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Some people love horror stories and others don’t, but probably at some point, all of us have experienced a terrifying twist in life.
This inspired the SE Ranking team to reach out to SEO and marketing experts from all over the world and ask them to share some nightmare-of-a-case stories they had in their careers.
Our assumption was that since SEO is so fickle and marketing success depends on so many factors, our fellow colleagues will surely have some enticing stories to share.
Luckily, they didn’t mind dragging their skeletons out of the closet.
This article is all about mistakes that led to devastating consequences.
From lack of caution or vision to unexpected obstacles and bad luck – the reasons behind their marketing failures vary.
But fortunately, most of the stories had a happy ending.
And they all once again prove that the road to success is paved with failure.
They teach us that every mistake we make will ultimately steer us in the right direction as long as we learn the lesson and retain the necessary vigor to keep going.
Wikipedia Knowledge Graph Horror Jason Barnard, The Brand SERP Guy, Kalicube.proA warning had been on the Wikipedia article for two years.
Then early July 2023, a new warning appeared.
Two weeks later, the Wikipedia article about me had been deleted by the administrators.
Within a week, my entity had disappeared from Google’s Knowledge Graph and the knowledge panel on my personal Brand SERP had gone.
A major nightmare for someone who calls himself The Brand SERP Guy.
Worse, a week later, the Wikipedia article about my folk-punk band from the ’90s was gone.
Two days later, the article about my TV series from the ’90s was gone, too.
Seems someone at Wikipedia had it in for me.
In fact, truth be told, it was my own fault.
In the interests of experimenting to see how much I could “feed” Google’s Knowledge Graph and control the knowledge panel on my personal Brand SERP, and those of my music group and TV series, I had (over) edited all three Wikipedia articles.
Which is against the rules.
So what happened?
Read on, because this horror story actually has a redemptive ending.
I rebuilt it all, took control of the entities, learned a lot about knowledge panels, and got some amazing insights into how the Knowledge Graph functions.
Entity: Jason BarnardI panicked when the Wikipedia page was deleted and moved the structured data about me on my site from the home page to a dedicated About Page.
That turned out to be a mistake.
Once again, my own fault.
Entity: The Barking DogsThis is the folk-punk group I mentioned earlier.
There had previously been a mix-up of information in the knowledge panel due to the ambiguity of the name, but last year I had sorted it out using:
Schema.org markup on my site.
Wikipedia and Wikidata edits.
Some changes to music listings.
Some other tricks I learned along the way.
The deletion of the Wikipedia article brought back the mix-ups.
However, because of all the work I had done and the schema markup I had added, Google now saw my site as the main authority about the band.
That means I could now change things quite easily.
Including the description in the knowledge panel (updates take 10 minutes).
I had control.
Entity: Boowa & KwalaThis is the cartoon characters and TV series I mentioned earlier.
Following the deletion of the Wikipedia article about the TV series, the Knowledge Graph entity remained in place, and the information in the knowledge panel remained as-was, except the description, which disappeared.
Three weeks later that was back, but this time from my site (it has since switched to the official site).
Once again, my site and the schema markup I provide was Google’s fallback, the second-best source of information about the entity.
Once again, the deletion of the Wikipedia page gave me control.
Why Such a Disaster on My Own Name, But Not on Others?Every entity needs a “home”.
Preferably on your site.
For all the three entities, my site was the “home” – the source of information Google uses as its point of reference in the absence of a Wikipedia article.
It appears that, when a substantial piece of information about an entity such as Wikipedia disappears, that is the fallback crutch Google uses to reassure itself that the Knowledge Graph is correct.
A Lesson to LearnThe schema markup on your site that describes you and related entities is vitally important to Google in its understanding of those entities and its confidence in its understanding of those entities.
The Redemptive Ending I PromisedThe good news is that by leveraging the (rather groovy) entity-based markup provided by WordLift, in just 6 weeks I created a completely new entity in the Knowledge Graph and rebuilt the entire knowledge panel better than ever.
Google now uses my site as the reference for information about me (rather than Wikipedia).
And that means what appears in the knowledge panel is now (semi) controlled by me and no longer affected by anonymous Wikipedia editors who know nothing about me, and what information is important about me.
Brilliant!
Legacy Code a.k.a., Zombie Code Story Matthew Edgar, Technical SEO & Web Analytics Consultant, Speaker & AuthorNobody likes to see their organic traffic and rankings drop.
When a drop happens, though, you can usually figure out the cause.
An algorithm update.
A migration went wrong.
Somebody accidentally disallowed the entire site.
Etc.
But the scariest moment for me was when a client faced a traffic and rankings drop with no apparent cause.
Overnight, this client lost half their organic traffic.
The terms they had ranked highly for were simply gone.
There was no algorithm update, no changes to the website, no alterations to the content – there wasn’t even a surge in server errors (or any error) in any tool we looked at.
Competitors hadn’t changed anything either.
There was no growth in external backlinks.
Search Console wasn’t reporting a manual action.
The content was highly authoritative within this client’s industry and the company had (and still has) a strong brand reputation.
Mysteriously, overnight, this company’s organic traffic was simply gone.
Any traffic drop is scary enough but what made this a true nightmare scenario was that we couldn’t find any cause no matter where we looked.
For some unknown reason, Google decided to kick this site out of the index.
Without a cause, there wasn’t a clear place to begin recovering the traffic.
Do we start by fixing content?
Keep looking for a technical problem?
Maybe something happened with links?
Solving the Ranking Drop MysteryLike any good mystery, the solution is only to be found via careful investigation.
So, we pushed through the nightmare and kept digging.
As we dug in, we started to find some hidden and underlying problems that had been lurking on this site for years.
The phrase “legacy code” has always worried me but this project made me realize that “legacy code” is one of the scarier parts of any website.
Given how scary “legacy code” can be, we maybe ought to rename it.
Maybe “zombie code” would be more fitting?
Thankfully, this story ended well.
After months of digging, we figured out that Google’s bots had stumbled across one of the nastier legacy areas of the site and deranked the website given what they had found there.
That one bad section of the site had caused Google to reevaluate the website in a negative light.
Talk about scary – one bad mistake can cause your entire website to fall out of Google’s index.
But once that section of the site was fixed, traffic began to recover and return to normal levels.
A Lesson to LearnThe moral of the story?
Fix every problem you can and keep your website as clean as can be.
Doing so is your best way to avoid this type of nightmare scenario.
Farzad Rashidi: Endless Contacts Sheets NightmareCo-founder, Respona
Off-page SEO is no bright and sunny walk in the park.
There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of things to keep track of while building links to your site.
If you don’t have the resources for a good CRM or a structured way of keeping track of your relationships, managing the people you’ve reached out to is an absolute nightmare.
At Visme, there was a period of time when this was our worst fear: constantly reaching out to the same person twice.
Whether it was looking for a link, asking to guest post, or even a sales pitch, sometimes a contact slipped through the cracks and got the same pitch again.
We had sheets upon sheets of people that we reached out to with different statuses of contact.
Just to see if you had reached out to someone before for an opportunity in the past.
Becoming a Mindless Zombie Who Contacts the Same Person TwiceAt this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself “just ctrl-F and find the person you’re looking for.”
Yes…that’s what we did.
But when you do that for every contact you want to reach out for months and months, you really do turn into a mindless zombie.
That’s not even the scariest part, that’s only just the beginning.
Let’s say you’ve done your diligence and determined that someone is good for contact.
You send out that pitch and hope it hits the mark.
You wait…and wait…and wait, then you finally get a response.
It’s almost as if it happens in slow motion.
You open up the reply and your heart drops reading the message:
“Really man, you literally pitched this to me last week. Not interested and don’t contact us again”
That’s when the doubt starts setting in.
Did I forget to log him last time?
Did I look at the wrong sheet?
Did I use the wrong pitch?
Who knows what happened, but now all that’s left is a failed connection and an embarrassed marketer.
From here, you send that email of shame apologizing for the accidental spam hoping that the recipient doesn’t post it on LinkedIn as an example of what not to do as a digital marketer.
A Lesson to LearnThankfully, we have resolved this issue by incorporating Respona into our workflow, but what a testing time that was before then.
Don’t make the mistakes we made and get something that will help you track the people you contact day-in and day-out.
Save time and save your domain reputation.
That’s the best I can give to you.
Fatal Legal Pitfalls Craig Campbell, SEO Trainer & Consultant, Craig Campbell SEOSo my horror story that is marketing related was when I was going to launch my first ecommerce store.
After around 14 years of experience in the industry, it was time to try and make my own money.
So I did my keyword research and saw that E-cigs were going to be a big thing, there was a ton of search volume and it was easy to get a drop shipper.
Like an idiot, I got a website that was built on WordPress with WooCommerce for the ecommerce functionality.
We loaded up all of the different products and went crazy investing in links and content alongside a whole bunch of personal time managing and doing all the other things like internal links, title tags, and a whole bunch of other SEO stuff.
So after around 4-5 months of considerable investment in content and time spent doing SEO, we started to rank well and the orders were piling in.
I sat with my team and wanted to put money into paid social and PPC to accelerate the growth and also get those user engagement signals and stuff too.
Horrifying RevelationAnd in hindsight, I can understand why.
Taking payments was also a problem with PayPal being the only payment gateway prepared to allow us to take payments – again because of the type of product we were selling.
The dropshipper we found out was a guy working in his kitchen mixing up the e-liquids and started to run out of stock or got too busy to service our clients.
A Lesson to LearnThis was a catalog of errors and mistakes on my part, which made this a horrible project to work on.
In the end, I simply had to throw it all down the toilet pan – it was more trouble than it was worth.
The point here is, do your niche research and understand the business model, not just the search volume.
4. Two Stories About Sneaky Code & Dreadful Management Style Igor Kolesnikov, Head of SEO, SE RankingAt some point, every SEO specialist faces problems that surged because of what other people working with a website did.
Mistakes made by web developers, digital marketers, or project managers often impact website SEO, which is a pain.
However, over time you can develop resistance to such cases as long as you know which actions to take to remedy the situation.
I’ll share a couple of interesting stories from my personal experience of working with web developers and project managers on various projects.
A Long Time Ago in a Digital Project Far, Far Away…One major ecommerce website decides to update product pages design for a particular product category.
SEO specialists were involved in the matter at the very beginning to create a technical task and at the very end when all the changes were pushed to the live site.
Everything went fine up until the release time.
Now, you’re probably thinking that it was the trivial case of noindex used in the meta robots tag.
Well, you are right.
But the case turned out to be more significant than it first seemed.
Surely, we’ve solved the initial problem.
But since the affected category featured about 20K products and this category brought most of the website traffic, the project has been suffering significant traffic losses for three months.
That Was Not the End of the StoryEverything seemed to be back on track, but then the noindex tag started to randomly appear and disappear across various product pages, and we couldn’t figure out the reason behind it.
The affected pages started falling out of the index, so our developers and QAs were trying hard to find the root of the problem, but they didn’t succeed.
Developers kept digging to solve this mysterious case, but as a result, it turned out that the SEO specialist was the true detective.
Apparently, the problem was caused by the script which was meant to check product data against the database and update it when necessary.
The mystery was solved with the help of a regular source code management tool that was set to send alerts whenever the website’s source code was modified.
A Lesson to LearnUse source code management software and don’t blame some mysterious forces.
There’s always a clear logic behind the way technical stuff works.
Terribly Poor Management Can Kill Any ProjectAnother story had happened when I worked with a team that was launching a new project.
We had a plan to create an ecommerce website with a powerful blog in a highly competitive niche.
We hoped to get most of the website traffic from organic search by driving visitors to blog articles through informational search queries.
An SEO specialist (who was not a part of the team) did a great job developing a long-term strategy for launching the project.
He specified development stages, outlined a link building strategy and a content plan, analyzed the competition, and applied predictive analytics methods.
Alternative Manager’s Vision and Its ConsequencesHowever, the project manager decided to do things differently.
As a result, the strategy was drastically modified:
Link building efforts were removed from the plan for the first three months (OMG!).
The overall expected backlink profile was cut by 65% (Do we really need all those backlinks?).
Instead of hiring five SEO specialists, the manager decided to only hire two (they had no experience of dealing with big ecommerce websites).
No editors or proofreaders were hired (SEO specialists had to do the work instead).
The number of articles to be published remained as initially planned (this surely also was the manager’s fault).
As you’d expect, the outcome was horrifying.
With regard to the reduced amount of human resources, we could hardly hope to achieve the expected results.
SEO specialists spent almost all their time on editorial duties so that they could keep up with the amount of content that was created.
Other tasks related to website semantics, competitor analysis, technical SEO, internal linking, and other SEO stuff were mostly piling up in the backlog.
While trying to kill two birds with one stone, SEO specialists couldn’t do any of their tasks well.
Of course, the decision not to build links to the website within the first month didn’t make any sense to SEO specialists especially when dealing with a project whose competitors boast thousands of referring domains.
Website development stopped at the point of editing the WordPress template and adding minimal extra features to it, mostly with the help of plugins.
As a result, because of the manager’s poor vision, the project didn’t reach even 1/1000 of its traffic potential.
A Lesson to LearnIf you believe that a project manager’s decisions are not adequate, don’t shy away and make sure to share your thoughts with the top management.
If they are not eager to listen, decide if you really want to be a part of such a project.
And don’t try to complete every possible task on your own.
Having more tasks than you can physically complete, you’ll always risk feeling frustrated and getting burnt out.
Negative experience is precious, but don’t let it kill your passion for what you do.
Deadly Price of Pursuing a DreamMany marketers share the same dream of starting a marketing agency and offering digital marketing consultation services.
They soon know that they will have to either choose to follow their dream and take on all the risks or just leave it behind – I myself went for the second scenario.
I started out small with my friends, family, and local business owners who did not really understand the internet and how things work to generate positive results.
I have been successful with my small gigs and many times I charged my clients nothing to just gain the experiences and some testimonials.
But at some point I got bored, and I was ready to take on something bigger.
During a dinner with my parents-in-law, I said I was ready to take it a step further.
Conveniently my father-in-law was a business consultant with plenty of contacts and friends, and I convinced him to help me find my first major client.
Stage 1: EuphoriaI was super excited since I got a chance to work in the B2B space which was my area of interest.
My job was to provide consultation and lead the marketing team to help them achieve their KPIs.
This felt great.
Stage 2: EnvisioningOnce I met with the marketing team and studied all the data, I was still thinking that the KPIs they wanted to achieve were really reasonable and I believed they could do even better than that.
So I raised the bar, but not too high as I still wanted to play things safe, yet still deliver more.
Upon getting approval from the marketing manager, I started to bring my strategy to life.
Stage 3: AnticipationThen a whole month passed by and they got only one lead.
It was really a disaster.
The marketing manager was furious and the friend of my father-in-law was even more enraged.
Stage 4: DenialI tried to remedy the case by reviewing their accounts and trying to figure out what went so wrong, but I couldn’t find anything.
On top of that, they asked me to refund the money they paid for my services and since I no longer had the money, I had to borrow it from my father-in-law.
Stage 5: AcceptanceSo there I was, a person who had lost a big opportunity and trust, broke and in-debt.
I almost lost hope I could be a marketing consultant, but luckily I didn’t throw in the towel and had plenty of successful cases since then.
Definitely, this wasn’t what I imagined when I planned to become a marketing consultant, but that’s life.
A Lesson to LearnAre you afraid to follow your dream because of the mistakes you can make?
Most likely you will make some mistakes just like me, but don’t let the fear of failing stop you from doing what you love.
Mistakes happen and you’ll just have to embrace them and power through the difficulties, there’s just no way around it.
To Sum UpAlthough epic marketing fails are painful to go through, they offer valuable lessons that will make you better at your job.
They help us grow as marketers.
If you haven’t lived through your own marketing horror story, rest assured at some point you will.
And someday soon, you may star in a sequel to this very post!
Mwahahahaha!
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Social Media Marketing Lessons From Klm
Case study: KLM’s ‘Meet & Seat’ initiative
In the latter part of 2011, international airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced its new ‘Meet & Seat’ programme. Participating passengers could view each other’s Facebook or LinkedIn profiles and use this information to choose who to sit next to during a flight. I always find it interesting to review how KLM are using social media since they’re definitely an innovator rather than a laggard. These often aren’t just campaigns, but integrate with KLM services.
Source: Wikipedia
This idea might be good for KLM’s PR, but can it succeed? And what lessons can you take back to your business?
KLM’s previous use of social media to personalise serviceKLM is no stranger to social media. In November 2010 it launched ‘KLM Surprise’. This test involved flight attendants searching passengers’ social media profiles and meeting these passengers at the gate with a personalized gift. Although I think this programme fell a little flat in implementation, it was still intriguing enought for KLM to continue for a time. And, it then redeployed social media information in ‘Meet & Seat’.
‘Meet & Seat’ – a potential networking gold mine?There’s no question ‘Meet & Seat’ has great potential as a networking and lead generation tool.
Let’s say you’re booking a flight for a conference. Meet & Seat makes it easy to scope out other passengers’ profiles and see who else is going. You can find people who work in your industry and talk business, or meet people in your company’s target market(s) and make a potentially valuable connection.
‘Meet & Seat’ means you might finally get a chance to do something productive on that red-eye flight!
On the other hand…Have you ever been to a networking lunch where you were pinned in a corner by someone who was determined to give you a sales pitch? Imagine the same scenario, only this time you’re stuck in your window seat for 4 – 6 hours.
Perhaps your neighbour doesn’t just have business on their mind? KLM’s programme might be treated by some as a personal matchmaking service. At this point I’d rather just drive to my destination.
The good news is that the program is opt-in only; you can only see others’ profiles if you opt in to show yours first. Here’s a great backgrounder:
Marketing lessons from KLM’s customer-led approachThe biggest takeaway from KLM’s social experiment is something that’s often discussed here at Smart Insights – social media marketing needs a strategic purpose.
KLM recognized its customers had a need and created a way for them to make better use of time spent on long flights. Customers are happy and KLM gets some good publicity — everyone wins.
Are you paying attention to your customers’ needs? You may be addressing their complaints, but are you also proactively thinking of ways to improve their customer experience?
If you decide your company’s next marketing experiment should be a social one, keep these questions in mind:
Does my audience engage in social media? Which platforms?
What are my customers’ needs? What would make them happier (and make them share their happiness with others)?
What is my experiment’s goal? Is it measurable?
What should I do if the experiment fails or backfires? What should I do if it succeeds?
Knowing the answers to these questions before diving in to implementation will lead to more tightly controlled experiments and better marketing results.
What do you think of KLM’s social experiment?
Do you think it will be successful?
What To Do With A Broken Tv That Can’t Be Fixed
TVs have been part of our lives for decades. But now and then, they break or need an upgrade. When a TV breaks beyond repair, it is only natural to replace it as soon as possible. But what to do with the old, broken TV? Putting it in a trash bin is not an option; it is even illegal in most places. Some TVs, mainly the ones with LCD screens, are hazardous to the environment. You must dispose of the old TV properly, and there are several ways to do it.
It doesn’t matter if the TV you’re trying to get rid of has a broken screen, dead pixels, fried circuit boards, or a dead motherboard. You can always do something with it, and some people would even want to buy it. So, here’s everything you can do with a broken TV that you can’t fix.
Table of Contents
First Check the WarrantySometimes even new TV sets break down, and the manufacturers would gladly replace them when still under warranty. Just note that cracked screens or visible dents and scratches will often disqualify your device for a warranty claim.
Some TV manufacturers will offer to repair your broken TV; if this is not possible, they will give you a new one. Most companies issue a one-year warranty, so check the date you purchased your TV.
If the manufacturer accepts your warranty claim and issues a new device, you should consider buying an extended warranty for your new TV. It will last you up to three years, but it will also have a more comprehensive coverage than the initial manufacturer warranty.
Sell Your Broken TV For CashYou can cover the costs of getting a new TV by selling your broken TV for cash. Then, think of buying a new smart TV with a Wi-Fi receiver that you can turn into an entertainment center.
But let’s be honest, selling old TVs is not as easy as it used to be. Especially the old, cathode-ray tube (CRT) ones. Even recycling these oldies is difficult as many recycling centers will not accept them. Those that would ask for a fee so they take it from your hands. But all this doesn’t mean it is impossible to sell old TVs. Many people still find a use for them. They either use them for parts or simply create something new and useful with DIY projects. You know what they say: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. So here are some places where you can try selling your old broken device.
Don’t forget to write an informative description of the TV you are selling. Include the brand, model, type of the screen, and any possible breaks and damages it might have. This way you will be contacted only by those buyers who want your tv.
eBay has over 180 million prospective shoppers, and it is a great place where you can find someone interested in buying a broken tv. eBay operates across the country, and you should expect delivery costs that will cut your earnings. You can avoid this by opting for local pick-up only.
Unlike Amazon, it is free to sell used items on eBay, but keep in mind you will have to pay a fee once your TV gets sold. Consider adding the fee into the initial asking price. That way, you won’t lose much of your earnings.
Facebook Marketplace is Facebook’s platform for selling and buying used and new stuff. You can find anything there, from pet equipment, real estate, and used electronics. It is easy to find people near you who need a broken TV for parts or their next art project.
Sell It to the TV Repair Shops for Spare PartsRepair shops usually buy broken TVs that they can refurbish and resell. However, they also need replacement parts; for this purpose, they sometimes buy old TVs that can’t be fixed. Anything from a power board, capacitor, or t-con board, to the power supply and inverter can be reused.
Don’t know how to find a nearby TV repair shop? Just ask Google or an alternative search engine. If you type something like “TV repair shop near me” you will get some good results.
This doesn’t mean you need to look specifically for TV repair shops. General electronic stores are also interested in old TVs and so are pawn shops.
Recycle Your Old TVIf you are not looking to sell your broken TV, and want to get rid of it, consider recycling. Depending on your location, throwing an electric appliance in regular trash might be illegal, and recycling might even be your only option. If you don’t know where to look for the companies that would take your old tv, here is a short list.
1. Your Local LandfillVarious landfills around the country have set up electronic recycling centers. Search the nearest landfill. Their website should have information such as what hours they work and if the electronic waste is picked up only on certain days.
You should be aware that some landfills will ask you for a fee when you bring them your TV. Others might take it for free. If paying is a problem for you, don’t worry, there are other recycling options.
The Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company has a very insightful website that will tell you where to find the nearest pickup point. They have many such locations across the country, but they don’t always operate at the same hours. The best you can do is give a local MRM Recycling point a call and ask when is the best time to bring your old TV.
MRM has a partnership with many electronic brands such as Toshiba, Vizio, TCL, and Polaroid, and it is this partnership that allows you to recycle your old TVs. In addition, their mail-back program and collaboration with UPS help you to drop off your TV at your local UPS office for free.
Learn all about different Samsung recycling programs on their website. The website will also show you the nearest place where you can take your used TV. But be careful as their programs are reserved only for Samsung TVs.
You can also mail back your Samsung TV by using Samsung’s recycling partners that are near you. The TV needs to weigh up to 50 pounds to benefit from this program. Also, the fees will differ depending on the recycling partner near you.
DIY Project Ideas With Broken TVThis one is for all the creatives out there. The broken TVs you can’t repair are excellent material for various art projects or tech gadgets that you might find useful. But remember that some TV components are hazardous for the environment and your health, and learn how to handle them safely.
1. Make a Light Panel Out Of The Old LCD ScreenThis tip is for all photographers, videographers, and artists who need a powerful light source for their studios. Use your old LCD screen to make a powerful, daylight-emitting panel! All you need for this project is LED lighting strips, gaffer tape, the LCD screen, a screwdriver, and an optional new metal frame. To make the panel, replace the old CCFL bulbs that backlight the screen with new LED lights.
2. Make an Interesting Fish TankHave pet fish? How about making them a new, stylish home from your old TV? This simple DIY project will let you keep your old TV in your living room, but with a new purpose. This project is perfect for older Cathode TVs as they are bulkier and can serve as a vessel.
Simply cut the power source, remove the backplate and take out all electronics. Send off the old screen, and put an aquarium inside the TV box. Decorate it with typical water plants, stones, and a fish castle, or be more creative and make a modern apartment for your pet fish.
3. Make a Coffee TableThis DIY project can be as simple as buying some IKEA furniture legs and screwing them onto your old TV, preferably flat screen, to make a new coffee table. A broken screen can even give an artistic vibe to this whole project. So be creative and use the flat screen of your old LCD or LED TV to create a futuristic table.
7 Technology Myths That Cost You Money
Technology myths are everywhere. You might read about it from the Web, or from retailers who are trying to push big unwanted product out of their shops. In some cases, these can be harmless. On occasions, it can cost you money and make you poorer. Let’s take a look at some of the technology myths that cost you money.
1. Open source software is not as good as commercial softwareWhen you are evaluating software to use for your projects, don’t write off open-source software. Most of the time, they are as competent, or even better, than those commercial software.
Most software companies want you to believe that their product is the best and the open source alternative is not up to par to their offering. There is some truth to this, but it is not always the case. For popular open-source software, like Android, the more people collaborate and work on it, the better is the product, and not to mention that it is free.
2. The more megapixel your camera has, the better is the cameraA 2.1 MP photo is clear enough to use as a wallpaper while a 4MP photo is good enough for a 16×20 inches print. We have shown you that it takes more than the pixels to produce a great photo, but sadly to hear, retailers are using the megapixel as the selling points for their cameras. For a simple point and shoot camera, 8MP is more than sufficient.
3. A cheap self-built PC can never be up to par to the factory-assembled PCs sold in storeYou might be laughing at your friend for the $700 PC that he built himself, thinking that it is not up to par to the $1500 PC you got from Best Buy. You might be surprised to find that the $700 PC could be better – hardware specification, functionality and performance wise. Most PCs in the store come with generic configuration for the mass market. Unless you are willing to break the bank, you won’t be able to get a customized PC to do heavy-duty work. In additional, the Windows OS installed on these PCs often come with a lot of crapware that can further slow down its performance.
On the other hand, when you built your own PC, you can compare the various hardware and get the best one that suit your needs and is within your budget. You can also choose the OS of your choice – Windows, Linux or Mac OS X (hackintosh), which doesn’t come with any crapware.
4. I need to get an expensive anti-virus software to protect my PC 5. Buying insurance (or extended warranty) for your electronic device is a necessityWhen you buy a computer, mobile phone, or any electronic device, the retailer will often upsell you with an insurance or extended warranty. Is it really necessary? We don’t think so, particularly for small item that get obsolete very fast. Consider the cost of all those warranties that you never use and the probability that you need a repair outside of warranty period, it just doesn’t make the insurance (or extended warranty) a worthy deal.
Of course, for big expensive item that costs a hand and leg to repair, and one you expect to use it for years, extended warranty is one thing you surely need to consider.
6. The bigger the monitor, the clearer the imageIt all depends on the screen resolution. If you are getting a 30-inch (or bigger) monitor with a minimum resolution of 2048×1152 (better still, 2560×2048), then you are good to go. However, if you are still stuck with the 1920×1080 resolution for a 27 inch monitor, instead of clear images, you will get pixelated images (where each pixel is stretched to cover more screen space). When you are getting a monitor, you hav to look beyond the screen size.
7. An expensive HDMI cable will give you better video qualityHave you ever seen a $3 HDMI cable selling in Amazon and another selling at $2000? You might be tempted to think that the $2000 cable can give you a better quality that justifiy the 66666% difference in price. The truth is, the $3 cable will work just as fine without any noticeable difference in quality.
ConclusionThe above list of technology myths is definitely not conclusive. There are tons of technology myths out there that cost us money. It is pertinent for us to think and do research before we pay for the bigger or more expensive product.
Image credit: How university open debates and discussions introduced me to open source, coupons, Installing Computer Parts
Damien
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
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Top 7 Iot Smart City Trends To Look Out In 2023
The Smart City investment is slated to peak at $158 Billion by 2023. The fastest growth altogether is predicted within the Americas, with the foremost spending seen on the general public transport sector, alongside fixed visual surveillance. It is predicted that by 2023, 50% of cities use platforms that shall rely on their own crowdsourced participation when it comes to city budgeting and decision making. The global smart city spending is set to reach an amount of $34.5 billion by 2023. The utility sector is slated to increase beyond the 2023 figure of 436.5. The smarty energy’s share of the worldwide smart city market is at 15.8%. Smart cities won’t be complete without smart homes therefore the forecast for the smart home market around the world in 2023 amounts to $40.9 billion. The estimated home technologies sale in 2023 was $4.6 and this is expected to grow by at least ten percent this 2023. the revenue of the global home security market for this year is expected to be $2.58 billion.
IoT Smart City Trends That Will Change FutureThe trends you are looking out for in a smart city is shared below:
Transportation Congestion SensorsSmart transportation systems use IoT sensors to detect congestion and bottlenecks in traffic patterns. They likewise depend on cameras to implement speed and traffic infractions. In doing as such, these apparatuses gather constant data that can be utilized by city DoTs to make portability networks more secure and more good. Transportation systems have become a fundamental base for the growth of the world by making apps on Smart transportation systems.
Bridge Inspection SystemsSensors screen the structural soundness of bridges and inform city engineers of any issues. Drones are used to inspect hard to reach areas that have any issue in the bridges from the Smart Bridge System app, the engineer gets the location quickly to resolve the issue. The system is fully compliant with non-destructive testing standards and uses sensors attached to a structure, sort of a bridge to supply continuous monitoring of the structure’s health. The sensors aren’t a replacement for traditional inspections but act as an early warning system so that local authorities or asset owners can anticipate and schedule on-site inspections and maintenance work.
Waste Management SensorsThe best way to clean the city using IoT Smart technology. IoT sensors detect the amount of garbage around the city so that sanitation workers can clean the garbage in their routes. IoT fills level sensors, robotizes and enhances squander the executives frameworks all together that associations can conserve and go greener. In short, IoT sensors provide a far better option for cities looking to take care of sustainable, connected growth.
Lighting Sensors Fire DetectionSensors screen conditions in recreational areas and lush territories that may be inclined to fire. Sensors can likewise distinguish fires in structures and the sensor pops an alert to the nearby emergency services. Remote monitoring and diagnostic capabilities of an IoT system help firefighters know where to position personnel and trucks beforehand, consistent with chúng tôi framework sends cautions to fire staff and the areas of a smoke alarm going off, a warmth locator imparting signs, or a water stream switch being enacted.
Parking Sensor AppsYou also know about parking apps that help to coordinate with smart parking meters to inform drivers of where there is parking availability. Smart parking development implies an IoT-based system that sends data about free and occupied parking places via the online or mobile applications. The IoT device, including sensors and microcontrollers, is found in each parking place. The user receives a live update about the supply of all parking places and chooses the simplest one. Similarly, the app also gives information on previous parking receipts and sessions.
Water and Wastewater MonitoringThese are the trends that you are trying to find within the
Author Bio: Kulmohan SinghDirector of Sales & Marketing at X-Byte Enterprise Solutions. I have been a decade old technology evangelist, driven by a passion to innovate and create platforms and solutions that would make the tech sphere bigger and better for mankind. Supporting tech ventures since 2008, I believe learning and failing and learning should never stop. Using technology differently rather than using different technologies has been the soul of managing one of the leading technology ventures in mobile and cloud domain. X-Byte Enterprise Solutions; a company whose foundation lies on expert intuition and accurate utilization of skills, helps its clients with their tech needs, while effectively eliminating risks. We take care of the nuts and bolts, every detail, so that the clients don’t have to. I enjoy cooking and eating what others cook. 🙂 I love networking and solving problems or adding value for anyone and everyone that I can. You can reach me at phone number or email address. Social links:
Straightforward Website Marketing: 3 Simple Strategies That Work
SMEs with limited time and budget should follow these simple strategies to get results in 2023
Your website is the face of your company’s digital marketing strategy, yet one of the most common critiques today is that websites are too complicated. Sometimes it’s a case of gamification taken too far or overuse of the popular, but visually intense parallax format – a busy website, overdesigned or poorly formatted is simply difficult to use. What’s more, creating such a site, and maintaining an equally deep marketing presence on social media or via email, is time-consuming and may not pay off.
A critique that we encounter far less often in the digital marketing world, is that a website is overly simple, but that doesn’t mean such sites don’t exist. Rather, the overly simple website tends to be described differently: they choose unattractive fonts, lack visual interest, or don’t implement their content effectively.
Look at these manufacturer sites; proposed on the premise that they would make important information easy to find, they fall quickly into the trap of the overly simple. Rather than appearing straightforward, however, they seem to lack aesthetic consideration and could have been built by someone with little coding knowledge. Today, such sites are often accompanied by too little social media use and marketing moves that lack professional polish.
Ready to change your company’s digital marketing style and add a little flair? Build your presence while staying streamlined by implementing these three digital marketing strategies. Combined, simple, and straightforward strategies make for success.
1. Use a Simple, effective page design templateWebsite templates are the perfect tools for helping inexperienced designers create professional, straightforward sites. Most often, the least appealing sites are those that lack an evident template or that have failed to add the little touches that take a plain template from boring to bright.
If you’re not sure where to begin when building your website, consider a platform like SimpleSite. As the name suggests, SimpleSite is an easy to use web design platform, offering limited design templates and a small set of construction tools, allowing users to set the number of columns for content, select the font, and customize the header image. With SimpleSite, you can also add e-commerce features with ease; these tend to be among the more difficult site segments to create, but SimpleSite virtually does it for you. Need some extra information? Check out this page for a review of SimpleSite website building features.
Another option for building simple websites is WordPress. As you probably know, WordPress is a well-known site building platform, but it takes a little more expertise to use than SimpleSite. On WordPress, you have access to a great number of free and paid templates and hundreds of site widgets that can enhance your site’s functionality – you can create photo galleries, build in social media links, add a blogroll, and much more. WordPress is used by many successful bloggers and is highly flexible in terms of what it can support.
Though templates are used for thousands of sites – and unarguably create a lot of very similar pages – a great template filled with high-value content is still an indispensable tool. Don’t skip the template just because it might make your page look like other sites.
2. Choose your channel focusAnother common mistake that companies make when trying to develop their digital marketing presence is failing to assess the many social media channels available. Instead, many companies opt to spread themselves thin, expending all their energy on keeping up with their long list of social media accounts. This isn’t a good strategy and tends to stem from a philosophy that lacks a clear sense of market. When you know your market, you don’t need to divide your attention. This radar or Bullseye framework is a great way to review your channels to gain focus.
Instead of trying to reach everyone across all networks, choose one social media channel to be your main focus. This allows you to invest modestly for greater returns and produce higher quality content for your audience. Just make sure you do your research first – find out what sites your clients prefer and target those venues. Most social media sites break down strongly along demographic lines, so it’s just a matter of figuring out where your company fits.
3. Drive contacts through a focuson opt-inEmail marketing may be one of the oldest digital formats, but users still rely heavily on emails for product and promotion information. Unfortunately, many also ignore these important messages because they feel they’re receiving too many of them. This makes the majority of email marketing wasteful for both companies and their clients.
Instead of sending out emails every time something changes on your site, or several times during the course of a promotion, slow down your pace and target your audience more effectively by allowing them to opt in to a stable schedule of emails. This may tie your hands to some degree when it comes to scheduling promotions, but if you’ve promised your audience they’ll only get one email per week and you start making endless exceptions, you’re more likely to land in their junk pile.
Simple Not SimplisticAt the end of the day, the best digital marketing strategy is one that’s simple and straightforward, but that focuses on the right details – it isn’t simplistic. A simplistic strategy underestimates your audience and doesn’t serve your company’s full potential, but a clear and simple one makes the most of your time and money. Do right by your company and by your clients by offering your best and keeping your digital marketing simple and smart.
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