There are 7.8 billion people on our lovely earth and an estimated 1.4 billion cars on the road. By now, almost every 3rd person is well aware of what the automotive industry is going through!! You must be thinking it is fewer sales due to Corona Virus(Covid-19) gifted to us by China, or Electric Cars coming more and more. Still, it is not about this, and it is about every automotive industry racing towards fully Autonomous driving of their fleet.

This blog is not for beginners but for the advanced audience who understands Science & Technology and its implications in the automotive industry; however, I would like to shed light on autonomous driving basics.

The term Autonomous driving is usually used to describe self-driving vehicles or transport systems that move in a targeted manner without intervention by the human driver. In 2014, SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers) defined the development stages for such a fully autonomous vehicle. The independent driving levels range from level 0 (no automation) to level 5 (driverless driving).

Now, let us get back to the original topic, and we see an overall picture of what is needed to make driver-less cars running over the speed of 120 KM/Hr. on the motorways. This job cannot be possible without Data annotation or, in the automotive term, Data Labeling. I will be using the time Data Labeling more in this article.

Data Annotation or Data Labeling:

Annotation is the process of labeling all objects in an image. The primary application of data labeling is the preparation of ground-truth data, which can be used to train machine-learning algorithms. Data labeling is a task mainly done by hundreds of thousands of humans sitting in Data Annotation factories mostly in South East Asia in Pakistan, India, and China.

Manual Data Labeling starts from Level 2 and ends till Level 4 of Automation, as you can see levels in the above picture. This is mainly done for OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or in R&D Labs of Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 suppliers of the automotive industry.

Data Annotation could be very difficult and hell a lot of expensive without a dependable partner who is easy to understand your needs, convert your data into meaningful data-annotation with no-compromise of quality.

What exactly do OEMs and Tier-1, 2, 3 suppliers demand from Data-Labelers?

Creating machine learning and deep learning models for ground truth data such as object detection, image classification, and image segmentation is very important for Automotive Companies. Based on these models, they train the car to run without a driver.

A considerable amount of data is provided to data annotation partners, and this data is collected using several sensors, i.e., Radar and Lidar; these Companies require different types of precise data labeling; I will shortly discuss important and widely needed labeling type here,

Bounding box labeling

Label with accuracy, just put two objects through any bounding box tool and draw rectangular boxes around them. The below image shows 2-d bounding boxes.

Semantic segmentation using Polygon

This is the higher category of labeling, and every image is assigned to a class. For example, the levels could be a car, bus, pedestrian, road, tree, bird, etc. This is done on pixel-level, where every pixel is annotated.

3D Point Cloud Labeling

Point cloud annotation is the most needed labeling because Data Engineers or Machine Learning experts can then train their models based on this labeling. The ground-truth data is mainly gathered through the Lidar sensor, a widely used sensor in the automotive industry.

In this labeling, data is visualized with 3D objects and labeled accordingly. A 3D box is used for better object detection. High precision is required here.

Quality is the only reason you should be choosing the right annotation partner.

In our Data Annotation Factory at Ahdus Technology, we precisely annotate above all types and cover more scenarios like lane annotation, tags, and descriptions, key points, etc. The final quality control is run by our Data Engineers, considering the same methods of how a Machine Learning/Deep Learning Engineer will require the last prepared labeling image data.

Ahdus Technology is the first Data Science Company in Pakistan that has started Data-annotation for Automotive Industry, intending to provide precise and highest quality annotation services to its clients.

We could happily take your annotation work into our annotation factory and convert it to actionable annotation labeled images that your Data-Scientists could further use to make Level 5 automation in autonomous driving.

Apart from Data Annotation services, we are developing around Data Science, mainly machine learning, deep learning, and complex software development, while working under an agile and MVP mindset!

As covid-19 put us all in a situation that was never assumed to be, each and every person, as well as industries, is dealing with this situation in its own way. Since all of us are struggling to make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic and adapt to it, there has been a lot of discussion in the news about stashing and how the way of living badly impacted us during covid-19.

There is a clear difference between what we want, what we have, what we need in the future, and the essentials to must-have. It is all happening because everything changed, the empty shelves, low production, no outgoing activity because of social distance; these causes impacted e-commerce and business industry all over the world.

Finding Solutions in Extraordinary Times of COVID-19

Generally, people come to terms with the complexities of our interconnected society and how impossible it is to temporarily sever such relationships with others. It feels like an underestimate to suggest we are living in extraordinary times.

One of the solutions we have found about how people are handling this time of loneliness and confusion is that their shopping habits are shifting enormously overnight. People adjust what they’re purchasing, where, and how, from bulk-buying to online shopping.

Many e-commerce firms around the world have had to reorganize their business strategies and have seen an increase in eCommerce purchases, whereas individuals are unable to shop because of lockdowns imposed by the government.

The pressure has been felt by supply chains and suppliers, but as the conventional high street market has suffered, e-commerce has found success. COVID-19 has changed the priority to online shopping in a way that has never been felt before, enabling e-commerce to prosper worldwide in a time of great economic and social instability due to the influx of sellers.

Impact Of Lockdown On Shopping Online

The way consumers invest in digital platforms is altered by customers. An obvious rise in the usage of online platforms has been identified by several businesses. It is becoming the new normal to not go out and get stuff delivered at home. Many eCommerce sites selling critical goods are witnessing an increase in traffic and transactions in this new age of social distancing.

People became panicked to restore food and essentials to stock them up when the government announced the lockdown. Hand-washing products were sold out, with people clearing the shelves, such as hand sanitizer and soap. Toilet rolls, snacks, medicines, face masks, and all necessary items are limited in stock to fulfill the clients’ needs, but shopkeepers have no access to refill their stocks.

The go-to place for everything has been shopping online. It has been filling the gaps with people unwilling to leave their homes. For such goods, there has been an increase in demand.

CNBC quoted Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist at the University of the Arts London, as saying: “Panic buying can be understood as playing with our three basic psychological needs.” These criteria are autonomy (or the need to feel in charge of your actions), connection (the need to feel like we are doing something to help our families), and competence (the need to feel like smart shopping is the correct choice).

In a lockdown, as no one is allowed to go out, all the system of study, jobs, and work shifted to online as well as shopping. People prefer to have necessary items at their doorstep instead of going and buying their selves. The most common things to buy online during this pandemic are:

·                Hygienic products like sanitizers, face masks, gloves, etc., are in demand the most.

·                Medicines to avoid any future incident are chosen to be available at home instead of going, and check-up as hospitals are also not entertained as they used to in normal routine.

·                The groceries for daily use are used to buy online.

·                Other than all, this increase in buying beauty products, books, gaming, etc., is also found in order to have indoor activities.

Further, I’m attaching some stats to show clearly which products are most in demand.

Health Category

Sales of hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, and masks have exploded, with availability always insufficient worldwide demand. Studies have shown that sales of masks have increased by 600%, 450% of hand sanitizer, 150 % of medical gloves, and 30% of toilet paper and hand soap. The below graph clearly shows the results.

The demand of other health items lie medicines, supplements, etc., are shown in the picture:

Groceries

As people are reluctant to go outside and shop their daily used items by themselves, they preferred to order them online. Demand for vegetables, meat, and fish has increased significantly, with some businesses seeing income and profit margins rise by more than 500%.

Delivery Food

As restaurants closed, people switch towards food delivery apps to have their favorite meal online. Food delivery apps announce their different deals to attract their customers widely, drastic change among this business has seen during this pandemic. People used to have small food shops moved their business from home and sell their food online.

Beauty Products

Salons and spas are also closed, and those who can’t afford to live without beauty care used to have these services at their home. In this way, the rise of home salons is also increased as well as people also offered to give their services at home by sending their employees to doorstep.

High Social Media Usage

On popular social media like Facebook and Instagram, users spend more time and consume more content. Compared to the 1.5 hours they spend before the lockdown, people spend an average of four hours on social media. This is an improvement in social media use of 87%. With strong customer interest, online gaming is also booming. People switch to have online courses offered on different social sites to make their time beneficial; in all this way, the rise in usage of social platforms is drastically increased.

Many new apps and sites are made during this lockdown that offered interesting packages to attract users and people also. Apps used for entertainment like Tiktok, Snapchat, Instagram used widely all over the world.

Video apps such as YouTube are becoming number 1 apps; increment in YouTube channels during a pandemic is also noticed widely. Other video apps such as zoom, Google classrooms for online class purposes also in much demand.

A whole New World for E-commerce

To be realistic, while Coronavirus has created a lot of problems for retailers, e-commerce as a whole has a lot of positive long-term potential for this situation. People are forced to learn how to shop for new products and in new ways online. This pandemic will affect how people view e-commerce forever, no matter what the future holds. Ahdus Technology is a pioneer in e-commerce development and is also providing e-shopify commerce development services.

The vast majority of retail spending still takes place offline, despite the widespread advancement of online shopping. These days, where you can buy almost anything online, many people still regard e-commerce as a digital collection. They can browse for exclusive or particular items online that are difficult to find elsewhere, but from online shops, they buy everything else.

For example, before paying the amount, many individuals still want to see and touch their groceries (especially manufacture). Visiting the grocery stores now, however, is a walk on the wild side. You might find what you need, you might need to check out a couple of shops, and you might just catch the Coronavirus while you’re there. That’s why it is highly prohibited.

Improving your online skills is the new standard for all to learn the newest and most useful ways of searching online, where any other person finds it difficult to deal with certain circumstances. A whole other dramatic increase in e-commerce is remarkable.

During this entire pandemic, online consumption increased widely; in some countries, the change is highly noticeable, while in some countries there is no big difference because they already preferred to buy online like Switzerland and Brazil are the examples where no such big difference in e-commerce found.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated extreme chaos. The effect on supply and demand and the way individuals work is constantly in the news and can be seen in the above results. Relative to the individual impact, the effect seems negligible. However, it is crucial to ensure that food, medication, and other necessities find their way to individuals globally to keep society working as normally as possible.

What you should be doing for your e-commerce shop

With the rise of e-commerce, the need to improve the strategies to work more efficiently to remain competitive after this covid-19 as well. More the choices, the more chances of difficulty to maintain the audience and reputation of work. Taking your business online can only help grow the sales. There’s no distinct con and who’d hate those extra dollars coming in one’s pockets. Trying to turn your commerce business into e-commerce? Ahdus Technology can be your go-to partner with all the tools  that’ll make sky the limit for your store.

How honey bees are critical to the survival of human beings is a topic only children’s books and animated movies seem to cover. But the plight of these tiny pollinators is not to be taken so lightly as we do. A human body can only survive for up to 8 to 21 days without any food, and about one-third of the total food we consume each day depends on pollination. Bees, along with other insects and birds, pollinate our food crops. And what are we doing for those who are regulating our food supply, I wonder?

I also wonder what the loss of bees will mean for our global ecosystem. Or the loss of many other insects, birds, mammals, and plants and the balance between them and their environment. Climate change is one of the biggest reasons why bees and other wildlife populations have declined. The constant shifting in temperature and the ozone layer depletion has altered the life of plants and their flowering seasons. This has made all life on earth difficult, including human life which is one cause of all that is going wrong in our environment.

Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, pesticide misuse, soil erosion, desertification, flooding, waste management, deforestation, natural and technological disasters are some of the environmental issues that we are facing. If we talk specifically about Pakistan, we are on a roller coaster as a nation when it comes to environmental issues.

According to the latest global EPI (environmental performance index), Pakistan is on the list of countries that suffer from poor air quality. Even if you go out for a walk or a jog, the mobile phone’s health app suggests that you should not go today as the conditions are not good. The main environmental issue still remains climate change due to which all of these issues are arising.

What is climate change and why does it matter?

It can get hotter or wetter on average or have more concentrated rain in a short period, but then get longer dry periods. All of that can be a result of climate change. Human activity is the main cause of climate change. Increase in the use of fossil fuel, pollution in the oceans, and cutting down trees (deforestation). The climate change of the earth changes regarding temperature, precipitation, and wind. The rise in temperature causes ice sheets and glaciers to melt down into the oceans.

Pakistan’s climate change concerns include increased variability of monsoons, the likely impact of receding Himalayan glaciers on the Indus River system, the decreased capacity of water reservoirs, reduced hydropower during drought years, and extreme events including floods and droughts.

How is Pakistan affected by climate change?

Climate scientists say Pakistan is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change including, sea intrusion, unusual rain patterns (as seen in Karachi), glacial melting (Himalayan range), rising temperatures, heatwave, and drought. Between 1999 and 2018, Pakistan has ranked the 5th worst affected country in terms of extreme climate caused by climate change. Sindh has been affected by heatwaves and hundreds of people have died not coping with it.

Deforestation

The main reasons for deforestation in Pakistan are urbanization, farming, and overgrazing. These have led to severe desertification and flooding.

As a consequence of deforestation and changing land-use patterns, the most critically affected ecosystems of Pakistan are:

• Juniper forests of northern Baluchistan, which have been heavily harvested for timber and fuelwood.

• Ecological changes in the Indus River riparian zone have drastically affected the riverine forests. Large tracts have been cleared for agriculture.

• The Himalayan temperate forests are also under severe pressure from logging for timber and firewood, and from clearings for agriculture and human settlements.

The deforestation rate in Pakistan is increasing by 0.2 to 0.5 percent annually as per official reports. This means thousands of species of wildlife, including bees and other insects and birds which are crucial for our survival, lost their habitat.

Deforestation and Pollination

Insects and birds who transport pollen between flowers and crops produce commercial crops that we enjoy. These crops include fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Apart from aiding the food supply, pollinators also contribute to our economy. Though the Smart-Apiculture project, AHDUS Technology has enabled:

• Precision apiculture or precision beekeeping to support beekeepers in their decisions to care for the bees and maximize their efficiency

• Forecast weather: predict dry periods or earthquakes and how to keep bees alive in extremely cold seasons

• Performance measurement data: from collecting pollen and nectar to building honeycomb and laying eggs

• Smart modules: data accession by software, organized data in-app, notifications and alert system for threats

Fertilizers and Pesticides

Fertilizers contain nitrogen and produce nitrous oxide emissions which is one of the biggest causes of rising emissions, whereas pesticides have been known to be harmful to both human life and wildlife such as bees. One of the major causes of the decline in the bee population is the poisonous use of pesticides.

How deforestation contributes to climate change?

When we are surrounded by trees, they help us in our breathing by releasing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide from the air. This is how they contribute to stopping climate change. But when these trees are cut down, the stored carbon is released into the air that we and wildlife breathe in.

Carbon dioxide is one of the most dangerous gases produced due to human activities and is responsible for 64% of global warming. 40% of its production has increased since industrialization.

Aid For Cleaner and Greener Pakistan

Starting in 2014, the government of Pakistan started pursuing a billion tree tsunami policy, and in 2018 that policy was extended to a 10 billion tree program.

Prime minister Imran Khan launched the Clean Green Pakistan Movement on 8 October 2018 to help create a cleaner and greener environment.  A web portal was launched where citizens can get registered and report their activities to earn points. Citizens would also be awarded medals when they reach a certain threshold of points. The annual budget for the year 2018-2019 is 802.69 million rupees according to the PSDP Report.

Ministry of Climate Change

The ministry of climate change is a cabinet-level ministry of Pakistan that is concerned with climate change. Zartaj Gul is the current minister of climate change.

The Zoological Survey Department of Pakistan is a department under the Ministry of Climate Change, which carries out surveys and research on the distribution, population, and status of animal life in Pakistan.

Pakistan environmental protection agency, also one of the executive agencies of the ministry of climate change. This agency is charged with protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by the parliament.

Climate change has a major effect on the people of not only Pakistan but globally. Their lives are heavily affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves, and the major decrease in temperature in winters. Since human activities are the leading cause of global warming, how do you think we can help in stopping it? Visit Ahdus Beekeeping Supplies to know more.

It seems tedious to read or even skim through terms and conditions when installing software, so most of us blindly scroll down and click-to-accept at the end. But do you have any idea how much in danger you put yourself and your private data in by doing so? By clicking on “agree” or “join”, you are agreeing to something you don’t know and might not want. It is only when we realize that by agreeing, we are actually giving the app or website the right to access our location, camera, and microphone, and sometimes even sensitive data such as our web history to use for marketing purposes, that the whole “terms and conditions” part seems to bother us.

But why are they also so essential, especially for an online business?

Though not required by law, the Terms and Conditions agreement is recommended as it acts as rules and guidelines that legally bind an online business and its users. Privacy policies are a different subject altogether as they are required by law and collect personal data. These can be:

• email address

• first and last names

• phone number

• shipping address, etc.

The document that governs a contract-based relationship between a user and a service provider is often also known as Terms of Service or a Terms of Use agreement or even a Disclaimer. These online contracts may seem like a minor annoyance to users to actually read but can sue a company. But if these online companies are saving themselves from being sued for using private information without consent, shouldn’t users try to save themselves by actually reading these “terms and conditions”?

Owning your Website with its Terms and Conditions

If you are a website owner, you’re the owner of everything you have put on it. This includes:

• logo

• content

• design of the website, etc.

By adding your Terms and Conditions, you can let your website visitors know that you are the owner of everything that runs on your website and that means that it is protected by international copyright laws. This clause may talk about how your site, its design, content, features, and functionality are owned by you and protected by copyright, trademark, and other property rights law.

Preventing abuses on your website

A website owner can terminate a user’s access to their website based on their abusive activity. These are for websites where users can register such as Facebook or online forums with discussions. Abusive actions may include:

• spamming other users

• posting defamatory content

• infecting the website or app with malware

• advertising their website, product, or services

Websites usually contain clauses that explain to the user how posting defamatory content will not be tolerated.

The Importance of Online Agreements

These agreements set out the rights and responsibilities of users of the site. A new business will not be able to clearly show what they have agreed to provide on a specific charge without terms and conditions or a contract. These terms can include if the service provider asks for a full or an advance payment before starting working on the project.

Agreements can either be written, oral, or, at times, a combination of both. When two or more parties, whether small or big, come together, these become essential. How else will disputes be settled if nobody even knows what they agreed to in the first place? But sadly, written contracts are still not drawn up in most cases, as people find them complicated and a waste of time. But then we hear stories of how best friends started a business together and one of them gets cheated on because there are no contracts to ensure that he was protected by law and that both parties will carry out their obligations smoothly as promised with the signature. Contracts are also great in such cases because if one party breaks it, there are options or “remedies” available to them.

Difference between contracts and agreements

When writing, you can simply interchange agreement and contract, but legally, these are two different terms. An agreement simply means an understanding between two or more parties, whereas, a contract specifies the agreement with terms and conditions.

A contract serves as an official record of an agreement

Whether you are an owner or manager in a business or an employee, a contract is what you need as an official record. This establishes what, and under what circumstances, have the parties involved agreed on. This contract will discuss everything, from payment of work completed, completion date, or simple terms and conditions, such as who, when, and why would the contract be terminated.

Why should contracts be legally enforceable?

Contracts should be legally enforceable so they can be used in court on a disputed clause. A contract is not legally enforceable if it does not have certain essential elements. With a valid contract, you can bring a lawsuit against the other party if they have breached it. Litigation determines if the contract has been breached or if there are any circumstances that negate the breach. The court will not hear your story if your contract is not legally enforceable.

The Essentials of a Contract

For a contract to be enforceable by the court, it needs to have six essential elements, three of which relate to the contract and the other three to the parties involved.

• The first part is an agreement, which includes an offer, made by one party to another, and an acceptance, that the other party accepts the offer.

• For a contract to be legally enforceable, both parties should have entered the agreement with their own free will and not coerced or forced into it.

• For a contract to be valid, something of value should be exchanged between both parties. This is known as consideration and it is not always adequate or beneficial.

• Both parties must have agreed to the same terms and conditions. Both parties should also be of “sound”,  that is; not be a minor, be sober, and not be mentally deficient. This is known as capacity. If one party is not competent, the other can disavow the contract.

You can enter a contract that doesn’t have these essential elements, but it can’t be enforced by law.

Non-disclosure agreements guarantee confidentiality

Non-disclosure agreements protect sensitive information. The transactions involved and the information shared among the concerned parties are to be legally bound to hold in secrecy. The party that violates this confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement would be held liable. If you want to get more info about agreements or things like this then visit Ahdus Technology.

Slack is a computer application that works like a chatroom for business communication developed by slack technologies. Used mainly for team communication, developers came up with the solution when they realized there weren’t many good apps for organizations to communicate both as a group and in personal one-on-one discussions. Through Slack, you can communicate as a group through channels, or privately via the “direct messaging” option.

Slack and its popularity:

Slack Technologies was founded way back in 2009. The company was formerly known as Tiny Speck between 2009 and 2014. It was later until Tiny Speck launched Slack in 2013 that it changed its name to Slack Technologies. “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge” is an acronym given to Slack long after its name was released.

The software instantly gained fame, owing to its cool features which allowed teams to join a workplace. It also integrated with third-party services like:

• Google Drive

• Trello

• Dropbox

• IBM Bluemix

• Runscope

• Zapier

• Heroku

• Crashlytics

• GitHub, etc.

Though the free version of the software only allowed 10,000 most recent messages to be viewed and searched, it’s easy features became the talk of the town. Slack also provided API, or application programming interface, which allowed users to create automated processes and applications. It outpaced the new alike apps by out funding them. But why are we looking for an alternative for it then? Because isn’t it better to have options, with all pros and cons laid out so it helps us decide?

 We will point a few cons of slack:

• a small learning curve to get most of the product

• inability to block users

• it can get expensive

• when pasting a large code snippet, it hangs and must be force closed

• Slack app on Windows consumes a lot of RAM. And can cause programmers to slow them down

• conversations get deleted after 14 days, so if you are sent something important within a channel, make sure you make a note of it before that

Why are people looking for alternatives for Slack?

The free Slack version provides you with a variety of features including 10 apps or service integrations, as well as searchable message archives for up to 10k of your team’s most recent messages.

Slack has two tiers of paid plans as well. These are the Standard and Plus versions. Slack Standard costs $8 per person per month, or a few cents more than $80 per person when paying annually. Slack Plus costs $15 per user per month or $150 per person per year.

New startups and small businesses who can not afford slack and have set their standards are used to working on slack but can not afford the paid version if they need its full features. So we will go through some of the best alternatives to slack for your business.

The Best Alternatives

nTask:

This cloud-based task management solution caters to small businesses and individuals by providing users with tools that enable collaboration with team members, task management, meeting scheduling, etc.

Pricing:

• basic (for freelancers) is free

• premium (for SMEs and startups) for $2.99-month

• business for larger corporates for $7.99

• custom on user’s demand

Pros:

• the free version is better than then paid versions of most of its competitors

• lightweight, yet powerful

• suitable for both SMEs and large companies

• top-notch security and customer support

Cons:

• customer support is not top-notch

• coming features take a long time

• the user interface needs more customization

Rocket chat

This alternative provides free chat and is an open-source, scalable, highly customizable, and secure platform that allows you to communicate and collaborate with your team, share files, and chat in real-time.

Pricing:

• the basic version is free
• the paid version starts at $3.00 per month, per user

Pros:

• can be installed on your own server
• friendly designed interface and this tool supports
• messaging is robust
• voice quality is good
• features are simple and functional

Cons:

• can sometimes be tricky or even impossible to update the features
• settings can sometimes be a little difficult to understand
• Support and Sales are difficult to contact

Microsoft Teams

This part of Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based solution designed for business communications to help teams manage chat, meet, file sharing, team discussions, and more.

Pricing:

• the basic version is free
• the paid version starts at $5.00 per month, per user.
• Microsoft Teams offers a free trial

Pros:

• clear call quality
• easy ability to multitask without having to end a call or presentation
• integration with SharePoint and Office 365
• messaging feature
• ability to save favorite messages

Cons:

• complex user interface
• setup of the software is confusing

Fleep:

Fleep is collaboration software for your team which combines team chat with email, lightweight task management, and video calling. You can use Fleep if you are especially looking to make internal communication faster at your company.

Pricing:

• the basic version is free
• the business version costs $5 per user per month billed annually
• enterprise version varies on custom demand

Pros:

• puts managers in control of their team’s content
• chat across and outside teams with a single identity
• great user experience
• quick customer service

Cons:

• lesser native integrations than others
• problems with cross-device compatibility

Twist:

This new communication app is for modern teams. This collaboration hub brings all your conversations, files, and people together for great teamwork.

Pricing:

• the free version has limits on searches, storage, and the number of integrations
• unlimited version costs $6 per person per month or $60 per person per year

Pros:

• design is clean
• focus is purely communication for those looking solely for it
• can add different team members to different projects
• managing communication is easier in Twist as it stores all data into the cloud database
• unlimited account holders get priority support

Cons:

• not the easiest tool to grasp
• the user interface can be complicated sometimes

For the people with small startups or freelancers, the above-mentioned alternatives for slack are the best ones they can ask for, with somewhat similar features but with lower prices making it affordable and compatible.

So, leave your advice for others on what really is the best alternative for Slack.

A team determines what needs to be done and the amount of work and time required to complete a user story. This is possible when they have a Definition of Ready. Stories must be immediately actionable if a team has a DoR. Ready stories are actionable, as well as clear and concise.

What should a Ready story have?

A Ready story is meant to have:

• An acceptance criteria that is clear to the team

• Estimation of the story with story points depending on how long and/or difficult the task is

• A story in that format of a user story 

• A team with an understanding of how to provide a demo of the features.

• A performance criterion that is clear to the team

A Ready story should be clear in its story-specific operational attributes. This includes performance, layout, and appearance.

Why is a DoR so important?

A DoR is so important that a team that is not given one, can ask for it to get ready before they begin working on the project. If you are wondering why, the answer is simple. A DoR is like instructions on the back of a noodles pack. How will one try to cook it for the first time and make it without knowing it’s meant to be boiled till it’s tender?

A DoR works like a similar set of instructions. If there are no acceptance or completion criteria, a lot of unnecessary discussions and reworks will take place. This can also turn out to be costly and take more time than estimated. With an explicit agreement on the requirements and conditions, the team will work efficiently in turning any ill-defined features into what the client requires.

How to create a Definition of Ready?

Each team has its own definition of Ready that they can mold into something that they can work around. The definition of Ready also depends on business to business. A DoR is created and agreed upon collaboratively by the whole team. It also grows as the team does. Here are the steps in developing a definition of Ready:

The DoR is to evolve with the team in terms of the working pace and the understanding of what makes a user story “good”.

This needs similar information and description in both the backlog and the planning sessions. These will be updated during sprint retrospectives which are when these requirements and conditions are also discussed, along with estimation and performance criteria, etc.

DoR is used as a guide by product owners when they are preparing for the upcoming sprints’ user stories, whereas the team uses this as a checklist. This facilitates them in making sure they meet success in delivering a completed user story in the required time and with required conditions and guides them to decide whether to start their work on a task.

In overview, a DoR is brought in focus in these sprint planning which guides project managers, the team, and the product owners by different terms. One of the biggest benefits of a DoR is how much it reduces constant rework on a task, thus helps in saving money for the product owners and time and energy of the team. If you are ready to complete your important projects then must contact Ahdus Technology.

What to consider for a DoR

If it’s actionable:

It’s important for a user story in a sprint to be doable by the team. This means there are no external dependencies or blockage by another team member’s task. For this, it’s important for the team to know what they have to do.

If the items are refined:

Before reviewing and planning the next sprint, it is important for all team members to individually go through each of their tasks. The team is to have a common understanding of each item in the sprint and how they will be implemented.

The Business value:

Each item should have its clearly defined business value and its value to the end-user so the team can understand it.

Estimation:

Each item, whether it be a task, subtask, a user story, or an epic, should have a mutual estimation by the team. Estimation also works side by side with it being actionable as it is a size that the team is comfortable to complete within a sprint makes it doable.

The Acceptance Criteria:

Well-defined acceptance criteria will guide the team if it meets a sprint’s goal successfully. A sprint can be completed if all the items have met their acceptance criteria.

Demo:

The team might have to demo an item on its completion or discuss it in the sprint review.

Definition of Ready for a sprint:

• A sprint title with its defined goals for a defined time period

• A sprint backlog with prioritizing which tasks are more important

• All work is shown clearly

• The backlog contains user stories, defects, and other tasks

• The individual capacity of each team member depending on the task is calculated

• All user stories meet the definition of Ready

Definition of Ready for a user story:

• A good user story with an elaborated description

• An acceptance criteria

• Performance criteria

• The Scrum team accepts user experience artifacts

A definition of ready saves ample time if each user story meets it before the sprint review and planning.

Each day, whether it be our professional life, personal, or at times a bit of both, we have to make choices that define us. Some of these choices, or decisions, are easy like skipping breakfast or morning showers when running late for work. Choosing the best from all the options out there is called decision making. However, some decisions, like the ones related to businesses are especially not easy because the success of your company depends on these right or wrong decisions.

Modes of Decision-Making

There are two ways anyone has ever made a decision.

The Unconscious Way

• automatic

• intuitive

• instant

• emotional

The Conscious Way

• deliberative

• slow

• rational

• reflective

• includes reasoning

Decision-Making and Marketing

Buying and selling involve decision-making from both parties. If you are selling a skincare product door to door or salon to salon, you need not argue with Karen with facts, but make her believe that your product is exactly what her acne-prone skin needs. Otherwise, it’s probable that persuasive arguments to the target audience about why they should purchase your product may be pointless and a waste of time. Your brain has the tendency to develop habits that are unconscious for handling situations over time. So, if a client always makes habit-based decisions, do not give them a lot of information. If they are more goal-oriented, tell them everything you know and let them decide on a goal they would like to achieve. Meanwhile, Ahdus Technology is also providing Shopify e-commerce development services.

How does the brain decide?

Our brains are complex organs, a part of which is the amygdala. When fear is regulated from the front of your brain or the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala tells you when and where you should use the “conditioned” fear. vmPFC, a part of the prefrontal cortex does the opposite. It stops you from being afraid of consequences and thus, letting you come up with a decision.

Other parts of our brains include the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and basal ganglia (which is located deep inside the brain). The OFC helps us in making value-based decisions. For example, when you find yourself at the shampoo aisle and the sales lady there gives you information (of course, according to your hair type and what you are looking for) and help you in choosing the best product for your hair. This is not the same product that you usually buy, that is; head and shoulders charcoal black. The habit-based decisions occur in the depth of the brain, basal ganglia. If you have a lot of information on a new product, you might switch from your usual to the goal.

The Consumer or Buyer Decision-Making Process

The Consumer or Buyer Decision-Making Process is an easy method every marketer should understand like the back of their hands. This will help them in identifying and tracking the consumer’s process of buying your product from when they decide they want something to actually landing on the checkout page. Here are the five-step processes most consumers go through before they make a purchase.

1. Recognizing the Problem

This is the first step of the buyer decision-making process and it involves figuring out what the customer is looking for. We will take the example of buying a jacket as the first wave of cold is felt. The customer will feel the need of buying a jacket for the coming winter season and will continue feeling like something is missing unless he addresses the need. For the marketer who is selling jackets or other winter stuff, this is the right time to start advertising, right when the targeted customer starts feeling its need.

2. Searching for Information

The next step is the information search process which involves looking for the jacket online. The advent of technology and fast-paced internet has made it easier for customers to simply type away on search engines whatever they are looking for instead of visiting shops and checking out price ranges, etc. Internet shops also allow people to check if a product has good recommendations which help in deciding which seller to buy it from. Product reviews can also make customers think about risk management and with the collected information, they create a list of pro’s vs. con’s to help make their decision.

An important point to remember is that people don’t like regretting a decision that they have made, so they like to really dig into finding the best option before clicking on the Buy Now button.

3. Evaluating Alternatives

When customers land on a product, they might find themselves in a bit of confusion if that product is right for them or if they should look for something different. If we take the example of jackets, then finding jackets on the internet on even a physical shop can make them question if it is actually going to keep them warm. If then they start looking for a sweater, they go back to step 2 and start searching for sweaters. It can also be about different brands or about the fabric of the jacket and not entirely changing the whole product. Here are a few things that can make customers look for a different product:

• Price

• Quality

• Brand

• Reviews

This can happen several times before getting to the next step and actually making a purchase. Customers will compare prices, reviews, and quality before choosing the product that satisfies all their needs.

4. Making a Purchase

When the customer has gone through the three essential steps, they will come to the conclusion of what and where they want to buy the product. By this time, the customer has made a decision based on either good advertising/marketing campaigns or on an emotional level. The jacket they decide to buy might have really appealing ads, or it might look like something they had when they were kids, or remind them of someone they are emotionally attached to, or a combination of all of these.

5. Satisfaction and Negative Feedback on Dissatisfaction

After purchasing the desired product and trying it on, a customer will decide whether they like it or not. This depends on the fitting and usually how they look in it. If it’s food, then how it tastes and if it’s nightwear, then how comfortable it is, and so on. A customer review is important for both the customer and the company as it helps other customers make better decisions when they are shopping for the same product and for the company to improve based on the valuable feedback.

It is very important for a product to meet the promises made in its advertising. If the product meets the expectations, the customer will become an indirect ambassador of your product and influence people to purchase it by talking about its qualities. Similarly, if the product doesn’t meet the expectations, it can take a toll on sales as negative feedback can halt another customer from your product.

After research, the author of The Art of Choosing, Sheena Iyengar mentioned that giving people too many choices may end up in them not choosing anything at all. So, make sure there are fewer possibilities to choose from.

As the world tries to curb the global CoVid-19 pandemic’s spread, online meeting apps have arranged virtual get-togethers for those few lucky ones who are working from home. These video conferencing tools have always swept remote teams off their feet, but only recently, and with the lockdown, gained fame. 

During March of 2020 at the peak of CoronaVirus spread, ZOOM alone saw an average of 200 million daily online conferences. When Skype was launched in 2003, it connected people from all around the world. Employers held online interviews from one part of the world to another. ZOOM Videos and Communication only came in 2011 but left other platforms behind with its performance and affordability. 

Both Skype and ZOOM have been the top choice for business communications among remote teams for hosting online meetings, webinars, or communicating via video or chat. Let’s discuss each one separately. 

ZOOM

ZOOM Videos and Communication is a leading cloud-based online communication solution for business meetings since its release. With the current situation of Covid-19, this platform has become much more useful and gained its fame on social media about how people have hosted weddings and even funerals through ZOOM during the pandemic. 

Its video and audio conferring tools are highly dependable and easy to use, either on your personal computer or your personal mobile phones through its easy-going application. Another great thing about ZOOM is how you can sync it with your calendar and get notified about a scheduled meeting. 

SKYPE

Skype has been one of the most reliable and flexible telecommunication apps, currently owned and managed by none other than Microsoft. It has been helping individuals and organizations since 2003. The user base of Skype is much more than Zoom as it has been available in the market for 18 years. The year 2021 will see the retirement of Skype for Business, after which it will no longer be supported. This solely used as a communication tool will be replaced by  Microsoft Teams which claims to be so much more. 

Zoom vs. Skype

1. Participants:

Zoom supports large audiences for the host which is why team communication goes easily on it. On zoom, the maximum participant limit is 100 people. However, it also gives options if you want to increase your audience for an extra cause in which you must buy the premium version.

Skype allows 50 people on its basic version. It also offers a paid subscription to Microsoft that allows you to invite up to 250 people to a conference.

2. User interface:

The Zoom app comes with an easy user interface which is quite easy to understand. You just need to sign up for it and can host a meeting or schedule it for later without any issue. 

The clean user interface of Skype makes it easier for users to use. It is an easy-to-use app that navigates the user itself as the buttons and menus are quite noticing and to-the-point. 

3. Conferencing competency:

Zoom is developed to support high-quality video and audio calls along with screen sharing options. Inviting your group members has never been easier as you can copy an invite link and send it to your members, or sync your meeting with your calendar and mail your invite to the members. One can also join a meeting by entering the meeting ID and password. Additionally, if you are the host, you can mute others and can also control the screen of the other participants or record the meetings if you want.

Bandwidth requirements:

• Audio Calling – 60-80 Kbps (down)
• Screen Sharing – 50 – 150 Kbps (down)
• Video Calling (1:1) (HD-720p) – 1.5 Mbps/1.5Mbps (up/down)
• Group Video Calling (HD-720p) – 1.5 Mbps/1.5Mbps (up/down)

Skype offers 4 types of meetings: 

• web conferencing
• audio and video conferencing 
• dial-in conferencing
• messaging

Just like Zoom, Skype also offers to record meetings and calls.

Bandwidth Requirements:

• Audio Calling – 100/100 Kbps (up/down)
• Screen Sharing – 300/300 Kbps (up/down)
• Video Calling (1:1) (HD-720p) – 1.5 Mbps/1.5Mbps (up/down) 
• Group Video Calling (7+ people) – 8 Mbps/1.5Mbps (up/down) 

4. Pricing 

Zoom app offers basic plans for free but charges up to 19.99$ depending on the different plans it offers. These are the plans it currently offers:

• Pro Plan – $14.99/month/host (Up to 9 hosts per account)
• Business Plan – $19.99/month/host (For more than 10 hosts)
• Enterprise Plan – $19.99/month/host (For more than 100 hosts)

Skype also offers the same basic plan which includes chatting, video conferencing and voice calls free of cost. Currently, there are two Microsoft 365 plans that offer 60 minutes per month for calling on mobile phones and landlines using Skype:

• Microsoft 365 Personal – $6.99 per user per month 
• Microsoft 365 Family – $9.99 per month (for up to 6 users)
• For business use, skype offers the following plans:
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic – $5.00 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard – $12.50 per user per month

Office 365 offers premium Microsoft software with its subscription such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Publishers, and outlook.

5. Integration 

Zoom can integrate with google drive, dropbox, Zapier, etc. 

Skype integrates with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Agile, etc.

Now let’s discuss the pros and cons for two. 

ZOOM

Pros:

• Offers excellent user interface
• Well responsive customer support
• Supports integration with many apps

Cons:

• Video quality gets extremely poor when the internet connection is slow
• Security has been a major concern since many meetings get hacked

SKYPE

Pros:

• Healthy service ensures a great video conferencing experience
• Can access most of the features without subscriptions
• International calls at an affordable price
• Whiteboard, poll, and Q&A feature for better team collaboration and engagement

Cons:

• Customer support is not that good as it’s a  Microsoft product
• Technical issues are quite common

When choosing a communication app for your business, you will find both competing. However, everything that comes with the pros has some cons. Skype is better for teams looking for a complete business solution. Zoom is a better fit for teams that have frequent video chats and meetings. If you are still confused between these two, here are a few other options you can opt-out from:

Livestorm: It’s a browser-based tool that offers automated recordings, chat, poll, and question tabs. It also offers screen sharing options and digital whiteboards.

WebinarJam: This browser-based platform offers live chat with an option to automatically record your events, schedule sessions, and host real-time polls. 

Easymeeting: It offers a free meeting room in the cloud, access to Easymeeting directory, and 24×7 live support. It is available on both Android and iOS. 

Adobe Connect: It offers to add Q&A, polls, games, and simulations. You can also edit and record and make use of its in-built storage space, robust data security, and VOIP integration.

Google Hangouts Meet: This app also runs smoothly on both iOS and Android devices and offers end-to-end meetings, integrated with Google Calendar and Google Docs. 

So, which app will you be using for your business communication? We hope that our blog helps you out with it.

How much do you think our lives have changed since the media transformed from being physical to electronic? From TV, newspaper, and radio, our world has started to revolve around a single medium we can’t see or touch and can neither live without; the internet. With the advent of a fast-paced internet era, where things seem more complex, the internet has made things simple.

There was a time before the world became digital, but it seems like a time we only like to bring up when our internet connection is down. The time period between pre and post-digital worlds seems centuries apart even though they were born from each other. Between the two times, there is a third one we live in today, i.e. the mid-digital. When our hands touched the famous Nokia 3310, our brains believed the wonder of making expensive phone calls anywhere and everywhere in the world. Little did we know that phones were in fact a shortcut to the whole new world of the internet.

Apart from phones, we also misunderstood electricity. Though it led to efficiency, a huge improvement in saving time and physical labor, it took years for people to utilize electricity to its fullest. We thought with electricity, we will only be improving the means we were already using in different sectors such as industries and agriculture. However, we had to build new machines that could work solely on electricity, requiring minimum labor in a quieter environment. We realized that this invention has changed our lives forever by transforming our businesses forever. Let us take each time before and after digitalization and talk about the differences they have made in our lives and how.

The pre-digital era

The time before our world became digital can simply be identified as a physical world where media channels were consumed on TV, newspaper, radio, and people loved reading magazines. These were all one-way communication.

What was shopping like?

It was a time when shopping was in-store and people would make a day out of it, shopping at lunch during shopping with friends or family. Since there were no scanners in supermarkets, checkout was slower as each label was manually read and typed in.

What were electronic devices like?

• Devices usually had just one function and had many large buttons for that single function.

• Pagers were launched for physicians.

• Phones were landline and not available in every house.

• Rich people would have wireless or cordless phones.

• Long-distance calls would be really expensive and the voices were not all that clear.

• The first mobile phone was launched in 1984.

The sources of news

• The morning papers would have news of the previous day and evening papers would tell people of the things that would happen since the morning papers were released.

• News on the TV was pretty basic with three to four repeated lines that people would listen to all day.

• Weather forecasts weren’t for weeks but only for the day after.

Computers

• In 1951, the first set of computers for commercial purposes were released but solved only simple arithmetic problems and data handling and were expensive for most people.

• People started to own computers, but they were big in size and sat in the middle of the house for the whole family to use.

• In 1981, laptops with tiny screens were invented.

Camera and Photography

It took almost a week for pictures to be developed. The process involved taking pictures on film, getting the roll developed, and then printed. It was until 1988 that a fully functional camera with storage of up to 10 photos was released.

Data and Storage

Music was only heard live before LP records. Then there came in 12-inch discs and music was recorded and played by placing the needle on the record. It was long after that the Walkman was a thing and music was recorded on cassettes and movies were recorded on VCRs. Then music was recorded on compact discs and movies on DVD.

This age was about becoming digital, whether it be media and e-commerce, or industrialization, etc. Physical encyclopedias books which cost a lot turned to Wikipedia, magazines turned into websites, and blogs and photos turned into bits. Companies revolved around marketing which mostly included quirky advertisements on TV.

The mid-digital era

Soon after digitalization started to become more and more accepted and immersed in society, knowledge started becoming vast.

TV

This was the time when TV didn’t show anything anywhere because of digital rights that were yet not cleared and most of what TV showed were headlines about new discoveries and inventions which were happening fast.

• The 1900s were a great time for American TV as some of the best sitcoms came out.

• Friends, one of the most popular shows even today, came out in 1994.

• Advertisers took hold of most channels.

Internet and Shopping

• In 1991, CERN’s web browser software was released. People started using the internet more and more.

• Formerly known as Cadabra, Amazon started its trading services in 1994 and changed the way of online shopping, selling, and marketing.

• E-bay, formerly known as AuctionWeb between 1995 to 1997, started its online shopping which killed off retailers who would usually not return or exchange products bought online.

Mobile Phones

• 1994 saw the release of a smartphone that not only supported calls but also email and fax.

The mid-digital era also saw the release of Six Degrees – the first social media website in 1997. By 1999, Bluetooth technology was introduced. 2000 saw the end of the mid-digital time as the introduction of broadband providing faster internet access.

The post-digital era

The concept of digital has far gone out of the conversation by this time as it has become a norm to live in a digital world. In fact, the time before this has become irrelevant and off-topic by this era. In this era, digital technology is the backbone of life and it becomes the elephant in the room only in its absence. On the spot videos, smart homes, and offices, digital news and content are already the essences of life.

TV

• TV is no longer the size of a cardboard box.

• The smartest TV is the slimmest.

• TV versus online is not a big deal as advertisers take hold of both and only celebrate sales

• National boundaries are nothing in this era and people enjoy content and products regardless of language or currency.

Internet and Shopping

• Online traders track customers ‘ every move and show and sell them exactly what they are looking for.

• Shopping becomes easier as manufacturing is just-in-time and order and shipping and easy as pie.

• 2004 brought Facebook, the most famous social media channels today. Facebook also brought with it marketing strategies that helped the e-commerce department not only reach targeted audiences but also get their valuable feedback then and there.

Working Online

• The post-digital era has made it easier for people to work for themselves, such as freelancing through platforms like freelancer.com, Upwork, etc.

• Working online also saved people from government taxes.

• Skype was launched in 2003, connecting people around the world and helping people work online right from their homes.

• In 2011, Bitcoin became the first digital currency to be accepted worldwide.

Mobile phones, Computers, Camera, and Photography

• 2007 saw the launch of IPhone which exploded the usage of smartphones.

• Photography became easier and clearer with smartphones

• In 2010, Apple launched IPad and computers became even smaller with even bigger storages

YouTube

• YouTube was launched in 2005

• It was released with a video of the site’s co-founder at the zoo. This video got almost 40 million views.

• YouTube has since changed the whole digital world. People have started to broadcast their lives through Vlogging and getting paid for it.

• People from all around the world and from different fields started sharing tutorials, from cooking to brain surgeries.

The real and virtual world has only a blurred line today and that can be understood with the reality of complex inventions such as virtual headsets, 3D printing, and driverless cars. We are constantly moving forward today with everything we are doing, from sectors like agriculture and industrial to online businesses and Shopify e-commerce development.

Amazon continues to grow and sellers all over the world are dipping their hands in the honey of Amazon marketing to sell more. If you have an online business or an e-commerce website where you are selling your product, registering an account on Amazon and selling there is worth a shot. To take advantage of what the Amazon world has, we have put together a sellers guide to market a product on Amazon for you!

Title

Optimization is the key to good marketing, whether it may be social media marketing, your e-commerce website or listing your product on Amazon. Amazon can take your business to the next level if your listing is done right. The title of your product listing is the paramount in Amazon marketing company. Make your title worth being clicked, just like a YouTube clickbait thumbnail. Your title should not only be a clickbait, but also suggest keywords so that it can be easily searchable. Here is what your title should consist of:

• Product name

• Model numbers

• Product size

• Product color

• Product patterns

• Product quantity

• Types

• Platforms, etc.

All of these details depend on what your product and the good thing is, Amazon already suggests this. Just use the best keywords into your product title. Take care of your grammar, spellings, capitalize the first letter of each word of the title. Make sure it looks professional, and avoid the size or other product details in the title if it isn’t relevant. Use numerals instead of words and avoid ampersands unless it’s in the name of your product.

Description

The next most important thing after the product title is its description. The idea behind descriptions is selling the product indirectly by pointing out it’s benefits. Sell the idea that your product is essential for them in how it will change their lives. Copywriting is the answer to selling your product in a way that is not lengthy, but still engaging. Talk to them like you are selling a dream, not a product. Since they are already reading your description, which means they are interested in your item, turn them into a sale. If you write your descriptions in bullet points, there is a slightly more chance they’ll skim over the points they are looking for without having to read paragraphs and getting bored in the middle of it.

Keywords

If you want to appear more in searches, use keywords at every opportunity. There are certain ways you can use keyword insertion. To know what keywords you can use organically, simply type your product details and see what shows up. You can use some of these phrases or words as keywords and be a part of the popular group; inquiries.

There are two ways you can utilize keywords in places other than your title and description such as the backend and URL.

Backend Keyword

Backend SEO optimization at the of your listing is where you will make the most use of keywords phrases considered by the mechanics of Amazon searches. These will not be read by searches so they don’t have to be copywriting like we discussed in Description above. Be strategic as you can’t use repeated words or have long spaces.

Keyword in URL

The main link to your products listing or page is the canonical URL. This URL is used by Google and Amazon to fetch search data. If you want more traffic to your product page, make sure you use keywords in this URL.

Inventory Management

Amazon inventory management can help in ranking your product if you are a good sale. Try not to run out of stock, because even if you restock, there is a chance you won’t be getting back on your listing rank. Maintaining an inventory that meets the demand of Amazon will let it decide where you could appear in search results. This will also be taken into account for the Buy Box.

Reviews

Good reviews will sell more than anything. Customers like to hear about what other people are talking about your product. They also trust you this way and may also recommend your product to friends and family. But since the reviewers are going to be honest, make sure your product or service is the best they receive and that too at the best price.

There is another way of using reviews to make a great sale, i.e. to tweak your descriptions. Take what your customers are talking about the most and write them in your sales copy. You may also use those as keywords.

Amazon Product Identification

Amazon’s standard identification number is a unique 10-digit alphanumeric product code assigned by Amazon and its partners. You can boost your product inventory by utilizing this number as it includes product information like size, etc.

Ad Format

Amazon Sponsored Ads, Amazon Headline Search Ads or Amazon Product Ads are some of Amazon’s paid advertising to help you boost your traffic. Amazon works as a partner with you because it makes a percentage with each sale you make. Each format works in different ways and in different areas so make sure you choose the one that suits you the best by experimenting with each. Amazon sellers have access to these three formats, whereas third-party sellers have only one.

Feature in the Buy Box

One of the benchmarks of Amazon marketing is being featured in the Buy Box. Though only four sellers of a particular product will feature in the Buy Box and have their “add to cart” button. There are certain metrics you can consider if you are looking to have our own add to cart button like:

Price:

Price is the total amount calculated after shipping being added to the product price. To look good in the eyes of Amazon, simply keep shipping cheap or free.

Shipping:

Apart from making shipping free or relatively cheap, make sure your shipping is efficient and quick.

Order defect rate:

To score points, make sure the orders are in their best age and packed and handled in a way that it minimizes defect rate.

Perfect order percentage:

The perfect order is the one that makes a customer leave good reviews after receiving the package.

Seller rating:

Sellers who have ratings above 90% are more likely to be featured in the Buy Box and are those who offer the best services.

Promotions and Coupons

Regular buyers are always searching for coupons and promotions and Amazon makes sure its customers can earn the discounts they are looking for. How do you think you can offer daily savings to not only sell more, but to also drive traffic to your product by offering these promotions off-site? Here are a few ways:

Market the coupon pages:

Another great thing about coupons on Amazon is that these pages act like separate listings so you can simply market them and get more traffic.

What are your competitors offering?

If you are offering bigger discounts than your competitors, you are more likely to make better sales.

Third-party Coupon sites

There are thousands of third-party coupon sites that promote codes, deals and coupons for your product. Check which site is driving the most traffic to your site and build on them.

Offer discount for reviews

Good reviews are very important for sales, so why not offer coupons or discounts on the next order for a customer’s confidence?

We know learning and taking care of everything on Amazon can be a bit confusing, which is exactly why you should connect with us and let us manage your Amazon account or at least guide you.

Digital marketing or internet advertising is a means to connect, generate leads, drive traffic and influence potential clients and/or customers online. Since more and more people are using internet, registering on social media and shopping online, online marketing has become essential for businesses. Some of the most common digital marketing strategies are:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of ranking your website in a search engine results page. If you are looking for, lets say, the best café on Fifth Avenue, you’d most likely stick on the first few results that would appear on Google. Very seldom do visitors actually scroll down to the last results or go to the next page to look for other options. As a website owner, you need to appear on the first few results by increasing traffic and generating leads to your website. There are a few ways you can optimize your website to generate organic or free traffic.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is all about optimizing the website’s backend through coding, structure, compression and by increasing the website’s load time.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is all about optimizing the website’s content, HTML tags (title, meta description, and header tags), compelling headlines, high quality blogs, videos and images by integrating relevant keywords. Another great on-page optimization is user engagement. Engage with your visitors by answering their questions or getting their feedback and upgrade your user experience so they keep on coming back for more!

Off-page SEO

Like the name suggests, off-page SEO is about optimizing off the page through inbound links or backlinks. Backlinks are created by networking with other bloggers and guest posting on their platforms. These guest posts contain links to your website to lead their readers and viewers to your website.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves the creation of high quality text integrated with relevant keywords and its promotion. There are a few types of content you can create and promote to generate traffic, leads and customers.

Blogging

Blogging is one of the most working organic ways to generate traffic to your business. Write engaging and interesting articles and publish them on your company blog to convert website visitors into leads.

Infographics

Infographics is another great way of generating leads by showing visitors a visual content instead of written ones.

Social Media Marketing

Like every other digital marketing strategy, social media marketing also helps in driving traffic and generating leads for the sales team. However, there is one more important aspect of promoting your brand on social media, i.e. to increase brand awareness. The more people talk about your brand on social media by sharing, liking and engaging on your platform by commenting and messaging, the more leads you will draw from your visitors. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Pinterest are the top social media platforms for organic and paid promotions.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is another digital marketing strategy where you pay a publisher to drive traffic to your business by showing your ad. Basically, you pay them for each click their visitors make on your ad. Google Ads is one of the most common examples and ways of PPC, allowing your link to stay on Google’s search engine results pages. Other examples PPC means are Facebook, where you can run paid ads, Twitter, and sponsored messages on LinkedIn.

Affiliate Marketing

Like the name suggests, affiliate marketing is how you get a commission for promoting someone else’s business on your channel. An example of this can be posting links on your blogs or social media accounts and YouTube Partner Program.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing allows businesses to communicate with their audiences about promotions, discounts, events or simply to lead them to their websites. Follow-up emails, subscriptions, newsletters, welcome emails, loyalty program emails and guidance emails are some of the email marketing campaigns commonly used to keep existing customers in the loop.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing strategies are all such digital marketing methodology that drives customers in through SEO, blogs, e-books, social media campaigns , video marketing etc., instead of marketing a direct product or brand in hopes of a customer.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content or marketing is paying another business to create and/or promote your brand through any digital marketing strategy. One great type of sponsored content is influencer marketing where an influencer endorses your brand for a small price.

There are many other types of digital marketing strategies than the most common ones we discussed above. These include Video Marketing, Viral Marketing, Location-based Marketing, downloadable content marketing which includes e-books and magazines, etc. For a business whether small or big, marketing is an important aspect and no form of it should be ignored. With time and dedication to proper marketing, businesses turn leads into successful conversions.

Top 9 Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Businesses

Study shows out of 7.9 billion people in the world, at least 3 billion are using social media networks like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. People engage with brands more than they follow celebrities, which means if you aren’t already taking advantage of social media marketing, you are missing out on one of the fastest, cheapest and effective ways to market your product or service. These are a few social media platforms to use for marketing:

• Facebook: to share blog posts, infographics, news and updates and engage with customers and fans

• Instagram: to share product or services portfolio or visual content and communicate with customers

• Twitter: to share news and updates about products

• Pinterest: to share visual content, like images and infographics from your blog

• Reddit: to engage with a dedicated community

• Tumblr: to create a multimedia diary for the main website

• Snapchat – to document and display the business through video

Social media is an essential part of today’s marketing strategy and here is our pick of top 10 benefits of social media marketing every business should be aware of.

Increasing brand awareness through social media marketing

Social media is one of the best means to reach targeted audiences and increase your business’ visibility. Through creating and posting on a daily basis, you will be the talk of the town of conversations and be recognized. Social media brings engagement, promotes content and allows sharing.

Interacting with your targeted audience through content results in building your reputation as a business. This means with better experience, there will be more chances they will buy from you. Connect with business partners, employees and sponsors and get them to share your page or its content. This will get your brand introduced to a whole new network of potential customers.

If you invest your time in promoting your page organically will increase exposure. Paid promotions are another means of generating a huge audience for your brand and that too is not very costly.

Improving Search Engine Rankings through social media marketing

Everyone uses Google to search for products and prices even if they go to an actual physical shop to make a purchase. This means if your e-commerce website doesn’t appear on the first page of the search engine results, there’s a very small chance anybody could actually land on your website. Social media gives you a better ranking chance through a backend search engine optimization strategy.

• Link your website

• Optimize social media profiles

• Publish high-quality content

• Optimize images with compelling keywords

Start from creating content like blogs, statuses, infographics, businesses updates, and news. Make sure whatever words go on your page integrates your targeted keywords. Make your content so intriguing that it makes people start talking about it and providing backlinks resulting in increasing rankings.

Increasing website traffic through social media marketing

You can drive an immense amount of website traffic through social media posts by sharing content from your website’s blog section to your social media channels. Sharing your published blog posts on Facebook or Twitter is a great way to get readers to your website.

• Make your blog link easily shareable

• Post when your audience is active

• Share more visual content

• Engage with your audience

• Use pinned-posts with link

• Optimize call-to-action like “click here”

• Try paid advertising

Implementing these strategies will drive a whole new network of traffic to your website.

Generating leads through SMM

One of the most important marketing strategies is lead generation through SEO (search engine optimization) and SMM (social media marketing). Here is how you can generate leads via social media marketing:

• Share links of gated content

• Develop a landing page

• Polls and surveys

• Discounts (codes) and offers

• Live streams

• Paid ads

• Location-based targeting

Social media is one of the fastest and lowest-cost ways to generate leads and many social networks offer to advertise designed to collect leads.

Boosting sales through social media marketing

Whether you are offering services or selling a product, you can do it through social media. With the increasing numbers of accounts being made on social media networks every single day, social sales tools are also evolving. This has made it easier to make sales through social media. Here are a few points you can keep in mind to boost your sales:

• Using relevant and trendy hashtags

• Generate leads through giveaways

• Offer coupons

• Post attractive product pictures

• Promote free shipping

• Flash sales for heavy traffic

With consistent communications with the relevant networks, you can turn a new contact into a customer and an old one into a return or loyal customer.

Partnering with influencers

Get people talking about your brand because word of mouth drives the most traffic and sales. Paid promotions or partnership with influencers will turn their followers into your customers, as well as build brand awareness and credibility. If you are selling makeup products, wouldn’t it be great to have James Charles on board with his 18.1 – million followers dying to buy what he recommends?

Cost-Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is almost free. Signing up, creating a profile, posting, and/or sharing, these things are free of cost on almost all social networking platforms. If you also decide to invest in paid promotion through social media, it is also that not costly as it doesn’t require bigger budgets. as we discussed above. Social media marketing is great for startups and small organizations with their limited budgets. Spending only a little amount of time and money can easily make your conversion rates go higher.

Customer Satisfaction

Social media is the place where each potential customer receives a personalized response through comments and messaging. Here is how to improve customer satisfaction through social media:
Answer customer questions

• Solve customer problems

• Inform/alert customers about problems or promotions

• Turn negative experiences into positive ones

• Use it as a customer support channel

• Get feedback

• Humanize your brand

If you compose personal messages for every question or complaint, your brand will be viewed for great customer support.

Higher Conversion Rates

You can maximize ROI from social media marketing with increased visibility and traffic. Every click on your blog page and comment on your image or video has the potential to turn viewers into customers by leading them to the company’s website. Take your time in building a relationship with customers and don’t force your sales on them.

Get people sharing, liking, and talking about how great an experience it was interacting and buying from you.