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8 FREE AI Tools for Affiliate Marketing in 2024

March 3, 2024 Nir Shein

In the dynamic world of affiliate marketing, staying ahead of the curve is essential. The race to captivate audiences demands innovative and efficient tools. Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is revolutionizing content creation and audience engagement strategies. Whether you’re refining blog posts, creating resonant podcasts, or designing engaging videos, AI tools are your secret weapon.

Let’s be real, producing a constant stream of content can feel like a full time job. With all the emails to draft, social media updates to write and landing pages to perfect, it’s enough to make your head spin!

But upping your game in content creation doesn’t have to be a grind.

Email Campaigns: Stop stressing over the perfect wording, we’ve got it covered.
Social Media Posts: Let us help you craft posts that will make your followers hit that ‘like’ button faster than you can say ‘engagement’.
Landing Pages: Get ready to see conversions like never before with our top-notch landing page content.

These powerful tools leverage artificial intelligence technology to handle tasks like content generation, data analysis, audience segmentation, and more—all with just a few clicks. But not all AI-powered tools are created equal. In this guide, we’ll explore key features of top-tier AI tools and provide examples to take your affiliate marketing campaigns to the next level.

AI Tools for Affiliate Marketing: Your New Best Friend

Alright, let’s break it down. An AI marketing tool is like having a super smart, adaptable assistant who takes care of all the nitty-gritty for you. It’s not just another trigger-based automation system, oh no! It’s a brilliant combo of machine learning algorithms and natural language processing (NLP). The more data you feed it, the more it learns and adapts to your team’s unique needs.

Boost Your Referrals: The tool identifies your most successful referral sources, so you can focus on the most promising leads.
Optimize Your Ads: Let AI take the reins on your Facebook Ads, tailoring them to your specific target audience.
Improve Your Landing Pages: AI doesn’t stop at referrals and ads – it also evaluates user behavior on your landing page and recommends changes for better conversions.
Perfect Product Descriptions: Plus, AI can create compelling and error-free product descriptions, ideal for any e-commerce business.

What to Consider When Choosing AI Tools?

Wondering how to choose the right AI tool for you? Let’s make it easy! First off, a great AI tool should be user-friendly and flexible, no one wants to spend hours puzzling over complex instructions. Furthermore, it should deliver accurate results, because let’s face it, who has time for mistakes? Lastly, always opt for an AI tool that ensures data security because your privacy matters. So, remember these key pointers the next time you’re on the hunt for the perfect AI tool and save yourself some trouble:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Search engines are your bread and butter. Look for tools that handle keyword research, content creation, and optimization for a smart internal linking strategy.
Content Generation: Tools like Jasper.ai allow you to swiftly create creative copies for blogs, social media posts, and video scripts in over 25 languages.
Affiliate Tracking and Optimization: Platforms like Scaleo track, analyze, and optimize your affiliate business and campaigns in real time.
Referral Networking: Referral-AI uncovers strong connections within your network to generate valuable referrals for important accounts.
Smart Internal Linking: Link Whisper helps you outrank competitors by strategically linking within your website.

1. Jasper: Your AI Writing Assistant

Jasper leads the market as the best overall AI writing assistant. It’s like having a personal content genie! Jasper is a web-based application that aims to help writers of all levels and genres to improve their writing and achieve their goals. Jasper Writing Software offers a range of features that can assist writers in various aspects of their writing process, such as:

Content Generation: Provide seed words, and Jasper analyzes them to create phrases, paragraphs, or entire articles. It can whip up a 1,500-word article almost instantly.
Templates Galore: With over 50 AI content generation templates—including blog posts, emails, marketing copy, Facebook ads, and SEO meta titles—Jasper covers all bases.
Multilingual Support: Jasper speaks 25+ languages.
Long-Form Writing: Need a 1,000+ word piece? Jasper’s got you covered.
Key Element Identification: Jasper identifies pronouns, verbs, names, and more.

Get 10,000 bonus credits when you sign up with this link

2. Hubspot: Affiliate Marketing Tools

As a marketer, you’re constantly juggling multiple tasks: creating ads, managing leads, and analyzing results. It can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting out. But fear not! HubSpot’s free marketing tools are here to simplify your life and help you create a seamless end-to-end customer experience.

Why Use HubSpot’s Free Marketing Tools?

All-in-One Solution: HubSpot offers a suite of free marketing tools that cover everything from lead generation to reporting. No need to piece together different software – it’s all right here.
Budget-Friendly: These tools won’t cost you a dime. You can create effective campaigns without breaking the bank.
Education and Support: HubSpot Academy provides comprehensive training on lead generation and beyond. Plus, our user community is always ready to help.

What Can You Do with HubSpot’s Free Tools?

Generate Leads: Create landing pages, forms, and ads to attract new leads.
Stay Organized: Manage contacts efficiently using built-in contact management features.
Analyze Conversions: Track leads’ activities and learn which pages, offers, and traffic sources drive the most conversions.

Get Started Today

Ready to enhance your marketing efforts? Dive into HubSpot’s free tools and create remarkable experiences for your audience. Remember, it’s not about the budget – it’s about delivering results!

Get more here

3. Gizzmo: Crafting Affiliate Content with Ease

Gizzmo is designed for Amazon affiliates who need quick content generation. It’s a WordPress content plugin to effortlessly create high-quality, SEO-friendly, revenue-driving Articles directly to your WordPress Here’s why it’s a game-changer:

Amazon Optimization: Craft meticulously researched content around Amazon products.
SEO-Friendly Headlines: Gizzmo creates headlines, titles, and descriptions that boost Google rankings.
Effortless Affiliate Integration: Embed affiliate links seamlessly.

Gizzmo is offering a FREE option including 150 Articles, Product Review Articles, Product Roundup Articles, Complete SEO Toolbox, Affiliate Suite, Automated Post Production, and Amazon Images suggestion.

As a website owner, you’re always on the lookout for ways to enhance your content and boost your revenue. Enter Gizzmo AI, a powerful WordPress plugin designed specifically for publishers and bloggers. In this post, we’ll explore what Gizzmo AI is, how it works, and how it can supercharge your website.

What is Gizzmo AI?

Gizzmo AI is an artificial intelligence (AI) writing tool tailored for Amazon affiliates. Its mission? To create high-quality affiliate content effortlessly. Whether you’re writing product reviews, roundups, or informative blog posts, Gizzmo has your back.

How Does Gizzmo AI Work?

Seamless Content Creation: With Gizzmo, you can craft captivating articles enriched with stunning Amazon images in a matter of seconds. Say goodbye to writer’s block!
SEO-Friendly: Gizzmo ensures that your content has SEO-friendly headlines, titles, descriptions, and automatic internal links. Better SEO means better visibility on Google.
Affiliate Monetization: Power up your content with embedded affiliate links and automated affiliate tag integration. Effortless commission generation awaits!
Automated Schema Builder: Gizzmo creates validated JSON-LD structured data markup for your WordPress pages, optimizing them for search engines.
Focus Keyphrase Integration: Input your desired keyphrase, and Gizzmo strategically incorporates it into relevant parts of your article for enhanced SEO performance.

What Types of Content Can Gizzmo Create?

Product Review Articles: Dive deep into product features and benefits.
Product Roundup Articles: Compare similar products and help readers make informed choices.
General Content Articles: Provide broad overviews or analyses of specific topics.
Buying Guide Articles: Help readers navigate purchasing decisions.

Monetization Made Simple

Dynamic Product Discovery Carousels: Automatically showcase Amazon products in attractive carousels.
Affiliate Integration: Boost earnings with site owner’s Amazon tags and convenient “Buy Now” buttons.

Join the Gizzmo Community

By joining the Gizzmo AI community, you open doors to endless benefits. Connect with like-minded individuals passionate about artificial intelligence and technology. Exchange ideas and foster collaborations that push the boundaries of innovation.

Remember, simplicity doesn’t mean sacrificing quality. With Gizzmo AI, you can create compelling content that engages readers while maximizing your earning potential.

Get more here

4. Scaleo: Optimize Your Campaigns

Are you new to affiliate marketing? No worries! In this guide, we’ll explore Scaleo’s free marketing tools and how they can help you kickstart your affiliate marketing journey.

Why Choose Scaleo?

Intuitive Interface: Save time with straightforward navigation and easy-to-use functionality.
Visualized Data and Reports: Scaleo offers full data visualization, making informed decisions faster.
Detailed Reporting: Gain insights into partners’ performance with 30+ data points.
Easy Setup Process: Get started in minutes with ready-to-use integrations.
Powerful API: Customize and automate business growth opportunities.

Remember, affiliate marketing can lead from a side hustle to a profitable business providing passive income over time. So dive in, explore Scaleo’s tools, and start your journey today!

Scaleo is offering a free trial plan with full access to all the features.

Get more here

5. Jarvis: Your Creative Sidekick

Jarvis, a fascinating system that connects language models with the broader machine learning community. Jarvis is on a mission to explore artificial general intelligence (AGI) and deliver cutting-edge research to the entire community. It’s like having a helpful AI sidekick by your side!

What is Jarvis?

Jarvis is a collaborative system that combines a large language model (LLM) as the controller with numerous expert models as collaborative executors. The workflow of Jarvis involves four key stages:

Task Planning: Jarvis uses ChatGPT to analyze user requests, understand their intentions, and break them down into solvable tasks.
Model Selection: To solve these planned tasks, ChatGPT selects expert models hosted on Hugging Face based on their descriptions.
Task Execution: Jarvis invokes and executes each selected model, returning the results to ChatGPT.
Response Generation: Based on the results, ChatGPT generates friendly responses for users.

Recent Developments

Here are some recent updates about Jarvis:

Easytool: Jarvis now offers Easytool, making tool usage easier for everyone. You can find the code and datasets at EasyTool.
TaskBench: Jarvis has also introduced TaskBench for evaluating task automation capabilities of LLMs. The code and datasets are available at TaskBench.
Azure Platform and GPT-4: Jarvis now supports the OpenAI service on the Azure platform and integrates with the GPT-4 model.
Gradio Demo and Web API: A Gradio demo has been added, along with a web API for accessing intermediate results during task planning and model selection.
CLI Mode: Jarvis provides a lightweight experience through CLI mode without deploying models locally.

Your Own AI Assistant

If you’re interested in building your own AI assistant, consider exploring courses like “JARVIS AI 3.0 GPT3 Based AGI Virtual Assistant” on Udemy. In this course, you’ll learn to build a custom artificial intelligence assistant using Python, explore IoT and home automation, and create a fully functional GPT-3 based virtual assistant.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, Jarvis has something to offer. So go ahead, unleash your creativity, and build your very own AI sidekick!

Jarvis is an AI-powered copywriting tool with a creative flair. It will boost your productivity with a rich features set included AI chat, suggestions, translation, rewriting, explanations, and more:

Blog Posts & Social Media Content: Jarvis crafts engaging content.
Email Campaigns & Landing Pages: Boost conversions with polished copy.
Real-Time Optimization: Jarvis adapts to your audience.

Jarvis is completely FREE for all the basic services which are powered by GPT-3.5/4 Turbo

6. Referral-AI: Unlocking the Power of Relationships

Referral-AI is a leading B2B sales intelligence relationship company with a mission: predictable growth at scale for intelligent revenue operators (revops), prospecting, and conversions. But what does that mean? Let’s break it down.

The Basics: Outbound, Inbound, and Nearbound

Before we dive into Referral-AI, let’s quickly review the different types of sales approaches:

Outbound: This is the traditional cold-calling method where sales reps reach out to potential customers.
Inbound: Customers come to you through marketing efforts like content marketing or social media.
Nearbound: This is where Referral-AI shines. It’s all about leveraging existing relationships to connect with potential customers.

How Does Referral-AI Work?

Referral-AI is like having a trusted referral network at your fingertips. Here’s how it works:

Relationship Intelligence: Referral-AI maps your organizational relationships with customers, partners, investors, and even family members. It generates highly personalized outreach to decision-makers in your target accounts.
Leveraging Partnerships: By connecting your CRM to Referral-AI, you can identify partners with the highest probability of closing deals faster. It’s like having an extended sales team.
Automated Outreach: Referral-AI sends automated email-based relationships generated by AI to multiple decision-makers. These emails come from your email server, making them more likely to get noticed.

Why Should You Use Referral-AI?

Faster Sales Cycles: Reach decision-makers faster and reduce sales cycle length by 30%.
Increased Response Rates: Expect a 50% increase in response rates from decision-makers.
Access to Decision-Makers: Reach three times as many decision-makers.

How to Get Started

Onboarding: Identify referrals (board members, investors, partners, colleagues, and customers) and connect your CRM.
Import Your ABM List: Set up your target filter and map your target accounts through existing relationships.
Automate Contact Creation: Automatically create new contacts in HubSpot based on your ABM list.
Effective Outreach: Send automated emails from your server using AI-generated relationships.

Referral-AI is offering a free trial plan with all the basic features.

7. GetResponse: AI Email Generator

GetResponse is another popular email marketing software option. It offers a wide range of features, including email automation, landing pages, and more:

Create and send professional-looking emails with drag-and-drop email creator, free templates, and AI email generator
Grow your email list with lead generation tools such as landing pages, popups, forms, and webinars
Automate your email marketing with autoresponders, automation workflows, segmentation, and personalization
Boost your online sales with e-commerce features such as sales funnels, web push notifications, transactional emails, and integrations with popular platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce
Track and analyze your email marketing performance with reports, analytics, A/B testing, and deliverability tools

The Free option includes email marketing, website builder, landing pages, forms and more. Additional Email marketing features, marketing automation and e-commerce options will run you for some extra fees per month, range between $15 to $98.

8. ChatGPT: Conversational Content Creation

ChatGPT is your friendly chatbot for content ideas. The newer version and more advanced engine of it is the latest and greatest ChatGPT4 that you can read about here.

One of the key features of ChatGPT is its ability to generate responses in a variety of different styles and tones. In addition you can do the following:

Brainstorming Sessions: Generate topic ideas.
Natural Language Interaction: ChatGPT understands context.
Quick Inspiration: Beat writer’s block.

The basic service is completely FREE. You can use some of the Premium services for additional fees.

Remember that these tools are here to enhance your affiliate marketing efforts. Leverage their power to optimize workflows, personalize content creation, and scale campaigns without breaking a sweat.

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Disclosure: Please note that we may receive affiliate compensation for some of the links below, at no expense to you, should you decide to purchase a paid plan. This blog does not provide financial advice, it is purely for entertainment and fun.

AI, Marketing

Best AI Marketing Tools to Grow Your Business Quickly

February 21, 2024 Nir Shein

Have you ever wondered how to make your marketing more effective? Well, the secret weapon might be artificial intelligence (AI). But what is AI? Think of it as a computer brain that learns from experience, a bit like how you learn to ride a bike. Now, imagine that brain doing marketing for you, or alternatively, like having a smart robot that can learn things on its own and assist you with your work. Sounds exciting, right? In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the best AI marketing tools. We’ll talk about their key features, how much they cost, their pros and cons, and my overall impressions.

HubSpot:

A Comprehensive Tool for All Your Marketing Needs. First on our list is HubSpot. It’s like a swiss army knife of marketing tools. It does a bit of everything, from email marketing to social media, CRM, scheduling software and so much more. Imagine having a multitasking assistant who can handle multiple things at the same time. That’s what Hubspot does for you! It uses AI to help you understand what your customers want.

Whether you’re in retail, real estate, marketing, sales, construction, or accounting, HubSpot can be a valuable tool for your business. Here’s what you get:

Key Features:

Hubspot offers a wide range of services, from email marketing to search engine optimization (SEO). The tool also includes a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Think of it like a digital address book that keeps track of your customers and their needs. HubSpot also has tools for social media and a lot more.

Core CRM Software: HubSpot offers a free core CRM software that allows you to manage contacts, track deals, and view your sales pipeline in real time.
Real-Time Lead Behaviors Notification: Stay on top of assigned leads, form submissions, deal mentions, and more with real-time notifications.
Personalized Email Sequences: Create customized email sequences for both leads and existing customers.

Pricing:

HubSpot offers several pricing tiers:

Free Plan: Includes one deal pipeline, unlimited users for one team or department, and up to one million contacts, companies, deals, or task details. It’s a great starting point for small businesses.
Starter Plan: If you need more features, the Starter Plan starts at $30 per month (billed annually). It includes additional functionalities like calling (up to 15 minutes), templates, notifications (up to 200), snippets (reusable text blurbs), and document uploads.
Professional Plan: For more advanced needs, the Professional Plan offers even more features at a higher price point.

Pros:

I liked that HubSpot has so many different tools in one place, many of them for free. Plus, it’s pretty easy to use. It saves you from the hassle of managing multiple services at the same time. It’s like having a one-stop-shop for all your marketing needs.

Core CRM Software Is Free: You can get started with HubSpot without any upfront costs.
Real-Time Lead Behaviors Notification: Stay informed about lead interactions instantly.
Personalized Email Sequences: Tailor your communication to engage both leads and existing customers effectively.

Cons:

On the flip side, because it does so much, it can be a bit overwhelming for new users.

Per-User Plans Can Get Expensive for Small Businesses: As your team grows, costs may increase significantly.
Only One Email Per Contact: Keep in mind that you can send only one email per contact.

Impressions:

Overall, I think HubSpot is a great tool, especially if you want to do a lot of different kinds of marketing. HubSpot is well-designed and widely used across various industries. However, consider your business size and future growth when evaluating whether it’s the right fit for you. While HubSpot offers an excellent product, there are more cost-effective alternatives available.

Remember that choosing the right marketing tool depends on your current list size and where you expect it to be in the coming years.

Try Hubspot

Hootsuite:

The Social Media Maestro. Managing multiple social media platforms can be quite a task, right? But what if you had a tool that could manage all your social media platforms in one place? Sounds interesting? That’s exactly what Hootsuite does!

A powerful social media management tool that simplifies the process of handling multiple social media accounts. Whether you’re a professional, part of a small team, or running a small-medium business, Hootsuite has features that can help you streamline your social media marketing efforts.

Before we delve into the details, let’s understand how Hootsuite came to be. Back in the day, before Facebook took over the social media landscape, platforms like Friendster and MySpace made attempts at connecting people online. However, it was Facebook that truly revolutionized social media. Brands quickly realized its potential for running banner ads and engaging with customers. Enter Hootsuite, born out of the need to manage multiple social media accounts effectively.

Key Features:

Hootsuite allows you to manage multiple social networks, schedule posts, and measure your success all in one place.

Unified Dashboard: Hootsuite provides a single dashboard where you can design, schedule, and publish content across various networks. From Instagram to Facebook, TikTok to Twitter, YouTube to Pinterest, and more—you can manage them all from one place.
Streams: The Streams feature allows you to monitor different social media channels simultaneously. Set up Streams to track mentions, keywords, hashtags, or posts from specific accounts. It’s not only useful for monitoring but also for content creation and engaging in conversations.
Automatic Scheduling: Save time by scheduling your posts in advance. Hootsuite’s scheduling feature ensures your content reaches your audience at optimal times.
Analytics: Hootsuite Analytics provides in-depth performance reporting. Track metrics like fans and followers, engagement levels, traffic sources, and more. You can even schedule reports for automatic distribution via email—perfect for client reporting.
Collaboration: Assign tasks to team members within Hootsuite. This feature is crucial for businesses providing customer service support on social media.

Pricing:

Hootsuite offers various pricing tiers to suit different needs:

Free Account: While limited in functionality, it’s a great way to get started.
Paid Plans: Pricing starts at $739 per year for professionals and small teams.

Pros:

Hootsuite is like your personal social media manager. It saves you time and helps you stay organized.

Easy sign-up process
Ability to connect multiple accounts (including YouTube)
Post scheduling
Free account option (albeit with limitations)
Intuitive analytics

Cons:

The interface can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.

Learning curve for all features
Costs can add up if you need additional team members .

Impressions:

In summary, Hootsuite simplifies social media management by offering essential features like scheduling, monitoring, analytics, and collaboration—all from one platform. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced marketer, Hootsuite can help you stay organized and efficient in your social media efforts.

Remember: Social media marketing is about building relationships with your audience—so use Hootsuite wisely!

Try Hootsuit

MarketMuse

Next, we have MarketMuse. This tool is like a personal assistant that helps you write better content. It uses AI to suggest topics and keywords that will attract more readers. Think about an AI-powered content planning platform that’s famous for its advanced SEO and planning functions. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced marketer, MarketMuse provides valuable insights to enhance your content creation and optimization efforts.

Key Features:

MarketMuse examines the top-ranking pages for your chosen topic and suggests ways to make your content better.

SERP Analysis: MarketMuse excels in analyzing search engine results pages (SERPs). It helps you understand what content ranks well for specific keywords, allowing you to optimize your own content effectively.
Content Optimization: MarketMuse provides topic-based keyword research and content optimization features. These tools help you create high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your audience.
Keyword Relevance: Finding the right keywords is crucial for successful SEO. MarketMuse simplifies this process by suggesting relevant keywords based on your content plan.

Pricing:

MarketMuse offers several pricing tiers:

Free: Limited access with basic features.
Standard: Priced at $149 per month (or $1500 annually), this plan provides more comprehensive features.
Team: For $399 per month (or $3900 annually), the Team plan caters to collaborative efforts.
Custom: If you need personalized features, MarketMuse offers custom pricing based on your requirements.

Pros:

I really liked how MarketMuse helps you understand what your customers are looking for. It can save you a lot of time and guesswork.

Advanced SEO Insights: MarketMuse’s SERP analysis and content optimization features are top-notch.
Keyword Research Made Easy: Finding relevant keywords becomes a breeze with MarketMuse.
Optimized Content Creation: While it won’t replace full-blown SEO efforts, MarketMuse helps you create optimized content efficiently.

Cons:

However, it’s a bit pricey, especially for smaller businesses.

Learning Curve: Some users may find the platform slightly challenging initially.
Not a Complete SEO Solution: While powerful, MarketMuse should complement other SEO tools rather than replace them entirely.

Impressions:

Overall, I highly recommend considering MarketMuse for your content marketing needs. With its advanced AI technology, it can greatly improve your content creation process and help you achieve better results.

MarketMuse strikes a balance between simplicity and functionality. It’s an excellent choice for marketers looking to enhance their content strategy without overwhelming complexity. Remember that no tool is a magic bullet; use MarketMuse alongside other SEO practices for optimal results.

Try MarketMuse

Chatfuel

Fourth, we’ll look at Chatfuel which we can describe as : Simplifying Business Communication

In today’s fast-paced digital world, businesses need efficient tools to streamline communication and enhance customer engagement. Chatbots have emerged as powerful allies, automating interactions and providing timely responses.

It’s a tool that helps you build chatbots. What’s a chatbot? Imagine a robot that can chat with your customers on your website or social media, answering their questions and helping them find what they need.

Key Features:

With Chatfuel, you can build a chatbot without knowing any code. It also lets you customize your chatbot to match your brand.

User-Friendly Interface: Chatfuel’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows even beginners to create chatbots without extensive technical knowledge. No coding required!
AI-Powered Chatbots: With advanced AI technology, Chatfuel enables businesses to build smart chatbots capable of handling complex customer interactions. These bots can provide personalized responses, improving user experience.
Seamless Integrations: Chatfuel smoothly integrates with popular messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. This ensures your chatbot reaches your audience where they already spend their time.
Rich Media Support: Enhance your chatbots with images, videos, and GIFs. Visual content makes interactions more engaging and dynamic.
Analytics and Insights: Detailed analytics help you track chatbot performance, identify trends, and optimize effectiveness. Data-driven decisions lead to better outcomes.

Pricing:

Chatfuel offers flexible pricing options:

Free Trial: Test the waters with 50 conversations per month.
Entrepreneur Plan: Starting at $14.99/month, this plan provides 500 conversations.
Startup Plan: For more conversations, the Startup plan begins at $24.99/month.

Pros:

I was impressed by how easy it is to build a chatbot with Chatfuel. Plus, it can help you assist customers 24/7 without having to hire extra staff.

User-friendly interface for easy bot creation.
AI-powered chatbots handle complex interactions.
Seamless integrations with popular platforms.
Rich media support enhances engagement.
Detailed analytics for data-driven decisions.

Cons:

But, there’s a learning curve to figure out how to make the most of it.

Free plan limitations on subscribers and interactions.
Learning curve for advanced features.
Platform dependency on external services like Facebook Messenger.
Limited customization options for specific branding needs.
Customer support response times could improve.

Impressions:

Overall, Chatfuel is a powerful tool for businesses who want to improve their customer service. The service is worth examining for its ability to build chatbots without any coding knowledge and its potential to enhance your customer service. However, there is a slight learning curve to fully utilize its features.

Chatfuel empowers businesses to improve customer service, lead generation, engagement, and sales. Whether you’re a local brand or a market giant like Adidas or Netflix, Chatfuel’s safe integrations and user-friendly platform make it a valuable tool in your marketing arsenal.

Try Chatfuel

SEMrush

Finally, we have SEMrush. It’s a tool that helps you understand how your website is doing compared to others. It uses AI to analyze lots of data and give you insights.

In the vast digital landscape, businesses strive to rank higher in search results and increase their online visibility. Enter SEMrush, an all-in-one SEO platform designed to help achieve these goals.

How SEMrush Works

SEMrush provides an in-depth analysis of websites, offering insights into search engine optimization (SEO), competitor analysis, keyword research, organic traffic growth, backlink insights, SEO auditing, and social media analytics.

Key Features:

SEMrush gives you data about your website’s traffic, the keywords you’re ranking for, and more.

Keyword Research: SEMrush boasts the world’s largest keyword database with over 20 billion keywords. It helps businesses discover relevant keywords for their content.
Rank Tracking: Monitor your website’s performance in search engine rankings over time.
Website Audit: Identify and fix on-page SEO issues to improve your site’s health.
Competitor Analysis: Understand your competitors’ strategies and discover opportunities.
Backlink Insights: Analyze your backlink profile for better link-building strategies.
Local SEO: Optimize for local searches with location-specific keywords.
Social Media Toolkit: Gain insights into your social media performance.
PageImprove: Enhance on-page SEO directly from your Chrome browser.
Keyword Gap Tool: Identify keywords where competitors outperform you.

What Sets SEMrush Apart?

Robust Feature Set: SEMrush offers a comprehensive suite of tools for SEO, content marketing, and social media management.
Unique Add-ons: Features like online reputation management, heat maps, trends analysis, lead finder, and client portal set SEMrush apart.
Industry-Leading API: Access data programmatically for advanced users.

Pricing:

Free Plan: Limited to 10 requests per day.
Paid Plans: Starting at $108.33 per month (billed annually).

Pros:

All-in-one SEO suite.
Content marketing tools.
Advertising insights.
Local SEO support.
Social media analytics.

Cons:

Limited free plan.
Expensive premium plans.
Some features may have a learning curve.
No 24-hour customer support.

Impressions:

In conclusion, SEMrush is a powerful tool for improving online visibility and driving organic traffic. Whether you’re a seasoned SEO professional or just starting out, SEMrush has something to offer.

Remember: Keep learning and exploring—your digital success awaits!

Who Is SEMrush Best For?

Bloggers and influencers.
Businesses of all sizes seeking online growth.
Marketing agencies.

Try SEMrush

Final Words

So, there you have it: five of the best AI marketing tools. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, so the best tool for you depends on what you need. Do you want a tool that does it all, like HubSpot? Or do you need something more specialized, like HootSuite, MarketMuse, Chatfuel, or SEMrush? By understanding what each tool offers, you can make an informed decision and take your marketing to the next level.

Ultimately, each of these tools has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, so it’s important to carefully consider your specific needs before making a decision. With these powerful AI marketing tools at your disposal, you can take your marketing strategy to the next level and achieve success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

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software

Best Invoicing Software Management Services for SMBs in 2024

November 23, 2023 Nir Shein

If you run a small business, you know how important it is to have a reliable and easy-to-use invoicing software. Invoicing software helps you create and send invoices, track payments, manage your cash flow, and more. But with so many options available, how do you choose the best one for your needs?

In this blog post, we will review some of the best invoicing software for small business billing in 2024. We will compare their key features, pros and cons, pricing, and overall impression. By the end of this post, you should have a clear idea of which invoicing software is right for you. Here are the invoicing software we will cover:

Table Of Content

Zoho Invoice

A Powerful and Affordable Invoicing Solution

If you are looking for a simple and effective way to create and manage invoices, Zoho Invoice might be the right choice for you. Zoho Invoice is a cloud-based invoicing software that helps you create professional invoices, track payments, send reminders, and automate recurring billing. In this post, we will review some of the key features, pros and cons, pricing and overall impression of Zoho Invoice in 2024.

Key Features:

Customizable invoice templates: You can choose from a variety of invoice templates or create your own with your logo, colors, and fonts. You can also add custom fields, attachments, notes, and terms and conditions to your invoices.
Online payment options: You can accept payments from your customers via credit cards, PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and other popular payment gateways. You can also enable partial payments, advance payments, and refunds.
Time tracking and expense management: You can track the time spent on projects and tasks and bill your clients accordingly. You can also record and categorize your expenses and attach receipts to your invoices.
Recurring invoices and subscriptions: You can create recurring invoices and subscriptions for your regular customers and automate the billing process. You can also set up reminders and thank-you notes to ensure timely payments.
Reports and analytics: You can generate various reports and insights on your invoicing performance, such as income and expense reports, tax reports, aging reports, payment history, and more. You can also export your data to Excel or PDF formats.

Pros:

Easy to use: Zoho Invoice has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create and manage invoices. You can also access your data from any device with an internet connection.
Affordable: Zoho Invoice offers a free plan for up to 5 customers and 1 user. The paid plans start from $9 per month for up to 50 customers and 3 users. You can also get a 14-day free trial to test the features before you buy.
Integrations: Zoho Invoice integrates with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Inventory. It also integrates with third-party apps, such as Google Workspace, Zapier, Slack, Mailchimp, and more.
Support: Zoho Invoice provides 24/7 email and phone support, as well as online help guides, videos, webinars, and forums.

Cons:

Limited customization: Zoho Invoice does not allow you to customize the layout or design of your invoices beyond the templates provided. You also cannot add custom fields or calculations to your invoices.
Limited automation: Zoho Invoice does not support advanced automation features, such as workflows, triggers, or actions. You also cannot automate the creation of estimates or quotes from your invoices.
Limited tax options: Zoho Invoice does not support multiple tax rates or tax groups. You also cannot apply taxes based on the location of your customers or products.

Pricing:

Zoho Invoice offers six pricing plans:

Free: $0 per month for up to 5 customers and 1 user
Standard: $10 per month for up to 50 customers and 3 users
Professional: $20 per month for up to 500 customers and 5 users
Premium $30 per month for unlimited customers and 10 users
Elite $100 per month for unlimited customers and 10 users
Ultimate $200 per month for unlimited customers and 15 users

Overall Impression:

Zoho Invoice is a powerful and affordable invoicing solution that can help you create and manage invoices with ease. It has a range of features that can suit the needs of small businesses and freelancers. However, it may not be the best option for larger businesses or those who need more customization or automation options. If you are looking for a simple and effective way to invoice your customers online, you should give Zoho Invoice a try.

TRY Zoho Invoice

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is one of the most popular invoicing software for small businesses. It helps you create and send professional invoices in minutes. You can also track your time, expenses, projects, estimates, and payments.

FreshBooks integrates with over 200 apps and services, such as PayPal, Stripe, Shopify, Mailchimp, Slack, and more. You can sync your data across devices and platforms, and access your account from anywhere. You can also collaborate with your team members and clients on projects and invoices.

FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial for all its plans. The paid plans start from $15 per month and vary based on the number of clients you can bill. All plans include unlimited invoices, estimates, time tracking, expenses, projects, reports, and support.

Pros:

Easy to use and intuitive interface
Professional and customizable invoices
Time tracking and project management features
Multiple app integrations and collaboration tools

Cons:

Pricing is based on the number of clients
Some features are only available on higher plans

Pricing:

Lite: $8.5 per month for up to 5 clients
Plus: $15 per month for up to 50 clients
Premium: $27.5 per month for up to 500 clients
Select: Custom pricing for over 500 clients

Overall impression:

FreshBooks is a user-friendly and reliable invoicing software that suits most small businesses. It has a lot of features and integrations that make invoicing easy and efficient. However, it can get expensive if you have a lot of clients or need advanced features.

TRY FreshBooks

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is a powerful and flexible invoicing software that lets you create and send invoices, quotes, proposals, and more. You can customize your invoices with your logo, colors, fonts, and payment options. You can also automate recurring invoices, reminders, and thank-you notes.

Invoice Ninja integrates with over 40 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and Square. You can accept payments online or in person, and track them in real-time. You can also manage your expenses, projects, tasks, time tracking, and reports.

Invoice Ninja offers a free plan for up to 100 clients and unlimited invoices. The paid plans start from $10 per month and offer more features, such as custom invoice designs, white-labeling, client portal, and priority support.

Pros:

Free plan available
Customizable and professional invoices
Multiple payment options and integrations
Expense and project management features

Cons:

Learning curve may be steep for some users
Some features are only available on paid plans

Pricing:

Free: $0 per year for up to 100 clients and unlimited invoices
Pro: $100 per year for up to 10 users and unlimited clients and invoices
Enterprise: $140 per year for up to 20 users and unlimited clients and invoices

Overall impression:

Invoice Ninja is a great choice for small businesses that need a versatile and feature-rich invoicing software. It offers a lot of customization and automation options, as well as integrations with popular payment gateways. However, it may take some time to get used to its interface and functionality.

TRY Invoice Ninja

Wave

If you are looking for a simple and affordable way to create and send invoices, track payments, and manage your finances, you might want to consider Wave Invoicing Software. Wave is a cloud-based accounting software that offers a free plan for freelancers and small businesses, as well as paid plans for more advanced features. In this post, I will review Wave Invoicing Software in 2024, including its key features, pros and cons, pricing, and overall impression.

Key Features

Wave Invoicing Software has a number of features that make it easy to create and send professional invoices, such as:

Customizable invoice templates that you can brand with your logo, colors, and fonts
Automatic reminders and receipts for your clients
Recurring billing and subscription options for regular customers
Multiple payment methods, including credit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, and cash
Integration with Wave Accounting, Wave Receipts, and Wave Payroll for seamless bookkeeping
Mobile app that lets you create and send invoices on the go
Reports and dashboards that show you your income, expenses, taxes, and cash flow

Pros and Cons

Wave Invoicing Software has many advantages, but also some drawbacks. Here are some of the pros and cons of using Wave:

Pros:

It’s free for unlimited invoicing and unlimited customers
It’s easy to use and has a user-friendly interface
It’s cloud-based and accessible from any device
It’s secure and compliant with PCI-DSS standards
It has excellent customer support via email, chat, and phone

Cons:

It charges a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for credit card payments and 1% for bank transfers
It doesn’t have some advanced features like inventory management, time tracking, or project management
It doesn’t integrate with many third-party apps or platforms
It’s only available in 14 countries (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium)

Pricing

Wave Invoicing Software is free to use for unlimited invoicing and unlimited customers. However, if you want to accept online payments from your clients, you will have to pay a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for credit card payments and 1% for bank transfers. You can also upgrade to Wave Plus for $20/month or Wave Pro for $35/month to get additional features like bookkeeping services, payroll services, tax services, or dedicated account managers.

Overall Impression

Wave Invoicing Software is a great option for freelancers and small businesses who need a simple and affordable way to create and send invoices. It has a lot of features that make invoicing easy and convenient. However, it also has some limitations that might not suit everyone’s needs. If you are looking for more advanced features or integrations, or if you operate in a country that is not supported by Wave, you might want to look for other alternatives.

TRY Wave

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is one of the most popular cloud-based accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a range of features to help you manage your income, expenses, invoices, payments, taxes, reports and more. But is it the best option for your business in 2024? Here are some of the key features, pros and cons, pricing and overall impression of QuickBooks Online.

Key Features:

QuickBooks Online lets you access your accounting data from any device with an internet connection. You can also use the mobile app to track mileage, capture receipts, send invoices and more.
QuickBooks Online integrates with over 800 third-party apps, such as Shopify, PayPal, Stripe, Square, Mailchimp and more. You can also connect your bank and credit card accounts to automatically import and categorize transactions.
QuickBooks Online has a variety of plans to suit different business needs. You can choose from Simple Start, Essentials, Plus or Advanced. Each plan offers different features, such as inventory tracking, project profitability, time tracking, bill management and more.
QuickBooks Online has a powerful reporting feature that lets you customize and generate reports on your financial performance, cash flow, sales, expenses, taxes and more. You can also export your reports to Excel or PDF formats.
QuickBooks Online has a dedicated support team that is available 24/7 via phone, chat or email. You can also access the online community, help center and video tutorials for additional guidance.

Pros:

QuickBooks Online is easy to use and set up. You can get started in minutes and navigate the intuitive dashboard and menus.
QuickBooks Online is scalable and flexible. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time and add or remove users as needed.
QuickBooks Online is secure and reliable. Your data is encrypted and backed up in the cloud. You can also set up permissions and roles to control who can access your data.
QuickBooks Online is updated regularly with new features and improvements. You can also benefit from the latest tax laws and regulations.

Cons:

QuickBooks Online can be expensive compared to some of its competitors. The plans range from $25 to $180 per month, plus $10 per user per month. You may also need to pay extra for some add-ons and integrations.
QuickBooks Online can be slow and buggy at times. Some users have reported issues with loading times, syncing errors, duplicate transactions and more.
QuickBooks Online can be overwhelming for some users. There are many features and options to choose from, which can make it hard to find what you need or customize it to your preferences.

Pricing:

QuickBooks Online offers four plans: Simple Start ($15/month), Essentials ($30/month), Plus ($45/month) and Advanced ($100/month). Each plan includes one user, unlimited invoices and estimates, income and expense tracking, sales tax tracking, receipt capture and mileage tracking. You can add more users for $10 per user per month.

The main differences between the plans are:

Simple Start: Suitable for freelancers and sole proprietors who need basic accounting features.
Essentials: Suitable for small businesses who need more features such as bill management, time tracking and multiple currencies.
Plus: Suitable for medium-sized businesses who need more features such as inventory tracking, project profitability and budgeting.
Advanced: Suitable for large businesses who need more features such as custom fields, workflows, batch invoicing and dedicated account manager.

You can try any plan for free for 30 days. You can also save up to 50% off if you sign up for an annual subscription.

Overall Impression:

QuickBooks Online is a powerful and versatile accounting software that can help you manage your business finances with ease. It has a lot of features and integrations that can streamline your workflows and automate your tasks. However, it can also be pricey, complex and glitchy at times. Therefore, you should weigh the pros and cons carefully before deciding if it is worth it for your business in 2024.

TRY QuickBooks

Xero

If you are looking for a cloud-based invoicing software that can help you manage your cash flow, track your expenses, and send professional invoices to your clients, you might want to consider Xero. Xero is one of the most popular invoicing software in the market, with over 2 million subscribers worldwide. In this post, I will review some of the key features, pros and cons, pricing and overall impression of Xero invoicing software in 2024.

Key Features

Xero offers a range of features that can help you streamline your invoicing process and save time and money. Some of the key features are:

Customizable invoice templates: You can choose from a variety of invoice templates that suit your brand and business needs. You can also add your logo, payment terms, discounts, and other details to your invoices.
Online payment options: You can accept payments from your clients via credit card, PayPal, Stripe, or other online payment methods. You can also set up automatic reminders and late fees to encourage timely payments.
Invoice tracking and reporting: You can track the status of your invoices, such as sent, viewed, paid, or overdue. You can also generate reports on your invoice performance, such as revenue, outstanding balances, payment trends, and more.
Expense management: You can easily record and categorize your expenses, such as travel, supplies, utilities, etc. You can also attach receipts and bills to your expenses and claim them as tax deductions.
Integration with other apps: You can integrate Xero with over 800 apps that can enhance your invoicing workflow, such as CRM, inventory, project management, accounting, and more.

Pros

Easy to use: Xero has a user-friendly interface that is intuitive and easy to navigate. You can access your invoices from any device, anywhere, anytime.
Affordable: Xero has a flexible pricing plan that starts from $11 per month for up to 20 invoices. You can also try Xero for free for 30 days before committing to a subscription.
Secure: Xero uses encryption and multiple layers of security to protect your data and transactions. You can also set up permissions and roles for different users in your team.
Support: Xero provides 24/7 customer support via phone, email, chat, or social media. You can also access online resources such as tutorials, webinars, blogs, and forums.

cons

Limited customization: Xero has a limited number of invoice templates that you can customize. You might need to use a third-party app or service if you want more advanced customization options.
Limited offline access: Xero is a cloud-based software that requires an internet connection to function. You might not be able to access or edit your invoices if you are offline or have a poor connection.
Additional fees: Xero charges extra fees for some features and services, such as online payment processing, payroll, bank feeds, etc. You might need to pay more than the base price depending on your usage and needs.

Pricing

Xero has three pricing plans that you can choose from depending on the size and nature of your business. The plans are:

Starter: $25 per month for up to 20 invoices, 5 bills, unlimited bank reconciliations, and 1 user
Standard: $40 per month for unlimited invoices, bills, bank reconciliations, and users
Premium: $54 per month for unlimited invoices, bills, bank reconciliations, users, plus multi-currency accounting and payroll for up to 10 employees

You can also add extra features and services to your plan for an additional fee.

Overall Impression

Xero is a powerful and reliable invoicing software that can help you manage your cash flow and grow your business. It has a range of features that can suit different business needs and preferences. It is also easy to use, affordable, secure, and supported by a dedicated team. However, it also has some limitations that might affect your user experience and satisfaction. Therefore, I recommend that you weigh the pros and cons carefully before deciding if Xero is the right invoicing software for you.

TRY Xero

Sage Intacct

If you are looking for a cloud-based invoicing software that can handle complex billing scenarios, Intacct might be the right choice for you. Intacct is a powerful and flexible software that can automate your invoicing process, streamline your workflows, and integrate with other systems. Here are some of the key features, pros and cons, pricing and overall impression of Intacct invoicing software in 2024.

Key Features:

Intacct supports multiple billing models, such as subscription, usage-based, milestone, project-based, and more. You can create custom invoices with your own branding, terms, and conditions.
Intacct allows you to track and manage your receivables, collections, and payments in real time. You can also set up automated reminders, late fees, and discounts to improve your cash flow.
Intacct integrates with other applications, such as CRM, ERP, payroll, and accounting software. You can sync your data across different systems and eliminate manual data entry and errors.
Intacct provides you with comprehensive reports and dashboards that show you the performance of your invoicing process. You can also create custom reports and analytics to gain deeper insights into your business.

Pros:

Intacct is a scalable and secure software that can handle large volumes of transactions and data. It is compliant with various standards and regulations, such as GAAP, IFRS, PCI DSS, SOC 1, and SOC 2.
Intacct is a user-friendly and customizable software that allows you to tailor it to your specific needs and preferences. You can configure your workflows, rules, templates, fields, and more.
Intacct offers excellent customer support and training options. You can access online help, videos, webinars, forums, and knowledge base. You can also contact the support team via phone, email, or chat.

Cons:

Intacct is a relatively expensive software compared to some of its competitors. The pricing depends on the number of users, modules, transactions, and features you need. You may also need to pay extra for implementation, integration, and customization services.
Intacct may have a steep learning curve for some users who are not familiar with its interface and functionality. You may need to invest some time and resources to get the most out of it.
Intacct may not have all the features or integrations that you need for your specific business scenario. You may need to use third-party add-ons or custom solutions to fill the gaps.

Pricing:

Intacct does not disclose its pricing on its website. You need to contact the sales team for a quote based on your requirements. However, according to some online sources, the average price range of Intacct is between $400 and $800 per user per month.

Overall Impression:

Intacct is a robust and versatile invoicing software that can handle complex billing scenarios and integrate with other systems. It is suitable for medium to large businesses that need a high level of automation, flexibility, and security. However, it is also a costly and complex software that may require some training and customization to fit your needs.

TRY Intacct

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Business, Marketing

5 Great Customer Retention Ideas That Work

August 12, 2019 Technologer

An army of loyal customers is every company’s goal. Yet, it’s one that can be quite hard to accomplish. Here are 5 ideas for customer retention that work.

1. Know Your Business

Having your own business means much more than having a job and paying you salary. Your basic roles are in finance, administration, marketing, and the responsibility of personnel. You need to know what you can deal with yourself and which parts you’re going to need help with. One person can rarely succeed in all of these to get the best results.

Many companies are run by people with great business acumen, yet they fail because they don’t have all the information they need to do their job. This includes a clear notion of marketing mix, market segment, customer service, target markets, product selection, promotional activities and pricing tactics. You need a well-devised business plan if you want to succeed. This will help you make the right decisions.

2. Pay for Good Training

Train your employees to always be available. Retail has always been about interacting with shoppers. Yet, staffs are often so busy multitasking that they ignore customers who are obviously looking for help. They need to be trained and taught that no task is more important than paying attention to customers because customers pay their salary.

If you have a larger company, you should train your managers to be the best salespersons. A manager probably won’t recognize, analyze, and give direction when a sale is lost if he or she doesn’t have the background knowledge to begin with. A good manager will know how to make a sale.

Finally, teach your managers how to train their associates. It can be that staffs are promoted to managerial positions not based on skills, but on how long they’ve been working for a company, and the disastrous results soon follow. They need proper retail sales training themselves if they’re to manage effectively. It takes more than criticism or praise. Both approaches can create a lot of damage to your staff that are left adrift.

3. Get a Reliable POS System

A full-scale POS solution like Aloha POS is of paramount importance to customer retention. It will allow you to efficiently manage all your back office activities. Reliable systems are rich in features to optimize inventory management and take the guesswork out of purchasing decisions.

A POS system addresses the needs of businesses in many sectors and industries, including grocery stores, convenience stores, apparel, fashion, and sporting goods, liquor, gift shops, and specialty stores.

Among its advantages are the following:

Top-Notch Order Fulfillment
Robust Email Marketing
eCommerce
Inventory Management

You’ll be able to attract more customers by offering better value. You’ll also be able to offer more opportunities to shop at your store. It’s your job to give your customers what they want, because if you don’t, they will stop doing business with you. The products and services you provide should be in tune with customers’ needs and wants.

4. Sustain your Unique Image

To attract more customers and understand them better, develop a unique image. This image is important and is a function of your marketing materials and efforts. Customers create their perceptions of your store from your name, location, web site appearance, products, prices, visual merchandising, displays, signs, business cards, customer service, newsletters, advertising material, and anything else that relates to your business.

Try to think like your customers do; buy, show, sell, and give them interesting information (not only what’s interesting to you). Your success is determined by the customer.

To maximize your online revenue, you need to develop a website where to sell your products. You can build the site yourself if you are familiar with HTML or similar programs and codes. It is essential that you determine the niche of your website. Some niches are less lucrative than others. You have to find a balanced relationship between passion and profit until you start making money.

For many years, many people have been selling private label products through sites like Amazon. The profit potential of the Amazon FBA program is huge. You need to make a product, choose a manufacturer and start selling this product on Amazon. The first step is having the right keywords. To obtain long-term customers, you need to acquire them to begin with, and this isn’t very easy either.

Also ,use multiple channels for customer service. This creates an opportunity to create an omni-channel experience, where the customer’s experience with the brand is consistent across different channels and devices. This brings about loyalty and greater customer satisfaction because it makes your customer service offer user-friendlier, which is exactly what your brand needs when your customers need assurance they will be served well, as always.

5. Market Based on Good Customer Experiences

Share any and all positive customer experiences with your brand with as many other people as possible. Collect customer feedback and share your reviews to inform your customers of the perks that your company can provide. Sharing “success” stories across an omni-channel communication system will be viable because new customers tend to trust old and loyal ones more than advertising. To maximize value, leverage these interactions effectively.

Creating customer loyalty is no easy feat, but know that customers are driven by their goals like all people and they will be loyal to the company that can meet their needs. If your competitor offers them a better deal, their positive experience with your company doesn’t matter. The customer will go for the better deal.

To build customer loyalty, you need to be aware of your customers’ needs very well. A multi-channel service system is one of the best ways to stay connected with your customers, particularly if they need help with something. Your customers will have better access to your service staff, which will generate a higher number of customer interactions. The more often you can interact with your customers, the better your chances of influencing their experience and retaining them.

Applications, Mobile

How Smartphones Changed In-Store Shopping

July 6, 2017 Technologer

When online retail first became popular it was very much its own entity. Bricks and mortar retailers may have feared it but it was a separate thing. Back then, very few would ever have envisaged how big a role the internet would play in offline retail.

As this infographic from The CUBE outlines, more and more retail sales are being influenced by mobile devices. Many of you will likely be part of the 53% of retail sales that were influenced by a mobile device in 2016. You may have seen a product in a store and done a quick Google on your phone to find out a little more information. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will buy the product online and you may just want to get a little more information on the product before buying it in-store.

Therefore, retailers shouldn’t worry about the increasing use of mobile phones in-store. Their use can often help persuade a customer to buy a product in your store! Find out more information in the infographic.

General

9 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Use The Cloud

June 19, 2017 Technologer

Small businesses make a big impact. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 54 percent of all sales are created by 28 million small businesses operating nationwide.

These businesses are facing a new challenge: embracing digital transformation to stay competitive and customer-focused on a global scale. Cloud computing has emerged as one key component in this strategy, with nearly 40 percent of SMBs already leveraging cloud technology, and experts predicting this number to double in the next three years. Let’s look at some of the best reasons for small businesses to embrace the cloud.

Lower Costs

Often tapped as the biggest enterprise benefit, cloud computing can help reduce total IT cost for SMBs as well. How? Instead of purchasing computer hardware that must be serviced, maintained and ultimately replaced, businesses leverage provider hardware and reduce capital expenditure. Software costs also come down — instead of licensing “X” copies of productivity suites or graphic design programs, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions let SMBs get the tools they need on demand.

Flexibility and Automation

Need more space or bigger bandwidth? No problem. Cloud providers can scale up on demand to meet emerging requirements. And scalability works both ways — increase throughput as needed for high-value projects or high-traffic events, then return to previous resource levels to keep costs down. In-house IT experts also enjoy the benefit automation; patches, upgrades and software renewals are all handled by your vendor, giving your team more time to innovate.

Recovery and Security

Disasters happen — not if, but when. When disaster strikes, what happens to your data? If it’s stored on local servers only, you could lose everything. Using the cloud, meanwhile, lets you make multiple redundant copies and store them off-site for easy recovery if something goes wrong close to home. In addition, cloud security has evolved to match — and, in many cases, exceed — that of local IT protection. Using a combination of regular audits, advanced encryption and remote data wiping, its possible to enjoy the security of data defense with all the benefits of device mobility.

Freedom and the Playing Field

Small businesses need employee freedom — many rely on remote workers who can get their job done anywhere, anytime. With the cloud, you can effectively take company networks wherever you go, and staff can access cloud services from any approved device.

The cloud also levels the playing field, giving SMBs access to enterprise-grade IT infrastructure without breaking the bank. Add a reduced carbon footprint, and it’s no surprise that more SMBs than ever are tapping the cloud to enhance their IT delivery.

Ready to dig deeper? Learn more about how the cloud can benefit your SMB.

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Author bio: Steve Johnson is President of Maryland Computer Service, and has been helping businesses harness the power of technology for nearly 20 years. His experiences during that time make him uniquely qualified to guide small and medium businesses through the technologies of today into the future.

Applications, General

Guide To Developing A Successful Mobile App For Your Business

January 22, 2017 Technologer

It’s no surprise that every business, large or small is building mobile apps and looking to cash in big way. Developing mobile apps for your business puts you on common grounds for competing in the new mobile market place. All customers today look for products and services today via their cell phones. The idea to get your customers to notice your app and for that you need the right approach to mobile apps development. You need the right mobile strategy in place – from day one.

Mobile apps development

The very first step is to look for mobile app development services to create a mobile application. Finding the right developer could be tricky. Find a developer with the right skills and experience so that he understands the exact requirements. Check regularly and monitor the progress of your mobile application. Discuss your scope of work and also define the milestones for completion. Discuss your budget and chalk out the most important features and make sure that the app is thoroughly tested for functionality and user experience before it is launched.

App approval and submission

The next step is to prepare your app for submission to the major app stores and approval. For this purpose, make sure that you understand the app submission guidelines and policies. Both Apple and Android have a set of guidelines and checklists for app submission and approval. Take your time to review and understand their policies. Make sure that your app complies with the maximum size requirements and other criteria outlined by the app stores. Failure to comply with the app submission guidelines will result in unnecessary delays.

App store optimization

App stores have their own way of ranking the apps in the search results. The higher your app ranks in the app stores, the better are its chances for getting downloaded. Increased visibility directly translates to more traffic and greater downloads. Hence, optimizing your app is essential. Simple changes such as including your strongest keywords in the description and using the right images and icons can greatly help improve its visibility. It’s also important to use the keywords in the title. Make sure that the keywords you select are relevant for your target audience. Secondly, place a link from your website and take advantage of your customer’s natural affinity to your website and drive them to download your app too. Furthermore, include a download link for your mobile app on your website too.

There’s no denying that we live in a mobile world and at least 80% of our potential customers are looking for our businesses via mobile phones. Especially, if you are a small business, a mobile app or a mobile presence can give the initial boost to your business and help build a strong brand in the long term. With the right strategy in place for going mobile, you can easily capture the initial mobile customers and see a significant growth in your business in the initial phases.

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Author Bio: Elite Infoworld is a leading mobile application development company which offering android & iphone mobile application development services aא affordable rates.

Applications, Mobile

10 Apps Every Small Business Owner Should Have

July 25, 2016 Technologer 2 Comments

Business ownership is no walk in the park. You have to manage every single aspect of the company, from finance to human resources and project management. It entails a massive amount of responsibility and requires vast amounts of time, as well as an ability to cope with several competing tasks simultaneously.

If you’re running a small business, it is a good idea to draw upon all the help you can get, and one way of doing this is to stock up your smartphone with a series of excellent apps that should be part of every business owner’s collection. There are apps to help with employee communication, project management, time management, task organisation and payroll, to name just a few aspects of running a business. Some of the best apps we’ve come across include My Minutes, which keeps track of your progress for certain tasks and also allows you to set minimum and maximum time constraints; as well as IFTTT, which enables you to use one app to automatically program activity in another. How’s that for killing two birds with one stone?

This infographic from All Finance Tax profiles 10 apps that will certainly provide great benefit to anyone who owns a small business. Check out the full list below.

Hardware, Video

5 Reasons Why Businesses need Security Camera Systems

July 21, 2016 Technologer 2 Comments

Don’t have any security cameras installed at your office or places related to business? If yes, think again! From strengthening safety, cross checking the stock, deterring criminals to increasing productivity –a complete surveillance system is good for real! And moreover, a business owner needs to have eyes at each and every corner of his place.

To further convince you with the benefits of an HD security system, we have listed down 5 reasons as to why businesses need to install them.

1) Discourage Internal & External Theft

Every business whether big or small, is always under a risk of burglary and crime. And, this threat is augmented when you have employees that could add up to the list.

It would first appear shocking to hear that approximately 50 billion dollars are lost each year just because of employee theft. Such crime incapacitates small businesses. In fact, employee theft becomes the sole reason for almost 33% of the businesses to go bankrupt.

This is where you can make a huge difference to your bottom line. Install an HD security camera to curb employee theft today. A professional product like an Ultra HD system will eliminate all the blind spots, deter criminals and burglars and stamp out employee theft.

2) Boost Productivity and Profits

When you hadn’t established your business (and probably was working for someone else) you must have come across the phrase “It’s time to play, when the boss is away”. And if you try to remember more vividly, no one ever dared to take unnecessary breaks from their work when the boss was watching over. Today, your employees might be doing the same to you!!!

If you require a set of extra eyes, an HD IP security camera can really prove its worth. You can remotely view all the nooks and corners of your office with the help of free mobile apps and software provided with such systems. All you need to have is a smart phone, tablet, or computer with working internet connection.

3) Protect Private and Sensitive Areas

Every business has some “restricted-access areas”. To prevent illegal entry to these off –limit areas, getting help from sleepless eyes of a night vision security camera is a wise decision. The discrete look of an IP security camera is good to trick would-be burglars and force them to think twice before committing any crime.

There are many unscrupulous individuals who leak out trade secrets or even worse, sale them for their own benefits. Every business owner should take a proactive action to protect his/her business against this trade secret theft. For that, they might get help from a professional surveillance firm to evaluate their premises and take necessary actions to protect it.

4) Increase Customer Satisfaction

If your customers are satisfied with your services and products, they’ll come back over and over again. Thus, they should be catered exclusively. But, you can’t be there all the times to welcome them. What you can do is, keep an eye on your employees to know how they are behaving with your customers. This will obviously help in increasing the customer retention.

Video surveillance can also help you find out the products that you sell the most and then, accordingly you can develop your marketing strategies.

5) Protect Yourself from False Liability Law Suits

Best systems, such as Ultra HD surveillance systems, can even help solve legal/official issues to an extent. Property management firms could be the ones that can be benefited because they have to handle piles and piles of claims. Now, to curb false claims out of the pile, firm may install a cctv camera and be ready with a video proof for any and every ambiguous event.

Storage space is the next thing to be kept in mind. A crafty lawyer is well aware of the fact that after a certain period of time, data gets overwritten thereby eliminating proofs, if any. But, a system with unlimited data storage allows you to revisit the frames of any time in the past. This will surely give you the much required mental peace.

Conclusion
Clearly, there are many benefits of installing a complete system for your business. You can sleep easy when you know there are prying eyes to take care of your hard earned assets and establishments.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and get your system today!

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Author Bio: Rohan Sharma is a gadget wizard, an active blogger, and an eminent speaker. With more than 10 years of experience to his credit, Rohan has always been a pertinent contributor to the security industry. He is closely associated with Revo America, a well renowned security products manufacturer and retailer. Needless to say, Rohan boasts for paramount and credible products only, with Revo’s being his favorite.