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Rabbit farming is a popular and profitable business that requires minimal investment and space. What exactly is a rabbit farm, and how can a rabbit farmer ensure the greatest profit from their business? All aspiring entrepreneurs and bunny fanciers out there can keep reading to learn all about how to start a rabbit farm. NWRedworms discusses how to make easy money with rabbit manure in this video. Check it out! Simple Steps to Start a Rabbit Farm Before you can get your rabbits raised and sold, you have to plan for your rabbit farming business. Pay close attention to the following steps to starting a rabbit farm: Conduct Market Research If you want to start raising rabbits, conduct market research to determine the demand for rabbit products in your area. This research will help you to determine if there is a market for rabbit meat, fur, and breeding in your region. Create a Rabbit Farming Business Plan A business plan is essential for any business, and rabbit farming is no exception. Your rabbit farm business plan should include the objectives of your farm, the type of rabbits you plan to raise, and your marketing strategy. Choose a Location Choose a location for your rabbit farm that is easily accessible and has adequate space for your rabbits to live and breed. You might research the best states to start a farm. The location also should have easy access to water and be how to start a rabbit farmin a quiet area away from noise and disturbances. Purchase Equipment You will need to purchase equipment such as rabbit hutches or rabbit cages, water bottles, and feeders. It is essential to invest in high-quality equipment to ensure the health and safety of your rabbits. Purchase Rabbits To start populating your farm, buy high-quality young rabbits from trustworthy breeders. Select breeds that are appropriate for your climate and the specific products you intend to produce. It may seem obvious, but remember that you need both male and female rabbits for reproduction. Unlike males, each female rabbit can breed only once every 35 days or so. Care for Your Rabbits Proper care is essential to the health and well-being of your rabbits. Ensure that your rabbits have access to clean, fresh water, a balanced diet, and adequate space to live and breed. Market Your Products Remember to begin promoting your rabbit products to potential customers, which can include local restaurants, grocery stores, and individual buyers. Utilize social media and other marketing tools to effectively showcase your products. Monitor Your Business Monitor your business regularly to ensure that you are meeting your objectives and making a profit. Make adjustments to your business plan as needed to ensure that your farm is a successful rabbit production business. Table: Key Steps to Starting a Rabbit Farm Below is a comprehensive table detailing the essential steps and descriptions to guide you through the process of establishing your rabbit farm. StepDescription 1. Conduct Market ResearchDetermine the demand for rabbit products in your area. Identify potential for meat, fur, and breeding sales in your region. 2. Create a Business PlanEssential for laying out your farm's objectives. Include types of rabbits you plan to raise and your marketing strategy. 3. Choose a LocationEnsure easy accessibility and sufficient space for breeding. Prioritize easy access to water and a quiet environment. 4. Purchase EquipmentAcquire rabbit hutches or cages, water bottles, and feeders. Invest in high-quality equipment for rabbit health and safety. 5. Purchase RabbitsSource high-quality young rabbits from trustworthy breeders. Consider breed suitability for climate and products. Remember both male and female rabbits for reproduction. 6. Care for Your RabbitsProvide clean water, a balanced diet, and adequate living and breeding space. 7. Market Your ProductsMarket rabbit products to local restaurants, stores, and individuals. Utilize social media and other marketing channels. 8. Monitor Your BusinessRegularly assess if objectives are met and profitability is achieved. Adjust the business plan as required to ensure successful rabbit production. What is a Rabbit Farm? A rabbit farm is clearly a place that houses many fluffy bunnies, but it encompasses much more than that. It is a type of farm dedicated to raising rabbits for various commercial purposes, such as meat, fur, and breeding. Rabbit farming presents an ideal opportunity for small-scale farmers, as it demands minimal investment and requires little space. Furthermore, rabbit manure serves as an excellent fertilizer for plants, which makes rabbit farming a sustainable and environmentally friendly venture. If you’re interested in learning how to start a rabbit farm, this information can be particularly useful. Why Should You Start a Rabbit Farming Business? If you’re searching for reasons to start rabbit farming, you won’t have to look far. There are several benefits to owning a successful rabbit farming business, including: High demand – Rabbit meat is becoming more popular due to its nutritional value and low-fat content. In addition, rabbit fur is also in high demand for use in the fashion industry. Low investment – Establishing a rabbit farm demands a lower initial investment when compared to farms that raise other animals. The purchase price of rabbits is affordable, and their maintenance costs are also quite reasonable. Quick reproduction – Rabbits have a short gestation period and can produce several litters of offspring each year, making them highly productive farm animals. Minimal space needed – Rabbits need very little space to thrive, which makes them a perfect option for small-scale farmers or individuals with restricted land availability. Popular Rabbit Breeds What types of rabbits should you raise on your farm? It’s important to consider the ease of breeding the rabbits, the ease of raising them, the cost of purchasing and caring for them, as well as the profit they can generate. Some of the most popular domestic rabbit breeds for a commercial rabbit farming business include: New Zealand White – This rabbit breed is the most popular for meat production and is known for its fast growth rate and large size. Californian – This breed is also popular for meat rabbits and has a high feed conversion rate, which makes it cost-effective to raise. Rex – The Rex breed of rabbit is popular for its fur, which is used in the fashion industry. Rabbit breeders prefer these fur rabbits for their soft, dense, and velvety coats. Flemish Giant – This rabbit breed is known for its large size and is popular for meat production. Continental Giant Rabbit – Also known as the Giant Papillon, this is a popular breed for commercial rabbit farming due to its large size and high meat-to-bone ratio. Silver Fox – A rare heritage rabbit breed that has gained popularity in recent years for its excellent fur quality and meat production, the docile Silver Fox’s unique black and silver coat is highly valued. European Rabbit – Also known as wild rabbits, this breed is not commonly used as a commercial rabbit due to its smaller size and lower meat production. However, the breed is highly valued for its fur, and some farmers choose to raise them for that purpose. Tips for Raising Rabbits Like livestock farming, raising domestic rabbits requires proper care and attention to ensure the animals’ health and well-being. Check out the following tips for successfully breeding and raising rabbits for commercial purposes: Provide adequate space – Rabbits need enough space to move around and exercise. Provide them with a cage or hutch that is large enough for them to stand up, lie down, and move around comfortably. Provide a balanced diet – It is crucial to offer a balanced diet for raising healthy rabbits. Ensure their diet consists of hay, fresh vegetables, and high-fiber, high-protein pellets. Keep them clean – Regularly clean your rabbits’ living quarters to prevent the buildup of waste and bacteria. This will help to prevent illness and disease. Monitor rabbits’ health – Monitor your rabbits’ health regularly and seek veterinary care if necessary. Signs of illness can include a loss of appetite, lethargy, and unusual behavior. Practice good rabbit breeding practices – Breed your rabbits only when they are healthy and at the appropriate age. Avoid breeding rabbits that are closely related to preventing genetic problems. Remember, it only takes a few rabbits to quickly turn into dozens. What Products Does a Rabbit Farm Produce? In addition to edible meat and fur rabbit production, rabbit farms can also produce a variety of other goods. In fact, a rabbit business can offer a diverse range of products that can be sold to various markets, making it a profitable and sustainable business. Products made or sold by rabbit farms include: Meat Fur Manure Pelts Hides Bones Organs Live rabbits as pets and for breeding stock Is it difficult to raise rabbits? Keeping rabbits is not difficult, but it requires proper care and attention. Domesticated rabbits are low-maintenance animals that do not require a lot of space or expensive equipment. However, they do require a balanced diet, clean living conditions and regular veterinary care to ensure their health and well-being. With proper care and management, raising rabbits can be a rewarding and profitable venture. How much does it cost to start a rabbit farm? Are you interested in learning how to start a rabbit farm with little to no money? Rabbit farming could be a viable option for you. The initial costs associated with starting a rabbit farm can differ based on various factors, including the size of the farm, the necessary equipment, and the quantity of rabbits you choose to buy. Generally, small-scale rabbit farming can cost between $1,000 to $5,000, including the cost of purchasing rabbit equipment and building or renovating a shelter. Ongoing costs such as feed, veterinary care, and marketing expenses also should be considered. How many rabbits do you need to start a successful rabbit farm? The number of rabbits needed to start a successful rabbit farm can vary depending on the scale of the operation and the type of products produced. However, it is recommended to start with at least 20 breeding rabbits to ensure genetic diversity and a continuous supply of rabbits for production. As the business grows and demand increases, more farm rabbits can be added to the herd. Which rabbit is best for farming? Depending on the purpose of farming, different rabbit breeds are best suited for commercial production. Here’s a breakdown: Meat Production: New Zealand White: Fast growth rate. Large size. Highly preferred for meat quality. Californian: Known for its fast growth. Large size. Another top choice for meat production. Fur Production: Rex: Popular for its plush, dense fur. High-quality fur suitable for garments and accessories. Manure Production: Flemish Giant: One of the largest rabbit breeds. Produces a significant amount of manure. Considerations: Climate Suitability: Some breeds are more resilient to certain weather conditions, so it’s crucial to choose a breed that can thrive in your local climate. Product Output: Depending on what product you aim to produce, select a breed that meets that specific need. Maintenance: While some breeds might be perfect for a certain product, they might also require more care and maintenance. Remember, the choice of breed should also take into account the available infrastructure, potential markets, and personal preference. Researching and seeking advice from seasoned rabbit farmers can further aid in making the best decision. Is there a demand for rabbit meat? Many people around the world delight when they eat rabbit, and some of them actually don’t think it tastes like chicken! Rabbit meat remains in high demand throughout many markets worldwide. Considered a lean and healthy source of protein, rabbit meat is gaining popularity among consumers looking for alternatives to traditional meats. Plus, rabbit meat is a staple in many cultures that are used in various traditional dishes. As a result, starting a rabbit farm for meat production can be a profitable and sustainable business. Is commercial rabbit farming profitable? If managed properly, a commercial rabbit farming business can be a very profitable venture. The cost of raising rabbits is relatively low compared to other options like how to start a goat farm or deer farming, for example. Plus, the demand for rabbit products, such as meat and fur, is steadily increasing. Since cotton-tailed mammals have a high reproductive rate and mature quickly, rabbit farmers can generate a continuous supply of products. However, it is important to have a solid business plan and carefully manage expenses while researching and establishing relationships with potential buyers to ensure profitability. The Path to Rabbit Farming Success: The Takeaways Rabbit farming presents a lucrative opportunity with minimal investment and space requirements, making it an attractive venture for aspiring entrepreneurs. By conducting thorough market research, crafting a detailed business plan, choosing the right location, investing in quality equipment, and selecting high-quality rabbits, individuals can lay the foundation for a successful farm. Proper care, effective marketing, and regular business monitoring are crucial to ensure the health of the rabbits and the profitability of the farm. With benefits such as high demand for rabbit products, quick reproduction rates, and low space requirements, rabbit farming stands out as a profitable and sustainable business model. By adhering to the outlined steps and prioritizing quality and animal welfare, those looking to learn how to start a rabbit farm can find success in this fulfilling agricultural field. Image: Envato Elements This article, "How to Start a Rabbit Farm: From Hutch to Hopping Success" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In the bustling world of the built environment, a civil engineer’s job description at a small business encompasses a spectrum of responsibilities. From the inception of an idea to the final execution of the project, the civil engineer becomes an indispensable character who ensures that visions turn into reality. What Does a Civil Engineer Do? A civil engineer in a small business environment performs a blend of tasks, including but not limited to civil engineering projects, feasibility studies, construction site management, and more. The roles often include project management and maintaining project status, frequently updating the team and stakeholders regarding project progress, and budget management. Civil Engineer Job Description at a Small Business: Key Responsibilities Project Planning: Civil engineers are responsible for planning and designing various construction and infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, buildings, and water supply systems. They assess project feasibility, develop project plans, and determine resource requirements. Design and Drafting: Civil engineers create detailed design drawings and specifications using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software. These plans serve as the blueprint for construction and must meet regulatory and safety standards. Site Investigation: Prior to the start of construction, civil engineers carry out site investigations to evaluate soil conditions, environmental effects, and potential hazards. This information enables them to make well-informed decisions about project design and construction techniques. Construction Supervision: Civil engineers oversee construction activities, ensuring that they adhere to design specifications, safety standards, and local regulations. They manage project schedules, budgets, and resources to ensure timely and cost-effective completion. Quality Control: Maintaining quality standards is crucial. Civil engineers conduct inspections and quality control tests throughout the construction process to ensure that work meets the required standards and specifications. Environmental Impact Assessment: They assess the environmental impact of projects and implement measures to minimize adverse effects. This may involve addressing issues related to land use, water resources, and sustainability. Regulatory Compliance: Civil engineers must stay current with local, state, and federal regulations and obtain necessary permits for projects. They ensure that all construction activities comply with building codes, zoning laws, and safety regulations. Client Communication: Effective communication is essential. Civil engineers regularly update clients and stakeholders on project progress, address concerns, and provide recommendations. Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills are valuable for maintaining positive client relationships. ResponsibilitiesDescription Project PlanningCivil engineers plan and design construction and infrastructure projects, assess feasibility, develop project plans, and determine resource requirements for various structures like roads, bridges, buildings, and water supply systems. Design and DraftingThey create detailed design drawings and specifications using CAD software. These plans serve as blueprints for construction, ensuring that they meet regulatory and safety standards. Site InvestigationCivil engineers conduct site investigations before construction begins, assessing soil conditions, environmental impact, and potential risks. This information informs design and construction decisions. Construction SupervisionThey oversee construction activities, ensuring adherence to design specifications, safety standards, and local regulations. They manage project schedules, budgets, and resources for timely and cost-effective completion. Quality ControlMaintaining quality standards is crucial. Civil engineers conduct inspections and quality control tests throughout construction to ensure work meets required standards and specifications, maintaining project integrity. Environmental Impact AssessmentCivil engineers assess the environmental impact of projects and implement measures to minimize adverse effects. This includes addressing issues related to land use, water resources, and sustainability for eco-friendly practices. Regulatory ComplianceStaying current with local, state, and federal regulations is vital. They obtain necessary permits for projects and ensure that all construction activities comply with building codes, zoning laws, and safety regulations. Client CommunicationEffective communication is essential. Civil engineers regularly update clients and stakeholders on project progress, address concerns, and provide recommendations. Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills maintain positive client relationships. Civil Engineer Job Requirements: What Qualifications Do You Need? Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree The basic requirement for a civil engineer job is a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. However, a Master’s degree, often specializing in a specific area of civil engineering, can provide an edge in this competitive field. Experience: Proven Working Experience Hands-on experience is a golden ticket in the civil engineering field. Civil engineering excellent knowledge is often equated with relevant skills gained from working on construction projects. Licenses: Professional Engineer Status Many civil engineers pursue professional engineer status, with some aiming even higher for chartered status. These certifications help enhance the credibility and expertise of a civil engineer. Skills: Key Skills Needed Being a good civil engineer demands more than just technical prowess. Organizational skills, leadership skills, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and proficiency in design software are among the essential skills a civil engineer should possess. Civil Engineer Job Description: Templates for Hiring at Your Business Civil Engineer Job Description Template 1: Job Description: Civil Engineer – Infrastructure Projects Company: [Company Name] Location: [City, State] About Us: [Company Name] is a reputable small business specializing in civil engineering projects. We are currently seeking a skilled and motivated Civil Engineer to join our team and contribute to the successful completion of infrastructure projects. Responsibilities: • Design and analyze civil engineering plans and specifications for infrastructure projects. • Conduct site investigations and surveys to assess project feasibility and constraints. • Prepare and review technical drawings, calculations, and construction documents. • Collaborate with project stakeholders to ensure compliance with regulations and project requirements. • Manage project timelines, budgets, and resources effectively. • Oversee construction activities, monitor progress, and address any issues that may arise. • Perform quality control inspections to ensure adherence to design specifications. • Stay updated on industry standards, codes, and emerging technologies. • Mentor and provide guidance to junior team members. Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or a related field. • Professional Engineer (PE) license is preferred. • Strong knowledge of civil engineering principles, design standards, and construction methods. • Proficiency in AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and other relevant software. • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. • Strong communication and interpersonal abilities. • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team. • Prior experience in infrastructure projects is preferred. Benefits: • Competitive salary and benefits package. • Opportunities for professional development and growth. • Supportive and collaborative work environment. To Apply: If you are interested in joining our team, please submit your resume, cover letter, and any relevant certifications to [email address] with the subject line “Civil Engineer Application – [Your Name].” We appreciate your interest and will carefully review all applications. [Company Name] is an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Civil Engineer Job Description Template 2: Job Description: Civil Engineer – Structural Design Company: [Company Name] Location: [City, State] About Us: [Company Name] is a dynamic small business specializing in civil engineering and structural design. We are currently seeking a talented and detail-oriented Civil Engineer to join our team and contribute to the design and analysis of structural projects. Responsibilities: • Perform structural analysis and design calculations for various projects. • Develop detailed engineering plans and specifications. • Collaborate with architects and other professionals to ensure structural integrity and compliance with codes and regulations. • Conduct site visits to assess existing structures and provide recommendations for repairs or modifications. • Use software tools, such as AutoCAD and structural analysis software, to prepare design models and drawings. • Review and approve construction drawings and documents. • Participate in project meetings and communicate effectively with clients, contractors, and team members. • Stay updated on industry trends, advancements, and best practices in structural engineering. • Mentor and provide guidance to junior engineers and interns. Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or a related field. • Professional Engineer (PE) license is preferred. • Strong knowledge of structural engineering principles and design codes. • Proficiency in structural analysis software and AutoCAD. • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. • Strong communication and interpersonal abilities. • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team. • Prior experience in structural design is preferred. Benefits: • Competitive salary and benefits package. • Opportunities for professional development and growth. • Supportive and collaborative work environment. To Apply: If you are interested in joining our team, please submit your resume, cover letter, and any relevant certifications to [email address] with the subject line “Civil Engineer Application – [Your Name].” We appreciate your interest and will carefully review all applications. [Company Name] is an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Civil Engineer Job Description Template 3: Job Description: Civil Engineer – Site Development Company: [Company Name] Location: [City, State] About Us: [Company Name] is a well-established small business specializing in civil engineering and site development projects. We are currently seeking a dedicated and experienced Civil Engineer to join our team and contribute to the successful completion of site development projects. Responsibilities: • Conduct site investigations and feasibility studies. • Develop site plans, grading plans, and stormwater management systems. • Prepare engineering reports, cost estimates, and construction specifications. • Collaborate with architects, landscape architects, and other professionals to integrate various design elements. • Ensure compliance with local regulations and permit requirements. • Coordinate with contractors and oversee construction activities. • Perform inspections to ensure quality control and adherence to design specifications. • Use software tools, such as AutoCAD and civil engineering software, to prepare design drawings and models. • Stay updated on industry standards, best practices, and emerging technologies in site development. Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or a related field. • Professional Engineer (PE) license is preferred. • Strong knowledge of site development principles, including grading, drainage, and utility design. • Proficiency in AutoCAD and civil engineering software. • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. • Strong communication and interpersonal abilities. • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team. • Prior experience in site development projects is preferred. Benefits: • Competitive salary and benefits package. • Opportunities for professional development and growth. • Supportive and collaborative work environment. To Apply: If you are interested in joining our team, please submit your resume, cover letter, and any relevant certifications to [email address] with the subject line “Civil Engineer Application – [Your Name].” We appreciate your interest and will carefully review all applications. [Company Name] is an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Civil Engineer Job Description Template 4: Job Description: Civil Engineer – Environmental Projects Company: [Company Name] Location: [City, State] About Us: [Company Name] is a reputable small business specializing in civil engineering and environmental projects. We are currently seeking an environmentally conscious and skilled Civil Engineer to join our team and contribute to the successful completion of environmental projects. Responsibilities: • Conduct environmental impact assessments and feasibility studies. • Develop engineering designs and plans for environmental projects. • Collaborate with environmental scientists and other professionals to ensure compliance with environmental regulations. • Manage projects to meet environmental goals, timelines, and budgets. • Conduct site inspections and provide recommendations for environmental mitigation and restoration. • Prepare reports and documents for regulatory agencies and stakeholders. • Use software tools, such as GIS and environmental modeling software, to analyze and visualize data. • Stay updated on environmental regulations, policies, and best practices. • Mentor and provide guidance to junior engineers and interns. Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a related field. • Professional Engineer (PE) license is preferred. • Strong knowledge of environmental engineering principles and regulations. • Proficiency in GIS and environmental modeling software. • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. • Strong communication and interpersonal abilities. • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team. • Prior experience in environmental projects is preferred. Benefits: • Competitive salary and benefits package. • Opportunities for professional development and growth. • Supportive and collaborative work environment. To Apply: If you are interested in joining our team, please submit your resume, cover letter, and any relevant certifications to [email address] with the subject line “Civil Engineer Application – [Your Name].” We appreciate your interest and will carefully review all applications. [Company Name] is an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Template 1: Infrastructure ProjectsTemplate 2: Structural DesignTemplate 3: Site DevelopmentTemplate 4: Environmental Projects Job DescriptionCivil EngineerCivil EngineerCivil EngineerCivil Engineer Company[Company Name][Company Name][Company Name][Company Name] Location[City, State][City, State][City, State][City, State] Area of SpecializationInfrastructure ProjectsStructural DesignSite DevelopmentEnvironmental Projects About UsReputable small businessDynamic small businessWell-established small businessReputable small business ResponsibilitiesDesign, analyze, manageStructural analysis, designSite investigations, development, construction oversightEnvironmental impact assessments, engineering design Key SkillsCivil engineering principles,Structural engineering principles, design codesSite development principles, AutoCAD, civil engineering softwareEnvironmental engineering principles, GIS, modeling software QualificationsBachelor's degree, PE license (preferred)Bachelor's degree, PE license (preferred)Bachelor's degree, PE license (preferred)Bachelor's degree, PE license (preferred) Software ProficiencyAutoCAD, Civil 3D, relevant softwareAutoCAD, structural analysis softwareAutoCAD, civil engineering softwareGIS, environmental modeling software BenefitsCompetitive salary, professional growthCompetitive salary, professional growthCompetitive salary, professional growthCompetitive salary, professional growth How to ApplySubmit resume, cover letter, certificationsSubmit resume, cover letter, certificationsSubmit resume, cover letter, certificationsSubmit resume, cover letter, certifications Equal Opportunity EmployerYesYesYesYes Civil Engineer at Small Business: Job Outlook and Salary The job outlook for civil engineers remains robust, according to labor statistics. The demand for civil engineers is expected to grow as infrastructure continues to age, and newer, sustainable solutions are sought. The average salary for a civil engineer varies based on factors like location, experience, and the size of the company. However, pursuing a career in civil engineering can be intellectually and financially rewarding. The Evolving Role of Civil Engineers in Small Business Sustainability Implementing Green Engineering Solutions: In small businesses, civil engineers are placing a greater emphasis on sustainable and environmentally friendly design principles, utilizing renewable materials and energy-efficient systems. Innovative Water Management: Engaging in innovative water and waste management practices that align with sustainability goals and help in conservation efforts. Impact on Urban Planning Smart Urban Development: Civil engineers play a crucial role in the development of smart cities, integrating technology into infrastructure to create more efficient and livable urban spaces. Sustainable Urban Design: Involvement in designing sustainable urban areas that promote walkability, green spaces, and efficient public transport systems. Technology Integration in Civil Engineering CAD and BIM Technologies: Utilizing advanced Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) software for precise and efficient planning and execution of projects. Drones and Remote Sensing: Employing drone technology and remote sensing for surveying, monitoring construction progress, and inspecting hard-to-reach areas. Leveraging Data Analytics Predictive Analysis for Construction: Using data analytics for predictive maintenance, resource management, and cost estimation, enabling more accurate and efficient project execution. IoT in Construction Management: Implementing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for real-time monitoring and management of construction sites and assets. Enhancing Skills for Future Civil Engineering Challenges Professional Development Programs: Encouraging continuous learning through professional development programs, workshops, and seminars to stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies. Certifications and Specializations: Pursuing additional certifications and specializations in areas like green building, structural engineering, or transportation engineering. Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Skills Collaborative Projects with Other Disciplines: Engaging in collaborative projects with architects, urban planners, and environmental scientists to address multifaceted challenges in the construction and infrastructure sector. Soft Skills Development: Focusing on developing soft skills like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams. In Conclusion: The Role of Civil Engineers in Small Businesses In summary, the civil engineer job description in a small business environment is a fascinating blend of technical and management roles. The role requires a balance of hard skills, such as engineering design expertise, and soft skills, such as interpersonal skills. Civil engineers in small businesses play a crucial role in shaping our physical environment, overseeing everything from the roads we drive on to the buildings where we live and work. Their contributions are essential to society and provide a rewarding and satisfying career path. The role of a civil engineer in a small business extends beyond technical tasks; it also includes playing a vital part in the overall growth and sustainability of the company. They are instrumental in driving innovative and sustainable practices, integrating cutting-edge technologies, and continuously enhancing their skills to meet the challenges of modern construction and infrastructure development. Their expertise and strategic approach play a critical role in shaping the built environment and supporting the sustainable growth of small businesses. So, if you are a job seeker with a passion for building and maintaining infrastructure, a civil engineer job at a small business might just be your calling. Keep an eye out for job openings that suit your profile, and start making your mark in the world of civil engineering! Frequently Asked Questions: Civil Engineer Job Description What do Civil Engineers Do? Civil engineers design, construct, supervise, operate, and maintain large construction projects and systems, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and systems for water supply and sewage treatment. What are the Key Skills of a Civil Engineer? Key skills of a civil engineer include mathematical skills, problem-solving skills, the ability to interpret data and diagrams, project and time management skills, and strong written and oral communication skills. What are the Requirements for Becoming a Civil Engineer? The standard qualifications for pursuing a civil engineer job description typically involve obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or a related specialty, along with a license to work as a professional engineer. In certain circumstances, a Master’s degree may provide additional benefits. What is the Job Outlook for Civil Engineers? The job outlook for civil engineers is positive, with growth projected at 11%, faster than the average for all occupations. Infrastructure needs in the U.S. and worldwide are expected to create demand for civil engineers. What is the Average Salary of a Civil Engineer? The median annual wage for civil engineers is about $89,000. The top 10% earn more than $142,000, while the bottom 10% earn less than $56,000. Image: Depositphotos, Envato Elements This article, "Civil Engineer Job Description: Templates for Hiring at Your Business" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re looking for a fantastic business opportunity where you set your own schedule, you might want to consider buying a franchise. Why? Franchises attract many small business owners because the business model, marketing, training, branding, and more are offered by the parent company — in other words, everything you need to run a successful business. There is also the added benefit of a support network that comes from the franchisor. All of these benefits are geared toward helping you get up and running quickly. In this post, we’ve put together 15 fantastic franchises that let you start your journey to financial independence — all are available for less than $20,000, too. We’ll also discuss how to choose the best franchise under 20K and what to look for in a cheap franchise. So, if you’re ready to become your own boss, read on! The Benefits of Investing in a Franchise The Benefits of Investing in a Franchise A franchise is a business model in which a franchisee (the investor) purchases the right to operate a business under the brand name and system of an established company (the franchisor). Franchising is a popular business model because it offers a number of benefits to both the franchisor and the franchisee. Benefits for the Franchisee There are many benefits to investing in a franchise, including: A proven business model: When you invest in a franchise, you are buying into a business model that has already been proven successful. The franchisor will provide you with training, support, and resources to help you run your business effectively. A recognizable brand: Franchises typically have well-known brands that are recognized by consumers. This can give you a competitive advantage over other businesses in your industry. Economies of scale: Franchising can help you achieve economies of scale, which can lead to lower costs and higher profits. For example, the franchisor may be able to negotiate better deals on supplies and equipment because they are buying in bulk. Access to a wider market: Franchising can give you access to a wider market than you would be able to reach on your own. The franchisor may have a national or even international presence, which can help you reach more customers. Less risk: Franchising can be a less risky investment than starting a new business from scratch. The franchisor will provide you with training and support, which can help you avoid some of the common pitfalls that new businesses face. Benefits for the Franchisor There are also benefits for the franchisor, including: Increased brand awareness: Franchising can help to increase brand awareness for the franchisor. When franchisees are successful, they help to promote the franchisor’s brand to consumers. Increased revenue: Franchising can help to increase revenue for the franchisor. Franchisees pay the franchisor a franchise fee, as well as royalties on their sales. Reduced risk: Franchising can reduce the risk for the franchisor. The franchisor does not have to invest in the individual franchise locations, so they are not as exposed to financial risk. Control over the brand: Franchising allows the franchisor to maintain control over the brand. The franchisor can set standards for the quality of products and services, as well as the way that the franchise is run. Franchising can be a great way to start a business or expand an existing business. It offers a number of benefits to both the franchisor and the franchisee. Here are some additional benefits of investing in a franchise: Training and support: Franchises typically provide their franchisees with extensive training and support. This can help the franchisee to get up and running quickly and to avoid making common mistakes. Access to resources: Franchises typically have access to a wide range of resources, including marketing materials, training programs, and financial assistance. This can help the franchisee to succeed in their business. Networking opportunities: Franchisees frequently have the chance to connect with others within the same franchise system. This networking can serve as a valuable resource for exchanging ideas and best practices. Here are some potential drawbacks of investing in a franchise: High cost: Starting a franchise can be costly. This encompasses not only the franchise fee but also expenses related to training, equipment, and inventory. Lack of control: Franchisees typically have less control over their business than if they were to start their own business from scratch. They must adhere to the franchisor’s rules and regulations. Competition: There may be other franchisees in the same system in your area, which can create competition for your business. Franchising can be a great way to start a business or expand an existing business. However, it is important to do your research before investing in a franchise. Make sure that you understand the franchise agreement and that you are confident that you can be successful in the franchise business. Can You Buy a Franchise For Less Than $20,000? Yes, it is possible to buy a franchise for an initial investment under $20,000, and many people do. Some of these popular franchises include cruise planners, home inspection services, pet care businesses, digital franchises, and more. And thanks to the weak economy, there has never been a better time to invest in your own franchise. Many established franchises are offering low-cost options, making it easier than ever to get started on the path toward entrepreneurship. How Do You Choose the Best Franchise Under 20K? Consideration PointGuidance Personal ConsiderationsEvaluate your personal interests, goals, experience level, and available time and resources during your franchise search. Franchise PotentialAnalyze different opportunities, comparing their costs, profitability potential, and growth outlook. Take note of all included and additional costs like franchise fees. Industry TypePrioritize high-demand industries with a low barrier to entry. Evaluate potential franchise businesses based on their revenue potential and profitability. Franchise ReputationLook for established franchises with positive reviews, robust financial performance, and a proven track record. Gather feedback from other franchisees about the franchise. Support SystemEnsure the franchise opportunity you choose provides robust support and training to facilitate your success in the venture. Interests and SkillsAlign your choice of franchise with your passions and skills. Thorough ResearchCarry out extensive research on various franchises to find one that suits you. Consider financials, historical performance, and reputation. Engage with FranchiseesSpeak with current and former franchisees for insights into the franchise, helping you understand the day-to-day operations better. Financial PreparednessFranchising can be costly, ensure you have the necessary finances to cover the initial investment and ongoing costs, even for franchises under $20K. Work EthicBe prepared to work hard as franchising, like any other business, requires dedication and long hours to be successful. Low Startup CostsConsider franchises with low startup costs to make getting started and reaching profitability easier. Proven Track RecordOpt for franchises with a proven track record of success to increase your chances of success. Growing IndustryChoose a franchise in a growing industry to ensure demand for your products or services. For the best success, it’s important to carefully consider all of your options when choosing franchises under 20K. The top ones to consider include the following: Personal considerations: Consider factors such as your personal interests, goals, experience level, and available time and resources when doing your franchise search. The franchise’s potential: Research different opportunities and compare their costs, profitability potential, and growth potential. For instance, some franchisors include costs like a franchise fee in the total investment. Others don’t, and the fee can be fairly substantial and recurring. The type of industry: Look for industries that are in high demand and have a low barrier to entry. You’ll want to buy into a lucrative industry, too. So, evaluate potential franchise businesses based on their expected revenue and profitability. The franchise’s reputation: Look for established franchises with positive reviews, strong financial performance, and a proven track record. In addition, make sure you get other franchisees’ feedback about the franchise. A strong support system: Make sure the opportunity you choose offers strong support and training to help you succeed in your new business venture. Reflect on your interests and skills: What do you enjoy? What are your strengths? Select a franchise that matches your interests and skills. Do your research: Research different franchises to find one that is a good fit for you. Consider the franchise’s financials, history, and reputation. Speak with current and former franchisees: Engage with current and past franchisees to gain their perspectives on the franchise. This will provide you with a clearer understanding of the daily operations of the business. Make sure you have the necessary finances: Franchising can be expensive, even if you choose a franchise under $20K. Make sure you have the necessary finances to cover the initial investment and ongoing costs. Be prepared to work hard: Franchising is a business, and like any business, it takes hard work to be successful. Be prepared to put in the long hours and dedication necessary to make your franchise a success. Look for franchises with low startup costs: There are a number of franchises that have low startup costs. This can make it easier to get started and to be profitable. Consider franchises with a proven track record: Look for franchises that have a proven track record of success. This can give you a better chance of success with your own franchise. Choose a franchise that is in a growing industry: The industry that your franchise is in should be growing. This can help to ensure that there is a demand for your products or services. How to Choose the Right Franchise Under 20K: Our Methodology When considering an investment in a franchise, we recognize that small business owners and entrepreneurs frequently face budget limitations. That’s why we are here to assist you in exploring the options available within franchises under $20,000. Our aim is to equip you with the necessary insights and criteria to make a well-informed decision. Let’s dive into the key factors to consider when choosing the best franchise opportunity within this budget range. Here’s a list of criteria, each rated on a scale of importance from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most crucial: Initial Investment (5/5): The affordability of the franchise is paramount. Assess the initial costs, including franchise fees, equipment, and inventory. Franchisor Support (4/5): Evaluate the level of support provided by the franchisor, such as training, marketing assistance, and ongoing guidance. Profit Potential (4/5): Research the franchise’s profit potential and financial performance. Consider factors like the market demand and the franchise’s track record. Brand Reputation (3/5): A well-established brand can provide credibility and attract customers. Research the reputation and recognition of the franchise. Flexibility (3/5): Assess the level of flexibility that the franchise provides regarding location, operating hours, and the business model. Market Demand (5/5): Analyze the market demand for the products or services offered by the franchise in your chosen location. High demand can lead to greater success. Franchise Agreement Terms (3/5): Carefully review the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement, including fees, royalties, and renewal options. Training and Support (4/5): Assess the quality and availability of training and ongoing support from the franchisor. Adequate training is crucial for success. Competitive Analysis (3/5): Research the competition in your area and assess your franchise’s competitive advantage and differentiation. Growth Potential (4/5): Consider the potential for growth and expansion within the franchise system. Look for opportunities to scale your business. CriteriaDescriptionImportance (1-5) Initial InvestmentAssess the affordability of the franchise, including franchise fees, equipment, and inventory costs.5 Franchisor SupportEvaluate the level of support provided by the franchisor, including training, marketing assistance, and ongoing guidance.4 Profit PotentialResearch the franchise's profit potential and financial performance, considering market demand and the franchise's track record.4 Brand ReputationInvestigate the reputation and recognition of the franchise, as a well-established brand can attract customers and provide credibility.3 FlexibilityDetermine the level of flexibility the franchise offers in terms of location, operating hours, and business model.3 Market DemandAnalyze the market demand for the franchise's products or services in your chosen location, as high demand can lead to greater success.5 Franchise Agreement TermsCarefully review the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement, including fees, royalties, and renewal options.3 Training and SupportAssess the quality and availability of training and ongoing support provided by the franchisor, as adequate training is crucial for success.4 Competitive AnalysisResearch the competition in your area and evaluate your franchise's competitive advantage and differentiation strategies.3 Growth PotentialConsider the potential for growth and expansion within the franchise system, looking for opportunities to scale your business.4 Top Franchise Business Opportunities for Less than $20,000 If you are looking for top franchises that are less than $20K, here are some top opportunities to consider. Dream Vacations If you’re a person who digs travel, why not turn it into a moneymaking venture with Dream Vacations? For starters, the company allows you the freedom to operate your own home-based travel business while you help others plan their dream getaways. And they offer lower-cost franchises with no inventory. What’s more? You can own a travel franchise through them for as little as $3,500, which gives you access to training, marketing materials, and a reservation system to help you build your business. GetintheLoop Local Number two on the list of franchises under 20K is GetintheLoop local, which is a digital franchise opportunity uniquely suited to those who love sales and marketing. Through them, you’ll empower scores of entrepreneurs to use the GetintheLoop platform to help local businesses increase their revenue through powerful mobile marketing. Plus, you will have the earning potential to get back your initial investment in months instead of years. Jani King Founded in the 1960s, Jani King offers comprehensive janitorial and commercial cleaning services. Additionally, they have 10,000 franchises that offer their superior services to tens of thousands of clients. They also have over 120 regional support offices that can help you get your franchise started. Plus, you can buy a Jani King franchise for as little as $3,000 and start your own business—all from the comfort of your home. Home Inspection Service Len Franckowiak founded the Home Building Institute (HBI), which is a school that formally taught the ins and outs of building homes. One of the courses at HBI was Old House Rehab, and it taught the art of inspecting and analyzing older houses. When Franckowiak was called on by his students for his insight into home conditions, he recognized a need for home inspection services. In 1992, he launched BrickKicker to create opportunities for earning income in the real estate market. Franchisees offering home inspection services through BrickKicker can anticipate a total investment ranging from $14,150 to $32,950. Additionally, veterans may receive a discount of $2,000 to $4,000 off their franchise fee. Starscapes Starscapes is a home decor and night sky painting company that specializes in custom murals for nurseries, children’s rooms, and master bedrooms. With no franchise fees and everything you need to get started provided by the company, it’s easy to see how this business opportunity could be a great fit for those with an artistic flair and an entrepreneurial spirit. Finally, for only $1,995 in startup costs, including help from the Starscapes marketing team, DVDs, equipment, and supplies, Starscapes is easily the cheapest franchise under 20K on this list. TSS Photography TSS Photography began franchising in 1984, and since then, they’ve built a solid reputation as a go-to provider of high school senior, youth sports, and event photography services. With an initial investment of $10,500, shutterbug entrepreneurs get photography training and assistance with business and marketing development and daily operations. TSS doesn’t charge a royalty fee, either. Instead, they earn revenue from markups on printing and products. That means you get to hold on to more of what you make. ClaimTek If you’re looking for a business opportunity that combines your love of health and technology, ClaimTek Systems is a terrific choice. CalimTek provides medical billing and practice management software to healthcare providers. Franchisees only need initial costs of $15,000, and the majority of that cost is proprietary software and HIPAA compliance tools. ClaimTek provides options for 1-3 years of support on billing marketing and software. They also offer premium training that lets you work one-on-one with a mentor. More Franchise Opportunities to Start Your Own Business for Less Than $20K If the franchises above don’t fit your interests and budget, there are many other options available. Here are seven more of the best franchises under $20K to consider. Wagons-Lits In the early 1870s, Georges Nagelmackers founded his company, Wagons-Lits, with the goal of adding sleeping compartments to European trains. Today, this company continues to thrive, franchising in over 140 countries. With low start-up costs ranging from $2,270 to $16,910 and a franchise fee of just $1,500, you can join their network of travel agencies. They also provide excellent benefits, such as the opportunity to utilize their well-established brand and access to comprehensive training programs. Cruise Planners If you’re a travel enthusiast, Blue World Voyages is an exciting opportunity to consider. The company offers luxury cruise vacations for families and couples in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and other international destinations. Getting started as a cruise planner for Blue World costs $10,995, and that price gets you home office support, a million dollars in insurance, and a six-day training course in Fort Lauderdale, FL. With low start-up costs and average annual sales of $273,978, this franchise offers an unbeatable combination of affordability and opportunity. Image One For those interested in the cleaning services industry, Image One is a unique and lucrative opportunity that offers a wide range of services, including janitorial, commercial window washing, and power washing. Franchisees get access to business systems and training in proper commercial cleaning techniques, equipment cleaning supplies, billing and paperwork, and so on for only $15,000, as well as ongoing support from their corporate team. It’s an ideal choice for entrepreneurs who want to break into the industry with a well-known brand name. Teddy Bear Mobile Last but not least on the list of franchises under 20K is Teddy Bear Mobile. If being a mobile teddy bear stuffer or providing teddy bear stuffing for events and parties sounds like a dream come true, then you’ll want to get in on this one. To franchise with them, you’ll need to pay a low entry cost of just $14,500. After that, you’ll get the combined experience of 15 years in the mobile teddy bear stuffing business assisting you. FAQs Which Franchise Is Cheapest to Own? When it comes to the cheapest franchise opportunities on our list, Dream Vacations, Starscapes, and Wagon-Lits come out on top. These franchises offer low startup costs that range from $500 to $3500, making them ideal for entrepreneurs who want a flexible schedule and are budget-conscious. What Is the Most Financially Successful Franchise? The most financially successful franchises can differ based on various factors, including the capital invested, the location, and the prevailing market conditions. Nevertheless, franchises under 20k, like Teddy Bear Mobile, are among the most favored choices for entrepreneurs seeking to launch a business with a low financial commitment. Furthermore, franchises such as Blue World Voyages provide significant returns on investment along with established customer bases. How Soon Can You Open After Signing a Franchise Agreement? The timeline for opening a franchise varies depending on several factors, such as the size of the business, location, and any necessary refurbishment or renovation works. Generally speaking, though, most franchisees can be up and running within 30-90 days after signing the agreement. READ MORE: What is a Franchise? 15 Fantastic Franchises Under 20K See our Franchise Guide Image: Envato Elements This article, "Fantastic Franchises Under 20K" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

LinkedIn’s latest marketing jobs report highlights industry growth, key skills, and strategies for career success. The post LinkedIn Report Reveals Most In-Demand Marketing Skills appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: God of the Woods, by Liz Moore. A teenager disappears from the summer camp her family owns, 14 years after her older brother similarly disappeared. (Amazon, Bookshop) * I earn a commission if you use those links. View the full article

Crafting effective content for your sales funnel is key to driving conversions. This guide shows you how to tailor your content strategy for maximum impact. The post How To Write Content For Each Stage Of Your Sales Funnel appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Matt Mullenweg and Automattic hired a powerful law firm to represent it against WP Engine's federal law suit The post Matt Mullenweg Hires New Lawyers In Fight Against WP Engine appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Among the panoply of executive orders signed by president Trump in his first week in office is a directive of special interest to conspiracy theorists: on Thursday, Trump directed the federal government to “present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” as well as the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "That's a big one, huh? A lot of people are waiting for this for a long—for years, for decades,” the president said upon signing the order. You can read the full executive order here. How to see the declassified JFK, RFK, and MLK assassination documentsIf you’re hoping Trump's order will result in The Feds uploading tons of spicy files this afternoon, you’ll be disappointed: this is still the federal government we’re talking about. Instead of insta-revelations, the executive order gives the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General 15 days to review records related to the assassination of JFK, 45 days for records related to MLK and RFK, and then “present a plan” to the President for the “full and complete release of these records.” Any new JFK files that get released will likely join the JFK archive maintained by the National Security Agency, where they’ll join nearly 5 million pages of records related to the JFK assassination that are already publicly available. According to the National Archives and Records Administration, 97% of the government’s records related to the JFK assassination are already public. Are we going to see all the documents related to the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations?Whether the president will release complete, un-redacted files and documents associated with the assassinations to the public remains to be seen. There’s nothing preventing Trump from looking at the plan, saying, “fantastic work,” and not doing anything. The president has the discretion to weigh public interest in disclosure against information that would harm intelligence or military operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations. How Trump might judge these options is unknown, although, for what it's worth, the executive order states that “all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.” Didn’t this already happen?If this news gives you a vague sense of déjà vu, it’s understandable. Back in 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, the president announced he was opening the JFK files: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Since then, dribs and drabs of new information about JFK's killing have been made public, but there are still thousands of documents that are sealed and countless redactions that could be removed from publicly available documents. The real bombshells might not be about either KennedyConspiracy theories regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy have been a part of American culture since soon after the shooting, and, to a lesser extent, so have alternative theories about RFK's death, so all publicly available documents related to both Kennedy assassinations have been pored over extensively by generations of amateur researchers and historians. But public interest in conspiracies surrounding the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. hasn't been as prevalent, and could provide the biggest revelations—should the files related to the assassination actually see the light of day. Members of the King family have long maintained that the official story— King was gunned down by petty criminal James Earl Ray—is bunk, pointing to the FBI’s long-running surveillance and harassment campaign against King and other discrepancies in the evidence surrounding the killing. In 1979, United States House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that "there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of Dr King." View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Soundbars typically fall into two broad categories: High-end options like those from Sonos, and the cheaper options that are honestly not worth the money. There is, however, a sweet spot to be found in older models from reputable soundbar companies that were good values to begin with. That's where the Samsung HW-B650 fits, and it's currently $189.99 (originally $399.99), the lowest price it has been since its release, according to price-tracking tools. Samsung HW-B650 3.1 Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer, Dolby 5.1 / DTS Virtual:X $189.99 at Best Buy $399.99 Save $210.00 Get Deal Get Deal $189.99 at Best Buy $399.99 Save $210.00 The HW-B650 was released in 2022 as Samsung's top-of-the-line B-series soundbar for that year. The B-series is a step down from the more premium Q-series soundbars, which easily cost over a grand. Samsung is known to provide great value for the money in the soundbar department, and for those not looking to spend a mortgage payment on a soundbar, the B-series is ideal. Getting a soundbar dramatically raises the audio experience, especially with dialogue. The HW-B650 has preset EQs that let you set the right one depending on your situation. You have many useful presets like one for nighttime, which lowers loud sounds and raises soft sounds, game mode to hear small details, an adaptive one that lets the soundbar set the best one for your media, and of course, a voice enhancer that makes dialogue sound clearer. Because this is a 3.1-channel soundbar, you get a dedicated center channel for vocals, which is what helps the dialogue sound clear. The 430 Watts of power means the soundbar can get loud without distortion. Remember you can always buy rear speakers to make it a true 5.1-channel surround sound system. View the full article

Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career? Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open. Newest jobs in SEO, PPC and digital marketing Sr. SEO/CRO Strategist, Orbit Media Studios (Remote) Salary: $75,000 – $90,000 Lead an overall SEO and CRO strategy for up to six great brands Act as a trusted advisor, partner, and friend in these relationships Sr. SEO Specialist, Tinuiti (Remote) Salary: $70,000 – $80,000 Lead the development, execution, and optimization of sophisticated SEO campaigns, from initial research and strategy through implementation and analysis. Oversee all aspects of on-page, off-page, and technical SEO to achieve and exceed client objectives. Sr. SEO Product Manager, Redfin (Remote) Salary: $156,200 – $234,000 Set our technical SEO roadmap by conducting thorough audits and evaluations of our website relative to competitors Work directly with other product managers and engineers to maintain SEO hygiene, implement changes, and ensure new features meet requirements SEO Content Manager, Modernize (Remote) Salary: $60,000 – $70,000 Support content publication and optimization across organic domains with a sharp focus on search engine performance and propelling channel growth. Implement AI-driven solutions to streamline SEO processes, scale content opportunities, and enhance efficiency. Search Engine Optimization Specialis, Robert Half (Remote) Salary: $80,000 – $100,000 Design and implement acquisition strategies that align with client business goals. Monitor and optimize campaigns across the full funnel, ensuring smooth transitions from awareness to conversion. Search Marketing Manager, Gainor Staff (Remote) Salary: $90,000 – $115,000 Develop, ideate and optimize high performing Paid Search campaigns across platforms (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Microsoft Ads, SA360, Optmyzr). Communicate paid search performance, industry trends, and answering client questions with expertise. Demand Generation Manager, Brinng (Remote) Salary: $130,000 – $165,000 Develop and execute multi-channel demand gen initiatives across digital advertising (PPC), content syndication (CPL), email, social media, content marketing, webinars, field marketing events, and trade shows/conferences that drive net-new leads and existing lead engagement Create and manage integrated campaign calendars to ensure timely execution and coordination Manager, Paid Search (eCommerce), Kinesso (Remote) Salary: $90,000 – $95,000 Manage eCommerce Associates on the team and take ownership / drive their career development Cross-Brand oversight of all eCommerce campaigns, including coordination of planning, activation, and reporting Paid Search Manager at AI eCommerce SaaS Platform, Grey Matter Recruitment (Hybrid, New York, NY) Salary: $80,000 – $90,000 Build and optimize successful marketing campaigns across Amazon, Walmart, etc Utilise digital marketing analytics to interpret campaign trends, make performance recommendations and tell the story behind your clients’ KPIs Manager, Paid Search, Uqora (San Diego Metropolitan Area) Salary: $104,000 – $157,000 Develop and implement comprehensive SEM strategies to achieve omnichannel business objectives for new customer acquisition and brand defense. Partner with our search agency to manage and optimize paid search campaigns across various platforms, including Google Ads and Bing Ads, ensuring effective keyword targeting, ad copy, bidding strategies and experiment design. More SEO jobs SEO Strategist, RicketyRoo (Remote) Salary: $72,000 – $84,000 SEO analysis and strategy. You excel at transforming raw data into actionable insights that align with both short- and long-term goals. Report on client strategy. You’ll report on results to your clients regularly. SEO Specialist, Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys (Remote) Salary: $85,000 – $95,000 Develop and execute comprehensive SEO strategies across technical, on-page, and off-page optimization Lead technical SEO initiatives including site architecture, schema markup, and structured data implementation Principal SEO Manager, Tenable (Remote) Salary: £136,500 – $181,800 Develop and execute a comprehensive SEO strategy that aligns with business goals across multiple products, regions and languages. Establish a shared SEO-driven growth strategy by collaborating with company stakeholders to build a consensus on priorities Sr. SEO Product Manager, Upwork (Remote) Salary: $151,500 – $183,000 Develop and execute a global SEO strategy that balances user experience with traffic growth objectives. Lead PRD (Product Requirements Document) creation and management for SEO initiatives, ensuring clarity and alignment with cross-functional teams. SEO Tech Lead, Tripadvisor (Remote) Salary: $150,000 – $215,000 Build and drive a technical roadmap for our SEO platform Design solutions to business problems by building new tools and/or processes SEO & Content Manager, Windscribe (Remote) Salary: $85,000 Develop and implement comprehensive SEO strategies to improve organic search rankings, increase traffic, and drive conversions. Conduct keyword research and use SEO tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs) to identify and optimize high-impact opportunities Technical SEO Specialist, Theo Agency (Remote) Salary: $60,000 – $70,000 Execute on-page and off-page SEO strategies to improve website visibility Conduct keyword research and analysis to optimize content SEO Account Strategist, MeanPug Digital (Remote) Salary: $70,000 – $90,000 Planning and delegating assignment of new content, including coming up with blog topics that creatively tie back to our clients’ areas of specialty and are backed by keyword research. Brainstorming with other key team members to generate highly relevant, highly engaging digital content Sr. SEO Manager, The Grit Group (Remote) Salary: $80,000 – £100,000 Quarterback SEO strategy discussions, present tactical plans and results to leadership Drive SEO strategy across a variety of client partnerships, industries, and help drive company-wide SEO strategy SEO Manager, 85SIXTY (Remote) Salary: $70,000 – $90,000 Drive Client Growth: Lead and manage the growth of your clients’ SEO programs through detailed audits, strategies, and execution of proven SEO tactics. Client Strategy Leadership: Serve as the strategic lead for your clients, guiding them toward their goals with a balance of data-driven decision-making, creativity, and innovative SEO approaches. Technical SEO Manager, Growth Plays (Remote) Salary: $75,000 – $100,000 You will own audits, domain and CMS migrations, and reporting build outs. You will be tapped by account managers when technical SEO arise that are complex and need further investigation. More PPC jobs Digital Marketing Manager, 51 Labs (Atlanta, Metropolitan Area) Salary: $85,000 – $120,000 Digital Marketing Planning. Plan, execute, and manage SEO, SEM, email marketing, and social media campaigns for clients. Team Collaboration. Lead a cross-functional team of content creators, designers, and writers to deliver innovative marketing initiatives. Performance Marketing Manager, Sigma Computing (New York, NY) Salary: $130,000 – $155,000 Manage our digital advertising platforms such as Google Ads, Linkedin, 6Sense, and more: Includes in-platform management and optimization such as keyword research, ad copy writing, campaign creation, budgeting, pacing, optimization, assistance in tagging management and more Collaborate with the organic content team to build and evolve the keyword strategy for both paid and organic PPC Manager, Crawford Thomas Recruiting (Orlando, FL) Salary: $60,000 – $85,000 Develop and execute successful paid search strategies. Select relevant keywords and target specific audiences to drive traffic. Senior Growth Manager, Paid Acquisition, Stepful (New York, NY) Salary: $120,000 – $160,000 Drive Paid Acquisition growth and efficiency through creative testing and effective budget management. Run experiments across the sign-up funnel to increase web page visitors to lead & lead to signup conversion rates. Paid Search Manager, Weedmaps (Remote) Salary: $111,600 – $138,200 Lead paid search strategy and execution to scale Weedmaps growth, targeting channel expansion, enhancing lifetime value, and fostering loyalty in key customer segments. Manage and optimize paid search campaigns across Google Ads, Bing Ads, and other relevant platforms to ensure alignment with growth objectives while maximizing reach and ROI. Sr. Marketing Manager, Paid Advertising, Pilot.com (Remote) Salary: £127,000 – $215,000 Own Paid Media Strategy: Develop and execute a comprehensive paid advertising strategy across platforms like Google and Bing Ads, LinkedIn, Meta and Reddit to drive leads and revenue. Campaign Management & Optimization: Launch, monitor, and optimize campaigns to hit performance goals, staying within budget and maximizing ROI. Search Marketing Manager, Gainor Staffing (Remote) Salary: $90,000 – $115,000 Develop, ideate and optimize high performing Paid Search campaigns across platforms (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Microsoft Ads, SA360, Optmyzr). Communicate paid search performance, industry trends, and answering client questions with expertise. Sr Director, Head of Paid Search, PHD (Hybrid, New York, NY) Salary: $180,000 – $250,000 Paid Search Strategic Planning: Develop long-term execution plans that align with client business and agency objectives. Implement these plans and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. Paid Search Data Analysis: Demonstrate analytical skills to extract meaningful insights from data. Relate these insights back to business goals and identify actionable recommendations. Manager, Paid Search, Gainor Staffing (Remote) Salary: $90,000 – $115,000 Develop, ideate and optimize high performing Paid Search campaigns across platforms (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Microsoft Ads, SA360, Optmyzr). Communicate paid search performance, industry trends, and answering client questions with expertise. Paid Media Manager, 10X Health System (Aventura, Fla.) Salary: $75,000 – $95,000 Oversee the entire paid media campaign process, from concept development, creative ideation, and audience targeting, to execution, launch, and proactive optimization. Monitor campaign spending and performance metrics to ensure campaigns meet or exceed key metrics such as ROAS, CPA, and conversion rates Manager, Paid Search, Gainor Staffing (New York City area) Salary: $90,000 – $115,000 Develop, ideate and optimize high performing Paid Search campaigns across platforms (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Microsoft Ads, SA360, Optmyzr). Communicate paid search performance, industry trends, and answering client questions with expertise. Manager, Paid Search, Pfizer (New York City) Salary: $99,900 – $166,500 Responsible for developing, implementing, and managing paid search campaigns across various platforms to drive key actions and achieve business objectives for a portfolio of brands. Identify, evaluate, and launch new opportunities and optimizations within the paid search landscape in alignment with Pfizer guidelines. Performance Marketing Manager., K Health (New York City) Salary: $130,000 – $160,000 Own strategy and execution on key marketing channels, including SEM and Paid Social (Facebook and TikTok) Lead all aspects of creative and landing page ideation and iteration to continually improve performance Director, Search | Growth Marketing Team, DEPT (Hybrid, Austin, Texas) Salary: $125,700 – $182,300 Support client partners in managing client relationships as related to paid search strategy, team, and performance Ensures effective collaboration of paid search strategy and implementation for flawless execution of search campaign strategy and activation towards client overall goals Director, Paid Search, Digital Matter (New York City) Salary: $136,000 to $165,000 (annual) Manage execution and performance of search, shopping, display, and video advertising campaigns through the full account management life cycle Serve as the key player in kick-off meetings, client relationship management, ad-serving, tech stack implementation, campaign optimization, and quarterly business planning. Are you looking to hire? You can submit your job listing details here for free. Please include: Job title. Company. Job listing URL. Date when the job listing closes. Where the position is located (e.g., remote, city, country). Salary range (we will not include job listings in this article unless they include this). Note: We update this post weekly. So make sure to bookmark this page and check back. View the full article

It happens every year: The weather warms up, the plants start sprouting, and suddenly it’s spring—and time to clean up after a few months of hibernation. The concept of spring cleaning is pretty popular, and for good reason: Scrubbing and decluttering offer a range of benefits, from lowering stress and boosting your mood to simple physical exercise. Plus, the chances are good that your home needs it. For most people, the phrase “spring cleaning” brings to mind dusting and vacuuming the interior of the house. That’s a big part of it, of course, but you shouldn’t neglect the exterior of your house (or your car!), which has taken a beating during these cold, snowy months. Now’s the time to gear up and plan an exterior spring cleaning to get the outside of your house in shape. Inspect and repairThe first step of an exterior spring cleaning is an inspection to discover damage and other problems that need addressing: Examine the exterior walls. Cracks, rust, or warping in siding or stucco will need to be repaired before they turn into a leak. If you see brown, red, black, or green spots, that’s a sign of mildew that will need to be cleaned off. Look for nests or pest damage. Look for insect nests or holes and other entry points for rodents, carpenter ants, and other pests. Nests will need to be removed (be careful when dealing with stinging insects like hornets) and holes will need to be sealed up—but make sure nothing is living in your walls before you do, or you’ll have a smell problem in short order. Inspect the roof. Signs that your roof needs attention (even if you haven’t noticed an active leak) include missing shingles, obvious mold growth, ponding water, and cracks or visible sagging. You should also look for cracked flashing or gaps that need caulking. Inspect decks. Look for warped or cracked planks, loose screws, or other damage. If you see any holes, cracks, or other damage, make repairs as necessary before you do any actual cleaning. Clear away debris Once you’ve assessed any damage or pest infiltration, your next step is to clear away the debris that built up during the cold weather, before it becomes a haven for pests, a barrier to drainage, and a really ugly scene once the sun starts shining again. A few things to do include: Rake up leaves that have been rotting under snowcover for a few months. Remove dead branches, cobwebs, and any trash that winter storms might have blown up against your house. Clean out the gutters and downspouts. It’s also a good idea to run a hose up to the gutters and test the water flow to make sure there isn’t a blockage somewhere. Clean off the roof—remove any branches or other debris up there. If you’re (understandably) not thrilled to climb up there, a roof rake can get the job done for you. Wash your houseOnce you’ve got the debris cleared away, it’s time to wash the house. While a pressure washer can be useful, you don’t necessarily need one—you can purchase an attachment that will turn your garden hose into an effective pressure washer, as well as attachments that turn it into a spray cleaner. A few places to focus on: Walls. If your siding or stucco has mildew or other dirt, wash it with a bleach-free cleaning solution that’s marked safe for plants (like this one). You might need a soft brush or sponge to scrub some areas. Decks and patios. If you’ve got a wood or composite deck or patio area, a good pressure wash can have it looking like new. Driveway. A pressure washer or garden hose with a washer attachment can do wonders. Use a driveway cleaning solution for any stains that have cropped up during the winter. Outdoor furniture. Even if it was covered or left inside the garage all winter, your patio set needs a brisk cleaning and inspecting for insects or damage. Roof. Once you’ve removed debris and made repairs, you only need to clean your roof if it shows obvious signs of mold, mildew, or other stuff growing on it. You can buy roof-cleaning solutions that attach to your hose to make this job a lot easier. Chimney. This is the perfect time to take a look at your chimney and give it a good cleaning (or hire someone to clean it for you). Windows and doors. Your windows have probably collected a lot of dirt over the winter, so take a moment to clean them with an outdoor glass cleaning solution. You should also clean the screens, which can get plenty dusty over time. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. There is a surprising number of products that come with into your home with stubborn stickers. A lot of stores still use price stickers, for instance, and glassware almost always has a sticker that gives you some kind of information about your item. Peeling them off is laborious and can leave residue behind—but I found a couple of tips on social media, both of which work fabulously. Adhesive removal hack 1: The melamine spongeI don't even remember where I first heard that you should use a melamine sponge, like a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to quickly do away with stickers and adhesive residue, but I do know it was somewhere on TikTok. I do remember where I first tried it, though: A few months ago, I ordered a new glass table and, while putting it together, noticed the manufacturer had stuck informational stickers directly to the glass. How kind of them! An old TikTok hack popped out of my long-term memory. I grabbed a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (the Ultra Foamy, to be exact), dampened it, and started to scrub. The sticker dissolved. It disappeared. It was gone before I even realized it; I was scrubbing at nothing. Any melamine sponge can do this, though I do prefer the Ultra Foamy just because its suds are something serious. To demonstrate how well this works, I identified a sticker that has been stuck on another table for a few weeks; my goal was to remove half with the Magic Eraser and half with the second hack, which I'll introduce shortly—but once again, the Ultra Foamy worked too well. The whole sticker, which I wasn't able to easily pry up with my own fingernails, came off instantly, with the majority dissolving on the spot and the rest easy to pick up by hand. Too bad for my demonstration, but lucky for me overall. It happened so fast and perfectly that there was no point in taking a mid-scrub action photo. Where once there was an errant tanning sticker to remind me of summer, now there was nothing: No sticker, no adhesive residue, no anything. Adhesive removal hack 2: The hair dryerWith my plan to use the same sticker to demonstrate both hacks literally scrubbed, I started looking for another truly stuck-on sticker I could remove with the second method: the trusty hair dryer. I found a six-year-old candle I never use because its scent is sentimental to me. If any sticker were truly stuck on, it was the one that has had over half a decade to lurk under this candle. This hack is very popular on TikTok, where creators show off how easily and well it works. It's simple: Blast the sticker with the hair dryer for a few seconds and you'll suddenly be able to pull up the edge. (If it's a larger sticker, it may take a minute or two.) What's more, the adhesive all the way across the sticker will be melted, so it peels right off without tearing or leaving streaks. I recommend this technique for big, full stickers, but not for dealing with the remnants of old, semi-removed ones. If you have adhesive goo stuck to something but no actual sticker to yank on, melting it will just make a mess you have to scrub up. You'll be reaching for the melamine sponge anyway, so just skip the hair dryer and go straight to that. So, back to my candle. I assessed the sticker on the bottom and found it was fully and completely stuck with no lifting whatsoever and definitely no weak spot I could start to peel. I flipped it over on a flat surface, hit it with my beloved Dyson, and, after just two minutes, was able to pull the entire thing straight off without leaving even a little residue behind. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson Both of these hacks work perfectly and I prefer them to others I've tried. Acetone, for instance, does work, but it takes forever to break down the sticker and adhesive, leaving a streaky mess that you have to keep scrubbing at. (Plus, if you have your nails painted, you have to wear gloves for that one.) Similarly, soap and water can dissolve the paper part of a sticker if you have the patience, but it takes way too long and, again, requires way too much scrubbing. Vinegar also works, but it stinks. The Magic Eraser powers through adhesive and the hair dryer makes any sticker peelable in no time, all without you having to do too much or stink up the place. View the full article

Meta tests image ads on Threads, offering new opportunities for advertisers. Learn why this matters, how it works, and what brands should do now. The post Meta Threads Takes the Next Step By Launching Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

YouTube Premium is expanding its list of paid-only features—at least, for those who are willing to experiment. In a blog post this week, the company announced a handful of new experimental features available to Premium subscribers. These features, while not enabled by default, can be switched on from youtube.com/new, and can be used until they expire. In addition, YouTube also announced a sneak peek at a feature in the works, as well as a Premium discount for Google One subscriptions. Higher-quality musicYouTube Premium is adding a new high-quality audio bitrate for music videos. Now, songs can be up to 256kbps, matching the highest audio quality found on YouTube Music. This feature is only available on iOS and Android at the moment, from now through Feb. 22. Jump Ahead (on the web)Jump Ahead is an AI-powered YouTube feature that analyzes watch behavior on any given video to determine its "best" part, offering to "jump ahead" to that section. YouTube originally rolled out the feature as a test nearly a year ago, and has since made it a YouTube Premium option on mobile. Now, you can access it on the web as an experimental feature, from now until Feb. 5. Picture-in-picture for ShortsPicture-in-picture (or PiP) is a useful way to watch a video while multitasking on your device. If the video in question is a YouTube Short, however, PiP won't work, presumably because, well, the videos are quite short. If you have a Premium subscription, however, you can enable an experimental feature that lets you watch Shorts in PiP. I suppose that's good news for extremely busy viewers who want to watch a video that's 60 seconds or less, but need to get back to work immediately. Curiously, this feature is only available on iOS, and only until Feb. 19. Automatic Shorts downloadsSpeaking of Shorts, a new Premium experimental feature will automatically download Shorts for offline viewing. This feature is also an iOS exclusive: When you sign up for the experimental feature, you can head to the Downloads section of YouTube and scroll to "Smart Downloads," where you'll find any recently downloaded Shorts. This feature is available through Feb. 19. YouTube Premium discount through Google OneGoogle is also rolling out a new discount for YouTube Premium when it's purchased with a Google One Premium subscription (or higher). Google One Premium starts at $9.99 per month, and while YouTube Premium typically costs $13.99 per month, you can drop that cost to 11.99 per month. That's not a huge savings, but I do think it'll be an interesting offer for anyone who already subscribes to both or has one of the two subscriptions and is on the fence about subscribing to the other. If you're thinking, "Wait: I pay $19 a month for YouTube Premium. What's this about $14 a month?" that means you likely subscribed in the app, rather than the website (at least on iOS). Companies frequently increase the costs of subscriptions in apps versus on the web, since they need to pay a 30% tax to Apple or Google. If you subscribed through the Android app, you probably didn't have this premium hike. Faster playback speeds on iOS and Android (coming soon)This feature isn't out yet, but in its blog post, YouTube announced an in-the-works feature that will expand the playback speed options on mobile. iOS and Android users will be able to stream at up to 4x speed. As for who would want to watch or listen to content at that speed, I cannot say. View the full article

This week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Fitbit has agreed to pay a $12.25 million settlement over one of their older smartwatches, which had a battery defect that left some users with serious burns. Meanwhile, Fitbit itself announced that some of its more recent smartwatches—the Sense and the Versa 3—may also have an issue with overheating batteries that could pose a hazard to wearers, and is updating their software to fix the issue. What is the problem with Sense and Versa 3?According to a notice posted on the Fitbit Help Center, some (not all) Sense and Versa 3 devices have a defective battery that could overheat and possibly cause burns. Both of those watches were released in 2020. So far, Fitbit has not identified any newer watches as having this problem. What to do if you have a Sense or a Versa 3 Fitbit says they are rolling out an update to the affected watches (again, not every Sense or Versa 3) that will limit its battery capabilities. Fitbit says: “The update will improve the stability of the device’s battery performance and reduce the risk of the battery overheating. As a result, the battery will last for shorter periods between charges and you may need to charge your device more frequently.” If you don’t want to update your device, too bad. According to that notice, after several days, your device will factory reset itself. This means it will delete any data that wasn’t synced to your phone, and you’ll have to do the setup process all over again. In the course of the setup process, the new firmware update will be installed. There doesn't seem to be a way to continue using the device without the update. You’ll know your device is due for an update thanks to notifications that will be sent to your phone, the device, and to your email. You can get $50 if you have an “impacted” Sense or Versa 3To soften the blow, Fitbit has a set up a form you can fill out to “determine eligibility” for a $50 “appeasement” if your device was one of the ones forced to update. Fitbit says it could take a week to verify whether you’re eligible, during which time they may ask you for more information, and then another three weeks to process the payment. Fitbit also agreed to pay a fine over an earlier dangerous battery issueWhile it shouldn't affect any current Fitbit users, the company has also agreed to pay a $12.25 million settlement to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission over an earlier battery issue. The Ionic, a smartwatch launched in 2017, started burning people’s wrists as early as 2018, according to reports the company received. In 2020, the same year the Ionic was discontinued, Fitbit rolled out a battery update to reduce the risk of overheating (hmm, sounds familiar) but continued to receive reports of burns. They worked with the CPSC to do a full recall in 2022. You can find more information about that recall here. The settlement Fitbit is paying now is not directed at consumers who had the affected watches (that compensation was intended to be addressed with the recall), but to the CPSC itself, for failing to notify the government agency about such a seriously hazardous product. There were 78 reports of burn injuries, including two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns, the CPSC says. The company is also required to “maintain internal controls and procedures designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).” A battery update isn’t necessarily an ideal fix for consumers. For example, Fitbit parent company Google recently rolled out a battery update to its old Pixel 4a phones (released in 2020) that some users are saying makes the devices unusable. I’ve reached out to Fitbit to ask if the Sense and Versa 3 update is related to the CPSC settlement and will update this article if I hear back. View the full article

Meta is rolling out ads on its Threads app, targeting a rapidly expanding social media platform with over 300 million monthly active users. This move transforms Threads from a pure social experience into a potential advertising powerhouse, allowing businesses to easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns with minimal additional effort. Big picture. Advertisers can now add Threads to their campaign reach by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. Initially, the test will feature image ads appearing intermittently in users’ home feeds. Key details: Small-scale initial test with limited advertisers. Ads will appear between content in the home feed. Three out of four Threads users already follow at least one business (according to internal Meta data). Why we care. Advertisers included in this pilot, can easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to a new, rapidly growing platform with 300 million monthly active users, with minimal additional creative work. By getting in early, advertisers can establish a presence, gain unique audience insights, and potentially capture market share before the platform becomes saturated with competitors. Between the lines. Meta is treading carefully, promising close monitoring of the ad experience and providing user controls like ad skipping and reporting. Brand safety. The company is implementing its existing brand safety tools, including an AI-powered inventory filter that helps advertisers control the content context of their ads. What’s next. Meta plans to expand the ad program gradually, using user feedback and engagement metrics to guide future rollout. Bottom line. Threads is transforming from a Twitter alternative to a potential advertising platform, leveraging Meta’s extensive ad infrastructure. View the full article

A recent software update meant to stabilize battery performance on the Pixel 4a has had an unexpected side effect: Some Pixel 4a owners are reporting that their phones can now barely hold a charge. There's a particularly egregious example on Reddit, where a user reported that their phone is down from seven hours of screen time on a single charge to just 30 minutes. Pixel 4a's battery performance issuesEarlier this month, Google published a detailed document explaining the Pixel 4a software update to Android 13. The company says that some people are experiencing a degradation in the battery's capacity, runtime, or performance, as is expected with lithium-ion batteries of a certain age. However, in the Pixel 4a's case, Google decided to push a software update to provide more stable battery performance, but the caveat is that it may lead to reduced battery life and slower charging. In the document, Google said, "For some devices (“Impacted Devices”), the update includes new battery management features to improve the stability of your battery’s performance, so the battery may last for shorter periods between charges. Users of Impacted Devices may also notice other changes, like reduced charging performance or changes to how the battery-level indicator on your phone shows your battery capacity." As a result, some Pixel 4a users have been left with phones that can barely hold a charge. Google's solution for Pixel 4a battery issuesThe company has offered a few options for Pixel 4a owners impacted by this software update: a free battery replacement, a one-time payment of $50, or a $100 credit that you can use toward a new Pixel phone from Google. Reddit users appear to have had good experiences with battery replacements, with some of them reporting that they were able to get it done in under two hours. Most people have recommended taking in your device in-person in order to ensure the lowest possible turnaround time and to reduce the risk of loss or damage. Having said that, it involves some effort in backing up the device and a factory reset. Although people have got their batteries replaced without doing either, I don't recommend it. A complete backup is an essential step if you don't want to lose data. The factory reset step ensures that strangers can't access all the data on your unlocked phone. How to check if your Pixel 4a is impactedGoogle calls affected Pixel 4a "Impacted Devices." You can check if yours is one of them by going to this Google Pixel support page and follow the on-screen prompts to opt for one of the three offered solutions. You'll be able to either ask for a free battery replacement, request store credit, or take the cash payment. View the full article

Asana is a powerful project management solution for just about any team, but it doesn’t have the features sales and customer success teams need in their daily work. That’s why many organizations opt to use Asana for general project management and Salesforce for managing sales pipelines and customer support. But when collaboration between teams needs to cross these tools, you need an integration solution to keep crucial data at everyone’s fingertips. Asana offers a Salesforce integration that uses built-in features to automatically create new work items in each tool and update fields. Unito offers its own integration that creates a two-way sync between ASana tasks and Salesforce and keeps most fields updated automatically. Here’s a look at what each integration can do so you can pick the right one for your team. How we compareAsana + Salesforce built-in integrationUnitoEase of useHardEasySync and automation1-way automation*2-way sync**CustomizabilityLimitedExtensiveSubtasks, Comments, AttachmentsYesYesSupported fieldsLessMoreIntegrationAsana ←→ SalesforceAsana, Salesforce, and 40+ other tools *Automations typically use if-this-then-that logic to create work items or update them. You choose a trigger that starts the automation and a simple action for it to take. **A sync creates a 2-way relationship between work items (e.g. a Salesforce record and an Asana task). This automatically creates new work items in each tool and keeps them up to date across most fields. What is the built-in Asana+Salesforce integration? The Asana+Salesforce integration is built by the team at Asana and it’s available for all users. This integration connects automation features in both tools — rules in Asana and flows in Salesforce — allowing you to create automations that span both tools. So if you’re already used to building Asana rules or Salesforce flows, this integration will let you do a lot more. With this integration, you can set up Asana rules that automatically create new Asana tasks to match specific records in Salesforce, new comments in Asana sharing snapshots of Salesforce deals as they progress, and more. Note that setting up this integration does take some technical skill, so don’t be surprised if you need help from a developer or a Salesforce admin to get up and running. Asana’s built-in Salesforce integration use cases The automations you build with this integration give you greater visibility on work happening in both tools, allow for tighter collaboration between teams, and even enable completely new workflows. All with less copying and pasting data back and forth, fewer meetings, and no Slack notifications. Here are just a few examples of use cases for this integration. Automate post-sales handoffs and implementation Some products and services require significant work after a sale before they’re ready for the customer. If the handoff from the sales team to whoever manages that post-sales work is done manually, the time it takes for your customer to get value from whatever you’re selling is artificially inflated. Doubly if you sell a high-volume product. With this integration, you can automatically create Asana tasks for this hand-off when a Salesforce deal reaches a certain stage. Flag a Salesforce record as requiring additional support One of the actions supported by Asana rules automatically adds new collaborators to a task, notifying them whenever it’s updated. With this integration, you could pair this action with a field being updated or a new record being created in Salesforce. That means if anything specific happens to a deal or ticket, you can automatically bring in the right people every time. Automatically push updates to Asana By pairing certain fields across Salesforce and Asana, you can share near-real-time updates from Salesforce records to Asana tasks. These updates show up as comments in Asana, allowing teams to get a better view of what happens in deals, opportunities, and tickets. Unito’s Asana-Salesforce integration Unito’s Asana-Salesforce integration is a true 2-way sync, meaning it creates relationships between Asana tasks and Salesforce records, automatically updating them as changes happen in the paired tool. Work item creation is also automated based on your requirements. You could, for example, only create new Asana tasks when Salesforce deals reach a certain change, or create new Salesforce tickets when an Asana task has its priority field set to “High.” Once these work items are created, Unito can also sync nearly any changes made in either tool. Unito can sync the following fields in Asana. Assignee Attachment Comment Completion date Created at Created by Description Due date Globally unique task identifier Link to task Project name Section / column Start date Status Subtask Tag Task name Task type Updated at And the following fields in Salesforce. Auto number Checkbox Currency Date Date / time Email Number Percent Phone Picklist String Text Text area URL While both Asana’s built-in Salesforce integration and Unito can create new Asana tasks and projects, Unito gives you more precise control over when that happens. Want to create a new Asana task when a specific deal stage is reached in Salesforce or a certain deal amount is added? With Asana’s built-in integration, you’d need multiple rules and automations to make that happen. Unito does it with a single flow, which takes an average of 12 minutes to set up. Unito’s Asana-Salesforce integration use cases Any time the sales or customer success teams have to collaborate with the rest of the organization, someone has to leave their tool of choice. But with Unito’s integration, that collaboration can happen seamlessly without anyone switching back and forth. Here are a few examples of use cases where that’s especially useful. Automate post-sales handoffs and implementation (but better) With a single Unito flow, Asana tasks are automatically created for every Salesforce deal once that deal is won. That task is automatically assigned to the right person so the handoff happens immediately after the deal is won. Curious about what difference that can make for your organization? Here’s how Cloudwerx, a full-service enterprise cloud consulting firm, uses Unito to save $6,000 and 50 hours a week by automating post-sale handoffs between Salesforce, Jira, and ClickUp. Turning customer requests into action items automatically Retaining a customer is almost always cheaper than acquiring a new one, which is why investing in your customer success teams is essential. But when a ticket needs follow-up work from other experts, you need that process to move as quickly and smoothly as possible. Krijgsman Retail Services uses Unito to sync work in HubSpot (a Salesforce competitor) with ClickUp (a similar tool to Asana) to sync requests from business partners and customers to ClickUp projects where the work actually happens. Here’s what that’s done for them. Streamline revenue operations Revenue operations experts are used to having their fingers in many pies. Their role requires complete visibility on what sales, customer success, and marketing teams are working on. But when these teams are scattered throughout Salesforce, Asana, and other tools, that can be a losing battle. That’s why RevOps experts at Unito also use Unito to sync Asana tasks and work items in HubSpot, so they have all the information they need to make better decisions. Which integration should you pick? While both integrations can automatically create new work items in Asana and Salesforce and keep those items up-to-date, they have some significant differences. So which one should you pick? Asana’s built-in integration has some advantages — like using the Asana rules you’re already familiar with — it’s likely not the best option for most of your workflows. Here’s why Unito is the stronger option: It’s a true 2-way sync: While Asana’s rules can allow you update multiple fields, it doesn’t create a real 2-way sync like Unito does. It can be imitated in Asana, but you’ll quickly run into issues like infinite loops, broken rules, and significant maintenance needs. It’s easier to set up: Asana’s built-in integration requires extensive knowledge of Salesforce permissions and the back-end operations that go into automating work. With Unito, you just need to click through a few dropdowns — and most of that work can even be done for you. It supports more tools: Asana’s integration capabilities fluctuate depending on which tool you’re syncing it with. Unito supports more tools, and you’ll get a more consistent experience with all of them. Want to see what this integration can do? Book a demo with our team to see your use case in action. Book a demo View the full article

This article is posted with permission from our partner MacPaw. MacPaw makes Mac + iOS apps that have been installed on over 30 million devices worldwide. Freelancers Union members receive 30 days of free unlimited access to CleanMyMacX and Setapp: https://freelancersunion.org/resources/perks/macpaw/ In the context of freelance planning, time is a critical factor. Managing it well can make a real difference to your output and ensure you meet specific project deadlines. It’ll even help you spot the times that you’re most productive, which can, in turn, help you maximize your output. With good time management comes excellent time allocation; you can safely allocate the correct amount of time to each project to handle it well. So, what’s the best way to acknowledge and track the time taken to complete these tasks? Well, time-tracking apps can make a real difference here. Need to optimize your time management? Let’s take a deep dive into the best time-tracking apps you might want to consider. 5 best time-tracking app options to manage time effectivelyThere’s a whole range of time-tracking app options on the market that can be great helpers for freelancers. They ensure you’ll meet deadlines and spend the right amount of time on each project, even when each requires a different amount of time and focus. Consider the time-tracking software options below to ensure you’re always on time when completing freelance work. Timemator: Track productivity for each project separatelyWhen you want to track how long you spend on a specific task, Timemator can help. One specific instance of when you might use this time tracker app is when you need to handle multiple tasks as a freelance writer and track the time spent on each. For example, you might need to know how long keyword research takes and how long it takes to write the article so that you can optimize these processes in the future. In this case, Timemator’s features can facilitate the time management process. It allows you to set or enter tasks and press play when you start them so that you can track how long you spend on each one. You can also click on any entry on your activity timeline and create auto-tracking rules for them. The auto-tracking rules are beneficial for automating the time-tracking process and will ensure you don’t need to manage the timer manually — it will start automatically and stop on its own for each entry. This will save you time and optimize the time-tracking process. Timing: Track what really mattersWhen it comes to accuracy in time tracking, Timing is up there with the best of the time tracking apps. If you want to track your hours as a freelance writer or check how much time you spend using specific apps, you can gauge these factors and learn how you used the software. Timing will even reveal what you did with specific apps. The advantageous features of Timing include its multiple graphs. These graphs ensure you can visualize how you spend your time and optimize time management with greater precision based on the data the app collects. For example, if you want to optimize how long you spend on web browsing, there’s a section on the pie chart that’ll help you see how much time you currently spend doing this. You can then make adjustments to this to align with project expectations. So if a project requires greater time for web browsing or research, you can adjust the amount of time you take accordingly. Daily: Track your time with promptsFor a more hands-on time tracker, Daily can work well. This app offers several benefits, such as allowing you to add what you’re doing that day, week, or month. The app will then record how long you spend on each task. But the most advantageous feature of Daily is the check-in notification. The app will ask what you’re doing intermittently to ensure you’re on track with the tasks you need to complete. It works by prompting you to select which task you’re currently doing from a dropdown list. Once you’ve selected the task, you just need to click the tick button. Daily is particularly useful for time-sensitive projects. For example, if you have multiple deadlines as a freelance writer and need to transition from researching to writing for a project, you’ll receive the prompts from Daily. These will ensure you’re on schedule and making the right progress with your project. Time Out: Track time & take breaksIf you need to manage your break time more effectively and optimize your level of focus, Time Out is a time-tracking software option that can support this. It is beneficial for helping freelancers organize their time more efficiently and can be used alongside techniques such as the Pomodoro method to reinforce those breaks. Using this with the Pomodoro technique just requires you to set the break period for five minutes after working consistently for 25 minutes. The screen will fade out for five minutes, after which you can carry on with your next 25-minute work phase. For instance, you might be writing a long-form article and, after 25 minutes, be due for a break. In that case, you can set when you want to take a break the duration required. After setting the break period, the screen fades out and prompts you to stop working. And although you’re not locked out and can postpone the break if you want to, the new paused screen will remain until you’re due to continue with the long-form article. BeFocused: Stay focused before time is upProlonged focus and productivity can be enhanced when taking breaks, which can help you maximize your output during a specific timeframe. BeFocused is an app that provides the benefit of keeping you focused until the set time is up. The app works by allowing you to add multiple tasks and set the timer for each of them. After focusing on the task for a sustained period, when you complete it, you can select the “Done” button. For example, when writing several product pages, you might want to complete each page within a 50-minute timeframe. This requires staying focused for 50 minutes, which you can do by adding a task and setting the timer for 50 minutes. An additional benefit of BeFocused is that you can quickly check the timer without interrupting your current task since the countdown appears on the Mac’s menu bar. And if you need to set several intervals to break up the task, this is also possible with this app; it helps you to organize your time more efficiently and take breaks when they’re due. Best time-tracking apps: Spotted one you’d like to use?Staying on schedule is important as a freelancer, as it helps you satisfy clients and respect deadlines. Having a time-tracking app can facilitate time management and help you allocate the right amount of time to each task. Do you have a time-tracking app to assist you with this? If you’re searching for one, all of the apps listed in this article are available through Setapp! Since there’s also the chance to use them for free for seven days, you’ll be able to access free time tracking app solutions that support your work process. Go directly to Setapp to download these apps today. Manage your time effectively and enhance the quality of your output. View the full article

This article is posted with permission from our partner MacPaw. MacPaw makes Mac + iOS apps that have been installed on over 30 million devices worldwide. Freelancers Union members receive 30 days of free unlimited access to CleanMyMacX and Setapp: https://freelancersunion.org/resources/perks/macpaw/ In the context of freelance planning, time is a critical factor. Managing it well can make a real difference to your output and ensure you meet specific project deadlines. It’ll even help you spot the times that you’re most productive, which can, in turn, help you maximize your output. With good time management comes excellent time allocation; you can safely allocate the correct amount of time to each project to handle it well. So, what’s the best way to acknowledge and track the time taken to complete these tasks? Well, time-tracking apps can make a real difference here. Need to optimize your time management? Let’s take a deep dive into the best time-tracking apps you might want to consider. 5 best time-tracking app options to manage time effectivelyThere’s a whole range of time-tracking app options on the market that can be great helpers for freelancers. They ensure you’ll meet deadlines and spend the right amount of time on each project, even when each requires a different amount of time and focus. Consider the time-tracking software options below to ensure you’re always on time when completing freelance work. Timemator: Track productivity for each project separatelyWhen you want to track how long you spend on a specific task, Timemator can help. One specific instance of when you might use this time tracker app is when you need to handle multiple tasks as a freelance writer and track the time spent on each. For example, you might need to know how long keyword research takes and how long it takes to write the article so that you can optimize these processes in the future. In this case, Timemator’s features can facilitate the time management process. It allows you to set or enter tasks and press play when you start them so that you can track how long you spend on each one. You can also click on any entry on your activity timeline and create auto-tracking rules for them. The auto-tracking rules are beneficial for automating the time-tracking process and will ensure you don’t need to manage the timer manually — it will start automatically and stop on its own for each entry. This will save you time and optimize the time-tracking process. Timing: Track what really mattersWhen it comes to accuracy in time tracking, Timing is up there with the best of the time tracking apps. If you want to track your hours as a freelance writer or check how much time you spend using specific apps, you can gauge these factors and learn how you used the software. Timing will even reveal what you did with specific apps. The advantageous features of Timing include its multiple graphs. These graphs ensure you can visualize how you spend your time and optimize time management with greater precision based on the data the app collects. For example, if you want to optimize how long you spend on web browsing, there’s a section on the pie chart that’ll help you see how much time you currently spend doing this. You can then make adjustments to this to align with project expectations. So if a project requires greater time for web browsing or research, you can adjust the amount of time you take accordingly. Daily: Track your time with promptsFor a more hands-on time tracker, Daily can work well. This app offers several benefits, such as allowing you to add what you’re doing that day, week, or month. The app will then record how long you spend on each task. But the most advantageous feature of Daily is the check-in notification. The app will ask what you’re doing intermittently to ensure you’re on track with the tasks you need to complete. It works by prompting you to select which task you’re currently doing from a dropdown list. Once you’ve selected the task, you just need to click the tick button. Daily is particularly useful for time-sensitive projects. For example, if you have multiple deadlines as a freelance writer and need to transition from researching to writing for a project, you’ll receive the prompts from Daily. These will ensure you’re on schedule and making the right progress with your project. Time Out: Track time & take breaksIf you need to manage your break time more effectively and optimize your level of focus, Time Out is a time-tracking software option that can support this. It is beneficial for helping freelancers organize their time more efficiently and can be used alongside techniques such as the Pomodoro method to reinforce those breaks. Using this with the Pomodoro technique just requires you to set the break period for five minutes after working consistently for 25 minutes. The screen will fade out for five minutes, after which you can carry on with your next 25-minute work phase. For instance, you might be writing a long-form article and, after 25 minutes, be due for a break. In that case, you can set when you want to take a break the duration required. After setting the break period, the screen fades out and prompts you to stop working. And although you’re not locked out and can postpone the break if you want to, the new paused screen will remain until you’re due to continue with the long-form article. BeFocused: Stay focused before time is upProlonged focus and productivity can be enhanced when taking breaks, which can help you maximize your output during a specific timeframe. BeFocused is an app that provides the benefit of keeping you focused until the set time is up. The app works by allowing you to add multiple tasks and set the timer for each of them. After focusing on the task for a sustained period, when you complete it, you can select the “Done” button. For example, when writing several product pages, you might want to complete each page within a 50-minute timeframe. This requires staying focused for 50 minutes, which you can do by adding a task and setting the timer for 50 minutes. An additional benefit of BeFocused is that you can quickly check the timer without interrupting your current task since the countdown appears on the Mac’s menu bar. And if you need to set several intervals to break up the task, this is also possible with this app; it helps you to organize your time more efficiently and take breaks when they’re due. Best time-tracking apps: Spotted one you’d like to use?Staying on schedule is important as a freelancer, as it helps you satisfy clients and respect deadlines. Having a time-tracking app can facilitate time management and help you allocate the right amount of time to each task. Do you have a time-tracking app to assist you with this? If you’re searching for one, all of the apps listed in this article are available through Setapp! Since there’s also the chance to use them for free for seven days, you’ll be able to access free time tracking app solutions that support your work process. Go directly to Setapp to download these apps today. Manage your time effectively and enhance the quality of your output. View the full article

Complicated cleaning hacks can be fun projects, but I love a simple one even more—and this one is really simple: You can use the lid of a pot or pan to clean your carpets and fabrics. It works like a charm, which is why it’s been all over TikTok for the past few years. To freshen up your upholstery or carpet, you’ll need: The lid from a pot or pan, with a handle in the center A large microfiber rag A bowl of water Dish soap Depending on what you’re cleaning and how you like to do it, you may want to add a few drops of vinegar or vodka, but otherwise, stick to the cleaning recipes you’d normally use for whatever upholstery or carpet you’re working on. Cleaning the upholsteryFill a bowl with your cleaning solution, whether it’s a mixture of liquid dish detergent and baking soda, water and vinegar, or a store-bought upholstery cleaner. (I used what I had on hand, which was laundry detergent.) Drop your cloth in the bowl, saturate it with the mixture, then squeeze out the excess, and lay the fabric down flat. Set your lid in the center of your damp cloth and pull the edges up around it, securing them over the handle with a rubber band. If they don’t quite reach that far, just secure them tightly over the handle with your hand as you work. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson Now you have a fabric-covered disk that you can push around on your couches, chairs, carpets, rugs, or pillows. It will pick up lint and freshen the fabrics without making anything too damp. I recommend pushing the soapy rag around on the upholstery until it's decently damp and clean, then going back in with a plain wet rag on the lid instead of the soapy one and then either drying the area with a hair dryer or fan (or opening a window and letting the outside air take care of it). Why I like this cleaning methodThe goal here isn’t to make your carpets and cushions wet, but to give them a damp refresh—the lid provides stability and works the solution in gently and evenly. It's easy to push the lid along the surface of a couch or chair cushion, and the heft of the lid gives you some extra power. When you're just using a rag, it's hard to push down enough to really clean the area, since both the rag and the upholstery are so soft. Inevitably, you end up pushing down too much and making the spot too wet, which is no good—if the cushion doesn't dry out fully, that can lead to mold or bad smells. I recently spilled coffee all over my couch; despite dabbing it up that day, I was left with hideous stains. This couch is old and cost me like $200 on Amazon years ago, so it's not really worth pulling out a bunch of stops or getting a professional machine to deal with. I decided to give the pan lid a try. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson To my horror, just one round of pot-lid scrubbing pulled up a lot of residual coffee. To my pleasure, it required very little elbow grease on my part and did not soak my poor, cheap couch in too much cleaning solution. The entire couch looks much better and was fine to sit on again in under an hour, after just a little bit of air drying. Not every TikTok hack works, but this one sure does. View the full article

Performance Max (PMax) and search campaigns often trip over each other and make a mess out of your data and the customer journey. But it doesn’t have to be that way. At SMX Next, Brad Geddes, co-founder of Adalysis, dove deep into the data analysis of why you need to exert control over your search terms. He walked through the steps you can take to ensure these two campaigns aren’t fighting each other but working in tandem to improve your account performance. The core of the conflict: PMax and Search overlap Geddes set the stage by addressing the ongoing competition between PMax, search, and shopping campaigns: “Right now, the shift is PMax, search and shopping campaigns often compete with each other as opposed to complementing each other.” This competition can lead to inefficiencies, as campaigns vie for the same search terms. One of the central concepts Geddes introduced was Google’s “priority” system for ad displays. Google prioritizes exact-match keywords when deciding which ad to show. However, the definition of “identical” can be surprisingly stringent, Geddes said: “If you have this search term, ‘Italy tour guide,’ and you have the search keyword, ‘Italy tour guide,’ that’s identical. But if the search term is ‘Italian tour guide,’ it’s not identical.” Data insights: The extent of overlap An analysis of 2,000 accounts found that 45% of PMax search terms also appeared in search campaigns, Geddes said. However, PMax often secured more impressions, showing for 61% of these shared terms. Yet, despite PMax’s dominance in impressions, Geddes emphasized: “Search has better click-through rates 65% of the time and better conversion rates 84% of the time.” The problems that lead to overlap Geddes offered actionable strategies to address this overlap, starting with keyword management. Problem 1: Poor organisation leads to lower ad rank Poor ad group organization is a significant issue impacting ad rank and relevance in search campaigns. Geddes critiqued Google’s approach to responsive search ads (RSAs), which involves automatically mixing and matching keywords and ad assets to create ads, as it often results in mismatched messaging. He uses the example of a New York City hotel specializing in being dog-friendly. The hotel had an ad group with keywords like “New York City dog-friendly hotel,” expecting their RSA to display ads highlighting “dog-friendly” when users searched for those terms. However, most impressions for the keyword “NYC dog-friendly hotel” showed ads with generic phrases like “downtown New York City hotel” or “Times Square hotel,” failing to mention pet-friendliness. The solution? Reorganizing ad groups. By analyzing search terms, creating more specific ad groups, and writing ads tailored to those terms, the hotel expanded from one broad ad group to around 20 focused ones. This improved the relevance of ads and tripled conversions without increasing the budget. Evergreen ad group organization enhances relevance, quality scores, click-through rates, and conversion rates, outperforming automated approaches. Problem 2: Not adding search terms as keywords Our second issue in search campaign performance is tied to Google’s reliance on automation. Google’s approach encourages marketers to use broad match keywords and automated bidding, such as CPA or maximum conversion value bidding, under the premise that Google’s system will handle the search terms effectively, Geddes said. However, he pointed out a critical flaw: “If you don’t manually add your top search terms as keywords, those terms won’t exist as keywords in your account.” This prevents an exact match between the search term and keyword, leading to a scenario where PMax campaigns might take precedence over search campaigns. The solution he offers is straightforward: marketers should still manually review and identify their top-performing search terms and add them as keywords in their search campaigns. This ensures better alignment and control, avoiding over-reliance on Google’s automation. Problem 3: Google recommendation, removing redundant keywords Geddes highlighted Google’s suggestion to remove “redundant keywords,” such as similar variations like Italy tour guides, Italy guided tours, and tours of Italy. Google views these as duplicates and recommends removing them. However, if you remove these variations, you lose identical keywords in your account, allowing PMax to take priority over search campaigns, Geddes said. Problem 4: Google auto-apply settings – turn off Check your Auto Apply settings in Google Ads, as Google may automatically implement changes like removing redundant keywords or “non-serving keywords” (those with few or no impressions), Geddes said. While removing non-serving keywords might seem harmless, he cautions that it can cause problems for businesses with seasonal demand. For example, a roofing company may see fewer impressions in winter, or flower delivery keywords may drop after major holidays. If these keywords are auto-removed, they won’t be available when the next season starts, potentially leading to PMax taking over or ads not showing at all. He emphasizes reviewing and managing Auto Apply settings to avoid unintended changes that could undermine campaign performance. Problem 5: Ad rank preview tool Google’s ad preview tool can provide valuable insights but has shown limitations in recent months. Geddes notes that Google often reports: “We don’t know why your ads aren’t showing for the search,” a problem potentially linked to PMax. The tool might focus on previewing responsive search ads (RSAs), and if RSAs aren’t showing, PMax ads take over, leaving Google unable to explain why ads aren’t serving. Another frequent issue: keywords not triggering because another “identical” keyword exists. While the system flags the duplication, the identical keyword might have low ad rank, making it ineligible to display. This allows other ads to show instead. Pay attention to impression shares and bids, especially when low ad rank is affecting ad performance, Geddes said. This underscores the importance of monitoring how ad rank impacts eligibility and ensuring the account is well-optimized to prevent such conflicts. Problem 6: Lost IS budget & Bid strategy Geddes explains how using search campaigns alongside PMax campaigns can lead to conflicts if not managed carefully. In one example, an account had a structured setup where search and corresponding PMax campaigns complemented each other based on regions or products. However, problems arise when the search campaign loses impression share to budget. If the search campaign’s budget runs out, PMax takes over, shifting traffic to PMax instead of search. To avoid this, he advises ensuring that search campaigns have minimal loss of impression share due to budget so they can compete effectively. When impression share is lost due to rank, he suggests two solutions: Reduce targeting types, like having fewer keywords, to improve efficiency. Raise bids or improve quality scores to regain ad rank, but avoid increasing bids to the point where profitability is lost. Geddes highlights a common issue with bid strategies: search and PMax campaigns often use different bidding methods, such as manual CPC for search and maximum conversion value for PMax. This results in different bids submitted to auctions, causing PMax to win ad rank when its bids are higher. For example, if an advertiser sets a $15 target CPA for search and a $25 target CPA for PMax, PMax can outbid search in the auction, even if search performs better. He emphasizes that this mismatch is often a self-inflicted issue caused by inconsistent bid strategies and campaign settings, which advertisers need to address to ensure search campaigns remain competitive. Problem 7: Campaign settings Geddes emphasizes the importance of aligning location and scheduling settings between Search and PMax campaigns to improve performance. Check whether both campaigns target the same regions, as discrepancies can lead to inefficiencies. For example, some companies may exclude specific areas, like Alaska, Hawaii, or California, in their Search campaigns due to shipping or regulatory reasons, but their PMax campaigns might still target those locations, or even the entire country or world. “PMax can show for some region in this case they target different regions,” Geddes said, which can cause overlap or misalignment. Similarly, ad scheduling should also be consistent across both campaign types. “PMax should be more restricted than Search, not more expansive,” to ensure better control and targeted performance, he suggested. Problem 8: Misspellings aren’t the “identical” term Google’s approach to search term data caused challenges, particularly the grouping of misspellings with correct spellings. While this change simplifies reporting, it creates significant issues for advertisers: “You can no longer tell what’s a misspelling in Google. You have no clue.” This is problematic, especially for new brands like Airbnb or Lyft, where early misspellings dominate until Google recognizes them as valid terms. Geddes highlighted two major concerns: “A, you can’t see those stats anymore. B, we don’t know how things are being corrected.” It’s unclear if Google prioritizes correcting misspellings before applying search term logic or if corrections occur afterwards, complicating analysis and strategy. Misspellings are a growing problem, with Google sometimes making “crazy spell corrections,” Geddes said. As a result, some advertisers are reverting to outdated practices, such as adding exact match misspellings, which Geddes describes as “a crazy amount of work” but possibly necessary due to PMax campaigns amplifying misspelling issues. He advises advertisers to monitor this closely: “It’s something that you might start watching more than you ever did before.” “Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put it in a pivot table, and look for overlaps.” By identifying high-performing search terms, advertisers can add these as exact-match keywords in their search campaigns, ensuring better control and performance. Another recommendation involved improving ad group organization to enhance relevance and ad rank. He shared a success story where reorganizing ad groups for a New York City hotel resulted in tripled conversions on the same budget. “Good ad group organization helps relevance from a quality score standpoint and improves click-through and conversion rates,” Geddes said. Fix ad-serving issues Geddes summarized the fix of these ad-serving issues into three main buckets: Evaluate. “Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put in a pivot table and look for overlaps.” Create. “What are our top search terms? It doesn’t matter if they’re from search campaigns or PMax campaigns. Let’s make sure those are in your search ad group – with relevant ads and landing pages. Check. ”Check your settings, your bid settings, your location settings, your time of day settings, your budget settings. Consistency is what we’re looking for” Exception – Shopping Campaigns There are challenges, however in managing overlap between Search and PMax campaigns in retail, where the same search term might trigger ads from both campaigns. Geddes noted: “The same search term could show a search ad from search and a product ad from PMax, or PMax could show both,” which creates reporting complexity. “The reporting’s really messy.” To address this, Geddes suggests analyzing top search terms and checking if they are included in Search campaigns. However, he cautions against broadly using negative keywords at the campaign or account level to block PMax, as this approach can complicate campaign performance. He highlights tools like Adalysis, which help simplify this process by identifying overlaps: “We’ll look and say here’s your PMax search terms. Is this a keyword in Search? Is it a search term in Search?” For example, Adalysis can analyze terms with no conversions in PMax but better performance in Search, enabling advertisers to optimize organization and performance. Geddes advises focusing on overlap percentages and using systems that make managing negative keywords and overlaps more efficient. He mentions that Google plans to introduce campaign-level negative keywords for PMax, which will make managing overlaps easier: “As soon as that happens, that’ll be baked into the workflow…to make life easier.” Looking ahead: The role of PMax Despite its challenges, Geddes acknowledged that PMax can play a supportive role, especially for smaller accounts: “PMax is almost that backfill. It can be remarketing, serve across channels, and fill in the gaps for us.” For advertisers hesitant to embrace PMax, Geddes reassured: “If you don’t want to try it, there’s no need to do it right now.” Dig deeper. Performance Max vs. Search campaigns: New data reveals substantial search term overlap View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I know I’m not the only person with exercise equipment an arm’s reach (or a short walk) from where they spend most of their day. And you can pop down to your home gym a couple times a day, is that better than doing a whole workout all at once? Or if not better, is it just as good? Sometimes it is! Let’s discuss the nuances. For purposes of argument, I’ll assume you’re trying to decide between two schedules: A traditional strength workout, where you warm up and then do four or five different exercises, with several sets of each. The whole thing might take you anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on what you’re doing and how much. The same exercises, but breaking them up—spending, say, 15 minutes on each piece of the workout and then returning to your regular workday. The benefits of spreading your workout throughout the dayWorking out for 15 minuted probably sounds a lot less intimidating than a whole workout, and that's likely the most obvious benefit to breaking up your workout. For people with busy or unpredictable schedules (say, someone with a taxing job, or parents with a new baby), it may be easier to find a few small chunks of time to exercise rather than to schedule in a full-length workout. Here are four reasons to consider splitting up your workout: Each mini-workout is less intimidating, since it will be over in a few minutes. It may be easier to fit short sessions between other obligations and activities. You'll get a few mental and physical breaks from your workday (which is healthy if you normally spend the day sitting at a desk). You may feel less fatigued at the start of each exercise, because you’ve had an hour or two of rest rather than a few minutes. The downsides of spreading your workout throughout the dayThose benefits sound great, but there are some pretty significant downsides to splitting up a workout, depending on what kind of workout you’re doing. Most people will probably conclude it’s not worth it for these five reasons: Instead of deciding once that it’s time to go work out, you'll have four or five opportunities during the day to tell yourself yes or no. Miss one of those, and you’ve only done, say, 75% of your workout. You'll approach each exercise cold, instead of still being warmed up from the previous one. Warmups aren’t always necessary, but they can help a lot to prepare you, especially for a good strength session. You probably won’t get to shower after each mini workout, meaning you might be sitting around in sweaty clothes. It can be nice to do a workout, clean up, and know that you’re done. You'll spend most of the day knowing that you have another workout coming up, rather than getting it over with early. Some workouts are designed so that each part follows from what’s before it—for example, activating or pre-exhausting a muscle in the first exercise of the day, and then going into the second exercise before you’ve fully recovered. Breaking up the workout can make it less effective or, ironically, encourage you to use more weight or work harder than you would have if you’d done everything in one block. Aside from that last point, which only applies to those workouts designed to work as a sequence, most of the reasons for choosing one option over the other come down to time management. Do you think you’ll be more likely or less likely to do four mini workouts than one big one? Are you OK with the tradeoffs—perhaps spending more total time warming up or cleaning up—if they mean you never have to dedicate your entire lunch break to exercise? That’s a decision only you can make. “Exercise snacks” can be an effective alternativeIf you can’t or won’t do a dedicated workout, maybe you can do an exercise “snack” every few hours. A lot of recent research has considered ways to get people to exercise more to improve their health. One study had older adults do a 10-minute, no-equipment workout twice a day. The exercises included standing up from a chair over and over, marching in place, and doing calf raises. At the end of four weeks, the subjects improved their score in a sit-to-stand test by an average 31%. Short workouts are definitely doing something, and are a hell of a lot better than nothing. Whether the same strategy works for more athletic people doing work with weights would require more specific study, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that it works. Mini workouts like “greasing the groove” can improve strengthThere’s another type of mini workout that has a lot of backing in the exercise world. So-called “greasing the groove” can help you get better at a specific exercise, like pull-ups. The name reportedly comes from kettlebell coach Pavel Tsatsouline, and the idea is that you pick an exercise to do multiple times a day, but never to failure. So if you can't do five pullups in a row, you might do one or two pullups every hour or so throughout the day. Many people have found this helped them get better at the exercise, likely for two main reasons. One is volume: two pullups an hour for six hours is 12 reps of pullups. Do that every day, and you’ll have done 60 reps during the work week, more than if you just did three sets of five pullups on two or three workout days. Each set might be easy, but they add up. The other advantage of greasing the groove is that it gives you a lot of practice at the movement you're working on. Strength exercises aren’t just about the size of your muscles; they also involve a skill component. Just as you can get better at playing the piano by practicing, you can also get better at an exercise by staying in practice. What happened when I tried splitting up my own workoutsThat's a lot of theory. How does this work in practice? I gave it a try myself, and I have two stories to share. First, I’ve been doing a grease-the-groove protocol with a kettlebell exercise for months now. Anytime I’m sitting at my desk and one of my wearable devices tells me I’ve been sitting too long, I get up and do a bent press (or two, or three) with my adjustable kettlebell. I add weight when it starts to feel too light, but I stick to a weight that feels nice and easy—more like practice than training. I swear my shoulders feel healthier, and I know I’ve gotten better at this particular exercise. A few months ago, 24 kilograms was a tough weight for me to bent press, so my daily bent presses were with 20 kilograms, one rep at a time. These days, I do 24 for an easy double, three times a day, no warmup required. Kettlebell Kings 12-32kg Adjustable Kettlebell Sets - Gym Weight Set for Exercises - Competition Style for Lift and Weight Training in Gym or at Home - 35mm Handle - Body Building Heavy-Duty Weights $241.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $241.99 at Amazon But while writing this article, I also decided to split up my usual workout to see what I thought of the approach. (My workout for the day included four main components that looked like they could be separated without ruining the intention of the workout.) I did the first exercise—five sets of heavy quarter squats with a barbell—while helping my son with his own workout in our garage gym. I did a set, changed weights, talked to him a bit, did another set, and so on. I was done with my mini workout long before he was done with his. A bit later, I did the next exercise, three sets of sit-ups. I didn’t even bother going down to the garage for that one, I just did them on the floor in my office. Later, I did my supersets of pull-ups and dips. This is a workout that I normally find pretty intimidating, because it can end up taking a while. (It involves eight sets of pull-ups and dips. I mean, come on.) But taking it on one piece at a time, it didn’t seem nearly so bad—I can handle eight sets of pull-ups and dips if I’m not doing another hard exercise right before and right after. That said, I did run into one of the problems noted above: I had to say “yes” to the workout four different times. And at the end of the day, I said “no” to the last part: a 15-minute circuit of core exercises. I had split everything up already, so what would it hurt to do the circuit the next morning? But today is "the next morning," and I still haven’t done it. I’ll get around to it later. Maybe. Probably. After today’s workout. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You've probably heard of Oura's smart rings before, one of the best sleep and recovery trackers, but a new player entered the ring last summer: Samsung. It's the first time a big tech company has produced a smart ring, the Samsung Galaxy Ring. As the name implies, it's mostly geared to Samsung users, although any Android user can use it with some limitations. Right now, most sizes and colors of the Samsung Galaxy Ring are $279.99 (originally $399.99) after a $120 discount at checkout (some have the green checkmark under the listing price and others have a 30% discount), the lowest price it has reached since its recent release, according to price-tracking tools. Samsung Galaxy Ring ($120 discount at checkout) AI Smart Ring, Size First w/Sizing Kit, No App Subscription, Fitness Monitor, Sleep Tracker... $399.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Get Deal Get Deal $399.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Samsung's Galaxy Ring isn't a one-time gadget it threw at the wall to see if it would stick: it's a well-made health-monitoring product that is likely to have improved generations in the future. But as a first-generation smart ring, it's solid, according to PCMag's review, as long as you have a Samsung phone to get the most out of it. It is a solid health and sleep tracker, but the activity tracking is better left to smartwatches. The Galaxy Ring has a titanium finish with color options including gold, silver, and black. Like Oura rings, it’s a bit bulky compared to regular rings at 7 mm wide and 2.6 mm thick. Anyone wearing it can see their sleep, heart rate, and skin temperature, but Samsung users can control their phone’s camera or dismiss alarms by tapping their ring finger to their thumb twice in a row. The best part of the ring compared to the main competition, Oura rings, is that it's subscription-free. It also has a wireless charging case included and is IP68 water resistant so you can wash your hands or shower with it. The battery life will give you about six days of use and you can choose from a size five to 15. If your Android phone can run the Samsung Health app, it's compatible with the ring. If you want to access a feature called Energy Score, which gives you a score on your energy level based on sleep, diet, and activity, you'll need a Samsung phone. View the full article

It’s an upgrade pitch, so they have to see the value. By Hitendra Patil Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Hitendra Patil. View the full article