Apex Gifts And Prints LLP: January 2022

Monday 31 January 2022

21 YouTube SEO Tools to Boost Your Video Rankings

YouTube is one of the largest search engines. If your brand isn’t thinking about SEO before it creates videos, you better change that now. Here’s how to do it and some tools (free and paid) to help you along the way. Continue reading →

source https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/youtube-seo-tools-video-rankings/

In this blog you will find out about SEO news, tools and tips from different SEO companies and experts, which will helps you to grow your business.

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source https://www.facebook.com/108818354838599/posts/150045334049234/

Sunday 30 January 2022

How to Create a Separate Network for Your IoT Gadgets

IoT is a point of entry for hackers. One way to prevent vital data leaks is to learn how to create a separate network for your IoT gadgets.

By now, you’ve most likely acquired a number of smart home devices. These all connect to the internet via the same router. Needless to say, there are numerous methods for protecting your IoT device network from potential hacking efforts. One method is to learn how to create a separate network for your IoT.
Everyone understands that their gadgets must be password-protected and that the passwords must be strong and unique. There are various tools available to assist you with this. Here, we’re going to talk about your IoT device network. In addition, we’ll discuss how it affects the overall security of your smart home devices.

Connect all of your devices. (Check to make sure.)

Isn’t it true that your main router must connect all of your IoT devices to the internet? Your major devices, such as PCs, laptops, and cellphones, are very certainly connected to the same network.
Suppose all of your devices are connected to the same network. A skilled hacker can move from one device to the next if they can breach one of your devices and gain access to the network. As a result, if your network is breached via your smart doorbell or your smart refrigerator, they may be able to access your smartphone or home computer. They may be able to do this if they are both connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Therefore, cybersecurity experts advise establishing two independent networks, one for IoT devices and the other for laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices.
Jumping between networks is far more difficult than between devices. Therefore, connect your devices to different networks. Then, even if someone hacks into your smartwatch, they won’t be able to get access the information on your phone.
You can set up different Wi-Fi networks using a variety of methods at home. This is also known as home network segmentation.
You can rest assured that expert specialists strongly recommend it. Of course, if you don’t know how to set up a Wi-Fi network or operate your router, segmenting your home network may be too difficult. As a result, it is strongly advised that you get help from an independent technician. You may also ask for help from your Internet service provider.
Meanwhile, here are a few different home network segmentation choices. You can pick the one that looks most convenient to you and discuss it with your professional.

What is the best way to segment a home network?

Let’s look at three basic alternatives for learning how to create a separate network at home. Any of the three alternatives will help you improve the security of your smart home devices. In addition, they will allow you to link your primary and IoT devices to different networks.

1. Set up two distinct networks.

This is certainly the safest solution. In addition, it’s the simplest to comprehend and implement.
The disadvantage is that it might be fairly pricey.
What exactly do two networks mean? It means you can have two internet connection lines at home. There can be two from the same provider or one from one and one from another provider. This way, you’ll have two entirely independent lines. There will be no overlap between your primary and IoT device connections.
Setting up two separate connections is also the most user-friendly option. This is because you don’t need to know much about your network’s technical elements or how to configure it.
An ISP technician installs the router. This completes your part in the system setup.

2. Have one router for two networks.

If your router is fresh, you should be able to set up a guest network right away.
You essentially create a new Service Set Identifier or SSID, which is another name for a Wi-Fi network. However, the network is still on the same router. Therefore, you don’t need to switch internet service providers.
To do this you’ll need the administrator username and password. In addition, you will need access to and modification of your router’s settings.
Of course, if you don’t know how to do it yourself, you should contact your ISP. They will send a technician to set up the new network for you. In addition, it is possible to prohibit access to the settings menu via the guest network. This makes it even more difficult for hackers to hop networks.

3. Set up two routers.

It’s possible to have two independent networks via two different routers. This is true even if you have connected both connected to the same internet line.
However, keep one thing in mind. You must configure both routers correctly.
If you don’t set up the configuration correctly, two different routers won’t help. Again, for an unskilled user, setting two routers could be a bit much. Therefore, don’t be afraid to seek expert help.
Finally, don’t overlook the fundamental security procedures that you must implement on your IoT devices. If your device comes with a default password, for example, you must update it.
In addition, for your segmented home networks, you’ll need to create secure passwords as well. To put it another way, you must secure your routers with unique passwords that are difficult to crack. Furthermore, don’t forget that password management software can assist you with this.
We control the majority of IoT devices using mobile apps on our smartphones. When you install an app, you must first go over the list of permissions it requires. If you don’t do that, the app might be able to do a lot more than you desire. To put it another way, be cautious and aware of the apps you use and the devices you administer.

The post How to Create a Separate Network for Your IoT Gadgets appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/how-to-create-a-separate-network/

Security Elements and Requirements for IoT: Keep it Safe!

The more devices we have linked to the network, the greater the need to consider the security elements and requirements for IoT accessories.

6 Security Elements to Consider for IoT Devices

Connectivity is critical to your IoT project’s success. IoT networks are by their very nature complicated, and cybercriminals can intercept them in a variety of ways. In order to fully defend an IoT network, we must consider the following security elements.

1. Access to the device.

Many IoT devices operate in unmanaged and insecure contexts. This allows hackers to upload malware and gain access to particular functions of the device. This, in turn, gives them the ability to harm the entire network. In addition, they can possibly gain access to unencrypted confidential data, and even transform the device into a botnet.

2. Signature of the device.

Attackers can, for example, clone a device’s identity to gain access to your data. Furthermore, they can even enter your entire system by infiltrating the network. Therefore, the device signature must be secure, one-of-a-kind, unchangeable, and fully unique. We can’t deploy IoT security on all other components of the network without adequate device identity management.

3. Data security.

IoT networks continuously transfer data, including sensitive and regulated data. This is self-explanatory. However, the security, privacy, and integrity of data in storage are vital. This included data on the IoT device, on the network server, and in the cloud. Any data in transit is vulnerable and therefore must be considered as an important aspect of IoT security. As a result, throughout the IoT lifetime, data security must be established across all devices and equipment.

4. Commands.

“Commands” refers to the instructions sent to IoT devices. These instructions might activate features, command the device to execute certain functions, turn it on/off, and so on. These commands can be performed either by machine-to-machine automation or human input. Therefore, only verified persons and/or systems, including AI, should be able to provide commands to IoT devices.

5. Security of software decisions.

Algorithm-based or AI-based software decisions are used in IoT applications with automation. As a result, hackers can potentially disrupt the entire IoT network. They can do this if they intercept and modify these decisions. Therefore, to avoid this, all software decisions should be made in a secure environment. In addition, they should be done with proper anti-interception and anti-tampering protection.

6. Physical actions security.

Physical actions such as unlocking a smart lock or stopping/starting a device are common actions with IoT devices. They also include increasing/decreasing the temperature of HVAC equipment, for example. These common IoT deployments are places where security must be considered. These acts can be intercepted by hackers. Therefore, they may not only compromise the system but may also jeopardize the user’s safety. Furthermore, it’s critical to make sure that devices and equipment can only do these tasks if they receive authenticated commands.

6 Requirements for Security of IoT

As we can see, the IoT security elements require consideration in order to maintain security on any network. This is a large and complex process including multiple layers of protection. So, how do we know if an IoT system is “safe?” As the foundation of any IoT security endeavor, here are the key requirements of a secure IoT system.

1. Security Compliance Designed from the Beginning

Before everything else, all IoT devices must be secure in their design. Therefore, we must coordinate infrastructure (servers, routers, and so on) and software. Further, make sure that the design of anything on the IoT network has potential cybersecurity threats in mind. As a result, do not include any hardware or software solution in an IoT network if it is not safe by design. Even a single weakness might expose the entire system.

2. Managing Your Security

The first criterion is concerned with the IoT system’s human component. Ideally, a specialized team should be in charge of IoT security. However, at the very least, a designated executive should be in charge of safeguarding the six major parts of IoT outlined above. This person should be in charge of safeguarding all IoT devices and equipment. In addition, they should be concerned with the integrity and security of data in the IoT system. This includes customer information.

3. Purpose-Based Authentication and Authorization

Cryptography (authentication and authorization) functionalities must be part of the devices and software solutions. These should always be in accordance with industry standards and best practices. In addition, make sure you manage authentication and permission properly. This guarantees that they only grant access to the right people. In addition, they do so only when it is necessary for their current task. Therefore, to maximize IoT security, make sure to end authentication as quickly as possible when access is no longer necessary.

4. Framework for Secure Applications and Networks

There is another important part of IoT security. We must ensure that all apps, web interfaces, server software, and other network pieces are secure. Therefore, take measures to ensure data security and compliance with privacy regulations. Furthermore, if you use cloud network solutions in your IoT system, protect them as well.

5. Device Manufacturing and Supply Chain Security

We will suppose that the IoT device has security components. Therefore, it’s critical to ensure that the product we’re going to include in the IoT network is secure. As a result, always check for security through the manufacture, distribution, and/or installation processes. In addition, choose hardware and software solutions with acceptable warranty policies. The items should be safe and secure for end-users right out of the box.

6. Simple and Secure Setup

It’s critical to make sure that end-users can easily use and set up IoT products and equipment. Therefore, the configuration and control should assist the user and the IoT system’s manager in maintaining security. Regular software updates, particularly security updates, are another important security action. A clear and easy-to-understand vulnerability disclosure policy and life cycle management should all be provided by the product’s seller.

The post Security Elements and Requirements for IoT: Keep it Safe! appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/security-elements-requirements/

Secure IoT Gadgets: Our Pressing Need

The IoT has evolved from an idea in the early 2000s to daily reality. However, it is a major challenge to provide 100% secure IoT gadgets.

Wearables, smart speakers, smart thermostats, and smart lighting, among other things, have replaced PCs and smartphones in our daily lives. On one side, these IoT gadgets provide convenience and functionality. On the other hand, having secure IoT Gadgets has become a major issue. Unfortunately, many of these internet-connected IoT devices and sensors aren’t as secure as our regular computers.
In 2021, there will be more than 10 billion linked IoT devices on the planet. By 2030, the population is expected to have risen to more than 8 billion.
In other words, IoT is now everywhere. However, these IoT Gadgets are all at risk from cyberattacks.
Consider that for a moment.
Is your smartwatch protected by antivirus software? Is your smart security camera protected against malware? This is why many hackers are now focusing their efforts on these vulnerable IoT devices. In addition, if just one IoT device in your network is vulnerable, it can compromise the entire network. This, therefore, can expose your data.
As a result, providing secure IoT is becoming a major concern for every company or individual considering implementing an IoT project. To avoid any cybersecurity dangers and protect your data, it’s critical to think about how to secure IoT devices and networks.
We’ll go over some things you need to know about IoT security.

What Is IoT Security?

IoT security is a branch of cybersecurity or information technology security that focuses on securing IoT devices, sensors, and networks.
As we all know, the term “Internet of Things” is a pretty broad concept. How should we define “things” in the context of the Internet of Things?
We may classify all internet-connected devices and appliances as “things” just to make sure we’re all on the same page. Therefore, your smart thermostat, Apple Watch, game consoles, security camera, and even your cellphones are all included in the list of things.
As you can see, IoT security is a fairly vast field with that description. In reality, IoT security can refer to both the protection techniques and the tools that are used to secure IoT devices and the network as a whole.
In addition, it’s worth emphasizing that now there is a greater attack surface. Therefore, the more networked devices in an IoT network, the more vulnerable the network becomes. Furthermore, IoT security is quite a large field.
Therefore, implementing it on an IoT project may require a range of strategies. This may depend on the size and complexity of the IoT deployment.

The Importance of Secure IoT

It’s true that cybersecurity is unquestionably crucial in all types of organizations and systems that link to the internet. However, secure IoT presents a unique case.
IoT has a large number of potential attack surfaces. However, it also has other security concerns that are unique to IoT. The three key IoT security concerns that necessitate a comprehensive IoT security plan are as follows:

1. IoT offers a large assault surface with intricate interconnections.

IoT brings many different software and hardware solutions together. Therefore, IoT installations offer a significantly broader attack surface than any other technology.
Additionally, the more ways these devices and software may communicate with one another, the more opportunities cybercriminals have to expose these relationships.
This poses a unique security conundrum in IoT. On the one hand, we want the IoT network to be as versatile and accessible as possible for our users. We want additional devices, sensors, and connectivity possibilities.
Then again, on the other hand, these possibilities provide fraudsters with new opportunities to attack the IoT network.
Therefore, all potential attack surfaces and entry points must be considered when it comes to making secure IoT networks. Even a little flaw on a single device, for example, can compromise the entire network.

2. Resist purchasing IoT devices with insufficient resources.

The fact that many devices and sensors lack the capacity to provide complete security is the second major difficulty in IoT security.
Many small IoT devices, for example, lack the CPU power or storage capacity to support robust antivirus and firewall solutions.
Furthermore, many of these IoT devices are meant to be as small as possible, and security is often a secondary consideration.
Therefore, in many circumstances, we must rely on unconventional methods to protect the device. This can be more difficult or expensive to install.

3. In many industries, there’s a lack of security knowledge.

It’s no secret that IoT technologies are in use across a wide range of sectors.
Healthcare, for example, is one of the most rapidly adopting industries in terms of IoT. In reality, many healthcare facilities increasingly rely extensively on IoT devices and software to deliver their services.
However, this reliance on IoT technology has the potential to magnify the impact of a successful cybersecurity attack.
A cybersecurity breach in a German hospital, for example, resulted in a patient’s death. This was due in part to the reliance on IoT to deliver service.
Not only that, but many firms across many industries were unwilling to commit the necessary funds to ensure the IoT network’s security.
By preventing these risks, we can ensure a fully secure IoT system.

The post Secure IoT Gadgets: Our Pressing Need appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/secure-iot-gadgets/

Smartphone-Controlled Gadgets for More Fun

Our phones can now do a lot of things we never imagined. Here’s a list of some fun, new gadgets, all of which are smartphone-controlled.

With our smartphones, we can check our crypto wallets, utilize social media, take images that are as good as those taken by professional cameras, and so much more. Aside from that, there’s a lot more we can accomplish with them. In addition, we can ride and control robots, as well as cool devices, to brighten our day or even gather data for research. Such devices always increase the amount of fun you can have with a smartphone. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the finest gadgets that are smartphone-controlled and that will wow you.

1. Deeper PRO+ Smart Sonar Castable and Portable WiFi Fish Finder

Simply cast out your Deeper Smart Sonar PRO+ to obtain fast depth and water temperature information. When you recover your Deeper PRO+, it recognizes fish-friendly features including humps, depressions, and marginal shelf. You’ll note how diverse the greenery is.
Deeper water also aids in determining whether the bottom is hard or mushy and whether it contains gravel or silt. You can even find the fish using the Deeper PRO+’s sonar. As a result, if you’ve baited a place, you can monitor whether the fish are staying put or moving on. With Deeper PRO Plus, you’ll have all the information you need to capture the perfect fish you’ve always wanted.

2. POWERUP 4.0: The Smartphone-Controlled Paper Airplane Kit

You may sit in the pilot’s seat of a spectacular paper airplane that does high-speed stunts. The Bluetooth module links to your phone. In addition, it provides autopilot control for a wide variety of airplane models. A 30-minute charge allows you to keep your plane in the air for 10 minutes and 230 feet!
Your plane will spend a long time in the air because it can travel up to 20 mph (32 km/h). In addition, you can connect the bundled micro USB cord to a charging port and start planning your next adventure.

3. DEERC Radio Controlled Cars and DE36W Remote Control Car

Enjoy your time with this RC Truck. It’s not only able to be smartphone-controlled but it also takes amazing visuals with its camera. You can watch clear images and movies from the phone app thanks to the 720p HD wifi camera and first-person view transmission. Additionally, the 45° adjustable angle extends your shooting range.
It has advanced anti-skid tires, shock absorbers, and anti-collision beams. In addition, it has high-speed throttle response and sensitive steering. This gives assistance for unexpected drops and unstable ground surfaces. On a full charge, each 7.4V 1000mAh Ni-MH rechargeable battery may provide up to 25-30 minutes of gameplay. Speeds of up to 12 mph (20 km/h) are possible thanks to the two powerful motors.

4. Cheerwing U12S Mini Remote Controlled Helicopter

The Cheerwing U12S will help you have the most enjoyable helicopter ride imaginable. In addition, it will allow you to capture great photographs with the camera on your phone. Simply press one key to start the flight. This little helicopter will take off and hover at a preset height. Furthermore, it will keep even if you are not actively controlling it. This is because of the Altitude Hold Function.
In addition, it also has two speed settings. This makes it suitable for pilots of all skill levels. Further, it has a metal structure and flexible blades. These can withstand dozens of collisions. Therefore, this small helicopter is more strong and more durable.

5. Sphero SPRK+: App-Enabled Robot Ball

Sphero SPRK+ is a programmable robot ball that can be smartphone-controlled. It encourages creativity and curiosity through coding and gaming. A gyroscope, accelerometer, motor encoders, and colorful LED lights are among the SPRK+’s configurable sensors. This enables a wide range of play experiences and coding scenarios. Using the Sphero Edu app, you can program SPRK+ on a variety of platforms using JavaScript.
In addition, to double the fun, download the Sphero Play app to drive and play games with your coding bot. It’s also scratch-resistant, waterproof, and uses Bluetooth SMART to link to your smartphone. This allows you to see your commands and ideas come to life.

6. Brookstone Rover 2.0 App-Controlled Wireless Spy Tank

You may ride your futuristic SpyTank with your phone at any time of day or night. This device has its own Wi-Fi wireless connection. Therefore, it can travel up to 200 feet unobstructed. In addition, it can go up to 100 feet (30 meters) around walls and into adjoining rooms.
You can easily move and watch through Rover’s inbuilt video camera using the on-screen driving controls. Use G-Drive Mode to navigate by using your device’s accelerometer like a steering wheel for more realistic adventures. Rover 2.0 includes a built-in microphone and speaker. This allows you to hear what it hears and reply accordingly. Rover 2.0 provides you with a set of eyes and ears that may be used anywhere!

7. Robotic xArm 6DOF Full Metal Programmable Arm

The xArm 1S is a desktop robotic arm. It has an ARM core CPU, built-in Bluetooth, and 16 MB of storage. It can perform a variety of robotic gripping and sorting tasks. It’s ideal for project creation. In addition, it is great for bionic robot education and demonstrations of robotic automation.
It has powerful and dependable intelligent bus servos. Furthermore, it has position and voltage feedback functions. In addition, it has a newly designed mobile app so that it can be smartphone-controlled. Therefore, the UI is now easier to use. Additionally, you can alter the rotation angle and stance manually when designing actions.

The post Smartphone-Controlled Gadgets for More Fun appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/smartphone-controlled-gadgets/

Saturday 29 January 2022

SEO Split-Test Result: Does Bolded Text Help Your SEO?

We decided to test if bold pieces of text on the blog pages of a Canadian SaaS company can help their SEO performance. What do you the impact was on organic traffic? Check this out.

from Semrush blog https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-split-test-result-does-bolded-text-help-your-seo

How Startup Valuations are Driving Company Equity

With the rise of startups and growing businesses, it has become more critical for investors to have a thorough understanding of equity to be aware of all of the advantages they are receiving from the companies they have invested in.

So, if you’re an investor or the creator of a new business, read on. This article will assist you in gaining a fundamental understanding of equity valuation, kinds of equity, and other related topics.

What is Company Equity?

The market regards equity as an ownership “share” in a corporation’s income revenue stream. In the context of an equity definition, the “share” price refers to the relative value assigned to the corporation’s earning potential depending on various variables.

These include the general economic circumstances, both in the industry and in the broader economy, profits projections, anticipated corporate growth, the company’s stage of development, and financial ratio analysis.

Types of equity

Equities are market-linked investments that do not guarantee a fixed rate of return. The performance of the underlying asset thus determines returns on equity.

Here are the three basic types of equity, each with its own set of risks and rewards.

• Common stock

The holding of common stock in a company indicates ownership in the corporation. Dividends paid and capital gains realized on a per-share basis provide ordinary shareholders with a way to participate in the profits stream of the company.

Investors of common stock are eligible for :

The choice of the Board of Directors

The selection of Senior Officers

The nomination of an auditor to audit the company’s financial statements

The establishment of a dividend policy

Other aspects of organizational governance.

This can also be accomplished via the use of a proxy, in which case a third party is given the authority to vote on the shareholder’s behalf.

Because of the obligations connected with common stock, the investor has a more significant stake in the company’s profits than with other types of stock.

Common shareholders also have many vital rights if the company goes out of business, including restricted responsibility to the firm’s creditors and a residual claim on any assets or income generated after all previous claims (mortgage holders, bondholders, creditors, and so on) have been met.

• Preferred shares

Preferred shares are equity in a corporation that provides a set dividend and gives the holder of common stock a first claim on the company’s profits.

To make preferred shares more marketable, different companies issuing the shares include several characteristics that differentiate them from common stock. These characteristics, comparable to those found in the fixed income market, can convert into common stock, call clauses, and other features.

• Warrants

Warrants are a kind of equity that are often attached to a corporate bond issuance or preferred stock to make the transaction more appealing to investors.

It is possible to participate in a company’s capital gains (losses) without purchasing its common stock if the owner of a warrant holds it for a lengthy period of time. However, the holder of a warrant holds a leveraged bet on the corporation’s common shares.

A warrant, which is a kind of equity, has an exercise price and an expiration date. At the exercise price, the holder may convert their warrant into common shares of the issuer, if the warrant is still valid.

In the case of a warrant, the expiration date is the final day on which it can be converted into common stock.

Considering that a warrant is often issued to decrease the cost of a debt issuer, the expiration period is typically more than two years after the warrant is first issued.

In addition, when issued in conjunction with a bond, warrants can be traded independently from the bond they were issued, giving the investor a long-term option on the company’s common stock.

Equity Benefits in a Company

Equity investment is the most effective strategy to provide the resources needed to assist you in reaching your growth goals. It can produce much-needed capital for entering new markets, refinancing, and investing in research and development.

Why do startups issue company equity?

You have a financial stake in a startup if you have equity. Also, equity is utilized to incentivize employees to work together toward a similar goal, whether that objective is to become the next unicorn or to be acquired by a major corporation. Therefore, CEOs have strong reasons to issue stock options. Now, let’s see for whom and how the equities are issued.

Equity for Co-founders

They need to ensure that the shares are distributed productively. Even though owning all of your business might sound more tempting, maintaining full ownership isn’t always conducive to a company’s growth. Splitting the shares allows you to earn from your employees’ skills to grow the company.

Equity for Advisor

Advisors can usually be categorized into the board, technical and general advisors. Founders can compensate them in either equity or salary as per their preference. Of course, the higher the company’s valuation, the lower the scale of equity and advisor should expect. The general norm is set to around 1%.

Equity for Investors

These units can be allocated based on the initial corpus/resources risked by them. However, if you are a sole proprietor, you need to ensure that the overall combined stake should not exceed the preliminary value on your end to be on the safe side.

Equity for Employees

10-15% is an apt equity range for employees. This range decreases if there are more founders. This compensation can also be given to board members, consultants, employees, mentors, and coaches.

Importance of equity valuation

When it comes to startups, valuation is important since it aids in determining the amount of equity an entrepreneur is required to give up in return for the necessary cash from an investor.

Accordingly, when a business is valued higher, it is required to provide a smaller quantity of stock or shares to an investor in return for the initial investment. Not only is startup valuation important for entrepreneurs, but it is also essential from the perspective of investors as it allows them to estimate the amount of return they will get on their investment amount.

Calculation of Equity in a Startup

Individuals have varying levels of interest in the value of their own stocks. As a result, there is no standard procedure that has been established. Instead, around four to five broad types of procedures must be completed to value an equity investment. The methods may vary, but the goals remain the same regardless of the procedure.

The following criteria must be taken into consideration by anybody performing an equity calculation in one manner or another:

Identifying the nature of a company and its industry

There is no such thing as a business that functions in a vacuum. The performance of every company is affected by the performance of the economy as a whole and the performance of the industry in which it works as a result of this. To that end, before attempting to determine the worth of a company, it is necessary to consider macroeconomic variables. A reasonably accurate forecast of these characteristics serves as the foundation for a reasonably accurate value of the asset.

Make forecasts about the company’s performance

A prediction based only on the present financial statements of the business is not a solid forecast. A solid prediction considers the possibility that the company’s production size may alter in the near future.

Then, it considers how changes in this scale will impact the expenses associated with it. It is not possible to shift costs and revenues in a linear manner. To provide an accurate prediction, an analyst would need to have a thorough understanding of the company’s operations.

Select an appropriate valuation method

There are a variety of different valuation models available. However, not all these valuation models will necessarily lead to the same result. As a result, the analyst’s responsibility is to choose which model is best suitable given the kind and quality of data provided.

Get an estimated valuation using the selected method

In the next phase, you will apply the valuation model and come up with a precise numerical number that, in the analyst’s opinion, determines the value of the company. It may be a single estimated number, or it could be a range of anticipated amounts. Investors like a range because it provides them with a clear understanding of their lower and higher bid limits.

Make a decision based on the estimated value

Finally, the analyst must recommend whether to buy, sell, or keep the stock based on the current market price, and what the research indicates is the intrinsic value of the business.

How does company equity work in startup valuation?

Several factors are influenced by the company valuation you establish. The obvious one is the amount of equity in your company. So, let’s take a look at the aspects that determine a startup company’s valuation.

What is startup valuation?

Startup valuation, often known as business valuation, is the process of determining the value of a firm. For example, during a seed financing round, an investor contributes money to a business in return for a portion of the company’s stock ownership.

Therefore, valuation is essential for entrepreneurs since it assists them in deciding how much ownership they must give up in return for money received from a seed investor or angel investor.

It is also essential for an investor to know how much of the company’s stock they would get in exchange for the money they committed at the seed stage. As a result, startup valuation may be a genuine deal maker or breaker, which is why there is no guessing involved in determining the value of a company based on the price of other comparable companies.

There are a variety of variables that affect the outcome of the startup valuation, the most important of which are as follows:

Pre-valuation Revenues

Revenues are unquestionably essential for every business; they make it simpler for investors to determine the value of the firm. As a result, if a product has already reached the market and is producing money, it can influence an investor’s judgment in favor of the company. It may even serve as a deal-closing factor.

Distribution Channel

During the early phases of any company, it is quite probable that the product or service will also be in the early stages of development. As a result, entrepreneurs must exercise caution when selecting the distribution channel that will be utilized, as this will directly affect the company’s value.

The Industry

Investing in a company that is part of a thriving industry is likely to result in higher returns for investors. This indicates that it is critical to choose the appropriate industry since doing so will enhance the value of a company organization.

Valuate your company

The value of a startup is not always straightforward. Many subtleties go into them, and they’re predictable on components that aren’t seen in other marketplaces. However, simply having a better strategy can enhance your company’s values and assist you in building a more vital organization.

Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

The post How Startup Valuations are Driving Company Equity appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/how-startup-valuations-are-driving-company-equity/

The Role of Crypto in the Fintech Industry and the Wider Economy

Over the past couple of years, modern society has witnessed the increasing prevalence and adoption of Blockchain technology. However, for the Padawans out there who think of the Blockchain as a network of nano-bots ready to overtake humanity, the Blockchain is basically just a set of code that records events, and each record is unalterable.

These resources could be anything from storage space to a ledger of peer-to-peer cryptographic transactions without the need for a financial institution acting as the middle man.

The Fintech Connection

But where does the Fintech connection arise? In an industry (read: Fintech) that relies so heavily on calculations and analysis, Blockchain is a critical driver of efficiencies and effectiveness.

Though still in its infancy, when it comes to adoption by centralized financial institutions, the revolution of Fintech is up and roaring as users worldwide are increasingly opting for Blockchain-powered cryptocurrency transactions to optimize their payment and transaction processes.

The Robust IT Infrastructure of Technology

With the rapid evolution of information technology over the last couple of decades, our world now has a robust IT infrastructure that spans all countries and continents, making it possible to leverage high-speed internet to facilitate and optimize financial processes.

Fintech companies can now narrow their line of sight and focus on their mission of delivering competitive and efficient financial services faster and more securely to their customers, all thanks to Blockchain tech and decentralized Cryptocurrencies.

What Crypto Brings to the Table for Fintech

Cryptocurrencies haven’t yet reached mainstream consumer acceptance. However, they are fast becoming an integral part of the financial ecosystem.

Cryptocurrencies seem to be the perfect alternative for countries that do not have a stable currency (e.g., El Salvador, also known as Bitcoin City).

In such countries, crypto can prove to be an immense asset — but crypto can be an asset worldwide.

However, given the speculative nature of crypto, relying too heavily on its value instead of fiat money (a legal tender utilized by governments) could prove to be an issue.

While several governments are banning or at least regulating the utilization of cryptocurrencies, the widespread adoption of crypto could make traditional banks obsolete and even cause a loss of faith in the concerned nation’s paper money.

Cryptocurrencies offer far-reaching value to Fintech institutions

That being said, cryptocurrencies offer far-reaching value to Fintech institutions. Let’s dive into analyzing all that crypto can offer the Fintech industry.

1. Helps in Unlocking New Markets

According to Kaspersky, Cryptocurrency, sometimes called cryptocurrency or crypto, is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions.

The average bank customer may not understand crypto and might be apprehensive of investing in cryptocurrencies because of a lack of information. This mistrust towards cryptocurrencies is primarily visible in developing countries with a reasonably stable national currency.

As mentioned earlier, cryptocurrencies enjoy widespread adoption in countries with unstable currencies. An example is the Bolivar, Venezuela’s currency. When it experienced massive devaluation, Vunezuelan’s moved towards cryptocurrencies that were a much more reliable option.

The FinTech Industry Massive Growth

The FinTech industry has shown significant growth over the last few years and is set to grow to $158 million by 2023, and crypto transactions for a substantial part of this figure.

Another sphere where cryptocurrencies can open doors to financial and Fintech services is the target group of people who own a smartphone yet does not have bank accounts.

This ‘unbanked’ group is about 1 billion strong, offering a vast market for crypto-powered Fintech services to roll out products and services which were until now unavailable for these consumers.

2. Efficient Money Transfer

Transaction approval in traditional financial institutions is excruciatingly slow. There are multiple levels of bureaucracy that the transaction needs to be approved by. This process becomes even more convoluted and tiresome when it comes to transferring funds across borders or between organizations.

Traditional money transfers are riddled with inefficiencies and delays making crypto transactions a far more appealing choice.

Cryptocurrencies are built on a decentralized ledger. They can be moved around a lot faster than a traditional currency that needs to pass through financial institutions on both ends. The removal of a middleman, in this case, middlemen, dramatically reduces the cost of such transactions.

Convenience, speed, and transparency are foundational to Fintech innovation, and cryptocurrency can offer transactions that match these aspects.

3. Reduced Risk of Fraudulent Activity

Fintechs are market disruptors, but they still face legacy financial institution issues like identity theft, fraud, money laundering, etc. Dealing with such problems is challenging and highly time-resource intensive.

Since cryptocurrencies are built on decentralized ledgers, verifying transaction records becomes easier. Blockchain tech is very secure. Given that documents on the Blockchain cannot be manipulated or removed, preventing fraudulent activity becomes a lot easier for Fintechs.

Fintech innovation has become a force to be reckoned with in the financial sector. Over the recent past, financial products and services have metamorphosed into pro-Fintech solutions while offering customers several appealing alternatives to traditional banking products and services.

“Regulation is probably one of the biggest overhangs in the crypto industry globally,” says Jeffrey Wang, head of the Americas at Amber Group, a Canada-based crypto finance firm.”
~Time

4. The Blockchain as Storage

When powered by Blockchain service administrations, data management systems display a significant positive impact. However, supporting in-house/traditional Data management capabilities can be costly.

By outsourcing these services to a Blockchain partner, Fintech companies can enjoy reduced costs in purchasing, installing, maintaining, and upgrading the required IT infrastructure for their on-premise servers.

The Blockchain offers Fintech institutions to secure their data assets more effectively and securely than the traditional route of owning every resource required.

Even while examining the cybersecurity aspects of the company’s data, the decentralized nature of the Blockchain is the safer option given the rigid protocols they implement and the measures they take to remain secure.

In the coming decade, cryptocurrency is set to play a significant role in formulating Fintech services and products to open doors to new markets and offer unmatched efficiency and know your customer regulations in crypto exchanges.

With quick and easy payments, innovative services and products, and inclusivity to the ‘unbanked’ populace, the crypto ecosystem is fast becoming a high-value financial market.

The Crypto Ecosystem—What are the Risks?

As with everything else, on the flip side of the advantages and opportunities of cryptocurrencies come significant risks and challenges.

As of September 2021, the value of crypto assets in the world has surpassed 2 trillion. This is a 10X increase in roughly a year. Furthermore, the entire crypto ecosystem thrives with various services and products like wallets, exchanges, miners, and stablecoin users.

1. Operational Inefficiency-

Unfortunately, most of these entities lack the required governance and risk mitigation practices.

The operational activities of these crypto organizations are mostly sub-optimal, and the cracks in their security structure become even more evident in times of market turbulence. Troubled times can bring many crypto assets experiencing massive fluctuations in value.

2. Hacking Risks

The threat of hacking is genuine in the crypto ecosystem. However, while high-profile cases like Mt.Gox and Allinvain are examples of the vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies, the risk involved hasn’t yet reached a level that could impact financial stability.

However, as the adoption of cryptocurrencies grows, the potential implications of such hacks in the broader economy could become far-reaching. In addition, because of inadequate/limited disclosure, consumer protection risks increase.

Over 16000 tokens were listed on various exchanges, and today only 9000 remain. 7000 Tokens have disappeared, resulting in a considerable loss of customer assets. Many tokens were created either for pure speculation or direct fraud.

3. Utilization of Assets

Given that holders of crypto assets remain anonymous, the resulting data gaps can facilitate illegal activities like terrorist funding, money laundering, and the purchase of illegal substances and items, to name some.

The Blockchain allows authorities to trace such transactions; however, the perpetrators go scot-free given that each country has its own regulatory frameworks allowing perps substantial wiggle-room.

Most transactions on crypto exchanges occur through offshore financial centers making supervision and law enforcement, a tough task that demands no less than international collaboration (something every forward-thinking being has wanted since time immemorial)

4. The Emergence of Stablecoins

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that aim to set their value against a popular currency, in most cases the US dollar. As a result, the volume of Stablecoins is growing rapidly.

IT is notable; however, the term ‘stablecoin’ can be applied to a diverse range of crypto assets, and the term can be very misleading.

Depending on their reserves, stablecoins are subject to bull runs that could adversely affect the financial system. These runs could be driven by investor concerns regarding the authenticity of the coin’s reserves or the liquidation speed for potential customer redemptions.

The Challenges Ahead

It isn’t possible to accurately measure the adoption of crypto assets. However, surveys suggest that emerging economies lead countries to adopt cryptocurrencies. Over the past year, there has been a significant upsurge in crypto exchange trading volumes in developing countries like India.

1. Cryptoization

In the future, if opt-ins for crypto-assets continue to increase, it could reinforce cryptoization (akin to dollarization) in the global economy. This would reduce the ability of centralized financial institutions to implement monetary policy.

Over-adoption could affect financial stability by enhancing solvency risks that may arise from currency mismatches in addition to the risks of consumer protection mentioned earlier.

2. Threat to Fiscal Policy

The threat to fiscal policy could also increase, given that the crypto-assets can facilitate tax evasion.

The profit a government makes from printing money versus its actual value (seigniorage) will also decline. In addition, increased demand for crypto assets could lead to capital outflows that could subsequently affect the foreign exchange market, jeopardizing the country’s economy.

3. Energy-Usage

Currently, the vast majority of crypto mining is based out of China. However, domestic energy usage levels could witness a significant spike once these activities migrate to other developing economies and emerging markets.

Countries that rely on CO2 intensive energy or governments that subsidize energy costs could be adversely affected given the massive amount of resources crypto mining demands.

What Can be Done- Policies and Actionable Points

1. Supervision and Law enforcement

Supervisors and regulatory authorities must monitor every development in the crypto ecosystem. Any data gaps should be immediately tackled and bridged.

Given that crypto is a global phenomenon, governments and policymakers should be ready to work across borders to minimize the risk of regulatory arbitrage and place adequate supervision and enforcement systems on crypto exchanges.

2. Standardization

The implementation of global standards is a necessity. While most laws implemented by national regulators currently include only money laundering and bank proposal exposures, other aspects such as the regulation of securities, payments, and settlement payouts should also be focal points of attention.

As the prevalence of stablecoins grows, proportionate regulations counteract the risk they pose to economic functionality. In short, the rules applied to traditional financial institutions should also be used for crypto entities that offer similar products.

3. Strengthening Macroeconomic Policy

The risk of cryptoization is real. Weak central bank credibility, flawed banking systems, ineffective payment systems, and limited access to financial services are major contributing factors.

Respective authorities need to strengthen their macroeconomic policy and consider the benefits that a CBDC (central bank digital currency) can offer, e.g., improved payment technologies, and decreased cryptoization.

Policymakers need to build faster, cheaper, more secure, inclusive, and transparent cross-border payments by leveraging the G20 Cross Border Payments Roadmap methodologies.

The clock is ticking, and the need of the hour is decisive action, swift and well-orchestrated global strategy so that the benefits of crypto flow out while its vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Summary

The guidance and regulatory requirements demanded by digital assets are still insufficient, resulting in financial institutions becoming wary of crypto as a concept. However, while security and stability concerns hold back banks from entering the crypto space, Fintech companies have long since hitched a ride on the crypto caravan.

While traditional financial institutions are still discussing whether they should take the plunge, they should instead be preparing themselves to accept crypto as the world’s latest and hottest Fintech trend.

The Crypto ecosystem does have the potential for criminal activity. However, it does not make sense to ignore the power of this technology just because there are entities with malicious intent present.

The vast potential of economic growth that Crypto offers should be considered. However, instead of throwing the concept away, policymakers need to build standardized compliance guidelines to help traditional banks join the brigade.

Where Will the Mindset Change?

There needs to be a shift in the mindset of traditional financial institutions that view crypto as a threat instead of a partner. Para banking and Fintech initially faced scrutiny but now, barely a couple of years later, these industries are thriving contributors to the global economy.

The Enhanced role of banks in the crypto sphere

The need of the hour is an enhanced role of banks in the crypto sphere. Their presence will add assurance, security, and gravitas to the unregulated environment of crypto (one of its greatest drawbacks).

By adopting cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech, financial institutions can streamline their processes and take banking to its next evolutionary standpoint in terms of innovation and efficiency.

Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

The post The Role of Crypto in the Fintech Industry and the Wider Economy appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/the-role-of-crypto-in-the-fintech-industry-and-the-wider-economy/

Friday 28 January 2022

How to Analyze Competitor Website Traffic with .Trends

Where does your competitors’ traffic come from? How successful are they in engaging the target audience? Are they affected by the main marketing trends? In Semrush’s Traffic Analytics you’ll find estimates of competitors’ traffic channels, geographic distribution, visitor behavior and more.

from Semrush blog https://www.semrush.com/blog/analyzing-competitors-traffic

You’ll Love the OKAI NEON Scooter

Everyone who knows me knows I love scooters. Enter my newest baby, the OKAI NEON Scooter. You want to be seen, right? You can be seen on this lighted scooter, so you can safely ride it at night. The NEON has a beautiful strip of light on the front vertical bar and a glowing strip of light along under the base.

Also, it fits with my bro-borrow-regulations because OKAI products are sturdy and well built so, I dare let someone borrow it.

NEON scooter, well lit

I’m not big on jumping too much, but I occasionally like a little lift on curved curbs — but the salient point is that you can maneuver pretty well on this piece.

You can ride the scooter to the office and easily fold and carry it up the stairs — it’s a classy little number.

OKAI scooter light enough to carry

You pair your scooter with your phone and receive a confirmation from the light bars when you’re ready to go — lights up when you lock, unlock, charge, and when you have a full charge. There are no questions — you can see what’s happening, even from a distance.

OKAI Neon smooth ride

From the pic above, you can see the specs on the tires, and it truly is a pleasure to ride — especially when I have to get to work, and I don’t want to be jostled all over the place.

The Neon is water-resistant with very little (if any) slipping on the road or sidewalk. I’ve ridden in the rain when man nor beast shouldn’t be outside — and I got home just fine.

It felt like if I’m on a motorcycle in the rain — of course, you don’t like riding in the rain, you get wet — but you can make it safely to your destination, and the scooter works great in the wet and cold.

I usually ride the sidewalk at night on a busy street, but with the Neon — you can be seen well on the street with the front light, undercarriage light, and because it has a bright taillight too.

Forget the Uber, take the scooter

The OKAI Neon scooter is so light to carry and faster than being stuck in traffic. I have a 240W power bank I can carry in my backpack — so, especially if your meeting is only a few miles away, I often say: “Forgot the Uber, take the scooter.”

Hop on and ride — no issues, no problems — you’ll love it.

The post You’ll Love the OKAI NEON Scooter appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/youll-love-the-okai-neon-scooter/

Thursday 27 January 2022

Targeting Competitor Keywords: My Favorite 3 Lower-Cost Alternatives

Targeting competitors’ keywords with Google As is effective but can get expensive. Which is why I recently shared a few ways you can target your competitors on Google Ads without using Search. These suggestions stayed within Google Ads, so in this post, I want to talk about other less expensive ways you can reach your competitors’ audience without using Google. We’ll be focusing on paid social instead. These include:

Quora ads by topic or interest

LinkedIn Member Groups

Twitter follower Look-alikes

3 less expensive ways to target competitors on paid social

For this post, I’m going to pretend I have a client that is a CRM brand. If I am looking to target competitor keywords on Google Search, let’s take a look at the prices I may have to pay for these keywords in the United States.

$7.17 all the way up to $69.61

Now let’s see if we can find less expensive, yet still effective, ways to target similar users. I acknowledge these aren’t going to be apples to apples comparisons in audience targets. I also acknowledge the user intent for search ads is different than with social media ads, but we can still get in front of a relevant audience that has shown interest in your competitors.

1. Quora ads topics or interests

Quora is a question and answer site that offers a variety of ways to target its users. The most specific form of targeting with Quora ads (but also the lowest volume) would be to target individual questions. If you only want your ad to show on a very specific question, you can do that.

If people are researching which CRM is the best, or in the example above what are the faults of certain CRMs, you can place your ad on that question to showcase why your product is the better option. But as I stated above, question targeting is not going to have a lot of volume, which is why I recommend targeting Topics or Interests first.

Quora question targeting is not going to have a lot of volume, which is why I recommend targeting Topics or Interests first.

All questions in Quora are categorized under Topics. If you target a Topic, your ad could appear on any question within that Topic, while a user is currently on the page. Interests use the same targeting options as Topics, the difference being that it will target people who have interacted with the questions or answers of a Topic at some point in the recent past.

In this case, I can find my competitors as Topics on Quora. What you can’t see in the image is that these five Topics have 200,000 to 300,000 weekly impressions. Pretty good volume. Now what is the recommended bid for these Topics?

$0.24 – $1.28. Even at the high end of the bid range, the amount is far less than what we’d have to pay for those above keywords on Google. I am pretty sure you can find a few areas in your accounts where ad spend is being wasted and bring it over to Quora to test.

>>Use our Free Google Ads Grader or Free Facebook Ads Grader to find wasted spend.

2. LinkedIn Member Groups

LinkedIn ads have a reputation of being expensive, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. There are several targeting options that are less expensive than the popular Job Title or Company match targets. I love to use Member Groups to find users who are interested in my services, or in this case, my competitors’ services.

In our example for this post, some member groups I could target are those for Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, Agile, and Zendesk:

These were just some of the Member Groups I could target. But targeting users who like to participate in active discussions about a product could be a pretty relevant audience. I will admit if users are dedicated to a particular product, they might be harder to convince to switch, so it’s worthwhile to visit each group and see what people are discussing. If you’re noticing complaints or pain points, or see that you can offer features better than what everyone is talking about, you may want to target these groups.

Now what is the cost for the Member Groups I picked above?

$12.65 – $27.87 with a recommendation of $17.24. If I choose manual bidding, the lowest bid I can use is $4.45— much lower than Google Search. Even if I use the bid recommendations from similar advertisers, it’s lower than Google Search. Another avenue I may want to test if I’m not getting the performance I want from competitor Search campaigns.

Individuals in groups dedicated to product users will be hard to convert, so visit the group first to see if there are complaints or pain points you can capitalize on.

3. Twitter follower look-alikes

I will be the first to admit this is not as direct of a targeting option as my other examples, but it can work. In Twitter ads, you cannot target the followers of other accounts on Twitter, but what you can do is advertise to people who have similar behaviors as an account’s followers. How does Twitter determine a person fits within the look-alike?

Here’s what Twitter states: “We determine users similar to those who follow accounts based on a variety of signals, including what they Retweet, click on, Tweet, and more.”

When creating your ad group, head down to Targeting Features. You should easily see the Follower look-alikes section. Start typing in each of your competitor’s Twitter handles and select each one.

Twitter is going to recommend targeting at least thirty accounts for follower look-alikes. Take that with a grain of salt. I recommend only choosing specific accounts that fit your target audience no matter how many that is. Now let’s look at the costs.

$0.70 – $3.80. This ad group didn’t have any additional layers added to the targeting. We can see the bid suggestions are, once again, much lower than Google. While the targeting option is definitely not as relevant as keyword targets, you still can use your competitors’ brand recognition to try and reach a relevant audience.

Twitter recommends targeting at least thirty accounts for follower look-alikes, but I recommend only choosing specific accounts that fit your target audience no matter how many that is.

We have more options than targeting competitor keywords

Yes, users typing in keywords on a search engine like Google or Bing will have a deeper intent, but people visit many more websites than search engines. Paid social platforms can offer effective and much more affordable options when trying to use competitors in your targeting. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I am pretty sure every account can find areas to pause or clean up. Use this new ad spend to test out different strategies in other channels. The results may surprise you.

The post Targeting Competitor Keywords: My Favorite 3 Lower-Cost Alternatives appeared first on WordStream.

source https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2022/01/26/target-competitors-paid-social

Wednesday 26 January 2022

Beyond Speed: the Promising Implications of 5G for the Logistics Industry

Global 5G adoption is set to hit 1 billion this year, with connections rapidly growing over the past few months. For the stakeholders in the logistics industry, 5G technology represents a fresh hope to bury the long-lasting challenges that the industry has endured. However, 5G has a lot more to offer than just lower latencies and faster speeds.

There’s no question that 5G will significantly affect the logistics industry, but it’s a matter of what that effect is. There’s reason to believe that 5G will make the logistics industry safer, and more efficient.

The scope of possibility for the logistics industry is vast; 5G in logistics can enable better decision-making, risk mitigation, and autonomous shipping. All these lay the ground for even further advancements, ultimately revolutionizing how we do logistics today. As the new digitized supply chains define how we do business, the logistics aspect must reinvent itself to meet modern demands.

Minimize Supply Chain Risks

With its high level of complexity in the logistics industry, innovative technologies can make a significant difference. This is especially true for supply chain visibility, one of the top concerns for logistics professionals today as they battle the perennial challenge of ensuring safe and secure transportation of goods.

The COVID-19 has exacerbated this problem, as only 6% of companies now report complete supply chain visibility.

Providing more bandwidth and higher speeds, 5G networks will make it much easier for people and companies worldwide to track their shipments and monitor their inventory in real-time using IoT devices.

With so much information available about the location, condition, and status of every parcel or shipment at any given time, logistics companies can provide detailed updates on delivery progress and deal with customer queries faster and more effectively.

On its part, 5G will provide the network foundation that makes IoT work more efficiently. By 2026, the 5G IoT market is expected to be valued at a massive $40 billion.

The high bandwidth, low latency, low-energy requirements of 5G networks mean that more connected devices can be supported in better ways than before. In general, 5G will make it possible to track several parameters at once and allow for more accessible and more cost-efficient solutions.

Autonomous Trucks

Trucking is one of the most important aspects of shipping. As of 2019, road freight transport (mainly by trucks) amounted to over 75% of inland freight transport. 5G is set to revolutionize how road freight is done, marking the shift from labor-intensive processes to a lean and efficient operation.

The advent of autonomous trucks on public roads will be a game-changer for the logistics industry. It will significantly reduce transit times, human resources, and vehicle costs, resulting in significant cost savings for businesses. It will mainly be a massive boost for companies transporting heavy-duty goods, ensuring cheap car shipping and large machines.

However, fully autonomous trucks that require are still some way off regular use. In addition, a lot of work needs to be done on safety before they can be used on public roads. Nevertheless, it’s clear that 5G will be an essential part of this development because it can provide the extremely low latency required for autonomous vehicles to make split-second decisions.

Predictive Decision-Making

Predictive decision-making is critical in logistics, where decisions are often based on imperfect information about the present and future conditions. For example, a predictive solution might suggest that delivery routes should be adjusted to minimize travel time or that goods should be delivered earlier to avoid potential supply chain disruptions caused by weather or other factors.

Since data analytics is a crucial enabler of 5G adoption, as the amount of data generated increases, we expect 5G networks to help us make better decisions through faster access to more information.

Applied to the logistics industry, 5G will allow for more connected devices and sensors to be used in predictive decision-making within logistics. This will improve inventory management, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.

The advanced 5G technology would enhance recording data from sensors placed on vehicles or containers, including traffic congestion, weather conditions, temperature, humidity levels, and various shipping conditions. This data can then be used with geolocation information to predict issues that might affect transport routes.

Conclusion

The multitude of advantages associated with 5G and the prospect of higher bandwidths will open up technologies in the Internet of Things, autonomous driving, data analytics, and more. And since it’s only just getting started, the real question is how to make the most of 5Gs potential.

With all the promises 5G has in store, there’s no doubt that it could be a dream come true for logistics companies globally as its adoption expands.

5G will bring new and unique business opportunities to logistics companies and improve collaboration between suppliers and customers.

Image Credit: Provided by Author; from ADMC from Pixabay; Thank you!

The post Beyond Speed: the Promising Implications of 5G for the Logistics Industry appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/beyond-speed-the-promising-implications-of-5g-for-the-logistics-industry/

[Research] The Top Marketing Keywords for Agencies in 2022

Which digital marketing keywords should your agency target this year? Find out in our in-depth list, broken down by service, industry, and type.

from Semrush blog https://www.semrush.com/blog/marketing-keywords

Need a Creativity Boost? Spend Some Time With The Creative Show

Go behind the scenes with one of the hosts of CMI’s The Creative Show. As it readies for season two’s debut this week, revisit the first 10 episodes with content takeaways, fun facts, and more. Continue reading →

source https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/creative-show-creativity-inspiration

Tuesday 25 January 2022

How Facebook Event Marketing Can Expand Your Customer Base

Marketing your company event to expand your reach can be overwhelming. Effectively contacting a prospective customer base can be complicated and building notoriety of your event can be laborious. So, how do you ensure the success of your company event?

Event Marketing Can Expand Your Customer Base

Any professional would tell you to turn to social media to get the word out, and they would not be wrong, as it is inherently a marketing and networking concept. Creating a Facebook event is a feature that many businesses are turning to for its simplicity and extraordinary promotional abilities. Despite the effortless setup, there remain uncertainties of actual attendees.

Below are a few pointers on what you can do with the Facebook event feature to gain maximum visibility, make new contacts, and ultimately expand your customer base.

How to create Facebook Event for Invitations

Invitations on Facebook

After creating your Facebook event, you’ll need to carefully craft your guest list. As a host, you can only invite your friends from your own personal Facebook account, not your business.

Be careful not to invite your whole friends’ list — this can not only seem insincere or even like spam, but you also can end up inviting people who aren’t considered your target audience for your customer base.

So, hopefully, you have been using your social media account to network professionally as well as personally.

Appeal to Your Larger Audience

To appeal to an even larger audience, consider involving a co-host for their resources and to invite their friends, who then, in turn, can invite their friends — and so on. It is important to note that the guests you invite can tag or invite their friends, as this presents an opportunity to create a large RSVP list — increasing your company’s visibility.

Promotional Incentives

Since guests can invite and notify their friends of your event, it would help to give some incentive for doing so. Announce a company discount for attendees who invite one of their Facebook friends. Or, increasingly greater deals for the more friends they invite.

Anything you can do to get a potential customer to climb the RSVP pole from “not going” to “interested” to “going.”

Incentivise Your Event

Many people say they’re going, but you want them to actually attend the event. One way to get potential customers to your event is to give the promotional incentives out at your event.

If your promotional efforts stop after you’ve gotten them to click “going” to your event, you’re only halfway there. Updates on things such as promotional efforts, change of location, and general customer inquiries that need to be addressed.

Customer Engagement

Your Facebook event has a wall, just like a regular Facebook page.

Your marketing and networking instinct should tell you this is a great way to start or engage in discussion with all your potential customers. This is a great place to announce promotional incentives, contests, and winners.

As potential customers, it’s important to accommodate them in any way, including pointing to your event via additional social media platforms, as there are different trends and content for different platforms.

Facebook Will Remind Interested People

If you set up an event, and invite attendees, Facebook will remind the people who clicked “interested” or “going,” however, it’s easy to forget about these reminders.

An active event wall will steadily inform your invitees by popping up in their news feed or notifications page with relevant updates or discussions, prompting them to check in on the activities while noticing the date of your event frequently.

Create B2B Networking through Facebook Event Marketing

B2B Networking

If you have a business-to-business customer base, the above networking techniques are still very applicable. Your list of invited should include professionals in your industry or similar industries.

Any business professional you reach out to, even if they don’t attend your event, will know of your business and you’ll be on their radar. And when your event is a success, they’ll hear of that as well.

Co-host or sponsor the event with another business.

Another way to network is to co-host or sponsor the event with another business. This is a terrific way to demonstrate your company’s value to a potential customer, as well as gain a new customer base with the people your co-sponsor invites.

It’s not only a way to lessen some of the promotional and networking efforts, but it’s also a highly effective way to be seen by an audience you otherwise may not have targeted.

Social media, when used correctly and through a marketing and networking lens, is arguably the most valuable tool in expanding your customer base.

Creating a Facebook event while keeping the information above in mind, will maximize your reach, secure more attendees, and sustain your visibility to a wide customer base.

Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

The post How Facebook Event Marketing Can Expand Your Customer Base appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/2022/01/24/how-facebook-event-marketing-can-expand-your-customer-base/

Digital Trust and Safety on Fintech Platform

The financial technology or Fintech market is expanding with new, innovative businesses improving banking and financial services like never before. According to the Market Data Forecast, by the year 2026, the fintech market will reach a market value of $324 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 23.41%.

As the industry continues to grow steadily, the fraudsters are also evolving at the same speed, making it difficult for financial institutions to implement the best tools and protect their company and customers.

Digital Trust and Safety on Fintech Platform

Due to the financial institutions not implementing tools quickly, customers remain skeptical.

As reported in the BIS survey of May 2021, US households state they trust traditional banking institutions more than Fintech to protect their data. Hence, it becomes essential for the FinTech industry to bridge the trust gap and secure people’s data.

Trust: FinTech’s Undeniable Asset

Thinking of Fintech, technologies like Big data, digital ID, and open banking are the first things that come to mind. These tools facilitate new opportunities for digital transformation in the financial sector. But getting people to try out the products designed using these innovations in Fintech requires their trust.

Besides, the trust gap can occur at any level in the digital banking ecosystem, i.e., between users and platform, platform and sectors, or sectors and tech providers. However, and as from the stat mentioned above, it is clear that consumers trust traditional banking more than fintech institutions, making it essential to approach Fintech solutions holistically.

Designing Your Solution in Fintech

Before designing a solution for your Fintech business, you must understand whether the user experience you are offering resonates with people on a rational and emotional level. If the fintech product you provide is meaningful, then how you ensure credibility and functionality, added by your technology partner, will signal trust.

To merge trust into Fintech products, each stage of product development, such as user experience, critical feature development, business analysis, etc., should have a trusted foundation.

Risks in Fintech for Consumers

There are many dangers for customers in the fintech industry. These dangers can be broadly be divided into compromised data security, and the use of non-transparent data to both regulators and consumers.

Undeniable is the loss of privacy, rising fraud and scam risks, discriminatory uses of data analytics, and consumer behavior manipulation.

These situations risk entering the financial regulatory space with bare minimum operational knowledge.

Fintech Development Trends that You Must Know About

One of the significant risks for consumers will be privacy and data security loss.

The loss of privacy and data security are intertwined and lead to different concerns based on the data that is being accessed and how sensitive the information is.

Banks are already at the risk of data breaches due to siloed IT systems.

The growth of these activities created the phase of “Crime as a Service” that playoff technology built based on SaaS.

Talking about risks in Fintech, apart from cyber-insecurity, some vulnerable consumers have also encountered fraud and scam risks. And the rate of online scams and fraud is increasing day by day and creating fake identities online—currently, fake I.Ds are much easier to do online than build your own real-life identity.

So what are the ways to gain consumers’ trust while providing safety on fintech platforms? Let’s find out.

Ways to Achieve Trust and Safety on Fintech Platform

Despite being the center of cyber criminals’ attention, the fintech industry has strongly opposed it. With the help of the new tools and technologies, Fintech organizations are working towards creating trustworthy foundations for their customers and indulging safety on the platform.

AI Fraud Detection

Artificial Intelligence or AI is a broad range branch of information technology that aims to build smart machines to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence.

For example, in the Fintech industry, AI collects data, analyzes information, secures and facilitates transactions.

The comprehensive purpose of uses that AI has includes customer support, credit risk assessment, decision making, and most importantly, fraud detection.

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AI and ML systems analyze customer and business data to help the Fintech industry flag vulnerabilities and rank client risks.

As AI can analyze a large volume of transactions, it can be used to reject or flag transactions altogether for further investigation. In addition, an ML model can be used to predict behavior at a granular level across all aspects of a transaction to predict any fraudulent activity.

That’s why FinTech leaders like Visa are advancing towards AI and machine learning strategies to foresee and control financial frauds.

Smarter Cybersecurity

Failing to prioritize cybersecurity within the Fintech space can create critical risks. To build more robust cybersecurity, Fintech organizations should know their assets and implement a layered security strategy so that if one protocol fails, it doesn’t affect other protocols.

To achieve this, one can leverage cloud solutions, multi-factor authentications, and IAM (Identity and Access Management).

Blockchain

Blockchain is a digitally decentralized and distributed ledger that exists across a network. It is a series of immutable blocks. Blockchain distributes transactions across different blocks or nodes that cannot be altered.

Any unauthorized access will change the hash links and create a mismatch between the nodes, making the Blockchain highly secured. Blockchain protects the data of a fintech organization and offers an additional bonus for them.

The decentralized nature of blockchain networks eliminates the costly, unnecessary workflows and processes. Needless to say, Blockchain can restrain data breaches or any other fraudulent activities from reducing fraud and cyber-attacks in fintech services.

Regtech

Regtech or Regulatory Technology helps financial institutions to comply with regulatory requirements effectively. It relies on AI and ML to automate routine tasks like fraud and risk management, regulations reframing, real-time reporting, data analytics, and decision making.

This technology aims to ensure that Fintech remains compliant with the regulations. Regtech works by automating regulatory changes, monitoring transactions, generating reports, and sending alerts to the compliance staff about potentially fraudulent transactions.

Some of the critical characteristics of RegTech are speed, agility, integration, and analytics.

SASE

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a network architecture that converts SD-WAN into cloud service. Put simply, SASE combines the pros of software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) with security to deliver them as a facility.

For fintech organizations, SASE simplifies authentication, increases scalability, supports zero-trust networking, security convergence, and simplified management.

In short, using SASE in the fintech industry can increase the security of their cloud-based infrastructure application and prevent unauthorized access or abuse of the customer’s sensitive data.

Testing

Another important factor while developing fintech applications is testing throughout the development cycle.

To test the application security, you will need to build a security testing team that can come up with realistic scenarios of data breaches or other scams and improve the application’s security.

The fintech security testing team will also run penetration tests to detect the potential vulnerabilities and perform a security audit to detect flaws, verify the effectiveness of security measures, and evaluate regulatory compliance.

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Final Thoughts

Fintech can be made safer by keeping an eye on circumstances driving its adoption, breaking free from outdated security transactions that don’t fit its current direction, and taking a new approach to data security by being transparent.

If we learn suitable lessons, commerce, trust, and the digital economy will be even more resilient and trustworthy.

Analyzing user behavior to defeat fraud for Fintech or similar platforms becomes essential for the service in a crowded market. Therefore, it should be stated as transparently as possible for customers’ awareness and consideration.

The Challenges of a Fintech Industrialist

To overcome the challenges of Fintech industrialists, you can use security trends like Machine Learning and AI for faster fraud detection. In addition, use Blockchain to keep data transparent yet secured.

Don’t forget IoT for smarter cybersecurity to develop safe and reliable Fintech products and solutions.

Only after integrating these technologies for security will the Fintech industry show its true potential across the marketplace and win the trust of its customers.

The post Digital Trust and Safety on Fintech Platform appeared first on ReadWrite.

source https://readwrite.com/2022/01/24/digital-trust-and-safety-on-fintech-platform/

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