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Declining issuances since 2022 led to a request for information regarding the future direction of the reverse mortgage program, and NRMLA and MBA responded. View the full article

Whenever I dream up a home improvement project for my place, I work the smartest and fastest when I have the right tools. The difference between having helpful resources and trying to figure everything out manually? It's huge – and it shows in your results. The same principle applies to digital marketing. How can you work smarter and faster with SEO? It starts with having the right tools. Whether you’re just getting started with SEO or you’ve been at it for a while, these free tools can make a real impact on your visibility in search. They’re user-friendly and give you a peek into the factors that determine how well your content performs. Let’s dive in and see which tools might be right for your goals. At a glance: The best free SEO tools Jump to a section: 1. Google PageSpeed Insights 2. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools 3. Answer the Public 4. Google Analytics 5. Google Search Console 6. Ahrefs Backlink Checker 7. Google Ads Keyword Planner 8. SERP Snippet Optimization Tool 9. Google Trends 10. Ahrefs SEO toolbar 11. Moz Local Listing Score 12. Yoast SEO 13. Dentsu Schema Markup Generator 14. Classy Schema Structured Data Viewer 15. SimilarWeb 16. SERP Robot 17. XML Sitemaps 18. Robots.txt Generator 19. Copyscape 20. Google Alerts 21. Screaming Frog SEO Log File Analyser 22. Hreflang Tag Generator 23. Keyword Surfer 24. SE Ranking Mobile Friendly Site Test 25. Website Authority Checker 26. DemandHub Google Review Link Generator 27. Semrush FAQ about free SEO tools More free SEO tools and resources 1. Google PageSpeed InsightsBest for: checking the speed and usability of your site on multiple devices GooglePageSpeed Insights helps you assess your core web vitals (aka metrics Google uses to assess the user experience of your webpage) of any site you enter for both desktop and mobile. It gives a rating between zero and 100 along with actionable, valuable insights so you can improve your site’s experience for website visitors. Limitations: None Alternatives: Pingdom, WebPageTest, and GTMetrix 2. Ahrefs Webmaster ToolsBest for: running a technical audit of your site Ahrefs is one of the top SEO tools in the market. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is a set of three tools: Web analytics: Get an insight into web traffic data — traffic volume, sources, visitors, and more.Site audit: Scan your site for common technical and on-page SEO issues that might be hurting the visibility of your site.Site explorer: See which keywords you rank for and who's linking to your site, so you can spot quick wins. After running an SEO audit, it also suggests areas where you can improve your internal linking, which helps boost your rankings in search engines. It’s also an excellent tool to find keywords that bring you the largest wins and double down on them. Limitations: 10,000 crawl credits per project per month Alternatives: Screaming Frog (audit), Beam Us Up (audit) 3. Answer the PublicBest for: getting hundreds of keyword ideas based on a single keyword AnswerThePublic is one of the best free keyword research tools that helps you find hundreds of related keywords for your primary keyword. You get a large list of long-tail keywords, plus common questions asked. Limitations: Three free keyword researches per day; you have to sign up to use them. Alternatives: KeywordTool.io, UberSuggest, Keyword Sheeter, Keyword Generator 4. Google AnalyticsBest for: getting complete web stats and search insights SourceGoogle Analytics is possibly one of the most powerful analytics tools out there to analyze the traffic on your site. tracks pretty much every bit of traffic you can imagine on your website — where it comes from, which page is receiving it and so on. While it’s not purely for SEO, it’s still a helpful tool to track if you’re getting traffic from organic search. However, Google Analytics has since stopped showing which keywords send you that traffic. You’ll have to pair it with a tool like Keyword Hero to uncover what’s behind “(not provided).” Limitations: No limitations for its usage, but queries that are sending you organic traffic are hidden Alternatives: Matomo, Open Web Analytics, and Clicky 5. Google Search ConsoleBest for: constant website analysis, alerts, and error reports Google Search Console gives you a taste of what the most used search engine thinks of your website. You can use it to check and fix technical issues on your website, see important SEO data like clicks, impressions, and average ranking position, submit sitemaps, and more. If ranking in search engines like Bing and Yandex are important to you, note that they have their own “search console” too. Limitations: Only shows a handful of technical SEO issues, the top 1,000 backlinks, and the top 1,000 organic keywords Alternatives: Bing Webmaster Tools, Yandex Webmaster Tools 6. Ahrefs Backlink CheckerBest for: comprehensive link analysis The free version of Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker shows the top 100 backlinks to any website or URL, along with the total number of backlinks and referring domains (links from unique sites), Domain Rating (DR), and URL Rating (UR) where applicable. A great way to use this tool is to paste your competitor’s website and find potential link-building opportunities. Limitations: Free for the top 100 backlinks Alternatives: Moz Link Explorer 7. Google Ads Keyword PlannerBest for: finding what people search for Enter a keyword or group of keywords into the tool, and Google Keyword Planner will return all sorts of helpful stats to guide your keyword strategy: monthly search volume, competition, and even keyword suggestions you might not have considered. Limitations: You’ll need to run a Google ad campaign to see exact search volumes Alternatives: Bing Keyword Planner 8. SERP Snippet Optimization ToolBest for: previewing how your web pages will look in Google’s search results SERP Snippet Optimization Tool allows you to see how your meta title and description will appear in the search results before you even publish your web page. It works for desktop and mobile. You can check for truncation issues and fix them instantly. Limitations: None Alternatives: Portent's SERP Preview Tool 9. Google TrendsBest for: viewing the relative search popularity of topics Google Trends shows the popular search terms over time, which is useful for uncovering seasonal variations in search popularity. Compare multiple terms to see their relative popularity over time, and watch for handy keyword suggestions. It’s excellent for discovering keyword ideas that are evergreen (look for terms that have a stable interest over time graph). Limitations: None 10. Ahrefs SEO toolbarBest for: checking for broken links, redirect chains, nofollow links, and on-page elements for any webpage The Ahrefs SEO toolbar is a free Chrome extension (also available as a Firefox plugin) that allows you to check for broken links, trace redirect chains, and highlight no-follow links for any webpage. It also generates an on-page SEO report that includes the web page's: TitleMeta descriptionWord countHeadersHreflang tagsCanonicalsOG tagsThis makes analyzing any page much easier and faster. If you have access to a paid Ahrefs account, you’ll also be able to see important keyword metrics like search volume, CPC, and keyword difficulty within the SERPs. Limitations: Technical and on-page SEO features are free, but you’ll need an Ahrefs account to see SEO metrics within the SERPs Alternatives: Detailed SEO Extension, SEO Minion, LinkMiner (broken links), Ayima Redirect Path (redirect tracing) 11. Moz Local Listing ScoreBest for: seeing how your local business looks online Moz Local Listing Score helps you ensure your business appears accurately across the web. It crunches data from more than 10 different sources — including Google, Yelp, and Facebook — to score your brick-and-mortar business on how it looks online. Results come complete with actionable fixes for inconsistent or incomplete listings. Limitations: Data is only available for three countries: US, Canada, and UK 12. Yoast SEOBest for: optimizing your blog posts for search engines Yoast SEO is an essential for SEO professionals. It provides AI-powered suggestions to tweak your blog posts so it’s better optimized for search engines. You can also get suggestions for general SEO improvement for content like meta tags and URL slug. It's primarily available to Wordpress users. Limitations: Some data limitations, which you can unlock via a premium account Alternatives: Rank Math, All in One SEO Pack, The SEO Framework 13. Dentsu Schema Markup GeneratorBest for: customizing how your web pages appear in the search results with schema markup (which is code that helps search engines understand your content better) Dentsu Schema Markup Generator is great for creating custom code so that your reviews, events, organizations, and people are displayed the way you want them to be in Google’s search results. Once you’ve created your schema code, copy and paste it into your website. Don’t worry if this sounds technical — the tool does the heavy lifting for you, so you don’t need to know any code to use it. Then, use the next tool to check if the implementation has been done correctly. Limitations: None 14. Classy Schema Structured Data ViewerBest for: checking if your structured data was implemented correctly It's worth double-checking your technical SEO implementation — Classy Schema Structured Data Viewer makes it simple to verify everything's working as expected. Limitations: None Alternatives: Google Structured Data Testing Tool, Google’s Rich Results Test (currently does not test for all possible schema markups) 15. SimilarWebBest for: viewing site stats for any domain Use SimilarWeb to estimate how much search traffic a website gets. See a breakdown of traffic sources, locations, and more. A helpful tool for competitor research. Limitations: You’ll need a paid account to see every data point, but the free version is good enough to get a real-time snapshot of your competitor’s activity 16. SERP RobotBest for: seeing your ranking position for up to five keywords Enter any website or web page and up to five keywords on SERP Robot to see where you rank for each of them. Check your competitors’ rankings too. Limitations: None 17. XML SitemapsBest for: creating a sitemap Simply enter your site’s URL and some optional parameters, and XML Sitemaps will create a sitemap that you can upload to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Limitations: Free up to 500 pages 18. Robots.txt GeneratorBest for: generating a robots.txt for your site Robots.txt generator lets web robots know what to do with a website’s pages. When a page is disallowed in robots.txt, that represents instructions telling the robots to skip over those web pages completely. Limitations: None 19. CopyscapeBest for: checking for duplicate content Best for: checking for duplicate content Enter a URL for a blog post or website, and Copyscape can tell you where else that content exists online. You might find results you’ll need to follow up with to help get your SEO in order. Limitations: Only the top 10 results are shown 20. Google AlertsBest for: getting alerted of any online mentions of your brand, product or company Enter your brand, company or product name and Google Alerts will send you an email if it finds any webpage mentioning those terms. You can also use this tool to for keyword tracking and monitor the search volume data of popular/trending terms in your industry. Limitations: None 21. Screaming Frog SEO Log File AnalyserBest for: uploading and analyzing your log files If you’re interested to find out what Googlebot is doing on your site, you can look into your website’s log files. Screaming Frog’s Log File Analyser allows you to do that for free. Limitations: Up to 1,000 lines Alternatives: SEOlyzer 22. Hreflang Tag Generator Best for: generating hreflang tags for your multi-language/multi-country site If your site targets different countries or different languages, you’ll need to set up your hreflang tags properly. Unfortunately, it’s quite easy to mess up, which can cause issues for your site. Enter your site’s URL, the language and country of the URL, and Aleyda Solis' Hreflang Tag Generator will generate the necessary hreflang annotations for you. Limitations: None 23. Keyword SurferBest for: seeing monthly search volumes and CPC data within the SERPs Install this free Chrome extension by SEO Surfer, and you’ll be able to a mini keyword analysis of the keywords you search — including search volumes and CPC data. It can help you assess keyword difficulty and you'll also see suggested keyword ideas related to your query — pop a couple into your headings to see what happens to your SEO. Limitations: None Alternatives: WMS Everywhere 24. SE Ranking Mobile Friendly Site TestBest for: checking your site’s mobile-friendliness Enter any URL and SE Ranking's Mobile Friendly Site Test will tell you if the webpage is mobile-friendly. It also tells you what went wrong and what you need to fix. Limitations: None 25. Website Authority CheckerBest for: checking your website’s Domain Rating Enter your URL and see the Domain Rating (DR) of your website using Ahrefs’ Website Authority Checker. Generally speaking, the higher the number, the more authoritative your website. A high DR has been shown to correlate positively with higher Google rankings. Limitations: None Alternatives: Moz’s Domain SEO Analysis Tool 26. DemandHub Google Review Link GeneratorBest for: creating a link for customers to review your business on Google Customer reviews are important for small business’ local SEO. DemandHub Google Review Link Generator allows you to create a shareable link for customers to review your business on Google. You can send pop these links in your social media link in bio or make them part of your content marketing. Limitations: Non 27. SemrushBest for: performing a site audit or check your ranking in search With a free trial of Semrush, you can: Track your search rankings with the rank checkerPerform competitor analysisPerform a content and technical SEO audit of your siteGenerate a content brief for your target keywordUse the SEO writing assistant for content writing guidance to find relevant and related keywordsGet recommendations to optimize existing contentRun 10 free keyword research reports each dayIf you just want to get straight to it, check out Semrush's pricing here. Limitations: Although users benefit most from a paid account, you can still get a lot of functionality out of a free account. FAQ about free SEO toolsWhat's the difference between free and paid SEO tools? A free tool can help you handle the basics like keyword research or performance checks, which is ideal if you’re new to SEO. Paid tools often include advanced data and more in-depth features, so they can be worth it once you’re ready to scale. It’s all about choosing the right fit for your current needs. Does Google have free SEO tools?Yes, Google offers several free tools that are super helpful for SEO. Google Search Console lets you see how your site is performing in search results, track keywords, and fix issues. Google Analytics helps you understand who’s visiting your site and what content they love. And don’t forget Google Keyword Planner, which is great for spotting keyword ideas if you’re planning content. What are the best free SEO tools?You’ve come to the right place; that’s exactly what this blog is for. Go through the free SEO tools we've mentioned above and see which ones will give you the results you need — without spending a dime. More free SEO tools and resourcesIf you’re interested in even more tools, here are a few places to start: The Ultimate List of the 60 Best SEO Tools (Free & Paid)— a comprehensive tools list curated by SEMRush36 Free SEO Tools for DIY SEOs — a curated list of tried and tested free SEO tools by AhrefsThere are so many free SEO tools to explore — pick a few that fit your needs and see how they help your content rank. You’ll often uncover new opportunities or quick fixes that can boost traffic. If you’re ready for more, check out our in-depth guide on building an SEO strategy. Plus, tools like Buffer can help you keep your social channels active so folks can discover your content more easily. View the full article

OpenAI appeared to be closer to pulling the trigger on advertising in ChatGPT in recent days, but a growing threat from Google has forced the company to pause those plans as it gears up for a quickly escalating chatbot fight. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent a memo to staff on December 1 declaring a “code red” and ordering the company’s primary focus to be on improving ChatGPT. As part of that directive, Altman reportedly said the company would be pushing back work on other projects, including the introduction of advertising to its chatbot. The about-face came just days after Tibor Blaho, an engineer working on a Chrome extension that offers pre-written prompts for ChatGPT, posted on social media that he had discovered lines of code which heavily referenced ads in a beta version of ChatGPT’s Android app, including mentions of “ads feature,” “search ad,” and “bazaar content.” (That beta has not yet been released to the public.) Altman has hedged when the topic of ads in ChatGPT has come up previously. While saying he “hates ads” personally, he added at a 2024 Harvard University fireside chat that he was “not totally against them” and stressed, “I’m not saying OpenAI would never consider ads.” He cushioned those comments, though, by saying “ads plus AI is uniquely unsettling to me. When I think of GPT writing me a response, if I had to go figure out exactly how much was [a sponsor] paying . . . to influence what I’m being shown, I don’t think I would like that very much.” The discovery of ad code is not conclusive proof that ChatGPT will incorporate advertisements into its chatbot. It’s possible OpenAI is planning to work with other companies to let them personalize ad content on other sites based on ChatGPT usage. OpenAI did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the ad code. ChatGPT has become a Goliath in the AI space. In October, Altman disclosed that the chatbot sees 800 million weekly active users, a big jump from the 500 million WAUs it reported at the end of March. It has amassed that sizable user base in just three years. But as it has grown, so too have competitors. Google’s Gemini AI has emerged recently as perhaps the most serious threat to OpenAI’s dominance, outpacing ChatGPT in industry benchmarks. Gemini 3, released last month, also has a huge built-in user base, as the technology was inserted into Google Search as well as a full suite of developer tools. Altman’s memo indicates the company is feeling the pressure from Gemini and other AI firms, which (like OpenAI) are spending heavily in the race for leadership in the AI space. Altman told his team that work needed to be done on improving personalization for users, increasing speed and reliability, and widening the range of questions that ChatGPT can answer. Right now, OpenAI generates much of its revenue from partnerships with businesses that use its API model and via paid subscriptions to its most advanced technology. (A free version that is less advanced is available to users who prefer not to pay.) The company is on track to hit $20 billion in revenue this year. Altman has said he expects that figure to grow to hundreds of billions by 2030. Even so, the company says it cannot guarantee it will turn a profit within the next five years, given the high cost of computing. In the meantime, it expects to post massive losses, including a projected $74 billion shortfall in 2028. View the full article

Businesses still spend billions each year on management training programs, but here we are in 2025—with a growing leadership gap and executives scrambling for answers. And if I can get honest for a moment: We’re still approaching the problem backward. Senior leaders keep promoting high-performing individual contributors into leadership roles and expecting them to figure it out on the fly. Many don’t have the time, support, or temperament to lead people well. Then we’re surprised when the results are uneven or the team burns out. Before companies invest in another round of training, they need to start with a more fundamental question: Are we choosing the right people to lead? And more important, are we modeling the leadership behaviors we want them to learn? Start with what actually works: Model servant leadership Leadership boils down to people, trust, and relationships. And the simple truth is still the same today: Great leaders lead by serving. They focus on what their people need to succeed—clarity, coaching, safety, and support—not on protecting their own ego or authority. For readers familiar with my coaching work and the book I authored earlier this year, you know I’ve been beating this drum for years: Servant leadership has moved from a niche, values-driven concept to the core operating philosophy of many of the world’s most admired and profitable companies. After over two decades of developing leaders, I’ve seen a consistent pattern: The best leaders genuinely want their people to thrive. They’re willing to put the team’s needs first, share credit freely, and take responsibility when things go sideways. They grow people rather than simply manage tasks. And that kind of growth—personal, professional, relational—is what builds resilient teams. Whether you lead 3 people or 3,000, these behaviors will elevate your impact and build trust faster than any leadership playbook. 1. Build trust through real, intentional caring Strong leaders show interest in people’s work, their goals, and their long-term direction. They’re curious about what motivates each person and intentional about creating opportunities that stretch their skills. This isn’t “soft.” It’s emotional engagement—and it’s one of the biggest drivers of performance and retention. Think about it: When leaders support their people through promotions and pay raises (first and foremost), internal moves, stretch assignments, or removing obstacles from their path, it sends a powerful message—you matter. As the (often-attributed) John C. Maxwell quote goes, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” When employees feel their leaders genuinely care, confidence rises, performance follows, and career paths become healthier and more aligned with their strengths. 2. Use empathy to connect with others and drive results In 2018, Global training powerhouse Development Dimensions International (DDI) assessed 15,000-plus leaders across 20 industries and found empathy to be the strongest predictor of overall performance—especially the ability to listen and respond with empathy. That hasn’t changed. If anything, the modern workplace—with hybrid teams, rising burnout, AI, and constant change—has made empathy even more essential. But empathy isn’t a strategy you perform and it doesn’t come from a to-do list. It shows up in how you listen, how you check in, and how you respond to someone’s reality—even when their experience is different from your own. Empathic leaders don’t just hear what people say; they understand the context, emotions, and challenges behind it. That perspective creates psychological safety, and safety unlocks creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. 3. Be radically transparent A transparent culture builds trust and fosters collaboration. When people feel safe voicing their thoughts, it deepens engagement and creates a more resilient, trustworthy team dynamic. Tip: Encourage employees to ask any question—yes, even the hard ones. People also don’t stress around transparent leaders and teamwork isn’t undermined, because information is shared openly to let everyone know what’s going on at all times. Going a step further, studies prove that organizations that share privileged information with their employees—typically reserved for the ivory tower in command-and-control power structures—reduce uncertainty and alleviate stress about where they are headed and why. One example of openness, perhaps a bit extreme for most companies, is social media optimization company Buffer. It goes so far as to post its formula for salaries online for everyone to see, including the compensation of CEO Joel Gascoigne. Bringing it home No leadership framework works without spending real time with your people. Learn who they are, what energizes them, and what blocks them. Understand their strengths, their motivations, their values, and their blind spots. So here’s a question worth asking yourself today: How well do you really know the people you lead? If you want to advance your leadership impact, start by serving. Learn what matters to your team. Shape roles that offer meaning and purpose. Use their strengths wisely. And champion their growth—even if that growth eventually takes them to a new team or a new company. When you invest in people this way, you don’t just build stronger teams. You build a healthier culture, a deeper bench of future leaders, and long-term success for everyone involved. Like this article? Subscribe here for more related content and exclusive insights from executive coach and speaker Marcel Schwantes. —Marcel Schwantes This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Age really is just a number when it comes to social media, as new research from Ampere Analysis shows that more than half of users ages 55 to 64 now watch influencer content every week. This number is up by 10 percentage points since 2020. In the U.K., the figure has also risen over the past five years, from 30% to 38%. TikTok and YouTube, in particular, are behind the growth—proof that Boomers’ social media presence is no longer limited to Facebook. “The biggest surprise in our latest data wasn’t how popular influencer videos have become, it is how rapidly this trend has extended to older audiences,” Annabel Yeomans, senior research manager at Ampere Analysis, said in a statement on December 1. That age group—55 to 64—delivered the highest growth in YouTube’s monthly viewing from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2025, up by 25% in the U.S. and 14% in the U.K. In the past year alone, TikTok’s monthly active users grew 6% in the U.S. and 16% in the U.K. among audiences ages 55 to 64. The growing popularity of influencer content with older viewers comes as YouTube has established itself as a living-room viewing experience. More than a quarter (29%) now use a smart TV monthly to watch YouTube, as smart TV ownership among internet users ages 55 to 64 in the U.K. and the U.S. is up 20 percentage points since the pandemic, jumping from 59% to 79%. “As viewing habits diversify and platforms like YouTube and TikTok become part of living-room viewing, the lines between social and traditional platforms are blurring,” Yeomans said. Streaming platforms have responded by partnering with influencers on premium content, as Netflix has with kids’ educator Rachel Anne Accurso’s Ms. Rachel videos and Amazon has with Molly-Mae Hague’s docuseries, Molly-Mae: Behind It All. And yet, just 15% of older consumers globally feel represented in the advertising they see, according to GWI, jumping to 20% for those who follow brands or influencers on social media. To fill this gap, the number of so-called granfluencers is also increasing. ​​These older creators represent a fast-growing demographic of social media users, and thus are starting to catch marketers’ attention. “New opportunities for collaboration across different platform types are emerging,” Yeomans said. “Streaming services are increasingly partnering with influencers, an approach that first attracted younger viewers and is now gaining traction among older audiences.” View the full article

A deal would involve a lot of losers on Tory side, but by next election the party might just be desperate enoughView the full article

Semrush rolled out its biggest wave of AI features in 2025—across SEO, content, ads, PR, and AI visibility. Here’s a closer look at the upgrades reshaping how marketers plan, optimize, and measure performance. View the full article

There’s a lot of chatter right now about an AI bubble, fueled in part by a perception that productivity gains from AI are largely illusory. I can’t speak to the market, and whether AI is broadly overvalued or undervalued, but I can tell you that in the past year alone, AI has completely transformed how I work. Looking at the tools today that didn’t exist a year ago—deep research, browser agents, the big leaps in performance for all the latest models—there’s a host of ways AI can speed up or enhance many tasks of knowledge workers, especially journalists. As an independent journalist, I’m perhaps a little less constrained than most (my AI policy is whatever I want it to be), and AI has made me rethink how every part of the job gets done. So bubble or not, that shift is already here. To better articulate this and highlight tools and techniques that are broadly useful, I’ve broken down several ways I use AI in my writing, researching, and reporting. The most intuitive way to organize this is by walking through the story process—from developing ideas to hitting publish to sharing on social media. Here are 10 ways I use AI as a journalist and content creator: Beat monitoring: The set of stories that any individual reporter needs to keep up with is different, and AI’s ability to personalize and summarize is extremely helpful here. I find ChatGPT Pulse—which doesn’t just compile stories, but explains why they’re relevant to your work and includes other personal info (like your schedule)—to be extremely helpful, but it’s also constrained to the Pro plan ($200/month). A stripped-down, but still useful tool is scheduled tasks in ChatGPT or Perplexity, where you craft a prompt that searches for the latest stories you’re interested in and sends it to your inbox. Accelerated skimming: Once I land on an article that I’m interested in, I often read the summary before deciding if I want to spend the time reading. There’s a dedicated button for this in Perplexity’s Comet browser, and there are a host of browser extensions that do this for Chrome. On X, I find the ability to simply reply to any post with “@grok what is this post about?” for a short, instant explanation to be a huge time-saver, especially for memes and trends I’m seeing for the first time. Going deeper: When Google’s NotebookLM made its big splash last fall with its ability to create instant conversational podcasts, many dismissed it as a gimmick. But I find the feature to be an incredibly useful tool for getting primed on a topic or news story. You can either drop a single URL in the folder or use the new Fast Research feature to find a story, generate your audio overview, and boom—you have a short podcast all about the thing you’re researching. Listen at 1.5x speed to blaze through it even faster. Story ideas: Finding the connections and missing angles in between stories will always be a mostly human-driven process, but NotebookLM is a good partner here as well. Prompting it to suggest story ideas based on the questions implied or not answered in the set of articles in the notebook is often a great starting point for a story idea. Getting in the weeds: Once I know the idea I’m running with, it’s time to research. AI is obviously great at this, specifically the deep research tools that have emerged in the past year. I use them all, but differently: Perplexity is excellent for a first pass—it’s fast, but typically not as thorough as the others. I generally find Gemini to be the best at finding sources on the web, but less great at prioritizing them. My go-to for serious research is ChatGPT, which I find to be the most thorough. It’s also excellent for turning its deep research abilities inward—directing them at a large set of files in a Google Drive or Dropbox folder (via Connectors). Targeting highly specific information: When the key to your story is a singular document or piece of data, it’s helpful to outsource the task of finding it to a browser agent. For example, court documents are typically kept in hard-to-navigate services like PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). Just finding the right case often involves performing several searches, especially if you’re unsure of the exact names involved or the specific court. When given clear tasks like this, a browser agent like Comet or ChatGPT Atlas is the perfect research intern, usually finding exactly what you’re looking for in just a few minutes. Writing coach: Now that I’ve gathered and processed all the background material, it’s time to write. For my columns and original reporting, I don’t let AI write for me, but I do often use it as a coach. I’ve crafted a Custom GPT to act as an inquisitive interviewer: probing me with several questions—verbally—recording my long responses, and then assembling them all into an outline once I’m done. From there, I’m off to the races, sometimes returning to the coach when I go in an unexpected direction. The process helps me write in about half the time as before. Writing intern: I write a news digest for my Thursday newsletter, with each item coauthored by AI. For these short blurbs, I’ve built a Claude Project that’s trained on my style, the digest format, and the target audience. Once given a story or news trend, it writes a one-paragraph summary in my style, which I then edit and add to. It turns a 15-minute process into something that takes about five minutes. (And, yes, I’m fully transparent to my audience when AI acts as a coauthor.) Copy desk: Everything I write goes through my AI copy desk: First, a Custom GPT looks at it critically but constructively, suggesting edits (and sometimes further research) to make the piece stronger. Then another GPT does a proofreading pass, aimed at making it either more newsy or conversational, depending on the context. Importantly, neither GPT does automatic rewrites—they’re all suggestions that I can take or leave. Social media manager: Finally, once the piece is live, I have specific prompting that writes social copy for LinkedIn—both for my personal profile and The Media Copilot company page. In this case, I don’t manually paste anything into an assistant on the web, but instead use Zapier, an automation tool that automatically generates the social post and queues it up for my review. That saves a lot of back-and-forth between browser windows and ensures I never miss a post. I hope you see a pattern in what I’ve laid out: Each process involves AI bringing things to my attention, but it prioritizes my attention. In my view, AI is an extraordinary accelerant for specific tasks in story creation, but the process needs human review and judgment throughout. And while AI can be a helpful writing “intern” for very specific formats, I keep the text in anything substantive (such as this column) human written. That human centricity will remain, no matter how intelligent and automated parts of the process get. While I don’t doubt that AI will continue to improve, the point of using it is to sharpen, accelerate, and amplify how I communicate with audiences—human audiences. Machines can be great partners, but the moment they become the focus is when we stop communicating and are just creating “content.” The media just experienced an era dominated by SEO, algorithms, and lowest-common denominator thinking. Let’s not do that again. View the full article

Today, we’re rolling out an improvement to Yoast AI Brand Insights, part of the Yoast SEO AI+ package. You can now scan how your brand appears in answers generated by Perplexity, in addition to ChatGPT at no extra cost. This builds on our mission to help marketers, bloggers, and business owners understand how their brand is represented across major AI platforms. AI powered answers are fast becoming a new gateway for discovery. People increasingly turn to AI tools to research, compare, and choose products or services. Those answers often mention brands as recommendations or sources. When someone asks a question in your niche, you should be able to see if your brand is part of the conversation. This update makes that possible across more platforms. AI Brand Insights now lets you see when and how your brand appears in AI generated answers for relevant search style queries. You can track sentiment, and compare your visibility to competitors. By adding support for Perplexity, you get a broader view of how AI systems describe your brand and which sources they rely on, helping you stay visible and confidently represented in AI driven discovery What’s new You can now: Run brand visibility scans in Perplexity Compare how ChatGPT and Perplexity talk about your brand Track mentions, sentiment, and citations across both platforms Monitor changes over time in your AI Visibility Index Nothing else changes in your workflow. The next time you log in, you’ll see a visual notification guiding you to run your first Perplexity scan. Why this matters Understanding how AI answers present your brand helps you move beyond guesswork and see the tone, accuracy, and sources AI chooses when mentioning you. With more customers relying on AI powered explanations than ever, visibility in these answers is now an important part of brand discovery and trust building. How to try it Log in through MyYoast, open AI Brand Insights, and run your next scan. Your dashboard now includes results from Perplexity alongside ChatGPT. This gives you a fuller, more accurate view of your brand’s presence in AI generated answers. If you’re already using Yoast SEO AI+, this enhancement is available to you immediately. If you’re not, upgrading gives you access to this feature along with a complete set of tools for brand visibility, AI insights, and on page SEO. The post New to AI Brand Insights: Scan your brand visibility in Perplexity appeared first on Yoast. View the full article

Below, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic shares five key insights from his new book, Don’t Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated (and What to Do Instead). Chamorro-Premuzic is the chief innovation officer at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, cofounder of Deeper Signals, and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. What’s the big idea? Authenticity is overrated and can backfire, especially at work. Success comes from strategic self-presentation, empathy, and balancing personal freedom with responsibility to others. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Chamorro-Premuzic himself—below, or in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Authenticity isn’t the life hack it’s cracked up to be Authenticity has become one of the most celebrated traits in every single area of life, especially in the workplace. But this trend—despite its well-intentioned beginnings—has not gone according to plan. What was initially supposed to free people from the pressures of conformity in the workplace is backfiring in surprising ways. “Excessive praise of being ‘true to yourself’ can fuel narcissism, extreme individualism, and a disregard for obligations to others.” While research in positive psychology shows that feeling aligned with one’s true self can boost mood and well-being, society’s obsession with authenticity has a darker side. Excessive praise of being “true to yourself” can fuel narcissism, extreme individualism, and a disregard for obligations to others. This cultural phenomenon often harms more than it helps, especially in professional settings. 2. The four traps of authenticity For leaders who want to be competent, effective, and create an inclusive and diverse working culture, it is important to avoid the four authenticity traps. The following mantras seem to propel beneficial behaviors, but can actually hurt objective career success: Always be honest with yourself and others. Most people think of themselves very positively, but decades of research show this self-perception is largely biased and often misaligned with how others see them. Even when we are self-aware, honesty isn’t always what others want. They often prefer encouragement, positive feedback, or polite social interaction over unfiltered truth. Always stay true to your values. Following your values blindly can be dangerous if those values are harmful, destructive, or antisocial. History is full of leaders who acted consistently with their values but caused great harm. Even for ordinary people, rigid adherence to one’s values can prevent self-reflection, fuel polarization, and make “always follow your heart” misleading advice. Don’t worry about what others think. The idea that we shouldn’t worry about how others see us is unrealistic because humans naturally perceive the world through others’ perspectives and rely on social feedback to grow. Ignoring others’ input may preserve a self-image of heroism, but it prevents real development as leaders, colleagues, and human beings. Bring your whole self to work. Our whole self—including the grumpy, impulsive, or self-centered parts—is rarely fully welcomed at work, so telling people it is safe to express themselves is a bit of a trap. Organizations should focus on creating inclusive environments that balance self-expression with being a responsible, collaborative team member, recognizing where personal freedom ends and obligations to others begin. 3. Authenticity can hurt career and leadership outcomes Career and leadership success require strategic self-presentation. Rather than imposing an unedited self on others, people benefit from deliberately managing how they are perceived. This involves understanding the social context, adapting to the needs of others, and making intentional choices about what to share and how to share it. Effective impression management isn’t manipulative; it’s a practical way to achieve real-world goals without compromising integrity. 4. Effective leadership is about managing perception Leadership is less about indulging in self-expression and more about creating value for others. Leaders must distinguish when trustworthiness becomes oversharing, understanding how to manage emotions and communicate effectively rather than engage in inappropriate self-disclosure. “Authenticity without strategic awareness can lead to missteps.” It is crucial that employees receive information in a way that helps them grow. Authenticity without strategic awareness can lead to missteps, whereas thoughtful communication fosters influence, loyalty, and effective collaboration. 5. Authenticity is a rare privilege Complete self-expression is often a luxury of the powerful—a privilege for the elite. Only those with status can impose their unfiltered selves with fewer consequences. But for most people, this approach risks professional and social setbacks. Success comes from balancing authenticity with empathy, collaboration, and awareness of social and organizational norms. Don’t just be yourself. Be strategically, responsibly, and thoughtfully yourself. Enjoy our full library of Book Bites—read by the authors!—in the Next Big Idea App. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. View the full article

Annoying peers are hard enough to deal with. Things get even more complicated when the annoying person is your boss. As with peers, there are several ways that a boss can be annoying. Unfortunately, you have to tread lightly with many (though not all) bosses. To be clear, the focus here is on annoying bosses, not toxic ones. A boss who is a narcissist, a harasser, or who sows mistrust isn’t just annoying, they’re bad for you and the organization. I’m going discuss four things that may seem petty, but if you start dreading your engagements with your boss (or resenting them for their foibles), it can come back to hurt your working relationship. The cipher Some people are blessed with the ability to communicate clearly. They open their mouths, and full paragraphs of well-formed sentences spill out that illuminate whatever they are talking about. But, as Steve Martin once said, “Some people have a way with words, and others . . . uh . . . not . . . have a way.” If your boss is in that latter category, they may ask you to do things, give you feedback, or generally talk about things going on at work that you don’t fully understand. It might be tempting to nod along with them and then try to figure it out later. That avoids an awkward discussion, but it probably causes more problems than it solves. Instead, develop a routine with your manager to summarize the outcome of meetings/discussions at the end. Tell your boss that this is to help you remember. Then, repeat back the important bits. Your boss will correct anything you get wrong. As an added bonus, this exercise might give your boss additional words and phrases they can use to talk to you about similar things in the future. The micromanager A boss who gets into the details of your work is frustrating, because you’d like to be able to complete what you’re doing without constant oversight. There are two common reasons why bosses micromanage. When someone gets their first supervisory role, they are usually in a transition from front-line work to management. Because their job (up to that point) involved doing something just like what you are doing now, it may be hard for them to let go of the details of the work to focus on what they need to do with their new position. For these bosses, it is often okay to have a gentle conversation in which you ask questions about their new responsibilities and provide a subtle reminder that the front-line work is not part of their day-to-day any longer. The second typical source of micromanagement is anxiety. When your boss is not confident in their leadership or when they feel threatened by other factors at work, they may clamp down on the people working for them to ensure that nothing goes wrong. While this tactic may make them feel better, it makes everyone else miserable. There are two things you can do here. First, create a schedule of checking in with your boss every so often. You’d like to get that to once a week if you can, but you may have to start by doing it at the end of a work shift, or every two days, and gradually work your way to once a week. Second, provide a shared document of the status of projects. This record is helpful anyhow, because it can be used when something goes wrong with a project. If your boss has access to the status of key projects, they may be less likely to pester you for those details and add suggestions about how they would approach things. The forgetter One of the Big Five personality characteristics is conscientiousness, which reflects the degree to which you focus on details and follow rules. Some bosses are highly conscientious, and they are up on the details of every project. Others are not. When your boss is not conscientious, they may be great at giving strategic and tactical advice, but they may forget things later. They may miss meetings that don’t make it to their calendar, or forget something they told you they would do later. A forgetful boss needs more constant reminders than a conscientious one. Follow up meetings with a written summary of key points and any specific information you need from your boss later. Send that summary by email. Even bosses who aren’t that conscientious are likely to check their email and to respond to direct requests on those emails. If there are particular things you need to get from your boss by a specific date, coordinate with their admin if they have one. Try to ensure that key dates and requests get on their calendar. Often, a forgetful boss is aware that things slip through the cracks, and so they have a system to help them keep from dropping too many balls. The (long-winded) storyteller One thing about being the boss is that people feel like they need to listen to you. Some bosses (particularly those who have been in a leadership role for a while) get used to having an audience, and they may use meetings and even hallway conversations as an opportunity to regale you with stories. A good storyteller keeps it brief and relevant. If your boss is not a great storyteller, then seeing them wind up to tell a long tale can send shivers of dread up your spine. You may have to bear a certain number of these stories—particularly if you’re sitting in the break room. But, you should try to have something scheduled up against meetings you have with your boss so that you have something you need to get to. That way, if your boss does launch into an epic narrative, you have a good reason to excuse yourself and move on. View the full article

During college, a friend convinced me to take an improv comedy class. An introvert by nature, I was way out of my depth. On the first day, I was so nervous I thought I might faint. But I ended up loving it—and learning a lot. In addition to silly warm-ups to get rid of inhibitions (zip, zap, zop, anyone?), I discovered the magic of “Yes, and . . .” In improv, “Yes, and” is more than just a phrase; it’s a mentality—to accept whatever idea or proposition is thrown at you, no matter how outlandish, rather than shutting it down. This mantra helped the flow of our improv performances, but it turned out to be a great life lesson as well. From that point on, I tried practicing it outside of the theater as well. In the workplace, “Yes, and” means being an optimist—trying to see the value in someone’s idea, instead of knee-jerk shooting it down. As I’ve discovered, pessimism can be an insidious force that quietly takes root in teams and drags down performance, morale, and creativity. On an individual level, research shows that pessimists are five times as likely to burn out as optimists, less likely to be highly engaged at work, and less likely to have strong relationships with their colleagues. Leaders play a crucial role in shifting mindsets from pessimism to optimism. But it takes more than motivational quotes or town halls. Here are three practical ways to foster optimism at the workplace. 1. Model solution-oriented thinking Let me start by clarifying that pessimism isn’t inherently negative. Some experts say that pessimists bring unique leadership strengths to the table, like protecting resources and correcting course. Pessimists’ work tends to be more thorough, accurate, and carefully considered. Problems arise, however, when a negative take doesn’t offer an alternative solution. For example, when you reject a proposed new product concept because you assume the market is already saturated. By responding to challenges with curiosity instead of cynicism, leaders set a tone that their teams learn to follow. In the example above, rather than flat-out rejecting the idea, you could explore what might differentiate your version or uncover a niche the competition has overlooked. Solution-oriented thinking doesn’t mean accepting every idea. It means pinpointing the root of your opposition and remaining open to possibilities that move the discussion forward. 2. Acknowledge challenges without harping on them Like anything else, there is such a thing as too much optimism. At that point, it’s called toxic positivity—when people are forced to act upbeat even if that’s not what they’re feeling, or when they are asked to ignore reality. At best, toxic positivity is unhelpful; at worst, it hurts morale. Employees can start to feel like they’re being gaslit. For example, imagine a team project that has been derailed for reasons beyond the members’ control, but a leader insists on meeting a clearly impossible deadline. This kind of blind optimism might motivate the team, but it’s more likely to cause mistakes, burnout, and erode trust. Real optimism isn’t toxic positivity. Leaders should aim for a balance between honesty and forward-thinking plans: acknowledge challenges without being paralyzed by them. Set realistic goals, and adjust deadlines when needed, without letting momentum and drive fall slack. Celebrate progress After two decades as CEO, I’m a firm believer that complete failure is extremely rare. Even events that feel like total setbacks often contain small victories worth celebrating. As leaders, it’s crucial to always search for wins, no matter how small, and acknowledge them. For example, let’s say your marketing team launches a bold campaign that doesn’t quite hit the desired moment of virality. It’s still worth celebrating the team’s innovation while reflecting on what could have been done differently. This will help to ensure that the team is willing to experiment with bold ideas in the future, seeing each effort as part of a larger vision of improvement. Celebrating progress builds momentum even in the face of losses and reminds teams that their efforts are valued. You can “Yes, and” their creativity, even if the idea didn’t become the massive success you hoped for. In the long run, this will help cultivate a realistically optimistic outlook. View the full article

If you’re looking for a video editing platform that balances simplicity with robust features, Canva stands out as a compelling option. Its user-friendly interface makes it accessible for both beginners and seasoned editors alike, while its extensive library of stock media guarantees you have ample resources at your fingertips. Plus, the drag-and-drop tools streamline your workflow, making video production not just efficient but also cost-effective. What else sets Canva apart in the field of video editing? Key Takeaways Canva offers a user-friendly interface with intuitive tools, making video editing accessible for beginners and experienced users alike. An extensive library of stock media and templates allows for quick customization and eliminates licensing concerns for creators. The platform provides a cost-effective solution for video production, with a free version and affordable pro options for high-quality content. Advanced features like AI-powered tools and Beat Sync enhance editing efficiency and creativity, streamlining the video creation process. Real-time collaboration and cloud storage support seamless teamwork and organization, making project management easy and effective. User-Friendly Interface for Beginners Have you ever felt overwhelmed by complicated video editing software? If you’re looking to edit your channel on YouTube, you might find Canva to be a rejuvenating alternative. Its user-friendly interface is designed for beginners, so you won’t face unnecessary complexity. The timeline view resembles familiar tools like Strength or Keynote, which helps ease your learning curve. With no prior video editing experience required, you can quickly create and edit videos. The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to add media easily, and Canva’s auto-save feature guarantees you won’t lose your progress. This combination of simplicity and efficiency makes Canva a solid choice when you’re wondering, “Is Canva good for video editing?” Extensive Library of Stock Media Canva offers you an extensive library filled with over half a million stock videos, images, and audio tracks, making it straightforward to find the right media for your projects. With user-friendly access to this vast collection, you can easily search and incorporate royalty-free options directly within the editor, simplifying your video creation process. This feature not just improves the quality of your content but additionally eliminates any licensing concerns, allowing for hassle-free publishing. Vast Media Collection Accessing a vast media collection is essential for effective video editing, and Canva thrives in this area. With an extensive library of over half a million stock videos, music tracks, and sound effects, you can easily find suitable media for any project. Here are some key features that make Canva’s media collection stand out: Royalty-Free Options: All stock videos are royalty-free, so you won’t face licensing issues. Pro User Benefits: Pro users gain access to a licensed music library with thousands of soundtracks, eliminating copyright concerns. Integrated Library: The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to add ready-to-use elements directly into your timeline, streamlining the editing process. These features empower you to create professional-looking videos customized for platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Stories. User-Friendly Access When you’re plunging into video editing, having easy access to a vast stock media library makes a significant difference. Canva’s integrated library allows you to effortlessly find and incorporate video clips, images, and audio tracks into your projects without worrying about licensing issues. If you’re a Pro user, you gain full access to an extensive collection of premium stock media, enhancing the quality of your videos. With over half a million music tracks and sound effects, finding the right audio becomes streamlined. This feature enables you to use royalty-free stock videos, saving time by eliminating the need for personal footage. Plus, Canva’s user-friendly interface lets you drag and drop media into timelines, making video editing accessible for beginners. Royalty-Free Options With a vast collection of royalty-free options, video editing becomes markedly easier and more efficient. Canva offers an extensive library filled with thousands of video clips and audio tracks that you can seamlessly incorporate into your projects. This access allows you to focus on your creative vision without the stress of licensing issues. Here’s what you can expect: Diverse Assets: A wide range of high-quality stock media is available, enhancing your editing capabilities. Simplified Search: Quickly find and integrate elements into your videos, saving you time. Streamlined Process: Create engaging content without sourcing materials from multiple sites, further increasing your productivity. With these features, Canva positions itself as a valuable tool for efficient video editing. Simple Drag-and-Drop Tools Canva’s simple drag-and-drop tools make video editing accessible to everyone, regardless of experience level. With its user-friendly interface, you can easily place video clips, images, and audio files onto the timeline without needing advanced technical skills. Rearranging elements is as simple as clicking and dragging them into position, which streamlines the editing process considerably. This intuitive design eliminates complex commands, allowing beginners to create videos efficiently. Moreover, Canva offers a variety of pre-made templates that you can customize using drag-and-drop functionality, reducing the time you spend on video creation. The platform likewise supports integrating stock media from its library, enhancing your creativity as you sidestep licensing concerns, making it a practical choice for all video editing needs. Cost-Effective Video Production Canva makes video production cost-effective by offering a free platform that anyone can access without upfront fees. If you opt for the Pro version, you gain access to a vast library of stock media, which can save you from additional expenses for images and music. With no hidden costs and a user-friendly interface, you can create professional-quality videos quickly and affordably. Free Access Available A free video editor is now at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to produce high-quality videos without spending a dime. With Canva’s free access, you can take advantage of various features that improve your video creation process: Stock Media Library: Utilize a vast collection of royalty-free images and videos to boost your projects. User-Friendly Interface: Enjoy a straightforward editing experience that doesn’t require advanced technical skills, perfect for beginners. Auto-Save Feature: Work seamlessly without worrying about losing progress, as your edits are automatically saved. This combination allows you to create and edit videos efficiently, making Canva an economical choice for your occasional projects and ensuring you can still produce professional results. Affordable Pro Features Though many video editing tools come with hefty price tags, the affordable Pro features offered by Canva provide an accessible solution for those seeking cost-effective video production. With a Canva Pro subscription, you gain full access to an extensive library of stock media, including thousands of videos and audio tracks, enhancing your project’s quality without additional licensing costs. You additionally receive 100 GB of storage, a significant upgrade from the free plan’s 5 GB, vital for managing larger video files. Furthermore, Canva’s user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop tools allow you to create compelling videos quickly. By integrating marketing and design tools in the Pro bundle, you can streamline your video creation process, reducing overall production expenses in the process of achieving professional results. No Hidden Costs In relation to video editing, budget constraints can often limit your options, but you can create high-quality content without worrying about hidden fees. Canva’s user-friendly platform allows you to produce professional videos without the burden of unexpected costs. Here are a few key benefits: Free Access: You can use the free video editor to create and edit videos without any hidden charges. No Watermarks: Videos made with free elements won’t feature watermarks, ensuring a polished look. Integrated Media Library: Access thousands of royalty-free videos and audio tracks, eliminating the need for separate purchases. With Canva, you can effectively manage your video production budget while still accessing premium features and resources. Variety of Templates for Different Needs When you’re looking to create engaging video content, Canva provides an extensive selection of templates customized for various platforms, ensuring you can find the perfect match for your needs. Whether you’re targeting YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram Stories, you’ll discover templates designed particularly for those audiences. With thousands of pre-made options covering themes like marketing, product demos, and social media promotions, selecting the right fit for your project is straightforward. These templates are customizable and reusable, which helps maintain consistency in your branding as you save valuable time. For Pro users, premium templates are available, offering high-quality designs that improve the professional appearance of your videos. This variety makes Canva an excellent choice for video editing. Easy Animation and Transition Features Canva makes it simple to add engaging animations and changes to your videos, offering 16 to 17 animation options at both the element and page levels. With just a click, you can boost your videos’ appeal and keep your audience’s attention. Here are some key features that make animations and shifts easy to use: User-Friendly Timeline: Canva provides a straightforward timeline view, similar to PowerPoint, making it easy for you to visualize your animations and shifts. Simple Shifts: Applying transitions between video clips is quick and uncomplicated, helping to maintain a smooth flow throughout your video. Text Animation: You can animate text and other elements effortlessly, introducing movement that adds engagement to your projects. This makes Canva a great choice for quick and effective video editing. Seamless Collaboration Options Video editing often involves teamwork, and Canva’s collaboration features make it easier for you and your team to work together seamlessly. With real-time collaboration, multiple team members can edit a project simultaneously, boosting both efficiency and creativity. You can leave comments on specific scenes, ensuring immediate feedback and adjustments throughout the editing process. Canva’s cloud storage allows everyone to access, edit, and share content securely from any location or device, which is especially useful for remote teams. Furthermore, the platform’s mobile compatibility means you can participate in video editing on-the-go, accommodating varied schedules. Finally, the integrated Content Calendar helps you schedule video releases, keeping your team aligned on project timelines and enhancing overall workflow. Efficient Project Organization With Folders With Canva, you can create custom folders to organize your video projects effectively, which simplifies project management. By categorizing your videos, images, and other media elements, you’ll easily find specific assets when you need them. This feature is especially useful when juggling multiple projects, as it reduces clutter and improves your productivity. Custom Folder Creation When you’re managing multiple projects, creating custom folders can greatly improve your organization and efficiency. Canva’s custom folder feature lets you categorize video files and designs for quick access. Here are some benefits of using custom folders: Streamlined Workflows: You can store and manage multiple projects within these folders, saving time searching for specific videos or elements. Content Grouping: Group related content together, like marketing videos or social media posts, making your content management more efficient. Clean Workspace: Organizing projects helps maintain a tidy workspace, allowing you to focus on the creative process without clutter. This feature is especially useful for teams, as it enables real-time access and organization of shared resources, enhancing collaboration on video projects. Simplified Project Management Organizing your video projects becomes considerably easier when you utilize Canva’s folder system, which allows for efficient project management. You can create custom folders to categorize projects by themes, types, or clients, enhancing your workflow and productivity. This structured approach helps you quickly locate and manage files, reducing the time spent searching for necessary materials. Furthermore, the simplified folder structure provides quick access to assets and templates, streamlining your editing process. Real-time collaboration features enable team members to work within these organized folders, facilitating communication and feedback. With Canva’s auto-saving functionality, you can trust that your projects remain secure and accessible, minimizing the risk of data loss as you focus on creating quality videos. AI-Powered Video Creation Tools AI-powered video creation tools have transformed the way users approach video editing, making the process more efficient and accessible. With features like these, you can streamline your workflow considerably: Magic Design: Automatically edits your footage and adds music, saving you time. Highlights Feature: Utilizes AI to identify the best moments in your videos, helping you create engaging content effortlessly. Magic Media Tool: Generates videos from text prompts, allowing you to quickly turn ideas into visuals. In addition, Canva’s tools automate tasks such as syncing videos to music rhythmically with the Beat Sync feature. You can likewise record your screen and voice directly in the app, making the overall video creation experience smooth and user-friendly. Integrated Sound and Music Options Canva’s integrated sound and music options greatly improve the video editing experience, offering a variety of tools to raise your projects. You’ll gain access to a licensed music library with thousands of soundtracks, ensuring high-quality audio for your videos. The Beat Sync feature automatically aligns your video clips to the rhythm of the selected music, enhancing viewer engagement. For beginners, music-inspired video templates come with integrated soundtracks, simplifying the editing process. Furthermore, Canva’s audio library includes both free and premium options, giving you flexibility in sound selection. Finally, you can edit audio timing just like video; by dragging edges in the timeline, you can seamlessly synchronize your music with video clips, resulting in polished, professional content. Mobile Compatibility for Editing On-the-Go How convenient is it to edit videos directly from your mobile device? Canva’s mobile app makes this possible, allowing you to create and modify videos seamlessly during your travels. Here are a few benefits of mobile compatibility: Access Anywhere: You can easily access your projects anytime, whether you’re at home, traveling, or in a remote location. Upload Footage: Capture spontaneous moments and upload them directly from your phone, integrating fresh content into your projects. Intuitive Interface: The mobile app mirrors the desktop version, ensuring a consistent editing experience, so you won’t have to relearn how to use the tool. With crucial functions like trimming and adding music available, Canva provides a robust solution for quick edits. Continuous Updates and Feature Improvements As video editing demands change, Canva consistently rolls out updates that improve your overall experience and address any limitations you might encounter. This commitment to continuous development means you can expect regular new features, improvements, and bug fixes customized to user feedback. The platform’s user-friendly interface is refined frequently, making it easier for both beginners and experienced users to navigate and utilize the tools effectively. Furthermore, Canva’s integration of AI tools, like Magic Design and Magic Media, highlights its dedication to innovating the video creation process, streamlining editing tasks. These frequent updates guarantee Canva remains competitive in the market, adapting to trends and user needs in the constantly changing environment of video content creation, thereby boosting your editing experience. Frequently Asked Questions Can Canva Make Video Quality Better? Yes, Canva can improve video quality considerably. It provides access to a vast library of stock footage, images, and audio, enhancing your video’s visual and auditory appeal. You can utilize user-friendly tools for trimming, cropping, and adding transitions, which polishes your video. Features like Beat Sync help align clips with music seamlessly, as customizable templates guarantee design consistency. With auto-save, your edits remain secure, preserving high quality throughout the editing process. What Is so Good About Canva? Canva’s appeal lies in its user-friendly design, which simplifies the creative process for individuals at any skill level. You’ll find a vast library of stock media, customizable templates, and the ability to integrate your existing designs seamlessly. The auto-save feature protects your work, whereas the intuitive timeline view streamlines video editing. This combination of accessibility and functionality makes Canva an efficient choice for producing high-quality content without the complexity of traditional software. What Are the Features of Canva Video Editor? Canva Video Editor offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy for you to create and edit videos. It features a timeline view for arranging multiple layers, similar to Strength. You can access a vast library of stock media, including video clips and music, to improve your projects. Furthermore, it provides animations and shifts for dynamic effects. Crucial editing tools like trimming and cropping are available, along with the Beat Sync feature for syncing videos to music. What Is the Best Video Editing Software? Determining the best video editing software depends on your needs. For professionals, Adobe Premiere Pro offers extensive features and customization options. If you’re a beginner or casual user, simpler platforms like CapCut or Canva can be more suitable because of their user-friendly interfaces. Consider factors like cost, as many advanced tools require subscriptions, whereas others provide free versions. Additionally, check compatibility with various formats to make sure the software meets your project requirements. Conclusion To summarize, Canva is an excellent choice for video editing because of its user-friendly interface, extensive media library, and cost-effective solutions. With simple drag-and-drop tools and a variety of templates, you can easily create professional-quality videos. Advanced features like AI-powered tools and integrated sound options further improve the editing experience. Plus, its mobile compatibility allows for editing on-the-go. Overall, Canva offers a thorough platform for anyone seeking to produce engaging video content efficiently. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Why Is Canva a Good Choice for Video Editing?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re looking for a video editing platform that balances simplicity with robust features, Canva stands out as a compelling option. Its user-friendly interface makes it accessible for both beginners and seasoned editors alike, while its extensive library of stock media guarantees you have ample resources at your fingertips. Plus, the drag-and-drop tools streamline your workflow, making video production not just efficient but also cost-effective. What else sets Canva apart in the field of video editing? Key Takeaways Canva offers a user-friendly interface with intuitive tools, making video editing accessible for beginners and experienced users alike. An extensive library of stock media and templates allows for quick customization and eliminates licensing concerns for creators. The platform provides a cost-effective solution for video production, with a free version and affordable pro options for high-quality content. Advanced features like AI-powered tools and Beat Sync enhance editing efficiency and creativity, streamlining the video creation process. Real-time collaboration and cloud storage support seamless teamwork and organization, making project management easy and effective. User-Friendly Interface for Beginners Have you ever felt overwhelmed by complicated video editing software? If you’re looking to edit your channel on YouTube, you might find Canva to be a rejuvenating alternative. Its user-friendly interface is designed for beginners, so you won’t face unnecessary complexity. The timeline view resembles familiar tools like Strength or Keynote, which helps ease your learning curve. With no prior video editing experience required, you can quickly create and edit videos. The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to add media easily, and Canva’s auto-save feature guarantees you won’t lose your progress. This combination of simplicity and efficiency makes Canva a solid choice when you’re wondering, “Is Canva good for video editing?” Extensive Library of Stock Media Canva offers you an extensive library filled with over half a million stock videos, images, and audio tracks, making it straightforward to find the right media for your projects. With user-friendly access to this vast collection, you can easily search and incorporate royalty-free options directly within the editor, simplifying your video creation process. This feature not just improves the quality of your content but additionally eliminates any licensing concerns, allowing for hassle-free publishing. Vast Media Collection Accessing a vast media collection is essential for effective video editing, and Canva thrives in this area. With an extensive library of over half a million stock videos, music tracks, and sound effects, you can easily find suitable media for any project. Here are some key features that make Canva’s media collection stand out: Royalty-Free Options: All stock videos are royalty-free, so you won’t face licensing issues. Pro User Benefits: Pro users gain access to a licensed music library with thousands of soundtracks, eliminating copyright concerns. Integrated Library: The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to add ready-to-use elements directly into your timeline, streamlining the editing process. These features empower you to create professional-looking videos customized for platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Stories. User-Friendly Access When you’re plunging into video editing, having easy access to a vast stock media library makes a significant difference. Canva’s integrated library allows you to effortlessly find and incorporate video clips, images, and audio tracks into your projects without worrying about licensing issues. If you’re a Pro user, you gain full access to an extensive collection of premium stock media, enhancing the quality of your videos. With over half a million music tracks and sound effects, finding the right audio becomes streamlined. This feature enables you to use royalty-free stock videos, saving time by eliminating the need for personal footage. Plus, Canva’s user-friendly interface lets you drag and drop media into timelines, making video editing accessible for beginners. Royalty-Free Options With a vast collection of royalty-free options, video editing becomes markedly easier and more efficient. Canva offers an extensive library filled with thousands of video clips and audio tracks that you can seamlessly incorporate into your projects. This access allows you to focus on your creative vision without the stress of licensing issues. Here’s what you can expect: Diverse Assets: A wide range of high-quality stock media is available, enhancing your editing capabilities. Simplified Search: Quickly find and integrate elements into your videos, saving you time. Streamlined Process: Create engaging content without sourcing materials from multiple sites, further increasing your productivity. With these features, Canva positions itself as a valuable tool for efficient video editing. Simple Drag-and-Drop Tools Canva’s simple drag-and-drop tools make video editing accessible to everyone, regardless of experience level. With its user-friendly interface, you can easily place video clips, images, and audio files onto the timeline without needing advanced technical skills. Rearranging elements is as simple as clicking and dragging them into position, which streamlines the editing process considerably. This intuitive design eliminates complex commands, allowing beginners to create videos efficiently. Moreover, Canva offers a variety of pre-made templates that you can customize using drag-and-drop functionality, reducing the time you spend on video creation. The platform likewise supports integrating stock media from its library, enhancing your creativity as you sidestep licensing concerns, making it a practical choice for all video editing needs. Cost-Effective Video Production Canva makes video production cost-effective by offering a free platform that anyone can access without upfront fees. If you opt for the Pro version, you gain access to a vast library of stock media, which can save you from additional expenses for images and music. With no hidden costs and a user-friendly interface, you can create professional-quality videos quickly and affordably. Free Access Available A free video editor is now at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to produce high-quality videos without spending a dime. With Canva’s free access, you can take advantage of various features that improve your video creation process: Stock Media Library: Utilize a vast collection of royalty-free images and videos to boost your projects. User-Friendly Interface: Enjoy a straightforward editing experience that doesn’t require advanced technical skills, perfect for beginners. Auto-Save Feature: Work seamlessly without worrying about losing progress, as your edits are automatically saved. This combination allows you to create and edit videos efficiently, making Canva an economical choice for your occasional projects and ensuring you can still produce professional results. Affordable Pro Features Though many video editing tools come with hefty price tags, the affordable Pro features offered by Canva provide an accessible solution for those seeking cost-effective video production. With a Canva Pro subscription, you gain full access to an extensive library of stock media, including thousands of videos and audio tracks, enhancing your project’s quality without additional licensing costs. You additionally receive 100 GB of storage, a significant upgrade from the free plan’s 5 GB, vital for managing larger video files. Furthermore, Canva’s user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop tools allow you to create compelling videos quickly. By integrating marketing and design tools in the Pro bundle, you can streamline your video creation process, reducing overall production expenses in the process of achieving professional results. No Hidden Costs In relation to video editing, budget constraints can often limit your options, but you can create high-quality content without worrying about hidden fees. Canva’s user-friendly platform allows you to produce professional videos without the burden of unexpected costs. Here are a few key benefits: Free Access: You can use the free video editor to create and edit videos without any hidden charges. No Watermarks: Videos made with free elements won’t feature watermarks, ensuring a polished look. Integrated Media Library: Access thousands of royalty-free videos and audio tracks, eliminating the need for separate purchases. With Canva, you can effectively manage your video production budget while still accessing premium features and resources. Variety of Templates for Different Needs When you’re looking to create engaging video content, Canva provides an extensive selection of templates customized for various platforms, ensuring you can find the perfect match for your needs. Whether you’re targeting YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram Stories, you’ll discover templates designed particularly for those audiences. With thousands of pre-made options covering themes like marketing, product demos, and social media promotions, selecting the right fit for your project is straightforward. These templates are customizable and reusable, which helps maintain consistency in your branding as you save valuable time. For Pro users, premium templates are available, offering high-quality designs that improve the professional appearance of your videos. This variety makes Canva an excellent choice for video editing. Easy Animation and Transition Features Canva makes it simple to add engaging animations and changes to your videos, offering 16 to 17 animation options at both the element and page levels. With just a click, you can boost your videos’ appeal and keep your audience’s attention. Here are some key features that make animations and shifts easy to use: User-Friendly Timeline: Canva provides a straightforward timeline view, similar to PowerPoint, making it easy for you to visualize your animations and shifts. Simple Shifts: Applying transitions between video clips is quick and uncomplicated, helping to maintain a smooth flow throughout your video. Text Animation: You can animate text and other elements effortlessly, introducing movement that adds engagement to your projects. This makes Canva a great choice for quick and effective video editing. Seamless Collaboration Options Video editing often involves teamwork, and Canva’s collaboration features make it easier for you and your team to work together seamlessly. With real-time collaboration, multiple team members can edit a project simultaneously, boosting both efficiency and creativity. You can leave comments on specific scenes, ensuring immediate feedback and adjustments throughout the editing process. Canva’s cloud storage allows everyone to access, edit, and share content securely from any location or device, which is especially useful for remote teams. Furthermore, the platform’s mobile compatibility means you can participate in video editing on-the-go, accommodating varied schedules. Finally, the integrated Content Calendar helps you schedule video releases, keeping your team aligned on project timelines and enhancing overall workflow. Efficient Project Organization With Folders With Canva, you can create custom folders to organize your video projects effectively, which simplifies project management. By categorizing your videos, images, and other media elements, you’ll easily find specific assets when you need them. This feature is especially useful when juggling multiple projects, as it reduces clutter and improves your productivity. Custom Folder Creation When you’re managing multiple projects, creating custom folders can greatly improve your organization and efficiency. Canva’s custom folder feature lets you categorize video files and designs for quick access. Here are some benefits of using custom folders: Streamlined Workflows: You can store and manage multiple projects within these folders, saving time searching for specific videos or elements. Content Grouping: Group related content together, like marketing videos or social media posts, making your content management more efficient. Clean Workspace: Organizing projects helps maintain a tidy workspace, allowing you to focus on the creative process without clutter. This feature is especially useful for teams, as it enables real-time access and organization of shared resources, enhancing collaboration on video projects. Simplified Project Management Organizing your video projects becomes considerably easier when you utilize Canva’s folder system, which allows for efficient project management. You can create custom folders to categorize projects by themes, types, or clients, enhancing your workflow and productivity. This structured approach helps you quickly locate and manage files, reducing the time spent searching for necessary materials. Furthermore, the simplified folder structure provides quick access to assets and templates, streamlining your editing process. Real-time collaboration features enable team members to work within these organized folders, facilitating communication and feedback. With Canva’s auto-saving functionality, you can trust that your projects remain secure and accessible, minimizing the risk of data loss as you focus on creating quality videos. AI-Powered Video Creation Tools AI-powered video creation tools have transformed the way users approach video editing, making the process more efficient and accessible. With features like these, you can streamline your workflow considerably: Magic Design: Automatically edits your footage and adds music, saving you time. Highlights Feature: Utilizes AI to identify the best moments in your videos, helping you create engaging content effortlessly. Magic Media Tool: Generates videos from text prompts, allowing you to quickly turn ideas into visuals. In addition, Canva’s tools automate tasks such as syncing videos to music rhythmically with the Beat Sync feature. You can likewise record your screen and voice directly in the app, making the overall video creation experience smooth and user-friendly. Integrated Sound and Music Options Canva’s integrated sound and music options greatly improve the video editing experience, offering a variety of tools to raise your projects. You’ll gain access to a licensed music library with thousands of soundtracks, ensuring high-quality audio for your videos. The Beat Sync feature automatically aligns your video clips to the rhythm of the selected music, enhancing viewer engagement. For beginners, music-inspired video templates come with integrated soundtracks, simplifying the editing process. Furthermore, Canva’s audio library includes both free and premium options, giving you flexibility in sound selection. Finally, you can edit audio timing just like video; by dragging edges in the timeline, you can seamlessly synchronize your music with video clips, resulting in polished, professional content. Mobile Compatibility for Editing On-the-Go How convenient is it to edit videos directly from your mobile device? Canva’s mobile app makes this possible, allowing you to create and modify videos seamlessly during your travels. Here are a few benefits of mobile compatibility: Access Anywhere: You can easily access your projects anytime, whether you’re at home, traveling, or in a remote location. Upload Footage: Capture spontaneous moments and upload them directly from your phone, integrating fresh content into your projects. Intuitive Interface: The mobile app mirrors the desktop version, ensuring a consistent editing experience, so you won’t have to relearn how to use the tool. With crucial functions like trimming and adding music available, Canva provides a robust solution for quick edits. Continuous Updates and Feature Improvements As video editing demands change, Canva consistently rolls out updates that improve your overall experience and address any limitations you might encounter. This commitment to continuous development means you can expect regular new features, improvements, and bug fixes customized to user feedback. The platform’s user-friendly interface is refined frequently, making it easier for both beginners and experienced users to navigate and utilize the tools effectively. Furthermore, Canva’s integration of AI tools, like Magic Design and Magic Media, highlights its dedication to innovating the video creation process, streamlining editing tasks. These frequent updates guarantee Canva remains competitive in the market, adapting to trends and user needs in the constantly changing environment of video content creation, thereby boosting your editing experience. Frequently Asked Questions Can Canva Make Video Quality Better? Yes, Canva can improve video quality considerably. It provides access to a vast library of stock footage, images, and audio, enhancing your video’s visual and auditory appeal. You can utilize user-friendly tools for trimming, cropping, and adding transitions, which polishes your video. Features like Beat Sync help align clips with music seamlessly, as customizable templates guarantee design consistency. With auto-save, your edits remain secure, preserving high quality throughout the editing process. What Is so Good About Canva? Canva’s appeal lies in its user-friendly design, which simplifies the creative process for individuals at any skill level. You’ll find a vast library of stock media, customizable templates, and the ability to integrate your existing designs seamlessly. The auto-save feature protects your work, whereas the intuitive timeline view streamlines video editing. This combination of accessibility and functionality makes Canva an efficient choice for producing high-quality content without the complexity of traditional software. What Are the Features of Canva Video Editor? Canva Video Editor offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy for you to create and edit videos. It features a timeline view for arranging multiple layers, similar to Strength. You can access a vast library of stock media, including video clips and music, to improve your projects. Furthermore, it provides animations and shifts for dynamic effects. Crucial editing tools like trimming and cropping are available, along with the Beat Sync feature for syncing videos to music. What Is the Best Video Editing Software? Determining the best video editing software depends on your needs. For professionals, Adobe Premiere Pro offers extensive features and customization options. If you’re a beginner or casual user, simpler platforms like CapCut or Canva can be more suitable because of their user-friendly interfaces. Consider factors like cost, as many advanced tools require subscriptions, whereas others provide free versions. Additionally, check compatibility with various formats to make sure the software meets your project requirements. Conclusion To summarize, Canva is an excellent choice for video editing because of its user-friendly interface, extensive media library, and cost-effective solutions. With simple drag-and-drop tools and a variety of templates, you can easily create professional-quality videos. Advanced features like AI-powered tools and integrated sound options further improve the editing experience. Plus, its mobile compatibility allows for editing on-the-go. Overall, Canva offers a thorough platform for anyone seeking to produce engaging video content efficiently. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Why Is Canva a Good Choice for Video Editing?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

I’m on vacation. Here are some past letters that I’m making new again, rather than leaving them to wilt in the archives. 1. My employee warned me he has a problem with authority Six years ago, I took a job in a new department. At the time, I only had two years of managing experience and I was eager to not step on the toes of my new four-person team, who had a combined total of 85 years of experience. On my first day and in my first meeting with my employee Fergus, he smirked and opened with, “You should know I have a problem with authority.” To his credit, he was not lying. It’s a nightmare to deal with him but he does just enough to not be let go (we work for the government, it’s harder to get fired). At the time he told me this, I was so concerned with being liked and learning the ropes in the new department that I tried to approach all interactions with Fergus with that in mind instead of just asking for what I needed. But now I wonder, what would have been a good response? Am I wrong in thinking that the response should have been something that let Fergus know that it indeed was *his* problem and not mine? Or is that just my dislike for my current situation bubbling up? Ideally, when he told you he had a problem with authority, you would have asked, “Can you be more specific about what you mean?” Let’s pin him down on exactly what he’s talking about here, and then respond to that. If he replied with something like “I don’t like being told what to do” or “I prefer to work independently without a manager,” then you could say, “Well, I certainly appreciate knowing about people’s preferences and I respect the expertise you have, but part of my role here is to oversee that work. You can see how that goes and decide whether it’s for you or not. If you decide it’s not, I’ll certainly understand.” It sounds like you know this now, but you can’t let an employee dictate how you’ll do your own job (which includes managing them) or value being liked over being effective. – 2019 Read an update to this letter here. 2. How do I tell friends and family I can’t keep helping with their writing? I’m an English teacher and over the years many of my friends and family have asked me for feedback on their writing. Now that I have a family, the demands on my time are greater and frankly, I am less interested in helping like this. How do I transition my friends out of this? I would feel weird charging them but I guess I should? I really don’t know how to broach this with people without sounding awkward and weird; I think I am too emotionally invested. Would you want to do if they were paying? If not, don’t offer that as an option just to decrease the requests because some people may take you up on it! If you just don’t want to do it regardless of pay, it’s totally okay to just explain your schedule doesn’t allow it anymore. Anything like this works, depending on the tone you want with the particular asker: * “My schedule is so swamped these days that I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.” * “Ah, I’m sorry. I don’t have enough free time these days to be able to say yes.” * “I wish I could help! My schedule is crazed right now though. Sorry I can’t look at it!” * “If I say yes, it will sit for weeks while I feel guilty for not having enough time to look at it, so I’m going to preempt that by doing the right thing and telling you now I can’t.” * “I’m trying not to say yes to that anymore, since my schedule has gotten so packed.” If you make it a big thing where you feel terrible and like you’re letting them down, it’s likely to be weird on their side too. If you’re matter-of-fact about it and then change the subject to something else, it’ll go fine with reasonable people. (And if they’re unreasonable, there’s nothing to feel bad about anyway.) But if you’d do a few of these requests for the right price, you can say: “I’ve gotten so many of these requests from family and friends, and my schedule is so busy now, that I’ve actually started charging a fee for it. I totally understand if that’s not what you’re interested in, but if you are, the fee people are paying is $X.” (I like “the fee people are paying” rather than “the fee I’m charging,” because it emphasizes that other people find this worth money, which makes it harder for them to complain they shouldn’t have to pay.) – 2019 Read an update to this letter here. 3. Employee is monopolizing the conference room to get quiet work space My office is open, but it’s not a new, innovative concept. It’s an old building and this has happened out of necessity. We’re the support team for several businesses downstairs, so it’s never going to happen that we move into a new, more workable space. We all work pretty silently, and keep distractions to a minimum. We also have a large, open event space where we’re all accustomed to taking phone calls and having meetings. Recently, we’ve added a few employees and the volume level in the office has increased. Most of us have just deployed headphones, until the newbies catch on. (One is our new boss, so it’s not as easy as telling them all to keep it down.) The problem is with one employee, who has taken it upon herself to consistently go work in the event space. She also happens to be the only employee with a laptop she can work off of. But now, that room is never available for anyone else. Unless we ask her to leave, which she always is willing to do — it’s just awkward. I don’t know how to communicate to her that what she’s doing is inconsiderate. It also seems like she should be able to work in there if she wants to, and it seems petty of me considering the majority of the time that space is vacant. Am I being unreasonable? If she’s always willing to leave when the space is needed for something else, it doesn’t sound like this is really a problem. Open offices can be incredibly difficult for people to work in, and if there’s a mostly unused conference room sitting vacant, there’s no logical reason why she shouldn’t use it, as long as she’s willing to move when needed, which she is. Working in there could be making a major difference in her concentration or her productivity, as well as to her morale. I know it might seem unfair since other people without laptops can’t do it — but then the solution is for them to ask for laptops so multiple people could use the conference room as a quiet room at the same time, not to stop her from doing it just because others can’t. If the issue is that you feel awkward or rude asking her to vacate the room, I’d say the solution is for you realize it’s perfectly okay to do that (and she seems to think so too, based on her cheerfully leaving when asked to). – 2019 4. Should I tell a blogger I follow that I work with her boyfriend? This question is kind of silly but I am the kind of person that would make this situation weird. I was scrolling through Instagram and just discovered a local blogger whose style I really like. Turns out her S.O. is one of my coworkers! I only know him in passing (and honestly, I doubt he knows my name), but he’s a really nice guy from what I’ve encountered. My first thought was to DM her and say something like “hey, I love your blog and I’m so thrilled to see you live in [same city!] I actually know [your S.O.] from work and he’s a really nice guy” but I am afraid that would come across as awkward. Should I say anything to him? We don’t work together, and I tend to be very shy and reserved at work. I’d leave it alone. Not because it would be horribly awkward if you did message her, but because the question I’d have about doing that is “toward what end?” You’ll tell her you know her S.O, she’ll say something kind in response, and then that will probably be that. It’s not really conveying information with much significance. (There are people who respond enthusiastically to connections of any kind, but there are more people who will just think, “Okay … and?” Plus, if she asks her S.O. about you and he doesn’t know who you are, that’s really upping the chances of “Okay … and?”) That said, there’s nothing wrong with sending her a note letting her know how much you like her work! That’s always lovely to get, and you don’t even need to mention the S.O. connection. – 2019 The post employee says he has a problem with authority, I can’t keep helping friends with their writing, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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When you’re looking to improve your video projects, accessing high-quality free clips can greatly boost your edits. There are numerous platforms offering an extensive library of stock footage, from breathtaking nature views to engaging animated backgrounds. These clips are pre-licensed, allowing for commercial use without the worry of copyright issues. Comprehending how to download and utilize these resources effectively can streamline your creative process. Let’s explore some of the best options available for your next project. Key Takeaways Access over 6.6k free stock video clips in stunning 4K and HD quality, ideal for various editing projects. Young Ronaldo 4K clips capture iconic moments, perfect for highlight reels and social media content. Utilize moving clouds motion graphics with 45,000 seconds of visuals to enhance storytelling in your edits. Explore 1.2k Capcut overlays for animated clip art and themed graphics, adding professional touches to your videos. Incorporate royalty-free music from a library of 25,000 tracks to align audio with your visuals for better engagement. Access the Best Free Stock Video Footage When you need high-quality video content for your projects, accessing the best free stock video footage can considerably enhance your work without the hassle of filming. You can explore a vast stock footage library, featuring over six million pre-licensed 4K and HD video clips. This diverse selection includes nature loops, animated backgrounds, and sports clips, ensuring you find content that fits your themes. All free stock videos are clearly marked and come without watermarks, giving your edits a professional finish. Plus, you can download clips in various formats like MP4 and MOV, providing flexibility for different video needs and compatibility across platforms. Utilizing a user-friendly online video editor further streamlines your editing process. Download Free Video Clips and Stock Footage for Any Project Finding the right video clips for your projects can considerably improve the quality of your edits. You can access over six million pre-licensed 4K and HD video clips, making it easy to find footage that fits your themes. Look for free stock footage for commercial use, allowing you to create professional, watermark-free videos without needing elaborate shoots. You can search for free video assets in SD, HD, and 4K quality directly within online editors, streamlining the incorporation of videos into your projects. Download high-quality clips across various themes, including nature loops and sports footage. This extensive library guarantees you have the necessary resources to raise your videos as you keep the process straightforward and efficient. Licensing Made Simple and Hassle-Free Licensing video clips shouldn’t be an intimidating task, especially with the wealth of options available today. When seeking free royalty-free videos for commercial use, you can confidently choose from numerous stock footage sources that simplify licensing. Here’s what you need to know: All stock videos are pre-licensed, eliminating copyright concerns. Canva Free users can buy a One-Time Use license for just $1 to remove watermarks. A Canva Pro subscription provides broader access to premium footage and music. Licensing allows for both personal and commercial use, so you can utilize your clips seamlessly. Knowing where to get free stock footage means you can focus on creating high-quality content without worrying about complex licensing agreements. Sync Music to Match Your Footage When you’re editing your footage, selecting the right royalty-free tracks is essential for enhancing your project. Make sure the music’s tempo and mood align with your visuals; this synchronization can greatly boost viewer engagement. Choose Royalty-Free Tracks Choosing royalty-free tracks for your video projects is vital for guaranteeing both compliance with copyright laws and the improvement of your footage’s emotional impact. With a vast library of over 25,000 tracks, you can find the perfect music to sync with your visuals. Here are some benefits of using royalty-free music: Ideal for vlogs, sports videos, and promotional content Guarantees compliance with copyright laws for royalty free videos for commercial use Allows you to upload your own audio for a personalized touch Seamless integration with online editors makes syncing effortless Match Tempo and Mood Matching the tempo and mood of your music to your footage can greatly improve the overall quality of your video. Syncing music improves emotional impact and viewer engagement, aligning the rhythm of the music with the visuals. With access to over 25,000 royalty-free music tracks, you can easily find a soundtrack that fits your video’s vibe, whether it’s upbeat for celebrations or calm for nature clips. Online editors allow for seamless integration, enabling quick adjustments to guarantee the audio complements your visuals perfectly. You can likewise upload your own recorded audio or background music, personalizing the project and matching the tempo precisely to your unique footage. This capability considerably raises your high-quality video projects for personal or commercial use. How to Download and Use Free Stock Videos on Canva Downloading and using free stock videos on Canva is a straightforward process that can elevate your projects considerably. To start, open a blank template or select a pre-designed video template from the Canva dashboard. Then, navigate to the left pane and select the Elements or Videos tab to search for free videos available in various qualities, including SD, HD, and 4K. Here’s how you can make the most of Canva’s free video download options: Find royalty-free stock videos without watermarks. Drag and drop your selected footage onto your canvas. Customize and edit your videos easily. Consider a One Time Use license for premium clips. With these steps, you can elevate your projects seamlessly using video download free options. Free Clips for Edits When you’re looking to improve your video projects, free clips for edits provide an invaluable resource that can greatly improve the quality of your work. With 6.6k free clips available, you’ll find a wide range of themes, including popular ones like Ronaldo celebrations and Chris Hemsworth. You can easily access and free download videos online without watermarks, ensuring your edits look professional. To keep your content fresh, here’s a quick comparison of different types of clips you can find: Clip Type Usage Example Celebration Videos Engaging social media posts Action Clips Stock videos for reels Nature Footage Backgrounds for vlogs Slow Motion Clips Dramatic storytelling Regular updates guarantee you’ll stay inspired with new trends. Young Ronaldo 4K Best Free Clips For Edits If you’re looking to improve your edits with high-quality footage, young Cristiano Ronaldo clips in 4K resolution are a fantastic option. These clips capture iconic celebration moments and showcase his impressive skills, making them versatile for any sports-themed project. Plus, sharing your edits on social media can increase your visibility and connect you with fellow fans and creators. High-Quality 4K Resolution High-quality 4K resolution clips featuring young Cristiano Ronaldo provide an exceptional resource for video editors looking to amplify their projects. These stunning visuals guarantee your edits stand out, especially in sports-related content. You can find these clips easily through dedicated channels, making them accessible for anyone seeking stock footage. Offers dynamic action shots and poses Ideal for highlight reels and social media content Royalty-free, allowing for commercial use without attribution Perfect for HD video download to boost viewer engagement Iconic Celebration Moments Iconic celebration moments featuring young Cristiano Ronaldo are essential for any sports video editor looking to capture the essence of his early career. The Young Ronaldo 4K Best Free Clips collection offers high-quality video assets that showcase these memorable celebrations. With each clip available for free download, you can easily incorporate stunning highlights into your projects. The emphasis on 4K resolution guarantees that your edits maintain a professional look. Furthermore, you can access more free background clips via a dedicated Telegram channel, enhancing community engagement around Ronaldo’s iconic moments. Versatile Editing Applications Young Cristiano Ronaldo clips offer a wealth of opportunities for video editors looking to boost their projects. With stunning 4K resolution, these freeuse videos are perfect for various applications. Here are some versatile uses for the stock video footage: Create dynamic sports montages highlighting Ronaldo’s early career. Develop engaging social media content for platforms like TikTok. Improve personal or commercial projects without licensing concerns. Access a diverse library with over 6.6k free video options. These clips capture iconic moments, making them ideal for any sports-themed video. Plus, the royalty-free aspect means you can focus on creating, without worrying about copyright issues. Embrace the potential of these clips to lift your editing skills. Capcut Overlay When you’re looking to improve your video edits, Capcut overlays provide a versatile solution that can greatly boost the visual quality of your projects. With over 1.2k transparent clip art options, you can easily find free mp4 videos and creative elements to enrich your work. These overlays include animated features and themed graphics, allowing you to raise your edits without spending money. Capcut’s user-friendly interface guarantees that you can seamlessly integrate these overlays into various video formats, fitting perfectly within your editing workflow. The accessibility of high-quality resources helps you add professional touches quickly, making Capcut an excellent choice for creators aiming to refine their editing skills and produce engaging content. Moving Clouds Motion Graphics Moving clouds motion graphics are an excellent resource for boosting your video projects. They offer 100% royalty-free stock footage, so you won’t have to worry about copyright issues. With over 45,000 seconds of moving cloud visuals, you can find the perfect scenes to match your themes. Available in both 4K and HD quality, these clips guarantee professional-grade production quality. Seamless integration at 30 frames per second (fps) Dynamic backgrounds enhancing visual storytelling Versatile scenes suitable for various styles Easy access with HD video download HD options Incorporating these motion graphics can greatly enhance the visual appeal of your videos, making them stand out in an increasingly competitive environment. Next-Level Video Creation With AI As the demand for high-quality video content continues to rise, AI video creation tools are transforming the environment of video production. These tools let you generate professional-quality videos from text and images, streamlining your workflow. With AI voice generators, you can create natural-sounding voiceovers in multiple languages, broadening your audience reach. Furthermore, AI sound effect generators allow you to craft custom sound effects from text inputs, enhancing the auditory experience of your projects. Frequently Asked Questions Are There Any Restrictions on Using Free Clips Commercially? Yes, there are often restrictions on using free clips commercially. Many free clip providers include licensing agreements that specify how you can use their content. Some may allow commercial use with attribution, whereas others may require payment for such usage. Always read the terms carefully before using any clip in a commercial project, as failing to comply can lead to legal issues. It’s essential to understand these limitations to protect your work. How Do I Credit the Source of Free Video Clips? To credit the source of free video clips, check the specific licensing terms provided with the clips. Typically, you’ll need to include the creator’s name, the clip title, and a link to the source. If the license requires it, you should likewise mention if the clip has been modified. Make sure you place the credit visibly within your project, either in the video description or at the end of the video itself. Can I Edit the Free Clips I Download? Yes, you can edit the free clips you download, provided you adhere to the terms of use specified by the source. Most platforms allow modifications, enabling you to tailor the content to your project needs. Nonetheless, some clips may have restrictions, such as requiring attribution or prohibiting commercial use. Always check the licensing agreements to guarantee your edits comply and don’t violate any copyright rules, thereby avoiding potential legal issues. What Formats Are Available for Downloading Free Clips? When downloading free clips, you’ll typically find various formats available, including MP4, MOV, and AVI. MP4 is popular for its compatibility with most devices and software. MOV offers high-quality video but may require specific players. AVI, although less common, supports high-quality videos as well. Always check the specifications of the platform you’re using, as format availability can vary. Choose the format that best suits your editing needs and software compatibility. Are There Limits on the Number of Downloads for Free Clips? Yes, there are often limits on the number of downloads for free clips, which can vary by platform. Some sites allow a specific number of downloads per day or week, whereas others may impose a monthly cap. It’s crucial to check the terms of service for each site you use to understand these limitations. Furthermore, some platforms may require you to create an account or subscribe for higher download limits. Conclusion In summary, utilizing the best free clips for edits can greatly improve your video projects. With a wide variety of high-quality footage available for commercial use, you can easily find clips that suit your creative needs. Comprehending the licensing terms guarantees a hassle-free experience during downloading and incorporating these resources into your work. By leveraging these tools and techniques, you can raise your video production to a professional level, making it more engaging and visually appealing for your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Best Free Clips for Edits" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When you’re looking to improve your video projects, accessing high-quality free clips can greatly boost your edits. There are numerous platforms offering an extensive library of stock footage, from breathtaking nature views to engaging animated backgrounds. These clips are pre-licensed, allowing for commercial use without the worry of copyright issues. Comprehending how to download and utilize these resources effectively can streamline your creative process. Let’s explore some of the best options available for your next project. Key Takeaways Access over 6.6k free stock video clips in stunning 4K and HD quality, ideal for various editing projects. Young Ronaldo 4K clips capture iconic moments, perfect for highlight reels and social media content. Utilize moving clouds motion graphics with 45,000 seconds of visuals to enhance storytelling in your edits. Explore 1.2k Capcut overlays for animated clip art and themed graphics, adding professional touches to your videos. Incorporate royalty-free music from a library of 25,000 tracks to align audio with your visuals for better engagement. Access the Best Free Stock Video Footage When you need high-quality video content for your projects, accessing the best free stock video footage can considerably enhance your work without the hassle of filming. You can explore a vast stock footage library, featuring over six million pre-licensed 4K and HD video clips. This diverse selection includes nature loops, animated backgrounds, and sports clips, ensuring you find content that fits your themes. All free stock videos are clearly marked and come without watermarks, giving your edits a professional finish. Plus, you can download clips in various formats like MP4 and MOV, providing flexibility for different video needs and compatibility across platforms. Utilizing a user-friendly online video editor further streamlines your editing process. Download Free Video Clips and Stock Footage for Any Project Finding the right video clips for your projects can considerably improve the quality of your edits. You can access over six million pre-licensed 4K and HD video clips, making it easy to find footage that fits your themes. Look for free stock footage for commercial use, allowing you to create professional, watermark-free videos without needing elaborate shoots. You can search for free video assets in SD, HD, and 4K quality directly within online editors, streamlining the incorporation of videos into your projects. Download high-quality clips across various themes, including nature loops and sports footage. This extensive library guarantees you have the necessary resources to raise your videos as you keep the process straightforward and efficient. Licensing Made Simple and Hassle-Free Licensing video clips shouldn’t be an intimidating task, especially with the wealth of options available today. When seeking free royalty-free videos for commercial use, you can confidently choose from numerous stock footage sources that simplify licensing. Here’s what you need to know: All stock videos are pre-licensed, eliminating copyright concerns. Canva Free users can buy a One-Time Use license for just $1 to remove watermarks. A Canva Pro subscription provides broader access to premium footage and music. Licensing allows for both personal and commercial use, so you can utilize your clips seamlessly. Knowing where to get free stock footage means you can focus on creating high-quality content without worrying about complex licensing agreements. Sync Music to Match Your Footage When you’re editing your footage, selecting the right royalty-free tracks is essential for enhancing your project. Make sure the music’s tempo and mood align with your visuals; this synchronization can greatly boost viewer engagement. Choose Royalty-Free Tracks Choosing royalty-free tracks for your video projects is vital for guaranteeing both compliance with copyright laws and the improvement of your footage’s emotional impact. With a vast library of over 25,000 tracks, you can find the perfect music to sync with your visuals. Here are some benefits of using royalty-free music: Ideal for vlogs, sports videos, and promotional content Guarantees compliance with copyright laws for royalty free videos for commercial use Allows you to upload your own audio for a personalized touch Seamless integration with online editors makes syncing effortless Match Tempo and Mood Matching the tempo and mood of your music to your footage can greatly improve the overall quality of your video. Syncing music improves emotional impact and viewer engagement, aligning the rhythm of the music with the visuals. With access to over 25,000 royalty-free music tracks, you can easily find a soundtrack that fits your video’s vibe, whether it’s upbeat for celebrations or calm for nature clips. Online editors allow for seamless integration, enabling quick adjustments to guarantee the audio complements your visuals perfectly. You can likewise upload your own recorded audio or background music, personalizing the project and matching the tempo precisely to your unique footage. This capability considerably raises your high-quality video projects for personal or commercial use. How to Download and Use Free Stock Videos on Canva Downloading and using free stock videos on Canva is a straightforward process that can elevate your projects considerably. To start, open a blank template or select a pre-designed video template from the Canva dashboard. Then, navigate to the left pane and select the Elements or Videos tab to search for free videos available in various qualities, including SD, HD, and 4K. Here’s how you can make the most of Canva’s free video download options: Find royalty-free stock videos without watermarks. Drag and drop your selected footage onto your canvas. Customize and edit your videos easily. Consider a One Time Use license for premium clips. With these steps, you can elevate your projects seamlessly using video download free options. Free Clips for Edits When you’re looking to improve your video projects, free clips for edits provide an invaluable resource that can greatly improve the quality of your work. With 6.6k free clips available, you’ll find a wide range of themes, including popular ones like Ronaldo celebrations and Chris Hemsworth. You can easily access and free download videos online without watermarks, ensuring your edits look professional. To keep your content fresh, here’s a quick comparison of different types of clips you can find: Clip Type Usage Example Celebration Videos Engaging social media posts Action Clips Stock videos for reels Nature Footage Backgrounds for vlogs Slow Motion Clips Dramatic storytelling Regular updates guarantee you’ll stay inspired with new trends. Young Ronaldo 4K Best Free Clips For Edits If you’re looking to improve your edits with high-quality footage, young Cristiano Ronaldo clips in 4K resolution are a fantastic option. These clips capture iconic celebration moments and showcase his impressive skills, making them versatile for any sports-themed project. Plus, sharing your edits on social media can increase your visibility and connect you with fellow fans and creators. High-Quality 4K Resolution High-quality 4K resolution clips featuring young Cristiano Ronaldo provide an exceptional resource for video editors looking to amplify their projects. These stunning visuals guarantee your edits stand out, especially in sports-related content. You can find these clips easily through dedicated channels, making them accessible for anyone seeking stock footage. Offers dynamic action shots and poses Ideal for highlight reels and social media content Royalty-free, allowing for commercial use without attribution Perfect for HD video download to boost viewer engagement Iconic Celebration Moments Iconic celebration moments featuring young Cristiano Ronaldo are essential for any sports video editor looking to capture the essence of his early career. The Young Ronaldo 4K Best Free Clips collection offers high-quality video assets that showcase these memorable celebrations. With each clip available for free download, you can easily incorporate stunning highlights into your projects. The emphasis on 4K resolution guarantees that your edits maintain a professional look. Furthermore, you can access more free background clips via a dedicated Telegram channel, enhancing community engagement around Ronaldo’s iconic moments. Versatile Editing Applications Young Cristiano Ronaldo clips offer a wealth of opportunities for video editors looking to boost their projects. With stunning 4K resolution, these freeuse videos are perfect for various applications. Here are some versatile uses for the stock video footage: Create dynamic sports montages highlighting Ronaldo’s early career. Develop engaging social media content for platforms like TikTok. Improve personal or commercial projects without licensing concerns. Access a diverse library with over 6.6k free video options. These clips capture iconic moments, making them ideal for any sports-themed video. Plus, the royalty-free aspect means you can focus on creating, without worrying about copyright issues. Embrace the potential of these clips to lift your editing skills. Capcut Overlay When you’re looking to improve your video edits, Capcut overlays provide a versatile solution that can greatly boost the visual quality of your projects. With over 1.2k transparent clip art options, you can easily find free mp4 videos and creative elements to enrich your work. These overlays include animated features and themed graphics, allowing you to raise your edits without spending money. Capcut’s user-friendly interface guarantees that you can seamlessly integrate these overlays into various video formats, fitting perfectly within your editing workflow. The accessibility of high-quality resources helps you add professional touches quickly, making Capcut an excellent choice for creators aiming to refine their editing skills and produce engaging content. Moving Clouds Motion Graphics Moving clouds motion graphics are an excellent resource for boosting your video projects. They offer 100% royalty-free stock footage, so you won’t have to worry about copyright issues. With over 45,000 seconds of moving cloud visuals, you can find the perfect scenes to match your themes. Available in both 4K and HD quality, these clips guarantee professional-grade production quality. Seamless integration at 30 frames per second (fps) Dynamic backgrounds enhancing visual storytelling Versatile scenes suitable for various styles Easy access with HD video download HD options Incorporating these motion graphics can greatly enhance the visual appeal of your videos, making them stand out in an increasingly competitive environment. Next-Level Video Creation With AI As the demand for high-quality video content continues to rise, AI video creation tools are transforming the environment of video production. These tools let you generate professional-quality videos from text and images, streamlining your workflow. With AI voice generators, you can create natural-sounding voiceovers in multiple languages, broadening your audience reach. Furthermore, AI sound effect generators allow you to craft custom sound effects from text inputs, enhancing the auditory experience of your projects. Frequently Asked Questions Are There Any Restrictions on Using Free Clips Commercially? Yes, there are often restrictions on using free clips commercially. Many free clip providers include licensing agreements that specify how you can use their content. Some may allow commercial use with attribution, whereas others may require payment for such usage. Always read the terms carefully before using any clip in a commercial project, as failing to comply can lead to legal issues. It’s essential to understand these limitations to protect your work. How Do I Credit the Source of Free Video Clips? To credit the source of free video clips, check the specific licensing terms provided with the clips. Typically, you’ll need to include the creator’s name, the clip title, and a link to the source. If the license requires it, you should likewise mention if the clip has been modified. Make sure you place the credit visibly within your project, either in the video description or at the end of the video itself. Can I Edit the Free Clips I Download? Yes, you can edit the free clips you download, provided you adhere to the terms of use specified by the source. Most platforms allow modifications, enabling you to tailor the content to your project needs. Nonetheless, some clips may have restrictions, such as requiring attribution or prohibiting commercial use. Always check the licensing agreements to guarantee your edits comply and don’t violate any copyright rules, thereby avoiding potential legal issues. What Formats Are Available for Downloading Free Clips? When downloading free clips, you’ll typically find various formats available, including MP4, MOV, and AVI. MP4 is popular for its compatibility with most devices and software. MOV offers high-quality video but may require specific players. AVI, although less common, supports high-quality videos as well. Always check the specifications of the platform you’re using, as format availability can vary. Choose the format that best suits your editing needs and software compatibility. Are There Limits on the Number of Downloads for Free Clips? Yes, there are often limits on the number of downloads for free clips, which can vary by platform. Some sites allow a specific number of downloads per day or week, whereas others may impose a monthly cap. It’s crucial to check the terms of service for each site you use to understand these limitations. Furthermore, some platforms may require you to create an account or subscribe for higher download limits. Conclusion In summary, utilizing the best free clips for edits can greatly improve your video projects. With a wide variety of high-quality footage available for commercial use, you can easily find clips that suit your creative needs. Comprehending the licensing terms guarantees a hassle-free experience during downloading and incorporating these resources into your work. By leveraging these tools and techniques, you can raise your video production to a professional level, making it more engaging and visually appealing for your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Best Free Clips for Edits" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

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