jerry, Author at Real To Web Website

建设自己的在线商店，到底要选择Shopify还是Woocommerce？

jerry — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 19:54:48 +0000

如今，您可以使用许多平台来建立在线商店。最受欢迎的两个选项是WooCommerce和Shopify，显而易见是因为两者都包含了很多功能。实际上，在它们之间进行选择本身也是一个挑战。

在本文中，我们将在WooCommerce与Shopify这场辩论中给您提供一些可以参考的观点。我们将从易用性，成本，可定制性和安全性方面对这两种平台进行比较，以帮助您选择最适合自己的平台。

让我们开始吧！

选择电子商务平台的时候什么是您需要关注的

电子商务平台的核心是为您提供创建产品页面和处理付款所需的基本工具。从技术上讲，这是建立在线商店所需的最低要求。但是，实际上，如果您希望商店取得成功，那么您将需要使用更多的功能。

让我们分解一下您在可靠的电子商务平台中应注意的一些功能：

支持多个在线支付方法。
产品分类管理和搜索功能。
深入的可定制性。
第三方服务可集成度。
强大的安全性。

除此以外还有很多事情要仔细考虑，但是好消息是您有很多不错的选择。 Shopify和WooCommerce是我们最喜欢的两个，在接下来的部分中，您将了解为什么会这样。首先，让我们先简要介绍这两个平台，然后再探讨它们的特殊之处。好的，在我们深入比较之前，我们先简要介绍一下两个平台的功能。

WooCommerce

当涉及到WordPress插件时，很少有其他平台像WooCommerce那样雄心勃勃。这个开源系统将WordPress转变为功能完善的电子商务平台。

借助WooCommerce，您可以销售数字虚拟产品或者实际产品。您还可以配合其他常规的WordPress主题和插件一起使用，这意味着WooCommerce是几乎可以无限地自定义。

Shopify

Shopify是一个出色的电子商务平台，具有直观的拖放式商店构建器，您可以访问多个现代主题。平台提供与100多个付款网关的集成，因此您将永远不会缺少处理付款的方法。 Shopify商店还包括内置分析，这对于增加商店规模而言是无价的。

与WooCommerce不同，Shopify是一个托管平台，这意味着您需要注册该平台才能使用它。 Shopify的计划每月起价为29美元。

WooCommerce vs Shopify：功能逐一比较

我们不可能只用在一个文章中来讨论使这两个电子商务平台各自的优点。考虑到这一点，我们决定从五个角度进行比较。首先，让我们谈谈两个平台各自建立一个在线商店的过程。

1. 设置一个简单的在线商店

您可以同时使用WooCommerce和Shopify来设置复杂的电子商务操作。但是，在本节中，我们仅根据建立基本在线商店的简单程度来判断它们。

使用Shopify，您需要先注册一个帐户，然后才能执行其他任何操作。好消息是该平台可提供14天的免费试用，无需信用卡。这意味着您可以在提交平台之前对其进行彻底的测试。

准备好您的帐户后，Shopify将为您建立一个基本商店。这将应用默认主题，如下所示：

从‘Online Store在线商店’ >‘Themes Tab >主题选项页‘以切换到新主题：

找到喜欢的主题后，您可以使用前面提到的拖放编辑器来自定义主题。当您认为商店已经是你想要的样式后，您可以从“产品”标签开始添加产品：

添加产品这里有一个简单的编辑器，用来编辑产品的标题和描述等。您可以设置产品图片，分类，价格和配送方式等。

产品发布后，就会立即显示在您的首页上。此时，您还需要先配置付款设置，然后商店才能准备就绪。但是，在购买网店套餐并输入信用卡信息之前，Shopify不允许您执行此操作。

这太糟糕了，但是它应该使您了解到如果使用Shopify来搭建在线商店是非常简单的一个事情。实际上，添加一些项目和自定义主页不会花费您几个小时的时间。（必要条件是如果您是对电脑操作很精通，有一些基本的网站概念）

让我们来看一下WooCommerce。如果要使用woocommerce，您首先在网站服务器上安装wordpress程序。然后开安装WooCommerce，按照提示一步一步进行。我们建议您执行此操作，因为该向导涵盖了商店的所有基本配置。请记住，可用的步骤和选项会根据商店的位置而略有不同，因此以下示例可能会与您看到的实际情况有所不同。

首先，安装向导将要求您输入有关商店的一些基本信息。这包括其所在地，您要使用的货币以及要销售的产品类型：

接下来，您将可以选择要使用的付款处理器。 WooCommerce开箱即用，默认支持Stripe和PayPal，但您以后可以添加任意支付方式：

接下来，WooCommerce将询问您计划的配送区域以及要使用的度量单位：

最后，该插件将为您显示推荐设置的列表，您可以使用这些设置来更快地进行商店搭建。例如，它可以为您设置免费的Storefront主题，自动化商店的收税方式，并与MailChimp集成： with MailChimp:

我们希望尽快准备好商店，因此我们启用了所有三个选项。现在，您的商店已经准备就绪，可以通过单击“创建产品”按钮来选择添加第一个产品：

通过使用标准WordPress编辑器再添加一些附加设置即可完成产品的添加。总体而言，Shopify和WooCommerce之间的产品创建体验非常相似：

准备好第一个产品后，您的商店基本上就可以开业了。同样，您也需要配置付款选项，您可以从WooCommerce>设置>付款标签中进行操作：

总体而言，这两个平台都使建立新商店变得非常容易。借助Shopify的内置网站编辑器，您可以更轻松地自定义商店的外观。您还可以使用插件和主题来获得类似的功能，但是这需要采取一些额外的步骤。

2. 计算建立在线商店的成本

接下来，我们将讨论要使商店同时在两个平台上运行所需的预算。使用Shopify，您可以使用免费试用版来建立自己的商店，但仍需要激活它才能开始处理付款。正如我们前面提到的，Shopify的计划从每月29美元起，可以使用该平台的基本功能：

请记住，您还需要购买一个域名，该域名通常每年的费用约为10-50美元。 Shopify的某些应用程序也是按需付费的，因此，如果您打算添加一项特定功能，则可能需要事先仔细了解一下还需要花多少钱。

最后，必须要注意的是，Shopify会根据您使用的支付方式的不同，从您的所有的销售额里抽取一定比例的手续费。百分比本身不高，但是随着时间的推移它们会加起来：

至于WooCommerce，您还需要支付服务器租赁费用。但是，在大多数情况下，小型在线商店应在良好的共享主机或虚拟专用服务器（VPS）下都可以表现良好。最多，您应该可以在$ 5-15/月的价格区间里找到一个足够好用的服务器。同样，您还需要购买一个域名，因此要再增加10美元左右的价格。

当涉及扩展时，WooCommerce提供了大量免费选项。当然，也有很多好用的付费选项可供选择：

总体而言，在开设新商店的成本方面，Shopify和WooCommerce都相似。但是，如果您处理得当，则可以不到15美元的价格开设WooCommerce商店。另外，您无需为所进行的任何销售支付费用。这可以使WooCommerce成为更便宜的选择。

3.定制开发您的商店

在定制商店时，WooCommerce和Shopify都为您提供了很多选择。使用Shopify，您可以访问一个简单的拖放编辑器，该编辑器非常方便您使用：

您还可以从数百个主题中进行选择，因此创建具有视觉吸引力的商店非常简单：

WooCommerce在可定制性方面也不懈怠。尽管它没有立即提供的网站构建工具，但某些主题为您提供了类似的选择。

如果您需要更多选项，则可以访问成千上万的主题和扩展，可以用于自定义WooCommerce商店的各个方面。

尽管更改Shopify商店的样式很容易，但WooCommerce却在数量上轻松取胜。考虑到WordPress的通用性，很少（如果有的话）有其他平台可以与它提供的所有可定制性选项竞争。

4. 让您的商店更安全

使用Shopify的一大优点是您不必过多的担心安全性。多年来，他们在安全性问题上花了很多钱，而且他们确保用户不必担心违规行为。话虽如此，如果您不遵守商店的良好安全规范（例如使用唯一的用户名和密码），那么世界上的所有功能都将无法保证其安全。

而WooCommerce对安全性的处理方式有所不同。如果您选择好的主机，您的网络主机将提供一些基本的安全功能。但是，如果您真的想保护WordPress网站，则必须自己处理问题。

由于WordPress是一个开放源代码平台，因此您可以使用它执行几乎任何您想做的事情。如果有时间，您可以使用手动调整和免费插件将您的商店变成Fort Knox的在线商店。

Shopify开箱即用，可提供更安全的体验。但是，它不能让您使用高级安全设置。如果您希望完全控制这些内容，则可能需要使用WooCommerce。

结论

当为您的在线商店选择平台时，WooCommerce和Shopify都是出色的平台。您应该使用哪一种在很大程度上取决于商店的要求以及您希望对其设置进行多少控制。

如果您想建立一个简单的在线商店，则可以更轻松地开始使用Shopify，甚至不必寻找托管服务。但是，WooCommerce提供了更多的可定制性和扩展开发的能力。毕竟，该平台是建立在WordPress之上的，几乎从小型到中大型的任何类型的商店。

The post 建设自己的在线商店，到底要选择Shopify还是Woocommerce？ appeared first on Real To Web Website.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Who Should Be Using Each Platform

jerry — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 02:31:26 +0000

There are a lot of platforms you can use to set up an online store nowadays. Two of the most popular options are WooCommerce and Shopify, and it’s easy to see why since they both pack so many features. In fact, choosing between them can be a challenge in itself.

In this article, we’re going to give you our two cents on the WooCommerce vs Shopify debate. We’ll compare both platforms on ease of use, cost, customizability, and security to help you pick the best one for your needs.

Let’s get to it!

What to Look For in an eCommerce Platform

At its core, an eCommerce platform needs to provide you with the basic tools you need to create product pages and process payments. Technically, this is the bare minimum you need to set up an online store. However, in practice, you’ll want to access more functionality than that if you want your store to be a success.

Let’s break down some of the features you should look out for in a solid eCommerce platform:

Support for multiple payment processors.
Product taxonomies and a search feature.
In-depth customizability.
Third-party service integrations.
Robust security.

That’s a lot to keep in mind, but the good news is that you have plenty of excellent options to choose from. Shopify and WooCommerce are two of our favorites, and throughout the next sections, you’ll come to see why that is. First off, let’s introduce both platforms briefly before we dig into what makes them special.

WooCommerce

When it comes to WordPress plugins, few of them are as ambitious as WooCommerce. This open-source plugin transforms WordPress into a full-featured eCommerce platform.

With WooCommerce, you can sell both digital and physical products. You can also use regular WordPress themes and plugins alongside it, which means the platform is almost endlessly customizable.

Shopify

Shopify is a fantastic eCommerce platform that features an intuitive drag-and-drop store builder, and you get access to several modern themes. On top of that, the platform also provides integration with over 100 payment gateways, so you’ll never be lacking ways to process payments. Shopify stores also include built-in analytics, which can be invaluable when it comes to growing your store.

Unlike WooCommerce, Shopify is a hosted platform, which means that you’ll need to sign up to the platform to use it. Shopify’s plans start at $29 per month.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: A Head-to-Head Comparison

It would be impossible to discuss what makes both these eCommerce platforms such great choices in a single section. With that in mind, we decided to compare them from five angles. First off, let’s talk about the process of setting up a store with each of them.

1. Setting Up a Simple Store

You can use both WooCommerce and Shopify to set up complex eCommerce operations. However, for this section, we’ll judge them solely on how simple it is to set up a basic online store.

With Shopify, you need to sign up for an account before you can do anything else. The good news is the platform offers a 14-day free trial which doesn’t require a credit card. That means you can test the platform thoroughly before committing to it.

Once your account is ready, Shopify will set up a basic store for you. This will apply the default theme, which looks like this:

Go ahead and switch to a new theme from the Online Store > Themes tab:

Once you find a theme you like, you can customize it using the drag-and-drop editor we mentioned earlier. When you get your store looking the way you want, you can start adding products from the Products tab:

When you go to add a product, you’ll see a simple editor that enables you to set a title and description. You can also upload product images and categorize the item from this screen, on top of setting a price and configuring its shipping options:

As soon as you publish your product, it’ll show up on your homepage. At this point, you’ll also need to configure your payment settings before your store is ready. However, Shopify doesn’t enable you to do this until you purchase a plan and enter your credit card information.

That’s too bad, but it should give you an idea of how simple it is to set up an online store with Shopify is pretty straightforward. In fact, adding a few items and customizing your homepage shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours.

Let’s move on to WooCommerce. If you want to use the plugin, you’ll first need to have a WordPress site ready to go on your web host of choice. As soon as you install WooCommerce, the plugin will prompt you to complete a setup wizard. We recommend you do this since the wizard covers all your store’s basic configuration. Bear in mind that the steps and options available will vary slightly depending on your store’s location, so the following example may be somewhat different from what you’ll see.

First off, the wizard will ask you to enter some basic information about your store. This includes where it’s based, what currency you want to use, and what type of products you want to sell:

Next up, you’ll be able to choose which payment processor to use. Out of the box, WooCommerce supports both Stripe and PayPal, but you can add more options later:

In the following section, WooCommerce will ask you what areas you plan on shipping to, and which measurement units you want to use:

Finally, the plugin will show you a list of recommended settings you can use to get your first store up faster. For example, it can set you up with free Storefront theme, automate the way your store collects taxes, and integrate with MailChimp:

We want to get our store ready ASAP, so we enabled all three options. Your store will now be ready, and you’ll be given the option to add your first product by clicking on the Create a product button:

Adding products is done using the standard WordPress editor, with a few extra settings. Overall, the product-creation experience is very similar between Shopify and WooCommerce:

After your first product is ready, your store is basically good to go. You’ll still need to configure your payment options, though, which you can do from the WooCommerce > Settings > Payments tab:

Overall, both platforms make it pretty easy to set up a new store. Shopify does enable you to customize your store’s aspect more easily, though, thanks to its built-in website editor. You can also get similar functionality using plugins and themes, but it takes a couple of extra steps.

2. Calculating the Cost of Opening Your Store

Next up, we’re going to talk about what type of budget you need to get a store running with both platforms. With Shopify, you can use your free trial to build your store, but you’ll still need to activate it before you can start processing payments. As we mentioned earlier, Shopify’s plans start at $29 per month with access to the platform’s basic features:

Keep in mind, you’ll also need to purchase a domain, which usually costs around $10-50 per year. Some of Shopify’s apps are also pay-to-play, so if there’s a particular feature you intend on adding, you’ll probably want to browse the store beforehand to see how much it’ll cost you.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Shopify will take a percentage of all your sales depending on what payment processors you use. The percentages themselves are low, but they can add up over time:

As for WooCommerce, you’ll also need to pay for hosting for your site. However, in most cases, a small online store should perform nicely with a good shared hosting plan or a Virtual Private Server (VPS). At most, you should be looking at anywhere between $5-15 for hosting. Likewise, you’ll also need to purchase a domain, so add another $10 or so to that price.

When it comes to extensions, WooCommerce offers plenty of free options. However, the paid options can be rather expensive:

Overall, both Shopify and WooCommerce are similar when it comes to the cost of setting up a new store. However, if you play your cards right, you can set up a WooCommerce store for less than $15. Plus, you won’t need to pay a fee for any of the sales you make. This can make WooCommerce the cheaper alternative.

3. Customizing Your Store

Both WooCommerce and Shopify provide you with plenty of options when it comes to customizing your store. With Shopify, you get access to a simple drag-and-drop editor that’s a walk in the park to use:

You also get hundreds of themes to choose from, so creating a visually appealing store is pretty straightforward:

WooCommerce is no slouch when it comes to customizability either. Although it doesn’t include a website-builder tool right out of the box, some themes provide you with similar options.

If you want more options, you have access to thousands of themes and extensions you can use to customize every aspect of your WooCommerce store.

Although changing the style of your Shopify store is easier, WooCommerce takes the cake in this aspect due to sheer numbers. Given WordPress’ popularity, few (if any) other platforms can compete with all the customizability options it offers.

4. Making Your Store Secure

One of the great things about using Shopify is you don’t have to worry much about security. They’ve paid a lot of money in security bounties over the years, and they make sure users don’t have to worry about breaches. That being said, if you don’t follow good security practices for your store – such as using a unique username and password – all the features in the world won’t keep it safe.

WooCommerce, on the other hand, approaches security differently. Your web host will provide some basic security features if you chose a good one. However, if you really want to protect your WordPress website, you have to take matters into your own hands.

Since WordPress is an open-source platform, you can do pretty much anything you want with it. If you have the time, you can turn your store into the online equivalent of Fort Knox, all using manual tweaks and free plugins.

Shopify provides a more secure experience out of the box. However, it doesn’t enable you to play around with advanced security settings. If you want full control over those, then you’ll likely want to use WooCommerce.

Conclusion

When it comes to picking a platform for your online store, both WooCommerce and Shopify are excellent platforms. Which you should use depends largely on your store’s requirements and how much control you want over its settings.

If you’re looking to set up a simple online store, it can be easier to get started with Shopify, and you won’t even have to look for hosting. However, WooCommerce offers a lot more customizability. After all, the platform is built on top of WordPress, and it’s a good fit for almost any kind of store.

The post WooCommerce vs Shopify: Who Should Be Using Each Platform appeared first on Real To Web Website.

30 Customer Service Books Everyone at Your Company Should Read

jerry — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 22:23:09 +0000

Every person at a company should have customer service as a priority, whether they’re the CEO or a front-line support agent. We’ve collected 30 of the best customer service books, some that take a broad look at various aspects and others that drill down into niche topics. You’ll learn plenty while you’re on-the-job, but books pack in years of experience, research and real-life examples you can only get from a seasoned pro.

1. The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer (and Employee) Experience Authored by Shep Hyken

The Amazement Revolution is filled with actionable advice you can start applying as you read it. Strategies that will help you improve customer happiness and increase loyalty include:

Building a community
Offering appealing membership awards
Treating customers as partners

Instead of focusing on one-off “wow” moments, Hyken guides you to create a company culture that consistently provides value.

Price: $9.99 (Kindle) | More Information

2. Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers

Sivers is the founder of CDBaby, a company that sort of did the impossible. They helped little-known musicians sell their music at a time when enormous music stores put big record labels front-and-center. In Anything You Want, Sivers talks about how he built his company and won customers by focusing on stellar customer service.

Price: $10.99 (Kindle) | More Information

3. The Art of Explanation: Making Your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand by Lee LeFever

If you feel that your customers aren’t quite grasping something about your product or service, you may be explaining it wrong. In The Art of Explanation, LeFever explains how to explain, which is something that every customer support agent should be able to do. Instead of thinking there’s something wrong with the product or service itself, consider that you may have an explanation problem.

Price: $15.19 (Kindle) | More Information

4. Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service by Theodore Kinni

Love it or hate it, Disney is a leader when it comes to customer service. In Be Our Guest, Kinni shares the strategies that Disney cast members (the in-store and in-park employees) are expected to use. The techniques can be adapted for traditional types of support, like chat and email. The book also talks about how creating a great employee experience leads to a better customer experience.

Price: $11.99 (Kindle) | More Information

5. Customer Experience 3.0: High-Profit Strategies in the Age of Techno Service by John A. Goodman

Goodman developed the GE Answer Center, considered the first customer satisfaction contact center. In his book, Goodman talks about the best way to collect data and how to let it guide new product features or business strategies. He also explains how to improve your customer support strategy instead of being content with the status quo.

Price: $12.99 (Kindle) | More Information

6. The Best Service is No Service: How to Liberate Your Customers from Customer Service, Keep Them Happy, and Control Costs by Bill Price and David Jaffe

Price and Jaffe walk you step-by-step through setting up self-service, covering options like community support, documentation and forums. They also help you decide if self-service is right for your company. They talk about “bad contact,” meaning the conversations that aren’t valuable for either you or the customer. You’ll focus your support where it will make the most impact.

Price: $15.99 (Kindle) | More Information

7. The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience For Your Brand by Sarah Hatter

This curated book is a collection of articles and essays penned by professionals in the startup world. There isn’t one specific customer service focus, making it a good starter book for an all-around education. Topics range from hiring the best support team to whether or not you should say, “I’m sorry,” to an angry customer.

Price: $8 (Kindle) | More Information

8. Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It, How to Keep It by Jill Griffin

Griffin goes through the customer experience and shows how you can promote loyalty in each stage. For example, first-time buyers can become repeat customers, and you can also reduce churn by holding on to longtime customers. Instead of assuming there’s magical customer service pixie dust, Griffin says to focus on fundamentals to make customers stay.

Price: $10.20 (Kindle) | More Information

9. Customer Obsessed: A Whole Company Approach to Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences by Eric Berridge

Customer Obsessed may be best read by your company’s decision-makers. It suggests that competitive customer support starts at the top and becomes a company-wide effort. Berridge also discusses when you do and don’t need to try new technology, and how to determine where to improve your customer support to beat competitors.

Price: $13 (Kindle) | More Information

10. Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back, and Tell Everyone They Know by Jeffrey Gitomer

Like others on this list, this book also discusses customer loyalty and why it may be more important than customer satisfaction. What’s most useful, though, is the evaluation test that lets you appraise your customer service strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t know what you need to know, you may want to start with this book.

Price: $9.99 (Kindle) | More Information

11. Customer Success: How Innovative Companies are Reducing Churn and Growing Revenue by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman and Lincoln Murphy

This book is aimed at SaaS businesses, but any type of business can benefit from the ideas in it. The authors circle back to customer loyalty a lot. They discuss the difference between customer attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, i.e., choosing a brand because they love it vs. choosing a brand because there’s no other choice.

Price: $14.99 (Kindle) | More Information

12. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh

The CEO of Zappos discusses his very-outside-the-box ways of creating a company culture and how that leads to happier customers. For example, when he knows a new employee won’t work out, he’s paid them to quit. He doesn’t just throw his radical choices out there but instead turns them into bite-sized steps you can follow and apply.

Price: $11.99 (Kindle) | More Information

13. The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi

In The Effortless Experience, Dixon shows how big companies use tiny “surprise and delight” moments to improve their Net Promoter Score (NPS), which assesses customer loyalty. He also talks about ways that companies – of all sizes and budgets – can reduce customer effort and create the same kind of delightful moments.

Price: $13.99 (Kindle) | More Information

14. Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon

It seems that a lot of customer service experts agree about the importance of customer loyalty, and this book is another in the category. In Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit, the authors show you how to provide service that’s so phenomenal that customers won’t have a choice but to be loyal. They give real-world examples of how their suggestions have worked.

Price: $10.99 (Kindle) | More Information

15. Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

Abraham suggests thinking beyond basic customer support to become a customer advisor. He feels that companies have a lot more potential than they take advantage of. After spotting the so-far-ignored assets, opportunities and resources within your reach, you’ll apply your discoveries to customer service, with the goals of multiplying your influence and income.

Price: $12.99 (Kindle) | More Information

16. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Carnegie’s famous book is like a bible for connecting with people, and everyone should read it, whether they have a hand in customer support or not. In terms of the customer service realm, the book will show you how people are influenced and motivated. You’ll learn how you can position yourself to make them happy and, in effect, get what you want.

Price: $12.99 (Kindle) | More Information

17. Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customer by Jay Baer

While traditional customer service techniques are still relevant, Hug Your Haters ventures into the modern world of support: messaging apps and social media. Businesses with an online presence (i.e., all businesses today) are exposed to negativity and criticism. There’s a savvy way to handle the haters and trolls, as well as the usually-pleasant-but-now-dissatisfied customer.

Price: $13.99 (Kindle) | More Information

18. The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value This book is authored by Frederick F. Reichheld

In The Loyalty Effect, Reichheld talks about different aspects of customer loyalty, including:

Loyal customers are less expensive to serve than non-loyal customers.
They’re willing to pay higher prices because of how satisfied they are with your brand or product.
They’re highly valuable as word-of-mouth marketers.

Reichheld is one of the people who created the NPS, making him a longtime customer support expert.

Price: $15.10 (paperback) | More Information

19. Managing the Customer Experience: Turning Customers Into Advocates by Shaun Smith and Joe Wheeler

While this book is also about customer loyalty, it zeroes in on how loyal customers become brand advocates. It also shows what it’s like from the customer’s point of view. The authors give examples of companies that have found ways to bond with customers and utilize them as strong brand advocates.

Price: $23.72 (hardcover) | More Information

20. May I Have Your Attention, Please? Your Guide to Business Writing That Charms, Captivates and Converts by Mish Slade

Customer support agents have to write a lot when offering chat, email or social media support. Slade talks about all sorts of business writing, including the micro-copy businesses have to create for short-form outlets, like live chat, social media, etc. The book discusses how to concisely and clearly respond to customer concerns.

Price: $5.99 (Kindle) | More Information

21. The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph A. Michelli

The New Gold Standard goes into revolutionary techniques for empowering agents and satisfying customers, based on the Ritz-Carlton’s methods and principles. For example, the company gives employees a $2,000 daily allowance that they can use to improve the customer experience. The book also talks about defining and refining the customer experience specifically for your company.

Price: $15.12 (Kindle) | More Information

22. The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence: Creating a Values-Driven Service Culture by Robert Spector and Breanne O. Reeves

Nordstrom is one of the country’s leading department stores. Since they’ve been around for more than a century, it stands to reason that their customer service is superb. In this book, the authors talk about how Nordstrom creates a winning employee experience to drive the customer experience, proving that you have to start from within the company.

Price: $9.99 (Kindle) | More Information

23. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

While not a straightforward customer service (or even business-focused) book, Nudge goes deep into the psychology behind choices and how people think when making a decision. For any professional who has to influence decisions, this book explains how to present choices correctly and gently push people toward the best one.

Price: $9.99 (Kindle) | More Information

24. The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz

The Paradox of Choice is an excellent book to read along with Nudge, as it goes more into how people make choices. More importantly, it talks about how more choices aren’t necessarily better, and how you may be turning your customers off – and harming your business – by presenting too many options.

Price: $12.49 (Kindle) | More Information

25. The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary by Joseph A. Michelli

In The Starbucks Experience, Michelli shows how the company took an inexpensive product – coffee – and figured out how to sell it for a lot more than people were used to paying. The book talks about how Starbucks influences customer service from all sides – listening to employees, customizing the customer experience and reaching out to the community.

Price: $14.53 (Kindle) | More Information

26. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

This book is aimed at company leaders, showing them how to inspire the rest of the team by focusing on the driving “why” behind the brand. When everyone understands the greater purpose, it’s easier to act accordingly. That trickles down to all team members, including customer support agents. Moreover, anyone who works directly with customers will find it easier to discover their “why,” too, and to cater to that purpose.

Price: $12.99 (Kindle) | More Information

27. Strategic Customer Service: Managing the Customer Experience to Increase Positive Word of Mouth, Build Loyalty, and Maximize Profits by John A. Goodman

In Strategic Customer Service, Goodman talks about turning lemons into lemonade. By considering complaints and negative feedback, improved practices and better customer service can emerge. Ultimately, Goodman believes that companies can create a customer experience roadmap that gets it right the first time, but only by learning from mistakes they’ve already made (and a few you can avoid, thanks to this book).

Price: $14.99 (Kindle) | More Information

28. The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

Vaynerchuk is a major influencer in the marketing world, and he often pushes the idea of one-to-one marketing. In The Thank You Economy, he covers ideas like:

Listening to the customer
Asking for more information
Offering resources that are simple to use

Vaynerchuk believes that every company should care more about genuinely caring than the ROI.

Price: $10.49 (Kindle) | More Information

29. Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Uncommon Service takes an interesting approach: the authors suggest not focusing on certain areas so that other areas can get more attention. You’ll discover where your energy should be directed, as well as the areas where you should let your business fail. The end goal is to cater to your customers, no matter what you have to neglect to get that done.

Price: $21.08 (Kindle) | More Information

30. What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint by Nicholas J. Webb

What Customers Crave is another book that talks specifically about the customer experience. Instead of taking a bird’s eye view, Webb suggests looking at every single touchpoint and figuring out how to improve it. Also, he covers how to collect customer insight to determine exactly how to maximize each touchpoint. Go above and beyond instead of simply satisfying customers.

Price: $12.99 (Kindle) | More Information

Featured Image via blockberry / shutterstock.com

The post 30 Customer Service Books Everyone at Your Company Should Read appeared first on Real To Web Website.

Vanity Phone Numbers: Everything You Need to Know for Your Website or Business

jerry — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 20:20:21 +0000

Vanity phone numbers are easy for customers to remember, which also makes them better for brands to promote. Examples of toll-free vanity phone numbers are 1-800-CONTACTS and 1-800-FLOWERS. For the customer, there’s little guesswork because the wording relates so closely to the brand or product. Also, both of these 800 numbers have websites with the same name: 1800contacts.com and 1800flowers.com. For these businesses, the vanity phone number has also served as an easy-to-recall URL. There are also vanity phone numbers that may not spell anything but that are catchy because of the sequence of numbers. For example, 1-800-123-4567 or 1-800-222-3333.

How Do Business Phone Numbers Work?

Business phone service usually runs over the internet. This is called VoIP, which stands for “voice over internet protocol.” This type of phone service is less expensive than if the business used a traditional landline. Also, it comes with tools like call monitoring and analysis, call redirection and customized greetings. So long as you have an internet-connected device, like a smartphone or a laptop, you can use VoIP. Then, you can have calls forwarded to a landline or a mobile phone.

Toll-free numbers have certain dialing codes. The 800 number is probably the most well-known, but there’s also 888, 833, etc. When a customer dials a toll-free number, they won’t be charged for the call. Vanity phone numbers are often toll-free numbers, and it’s more cost-effective to buy a toll-free vanity number than a local vanity number. Toll-free numbers cannot be hoarded, traded or resold. While you’ll probably pay a fee charged by the phone service provider, the toll-free vanity number itself won’t cost a premium. Also, note that you can’t sell a toll-free number, so don’t buy one with the hopes of reselling it.

6 Services That Supply Vanity Phone Numbers

It doesn’t cost a lot of money to buy a vanity phone number, and you don’t need a ton of technical experience or specialty equipment to get set up with one. The main question is whether or not the vanity phone number you want is available. Vanity phone numbers are first come, first served – if the number isn’t available, it doesn’t matter which service you use (similar to buying a domain name).

Several companies provide vanity phone numbers, plus other call management features. Here’s what these services typically offer, though features will vary between providers and plan tiers:

Personalized vanity phone number (and local and toll-free numbers)
Extensions for different departments and/or employees, plus a name directory
Custom brand greeting that callers will hear, plus on-hold music
Professional caller ID for when you make outbound calls
Easy call routing to other extensions or departments
Business texting and video conferencing
CRM integration and reporting features

Let’s get into a few of the best business phone services out there.

1. AirCall

AirCall is a top choice vanity phone number provider if you have a sales team or run a call center. Features include call queuing and unlimited domestic calls, and you can set up vanity phone numbers without paying an extra fee. AirCall also has a click-to-dial feature, which lets your employees auto-call a phone number. And with the call whisper feature, supervisors listen in on active calls and coach employees in real-time.

AirCall is pricier than the other options on this list. The Essentials package, the least expensive option, is $30 per user per month. The Professional package is $50 per user per month, and it comes with advanced sales features, like integration with Salesforce and live call monitoring. Both plans let you choose vanity phone numbers.

2. eVoice

There’s one standout feature of eVoice that separates it from the rest: you can hire a live receptionist. If you feel it’s important to your business that a real person always answer the phone, eVoice will be your top choice. They have vanity phone numbers, too, but you’ll have to contact the company to claim yours and to find out the add-on charge. Use the search feature of another provider to see what’s available first so that you know what to ask for.

Monthly plans start at $12.99 per month with a 30-day free trial. You’ll only get 300 minutes per month with this plan, though, so you may want to upgrade to the Standard plan, which is $29.99 per month and comes with 1,000 minutes. Live receptionist plans start at $129.95 per month. Every plan includes standard features like call forwarding, call screening and custom greetings.

3. Grasshopper

Grasshopper provides virtual phone numbers for businesses, and they have local, toll-free and vanity phone numbers. Their search feature is helpful because even if the number you want isn’t available, they’ll show you alternatives:

There are two types of plans to pick from, and both come with a business number (which can be a vanity number). The regular Grasshopper plan is for businesses that need a virtual phone system and related features, like call forwarding, texting and voicemail transcription. There’s also Grasshopper Connect, which comes with additional ways to connect with clients, like Gmail integration and unified messaging to manage all communication in one place.

Once you’ve chosen your plan and signed up, you’ll use the desktop and mobile apps to manage phone calls. If you conduct business and normal life from the same smartphone every day, the app helps keep business and personal communication separate. That functionality makes Grasshopper a great choice for freelancers and other types of solo workers who don’t want to juggle devices and whose personal and work lives often overlap.

4. Phone.com

Phone.com lets businesses buy local, toll-free and vanity phone numbers. Plans with Phone.com have a monthly call minute limit, which makes it best for businesses that don’t expect a ton of phone communication. Other services have unlimited calling, so if you receive a high volume of phone calls, a different service may be best for you.

Phone.com’s search function is helpful because you can enter part of a word, or a number or pattern, and see what’s available. You can also set your desired price range and see how much a specific vanity phone number will cost (this fee is in addition to the plan you choose). Toll-free numbers are a lot less expensive than local phone numbers. Compare the “daycare” to “dog” numbers below:

Once you’ve chosen a number, Phone.com reserves it for one hour. At that point, you’ll pick your plan. The Base plan is $12.99 per month and comes with 300 minutes and 5,000 messages. The Plus plan is $19.99 per month and comes with 500 minutes and 10,000 messages, and the Pro plan is $39.99 per month and comes with 1,000 minutes and 20,000 messages. There are also plans with unlimited minutes, and prices start at $29.99 per month.

5. RingBoost

With RingBoost, you can buy vanity phone numbers, both local and toll-free, without having to pay for advanced phone services. Enter your keyword and get a selection of available phone numbers. Here are the toll-free results for “coffee”:

Their local search function is the most helpful of any service on this list. Enter your area code and click “Search” to find a list of available vanity phone numbers for your area. They represent all sorts of industries, like cleaners, exterminators, therapy, roofing, etc. When you click on a phone number, you’ll be brought to a page to fill out a contact form and inquire about the cost of the phone number.

Once you’ve purchased your vanity phone number, you can set it up to forward to your business phone. When you buy a toll-free vanity number, you’ll get a certain amount of free minutes per month. If you need more, you can buy one of their “minute packages,” which start at $12.99 for 100 minutes.

6. RingCentral

RingCentral is primarily for small businesses that need a local, toll-free or vanity phone number. A basic RingCentral plan with phone support costs $19.99 per month. There’s a one-time charge of $30 to set up a vanity phone number, followed by a $4.99 charge each month to continue using that number. If you have 100 or more users, you’ll have to sign up for the Standard plan or higher, starting at $24.99.

To get started, you’ll select your main business phone number. Enter the number you’re interested in to find out if it’s available. The asterisks are wild cards, which means that you can let RingCentral pick whatever toll-free prefix is available. I was able to get 1-833-333-LINS:

Using Click-to-Call Vanity Phone Numbers on Your Website

If you have a WordPress website, you can use a plugin to add a click-to-call button after purchasing your vanity phone number. With WP Call Button, you’ll install and activate the plugin, enter your number, customize the button’s appearance and choose where to display it.

WP Call Button has two types of call buttons. There’s a sticky call button, which means it’ll stay visible by moving as the user scrolls up and down your website. There’s also a static call button that will stay in the same place and not move. Customers can use the call button whether they’re on a computer or a mobile phone, and you can also opt to have it only display on mobile devices.

There are a few other click-to-call button plugins for WordPress (some for mobile-only), like the Really Simple Click To Call Bar, Call Now Button and Smart Floating Action Buttons.

If you don’t have a WordPress website and need to add a click-to-call button using HTML, it’s not too difficult. Once you’ve decided where you want the clickable phone number, you’ll use the following HTML. I’ve used the number 8 as placeholders, but you’ll use the actual phone number format.

The first digit will be your country code. In the U.S., that’s “1,” so your number would be formatted +18888888888. You can replace “Click here to call us” with whatever text you want – you may even want to use just the phone number.

How to Encourage More Calls to Vanity Phone Numbers

If your goal is to convert website visitors into calling customers, you can maximize the clickable phone number. Here are a few best practices:

Put the click-to-call number at the top of every web page so that customers can find it wherever they are.
Add the click-to-call number in the footer of your website, too. Visitors will often scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find your contact information.
Include the number in your lead magnets. If people are interested enough to give you their email address, they may be ready to call you, too.
Put a click-to-call number in your exit pop-up. If a potential customer is leaving your site because they didn’t find an answer to a question, this may salvage the relationship.

Not sure what’s working and what’s not? Use a bit of A/B testing. For example, see if different button colors encourage more calls. Or, see if placement makes a difference – do people call more if the number is on the top-left of the page instead of the top-right?

Wrapping Up

All types of businesses can benefit from vanity phone numbers. Big companies that handle a ton of incoming calls should look for rich features, CRM integration and reporting tools. Small businesses and companies with just one person at the helm may need fewer bells and whistles. They may even find that a vanity phone number with call forwarding suits their needs, no extra services required.

Before you sign up for a service, make sure the vanity phone number you want is available. RingBoost has the best search function on this list, whether you want a local or toll-free number. When adding your phone number to your website, make sure it’s clickable from any device. Place it anywhere a customer may look for it or wherever it’s likely to encourage a call.

Explore this topic even more by checking out our article Telephone Links: How to Add “Call-able” Links and CTAs to Your Website.

The post Vanity Phone Numbers: Everything You Need to Know for Your Website or Business appeared first on Real To Web Website.

How to Easily Change the Author in WordPress

jerry — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 15:48:15 +0000

There are a number of times when you may want to change the author of a WordPress post. For example, if you have a ghostwriter (or several), the original author won’t be the person who you want a post published under. If you have a content hub with a lot of writers, the content is (probably) owned by the publication, not the individual authors, which gives the publication free rein to publish a piece under any author they wish. Or, you may want to change the author of a piece if the writer leaves the publication, changes their name or decides to publish under a pen name.

You may even want pieces to have no author, which gives the impression of a cohesive site where the content, not the author, is front-and-center. Minimalist websites remove any and all clutter, including the author’s name. (All of these situations are acceptable and normal, by the way, and quality publications will explain authorship to writers when they start working together.)

It’s simpler than simple to change a WordPress author – this may be the easiest WordPress tutorial you’ll ever read. But even though the process is easy, WordPress doesn’t make it obvious – it’s not the kind of thing a lot of WordPress users quickly find or figure out on their own.

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There are a few methods for changing the author of a WordPress post. We’ll go through all of them. First, though, let’s quickly cover how to add a new author to WordPress and get their account up-to-speed.

Adding a New Author to WordPress

You can only change the WordPress author of an article if that user has already been added to your WordPress account. Note that in order to add a new user, you have to have Administrator access. Here’s how to add a user:

Login to WordPress
Click “Users” in the left sidebar
Click “Add New” on the “Users” page
Fill in the required info and click “Add New User”

Once you have all of your authors added to WordPress, you can easily set authorship per post.

Editing User Settings

Your authors are a reflection of your website and content, and you may want to flex a little bit of control over how they’re displayed and portrayed. To edit a user in WordPress, click “Users” in the left sidebar, then hover over the user and click “Edit” underneath.

You have a lot of options here:

Generate a new password for the user
Disable the visual editor so that the author can only write in the text editor
Change the headers and descriptions on author and archive pages, and enable/disable the author box in their archive and on posts
Update the user’s role, first and last names, nickname and display name

Insider Tip: If you don’t see any author attribution on live posts, go back to the user settings page and make sure you’ve checked both “Author Box” options. (P.S. This is only an insider tip because I made this mistake myself.)

Updating the Author’s Display Name

I briefly went over this in the list above, but let’s flesh it out. There are many circumstances when you’ll want to update an author’s display name. Maybe you want their full name displayed instead of their username, or they’ve legally changed their name and now want that shown on their posts. An author may also want to use a pen name or for their name to be written in the exact same way as on other sites where they’re published.

Changing the display name is super easy, and changes are made in user settings, not on posts (you’ll need to be an Administrator to do this). Go to Users in the left sidebar, then click “Edit” under the user’s name. Scroll down to the “Name” section and make your changes. Then, click the “Display name publicly as” dropdown and make your choice:

When you’re finished, click “Update Profile” on the bottom of the page. All posts will be changed to reflect the new display name.

Updating the Author’s Slug

When you go to an author’s archive page, the “slug” is the name given to the author that shows up in the URL. My WordPress username is Lindsay Pietroluongo, so the slug comes out like lindsay-pietroluongo:

If you want to change the WordPress author slug, you don’t have to change your username. Instead, use the Edit Author Slug plugin.

After installing and activating the plugin, go to your user settings. Scroll down until you see the “Edit Author Slug” section. You have a few options, including creating a custom slug, which is what I used below.

Anytime you change permalink structure, you should set up redirects. We have an article about how to do that.

Changing Your Username

Even though this article is about changing or removing the author of WordPress posts, I want to quickly touch on what it takes to change your actual WordPress username, which is “unchangeable,” at least in native WordPress. There are a couple of convoluted ways to do it, like editing your website’s database or creating a new account, transferring ownership and then deleting your old account. However, the simplest way to change your username is to use a plugin like Easy Username Updater (or something similar).

Changing the Author to Another User in Block Editor

Now that you have your authors added, here’s how to change the author to another user in the block editor:

Click “Posts” and then “All Posts”
Choose the post you want to change the author of and click “Edit”
Click “Document” in the right sidebar
Find “Author” under “Status and Visibility”
Open the dropdown menu to change the author
Click “Update” to confirm the change

Changing the Author to Another User in Classic Editor

Here’s how to change the author to another user in the classic editor:

Click the “Screen Options” button on the top-right of the page
Check the “Author” checkbox
Scroll down – you’ll see the “Author” dropdown box below the post
Change the author and click “Update”

Changing the Author Using Quick Edit

Whether you’re using the block editor or the classic editor, you can also change the author using “Quick Edit.”

Click “Posts” in the left sidebar
Hover over the article you want to update
Choose “Quick Edit” under the title
Change the author in the “Author” dropdown menu

Changing the Author for Posts in Bulk

If you have to change the author of multiple posts, like if a contributor leaves your site and you want to reassign the articles to another author, you can make the change in bulk instead of going into the individual posts.

Click “Posts” and then “All Posts”
Select the posts you want to change (or hit “Title” to select them all)
Click the “Bulk Actions” dropdown menu and select “Edit,” then hit “Apply”
A window will open with several options, including the author dropdown
Click “Update” on the bottom-right of the window when you’re finished

You can only assign one new author to the articles you’re editing, so if you need to change several posts to reflect several different authors, you’ll have to bulk edit a few different times.

Insider Tip: Can’t get that editing window to show up? I had a very difficult time with this at first, because I couldn’t get the editing window with the author dropdown to show. Apparently, some plugins will accidentally deactivate the bulk edit options. I deactivated my plugins one at a time until I found the culprit (it was the Genesis Title Toggle plugin). Deactivate the plugin, make your changes in the bulk editor, then reactivate the plugin. The bulk changes won’t revert once you reactivate it.

Hiding Authors on WordPress Posts

There are a few reasons why you may want to leave authors off your WordPress posts – minimalism, a greater focus on the content or to clear clutter if you’re always the one and only author. Here’s how to hide an author from a WordPress post:

Option 1: Disable Each User’s Author Box

If you don’t have many contributors, the easiest strategy is to go into each user’s settings and uncheck the “Author Box” options. Here’s what a post looks like with and without the author box enabled:

Option 2: Edit the CSS

If you have a ton of users and you don’t want to go into each of their settings, you can hide authors on posts by editing the CSS. The process for this will vary based on your theme, though. We have a video about how to add code to hide authors and, if that doesn’t work, how to find the code that you should remove. If you still can’t get it to work, though, you’ll have to contact the theme creator for more specific directions.

Option 3: Use a Plugin

Messing around with CSS is risky, and if you don’t feel comfortable making advanced changes, you can use a plugin instead. We recommend the WP Meta and Date Remover plugin. Just install and activate it, then decide how to hide metadata.

Source: WP Meta and Date Remover Plugin Page

Honorable Mention

The Simple Author Box plugin isn’t exactly for hiding metadata, but I wanted to mention it because it can help you further customize your blog’s appearance. The plugin has a lot of options, like moving the position of the author box, deciding what to link the author’s name to (if anything) and personalizing social icons.

Source: Simple Author Box Plugin Page

Wrapping Up

Think about the reason why you have to change WordPress authors and determine the scale of the change. Then, figure out the easiest, most efficient way to make those changes. Don’t over-work – if bulk editing will get the job done, don’t bother going through posts individually. If updating a display name is what’s needed, don’t go through the trouble of creating another user. Keeping authors and posts organized is important for running a professional, navigable site, but this shouldn’t eat up any more time than necessary.

Featured Image via Gungwiyat / shutterstock.com

The post How to Easily Change the Author in WordPress appeared first on Real To Web Website.

A Simple Guide to Creating Your Company’s Brand Identity Kit

jerry — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 20:00:33 +0000

A brand identity kit is essential to the success of any company, both online and off. There are two main purposes of a brand identity kit: 1) For clients and followers to recognize a brand easily; and 2) As a set of rules for content creation. If you are here it’s because you’ve been looking at creating one for your company. Thankfully, you are in the right place!

In this post, we’ll take a look at how to easily create a brand identity kit for your company. We’ll look at what to include in it, where to find some templates, and how to create one from scratch.

Let’s get branding.

What Is A Brand Identity Kit?

Before getting into the practical steps of creating a brand identity kit, let’s get an idea of what it is. A brand identity kit sometimes called a brand style guide, is a document which holds all the important aspects of a brand. It can be a printed booklet, a digital ebook, or even an interactive design system.

The way it’s set up depends on how big a company is. A small business with a 2 or 4 person team will simply need a digital or printed document. A larger company can use a printed booklet. A company with different content creation teams is better off with a design system.

The purpose of a brand identity kit is to always create content which is on-brand. When a content creator needs to make something new, they use the brand identity kit as a set of visual rules. Brand identity kits also set the rules for social media interaction and company message. More elaborate brand identity kits, for example, design systems, also include rules for web and app development.

What to Include In a Brand Identity Kit

The idea of a brand identity kit is to stay on brand, therefore it includes all the company’s branding details.

Colors

Brand identity kits show colors in special combinations or schemes. There must be one primary scheme and one other complementary scheme. Colors include hex numbers for digital content and Pantone numbers if the company uses printed content.

Fonts

Font pairing is a big part of a brand identity. The fonts are displayed both visually and with their give name. In a detailed brand kit, the fonts are specified by use. For example, Headings in Garamond 18pt, subheadings in Garamond 16pt and content in Arial 12pt.

Logo Variations

Most companies have one main logo and a couple of variations for different purposes. All versions are included in a brand identity kit along with their specific uses. Additionally, logos are visually depicted with ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’ use them in visual content.

Visuals

A huge part of a brand identity is the visuals. This includes photography, illustrations, and branded graphics. A brand identity kit explains the best use of these visuals. For example, the style of illustration, no use of stock photography, and the background texture.

Brand Message

Brand identity kits also include contextual rules for conveying the brand’s message. For example, what language to use on social media, how to answer client and customer requests, or how to write emails. This also includes more detailed rules like slogans and what words to avoid on marketing material. This section can also include what hashtags to use when posting on social channels.

How to Create a Brand Identity Kit

Brand identity kits come in all shapes and sizes. From one page digital documents to printed booklets. There are also brand kits available inside online graphics editors like Visme and Canva. A design system is easily incorporated into Adobe XD, Sketch and Figma.

Creating your company’s brand identity kit can be done one of a few ways:

Hire a branding specialist/designer
Hire a UX design system specialist/designer
Use a template and Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
Make one with Canva or Visme
Design a logo and brand with Tailorbrands

When you hire a branding specialist or designer, you can rely on them to set up the brand identity kit ready for your team to use. The same applies to a UX design system. If you decide to make it yourself, there are plenty of templates available on sites like Creative Market. You can also make it from scratch, taking a cue from other brand identity kits in your industry.

Let’s take a look at some examples of brand identity kits to inspire your own.

Examples of Brand Identity Kits

One Page Documents or Infographics

The brand identity kit below is an infographic. This type of brand identity kit can be seen on a computer as a digital file or it can be printed as a poster. You can either hire a designer to create this for you or make one yourself with any graphics editor. Creative Market and Behance both have templates available to use.

Jetlag Brand Identity by Carly Berry – Behance

Printed Booklets

The image below is a brand guideline template for Adobe InDesign. This multi-page template includes placeholders for fonts, colors, visuals and other details about how to create branded content for a company. Use a template like this one if you know how to use Adobe InDesign. Afterward, you can either save it as a PDF or print it as a booklet.

Template designed by Clare McFadyen – Behance

The brand guideline booklet below is for the company, Technofocus. It’s a good example of a beautiful and practical brand identity kit. As you can see, the logo usage rules are clearly depicted. As well as the fonts and grid layout for all types of content. This brand identity kit is printed as an A4 booklet.

Technofocus brand guide by Mash Creative

Design Systems

This is a screenshot of a section in the Freepik design system. Their design system and brand guidelines are free to explore on their website. Many brands show their brand guidelines to different groups of people.

Freelance content creators
Affiliate partners
Media and publicity opportunities

Showing a company’s brand guidelines publicly is a good way to set a brand standard.

Similar to Freepik, Duolingo also has a design system. Every aspect of their brand is depicted in detail. Every person on the international Duolingo team has access to all the branding assets.

What About Your Company’s Brand Identity Kit?

In this article, we showed you how to create a brand identity kit for your company. As you can see, there are different levels of complexity to a brand identity kit. If you have a small company, you can easily set it up yourself. On the other hand, if your company is large and the team spans the globe, you will need a specialist to make a design system or brand booklet. Either way, the most important thing is that your brand is depicted in the best light, no matter what new content is created.

Featured Image via aurlelaki / shutterstock.com

The post A Simple Guide to Creating Your Company’s Brand Identity Kit appeared first on Real To Web Website.

Appointment Hour Booking: Plugin Overview

jerry — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 20:08:50 +0000

Emailing with clients back and forth to figure out the best time for you to get together, either virtually or in person, can get tedious and confusing. When you have an appointment booking interface on your website, both parties can communicate their availability without actually having to chat. You can then focus on what’s most important – preparing for your upcoming session and engaging with your client on a deeper level.

The Appointment Hour Booking plugin for WordPress is designed for creating booking forms for appointments that have a specific start time and duration. Appointment Hour Booking can be used to block off time for a number of reasons and professions:

Classes or workshops
Event rooms
Medical services
Meetings
Personal training sessions

Appointment Hour Booking has a ton of options and the ability to create a variety of services with different settings. Since this is a complex tool, it’s best for businesses that need a lot of customizations. A freelancer who needs to set a few meetings every week or another type of professional who only has one service they offer may find a simpler plugin easier to work with.

How It Works

The end user (the person booking the appointment, like your client or patient) selects their start time and appointment duration from the start times and durations that you’ve predetermined. The duration is determined by the service type – the end user cannot change the duration of the appointment. You can create multiple services each with their own duration (and other settings, like pricing).

Once the end user books their appointment, that time is blocked out to avoid double-booking. However, you can increase the capacity of the service, and the time won’t be blocked out until the capacity is filled. For example, if you’re a personal trainer who only takes one client per hour, the time will be blocked after one person signs up for that time slot. If you’re holding a class, though, you can set the capacity for 10 and the time will only be blocked out and unavailable once 10 people have signed up.

Appointment Hour Booking Plugin Features

Appointment Hour Booking has numerous customizations and settings, but let’s go over the ones that are most useful to a majority of people:

Define hours per date (instead of set hours for every Monday, for example)
Define unavailable dates, like holidays and other special occasions or time away
Customize the booking form and fields with the visual form builder
Link the booking form to a payment processor like PayPal or Stripe, among others
End user can select multiple services per booking
Cancellation link add-on so the end user can cancel their appointment if needed
Automated calculation of start times based on open hours and duration of service
Automated price calculation
Anti-spam protection and form validation
Customize email notifications for users
Print out your appointments list
Automate CSV reports or run them manually
Integrations with MailChimp, WooCommerce and other services (WooCommerce has their own bookings plugin, too, but it’s pricier)

Note that some features are only available with paid plans, like the visual form builder, payment integration and add-on services. Also, what Appointment Hour Booking seems to be missing is a way to set location and admin or employee (there may be a way to do this, so let me know if I missed it). The Easy Appointments plugin has these options front-and-center, as does Amelia.

Using the Appointment Hour Booking Plugin

You can find the Appointment Hour Booking plugin here or search for it in the WordPress plugin store. Install and then activate the plugin. You’ll be brought to this page:

Creating a Service

Let’s walk through how to create a service. To get back to the page in the screenshot above, click “Appointment Hour Booking” in the left sidebar of WordPress.

I fill in the “New Calendar” field with “Freelance Coaching” and then click “Add New,” which automatically takes me to the next page where I can make changes to the form. (Note that my “Freelance Coaching” calendar name never actually saved, even after I did this a couple of times.) The first thing I do is click over to “Form Settings” and enter the Form Name.

Now I want to customize the form. The “Field Settings” tab populates with info from the field selected in the preview. I click on “Appointment*” in the preview and then make changes on the left. Here’s what I did:

Updated the name of the service to “Introductory Session”
Changed the price to $25
Set the duration to 15 minutes
Required the end user to choose the service before the time slot
Set my open hours
Set my working dates
Changed the calendar to start on Monday
Deselected military time
Allowed for sessions to be booked 6 months out
Set maximum number of appointments per day to 4
Updated time slot to show end times

Publishing Your Appointment Booking Calendar

When you’re finished creating a service, you can publish it. You’ll get a shortcode to use on any page you like. This is what it looks like when published:

When the end user clicks on a date, they have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to choose the time slot, which is inconvenient. I changed the calendar to show a dropdown, hoping it would display just one month at a time and let the end user toggle between months, but it kept the six months displayed and added a dropdown to the first one. I then changed the “Number of months” setting to one instead of six, which changed the display to one calendar, but the dropdown menu still offers six months.

This is what it looks like for the end user to choose a date and time slot (the required name field and “Submit” button are there, they’re just missing from the screenshot):

Pros and Cons of Appointment Hour Booking

There are several things I like about Appointment Hour Booking:

Creating multiple services with different time slots, duration, pricing and capacity
Padding time before and/or after each appointment – this is great if you need time to unwind between sessions or prepare for the next one
Forcing the user to choose the service before the time slot helps avoid “I didn’t know what I was scheduling!” mishaps
Customizing open hours however you like and with gaps in your day
Showing the start and end times – again, to avoid “But I thought I was booked until X!” problems

One thing I don’t like is that if you hit “enter” after filling in a field in “Field Settings,” you’re automatically taken back to the calendars list and the info you entered isn’t saved. I have a habit of hitting “enter” after typing, and every time I did, I ended up back at that beginning page and had to start over.

I also couldn’t make sense of the default, min and max date fields:

In general, there are a lot of settings, and I’m not sure that they’re all helpful or necessary – and at the very least, they’re not easy to figure out. There’s a lot of documentation here that seems to spell out the details, but this seems like a lot of work for an appointment booking plugin – my hope is that a majority of the settings will be just fine in their default option.

I don’t love how the form looks when it’s published, but there are templates to choose from, so I’d want to play around with those before saying “no” to this plugin completely.

Appointment Hour Booking Plugin Pricing

There are four versions of Appointment Hour Booking. The basic version is free, while the others start at around $7 per month, and there’s a 25% discount if you subscribe annually. All paid plans include the same advanced features; the differences between them are how many websites you can use the plugin on. You can compare details of the Basic, Professional, Developer and Platinum subscriptions here.

Final Thoughts

What I like most about Appointment Hour Booking is that you can play with all of the upgraded features through the interactive demo – and I suggest you do, because there are so many settings and options that it’d be impossible to cover them in an overview. There are definitely more user-friendly tools out there, and they may look better when published to your website, but if you need endless options and are okay with how the final calendar looks when published, Appointment Hour Booking is a definite contender in the niche. It’s also important to note that if you don’t care about learning each and every setting available and you only need to create services the way I did, you may consider this plugin easy to use.

Featured Image via arctic fox / shutterstock.com

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Can a Standing Desk Help You Be Better at Your Job?

jerry — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 02:38:46 +0000

A couple of years ago, I made the executive decision to get rid of my couch. I replaced it with a set of chairs and matching ottomans, comfortable but not so tempting I’d plop down and work there all day.

This wasn’t quite the same as making a leap to a standing desk, but I knew that extra comfort meant less productivity. I was right. I work more often now and spend most of my work time in my office, not in front of the TV.

The Problem with Sitting…and Sitting…and Sitting

On its own, sitting isn’t inherently bad. The problem is sitting, and only sitting, for several hours per day. Your entire 8-hour shift should not be spent in a chair. Even those four-hour stretches before and after your lunch break could be too long.

This 2018 study found that sitting for several hours a day can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and early death.

While going for a run in the morning and staying active at night is great, that won’t counteract the effects of sitting for long stretches. That’s kind of like having a healthy meal for breakfast and dinner, and then eating a whole pizza for lunch. Yes, you’re making some good decisions, but the bad decision is still undeniably bad for your health.

6 Benefits of a Standing Desk

Posture is naturally improved because you’re more aware of slouching. You may notice that your core feels tighter and more toned.
You’ll engage in more physical activity. For example, you may end up walking more because you’re already standing.
Your energy will increase. Standing can help with blood flow and keep you more alert. You may nod off or get groggy when sitting, but it’s less likely to happy when standing. That dreaded 3 p.m. slump could completely disappear.
That study I mentioned above didn’t just measure the health effects of sitting, but also the job performance of people using “sit-stand desks.” They found that people who were able to stand part of the time had better job performance and engagement than those who only sat. Sit-standers also experienced less job fatigue and anxiety.
Being at eye-level with passersby means it’s easier to chat or to take notice of something that’s going on.
Multi-tasking is easier. I tried this at my counter and was able to multi-task without feeling too distracted. I was already standing, so making a cup of coffee while skimming email wasn’t a big interruption.

The Problem With Standing Desks

Standing is not a cure-all. Ergonomics expert Alan Hedge told Time that standing when working can be tiring and it can put a lot of strain on the circulatory system. It may also result in problematic posture, especially if you lean a lot. Here are a few more drawbacks of standing while working:

Your legs and back may be numb or in pain, especially as you get used to using a standing desk. This can last for the first few weeks.
If you don’t position yourself correctly, you could develop soreness in other areas. For example, when I stood at my kitchen counter, I had to wedge myself into the right angle the counter makes, then twist a little to see the computer. My lower back was aching within 45 minutes.
The fact that it’s easy to multi-task also means it’s easy to get distracted. Consider saving standing for simple, automatic tasks, then sit when you need to focus distraction-free.
You’re super exposed. Everyone in your office can see you (assuming you work with other people).

Standing while working isn’t for everyone, especially if you already have issues with your knees, legs or back, or with carpal tunnel. That doesn’t mean definitely don’t get a standing desk, but you should chat with your doctor first. For me, while I can see where a standing desk may help me with my back problems when it comes to posture and stretching, I also get a lot of benefits from taking an hour here or there to work on my laptop while leaning back on a heating pad.

How to Work at a Standing Desk

You can reduce the risks of using a standing desk if you do it the right way: maintain proper posture, limit strain on your body and adjust the keyboard, mouse and monitor to the best heights.

Your monitor should be at eye-level (this is true if you’re sitting, too). Your arms should be parallel to the floor as you type. You should be far enough away so that if you were to extend your arms in front of you, you wouldn’t quite touch the monitor. If you have a laptop, you’ll want a separate monitor, and then either use the laptop as a keyboard or get an external keyboard.
Put a supportive mat on the floor, like one chef’s use – the padding will decrease leg pain.
Wear comfy, supportive shoes.
If your legs start to get sore, go into a one-legged yoga pose, like a tree pose, for a couple minutes. Or you can put a raised object on the ground to rest your foot on. It’s fine to lean so long as it’s comfortable – you have to be off your bum, not a soldier standing at attention.
March in place to increase blood flow. Bend, stretch and even do exercises like squats to keep your body loose and ward off stiffness.

How to Sit When You’re Not Standing

Posture is still important even if you’re sitting. According to Fast Company and medical director Mladen Golubic from the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, slumping can make it hard to breathe deeply. Instead, sit straight without tensing; you have to sort of balance a straight spine and a strong core with being relaxed instead of tight. Basically: sit up straight, just not in that “the teacher’s going to scold me” way.

You can also get the benefits of standing by, you know, standing, no desk needed. Start by taking a five-minute standing/walking break for every hour of work. Set a reminder if you need to – my FitBit watch has a vibrating reminder to walk every hour. Working at home makes this easy because you can hop up from your desk as much as you need to without annoying coworkers.

Standing Desks to Consider Buying

When looking for the best standing desk for your purposes, these are the features you want to consider:

Do you have to remain in the same position all the time or can you change the position to sit, stand, lean to one side, raise your leg, etc.?
How large is your setup? What size desk will you need?
What customization options do you need? Power strips, keyboard trays, holes for cables?

Also, check out the warranty, especially for advanced desks with electronic components.

Adapt Your Own Desk

If you want to adapt your current desk to a standing desk, try the Kangaroo Pro Junior, which starts at $399 before add-ons. It’s stable, has a decent size workspace and doesn’t require any other equipment, unless you want to add a detachable work surface. If you need more options, check out ErgoTron’s selection of standing desks. They have several types of desk mounts that lock sturdily to your desk, and adjustable arms can accommodate all sorts of setups, whether you have one or two monitors, a laptop, a keyboard, etc. Standing desk solutions from VIVO are also worth checking out – they have monitor mounts, desk risers and frames to create your perfect setup.

Stand-Alone Standing Desks

The GeekDesk (starting at $749) platform goes up and down by pushing a button, and the Max version (starting at $949) lets you set height presets. The Uplift V2 Bamboo Standing Desk ($495) also has programmable heights, and you can switch between four stored adjustments.

If you want to save money, the Devaise Adjustable Height Standing Desk ($229.99) lets you adjust the height via crank instead of electronically. There’s also the Muv Stand-Up Adjustable Height Desk ($390), which has three surfaces plus a keyboard shelf.

Wrapping Up

There’s no single posture that’s best, and standing desks are beneficial because you can easily switch positions. Standing for eight hours isn’t much better than sitting for eight hours, especially considering the strain it will put on your body. Shift between a variety of postures throughout the day. Standing should be one of the postures, and sitting can definitely remain part of the mix.

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How to Set Up and Operate Live Chat With WordPress

jerry — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 17:34:15 +0000

If you’re running a customer-facing business, making sure you have a happy relationship with your clients is vital for a smooth operation. Regardless of how good your product or service is, some will inevitably need an extra bit of help from time to time, and using live chat can help you deal with them effectively.

In a nutshell, live chat enables you to provide a better level of customer support. What’s more, it can also help your visitors feel more engaged since they know you’re just a click away. In this article, we’ll get to know the excellent WP Live Chat Support plugin, how to set it up, and how to operate it. Let’s get busy!

Introducing the WP Live Chat Support Plugin

The WP Live Chat Support plugin enables you to communicate with your clients and visitors via chat, with very little setup necessary. It boasts an easy-to-use interface for both users and agents, and it even enables you to save your conversations. That way, you’ll be able to reference old chats and help users more efficiently. What’s more, it plays incredibly well with Divi, and we encountered no issues during testing.

In this article, we’ll focus on WP Live Chat Support’s free version, but there’s also a premium version available. The plugin’s free version is more than powerful enough for small to medium sites, and – in our opinion – it might not be worth upgrading until you reach the point where you need more than one agent.

Before we move on, it’s worth noting we’ve covered other WordPress live chat alternatives in the past, such as Zendesk Chat. However, we decided to go with WP Live Chat Support for this piece since it’s one of the most comprehensive options that doesn’t rely on a third-party platform.

Key Features:

Supports an unlimited number of simultaneous live chats.
Provides agents with detailed visitor information.
Records conversations for record-keeping purposes.
Offers a fully customizable live chat box.
Notifies agents whenever a user begins a conversation.
Integrates with Google Analytics.

Price: FREE | More Information

How to Set Up the WP Live Chat Support Plugin (In 3 Simple Steps)

Most of you are probably capable of installing WordPress plugins in your sleep, so we’ll skip right over that step. However, do remember to back up your WordPress installation before diving in using a solution such as UpdraftPlus – after all, you’ll be thankful for it if the worst happens!

Step #1: Configure Your General Settings

As soon as you enable the WP Live Chat Support plugin, two things will happen: a small live chat box will appear on your website, and a new tab will be added to your WordPress dashboard. Before we play with the former, let’s explore the latter.

Click on the Live Chat tab on your dashboard, and choose the Settings option. Here, you’ll find a wide range of options for configuring the plugin. For now, we only need to focus on the General Settings tab:

Most of the options here are fairly straightforward. You can choose to disable live chat, select whether users should provide contact information (which is always a good idea), and the message your input field should include.

Other advanced settings include the option to see user details if they’re logged in, the ability to record IP addresses, and the option to play a notification when someone sends a new message. All of these options are on by default, and there’s no harm in keeping them enabled.

Most importantly, keep an eye out for the option to enable live chat on mobile devices. Smartphones are a burgeoning source of traffic nowadays, so disabling this option may hinder your customer relationships.

Finally, the plugin also enables you to track your live chat statistics using Google Analytics:

For this feature to work, your WordPress site should already be configured to work with Google Analytics. If you’re unsure how to do this, there are several methods to get you there. Pick the one you’re most comfortable with, then enable the corresponding option in the General Settings tab for WP Live Chat Support.

Step #2: Optimize Your Message Settings

Moving on, click on the Chat Box tab right below General Settings. This section includes a variety of customization settings – several of these are only available for premium users, but the basic options are still suitable.

Firstly, you can decide on the location of your live chat pop-up box. In most cases, we’d recommend that you stick to the default location (bottom right) since the others can be a bit awkward, but your mileage may vary. You can also enable an option for the box to expand automatically, which should be avoided for usability reasons:

The plugin can also be configured to display users avatars and usernames if they’re logged in, which can be useful if you need to follow up at a later date. You can also disable live chat for users who aren’t logged in. However, we’d recommend against since you want to reach as many potential clients as possible.

Finally, you can set the live chat to display timestamps on your messages, which helps with record keeping. You can then access any past conversations from the History tab, and know exactly during which time of the day they took place:

Aside from these settings, WP Live Chat Support also enables you to receive messages while offline. The process is as simple as it sounds – if you aren’t online when a customer sends a query, you’ll get a notification as soon as you return to the dashboard.

Step #3: Start Chatting With Your Customers

This plugin comes with a wealth of customization options, but not at the expense of usability. As soon as a visitor enters your site, they’ll see a small chat icon floating in the bottom right-hand corner (as long as you kept to the default location). In the example below, you can see the live chat box working on a page built using Divi:

Clicking on the icon will prompt users to enter their name and email:

Once they click on Start Chat, the plugin will notify you there’s a user waiting for your reply. If you enabled the option to play a notification sound under General Settings, be warned – it can get very loud. The plugin will also request your permission to send you browser notifications once you receive your first message.

To reply to your visitor, head to the Live Chat tab and click on the Open Chat button next to their name:

The following window will display any available information about your visitor, and enable you to talk with them for as long as you like:

Congratulations, you enabled live chat on your WordPress site!

Conclusion

Keeping your guests happy should always be a priority. Usable contact forms and thorough documentation can go a long way towards enabling users to help themselves, but both of these options lack the personal touch of live chat.

Setting up WordPress live chat is remarkably easy if you’re using a plugin such as WP Live Chat Support. In fact, it can be done in three short steps:

Install the plugin and configure your general settings.
Optimize your message settings.
Begin chatting with your customers!

Article thumbnail image by vladwell / shutterstock.com

The post How to Set Up and Operate Live Chat With WordPress appeared first on Real To Web Website.

11 Podcasts for Freelancers and the Self-Employed

jerry — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 15:04:05 +0000

Continuing education is one of the most important aspects of career development. If you don’t continuously learn about what you do, it’s very easy to get left behind. These days, podcasts are one of the easiest ways to do that. And if you’re a freelancer, podcasts are an invaluable asset — both in terms of cost and time.

Freelancer Podcasts

Whether you work at home or in an office (or a home office!), I would be willing to bet that at some point during your day, you chill out and zone in wearing headphones. You blast music, or maybe even listen to podcasts already. But I want to challenge you to not only listen to the WTFs and S-Towns out there, but also the productivity and freelancer podcasts that can give you added insight into pretty much everything you do.

1. Unemployable

Starting out our list comes the podcast with the title that each and every one of us can relate to. Brian Clark walks us through everything that we need to know to succeed when we are working on our own. From marketing to creative uses of our time, Unemployable hits at the heart of what most of us who have ever thrust off the 9-to-5 can relate to (and need to know.

2. The Tim Ferris Show

Maybe one of the most famous podcasts out there, The Tim Ferris Show runs the gamut of what self-employed freelancers want to listen to. You will hear from self-made business-people and success stories. You will get tips and hacks for what you can do to improve your own skills and up your game, and what’s best about it is that Tim doesn’t offer up a lot of one-in-a-million advice. Everyone can gain something from him and apply it to their own professional (or personal) life.

3. Smart Passive Income

Smart Passive Income grabbed my attention years ago because of its focus on, well, passive income. While there is a focus on passive income, Pat really hits on the importance of working hard to make things happen. He talks about tried-and-true methods that have worked for him in the past, and he brings on guests that have experience in a multitude of fields. Probably the most unique thing about SPI is how he shares his income and does in-depth case studies to show exactly what works and what doesn’t for people who want to emulate his tactics.

4. The Science of Social Media

I have learned a lot from this podcast. Not only do I love the product that Buffer makes, but their content is also top-notch. The Science of Social Media really gives you an insight into what’s working and what isn’t in the realm of social media marketing. Not an overly long show, most episodes come in well under half an hour, which means that you get the good stuff without any of the fluff. When you’re a freelancer, your time is valuable, so this one is a great way to get some new insights quickly and easily. Your social marketing will definitely improve.

5. Reply All

I love the internet. You love the internet. Pretty much everyone loves the internet. Which is why Reply All exists. Named after the most dreaded thing of inboxes everywhere, this podcast covers the cool stuff about the internet that we all experience and want to (or need to) learn about. From who gets caught with phishing scams to creating involuntary (or voluntary) communities around a topic or person, the topics are wide and varied, but focused on us. Of all the freelancer podcasts out there, this one should be listened to by anyone who spends their time online. That’s probably you.

6. Masters of Scale

Masters of Scale sums up what they are far better than I can. It’s almost like they’re professionals or something.

“Masters of Scale is an original podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn and Investor at Greylock. In each episode, Reid shows how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with legendary leaders. Masters of Scale is the first American media program to commit to a 50-50 gender balance for guests. It won the 2018 People’s Voice Webby for Best Business Podcast.”

7. CodeNewbie

When I started freelancing, CodeNewbie was the resource I used to psyche myself up into doing it. Listening to the stories of other people who left careers and moved into tech really hit home with me. And once you dig deeper, you will find a great community on Slack and on Twitter that are full of other people who are very passionate about working in tech, learning to code and become developers, and help each other out. They even do episodes on things like how to get involved in open source projects, what good UX looks like (through the eyes of YouTube Gaming, for example), and what you need to know about working in the web dev fields right now. Go listen. It may be my personal favorite of all the freelancer podcasts I’ve listened to.

8. Happier with Gretchen Rubin

I am listing Happier here for one primary reason: this podcast gave me the best advice I’ve ever been given, and it changed the way I worked as a freelancer (and honestly, how I did stuff in my personal life). In one episode, Gretchen and her sister are talking, and I can’t remember which one said it, but they gave the advice of if you have a task that needs to be done, and it will take 1 minute or less to do it…just do it right then. It sounds simple (and it is), but it’s very hard to do.

It may be replying to an email or returning a call, or even getting up to refill your glass of water and stretch your legs or proofread a blurb before sending it off. The 60-second Rule has immensely changed how I work because it keeps tasks manageable, makes me productive, and honestly keeps my house a little cleaner (how long does it take to pick up all those clothes on the floor? Under 60 seconds, apparently.)

Happier is that kind of podcast. I think you’ll love it. I hope it makes you…happier.

9. 99% Invisible

Have you ever heard the saying that good design is ninety-nine percent invisible? Well, that’s where this podcast gets its name, so you’ll become familiar with it soon enough. While not entirely focused on web design, everyone can learn something from this show. They talk about how things work, why things work, and how we take for granted just how well-designed most of the things we use every day actually are. They have talked about flags on mailboxes and why door handles are shaped the way they are. You will become a better designer by listening to this one, and you will see the world in a whole new way each and every day. You’re welcome.

10. Business Wars

Business Wars is pretty neat. It takes a look at the behind-the-scenes goings-on of big businesses and their rivalries. As a freelancer or someone who is self-employed, you can glean a lot of good stuff from this show. While you may not be at the scale of Pepsi and Coke, there’s a kernel in there that applies to all businesses. Motivation and ambition and what separates the success stories from the failures.

11. The Good Life Project

A lot of us get into freelancing or becoming self-employed for one reason: to be (more) in control of our lives. That’s what The Good Life Project is about. It’s not a productivity podcast, and you may not necessarily get better at your job from listening to it. But you can definitely pick up some ideas on what you need to lead a happier, better life in general — and that in turn will make the freelancing go much, much better. A happy freelancer is…well, a happy freelancer. So go out and start living the good life, why don’t ya?

Wrapping Up

A list like this could go on and on and on. We really are in a golden age for podcasting, so we ought to capitalize on it. For those of you looking for freelancer podcasts, I think these will really get you started. There are oodles more out there. If you’re anything like me, you’ll start digging around for as many as you can find. So happy hunting and listening, my friends!

What are your favorite freelancer podcasts? Have any helped you in your self-employment?

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