The world is literally at that point where any business serious about growth, making profits, and keeping up with competitions from rivals is online. Digital is the new growth currency for businesses. However, going digital may somewhat be confusing and tiring as there are so many digital channels to get it done. Of those channels, social media and email are the top contenders, and marketers are almost always constantly torn between which is best, which is more effective, which is more appropriate for businesses, which yields more returns, and so many other arguments.
While many believe Email is king, many also advocate for social media. In the real sense of this, both have their individual benefits and edges over each other. Albeit as a business owner or online marketers, needs might vary, but one thing is common irrespective: you want results.
Email? or Social Media?
Read on to see the advantages of each marketing medium and see how it best relates to your business.
Email Marketing; how is it King?MailMunch carried out a survey on the performance of email against social media in the online marketing space. The result shows that 60% of participants believe that email outperforms social media…and here’s why:
ReachAs a business, first step to getting customers and succeeding is to get in the eyes (and mind) as many people as possible. Afterwards, you can focus on keeping, serving and maintaining them. In this case, Email marketing has proven to be able to get the messages out more than Social media. Email has been long in existence before social media. And with over 4 billion people using email worldwide, and about 2 billion people on Facebook, you should have a clearer picture.
In addition, Email is reportedly opened first in the morning by 58% of internet users. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, as well as other internet platforms like search engines take up the remaining 42%.
Ease of process & successGrowing an email list, subscribing to an email marketing provider, analyzing and optimizing your campaign are basically easier to achieve than a social media presence – as evidenced in an experiment carried out by Social Trigger where it was proved that getting subscribers and reasonable conversion rate is easier in Email marketing than social media.
Returns on Investment (ROI)A business or strategy is usually measured by Return on Investment (ROI) – the ratio of total yield/output over resources inputted. According to this report, email will bring more customers to your business 40 times more than any social media platform.
Ownership and SecurityWhen it comes to Email marketing, you have full ownership of your subscribers (read: customers) on your mail list. Unlike social media, where your account can be unexpectedly hacked, suspended, or worse: deleted. In addition, if (most unlikely) Facebook or Twitter decides to shut down tomorrow, your (potential) customer base shuts down with the platform. In Email, you own your customers…for life.
Social Media: it is important, too!While we have established that email is good for business, we’ve got to tell you: Social media isn’t an enemy either. Use it well, and it could do your business the following:
Cost-cuttingUnlike Email marketing where you have to pay some $$$ every month (or year) to send a message across to a specific number of customers, Social media help you reach all of your customers for free. You may, however, choose to pay a fee to get it in the eyes of specific targeted audience (potential customers).
Helps with brandingYou would agree that before a customer opt-in to your mailing list, he/she has to have previous knowledge of what your business does. This is where social media comes in – branding. Social media also keeps you up-to-date with trends, virality, and gives insight on customer behaviors that you can capitalize on to satisfy their needs and in turn, grow your business.
VisibilityWhen you send an email, the probably that the recipient will share it is slim. Social media, on the other hand, allows for easy sharing and broadcast of your businesses by satisfied customers who find your services useful to their friends and followers. This can be compared to word-of-mouth recommendation and free advertising.
Email vs Social Media: which is worth your time?To the big question: Which is worth my time and investment?
Now to the real question; Why not both?
Although social media will help with branding, engaging customers, drive traffic, and making sales, Email will foster conversion, and reach, and traffic too. This two medium can be intertwined to maximize growth.
Which one of these (Social media or Email) yields more results to your business? Which do you invest more time and energy into in your business?
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Civil engineers mostly work on intricate drawings and sketches to design breathtaking building structures which require the best machine that can handle resource-intensive applications such as AutoCAD. Usually, these laptops or PC comes with a high price tag that everyone cannot afford so we crafted this roundup to assist you while picking the perfect computer for civil engineering and architectural designs.
Keep in mind, for such type of work; it’s always recommended to choose at least Intel Core i5 processor instead of Core i3. With lower specs, there are high chances that you might face lag when loading huge files which of course, will reduce your productivity.
All of the laptops listed below are well researched and added here for some reasons so choosing any of them won’t be wrong.
Acer Predator Helios 300
Acer Predator Helios 300 is the first contestant on our list; it’s not only the top class laptop that civil engineers and architects can use but also suitable for gaming. It packs with powerful specs to handle both graphical tasks along with games.
Coming with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD drive, this beast can run AutoCAD or any architecture tools like a charm without lags no matter how large your worksheet is. Thanks to NVIDIA GTX 1060 GPU having 6GB of memory and VR ready feature. So, you can design drawing by taking benefits from virtual reality technology for maximum outcome.
Besides that, the red backlit keyboard looks just incredible. When you need more power, make use of turbo boost technology which clocks the CPU at 3.8GHz. Full-HD IPS ready display with LED Backlit delivers outstanding color quality. It can last for a whopping 7 hours of battery life which is quite nice.
ThinkPad P51
ThinkPad P51 by Lenovo is a sturdy laptop built with premium class material and solid in terms of bearing shocks, vibrations, and temperature which makes it the most suitable device for in-field use. It has a full keyboard with numerical pad, good for users who frequently do calculations.
For great level of security, finger print sensor is also included. Talking about the system configurations, the Thinkpad P51 packs an Intel Core i7 processor from 7th generation family and clocks at 2.8GHZ and can be clocked at 3.8GHz with Turbo Boost.
To handle intensive tasks, a dedicated Nvidia Quadro M1200M with 4GB virtual memory added which is paired with a whopping 32GB DDR4 Ram resulting in rip-roaring performance. And 512GB solid state drive provides enough space to store all of your project’s data.
It also has essential ports to connect peripherals like USB, Thunderbolt, Mini Display port, and Docking connector. IPS display with FHD resolutions delivers fantastic quality with 1920×1080 pixels. This is no doubt a one of the best laptops for civil engineers and architects.
Acer Aspire E 15
Compared to above mentioned Lenovo ThinkPad P51, Aspire E 15 also has a sturdy and robust built quality thanks to high-end plastic and aluminum. The matte finished lid has crosshatch pattern which looks awesome.
Design-wise, it’s not that flashy like Helios 300 but provides an elegant and decent outlook. So, professional users might prefer to buy this laptop instead of RGB and flashy one.
Available in different variants where the low-end model packed with 7th generation Intel Core i5-7200U processor coupled with 8GB DDR4 Ram, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX having 2GB GDDR5 memory, and 256GB SSD storage. While using the keyboard, you won’t feel any flex making it one of the best laptop for writers and bloggers.
Another thing worth mentioning is a phenomenal battery life of 12 hours so that you can work all day long. Its 15.6-inch display panel yields high definition output with ultimate graphics quality.
Microsoft Surface Laptop
Microsoft Surface is not a cheap computer; it’s one of the high-end devices built with powerful hardware launched recently. Its gray color with an elegant looking pattern on the entire body deliver impressive aesthetics. You get friendly keyboard having proper space and comfortable key travel.
Its keys are covered with Luxurious Alcantara material so while typing you’ll taste something premium. There are multiple variants available such as Core i5 and Core i7. The Core i5 version has 8GB of RAM and 256GB space. Instead of one or two colors, you get four beautiful color choices.
On the other hand, the large 2256 x 1504 pixels resolution is perfect for designing in-depth sketches and drawing. At just 2.76lbs weight, the Surface Laptop is easy to carry and doesn’t feel too much. It includes the latest Microsoft Windows S operating system exclusively available for specific machines.
Lenovo Flex 15
If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 laptop that can be used as a standard computer as well as a tablet, then Lenovo Flex is the perfect option available on the market. The design and aesthetics are an astonishing accommodating decent look that might be a superior choice for mature users. It includes a fingerprint sensor placed under the keyboard.
However, the trackpad is a bit smaller, so chances are some users find it uncomfortable. You can choose from 14-inches and 15.6-inches variants coming with different specifications. Flex 15 model includes 256GB PCIe SSD, 8th gen. Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of memory, and Intel UHD graphics 620 graphical unit. You can enjoy the sense of touch screen in tablet or laptop mode for more usability.
On top of that, 10 hours of batter timing is JUST outstanding. In a nutshell, Flex is a strong competitor in this roundup delivering cutting-edge performance for mechanical and civil engineers to operate CAD, Maya, Sketch, and Adobe apps.
Wrapping It UpSo these are some of the best laptops for civil engineers as well as mechanical professionals to run graphical application smoothly even when multitasking. We recommend selecting at least an Intel Core i5 CPU with a dedicated graphics unit. However, lower specs also work good but you might face some lags during multitasking. Now, it’s your turn to decide which one would be right for you.
Related Topics Best Laptops for Students Best Laptops under 100,000 Naira Best Laptops Important Considerations When Buying a Used MacBook How to Buy a Gaming Laptop Laptop Price in NigeriaThe post 5 Best Laptop for Civil Engineers and Architects of 2018 appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
PS4 is the state of art gaming console from Sony. It has been greatly admired by the gaming fans throughout the world. Therefore we thought of compiling a list of the most played ps4 games worldwide.
Anyway even if you don’t have a ps4 you can still enjoy most of these games by having a ps4 emulator on your phone.
The games we gonna mention in the list are of diverse gaming genres and categories. So, if you are not sure about PS4 game categories you want to buy relevant games for your newly bought PlayStation 4 then hold on and sit tight because we are about to break the silence.
1. God of War
The God of War has brought some new features with a novel story-line. Kratos is no longer a careless warrior but a father of a boy too. He now has to fight some real gigantic monsters without his signature weaponry of chained blades.
The journey is not that easy, as these giant monsters are almost immortals and can only be killed by attacking at specific spot on their body. This new successor of God of War is an incredible feast for the fans and even also for anyone who is playing it for the very first time.
2. Monster Hunter: World
You would be a hero in the game determined to fight fire breathing monsters almost similar to the dinosaurs. Instead of being in the prehistoric era, it feels more like being in the Jurassic era.
At least the tropical forests make you feel so. You are not empty handed but equipped with some weaponry of old times a wooden archery bow and a sharp bladed sword. As that’s all you got in the name of weaponry.
3. Resident Evil 7
A puzzle RPG that has some really popular predecessors. But in Resident Evil 7, a civilian name Ethan will go through all this horror story-line of being a savior. Ethan’s wife was abducted by Baker’s family and now the only way he can get things back at their place is doing it himself. Although he is not a well-trained militant yet knows enough about the guns.
As he precedes into the further stages of the game, he releases this is not about the crime of kidnapping but something much bigger taking place underneath it. He will run across creatures same like genetic engineer zombies whom he gonna fight with 9MM guns and other heavy ammunition.
4. Inside
Inside is a horror puzzle role playing, a perfect blend of terrifying environment and mind boggling puzzles. The plot is about a little kid wandering in search of his answers after he suddenly finds himself in the middle of strange apocalypse. Everyone around him starts behaving like zombies and seems like being controlled by someone.
The gameplay is quite interesting as you cannot deny the addiction of this attention grabbing suspense about the entire situation. The boy has to deactivate certain orbs he ran across at different levels of the game and as he gradually ends the game, the entire situation changes. A great master piece of modern video gaming, especially if you are really into genres of horror and puzzle Rpg.
5. Far Cry 5
Hardly anyone on this page has never heard about Far Cry because this PS4 game is super popular. Far Cry is an open world sandbox game where you can do almost anything. There are woods where you can wander freely or can build anything from the very scratch. From vehicles to anyone. It has everything that makes you feel like you are in a real world.
6. The Last Guardian
A third person role playing where a little boy is playing the lead character and having a strange creature as a pet. The creature seems like coming out of a fairytale as it can fly and the boy can also ride on it.
The boy has the sole responsibility of providing food and lead for both of them. Whereas this creature name Trico provide protection and strength to the boy. After every life threatening encounter with the rivals, boy makes sure that Trico has no serious injury.
He also removes any spears or arrows shot at Trico. They are on the journey to seek truth and freedom for themselves and their people.
7. The Witcher 3
You can get the idea from the title as it is an entirely about the protagonist character of witch hunter. But like any interesting witch hunting plot, it also has a twist where the adopted daughter of witch hunter has been abducted by the blood thirsty witches of the village. Now he has set on a journey to find the daughter but this can only be done by asking some super facial creatures in the woods.
The witch hunter would use his years of experience in witch hunting to for protecting the life of his beloved daughter. To match the extra ordinary agility and strength of these ferocious creatures he has some magical potion with him that can do the wonder. A really terrifying gameplay with equally interesting plot.
The post Most Played PS4 Games of 2018 appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
There are millions of companies in the world, both small startups and global industries that have a reach all over the globe. Although still kept as separate entities, it is not unusual for larger companies to buy the smaller ones, which can be hugely advantageous for both parties involved.
Google is an example of one of these business giants. On average, they buy a company every 2 weeks, and these decisions are not always financial. The world looks a lot smaller when you start looking at it like this, with many industries linked together under the large umbrella of the mother corporations.
One reason that businesses like Google might be interested in these acquisitions is they might want to sell the smaller brand’s products as part of their businesses. This is one of the easiest ways that they can expand their product line without having to develop a new product. This way they can reach new markets without worrying about losing any money.
Another common reason for this acquisition is to get hold of the knowledge that the other business may have. This could be in the form of talented employees or general technical knowledge.
For example, Expedia recently purchased HomeAway, a company for rental homes. One might struggle to see at first the connection between a traveling service and home rentals, but then it becomes obvious what a smart, strategic move this is: new service and new expertise are acquired overnight.
If one brand has a very clever team of employees, rather than trying to convince them to shift loyalty and go through the hiring process again, by buying the whole company, they have instantaneously got the whole team.
If you are looking to sell your business to a bigger company, then the key is convincing the buyer why a combination of the two companies together is better than the two companies on their own.
Here is an infographic showing who owns what among tech companies:
The post Tech Company Ownership and Acquisition (An Infographic) appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
Need a break from the redundant daily routine? Heading out on a vacation with your loved ones sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? You must be very excited! But the thought of leaving your house unattended must seem somewhat scary. How are you going to effectively secure your home while you are away?
Well you don’t need to be worried about that anymore! Let us provide you with a number of important tips and suggestions which will keep your household and your belongings safe and secure in your absence.
Starting from something as basic as hiring a helping hand, all the way to installing wireless home security cameras, these tips cover a wide range of suggestions. Be sure to give these a read, as they will be useful not just for you, but for others around you as well.
Checkout the tips in the Infographic below of the top security tips to protect your home when heading out on a vacation:
The post Heading Out On Vacation? Top Security Tips To Shield Your Home appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
When we listed out a couple of basic steps, do’s, why’s and whats about E-mail Marketing in this article for dummies/beginners, finding a suitable Email Marketing service provider that fits perfectly with your business or personal plan is one of the crucial points we highlighted.
The importance of choosing the right email marketing host, company, platform, provider cannot be overstated… but could be difficult. I mean, there are a tonne of them out there. Trial and error could be a way to find out the best service provider for your email marketing campaign but think about the cost, time, and energy you’d waste doing that.
So, here we are, with a list of some of the best Email Marketing Service Providers in 2018 — as concocted based on several reviewers from users, popularity, cost, features and other factors.
Best Email Marketing Providers MailChimpWhile many (if not all) email marketing providers have fixed prices to use their software/platform, MailChimp allows you use their services for free, with an option to pay for more features as your marketing needs grow. For small businesses or beginners, MailChimp is a perfect email marketing provider to choose as it fosters experimentation.
MailChimp has 3 packages/plans based on price — Starter, Growing business and Pro marketer. MailChimp’s starter plan allows users with 2,000 subscribers or less send as many as 12,000 emails in a month at zero cost!
MailChimp is trusted and used by thousands of businesses and the company says it sends out billions of emails every day. See more about MailChimp’s services and pricing here.
GetResponseGetResponse is another leading email marketing provider in 2018. Unlike MailChimp, GetResponse has no free email packages. You have to pay for their services – but it’s affordable and flexible. For as low as $15 per month, you can send unlimited emails with subscriber count being the only restriction.
GetResponse charges on the basis of number of subscribers you have on your mailing list. The lowest package ($15/month) allows for only 1,000 subscribers. Anything above 1k subscribers will cost you extra (but little) charges per month.
See more details about GetResponse’s email marketing services and packages here. You can also check out what users are saying about GetResponse here.
AWeberAWeber is another industry leading and trusted email marketing provider. With easy to use tools, automation, and a customer service that works round the clock to serve customers, AWeber is among the best email marketing providers you should adopt for your business.
AWeber is quite similar to MailChimp in that it also offers free email services for new customers — but for 30 days only. AWeber’s packages are also affordable and reasonable for a small business to start its email marketing campaign. AWeber’s plans start from $19/month for a maximum of 500 users. Price increases according to subscribers count. See details here and in the image below.
Speak about best email marketing providers, ConvertKit is worthy of mention. The company has a number of packages and plans for businesses to try out and the good part: all packages come with a 14-day trial period.
The least plan starts at $29 per month for a max of 1,000 subscribers. Some accompanying features of ConvertKit’s email marketing services include high deliverability, customizable forms, automation, subscriber tagging etc.
See more details on ConvertKit’s pricing page.
ActiveCampaignActiveCampaign runs an affordable, flexible and multi-user accounts for businesses to run their marketing campaigns. For as low as a $9, you can send unlimited emails, newsletters, promotions to a maximum of 500 subscribers. Pricing is also based on subscribers counts and you can determine price estimates on the company’s pricing page by inputting the number of subscribers you wish you market to.
BenchmarkBenchmark is another leading provider of affordable and flexible email marketing. Benchmark plans start from $9 per month for 600 subscribers. Interestingly, Benchmark allows multiple businesses share a single account. See more details on Benchmark official website and pricing page.
Zoho Campaigns is quite similar to MailChimp — both offer free mailing services with only a few limitations. As a small business new to Email Marketing, Zoho Campaigns is perfect for A/B testing and creating a new effective email marketing campaign without spending a dime. Once you get the basic and your campaign is working for your business, you can then opt for a paid and unlimited plan with more features, which by the way is also super affordable.
With Zoho Campaigns, you can send as many as 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers every month. See more pricing details here.
Email Marketing has become a very integral part of many successor businesses. If you are in the starting phase, the above are the best email marketing providers in the game and we recommend, for any provider you choose, to try out the free/trial services before opting for paid and premium plans.
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Image source: https://www.wpkube.com
iThemes has been fairly prolific in the world of plugin and theme developers. They have introduced plugins of great value and significance and made life easy for content managers and website developers in innumerable ways. iThemes finally stepped into the world of ecommerce with Exchange. It lets you sell physical and digital products via your WordPress site just by installing a plugin. Just like anything new brought about by iThemes, Exchange has been the talk of the town in the ecommerce world.
One of the things that sets Exchange really apart from its counterparts and makes it unique in itself is iThemes’ attempt to make things simple in the complex and, often confusing, ecommerce sector via this new plugin. Ecommerce is a realm of complexity with multiple payment gateways and management of physical and digital products simultaneously. So far, iThemes has been able to take up and fulfill this challenge quite impressively. The Magento Development Outsourcing team can personally vouch for that and their amazing product, Exchange.
With Exchange, you are not immediately bombarded with a lot of features to choose from and learn your way through. However, you can still use the add-ons to expand your features set as per the requirements of your project.
To learn more about Exchange and get a hands-on experience with the plugin, you can hire a magento developer or read on! Below we have tried to brief the three most exciting features of Exchange to get you interested and started with the amazing iThemes plugin.
1. Purchase and Payment
Image source: https://www.anchorexpressinc.com/
Exchange has a really compelling feature, the ‘Buy Now’ option. From a selling point of view, this has great application in retail world. If you are selling a single product, you can pick the ‘Buy Now’ option and allow your consumers to cut through the traditional route of adding the item to the cart, checking out, and then being able to purchase the item. The ‘Buy Now’ feature lets the consumer complete the transaction on one page, saving time, energy, and the chances of the customer abandoning cart without making any purchases.
As of yet, there are not many payment options provided by Exchange but that is part of iTheme’s plan to keep the plugin relatively uncomplicated and simple. PayPal is supported out of the box and Stripe works through the free add-on. However, as more users adopt the plugin, iThemes may have to introduce new features, such as invoicing, and new payment procedures to facilitate their growing clientele.
2. ThemesExchange offers six ready-made themes from iThemes. These themes are ready to be used purchased via Exchange. They are beautifully designed featuring contemporary, clean, and flat designs. They do not strike out exactly as themes for an ecommerce website. They seem more fitting for blogging and content sites. However, they are still being used for ecommerce platforms.
3. Support
Image source: https://nationaleczema.org
Exchange has an extensive and pragmatic support system around it to help first-time users. The support material on the website guides users through the setup of account and provides assistance in exploring and trying the advanced features. There are numerous tutorial videos available that help you get to grips with the relatively new platform. Along with them, there is ample amount of online documentation for Exchange and an active and effective user support forum. The user support forum lets users raise questions and issues and connects them with members of the customer service.
On top of that, users can avail ticketed support for one month upon the purchase of the Pro pack while the Dev Suite license contains free support for a year.
These are just three of the many features offered by Exchange. Exchange is being embraced widely throughout the market because of its clean, fresh outlook and easy workability with websites. We hope you try it out for yourself and find this information to be true.
Author Bio
Junaid Ali Qureshi
is leader/representative/frontrunner of an expert magento development team and an experienced digital marketing specialist dedicated to develop intuitive, well crafted, smart websites having blistering opening on search engine(s) making time and money worthwhile. His current ventures include magentodevelopers.online ,Elephantation, eLabelz, Smart Leads.ae, Progos Tech and eCig.
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