Month: March 2022

We’re living in the digital age. The internet has totally transformed the way business is done and interaction happens. And even though digital marketing is arguably now the most powerful approach that marketeers have in their suite of resources, there are still a lot of myths about how to actually do digital marketing. Here are some of the most common digital marketing myths, and the things you need to be doing instead.

Digital marketing is all about connecting with your audiences using the most appropriate online and digital channels. There are dozens of digital marketing tools and tactics that can be used by businesses or individuals, and the specific tools and channels anyone uses depends on a number of factors.

Usage of some form of digital marketing is common for most businesses. In fact, 75% of businesses currently use at least one type of digital marketing automation tool. A majority of marketeers use at least one of the dominant forms of digital marketing too – for example, 82% use content marketing as part of the wider digital marketing strategy. Most businesses have in-house digital marketing teams, as well as working with agencies such as King Kong, given the sheer variety of digital marketing tools out there that need time and effort to be put into them.

Despite the fact digital marketing is now one of the main ways in which marketing gets done, there are still a number of myths about digital marketing that are commonly held. Here are some of the digital marketing myths you need to start rethinking.

Myth 1: Having A Website Is Enough

It’s true that a lot of people and businesses put a lot of effort into creating a website. Yet despite all that is known about digital marketing, many people believe that having a website is all they need to do in the way of digital marketing. Having a website and hoping people will find it and bring you businesses is definitely not enough in the current day and age. There are up to two billion websites in the world, and 770,000 people who use Google on any given day. The fact is, there are too many websites out there for people to be able to find yours without adding in some additional forms of digital marketing.

Myth 2: Digital Marketing Isn’t Relevant For Small Businesses

Another misconception out there is that digital marketing is only something that larger businesses can do well out of. This may have something to do with the sheer breadth of digital marketing tools and tactics available. Some people think that it would cost way too much to employ all the digital marketing tools available to them. And when big businesses talk about their high spends on things such as pay per click (PPC) advertising, it can be off-putting to smaller business owners. The fact is that there are digital marketing tools out there that are appropriate for businesses of all shapes and sizes. This is the beauty of digital marketing. There are some tools and tactics you don’t need to invest anything but time in. Digital marketing has a place in the business lives of sole traders, just as it does for multi-national corporations.

Myth 3: Digital Marketing Is Just For Tech Companies

Another funny misconception that some people hold is that – due to its digital nature – digital marketing is only appropriate for technology companies to use. Others also believe that digital marketing is only relevant for hip start-ups or other trendy business ideas. Again, this couldn’t be further from the truth, thanks to the huge diversity that digital marketing can offer businesses. Of course, there are some social media channels or digital tactics that perfectly suit technology companies and the hip start-ups of this world. But there are other approaches all kinds of businesses can use. B2B companies thrive by weaving LinkedIn and PPC into their digital strategies. On the other hand, interiors and foodie businesses can make the most of channels such as Instagram and Pinterest. And methods such as content marketing can be applied to almost any business or sector.

Myth 4: You Need Huge Amounts of Website Traffic To Succeed

Another all-too-common approach when it comes to digital marketing is that the strategy is driven by trying to get high visitor numbers. Some people still talk in terms of ‘hits’ and wanting to reach what is seen as a respectable amount of website visitors that will make your business sound successful. In fact, numbers alone do not matter in digital marketing. It’s all about attracting quality users now – people who are genuinely interested in you or your product – and who are likely to go on to have a transaction with you. Digital marketing tools make it possible to reach very specific audiences, and digital marketeers are much better off trying to do this, rather than focusing on numbers alone.

For income and growth investors alike, a good investment portfolio is one that constantly evolves and changes to accommodate new economic and market stimuli. And to say we have had many such stimuli lately would be a serious understatement. From the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the last few years have been witness to some peculiar world events.

As for 2022, it has not been a pleasant start. The year began as US inflation hit a new 40 year high and it is rapidly heading towards 9% with no sign of stopping anytime soon. We also experienced serious market corrections with all three major U.S. indices with Nasdaq Composite’s swift dip into a bear market being the worst.

Even the typically calm bond market is experiencing a dreadful year due to the ever-climbing inflation and the interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve. According to Bloomberg, the bond market has suffered a loss unprecedented in its history. The yields are just not high enough to realistically compensate for inflation and taxes and protect you from decreased purchasing power in the long run. At the very least, they shouldn’t account for almost half of an investment portfolio like Vanguard’s 60/40 portfolio allocation model suggests.

The predominance of uncertainty and the heightened volatility of the financial markets have made it difficult for investors to weather the storms and safeguard their capital, let alone maximize growth potential and achieve their target yields and returns. Risk management in times such as these calls for further portfolio diversification and it applies both for uncorrelated equity investments and the overall asset allocation.

In the following sections, we are going to make a case for why you should diversify your portfolio into real estate, and present you what we consider one of the best real estate investment options available right now.

The Classic Hedge Against Uncertainty

Real estate has generally been considered a reliable investment, especially for those who are in it for the long haul. Property prices generally tend to go up long-term because populations always never decrease and the demand follows an upward trajectory. Moreover, people need a roof over their heads even in the worst of times. This is while the supply remains somewhat limited.

With real estate, you also have more flexibility than any other asset class. You may purchase a property to flip it but rent it out instead when the market goes down. Conversely, you may sell a rental that has appreciated greatly in value. Rezoning, rehabbing, refinancing, and leasing are just a few examples of real estate’s flexibility. This is unlike bonds and stocks where your options are limited to either holding or selling, and your success depends on factors outside of your control.

However, many investors understandably stay away from real estate investments to avoid the hassles and headaches that come with it. But this can be a non-issue thanks to the flexibility of real estate investment.

Triple Net Lease Investments

Triple net lease properties have attracted a lot of interest and buzz recently. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, a net lease investment is a commercial real estate investment in which the tenant pays a portion of the property taxes, insurance, and maintenance in addition to rent. The extent of this “portion” is dependent on the type of the net lease contract.

In a triple net lease contract, all of the expenses are covered by the tenant so the net operating income or the annual rent is net to the investor. With these properties, there is lower risk income and cash flow because rents are guaranteed by strong credit tenants usually brand name companies. Additionally, as with any good with a limited supply, commercial real estate prices go up with inflation preserving the investor’s wealth in these highly volatile times.

Not all triple net properties are equal, however, as many real estate agents use the term loosely. And since for most of these investments the lease is already in place and set in stone, going through the provisions thoroughly as a part of your due diligence is key. Naturally, the lease is the ultimate governing document that stipulates who is responsible to pay for what.

In general, and relative to many other investment alternatives, triple net lease investments have a really small risk probability; so long as the properties are properly chosen wherein the fundamentals make sense. These investments hinge on long-term legal contracts impervious to the economic fluctuations induced by law changes, market shocks, price swings, and destabilizing world events. You can also reduce the risks even further by diversifying your investment into a mix of triple net properties through Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs. These are companies that invest in real estate on behalf of investors. Through REITs, investors with limited knowledge can make the already passive triple net investments even more responsibility-free.

Societies all across the globe are moving in the direction of home gardens to supplement store-bought supplies, as people recognise the value of their space more as a food-producing resource than a purely aesthetic element. From patios to small apartment gardens and rooftop areas, everywhere is a potential place to grow plants with nutritional and medicinal value.

When planning any kind of garden, factors to consider include the garden irrigation system, the layout of the garden, and the types of plants to grow. The plants chosen for a garden can have a positive or negative impact on the nutritive composition of the soil they grow in.

All plants rely on nitrogen from the soil, and traditional, outdated cultivation methods will insist that this is added in through chemical fertilizers, but recent, more progressive and holistic methods have demonstrated that nitrogen can be fixed into the soil by growing certain plants. Here are five nitrogen-fixing plants to use in the garden.

Beans

Traditionally, beans are grown as a companion to corn, as they form a symbiotic partnership. The beans (legumes) fix nitrogen in the soil, in their roots. The corn, fast-growing and reliant on large amounts of nitrogen for this growth, also provides a natural structure for the bean plant to grow around.

Beans are a great alternative source of protein, and depending on the type of bean planted, the crop can last for up to seven years. They also grow easily in most soils, in full or partial sun.

Red Or White Clover

These clovers are grown as forage, with other companion grasses, and they add a valuable nitrogen component into the soil to enrich the nutritional value of the grass.

In smaller areas, these clovers can also be used as a nitrogen fixer in between other plants. In addition to this, clover will cover the open ground, acting as a living mulch to prevent moisture loss from the soil, and providing added nutrition when it dies down.

Wood Vetch

For those who would like to include some plants which will attract insects like bees and butterflies, this pretty plant is a good nitrogen fixer, and copes well in dry soil. It is native to North Carolina, and grows as a small flowering plant.

The plant is a herb, and a perennial food source for bees, butterflies and birds. It also has a medicinal value, and has been used to help with back pain.

Wood vetch can be grown in any setting, whether as an ornamental plant in a window box, or interspersed with edible plants in a large garden.

Gorse

This is a thorny evergreen, nitrogen-fixing shrub. It has bright yellow flowers, and while it flowers from March, it can flower all year around, under certain circumstances. Although gorse cannot be eaten, it can be used as a thorny hedge to discourage animal or human intruders to a garden.

It grows in poor soil, and likes to be clustered together. The stems become woody and flammable with age. The fine, spiky leaves mean that the plant is drought-resistant.

Although this plant is not native to the Americas, it will grow well in most areas of the continental United States.

Mesquite

These trees, native to the US, are small, hardy nitrogen-fixing pioneers. This means that they lay the foundation for other, taller trees. They will grow in shallow and poor soil, although the height they can reach is affected by soil depth and quality.

For the gardener, this means that mesquite is a good tree to plant for shade or semi-shade, as it will not invade the garden, or shade out the ground, as the leaves are small and fine. They also do not grow very tall.

It also has many useful properties, such as edible pods, and the wood can be used for the smoking process.

Although planning a garden may take a fair amount of research and knowledge, it is a rewarding endeavor. Whether for medicinal herbs or for fresh, daily greens, gardens are a source of independence, which can connect a person to the cycle of the year. Obvious health and cost-saving benefits aside, the act of garden also teaches patience and encourages a better understanding of how the earth works.

The nitrogen cycle is an important part of this process, as plants need nitrogen to grow and produce food. Therefore wherever there are things growing, there will be those plants which help to continue the nitrogen cycle. This should be observed and recreated in the gardens made by people. Not only does this help to maintain the natural balance of nutrition in the soil, but it also presents quite a decent cost saving, as there is no need for artificial additives like chemical fertilizers, which cost money and time to apply, and are also dangerous to store.

Many of us say that we're tired all the time, but some people actually suffer from disorders that physically prevents them from staying awake. Imagine all the disasters this could lead to. Falling asleep in a dangerous environment or in the middle of a dangerous activity could result in a life-or-death situation.

Fortunately, there are medicines available that target this symptom; one example is modafinil, better known by its trade name Provigil. This drug was created in 1970s by French neuroscientist Michel Jouvet, and by the early 2000s, it has been legalised for medical use in many countries. Even though it does not provide a permanent cure for the main disorder, it is the most widely-prescribed drug for those suffering from excessive sleepiness.

The exact mechanism as to how Provigil works is still being studied, but it basically works by increasing the level of dopamine in the brain. However, it differs from typical stimulant drugs that excite the brain, in that it does not give users the feeling of a "high". Instead, it falls under the handful of drugs that are classified under the eugeroics class, otherwise known as wakefulness-promoting drugs.

When taken in the right dosage, the medication is reported to have mild side effects in a small fraction of users. Rare cases of serious reactions to Provigil are mostly caused by severe allergic reactions to the drug. And because they do not produce a euphoric effect, the risk of addiction is low as well, although withdrawal symptoms might occur in long-time users who stop abruptly.

As such, the drug is classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a schedule IV substance, together with other medicines that have been deemed to have a lower potential for abuse like Xanax and Valium. This means that in the US, Provigil is considered a controlled substance and can only be dispensed with a doctor's prescription.

Medical Uses

Provigil is prescribed in the US mainly to treat three disorders that result in excessive daytime sleepiness, namely: narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder and obstructive sleep apnea.

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder where a person experiences bouts of extreme drowsiness throughout the day, and in some cases accompanied by a loss of muscle control. It is believed to affect about 1 in 2,000 people, yet a lot about this disease is still not understood and many people remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Researchers are still figuring out what causes narcolepsy, and the treatments available as of now only focus on relieving symptoms. Xyrem is one of them, to prevent muscle weakness and sleeping problems; Provigil is another, to tackle daytime sleepiness.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is also one of the symptoms of shift work disorder, where a person is forced to have unnatural sleeping times which messes up the body's circadian rhythm. This makes the body unable to fall asleep and stay awake at the right times which can lead to an array of other health problems, including not being able to continue carrying out their work properly.

The best treatment for shift work disorder is to make sure the patient gets enough sleep, which is difficult but can be achieved through good planning, napping, and so on. Artificially controlling their exposure to light is another way to help the body adapt to its new sleep schedule and improve the circadian rhythm. Lastly, drugs like Provigil can be used to promote sleep or awakeness as needed.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can also occur in patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. This is when the body's airway is obstructed when sleeping, resulting in breathing problems throughout the night. This could lead to a myriad of symptoms ranging from a dry mouth to high blood pressure, or drowsiness in the day due to the lowered sleep quality.

There are quite a few treatment methods for obstructive sleep apnea before drugs come into play, depending on the cause. In some cases, symptoms can disappear with lifestyle changes like losing weight, quitting smoking and drinking, or changing sleep positions. There are also different devices that patients can put in their nose or mouth at night to help open the airway while they sleep.

If these are not effective, another possible option is to undergo surgery to remove whatever is causing the blockage. While seeking for the most suitable treatment method, Provigil can be used to combat daytime drowsiness.

"Smart Drug" and "Go Pill"

While Provigil can only be dispensed in the US with a prescription, it is still very popular for its use as a general mind booster. Many healthy people are turning to drugs or supplements that can improve cognitive ability, and Provigil is one such drug amongst other stimulants and nootropics.

As a matter of fact, modafinil is actually used by the US military as a "go pill" for its awakening effects, working hand in hand with the "no-go pills" that are meant to help soldiers sleep and recover. Using them on the field is presumed to help them to stay alert and awake even with the lack of sufficient rest.

Your website is arguably the most influential online tool for your brand. It is your headquarters in cyberspace and as such, is greatly reflective of your business and its inner workings. But building reputation or credibility is not a website’s sole function. All well-implemented websites are designed to serve practical purposes which can include anything from capturing leads and generating sales to exchanging information, building an audience, education, and entertainment. A website should serve business objectives and do it well.

There is virtually decades’ worth of knowledge that you can delve into when it comes to designing a good website but here is a concise collection of some of the most important principles and best practices that you should apply in your current or new website.

Intuitive Navigation Is Key

Navigation is the backbone of a website. It is all about visitors finding what they are looking for as effortlessly as possible. It is true that much of the heavy lifting is done by the menu when it comes to helping the visitors get around your site as they learn about who you are, what you do, and how you can help them with their needs. But navigation is much more than that.

At its most fundamental level, navigation is about the proper structuring of information. It doesn’t matter how good your products and services are or how experienced or expert your company is at what it does. If your visitors get frustrated by navigating your site or struggle to find what they visited your site for in the first place, they will probably leave and never look back which is a shame since they will never get to experience the good things about what you have to offer.

Each Page Should Focus on One Thing

If your website as a whole is a tool to serve an overarching business goal, each page of your website should serve a specific subset of that goal. For example, imagine you are running an e-commerce business and your primary objective is to get people to buy your products. Your site map should include multiple pages that cover everything from lead generation to products, orders, payment, shipping, and everything in between.

Now, as a visitor goes through your marketing funnel, each page should be viewed as a step designed to facilitate their movement through the customer’s journey which ultimately ends with closing a sale. The objective of these pages should not be complicated. For example, a landing page should only focus on piquing the users’ interest to attract traffic. A product page should only focus on providing key information to help users understand the product. And each of these pages should include a strong call-to-action to guide the customer to the next step until—as King Kong puts it—browsers are turned into buyers.

Pages that try to do different things at once don’t do any of them well. Today, the average user’s attention span is too short for such distractions.

Be Creative But Don’t Ignore the Standards

Unless we are inventing something that has never existed before, it is good to keep this rule of thumb in mind: conventions contribute to expectations.

Your visitors are most certainly not experiencing what it means to visit a website for the first time. They have probably visited thousands or millions of websites before it. This means that they are coming with preconceptions and expectations as to what they are going to find and where they are going to find it. Deviating from the norms and standards of web design creates friction. How many times have you got frustrated with a website because the navigation bar was not where it is supposed to be or you couldn’t find the contact button?

With that being said, blindly following what others are doing is not helpful either. There needs to be an intention behind every design decision. Too many times we see websites follow certain trends without knowing the reasoning behind them which leads to missed opportunities. Often, the best creative solutions in UX design cause incremental improvements rather than drastic changes.

Originality should not be at the cost of usability.

Consistency Breeds Trust

Consistency is one of those design principles that are easy to perceive but hard to implement. It is about establishing standards in the users’ minds and following those standards everywhere to ensure usability and learnability. When a user experience design is consistent, people can easily learn how to use it and transfer that knowledge to new contexts. This reduces cognitive load which saves the user’s time and effort.

Consistency in web design includes both visual and functional aspects. Visual-wise, consistency is achieved by designing a unified system of elements such as layouts, typography, imagery, and colors, and repeating those defined elements to create a design that looks and feels familiar. Functional consistency pertains to the behavior of elements in interactive design. A website is said to be functionally consistent when similar objects within it function in a similar fashion or similar actions always lead to similar results.

Digital technologies are the future of businesses, yet implementing them doesn’t often go as smoothly as imagined. Here are the key steps you need to take to ensure your company implements new technology more smoothly.

A staggering 70% of companies in the United States have a digital transformation strategy in place. The drivers for digital transformation and implementing the associated technology usually relate to improving business processes and being more competitive in the marketplace. While digital transformation is a term given to companies who need to overhaul their approach to digital to meet modern standards, the implementation of technology is never truly complete. Technology is evolving and improving all the time, which means any digital transformation strategy needs to incorporate an ongoing plan for the continual implementation of technology.

In reality, many employees become frustrated by the implementation process of new technologies in an organization. The actual usage of new technology can be patchy due to poor buy-in or lack of training, and an inability of new technologies to work seamlessly with existing technology sometimes means internal processes do not improve at all.

However, we all know that technology is the future, and has the ability to tremendously help businesses if it’s done right. So how do you change the way technology is implemented in your organization for the better?

Choose The Right Technology

New software and digital systems often fail because they are not quite the right technologies a company needs. Even if it takes time, it is crucial that you go through a rigorous process of selecting the best technology for a particular problem or process. Many companies at the moment are focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics, referred to as Machine Learning Operations (or MLops). As these technologies are now becoming mainstream with nuanced abilities, technologies such as MLops can solve multiple problems for a business and handle large datasets.

Indeed, focusing on choosing technology that solves more than one thing for a business means buy-in and implementation are going to improve drastically. In order to identify the right technology, extensive spreadsheets and checklists of functionalities can help to compare technology offered by competing providers. Include everything from the problems you wish to solve to all the existing technology your organization uses, and whether or not these new technologies could integrate.

Create An Internal Implementation Team

The integration of technology is usually left to one person, or perhaps a handful of people from the IT department for larger projects. However, for successful technology implementation, there really needs to be a team of people championing the technology across the organization. These are people who can be involved with the technology as it is developed and implemented, sharing knowledge with their teams about progress. This is always a great way to gain more buy-in from people across the company. When it comes to training, these individuals should be trained as super-users too, making them go-to people for advice when the technology is rolled out to colleagues across the business.

Implement In One Team First

Before giving everyone across a business access to a new technology, it is usually a better idea to launch the technology to one team first. This team should be chosen carefully – as they should be a team to whom the technology could make a big difference, and a team who has shown a level of buy-in to the process. There are usually bugs and issues in any new technology to start with, so you want to trial it with a group of people who won’t be put off by this. The idea is that these people will in turn become a group of champions for the technology. Once you have completed a successful trial of the technology with a team like this – and resolved any bugs and issues – consider using this team for some internal marketing too. Intranet articles, a speaking spot at a company conference, or another form of internal communications will all help with buy in.

Train And Launch

Giving staff members adequate training in a new technology is crucial to its success. Some technologies are more user friendly than others, and all people learn in different ways, so it is critical to provide the right amount of training to cater to all variables. In-person or live training is one way training should be delivered, but you should also provide options for people to learn in different ways. Short video how-to guides that can be accessed any time are very important. You should also give people who find new technology more difficult a way of discretely asking for additional help. Lunchtime brush-up sessions or one-to-one guided video calls to complete a specific task can work well for this. Ideally, training should be delivered to everyone within a very short time period of a technology being launched for maximum success.

For many of us, our PC is nothing short of an indispensable part of our lives. Whether you’re using it to attend the seemingly endless lines of zoom meetings, to escape into the world of your favorite online game or to hang out with your pals who are partaking in social distancing, Our PC is often our lifeline into the outside world. Which is why it makes sense to occasionally show our set-ups a little tender, loving care by cleaning out the dust and giving it the occasional upgrade.

If you want a top-notch, state of the art rig with all the bells and whistles, there’s lot’s of possible ways you could approach it and you can read here for more ideas. In this article I’ll be giving you just a few ideas that might help take your PC to the next level in terms of performance.

Connect An External Hard Drive

If you’ve had your PC for a while, you might have begun to notice that it’s taking a little longer than it used to in order to get certain tasks. Or perhaps it’s even crashed a few times in a valiant effort to run larger files. Before you immediately consider scrapping it and going through the hassle of trying to get something new and shiny, one thing which may actually help your overworked and overheating driver is to simply attach an external hard drive to your PC.
What an external hard drive does is that it essentially provides some extra space for your PC. You can store files, videos, images and much more on them which allows you to free up more disk space and it should allow for your PC to run more smoothly and a little faster. Of course, before purchasing, you’re going to want to check out what specs would be most suitable for you and that the hard drive you choose is compatible with your PC and will be able to connect to it.

Upgrade Your Cloud Storage

Much like an external hard drive, most cloud storage services will give you extra storage space if you purchase it. Cloud storage can basically be thought of as an internet “locker” or “cupboard” which you can put just about anything into. This can be particularly useful for those who are often on the go since it allows them to access their documents from anywhere as long as they have access to the internet.

By moving more of your files to the cloud, this not only makes your documents more accessible even if you’re away from home, but it also frees up the internal storage of your device which allows it to function much more smoothly. Just make sure to protect your account with a strong password if you’re going to store sensitive information on it!

Slot In A New Graphics Card

If you’re noticing that your PC may be struggling with certain tasks like processing game graphics or with video editing , what might be happening is that your built-in graphics chip might not be quite powerful enough to handle such tasks and you need a new graphics card. This doesn't mean that it’s a bad graphics chip! Many games and applications are using higher quality graphics, however, this means that sometimes the specs needed to show off these works of art in their full glory might be a little higher than what your original graphics chip might be able to handle.

However, have no fear! As long as your desktop has an extension slot, this is a very solvable issue as long as you have a little technology know-how. It may seem a little daunting at first to crack open the walls of your CPU in order to fiddle around with it, but as long as you make sure to do your research beforehand and to do so in a safe manner, both you and your PC will likely come out of the ordeal unscathed!

Install More RAM

Random Access Memory (RAM) can basically be thought of as your computer’s thinking space. It uses this memory to hold data for open applications . If you’re the type of person who has a tendency to keep dozens of tabs open in your browser and are wondering why this sometimes makes your computer run painfully slowly….well basically your RAM is being overworked. In order to prevent this, one very simple upgrade you can make to your device is to install more RAM within it.

One thing to note before you go purchasing sticks of RAM to slot into your computer is to research how much (more) RAM your specific desktop model can take. It’s also possible to install RAM on certain laptop models, so before you start despairing over your lack of a desktop, do your research into what your specific model’s limitations and capabilities are!

PCs have become thoroughly integrated into our everyday lives and for many of us, we can’t imagine going a single day without them. So make sure that you occasionally upgrade and service your setup so that it can continue to serve you for years to come!