successful.

SEM

Have you done the following SEO tactics to raise your organic search position?

There’s so much SEO advice on the web nowadays that it can be difficult to know which pieces of advice to follow. There’s a huge focus on links, however, changes to the algorithm make it more challenging to know which type of links are working for and against you. There’s also talk about the need for content, even though there are sites that rank well with barely any content. And then there’s the technical SEO, in which people will focus on crawling issues or HTML markup.

Having too many options can cause distractions. That’s why, in this post, we only want you to focus on 6 specific tactics that will improve your site’s SEO over time and compliment your overall digital marketing strategy.

Niche keyword selection

This is the most critical step that keeps on getting overlooked nowadays. If you don’t aim to rank for the niche keywords that can yield a quick win, it will be difficult to get your website to rank well. Select a portfolio of keywords and assess the number of competing websites as well as the types of websites that are competing to rank for that keyword.

Add Schema to markup your site’s HTML.

Schema markup has been around for a few years now, however, there are still several websites that aren’t using it in a way to help Google and other search engines better understand the content that appears on their web pages.

Google’s Search Console gives webmasters the option to highlight HTML elements that appear on a website and then to implement it using the Schema code that it provides. Implementing the schema markup correctly can improve the site’s keyword ranking performance, as well as the click-through rate from the organic search listing.

Create compelling, shareable content.

Google has been saying this for years. If you want to get people to link to your website’s content, you need to publish content that people are willing to share with their audience. Whether this is in the form of an informative article, images, web tools, videos etc., people need to be incentivised to share the content out of interest or value that they can share with others.

Commit to an online publishing strategy.

The key to ‘breaking through’ on the web is getting published. The easiest way to get published is by publishing informative blog posts for an audience on the web. This can then be expanded into guest blog posts, contributing to web magazines as a columnist or even participating or hosting interviews.

Improve the page loading time on your website.

The technical structure of your website can be your own worst enemy at times. Put your website into tools such as GTMetrix or Pingdom Tools to see how the loading time and sequence is. If it is loading much slower than the competitors, it could be a factor that is preventing your site from ranking in a higher position.

Page speed becomes more important as website’s start to rank towards the top of Google. The reason being is that Google starts to preload the websites that are in the first position since they expect the web user to click on the first result on Google.

What kind of impact should you expect to see?

Within a couple of weeks, you should start to see the site’s overall keyword visibility increase in the Google Search Console. The niche keywords should start to lift in their organic search performance and the knock-on effect should see the main keywords that you are trying to rank for improving. This should naturally lead to an increase in organic search traffic for your website.

Author bio

Nathan Elly is the branch manager for the digital marketing agency Digital Next. When he isn’t busy optimising online marketing campaigns, you can find him on the futsal pitch.

Tech Products Fail

Troubleshooting When Tech Products Fail

Current technology has progressed to such a state that you can carry a smartphone in your pocket with such advanced capabilities and memory that it would be thought of as nothing more than science fiction a decade or two ago. Nowadays you can use your tablet to create a piece of artwork that is every bit as stunning as a painting or photograph can be. You can also take photos using your smartphone that are of print quality, you can join business meetings from anywhere in the world using video chat, and you can whittle away hours using your handheld tech as a games console.

There is a common nightmare that affects many of us, however, of being right in the middle of drafting an important document or making a vital point via video meeting when your phone, tablet or laptop crashes, losing any unsaved work and leaving you frustrated and confused as to what the issue is. Although in some cases specialized help is necessary, below are some top tips for troubleshooting when your tech product unexpectedly fails on you, ranging from spilling water on your smartphone to an unresponsive touchscreen.

Your smartphone gets wet

One common issue is smartphones getting wet, from dropping it in a toilet bowl to accidentally spilling a drink on it, even a tiny amount of liquid can be the cause of chaos for your phone. Firstly, remove the battery. If this is not possible then, as quickly as you can, turn the phone off to try and prevent a short circuit. Wipe the liquid carefully off any parts that are accessible, and then put the phone in a bowl of uncooked dry rice for 24 hours to help absorb any excess water. In order to protect your phone while you do this, wrap it very loosely in some kitchen roll or paper towels.

If you don’t fancy submerging your precious smartphone in a bowl of rice, then you could try buying a desiccant bag which acts in a similar way, providing a sealed container and a desiccant which will help to absorb all liquid and dry out your phone.

A cracked screen on your smartphone

A cracked screen on your phone is surprisingly easy to do, all it takes is your phone dropping from your jeans pocket or accidentally being trod on. However, before you panic and think you have to buy a new one, there are some things you can try. If you feel confident in your abilities, then you could perform a DIY repair. If, however, the thought of pulling apart your expensive and vital phone yourself brings you out in a cold sweat then try contacting the manufacturer to ask them to repair the screen, which they should do but it won’t be free. Alternatively, search ’fix an iPhone screen near me’ and find professional technicians who will fix your device with a fast turnaround time.

If your phone has a cracked screen, but you are unable to mend it yourself and have to wait for an appointment nearby, then a temporary fix is to apply a screen protector as a short-term solution. This should stop the screen from cracking further and allow you to continue using the phone while you arrange a more permanent fix.

Of course, to try and ensure these things don’t happen in the first place, invest in a robust phone or tablet cover that will protect your device from any knocks or accidental drops.

Touchscreen on your phone or tablet is frozen and not responding

If your touchscreen has frozen, then first try to reboot or force restart your product. Sometimes simply restarting it can help to reset any issues, presenting you with a machine that works perfectly once again. If, however, this does not solve your problem there are a few other tips to try and get things moving. Firstly, try cleaning the screen to ensure there is no residual dirt, which could be stopping it from registering your touch.

If the touchscreen is not working only in certain apps, then delete and reinstall them, to see if that solves the issue. Or perhaps your screen protector is no longer working well, in which case, remove it and test your screen. If it registers your touch now then invest in a new screen protector and throw away the old one.

If you have an iPhone, you could try restoring your phone to the factory settings, which can solve many problems, although it will wipe out your data so make sure it is all backed up first.

Slow startup

If your phone, tablet or laptop is very slow to startup, then the problem could be your storage. If you have overloaded your device the response time will likely be very slow so to solve this delete any unused apps, and store photos and files on the cloud, a hard drive or another device to free up space. If you have an iPhone, you can check how much free space you have available to see whether this is your problem. Go to ‘Settings,’ ‘General’ and ‘About,’ and look at what is ‘available’ under 500MB and you need to create more space to speed things up. To do this, for example, you can set up auto delete for all your old SMS messages, setting it to permanently erase all messages from a set time ago. To further add to your space make sure only the app you are using is open. Sometimes your phone can be running apps without you knowing it by leaving them suspended in memory. Double click on the home button and you will be able to see what is still running and can close any apps you don’t need by swiping up on the phone.

Any other issues

For any issues not covered here, you can contact the manufacturer of your product. For example, all Apple stores have a genius bar where you can take your product for a free consultation with an expert who can hopefully solve your problem, or if not, they can advise you on the best course of action.

Why Hosting With a Magento Host Can Make Your Shop Run Faster

Magento is a popular platform for running online stores, and it’s one of the leading solutions on this market at the moment. It shouldn’t be surprising, with that in mind, that there is a huge variety of options available for hosting a Magento site, including some specialized hosting providers that offer solutions aimed directly at Magento users.

Some might brush those off as unnecessary – after all, Magento is not that complicated to install on your own in the first place, and the platform has a very active community of users that are constantly ready to help out in case you get stuck. That said, there is actually a lot to gain from choosing a dedicated Magento host, and if you care about running your shop in the most optimized, streamlined way possible, you should definitely look into some of these options.

The only caveat here is that Magento hosting services can differ just like regular hosting companies, and you should take the time to compare what’s available before settling on any particular provider. This can save you a lot of potential headache in the future if you run into any issues with your host and realize that you need to switch.

Your site’s performance will be better 

Running a Magento site on a dedicated Magento host means that you’ll see a much better performance from it, especially if you have a large volume of users on a daily basis. If you’ve seen a significant growth in your operations lately and it’s started to affect the performance of your operations, you should definitely look into a dedicated Magento hosting solution as your first remedy. In most cases, that’s enough to address the problem completely and set you on the right track.

Site performance can also affect you in more ways than are immediately obvious. For example, many search engines will use it as a metric to determine where your site ranks against others, and if it takes a lot of time to serve a single page to your users, you’re going to have a real problem on your hands. With the help of a dedicated Magento host though, this doesn’t have to be an issue, and you can ensure that you’re getting ranked fairly by all popular search engines.

You will be able to focus on your customers more 

When you don’t have to constantly tinker with your shop’s settings and the configuration of the host behind it, you’ll have a much smoother experience working with your customers as you’ll be able to focus your effort in that area. Many shop owners who run a Magento store eventually find themselves having to hire extra help to deal with the inflow of customer service requests as their shops grow larger – but in many of those cases, the solution is as simple as switching to a Magento host and serving your customers yourself!

Sure, some kinds of issues will still persist, regardless of the specific type of host that you’re using, but when you’re serviced by a dedicated Magento hosting provider, you’ll have the reassurance that the most common types of issues will be dealt with as swiftly as possible, and that you won’t have to lift a finger to get some problems out of your hair.

Sometimes this will cost a little extra, but in other cases you may actually be able to get your Magento hosting at a discount compared to a regular hosting service. It all depends on the range of features you’re looking to get – like with every other host – and the quality of the company itself. Some companies have a long-standing presence on the market and will be able to give you a far better deal for your money compared to others.

But in any case, remember that spending a little extra can sometimes go a long way if it means getting prioritized service and a more secure platform to work with. One of the worst things that can happen to your e-store is finding yourself in the middle of a data breach that you have completely no control over. This won’t just jeopardize your operations, it will make your customers angry while you’re unable to explain that it’s not your fault.

For all these reasons and more, specialized Magento hosting is your only real option if you need to run a serious e-store, and you should settle for nothing less. As long as you take the time to compare the deals on the market carefully, you can’t really go wrong here.

Great Gadgets to Look Out for in 2018

The start of the New Year brings about the end of the holiday season. The end of the previous year brings to mind the set of innovations brought about by a number of companies that show that we’re truly moving ahead in 2018. You’d be at a loss if you started the year without getting any of these home gadgets under the Christmas tree. But don’t worry, you can always make up for it in watching out for the later versions that will be sure to come out this year.

Drones

Everyone seems to want to have a drone. With the ridiculous influx of YouTube users and the massive popularity of using drone shots, Drones have become more and more accessible by the day. Having a remote control drone with a high-resolution camera is not only a high-tech gadget toy to fiddle with, but a great tool for aspiring professional photographers and videographers. One of the best in the market is the DJI Phantom 4. Having a ton of features including a GPS and a 1080p quality camera, the Phantom 4 is one of the best drones on the market featuring a sleek design and a definitely steep price of $800+ (GBP 590). Be sure to look out for the release of the Phantom 5 sometime later this year.

TV Mirrors

Something that looks like it came straight from Black Mirror, a TV Mirror varies from size to size, seemingly blending in with your room. It’s mostly hung in the bathroom but imagine having it in the living room and impressing your guests with a mirror that can turn into an LCD screen. Being incredibly deceiving and having different sizes reaching up to 84″x126″ in dimensions, most TV Mirrors are customizable, making them easy to blend in with other mirrors in your household. With a relatively decent resolution of 1080p, and a modest range of speakers, it’s one household item you’ll wish you had with prices ranging from $100 (GBP75) to well over $2,000 (GBP1,500).

Amazon Echo

What about a gift that lets you buy gifts? One of Amazon’s greatest inventions, besides Amazon Prime, is the creation of their cross between Siri and an immobile Roomba. Alexa is the official name of the interface of the Amazon Echo, which is a device that can function as a personal home assistant that can keep track of the weather updates, play music, a functioning alarm, and a handy shopping assistant. Its newer versions have added a screen for easy access for playing music, videos, and a touch screen interface which allows for video calls.  The future versions of the Amazon Echo, or competing brands to it, are sure to be a step up from the previous model.

Image: Pixabay.com

The Tools Needed For Managing Remote Employees in 2018

While we are in the midst of somewhat of a shift when it comes to work environments and more employers are pulling employees back from remote work situations to encourage more face-to-face interaction and human collaboration, there are still a huge number of companies that have remote employees.

This can refer to employees who work at international offices far from the home office, as well as contractors.

One example of people that often work as contractors are digital marketers. They very infrequently will be in the home office working, and as a result, it’s essential to have the right tools and technology in place to facilitate a productive work environment.

The following are some of the tools businesses need in 2018 if they have employees working remotely in any way.

Expense Tracker

Expense reimbursements are hard enough when all of the employees of a company work within the home office, but with remote employees, it can be even tougher to keep up with expense management.

This is why having a robust expense tracker solution and protocol in place are so important. If your remote employees are working around the globe, it needs to have international capabilities as well, such as different language and tax settings.

Collaboration

Collaboration software and platforms have improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, and one of the best tools for this is called Asana.

Asana is used by large companies who need to manage widely dispersed teams including Deloitte and Airbnb.

This is by no means the only great collaboration tool out there, but it is a good one.

Time Tracking and Project Management

Worksnaps is a time tracking tool for remote teams, and it features the ability to automatically track time and computer activity, which is then added to the Worksnaps server.

What’s unique about Worksnaps is the fact that it shows employers in real time what team members are working on. It’s a live view of what’s being done at any given time, so it’s almost like having an employee in the home office. Worksnaps also integrates with a very of other project management services, which include Harvest, Basecamp, and Freshbooks among others.

Employee Feedback and Performance

Finally, 15Five is an excellent tool for management teams that want to provide feedback to even remote employees.

Regular feedback is an essential component of successfully managing human capital because it allows employees not just to see where they need improvement, but also to engage them by showing them what they’re doing right.

It can be tough to streamline how feedback is provided to remote employees, which is where 15Five comes in.

15Five is a tool that’s based on research and concepts of positive psychology, and the objective of the platform is to move businesses forward using particular methods of employee development.

This tool is useful throughout the employee life cycle, and it has the features necessary for alignment around company objectives, with quarterly and weekly performance monitoring.

The Best Wii and Wii U Games You Might Have Missed

Following the release of the Nintendo Switch, which has been a runaway hit with gamers of all stripes, the price of a Wii or Wii U has dropped precipitously. Now that this fantastic console can be picked up so cheaply, it seems like a good time to remind ourselves of some of the gems which made the Wii and the Wii U such great games consoles.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Wii)

Until the arrival of games like Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, Nintendo was almost exclusively a family-friendly gaming company (ok, so the SNES had a few more adult games, but nothing is offensive in 8-bit!). While the games that Nintendo themselves produce still embrace that all-inclusive family friendly edge, they have also increasingly allowed third-party developers to release more mature titles on their platforms. You don’t need us to explain Call of Duty to you, but you use an array of lightly customizable guns to shoot generic enemy soldiers until big set pieces happen. It is simple, formulaic, and devilishly fun.

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze continues the tradition set by its predecessors, embracing the kind of 2D platformer gameplay which is rarely seen outside of handheld consoles these days. This game excels due to its brilliant level designs and the creative use of the same enemies and obstacles which we’ve seen many times before. By taking these old, traditional ingredients and using them to the very best effect, developer Monster Games has produced one of the most enjoyable platformers of all time. If you’re still struggling to beat this title, then check out these Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze cheats.

Rock Band 3 (Wii)

One of the big attractions of video games is that they allow us to enter roles and pretend to be characters that we could never hope to be in real life, from superheroes to criminals, or even rock stars. Rock Band 3 has introduced a number of new elements to the world of rhythm games and refines all of the design principles established in the games that have come before it. The result is an accessible, inventive, and hugely entertaining rock band simulator.

Resident Evil 4 (Wii and Wii U)

There is a good reason that Resident Evil 4 has now appeared on several different consoles since its release. The best games are worth playing through again and again and Resident Evil 4 is definitely one of the best. The game represents a departure from the formula that the series previously established, ditching the blend of survival horror and puzzle adventure that defined its predecessors in favor of a more action-oriented approach. This new take on the classic formula proved to be a hit with both fans and critics and Resident Evil 4 won numerous awards. While things are more fast-paced and open here (the game is the first in the series to take place during daylight hours), there is still plenty of fright and tension to go around.

With the price for both the Wii and Wii U as low as they right now, there really is no excuse for not checking out these unbeatable titles.

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Great Reasons for Using VoIP Phone Systems

One of the greatest technological advances that have been made in the 21st century is the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This technology can be used for making calls via the broadband internet instead of using the traditional analog phone system. Sound is converted into digital voice conversation in the VoIP system and then transferred through internet broadband. Essentially, when you are using VoIP phone systems, you are simply making calls over the internet. Lots of businesses have adopted this technology, but there are others that are unsure of what to make of it.

Listed below are some great reasons for a business to start using VoIP phone systems:

Reason 1: VoIP can reduce your costs

One of the most notable upside of VoIP phone systems over traditional ones is the cost reduction they can offer. In most cases, domestic calls can be made free of charge or are inexpensive. In addition, you can also make cheap international calls rather than paying huge sums in a landline system. A VoIP phone number is also considered a virtual number because it is not associated with a physical landline or network. This allows people from different countries to call you at a local rate rather than paying a higher rate for international calls because the virtual number appears to be in their local range.

Reason 2: VoIP is convenient and versatile

You can make it so the virtual phone number rings on several devices such as a cell phone, landline phone, a home phone or even a work phone. In fact, multiple phone numbers can also ring on a single handset when needed. This makes it incredibly versatile because you don’t have to worry about missing calls if you are not in the office. Furthermore, VoIP systems are also convenient because you just need a computer and an internet connection to access them. You just need to download the software and you can start making your calls in a few minutes.

Reason 3: VoIP systems allow multiple functions

Any kind of communication can be conducted over SIP (Session Initiated Protocol)-enabled VoIP handsets, regardless of whether it is data or voice. You can make your regular phone calls, cheap calls abroad, conduct web conferences, and send emails, faxes, voicemails and lots more. This means that you can record a voice message that can be sent to a fax machine. Furthermore, you will find that the handsets are also quite scalable, which means that features can be added or  removed without having to switch the hardware.

Reason 4: VoIP offers security and efficiency

You will see a substantial reduction in the corporate infrastructure costs when voice and data communications are run on a single network thanks to VoIP. The savings are higher, depending on the size of the company. Moreover, businesses that are concerned about security will find that VoIP can use standardized encryption protocols that are typically not available on a regular phone connection.

Thus, VoIP phone systems can be turn out to be immensely useful and can also be a great way of reducing costs and boosting efficiency.

How technology can help you to save money at college

In this digital age, it is vital that you are using technology to your advantage. There are so many ways that your devices can improve your life, so don’t be afraid to explore them! Engaging with technology is especially important if you are heading off to college and would like to save money wherever possible. Although upgrading your devices may sound counter-productive, you need to view your tech as a long-term investment. Yes, you have to pay out in the short term, but eventually, it could help you to protect your finances. Below are five examples of how this could happen.

You can save money on your tuition fees

Firstly, you can use technology to save money on your tuition fees. Instead of settling for the first course you find, going online will make it possible for you to evaluate your financial options and find an educational path that suits your needs. You should also visit usascholarships.com and find out whether there is a way for you to reduce the expense of your college experience dramatically.

You can save money on your monthly bills

Technology will also be of use if you are hoping to save money on your monthly bills. You can use comparison sites to help you make important decisions about your providers. You could even set up a Google Alert to let you know about any new deals that apply specifically to students. For instance, some mobile phone companies tailor their deals to appeal to a younger audience and compliment their lifestyle.

You can save money on your books

If you are on a course that requires you to use a lot of books, it is important that you get online immediately. You might find that past students are selling their old books on sites such as eBay and Craigslist. Alternatively, you could invest in a kindle and download eBooks. Not only will this help you to save money in the long term, but it will also save you from carrying a heavy bag to and from class.

You can save money on groceries

Next, you can use technology to save money on your weekly shop. This is an important consideration if you have never shopped alone before. Instead of panicking and throwing everything in your cart, you should download handy apps to guide you through the process. There are even apps that reward you for using coupons and cutting your costs.

You can save money on transport

Finally, technology can help you to compare your travel costs and book last minute tickets. Or, if you are the proud owner of a vehicle, you can go online to arrange a lift share. Why not visit social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to find fellow students who originate from your hometown? Then, you can club together for gas money and turn your long journey into a fun road trip. This is a brilliant way for you to make friends while managing your finances.