"I'm extremely proud of my team and all that we accomplished ... a funded start-up aiming to scale rapidly, Intevity integrates solutions and platforms that resonate with each business's unique challenges and aspirations. Their expertise allows them ...

INTEVITY ACQUIRES TECHABO

Removing these barriers and solving the country’s caregiving crisis is an urgent imperative. The already struggling child care system is experiencing a funding cliff that is likely to result in some 70,

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Tailored Hearing Solutions has opened its doors as the latest business in the downtown area and is dedicated to helping provide good hearing health for the community.

Hear here: Tailored Hearing Solutions opens in downtown Ripon

From surviving a gunshot wound at 9 to having a cousin killed by a cop, Perry Bradley, the founder of Building Better Communities, knows too well how a gun can change lives forever.

‘It’s about hope.’ How one nonprofit is trying to stem the tide of shootings in Columbia

Solutions sales increased double digits ... the 2024 guidance would be quite a bit above 2023 guidance. I’m curious let’s say, 2020 — let’s say the snowfall this year is, again, really, really low. And you have a similar snowfall this, when ...

Douglas Dynamics, Inc. (NYSE:PLOW) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Led by the U-M’s Poverty Solutions team, GIG A2 will choose 100 participants to receive monthly payments of $528 for two years. Applications for the program, which prioritizes Ann Arbor residents who are entrepreneurs, self-employed people, small ...

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Keysight will also be holding an in-person media breakfast at productronica on Tuesday November 14 at 9:00am CET. Interested journalists and industry analysts can contact Jenny Gallacher to reserve a spot.

Keysight to Showcase Solutions that Accelerate Electronic Manufacturing Innovation at productronica 2023

All eyes are on Silicon Valley startup Charm Industrial to see if its carbon capture model will make a dent in the climate crisis

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Hosted only thirty miles from Heidelberg’s North American headquarters in Kennesaw, Georgia, this year’s PRINTING United Expo provided the company the unique ability to showcase its full range of solutions.

Heidelberg Highlights Integrated Smart Solutions at PRINTING United

I’m incredibly excited to announce our all-new, AI-powered software solution, fluen.ci, providing instant access to culture-centric, brand-specific insights for marketing and insights leaders at America’s iconic brands. Grounded in more than 12 years ...

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M-S Solutions

weebly

No-code development promises typing a line of code thanks to graphical tools that erase the complexity of programming languages. programming without What is no-code? The concept of no code refers to a software development method that hides the complexity of the application's source code. No code development tools combine different techniques: Pre-packaged graphical templates and widgets to assemble user interfaces, Drag and drop of application components to create the application's synoptic, and to combine the different steps of the processes: conversion tunnel, order tracking... Workflow automation to trigger actions based on events, such as the generation of alerts or countermeasures below a certain turnover or traffic threshold on a website. Guided in his work by a 100% graphic development environment in the logic of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), the user will be able to perform tests and proceed to several integrations until the application works as desired. Presented differently, no code defines the ability to create software without having to fill in a single line of code. What is the difference between No-code and Low-code? Globally, the applications listed in this article are part of a logic that aims to be as code-free as possible. The concept of low-code (which literally means "little code") consists in completing a no-code environment with the possibility to edit the application's source code in parallel. In the end, the simpler the no-code development tools are to use, the more limited they are. On the other hand, the more complex and low-code oriented they are, the richer they are and the more they leave the door open to so-called specific developments, off the beaten track, even innovative, and requiring coding. Specific developments that will obviously involve the intervention of programmers. The main low-code development platforms include Appian, Mendix, Microsoft (with its Power Platform), OutSystems, Salesforce, and ServiceNow. Why no-code? No code has multiple advantages. First of all, it allows business teams to create their own applications without having to rely on developers. This practice is realistic for the simplest no-code projects, for example creating an online survey with Google Forms or automated processes with Zapier and IFTTT. Two tools that capitalize on an equivalent logic: triggering actions in response to events, for example generating an alert following a software or web content update. Targeting small businesses and freelancers, the no-code platforms Strikingly, Weebly and Wix allow the creation of websites. Even if they go as far as creating online stores, they are still limited to very standard features. For example, it is impossible with this type of tool to create complex conversion tunnels involving the integration of third-party software coupled with specific management rules. How to do No-code? No code development tools allow you to create applications without having to touch the underlying code. You don't need to be a developer to use them. However, it will be necessary to have basic skills in navigation, ergonomics, and graphics. The advantage of no code? It gives business experts the possibility to automate routines, for example, to generate a response to a certain type of email or to integrate data from one software to another. It will also allow them to quickly create application mock-ups (or proofs of concept) in order to validate the development of a more substantial project that no code, due to its limitations, will not be able to address 100%. A project that will then involve the intervention of programmers. Which no-code tools? There are many no-code development tools. They can be classified into several categories: No code forms: Google Forms, Microsoft Forms... No code productivity management: ClickUp, Monday, Notion...No-code application development: Appy Pie, Builder.ai, ksaar, Quixy... No code website development: Bubble, Sitalacarte (french), Strikingly, Webflow, Weebly, Wix... No code database: Airtable, Smartsheet... Workflow automation no code: IFTTT, Microsoft Flow, Zapier... AI platform: Alteryx, C3.ai, Google Vertex, H2O.ai... What are the no-code open source tools? Faced with proprietary and paying no-code platforms and software, there is a whole series of open-source no-code development tools that can be used for free. In the same way as proprietary offers, they allow you to create applications without having to put your hands in the source code of the software. The logic is equivalent. The no-code open source development solutions are based on graphical environments allowing to visually model the interfaces, and the navigation, integrate pre-configured functionalities and assemble the associated processes. What are the low code tools? The low-code application platform (LCAP) market includes Mendix, Microsoft (with its Power Platform), OutSystems, Salesforce, and ServiceNow. These five technologies are among the leaders in Gartner's latest magic quadrant in this field. Forrester also ranks Mendix, Microsoft, OutSystems, and Salesforce as leaders in the low-code development platform segment.

No-code / Low-code: What is the Difference?

The first time I’d considered working at a startup, I was still in college, commuting from my parent’s house to save on student loans. At the time, I didn’t know what a startup was, I knew what a business was, I knew that you sold things to make money, but I didn’t know its purpose. It was around my second year of computer science when a friend reached out; he was starting a company to build stores on the internet—stores for digital products. I would love to claim that he recruited me due to my technical prowess, but that’s not the case; I was recruited because I sold digital products. My purpose was to outline the product I needed. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing; probably the product wasn’t very good at all. It wasn’t until years later, after college, when I was ready to do more- push the boundaries of what we had built and where it could go, that I found myself alone. It turns out not all founders would instead pursue the grandiose visions compiled by their imagination. Me? I would love to, but when the company was offered to my leadership, I lacked the experience to continue it safely. I lacked the experience to be the only one left. Thus began my journey. The trek of a solo founder was an adventure like none I had ever or likely will ever replicate. An intrinsic experience that is either impossible to or without a purpose of describing. It is that experience of life when you are the deterministic variable between success and failure. To pursue your dreams, or to behead them in the sake of comfort. What is solo founding? If I were someone of successful means, I feel it not unreasonable that my answer would change. The obvious shortcoming of a solo founder is to lack the experience that comes from a team of well-diversified and intelligent people. To take the journey of bringing your creation into the world alone, you must be willing to identify your failings to face a relentless wave of inability and foolish failure. The result is the means to plan, design, build, and secure your mark in humanity. Or at least that sounds like a fun adventure to trek. Where did it begin? At the start of 2019 I had just finished my first and second college majors (ok, technically I’m a class short of a second major). I knew I wanted to pursue a new venture, my own venture, but I didn’t know how or where to start. Well, I knew I had to leave the small part of Pennsylvania I’d grown up in. I knew that if the technical experience was what I wanted, there is only one place in the world. So I hopped on Airbnb and booked a trip to leave the life I knew behind and to begin anew… or rather atop, someone else’s bunk. I wouldn’t ever really be able to summarize the experiences I had in those 3 months, a world of people and mentality that I had never known, but it was badass and I was hooked. After checkout, I went back home for a little, I had to decide what was next. Shortly after, some friends I’d met at the hostile got an apartment together in Mountain View. I split half a bedroom with one of them, got in my car, and drove across the country with everything I had. A suitcase and computer. One of them lent me a mattress topper; I was on my way to becoming a true silicon valley icon. Just kidding, but I had decided I wanted to work in the problem space of Identity at this point. I knew what I wanted to build, but I didn’t know how to build it. Becoming a technical founder I’m the greatest engineer in the world. Okay, for real, when I moved, I had a computer science degree from a local college. The limitation of my abilities was basically using Weebly to build a website. Luckily one of my housemates was a great engineer, happy to suggest the most difficult course of building my (then) imagined MVP. You know those people… who could be like, yeah, you should learn react and node? Well anyway, my friend convinced me to learn about vue, .net, and building OAuth services from scratch. BTW, I still haven’t launched anything. But that is not to say the simple path wasn’t noted. It is to say that the understanding which came out of lower-level thinking is… worth considering. It is this deep, difficult, and meaningful knowledge that contributes to the ability to imagine directions you never thought possible. It was around this time that a little-known virus, named after my then-favorite beer (disgusting right?), was just beginning to make itself known. To foreshadow the future, that house I mentioned moving into at the beginning, now… My housemates, feeling at risk in America, fled to Taiwan before the news broke. Luckily, they kept paying rent for their empty rooms at the house. Lucky to me as I had no money-- besides a little bitcoin. That is its own journey, love or hate. It is, without a doubt, what made years of developing technical experience possible for me. How solo is your solo founding? I like to imagine founders of the past have really terrible days, really terrible days, and then going out to grab a beer with friends. Well, I didn’t know anyone besides the people I lived with here. They left and covid sent the world into isolated submission. See where this is going? My coping mechanism became more work. This went on for about a year. Then I got fed up, hopped in my car, and drove off. Where to? Don’t know, past SF, onto some road. I parked my car and fell asleep on the side of the road somewhere after a while. The next morning I’d traversed through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, I ended the night sleeping at a motel in “Wall” which had lured me in with promises of free coffee. The next day I was on the road again, I detoured into mt Rushmore where a road sign convinced me to smoke a joint and rent a helicopter + pilot. Part of that experience was a focus on humanity, not documentation of the experience (putting your phone down). While I have no pictures to offer, we saw a white buffalo, followed a herd, and experienced the top-speed of little ‘copters. All amongst many magnificent rock flowers of the South Dakota Black Hills. Seriously, I didn’t even know what Crazy Horse was at the time. Okay so some time went by, the earth was rotating around a ball of fire in the sky, I hopped back in my car and started heading toward Colorado. Colorado I usually like to imagine myself cooler than I am, I’ll call it imagined confidence as a coping mechanism for perpetual exhaustion of self-improvement. So anyway, the one housemate left with me at the time, the one I split a bedroom with, had a sister. She lived in Colorado and I was waiting for him to send me her number so that I could show up and be like “Hey”. I thought it was really hot that she worked in aerospace and liked to fish. So anyway, for you single guys out there, I googled “5-star motel”, and an expensive hotel that shared her name prefixed with “St” or “Saint” popped up. I rented a room, showed up with the clothes on my back, and a flat tire (sidelining the story of hill climbing a Volkswagon up a twisted cliff overlooking a lake I’d somehow found myself waking up near the bottom of in prior days). Long story short I hung out in Boulder for a few days, we really liked talking to each other. After I drove back home, I realized that I had found someone very special to me, truly inspiring in her own journey. But really, I found a sort of human (actually founder) superpower. That is, to not be alone, having someone encourage you even through the most exhausting of failures. We formed our relationship in a long-distance manner, that is to say, I drove back to California and eventually moved to a new (cheaper) location outside of Stockton. As time went on it became obvious I wanted to spend more time with her, that she accelerated instead of slowed my progress, even if I left the (then dead) home of Tech. So I moved to Boulder, Colorado. I would describe it as sort of a remote, pseudo-hippie town with continued boujee development. I would have loved it in another life, but climbing rocks and riding horses is not the adventure I’m seeking these days. I will say, this same view is out my living room window. There is something existential about the mountains. The size and evolution of nature have a sort of mystic yet humbling experience to them. Founding If you haven’t realized yet, the endeavors I’ve been talking about, I wasn’t actually a founder in them. I was a student trying to become the founder I wanted to be. One thing I realized in this now 3-year journey is that life doesn’t stop. For anyone. Being a founder is one of the most enlightening and selfish experiences that I could think to have as a human. It is rather simple to justify this belief; I have had an incredible experience in which I felt truly aligned with life and purpose. Yet, on this same journey tragedy was striking those around me. Including my own relationship- in which my partner not only faced the tragedy of losing a parent but her own existential mortality in an accident which I can only attribute the survival of as luck. It is that obsessive focus that one yearns to achieve when entering this field that can leave those around you feeling isolated or alone. To find a partner who recognizes and accepts you for that is a priceless thing. If I ever found a co-founder, I would be hard-pressed to not see many similarities in the relationships. RE: What is Solo-Founding When I decided to pursue a second startup, I began the journey wondering how I could operate things if I was alone. If you don’t know what an operator is, let me reference my time in sprint car racing. Founding the creation of a new product is like designing and building a chassis + engine that has never existed on the track. Founding a competitive business requires an operator, that is to say, the driver of the car. In racing, it is great to build the fastest car, but if you’re not also winning, it doesn’t really matter. Operators are drivers. It is rare that a driver would also build their own car. With special cases such as Carroll Shelby- though that car was operated by Ken Miles. I believe it is important to balance the understanding that the creation of everlasting companies (plastic of humanity) is not something done by one person. What one person can do is outline a vision, to do it correctly and beautifully. To build the fastest car is to build the fastest car. But to prove it as the fastest car, that is to take part in the great game of life. FIN I am writing this article as a documentation of my own journey- whose purpose is considered wisdom only if I succeed. In truth, I am the same person either way. These days, I have designed what I want, learned how to develop it, and am now attempting to bring into existence that which I desire. A user agent of online identity. Skipping the cop-out answer, I have spent the last month or two falling back on design and iterating possible product routes. Although I made new designs for digital identity, pseudo-identity, and social cyberverse; I ultimately decided to put my full focus on recreating an electronic mail user agent from the ground up. I’m still not where I hope to be as a UX/UI designer, but my goal is to make the mail client multi-dimensional and more friendly to user-operated spam filtering. I find thought-provoking comparisons to email and instant messaging, where they are destined to go. As my best analogy, I find the future of email to be likened to that of package delivery and love letters. Unexpectedly, I found the most exciting possibilities and difficult UX in the sub-fields of pseudo-mailbox, “nft” address and mail signing, publisher aggregation, and the conversation market (earn.com). I was a bit surprised to learn that most people I spoke to in the field had heavily focused on “speed” and “privacy” as competitive advantages. Although, I never had much issue with either, I think the innovation in this field should be focused on increasing the value of mail received. If speed has ever been my issue, it is the speed that it takes me to switch from one inbox to another. Well, that is all. I will try to write more as I go. Otherwise, unless I fall on my face, the code will probably be on Github😁 re: I quit and decided to get a job again (for the first time as a non-founded career actually). 5/21/22 It seems dreadful to continue bootstrap as the market is heading down. Though it is a relief, I am primarily sad; it feels like an injury needing recovery. Of course, I’ll continue my pursuit of Online Identity in my own time, but for now, the easy life. -alex

The Trek of a Solo Founder

El viaje de un fundador en solitario

Le parcours d'un fondateur solo

एक एकल संस्थापक का ट्रेक

ソロファウンダーの歩み

A jornada de um fundador solo

Chuyến đi của một người sáng lập một mình

独立创始人的跋涉

AI2A business cannot succeed online without a dedicated website.  However, making a website requires a little coding knowledge. Larger businesses have plenty of resources to create their own websites. However, smaller brick n mortar businesses can often fall behind. A business with an online presence will grow faster and get more customers naturally. Therefore, it is necessary even for smaller businesses to get themselves online. Fortunately, technology has come far enough that even they can make their websites without coding. Website builders have been around for a decade now. In the beginning, they were clunky and really difficult to use. However, that is no longer the case. Modern website builders can help you create fluid websites that can take your business online while looking crisp and beautiful. But the market is filled with so many website builders; it almost becomes necessary to know which ones to use and which to avoid. Keeping that in mind, we’ve scoured the corners of the Internet to bring you 11 of the best website builders that can help you make breathtaking websites in 2022. Why waste any more time? Let’s jump in! Here’s the list of the top AI business website builders in 2022: Wix WordPress Squarespace Appy Pie Website Weebly Webflow Shopify GoDaddy BigCommerce Webnode Google Sites 1. Wix Wix is the best website builder for beginners and professionals alike. What sets Wix apart is the sheer amount of flexibility in designing a website. Do you want a simple pre-made website? Wix can do it for you. Do you want customized features and complete control on your website design? Look no further! Wix’s adaptability to user needs makes it one of the best choices for a website builder. Pros: Sheer customizability allows you complete freedom to create your website. Thousands of smart and contemporary website templates. Drag and drop Interface for complete designing freedom. Excellent APIs and a full app market. Cons: Wix can get very expensive if you’re not careful. Websites made on Wix have loading time issues a lot of the time. The drag and drop editor can have a lot of bugs. Changing templates and website design can be difficult. 2. WordPress WordPress is one of the few website builders that can be had for free. This makes it an excellent choice for smaller businesses. If you are looking to create a blog or want to create a website simply to rank when your business is searched, WordPress is the perfect solution. Pros: Free plans mean that you can create free websites. You don’t need to install software or even maintain your website once it is live. Fair pricing for what it offers. Excellent customer support for Wordpress.com. Cons: It can be a little confusing at times to use. The difference between ‘wordpress.com’ and ‘wordpress.org’ often confuses people new to website building. eCommerce features can’t be tested for free. Limited SEO in the free plans. 3. Squarespace Squarespace is one of the oldest players in the website building market. Competing head-to-head with WordPress and Wix, Squarespace’s claim to fame is its aesthetics-oriented website building. Squarespace provides some of the nicest website templates to build your website on. Pros: Exquisite and marvelous themes to choose from. Blogging features make it a must-have. Excellent customer support. Support for mobile apps. Cons: No free trials and a relatively expensive pricing plan. The editor can be a little difficult to use. Slow page speeds can be an issue. A significant learning curve. 4. Appy Pie Website Appy Pie Website is a relatively new website building platform. It takes the no-code aspect further by providing a complete website builder that you can create without ever needing code. It is the perfect tool for beginners to website building. Pros: Intuitive interface that is easy-to-use. Domains, DDoS protection, and key website features are included for free. Ability to convert websites into business apps. Overall an affordable software for what it offers. Cons: A newer software means that it still lacks certain features. Limited Design templates(although more are added each day). 5. Weebly (Square Online) Weebly, also known as Square Online, is one of the simplest website builders that you could use. Meant for beginners, Weebly is perfect for those small businesses that aren’t exactly tech-savvy. It can go head-to-head withthe Appy Pie Website when it comes to ease of use. Pros: Intuitive interface that is easy to use. Good eCommerce options for businesses looking to sell online. Fair pricing for what it offers. Good APIs to make your website better. Cons: Limited customization for templates. Can feel a little incomplete compared to the other options on this list. No support for multilingual websites 6. Webflow Webflow is one of the best website builders you can get your hands on. It is the preferred choice for those businesses that do a lot of client work and are looking for software to build client websites. Pros: A powerful software with a lot of customizability. Excellent CMS for those looking to blog. Good software for freelance website designers. Cons: Tough learning curve. Not meant for beginners. Overwhelming interface 7. Shopify Shopify is a specialized website builder. It is for small businesses that want to create an eCommerce store to sell their products online. Combined with Shopify’s payment infrastructure, Shopify can be a perfect fit for your small business. Pros: Perfect for businesses already using Shopify’s payment platform. Excellent app store that tailors to unique eCommerce requirements. An Intuitive interface that is easy and fun. Innovative features can help take your eCommerce store to the next level. Cons: It can take time to learn due to its unique use case. Not suited for websites other than eCommerce stores. Simpler alternatives exist (Squarespace, Appypie) 8. GoDaddy Originally a domain host, GoDaddy also offers a website builder. While it is not as good as the other options, its USP lies in the various online marketing tools it offers. Pros: Easy-to-Use, intuitive, and perfect for beginners. Domains are easy to get through GoDaddy. Responsive themes and interesting templates help make attractive websites. A Plethora of inbuilt marketing tools such as CRM, email, and social media management are perfect for small businesses. Cons: Extremely limited customization. Not suited for eCommerce websites. No app store for APIs and more. Despite all tools, SEO is very limited in functionality. 9. BigCommerce BigCommerce is an alternative to Shopify. It can be used to create dedicated eCommerce websites. If you are a larger business looking to get online, BigCommerce can be better than Shopify. Pros: Suited for larger brick n mortar businesses. Perfect for large-scale eCommerce websites. People looking for Shopify alternatives can try it out. A good working app store makes it a good choice. Cons: Shopify is better in every way for small businesses. Payment processing available as a plugin for WordPress, means that you don’t need to make an eCommerce store on BigCommerce. Can be difficult and clunky to use. 10. Webnode Webnode is one of the more interesting ones on the list. Unlike other website builders, it was created just for simple small businesses. Its strength lies in its simplicity. However, that is also its biggest weakness. Pros: An amazing free plan makes it a must-try! Excellent themes help you make attractive websites. Great SEO makes it easier to rank online. Cons: Not suited for larger websites. Bad for eCommerce. Customization is difficult. 11. Google Sites Google Sites is an interesting inclusion in this list. While it is a relatively poor website builder, the fact that it is completely free is an important factor to consider. There are no paid plans for Google Sites. Despite its relative lack of features and designs, Google Sites are good for creating online user guides and manuals for products for free. Do check it out if you really just want a simple website. Pros: Completely free-to-use. Integrates well with other Google software. Cons: Limited themes and layouts. Misses out on the most basic of features. Conclusion That was our list of the top website builders for the year 2022. Take your business to the next level and get on the website bandwagon today! Start building your dream website with one of the 11 tools and software mentioned in this list. Good Luck!

11 Best AI Website Builders for Small Business in 2023

Founders at Work: 150+ YCombinator Founders’ Stories

So you have a fantastic product or even a collection that you are ready to sell online. You know it is going to fly off the shelves and let you make a grand entrance into the world of eCommerce. But wait! Are you sure you know how to choose the best platform to set up your online store? Of course, you can choose to invest big time and create an eCommerce website from scratch, but is that something you want to funnel your money in at this stage? If not, here’s an excellent alternative for you - eCommerce website builders.  eCommerce website builders are a great way to get your business online without having to learn any code. They are also quite affordable and can be used by anyone with basic computer skills and just an internet-connected device. Before we move further, let us first get familiar with the terminology. *: Disclaimer I am currently employed by Appy Pie as a search manager and thus have a vested interest in the Appy Pie products mentioned in the article. However, this article reflects my unbiased and genuine opinions about every product mentioned in the article.* What are eCommerce website builders? An eCommerce website builder is a tool that allows you to build your own website without any coding knowledge. It’s like a WYSIWYG editor, but for websites. You can drag and drop elements on the page, change colors and fonts, add images or videos – all from within the software interface. The best eCommerce website builders are intuitive and easy to use. They allow you to create an online store without any specialized technical skills! This makes them perfect for people who want to start their own business but don’t have the time to learn to do it themselves or the money to hire web developers. Typically a website builder has a pretty flat learning curve and requires no special training to use them. The idea behind eCommerce website builders is to let even the complete beginners create a professional-looking site in minutes! Benefits of eCommerce website builders An eCommerce website lets you establish your online presence and expand your audience, among other things. Here’s a quick look at the major benefits of using an eCommerce website builder to create an eCommerce website. - The eCommerce website builder is a great way to start your online business. It gives you the ability to create an online store and sell products or services directly from your own website without paying any commissions to anyone. Sell directly without commissions - You can build an eCommerce website in less than 10 minutes without any coding knowledge. No coding needed - The eCommerce website builder allows you to build a professional-looking online store without hiring a web developer or designer. No need to hire special resources - Creating an eCommerce website is highly time and money-efficient with no-code eCommerce website builders. Save time and money - You need not start creating websites from scratch, as eCommerce website builders offer you various editable templates to create websites. Use templates How to design an eCommerce website without coding? There are several no-code website builder platforms available online. You can choose the one that caters best to your business needs. Once you choose the right builder, follow the steps given below to design your own eCommerce website. First, enter a name for your eCommerce website that truly resonates with your brand’s image and has a high recall value. Then, select the theme of your website as per your target audience so that they can easily relate to the products and services you offer. Second, choose a website template to give a professional look to your eCommerce website that can be easily edited. Customize your website template by modifying its color palette, adding a header and footer, the logo of your brand, and other elements you want in your eCommerce website. Finally, preview your eCommerce website, update the changes and publish your website to reach a global audience. However, before any of these steps, you must first choose the right eCommerce website builder. We have listed the top 5 eCommerce website builders to help you make the right choice. Top 5 eCommerce website builders in 2022 WooCommerce BigCommerce Weebly Appy Pie Website Builder Wix 1. WooCommerce WooCommerce is a free e-commerce plugin that allows you to create an eCommerce website and sell anything online. It is the most popular e-commerce solution in use today, powering over 30% of all online stores. WooCommerce comes with many features, including: – Create an unlimited number of products and product categories on your eCommerce website. You can add custom fields to your products, such as pricing, taxonomies, attributes, and more. Product catalog and management – Allow customers to customize their orders by adding extra options like colors or sizes. Product customization – Set up shipping rates based on location and weight for each product individually or by category. Shipping & tax options – Accept payments from any country worldwide using one of our many supported payment gateways (including Stripe). Payment gateways 2. BigCommerce BigCommerce is a leading eCommerce platform that allows you to create an online store and sell products. BigCommerce has been around since 2009 and has over 300,000 merchants using their platform. It has the following features: : BigCommerce is one of the most accessible platforms to use for building your own eCommerce website as it has a simple and crisp user interface. Easy-to-understand : You can choose from thousands of pre-designed themes or create one yourself with a drag-and-drop eCommerce website builder tool. Drag-n-drop editor : BigCommerce allows you to add features like social sharing buttons, product reviews, wishlists, etc., to your website to enrich the customer experience. Multiple features : BigCommerce also offers 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat during business hours. Customer support 3. Weebly Weebly eCommerce website builder has a drag and drop interface, a WYSIWYG editor and is one of the simplest ways to build an eCommerce website. It is an easy-to-use website builder that allows you to create a professional-looking website without any experience in web design or coding. : Weebly is a freemium model website builder. It offers all the features you would expect from a professional eCommerce website builder without burning a hole in your pocket. Cost-efficient : The Weebly interface is very easy to use, even for novices. You do not even need any technical knowledge to build your own eCommerce website with Weebly. Easy-to-use interface : There are hundreds of templates available for creating web pages for eCommerce websites. You can create as many pages as you want on your website, and each page can have its own unique design and layout. Hundreds of templates : There are tools available within the Weebly interface that make the web building process much easier than it would otherwise be. The drag-and-drop feature makes it really simple for anyone with little to no experience in eCommerce web development. Multiple useful tools 4. Appy Pie’s Website Builder Appy Pie’s website builder is an online free no-code eCommerce website builder that lets you create websites without coding. Irrespective of your technical and coding knowledge, you can design an eCommerce website on your own. Appy Pie’s website builder has the following features: : All the eCommerce websites built on Appy Pie’s platform have minimal loading time and take even less than a few seconds to load. This lets you deliver a seamless customer experience. Lightweight and fast eCommerce website : Appy Pie’s website builder lets you create websites with some features that can also work in offline mode. It helps you build eCommerce websites that can deliver content even with a 2G connection. Offline capabilities : Appy Pie offers numerous editable templates that can be easily used to create eCommerce websites. You can personalize it as per your brand’s color palette, target audience, and other elements to boost your online presence. Customizable templates : Appy Pie is fully compliant with the strictest security standards. All the eCommerce websites built on this platform are hosted on a secure AWS cloud space to assure data security and privacy. Safe and secure : Creating your eCommerce website is easy with Appy Pie’s eCommerce website builder, as it has a highly intuitive and user-friendly interface. Intuitive user interface 5. Wix With Wix website builder, you don’t need any coding experience to build an eCommerce website. You just need to pick one of the many available templates and customize it with your own images and text to create an eCommerce website. Wix has the following features: : Wix offers hundreds of professionally designed templates, including mobile-responsive themes for your business, blog, or personal site. Hundreds of templates : Wix provides built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your eCommerce site for search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo! and more. You can also add a meta description, keywords, and title tags directly from the editor. SEO friendly : When you sign up for Wix Website Builder, you get a free .com domain name (or .co if you prefer) for your eCommerce website. Free domain name : If you ever have any questions about using the platform or need help getting started building your eCommerce website, a 24/7 support team via live chat or phone call is available for your assistance. 24/7 customer support Conclusion You can easily create your eCommerce website with the help of any of the eCommerce website builders available online. You must research well before deciding which eCommerce website builder to use. Study your target audience, and then choose a website builder before creating a website in just a few minutes. So, what’s the holdup? Create your eCommerce website now! *: Disclaimer I am currently employed by Appy Pie as a search manager and thus have a vested interest in the Appy Pie products mentioned in the article. However, this article reflects my unbiased and genuine opinions about every product mentioned in the article.*

5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builders in 2022

The tools we use to create website designs have consistently evolved and changed over the years. To help businesses choose the right web design software, we’ve made a concise and easy-to-understand guide for you. The softwares within this list were chosen based on popularity, functionality, ease-of-use, and pricing. Without further ado, let’s jump right into it! WordPress Squarespace Weebly Shopify Appy Pie Website Builder Wix Constant Contact Webflow Gimp Adobe Photoshop Adobe XD BootStrap Flutter 1. WordPress Often considered the godfather of web design, WordPress powers nearly 30% of the internet’s websites. WordPress’ fame is proof of how excellent their web design tool is. WordPress is the best website design tool for beginners. It is easy to create a website with WordPress and you find hundreds of tutorials and courses online to help you do the same. WordPress can be used to create websites without coding. However, if you want to add plugins you may need to code a little bit. WordPress offers two kinds of web design software. One is wordpress.org and the other is wordpress.com. Wordpress.com is a complete website building solution whereas wordpress.org requires you to host the website yourself although it gives you the freedom to design a website as you want. More about WordPress: : No-Code/Low-Code Type of Platform : $3-$55/month (wordpress.org is free) Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates Suited for : Websites Used for 2. Squarespace Squarespace is an extremely sophisticated website building tool. It helps create modern, well-designed websites within a few clicks. What sets Squarespace apart is its user-focused and secure website builder. It can help create the most dynamic and attractive websites. Squarespace uses a template-based builder format. It is well known for its excellent customer support and is the preferred builder of choice for bloggers and vloggers. More about Squarespace: : No-Code Type of Platform : $12-$40/month billed annually Pricing Plan : Beginners Suited for : Websites Used for 3. Weebly Weebly is another popular tool for building websites. Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder that can be used to build a website with no fuss. Weebly is easy-to-use and has a very intuitive interface. Weebly is a no-nonsense web design tool and offers an attractive and simple pricing package. Weebly also offers a consistent stream of fresh website designs, everyone will love to use. They also provide a large library of themes. More about Weebly: : No-Code Type of Platform : $0-$25/month Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates Suited for : Websites Used for 4. Shopify Shopify is another popular web design tool. Unlike the other tools on this list, Shopify is a dedicated website builder for eCommerce websites. Shopify eCommerce builder provides an intuitive drag and drop builder to create professional websites for eCommerce business. Combined with Shopify’s payment processing software, it makes for a simple and excellent eCommerce website builder that is perfect for small businesses. More about Shopify: : No-Code Type of Platform : $29-$299 Pricing Plan : Beginners/intermediates/Professionals Suited for : eCommerce Used for 5. Appy Pie Website Builder Appy Pie Website Builder is a new web design tool in the market. Appy Pie is a well-known brand in the mobile app development industry. They specialize in creating no-code software that allows the creation of business apps and websites without coding. Their unique website builder can create dedicated business websites and progressive web apps without coding even a single line. Appy Pie lets users create a complete website without ever needing to edit or use the source code. Their website also comes with in-built analytics and SEO tools to help grow your website. More about Appy Pie: : No-Code Type of Platform : $0-$25/month Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates/Professionals Suited for r: Websites/PWA Used fo 6. Wix Wix is one of the largest website building software tools available online. Wix is known for its vast theme and design libraries. Wix directly competes with WordPress and powers nearly 7% of the world’s internet websites. Wix, however, has a complex learning curve and takes some getting used to. Once you understand its features, Wix can help you create some of the most innovative web designs. The only drawback is its complicated pricing structure and the sheer number of hidden costs that come with it. More about Wix: : No-Code/Low-Code Type of Platform : Varies by Region (Over 9 Unique plans per region) Pricing Plan : Professionals Suited for : Websites/PWA Used for 7. Constant Contact Constant Contact is a popular email marketing software. However, the brand also offers a competent website builder. Constant Contact is good for building small business eCommerce websites. With its plethora of email marketing tools, marketing your website is a piece of cake. However, the builder is fairly basic and is suited for people that want to make generic web designs. More about Constant Contact: : No-Code/Low-Code Type of Platform : $0-$25/month Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates Suited for : eCommerce Used for 8. Webflow Our last website building tool on this list, Webflow is a hosting and website design software. It lets you create some of the best business websites possible. Webflow is a design software that is suited to almost every demographic. Webflow is both a code-heavy and no-code builder. What this means is that, if you want to code your website, you have the freedom to do so.  Webflow provides the website code in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and gives users complete freedom to design their website as they want. More about Webflow: : No-Code/Low-Code/Normal Code Type of Platform : Starts at $12 (Enterprises have custom rates) Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates/Professionals Suited for : Websites/PWA Used for 9. Gimp Moving to other aspects of web design, we come to an often ignored but equally important element of web design. Creating visually appealing website graphics must be taken care of. Gimp is one of the best graphic design software you can use for designing your website graphics. From blog images to product page photos, GIMP can be used to make anything you want for your website. The best part is that GIMP is completely free to use. More about Gimp: : Graphic Design Software Type of Platform : Free Pricing Plan : Beginners/Intermediates Suited for : Web Graphics Used for 10. Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is another popular tool (it is no surprise that it makes our list!). Photoshop is excellent for making website graphics for your business. The only drawback to Photoshop is the exploitative pricing Adobe offers. It is more suited for businesses with larger budgets and dedicated design teams. More about Photoshop: : Graphic Design Software Type of Platform n: Starts at $20.99/month Pricing Pla : Professionals Suited for : Web Graphics Used for 11. Adobe XD Adobe XD is an underrated software. It is a graphic design software specially designed for creating website graphics. XD is meant for team collaboration. XD allows for multiple designers to work on a design together helping design teams around the world. Everything from web page design to infographics can be created with ease on XD. However, it suffers from the same problems that Photoshop does. Adobe’s exploitative pricing makes it fit only for larger organizations with dedicated design teams. More about XD: : Graphic Design Software Type of Platform : $9/month/user Pricing Plan : Professionals Suited for : Web Graphics Used for 12. BootStrap Bootstrap is a unique website design tool. Its sole purpose is to help businesses create mobile-friendly websites and progressive web apps. Bootstrap is meant for people with limited coding knowledge and it allows users to create websites with HTML5. More about Bootstrap: : PWA Website Builder Type of Platform : Free Pricing Plan : Intermediates/Professionals Suited for : PWAs Used for 13. Flutter Flutter is another platform like Bootstrap that is best suited to design PWAs for the web. Flutter is completely free and one of the easiest website-building platforms you can find. Flutter is best for businesses that want a website or app but lack the budget to make either using the other software given on our list. With it, you can build a PWA for free! You can even create native mobile apps! More about Flutter: : Website/App Builder Type of Platform : Free Pricing Plan : Professionals Suited for : PWA, Website, Apps Used for Conclusion That was our list of the best web design software that you can get today. Each of the tools can help your business create a unique online presence. There are more web design tools not included in the list. Whatever tool you choose for your business website, remember that the only true limit to good web design is your imagination. Good luck!

Top 13 Professional Web Design Software & Tools for Beginners

Image: Source Blogging is hugely popular today, with the internet playing host to around and blog writers, collectively releasing over 2 million blog posts every day. And blogs are no longer just the preserve of people who couldn’t start a radio show about their hobby. They’re used for a whole range of purposes, from sharing musings on the latest political developments to driving sales for corporate brands. 500 million blogs If you’re thinking about starting a blog, you’ll find an ocean’s worth of articles about how to choose your topic, set your blogging frequency, and establish your blogging style, but there’s a lot less attention paid to choosing a blogging platform. Yet, this is an important consideration because different platforms are best suited for different purposes. “If you want to start a personal blog to share your thoughts and experiences, you’re completely fine going with a free blogging platform, like Medium or Blogger,” noted marketing thought leader Neil Patel in a recent article . “However, if you want to make money blogging, you have to be careful. Most free platforms don’t let you monetize your blog.” about selecting a blogging platform There are probably about as many different blogging platforms as there are blogging objectives, and what matters is finding the platform that best suits your purposes. It’s nowhere near as simple as searching for “the best” platform because there is no objective “best platform” – only the best platform for your situation as it stands right now. As a case in point, look at Hacker Noon itself. In a nutshell, Hacker Noon began on the Medium.com platform, but as circumstances changed, it had to leave, crowdfunded the development of its own blogging platform, and here you are, reading an article on the independent Hacker Noon blog. Learning from what happened here In the beginning, as Hacker Noon founder David Smooke tells it, Medium made it easy for people to set up their own publications on the platform. Each writer could have their own account and publish through it to different publications within Medium, which was perfect for Hacker Noon. Hacker Noon grew a community as a publisher on Medium, supporting itself with an unobtrusive co-sponsored top banner. It was exactly what Smooke wanted. “The community aspect of this is really what’s grown it because all the content is owned by the community — the individual community members,” said Smooke , “we have a non-exclusive license to publish here.” about the platform arrangement But then it all ground to a crashing halt. Medium blocked Hacker Noon’s revenue stream by forbidding them from accepting advertising income and stopped Hacker Noon from running content under a non-exclusive license by insisting that content be placed behind Medium’s paywall. Hacker Noon needed revenue and wanted to continue as an open community, so Smooke had to choose between selling out to Medium, closing down, or moving to a self-hosted platform. image: Source Smooke made the leap and chose to move. “It’s a tough pivot. It changed my entire life,” Smooke said. “I mean, I bet my business on this content management system and trusted that area of the technology was taken care of and I could focus on growing the site, getting better content, building a better community, looking at having events, having a community forum, and just …It was nice to not have to worry about what the content management system will do.” One positive takeaway from the Hacker Noon saga is that choosing a platform doesn’t need to be a one-and-done decision. Sometimes your objectives change with time, tech platforms can change their terms of service, and sometimes you simply make the wrong decision, but all is not lost. Like Smooke, you can pivot and correct the situation, even if you already have an established blog. But obviously, it’s best to get your platform right from the beginning. If you’re thinking of launching a blog, consider your objectives to help you select the platform that’s best suited to your needs. Let’s break it all down according to the use case. Cultivate an owned media empire When you want to build an online revenue stream with any number of coming through your website, it’s crucial to set up a fully integrated blog that serves your commerce model. monetization options Integrated blogs are an effective way of establishing or supporting any kind of business, be it B2B or B2C, selling products or services, trading digital or physical goods, etc. You could use it to sell ad space or as a way to attract leads. A fully self-owned blog enables you to establish a media following, scaling up to sell paid subscriptions and membership plans and sending blog posts as email newsletters, or to nurture an online community of like-minded tribespeople who all share their thoughts and input. Image: Source If someone else is hosting your blog, or if your blog is somewhat siloed from whatever your business is, then you’re just adding friction. And if your blog lives on a different domain from your business, then you’re missing out on the potential for your articles’ search rankings to improve your business’s ability to surface on Google. Whatever your monetization strategy might be, the blog itself must be totally under your control. That means you own all your visitor data and email list, can set retargeting pixels at will, run experiments, own the , and can integrate the content audience experience with the commerce buyer’s journey. entire process of capturing and nurturing leads Total design control is no less important. You need the freedom to brand your blog however you like. Match your branding to your business site to create a seamless user experience and marry content with commerce. For these situations, the best option is a self-hosted blog platform. WordPress.org is the standard choice since it can support both business sites and blogs while leaving you to choose your host, fully manage, and own your content database and front end. If you’re willing to tinker with the code, there are no limits to your customization options, and even code-free users can choose between plenty of different themes and plugins that offer a huge range of functionalities, although many do incur costs. Plus, you can set user permissions at different levels for different visitors, which helps when growing a community. Drupal is also a good choice. It’s similar to WordPress in that it’s self-hosted and fully customizable with lots of functionalities, but it has a steeper learning curve and requires coding knowledge. However, if you have the tech know-how, it’s a more advanced and secure platform than WordPress. If you want to use your media empire to attract and convert business, and you already have a business site, it’s best to use your existing website hosting platform to host your blog. For smaller businesses, especially those in the e-commerce realm, DIY platforms like Shopify or Weebly can be attractive, although their hosted-for-you, black-box tech might be too limiting for large brands. Either way, these all-in-one platforms leave you with solid control over your marketing and sales funnels, interface designs, commerce capabilities and tool integration. Promote your brand on rented land Blogging is an excellent way to promote your brand, no matter what your vertical, audience, or business model. Having an offsite blog allows you to build your own inbound links for SEO, enabling you to build brand awareness and drive traffic to your business site using “rented land". In these situations, the fact that your blog posts are separate and non-branded is a bonus, because it adds credibility and drives organic traffic. Links to blog posts from independent blogging domains can raise your presence on SERPs, both thanks to link juice pointing to your owned media presence and thanks to having more messaging on other domains, as a type of “shared media.” Image: Source Make no mistake, though – even in these situations, you still want to maximize your control over and visibility into visitor data. You need to be able to analyze it to track conversion rates, clickthrough rates, views, and engagement, so you can see what’s working and what needs improvement. CMS Hub, Hubspot’s CMS platform, is designed expressly for raising brand awareness. It integrates all your marketing campaigns and offers powerful built-in analytics. Its capabilities are strong, and you can use it on any domain, but it is a “walled garden,” and an expensive one at that. Another consideration is a platform that makes it easy to share posts to social media and integrate social media feeds and posts, to coordinate campaigns that raise visibility. Tumblr is ideal for connecting media streams, with plenty of tools to help you share and reshare content across multiple networks. However, guest blogging also plays an important role when promoting your brand. It brings you before more eyes, especially when you post to multi-author contributor publications like Business2Community, Thrive Global, or Hacker Noon itself. LinkedIn Publisher and Medium also deserve mentions in this context, as they’re both easy-to-use hybrids of social media and blogging platforms. Admittedly, these aren’t true “blogging platforms” that you can own and control. Customization options are low and you’ll only have limited access to data, but as an adjunct to an owned blog, they are great places for building awareness, driving traffic, and strengthening SEO signals. They give you a stage and introduce you to an audience that can go on to follow your posts and subscribe to your social media presence. Share your creative expression The lion’s share of blogs launch with zero intention to monetize, but simply as a form of expression. You might wish to run a personal blog that airs your views on the political situation, the weather, or the price of Crocs; or you can share creative projects like photography, scrapbooking, knitting, or party planning. If you’re primarily sharing visual media, you’ll need a platform that’s tailored to the right layouts and has the bandwidth to support heavy media files. If building an audience is important to you, easy shareability to social media is another consideration. Depending on your interests, you may want to connect a lot of social media channels, including more specialist ones like Pinterest, Discord or Ravelry, which might not be integrated natively into every blog platform. Unless your hobby is running code, you probably need something that’s easy to set up and use and doesn’t demand a lot of expertise or tech knowledge, with drag and drop editors and built-in SEO tools to make your blog and store more discoverable. You’ll also need to think about how important it is to be able to customize your blog. Finally, most hobby bloggers need to keep costs down as much as possible. Blogger or Write.as are the most popular “beginner” blog platforms, because they are both free and extremely easy to use, with DIY design and easy editing tools. But they aren’t great for visual blogs, and customization is limited. Wordpress.com, which is the simplified and hosted-for-you version of WordPress.org, is also free, easy, and suitable for blogs that are primarily text-oriented and don’t need robust customization. Image: Source When it comes to visual media, Squarespace leads the way, together with Wix. Both are easy to use with social media integrations, plenty of customization options, and free plans, although you’ll probably need a paid plan to get all the functionality you need. Tumblr is also great for visual-oriented and/or microblogs, offering easy tools to help you curate content across multiple media channels. Bear in mind that even if you begin your blog as a hobby and don’t care much about monetization or discoverability, that can change. These platforms are great for getting started, but as proven by Hacker Noon’s journey, you can re-platform later when you need more customization, monetization or control. Some platforms offer content export tools to help you move to a new home, including WordPress.com, which offers native tools to migrate to WordPress.org. The right blogging platform is your foundation for success Whether you want to raise brand awareness and reputation, establish a versatile owned media realm with plenty of monetization options, or share your thoughts or visual images, there’s a blogging platform that meets your needs. Price, customization, monetization opportunities, and ease of use all play a role, and there are enough options that you’re guaranteed to find something that’s best for your purposes.

Which Blogging Platform is Right For You?

Covid-19 has affected businesses and economies all over the world. A few industries have experienced an economic downturn and will take time to recover. But, fortunately, there are a few sectors that are experiencing a boom during COVID and have the potential to go from strength to strength. In this article, I'll share the industries that are doing well during COVID-19 & are more likely to perform well after the pandemic. 1. Online Rental Business Rental business is on top of my list. Customers prefer renting over buying options. There are multiple niche business ideas that you can start in the rental industry. The rental business is on top of my list. Customers prefer renting over buying options. There are multiple niche business ideas that you can start in the rental industry. Here are a few popular industries in the rental business: P2P car rental business Gym, fitness equipment rental Bike/cycle rental Travel gear rental Online furniture rental Peer 2 Peer workspace rental Textbook rental marketplace How to start an online rental business? You can start a rental business from scratch or with a ready-made solution like . Based on my experience, a ready-made is a cost-effective and quick way to get started. With a ready to use solution, you can save money & time and it takes away all of the pain. YoRent Yo!Rent comes with many advanced features such as free technical support, free installation, both selling & renting options, and much more. A few rental software give you live demos that show a clear picture of your business website/store. Turo, Cort, LE TOTE, Chegg are a few popular players in the rental industry. 2. Online Food Delivery Business Ordering food online has become a part of our daily routine. Nowadays, people prefer to order food online from a  multi-restaurant marketplace rather than visiting a particular restaurant. Food delivery businesses such as Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Deliveroo are one of the popular names in the online food delivery & ordering industry. How to start a food delivery business? Having just a website or a mobile app with basic features is not sufficient for food ordering & delivery businesses. For this you need to partner with the right technology solution provider to launch your online food ordering & delivery marketplace platform. Readymade solutions jam-packed with all the advanced features and functionalities such as YoYumm, DeliverLogic is ideal solution to launch your food delivery business similar to UberEats, Grubhub, etc. 3. E-commerce Store According to AdobeAnalytics report, U.S online sales increased 49% in April 2020 over the prior year. Online eCommerce industry is growing day by day. Now after covid19 people’s buying behavior has changed. Consumers love to shop online rather than visiting the physical store. How to Start an eCommerce business? To create a website like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba; there are many website builders or e-commerce software (including both single vendor or multi-vendor marketplace) which you can choose for them. Shopify, YoKart, Volusion are a few popular e-Commerce marketplace platforms . You can choose one of them as per your business requirements. 4. Blogging Blogging is also a good business idea to start in 2020. Many bloggers earn a decent income through their blogs. With blogging, you can sell your products, services, earn money from affiliate marketing, and also have an option to do online consultancy service to your clients. Blogging is a great way to increase your networking with other professionals. How to start blogging? It’s easier to start a blog in 2020. There are many online tutorials available over the internet. You need to choose a platform such as WordPress, Blogspot, Wix, Weebly, etc. As per my observation, WordPress is the best platform to start a blog. It gives you multiple plugins which save your time and also help to easily handle your blog. 5. e-Learning As per statistics shared by Forbes, the global e-learning market is expected to reach $325 billion by 2025. As per the Coursera survey, the e-learning industry is booming and it also creates new opportunities. Users are going online across the entire world; users’ behavior has shifted to online so it’s a good chance to start an e-learning business. Udemy, Coursera, and Verbling are a few top players in this industry. As per my opinion, it’s the best time to kick start your e-learning business. How to Start an e-Learning Business? My recommendation is to go with a ready-made solution. It will help you to build a feature-rich website. Wrap Up Hopefully, I have covered the businesses which have strong potential to earn revenue. You can pick the idea depending upon your skills & personal interest. Which business ideas do you prefer to choose amid Covid19? Let me know in the comment section below.

Easy to Start Online Business Ideas: Post COVID-19 Business Opportunities

Technology at its purest form should be beneficial to humanity. It should make our lives easier. It shouldn't be used for evil implications. I don't want to go on a whole philosophical rant here, but some things seem needed. A while ago, Netflix have released a film called that puts underage girls, essentially younger than preteens in highly suggestive positions. The film received 3 out of 10 stars from over 25k ratings on IMDB, and wasn't widely well liked. However, Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 87%, and Meta Critic a 67%. Meta Critic's users, however, gave it a 9% or 0.9, while Rotten Tomatoes' was at a 15%. "Cuties" The movie has been rated as MA. It mentions highly suggestive sexual themes, and numerous warnings for sex and nudity. This makes one think that Netflix in itself may have run an adult film. I don't want to get into details on what this film has and the dangers of this, as I think the answer is obvious and I want to keep this Hackernoon article PG. Netflix even given that the original artwork for the film was extremely inappropriate. Given the backlash, instead of removing the film from their platform and taking it as a loss, Netflix seems to still have the film on their platform. The film is now even being called by some "mainstream critics" as a potential . Hulu, which is one of Netflix's main competitors, also have been known to make other types of films with suggestive themes for a younger intended audience. The same applies to HBO Max. apologized Oscar nominee To stay out of politics for this article, I suggest you look at some of the recent film releases and perhaps you would understand what I mean. Regardless, it makes no sense that big tech companies are either alienating half their audiences or releasing films that ultimately cross fairly all ethical boundaries. Business-wise it makes no sense, and it is still immoral. There are reasons why I think Roku which is a device not streaming service is now hugely competitive to Netflix. Also, services like , , and are now experiencing surges in users. Plex TV Pure Flix CuriosityStream Outside of streaming companies, other players in big tech made similar mistakes. Let us look at social networks for example. have been getting grilled by both sides of the political spectrum. Regardless of where you stand, 2019 and 2020 have been the years of . Networks like Minds, Ello, Gab, Parler, Peepeth, Locals, etc. have been growing in popularity. Minds.com, Gab and Parler are among the biggest. Twitter and Facebook alternative social networks I myself have been working on social network alternatives since 2012. Most of them have currently been defunct or on hold for much bigger things. I also been interested in blockchain and cryptocurrency since 2011. This is important in regards to the next things I will say. One of the biggest reasons I worked on my or started , was my belief that decentralized and grid computing over centralized entities can evidently be used for the greater good. decentralized-internet SDK Lonero Privacy and intellectual diversity are very important things, and free speech champions intellectual diversity. Instead of silencing, we need to greatly debunk and rely on the fact that generally people should be intellectually capable of thinking for themselves. When big players in social media have the ability to control what should be seen and unseen, and they carry a certain monopoly on things, this may give them special abilities to do stuff with your data that were otherwise not thought of before. Also, the rise of many of these platforms can have some consequences that were not intended for in the beginning. Personally, I have talked about some of these problems numerous times before on Hackernoon. This includes for companies like Google as well. Generally, I think Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey aren't to be looked at as bad people. However, they should at the very least look at what they done, sit back and think if this is really what they wanted for the world. I'm writing this article on November 19th. I don't know when it will be published. It is Jack Dorsey's birthday. He is pro-bitcoin (so he claims) and runs a . I'm an anarcho-capitalist. Political beliefs aside, I'm not saying forcefully shut everything down. I'm saying is this really what was intended when Twitter was created? I think the guy behind Square who acquired Weebly, has some ideas that can be useful and some not so much. I do think though Jack can strive for better. charity fund Also, didn't Mark Zuckerberg recently just speak at Georgetown University in regards to free speech? Isn't he the same guy claiming to make the world more connected? The question now relies on what are the solutions to all this? Facebook and Twitter are private companies. However, Facebook has its own political , and was involved in the now infamous . The government needs to push for deregulation instead of more regulations so things like this doesn't happen again. Also, if you are looking for a neutral social network perhaps considering an alternative. PAC Cambridge Analytica scandal As for Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, I do have somewhat of a belief that they may start trying to take an action on improving their platforms. That belief is slim and partially due to the fact that what has happened does have some negative offsets on their business. Regardless, I hope they strive for better and it is really up to them. While I personally have a negative outlook on the whole situation, and even a bit towards them, I also consider the fact that perhaps this wasn't their original intention. What has been brought however, was brought upon themselves.

Technology: It Was Meant To Be Humanity's Best Friend, Not Worst Enemy

Today everybody talks and thinks about keeping up and surviving in a dynamically changing world. Changes have caught us on the hop, and social isolation is a new normal. But we can’t isolate ourselves from each other at all and forever. Humans are social and tribal beings. We want to help businesses grasp the challenge and provide a more stable future for all consumer chain participants: sellers, customers, and servicing staff. Given this, we picked up insights from market representatives, sales, marketers, and manufacturers who shared their opinions and tips on dealing in a changing world. And also, we will take a word to add our opinion on digital solutions. How today’s global economy changes influenced businesses Activity in many sectors tends to drop during the pandemic recession in 2020. The most exposed to the corona impact turned out to be highly human-dependent industries such as consumer services, leisure and hospitality, transportation, education, manufacturing, and others. In the US, unemployment climbed to an unprecedented 14,7% rate. Wholesale and retail are in the zone sensitive to economic shakes with 17% of down. Despite the decline in investment expenditure in many sectors, we saw a leap forward in particular areas where software spendings tend to grow since early April. An increase of demand is in video conference apps, team collaboration, task and time management tools, online talent hubs, e-learning platforms, healthcare automation, and management solutions, electronic document management, intelligent supply chain, online delivery apps, online lending platforms, and others. Consumer-retailer interactions have altered shifting to more contactless with a surge of going online of many brick-and-mortar businesses. Even manufacturers settled at home. The remote work frequency in the US went up from since the pandemic (McKinsey). As communication and socialization went online, remote collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack, and TeamViewer are blooming along with messengers and social platforms. 2 to 61% , Director of Marketing and Events at Prestige Imports, says about retention and special care of their international clients trying to provide far more luxurious cars: Mariann Marinberg “Retention is incredibly important. To invest in acquiring clients is a primary focus for us and every business. We never shut down. We ensured conveniences for our clients, feeding up communities to continue keep in touch, arranging the education of new clients on our products and services, because Miami is the second home for most of our clients.” Beliefs of , Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Thern, Inc., are around a quick recovery of the manufacturing sector due to the precautions taken by the leadership. John Lund “The number one priority for the post-pandemic period is the ability to respond to a rebound in orders and revenue-generating activity. Many manufacturers have laid off or furloughed employees. As the economy comes back, it will likely come back very quickly, rather than little by little as seen in past economic downturns. Manufacturers must have a solid “return to work” program in place, weeks before seeing the shift in order patterns.” It entails digitization. Digitization in the most vulnerable sites in the business where overmanual operations are unjustified. The global industry reality is as above. I want to take the floor on the issue. Let’s talk more closely about the shift from human interaction to interactive interface and how you can execute it well. Automate everything you can. Even now. Particularly now. It seems it’s too late to do anything because everything falls to pieces. However, believe us, we have been working with B2B e-commerce for over 10 years. The 2008 crisis unsettled many and made pulling their belts in a notch real hard. Many years later, we see that withstood those who had implemented automated conveniences beforehand and achieved positive results. Our clients bet on an electronic document workflow, business process automation, logistics and inventory management, mobile apps for communication with staff and customers, and software solutions to serve customers. Retail and communication tools for dealers In the USA, the indicator that a crisis occurs is that people stop buying cars. We have been working with the automotive industry for over ten years. Despite car sales in the US, dropping since the crisis, the auto market is expected to recover among the first. People eager to return to their previous life will prefer road travel for vacations as a safer way to avoid crowds and get away still. But only wishing doesn't make it so. To ensure industry recovery can help automated retail and communication tools for dealers. It will work for any industry. 38% Choose the right e-commerce platform What we have now is the unreadiness of the entire world to inaction. To correct previous mistakes is senseless. You have to do now what will work tomorrow. Implement an e-commerce system even if you sell bulks of paintings from the Louvre. Even if your goods are atypical to be sold online now, it's the new normal. It is a safe, contactless, and popular sales channel. To highlight the point, . online sales in the US jumped up to 50% in the pandemic April , Marketing Manager, ADDere Additive Manufacturing, says that a useful tool to assist business and get to profitability as quickly as possible now is an e-commerce system. Businesses should move forward to the modernization and don't get attached to legacy tools: Eric Fescenmeyer "Many industries, even in the B2B space, operate on thin margins built on large volumes. It's important to be ready to accept orders as quickly as possible. That means bringing back the workforce in a safe and economical manner and getting production systems up to speed without issues. The other side of that coin is there's also a lot of businesses sitting on a lot of inventory that wasn't able to be moved during the pandemic, so it's just as important to clear that before going forward." Small business is closer than others to be endangered. If you are small and need to take urgent measures, consider software as a service (SaaS) as a quick start because of its rapid deployment. Fast-deployed e-commerce solutions like Shopify, Wix, and Weebly have been gaining in spring 2020 due to the global contactless isolation with continuing demand on particular groups of goods. Be ready to welcome your customers streamed across digital borders. Transform to the contemporary commerce Companies were pushed to rethink business-as-usual priorities. An online grocery ordering and delivery is a common thing now. If you are a pharmacy, you probably have a website with a catalog of items. It makes sense to add a shopping and delivery option to transform it into an e-store in areas if it is legal. To implement it, you need to partner with a delivery service looking to expand its market. Locally those survived who converted to delivery. People isolated themselves in small neighbor communities and switched to the local services. For example, UberEats scaled back their foreign expansion in 8 countries ceding to local delivery services that became more adaptive to the market. Localization will work for manufacturers with suffering supply chains as well. Since some companies kept producing materials while quarantine, overproduction appeared. To overcome weaknesses in sourcing parts and services, suggests focusing on marketing to the local consumers: “Supply bases will need to be broadened with alternate, more local sources will need to be found.” Eric Expand business models The post-pandemic market expects players to be more flexible. If earlier B2C sales differed by its high-tech component, it would penetrate a B2B sales process where a personal relationship between C-Levels was dominant. Going from a B2B to the B2B2C commerce model allows you to keep it afloat and probably even grow a market share selling directly to your end users. There are ready-to-use e-commerce solutions that can help on the way of expansion. For example, SAP Commerce Cloud with a suit for B2B2C market representation can be fairly named as a recession-proof platform, Salesforce scales with self-service ordering, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) and curbside capabilities, and Magento completes the offer with a merged B2C/B2B commerce functionality. Also, a healthy choice for wholesale is adding mobile apps to pick decision-makers' pockets. It will ultimately straighten their offer and allow leverage the potential of both B2B and B2C sales with direct customer reach. ( You can read more about SAP for wholesale distribution in our article about it.) Integrate with delivery operators It is often that online purchases are on the rise now. For example, it is problematic to study and touch offline a heavy precision lathe of 1,550 lbs that costs over $20 000. The client can discover specs, have a talk with a sales consultant but don’t buy it in person. Such a special-purpose B2B company can arrange a seamless, safe purchase through an e-commerce+delivery pair. You can sell a precision lathe under payment on delivery terms. The goods will be dispatched to the delivery operator for warehousing. The client can come to the warehouse, touch it, pay off, and take it away. You say, where is automation? I say, ERP. You manage partnerships with multiple shipping carriers, control complex settlements with them eliminating steps on the customer journey, extend the market geography, scale, and get more chances to survive during a recession doing it automatically. You say, hmm, continue. I say, CRM. You record all customer data and can apply different target methods to increase loyalty and reach your target customer. Partner with vendors that solve similar issues There are a lot of turnkey solutions, but not all of them can fit your business out-of-the-box. Thus, you may need it to be tailored to your requirements. In this case, software vendors' help is highly welcomed to adapt your business rapidly to dynamic market conditions. When it is unaffordable for you to implement new or customize current software, address the companies with similar profile experience. Indeed, you have a business partner or competitor at a pinch (in this war, we all are on the same anti-COVID ship) to advise a couple of reliable vendors. Small business should adapt quickly If you are in serious trouble with your paper CRMs and ERPs, any way you have a chance to go digital and come to the surface. Being a particularly vulnerable small business is struggling to survive. It needs some ready-to-use and straightforward online solutions to cope with a new sales channel and quickly reach the customer. They must be lean. It’s time when you shift digitization improvements from a nice-to-do to a have-to-do priority. For example, a small business with no staff highly needs a management toolset to record clients’ orders. A little staffed business needs an already task assignment tool with a priority assignment feature to manage and control an implementation status following a fact-based report. I talk about ERP and CRM. Also, there are many factors at play to use third-party services like Trello, Telegram, Slack, and others to control time and task tracking automatically. In e-commerce, the must-have tools are those that automate order processing, pickup, and delivery of goods. A staffed call center is invalid both for small and large businesses. Manufacturers, don’t save on solutions Any routine should be automated. Factory-centric apps, AI-equipped, IoT robotics, automated supply chains with inventory sensors to facilitate and reduce the price of operation will come in handy for plants and retailers of any size. Sure it costs you money, but it is worth the expense in outpacing niche competitors stuck in the past with legacy thinking. Even though technological novelties are expensive, they will be cheaper than employees under rising labor costs and are more reliable in the long term. Scanners won't leave, fall sick, but will operate for a long time. "Industries that have relied on manual processes and have postponed, dodged, or completely avoided the prior threat of relying on one or two revenue streams to generate their profits will find themselves combating more nimble companies with people and processes already in place," says . Vicky Herron It will give manufacturers a portion of relief to spread revenue channels across many distribution channels, among which online B2B stores could be. Automatization of relationships with customers and resource management are therefore urgently needed. If there is ERP in disorder, then expect credit-debit disbalance. If CRM is out of order, it can turn into discounts to a client who has never bought anything. It is hard to swindle a computer; in contrast, people tend to steal and lie, particularly during heavy times. If you produce and distribute, let's say bears, why not try to sell them with a 3D product viewer through your B2B e-commerce system? Chatbots will come in handy for manufacturers to drive rapid efficiencies via intelligent conversation with equipment. Employees can inquire about supplies, capacity, delivery, and equipment metrics faster, avoiding to use multiple apps. Large business should rely on partners Large businesses shouldn’t put all eggs into one basket. The large will get an opportunity to try their partners going leaner thoroughly. Choosing technological partners, cooperate with different vendors implementing digital solutions that reduce superfluous manual labor and human errors. First things first, implement automated workflow systems, omnichannel e-commerce platforms, return options for B2B companies, and digital assistants as the core website functionality with those experienced in the topic. When the human element turns digital, gaining the client becomes harder. You are deprived of personal contact as a key factor in deals. The only thing left is a well-thought qualitative digital contact. “The information clients will be using to validate the information and establish credibility will be online. Companies that have anticipated the needs and questions of their customers and have created content that establishes their credibility will be perceived as leaders in their market,” affirms Vicky Herron. On top of the above mentioned, add the right digital face. It related to any business or industry. Final word The world will revive. We will become a hardy race after a corona stress-test. Many understood how important it is to be ready for “suddens.” Business and society had to be shifted to accepting innovations as a tool to enhance the economic efficiency of companies and enterprises. The messaging around automatization is pretty clear. Indeed, it helps to have someone to lean on now more than ever. We wish you to find a reliable strategic partner with whom it would be easier to jump through hoops whenever you move. Connect with our team on Linkedin! Maxim Ivanov, CEO at Aimprosoft

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