To assist you in identifying the best project and task management tools, we’ve curated a list of 10 project management services that provide crucial features at little to no cost.

These tools centralize your projects and team, ensuring everyone is aligned as the project progresses. Features of some of these tools include time-tracking and invoicing capabilities, commenting systems, version controls, and user-friendly interfaces to help everyone meet their objectives.

Overview:

Monday

Monday provides a comprehensive task management platform designed to streamline and organize tasks for both individuals and teams. With its user-friendly interface and visually captivating design, users can effortlessly customize their workflows and automate repetitive tasks.

Key Features:

Notable features of Monday are:

• More than 200 specialized templates tailored for various industries.
• Adaptable column types to enhance workflow.
• An extensive range of data visualization tools, accompanied by a vast image library.

Limitations:

Although Monday.com offers an extensive array of project management tools, many are exclusive to premium plans. As a result, users on basic plans might feel they are not accessing some of the platform’s prime features.

Manage Projects with Monday

ClickUp

ClickUp is a robust and user-friendly task management tool that provides an extensive array of features to organize tasks, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. It supports automation and task customization. For teams, ClickUp facilitates collaboration across multiple projects, task assignments, and sharing feedback through comments and screenshots.

Features:

Notable features of ClickUp are:

• Strategize by setting and monitoring goals.
• Capability to integrate with over 1000 apps and tools.
• Seamlessly import projects from various online and offline platforms.

Drawbacks:

While ClickUp boasts numerous impressive features, its dashboard could offer more flexibility. Additionally, the onboarding experience for new users can be somewhat intricate.

Manage Projects with ClickUp

Freedcamp

Freedcamp is a proficient project management tool that centralizes your work and schedule. It accommodates unlimited users and projects, providing 200 MB of complimentary storage for project files and team data. Whether managing a business team, orchestrating wedding plans, overseeing school projects, or planning travels, Freedcamp has you covered.

Features:

Among the myriad of features Freedcamp offers, the following stand out:

• Task management through to-do lists or sticky notes (kanban board).
• Integration with Google Calendar.
• Enhanced functionality with extensions.

Drawbacks:

While Freedcamp is available at no cost, some of its premium features require upgrades. These encompass CRM, issue trackers, invoicing, expanded storage, and data backup. Fortunately, these features are modular, allowing you to invest only in what you need.

Manage Projects with Freedcamp

Taiga

Taiga, an award-winning open-source project management tool for agile development, is crafted to provide flexible work management. It caters to a diverse range of industries and work types. Taiga facilitates the listing of issues needing improvement and streamlines task management to achieve overarching goals and their associated sub-tasks.

Features:

Notable features of Taiga include:

• An issue tracker that categorizes issues and allows assignment to a responsible individual.
• Integration capabilities with tools such as HipChat, Slack, and others.
• Access to Taiga’s API.

Drawback: Under the free plan, projects are public. To maintain project privacy with Taiga, you receive one private project at no cost for up to 25 members. For additional private projects or members beyond this limit, you’ll need to choose a paid plan, starting at $19/month.

Manage Projects with Taiga

AceProject

AceProject stands out for its straightforwardness. Unlike some complex tools, AceProject offers a simple, user-friendly, and intuitive interface, ensuring users can easily navigate and find options. It also provides email notifications. The complimentary plan includes 250 MB of storage, 50 active tasks (deactivated tasks don’t count towards this limit), two projects, and accommodates up to five users.

Features:

Notable features of AceProject include:

• Interactive Gantt charts.
• Time tracking and expense reports.
• Document sharing with permission management.

Drawbacks:

Unlike Taiga, AceProject doesn’t offer product backlog management, even though it’s designed to support agile development.

Manage Projects with AceProject

ProjectPlace

ProjectPlace serves as a comprehensive project management platform, enhancing online collaboration and team engagement. It allows users to engage in real-time communication and share media resources through a unified dashboard. Additionally, it offers features like workload management, two-factor authentication for added security, API integrations, and more.

Features:

Notable capabilities of ProjectPlace include:

• Personalized kanban boards to fit user preferences.
• Direct access to files from integrated cloud storage.
• Efficient commenting systems equipped with @mentions.

Drawbacks:

Although ProjectPlace offers screen sharing for up to 100 members, Gantt charts, and version control for document management, these features are exclusive to the Enterprise (paid) plan. Additionally, it lacks product backlog management.

Manage Projects with ProjectPlace

HiTask

HiTask serves as both a project-sharing platform and a to-do list. It synchronizes tasks among team members and seamlessly integrates with Google Calendar. With HiTask, managing extensive projects becomes hassle-free, thanks to features like email integration, import/export tools, media attachments, and developer APIs. The platform also embraces the drag-and-drop functionality, simplifying task adjustments and reorganization.

Features:

Some standout features of HiTask include:

• Customized reporting.
• Efficient issue tracking.
• Smart grouping for enhanced organization.

Drawbacks:

HiTask doesn’t allow setting user permissions for editing or viewing roles. Despite its emphasis on reporting features, it lacks a Gantt chart.

Manage Projects with HiTask

Comindwork

Concluding our list, Comindwork stands out as a premium cloud-based tool equipped with an integrated CRM. It boasts features such as time tracking, billing management, and customizable Gantt charts, enhancing collaboration with teams and colleagues. Comindwork simplifies task management with its auto-scheduling feature. As a centralized platform, it ensures organized work and provides a preliminary overview of project statuses.

Features:

With Comindwork, users can:

• Set priorities for work and milestones.
• Access unlimited customization options and business-ready apps.
• Benefit from weekly backups and a data import tool.

Drawbacks:

Comindwork doesn’t offer a free plan. However, those interested can fill out a form to request a personalized demo. The Starter plan is priced at $15/user/month.

Manage Projects with Comindwork

Related:

• 10 Project Management Tools for Freelancers.
• Working Remotely? Explore the Top 10 Project Management Software Tailored for You.
• Top 10 Collaborative Apps for Project Managers.

The post 9 Tools Every Project Manager Should Know appeared first on Hongkiat.

With a plethora of help desk ticketing systems in the market, choosing the ideal system for your business can be overwhelming. In this article, I’ll shed some light on some of the best help desk ticketing systems out there so you can determine which is ideal for your business.

Overview:

1. Zendesk for Service

Zendesk is an enterprise-ready help desk ticketing system that offers a variety of features for service organizations. It is one of the oldest and most popular names in the help desk ticketing system industry.

One of its interesting features is the strong cross-channel communication for reaching your customers through their favorite channels such as email, live chat, and social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Zenesk AI-powered chatbots can be personalized and send pre-written responses while the agents are busy solving other tickets. You can configure a knowledge base to allow customers to get help on their issues in a self-service manner.

Its workflows can auto-route tickets per configuration and direct customers to FAQs. You also get in-depth analytics on your service teams through its reports.

Does Zendesk have a free plan?

No. Zendesk does not have a free plan but provides trial use of the entire Zendesk Suite Professional plan.

How much does Zendesk cost?

• Suite Team plan starts at $49/agent/month for unified messaging, automation and workflows, reporting and analytics, apps and integrations, and more.
• Growth plan for $79/agent/month offers advanced automation, custom integrations, and more.
• Professional plan for $99/agent/month offers skill-based routing, customizable dashboards, etc.
• Enterprise plan for $150/agent/month offers a lot more, like customizable workspaces, shared dashboards, etc.

Learn more about Zendesk for Service

2. SysAid Helpdesk Software

SysAid is a feature-rich help desk software to manage customer relations for your brand. You can resolve your customers’ issues faster by cross-referencing tickets with the users and their assets. Plus, your employees can solve common IT issues independently through self-service features.

The most interesting part of this tool is automation, i.e., it sorts, prioritizes, and routes tickets automatically to the related desk, so your customer’s issues are solved quicker. It also allows the help desk to remotely access user machines and generate performance reports through the dashboard.

Moreover, it offers hotkeys to capture your screen and send the video to a ticket in the self-service portal, saving loads of time in dealing with other ticket queries.

Does SysAid have a free plan?

Yes. SysAid offers a free trial on all its Help Desk and ITSM plans with no credit card needed.

How much does SysAid cost?

Prices of each plan vary depending on the number of administrators, assets, and modules required. Its Basic and Full Editon ranges from $1200+/yr (500 assets) to $1600+/yr (1000 assets).

Check out our review on SysAid’s Helpdesk.

Learn more about SysAid Helpdesk Software

3. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is an all-in-one customer service software that can be used by small businesses as well as enterprises. It has a wide range of features and tools to manage customer service.

It is highly customizable and easy to use, which makes it one of the best help desk systems on the market today.

Freshdesk features AI-based tools to help solve problems for your customers quickly and efficiently by automating and streamlining your service processes.

For example, it can auto-assign tickets based on set preferences, and its AI-based bot called Freddy can suggest knowledge base articles. Moreover, you can track performance analytics using its customizable dashboards and reports.

Does Freshdesk have a free plan?

Yes. Freshdesk offers a free plan supporting 10 agents, email and social ticketing, a knowledge base, and a ticket trend report.

How much does Freshdesk cost?

• Growth and Pro plans for $18 and $59/agent/month with automation-enabled marketplace apps, custom views, customer fields, time tracking, and more.
• Enterprise plan for $79/agent/month adds sandbox, approval workflows, email bot, etc.

Learn more about Freshdesk

4. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is an all-in-one help desk ticketing system that helps customer service teams to manage customer requests and improve the overall customer experience. It offers many features and tools for support agents and managers to provide exemplary service and gain customer service insights.

Zoho Desk is a perfect fit if your business is already using the Zoho Suite. Nevertheless, it is a multichannel help desk system integrating email, live chat, phone, social media, etc., under a single interface.

Moreover, you can create a self-service portal for your customers with FAQs and tutorials (aka knowledge base). Its dashboards and reports provide insights into service performance.

Does Zoho Desk have a free plan?

Yes. Zoho has a free plan supporting 3 agents, email ticketing, customer management, a knowledge base, macros, and more.

How much does Zoho Desk cost?

• Standard and Professional plans for $20 and $35/agent/month, respectively, offer social channels, public knowledge base, assignment and workflow rules, dashboards, integrations, etc.
• Enterprise plan for $50/agent/month offering Zia (AI-powered), live chat, custom functions, validation and layout rules, etc.

Learn more about Zoho Desk

5. Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce is a powerful and one of the most versatile CRM tools. It enables businesses to manage customer experience, optimize the support team’s performance, and receive AI-powered insights under one platform.

It offers a service console with many productivity tools, efficient service process automation, omnichannel routing, faster case management process, asset and order management, call center management, analytics, and a vast knowledge base.

Moreover, there are different add-ons you can add to your service cloud, including different field service operations, digital engagement through AI-powered chatbots, and a self-service feature that allows customers to find answers to some common questions quickly.

Check out our review on Salesforce Service Cloud.

Does Salesforce have a free plan?

Salesforce Service Cloud has no free plans, but it comes with a 30-day trial. To try it for free, you will need to fill up your particulars, including your name, email, phone number, and company name, and you will be provided with 30-day trial access to the Service Cloud console.

How much does Salesforce cost?

Its most popular plan, the Enterprise plan, starts at $150/user/month and comes with customizable CRM for comprehensive service. Other plans include the Essential plan at $25/user/month, the Professional plan at $75/user/month; and the Unlimited plan at $300/user/month.

All paid plans, too, come with a free 30-day trial.

Learn more about Salesforce Service Cloud

6. ProProfs

ProProfs is a help desk ticketing system that allows companies to manage their customer service and support. It is designed to work as a simple and efficient tool for customer service departments to manage customer issues or tickets.

ProProfs is an enterprise product that was designed to provide a user-friendly interface for both the customer and the company.

Additionally, ProProfs supports many automation options for speeding up the process of solving customer tickets. You can configure it to auto-assign tickets in a round-robin fashion and set up pre-written responses for improved response times.

Also, there’s an option to create a public knowledge base to help customers self-service on common issues. Its real-time reports help measure and improve performance.

Does ProProfs have a free plan?

No. ProProfs does not have a free plan, but it provides a free trial for 15 days.

How much does ProProfs cost?

• Essentials plan for $15/user/month, offering effective support with shared inboxes and essential help desk features.
• Premium plan for $20/user/month supports unlimited inboxes and an advanced feature set including ticket routing, child tickets, white labeling, etc.
• Enterprise plan adds more like custom automation and integrations, Single Sign-On (SSO), etc. If you need a live chat, it costs an extra $5 per plan.

Learn more about ProProfs

7. HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub enables you to create tickets, assign tickets, and take action on tickets as a team. It is designed to be flexible enough to meet the needs of any organization and supports collaboration between customer service and other teams on solving tickets.

HubSpot’s Service Hub lets you create a knowledge base for agents as well as customers, enable live chat for quick communication, and add automation features to speed up ticket resolutions. In addition, you can connect various channels under one shared inbox including email, live chat, etc.

Does HubSpot have a free plan?

Yes. HubSpot has a free plan that costs you nothing but limited features.

How much does HubSpot cost?

HubSpot Service Hub offers the following:

• Starter plan starts at $50/2 users/ month with features like – live chat, shared inbox, ticket pipelines, automation, repeating tasks, etc.
• Professional plan starts at $500/5 users/ month with features like – offering ticket routing, knowledge base, customer portal, service analytics, and more.
• Enterprise plan starts at $1200/10 users/ month.

Learn more about HubSpot Service Hub

8. HappyFox

HappyFox is a help desk ticketing system that provides a better way for customer support to manage the flow of incoming tickets. It has a simple and intuitive interface that makes it easy for customers to submit tickets and get the help they need.

HappyFox also provides powerful features such as workflows, ticket routing, integrations with other tools, customizable templates, etc.

It helps you to manage customer inquiries, requests, and problems. It provides an easy way for both customers and employees to report issues or request assistance from other teams.

Create a knowledge base and a community forum to help your customers with the tool. Its AI assistant can help manage workflows, chat with customers, and improve support.

Does HappyFox have a free plan?

No. HappyFox does not offer free plans or a free trial. However, you can request a demo, and the support team will see if one can be created for you.

How much does HappyFox cost?

• Mighty plan costs $39/agent/month, offering omnichannel tickets, knowledge base, Single Sign-On (SSO), etc.
• Fantastic plan costs $59/agent/month for multi-branding, custom ticket queues, etc.
• Enterprise and Enterprise Plus plans for $79 and $99/agent/month offer even more: asset and task management in Enterprise and agent scripting and all-time reporting history in Enterprise Plus.

Learn more about HappyFox

9. Jira Service Management

Jira Service Management helps teams work together, stay on top of issues, and deliver great customer experiences. It is designed to manage the customer service and support needs of organizations of all sizes.

Using this tool, customers can submit tickets through many channels such as email, phone call, chat, web portal, and social media as well.

It helps you categorize and prioritize tickets, create custom workflows for different types of requests, and set up escalation policies for specific types of requests.

Jira Service Management offers dashboards and reports with all the information about the tickets in one place, helping you analyze your service teams’ performance to drive efficient customer support.

Does Jira have a free plan?

Yes. Jira Service Management’s free plan supports 3 agents, unlimited customers, configurable workflows, analytics and reporting, knowledge management, etc.

How much does Jira cost?

• Standard and Premium plans for $20 and $45/agent/month offer cloud support team, service status pages, etc.
• Enterprise plan offers more features like Atlassian Analytics, Atlassian Data Lake, etc.

Learn more about Jira Service Management

10. Kayako

Kayako is a help desk ticketing system that can be used to manage customer inquiries and requests. It provides a ticketing system to track customer issues and helps in resolving them.

The good thing about Kayako is that it can be integrated with third-party applications like CRM or project management tools so that the information of the customers is automatically updated in other systems as well.

Kayako helps drive customer satisfaction, provides insights on improving customer service, and has a web-based interface and compatibility with mobile devices. The software is available as an on-premise solution or as a cloud-based solution that can be accessed from anywhere at any time.

Does Kayako have a free plan?

No. Kayodo does not support free plans but does come with a free 14-day trial for their paid plans.

How much does Kayako cost?

Kayako has a simple pricing structure wherein it offers all features in a single plan for $60/agent/month. It does feel a bit costlier compared to other tools on this list, especially if you have a small team.

Learn more about Kayako

Bonus 1. Mojo Helpdesk

Mojo Helpdesk is another cloud-based service that provides an easy and intuitive way to manage customer requests. It supports shared inbox with multiple channels such as chat, email, phone support, and social media, allowing your customers to get help using their convenient method.

Mojo Helpdesk allows lets you monitor tickets in real-time and keep track of what they have done for each customer inquiry. It also integrates with third-party applications such as Slack, Jira, Zendesk, and more.

Does Mojo Helpdesk have a free plan?

No. Mojo Helpdesk does not have a free plan. However, you can try it for free for 21 days.

How much does Mojo Helpdesk cost?

• Team plan costs $14/agent/month, offering ticket tracking, self-service knowledge base, custom forms, unlimited automation, time tracking, custom views, Single Sign-On (SSO), etc.
• Business plan costs $24/agent/month and offers escalation rules, advanced security, phone support, and more.
• Enterprise plan for $34/agent/month offers more features like advanced reporting, extra quotas, sandbox, etc.

Learn more about Mojo Helpdesk

Bonus 2. Vision Helpdesk

Vision Helpdesk can assign employees and agents to handle tickets, set up schedules, and track responses. You can create ticket templates for different types of requests, monitor ticket statistics, and set up schedules for support agents. It also offers an online live chat function for customers.

Vision Helpdesk provides a centralized place for all help desk tickets with simple workflows based on rule-based triggers. It also includes features for speeding up the process, such as auto-sending notifications, gamifying ticket handling, and a shared knowledge base to help boost customer support.

Does Vision Helpdesk have a free plan?

No. Vision Helpdesk does not have a free plan. A 30-day free trial is available.

How much does Vision Helpdesk cost?

Vision Helpdesk offers five plans with a varied set of features.

• Starter Help Desk at $15/agent/month.
• Pro Help Desk and Satellite Help Desk plans respectively cost $25 and $30/agent/month.
• Pro Service Desk and Ent Service Desk plans cost $40 and $60/agent/month, respectively, with extra features. If you are looking for live chat, too, it requires extra licensing.

Learn more about Vision Helpdesk

The post 10 Best Help Desk Ticketing Systems appeared first on Hongkiat.

Gmail has strong safety features, but many of us don’t know about them all. In this article, I’ll share a list of easy steps to help protect your account from unwanted access and harmful actions.

First, we will deal with strengthening the security of the Google account, and then we will dive into adding extra security measures to the Gmail account.

Read Also:  Gmail Advanced Search (Ultimate Guide)

Make Your Google Account Stronger

Let’s start by strengthening your Google account. Every Gmail account is also a Google account. I’ll guide you through the important settings to make sure your account is safe from usual security issues. Plus, I’ll teach you how to adjust some things to enhance its safety.

1. Activate 2-Step Verification

2-Step Verification is an extra safety step that better guards your account. It requires you to provide a second security answer (not just your password). So, it’s always a good idea to turn on and use two-step verification.

Passkey is another effective method to protect your Google account. Learn how to set up Google Passkey for your account.

Here’s how you can set it up:

1. Open Sign-in & security in your browser and select “2-Step Verification“.



2. Next, click “GET STARTED“. Google will suggest using your phone for the second sign-in step, called Google Prompt. If you want to try this, click “TRY IT NOW“. If your phone isn’t listed, select “Don’t see your device?” to add it. But if you prefer using your phone number, click “DON’T USE PROMPT”.



3. If you chose “DON’T USE PROMPT” and want to use your phone number for verification, enter your number and hit SEND. Google will send a code to your phone. Input that code when asked, and you’re all set.

2. Add Backup Contact Details

It’s smart to have backup contact details in case you can’t access some of your info. Here’s how you can add them:

1. Open Sign-in & security in your browser and sign in if needed.
2. Select “Signing in to Google” on the left side, then find the “Account recovery options” section.

Add or Update Backup Email

Click “Recovery email”. Choose “ADD RECOVERY EMAIL” and enter the email address you want as a backup. Click DONE. To change it, click the pencil symbol and update the email.

Add or Update Backup Phone Number

Click “Recovery phone”. Choose “ADD RECOVERY PHONE” and enter the phone number you want as a backup. Click NEXT. Google will ask you to confirm, so do that. To change it, click the pencil symbol and update the phone number.

3. Remove Unapproved Apps

When you use your Google account to sign in to an app or website, you give it permission to access your account. This allows it to access your account whenever it wants, but only the information or services you’ve approved.

But you wouldn’t give a stranger the key to your home, right? Similarly, it’s a good idea to check your account often for apps you didn’t approve or no longer use and remove them. Here’s how:

1. Open Sign-in & security in your browser and sign in if prompted.
2. Select “Apps with account access” on the left and then click “MANAGE APPS“.

You’ll see a list of apps connected to your account. These are apps that can access your account based on their permissions. To see an app’s details, including what it can access and when you approved it, click on the app. To remove it, click “REMOVE ACCESS“. I suggest removing any apps you don’t recognize, didn’t approve, or no longer use.

4. Turn Off Low-Security Apps

“Allow less secure apps” lets apps with weaker security access your account. It’s best to keep this off, even if you turned it on for a specific reason, like using Microsoft Outlook to check your emails.

It’s safer to turn this setting off and find a different way to do what you need. For example, you can use the new Gmail and its offline feature to check and manage your emails without an internet connection.

1. Go to Sign-in & security in your browser.
2. Select “Apps with account access” on the left. Then turn off the setting that says “Allow less secure apps”.

5. Review Important Account Activities

Keeping an eye on activity logs is a good way to spot possible unauthorized access or hacking attempts. Google keeps a log of all your account activities. It’s wise to check this regularly and mark any activity that looks odd, like changes you didn’t make. Here’s how to view this log:

1. Go to Sign-in & security in your browser.
2. Select “Device activity & security events” on the left side.
3. You’ll find two sections: “Recent security events” and “Recently used devices“. Look through these for any unusual activity, like a login from a place you’ve never been. You can also click “REVIEW EVENTS” and “REVIEW DEVICES” to see more details.

Strengthen Your Gmail Account

After securing your Google account and setting up basic protections, it’s time to focus on your Gmail account. Since this post is about keeping your emails safe, it’s very important to know and use the safety features of Gmail.

1. Review Gmail Settings

First, let’s examine the Gmail settings to ensure everything is as it should be. Gmail may not have a ton of options, but the ones it has are vital for email safety. To start, click the gear icon in Gmail to open settings. Here’s what to look for:

1. General Tab

In this section, review the following:

1. Signature: Ensure your signature hasn’t been altered and doesn’t have any unfamiliar links.

2. Vacation Responder: Make sure it’s on or off based on your preference and the message is correct.

2. Accounts and Import Tab

Here, ensure the following:

1. Send Mail As: All email addresses in this section should be yours.
2. Check Mail from Other Accounts: Every email address here should belong to you. Otherwise, you could unintentionally access someone else’s email.
3. Grant Access to Your Account: This section shouldn’t have any unfamiliar addresses. If there’s an address you don’t recognize, someone might have access to your account, and you should remove them right away. To do this, click Delete next to their address.

3. Filters and Blocked Addresses Tab

Within this section, you should review:

1. Filtered Emails: Ensure there aren’t any unexpected filters. If there’s a filter that looks suspicious, remove it right away.
2. Blocked Emails: This section lists all the email addresses you’ve blocked. You won’t get emails from these addresses, so ensure none of them are important or familiar to you. If you find an address you shouldn’t have blocked, unblock it.

4. Forwarding and POP/IMAP Tab

Under this section, ensure the following:

1. Forwarding: Your emails shouldn’t be sent to someone else without you knowing. If there’s an unfamiliar address here, remove it to prevent unwanted access to your emails.
2. POP Download: Make sure POP isn’t turned on if you didn’t enable it.
3. IMAP Access: Ensure IMAP is off if you’re not using it.

2. Remove Suspicious Emails

Block Unwanted Senders

If you get an email that seems strange or you don’t trust, and you don’t want emails from that sender anymore, you can block them. Gmail will then move their future emails to Spam.

To block an email sender, follow these steps:

1. Open the email from the sender you want to block.
2. Click the options icon at the top-right of the email, then pick the “Block” option.

Report Junk or Harmful Emails

It’s not unusual to get junk or harmful emails, especially on work addresses shared with others. Nobody wants to read these unwanted emails. If you get one, you can report it. If Gmail agrees it’s junk or harmful, it’ll mark similar emails as spam in the future.

To report these emails, follow these steps:

1. Open the junk or harmful email in Gmail.
2. Click the options icon in the top-right corner, then pick either “Report phishing” or “Report spam” depending on what kind of email it is.

I hope this post helps you keep your Gmail account safe. Remember to be careful and follow safety guidelines when you’re online. If someone hacks into your computer or online session, they might get into your emails too.

The post How to Make Your Gmail Account Safer (2023) appeared first on Hongkiat.

Given the tight budgets of many startups, it’s crucial to find economical tools without compromising on functionality. The following list features some of the most cost-effective and robust CRM solutions perfect for startups. These tools, provided by industry front-runners, come packed with varied features and pricing structures. Dive in to explore each tool more thoroughly.

Read Also:  Best Customer Relationship Management Tools (2023)

Overview:

1. Monday Sales CRM

Monday.com, a renowned task management tool, offers a dedicated CRM solution called Monday Sales CRM. It boasts the same level of customization as its task manager. Users can modify columns, define deal stages, or oversee multiple pipelines.

It streamlines communication with prospects by integrating emails seamlessly. All communications are automatically logged, ensuring a comprehensive record of interactions between your team and potential clients.

This CRM also enhances sales operations by automating routine tasks. For instance, it can automatically assign leads, set reminders, and notify users when prospects open or view emails and messages.

Moreover, Monday Sales CRM provides a swift overview of your deals and heightens the visibility of ongoing deals through tailored dashboards.

Does Monday Sales CRM Offer a Free Plan?

No, it doesn’t come with a free plan. However, users can experience its premium plans for a short trial period.

Monday Sales CRM Paid Plans

• Basic CRM – $10/user/month: Features customizable contacts, pipelines, contact and lead templates, and more.
• Standard CRM and Pro CRM – Priced at $17 and $30/seat/month respectively: These plans include email integration, invoicing, quotations, CRM automation, and more.
• Enterprise CRM – Price not provided.

Learn More About Monday Sales CRM

2. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot stands out as a comprehensive CRM solution brimming with features to enhance customer relationship management. It boasts capabilities such as blogging, social media integration, lead management, website analytics, email marketing, SEO optimization, and much more.

With its user-friendly interface, HubSpot provides an array of free tools alongside its feature-rich paid plans. These premium offerings are enhanced by components from HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs. They include advanced features like ad retargeting, email campaign automation, automated deal assignments, and intelligent lead scoring.

However, a notable limitation of HubSpot is the contact cap on its plans. Even though it enables tracking up to 1 million prospects, targeted campaigns can’t cater to vast populations.

Related: Pipedrive vs HubSpot: Comparing CRMs

Is There a Free Plan Available with HubSpot?

Yes, HubSpot CRM does offer a complimentary plan.

HubSpot CRM Premium Plans

• Professional plan: Available at $1600/month for 2,000 contacts.
• Enterprise plan: Priced at $5000/month for 10,000 contacts.

Learn More About HubSpot CRM

3. Salesforce Customer 360 CRM

Salesforce Customer 360, an extension of Salesforce CRM, offers a comprehensive suite of features catering to sales, marketing, customer service, operations, and analytics across various channels. The solution provides enterprise-grade functionalities that effectively manage the entire sales process journey, from lead acquisition to deal closure.

A standout feature of Salesforce Customer 360 is its Einstein AI. This intelligent system not only automates mundane tasks but also proffers smart recommendations to elevate the overall customer experience.

Additionally, the platform leverages real-time analytics through Tableau to offer actionable insights. Mulesoft’s integration capabilities further enhance the system, allowing seamless data synchronization across applications, thus fostering deeper customer engagement.

Is There a Free Plan for Salesforce Customer 360?

No, Salesforce Customer 360 does not offer a complimentary plan.

Pricing Tiers for Salesforce Customer 360

• Essentials plan: Available at $25/user/month, this package delivers integrated sales and support functionalities.
• Sales Professional and Service Professional plans: Both priced at $75/user/month (billed annually), they respectively offer all-encompassing sales solutions and dedicated customer service features.

Discover More About Salesforce Customer 360 CRM

4. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM positions itself as an economically viable CRM solution compared to other high-priced counterparts available today. Its extensive feature set facilitates the strengthening of customer loyalty, while simultaneously allowing businesses to economize on costs and time associated with managing client relations.

A distinctive attribute of Zoho CRM is its Canvas feature, a user-friendly drag-and-drop utility, enabling users to customize the CRM interface in alignment with the organization’s branding requirements.

This CRM system encompasses an array of functionalities apt for all organizational sectors. These include lead acquisition and management, email campaigns, social media amalgamation, automated sales processes, and seamless third-party integrations.

Is There a Free Plan Offered by Zoho CRM?

Yes, Zoho CRM does present a free edition accommodating 3 users, inclusive of fundamental features such as lead management and document storage.

Pricing Tiers for Zoho CRM

• Standard and Professional packages: Priced at $20 and $35/user/month, these plans grant access to functionalities like deal management, advanced filtering, workflow orchestration, and automated marketing tools.
• Enterprise and Ultimate packages: Available at $50 and $65/user/month respectively, they encompass premium features such as an email parser, testing sandbox, and an approval workflow.

Discover More About Zoho CRM

5. Freshsales

Emerging from the creators of Freshdesk, Freshsales is a CRM platform architected to fortify collaboration between sales and marketing teams, ensuring a seamless customer journey. The intuitive interface offers rapid access to leads and contacts, while kanban-oriented boards act as the cornerstone of its sales pipelines, streamlining the deal-closure process.

The platform’s standout feature is the Freddy AI, which not only proposes potential deals but also furnishes pertinent data. This empowers businesses with the capability of offering real-time insights to enhance the customer experience.

Moreover, Freshsales promotes multi-channel engagement with prospects and customers across platforms like email, chat, and WhatsApp. It also offers compatibility with prominent apps such as HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Zapier.

Is There a Free Plan Offered by Freshsales?

Indeed, Freshsales provides a complimentary plan, encompassing core features such as contact management and contact lifecycle tracking.

Pricing Tiers for Freshsales

• Growth and Pro packages: These are priced at $18 and $47/user/month respectively, bestowing features like a structured sales pipeline, predictive contact ranking, interactive bot sessions, and integrated support for WhatsApp Business.
• Enterprise package: Available at $83/user/month, it incorporates advanced features such as sales forecasting and audit trail documentation.

Discover More About Freshsales

6. Insightly CRM

Insightly CRM stands as a formidable customer relationship management arsenal, engineered to empower businesses in streamlining their data and prospects. It boasts an array of features, encompassing contact management, a streamlined sales pipeline, marketing automation, lead tracking, and project management.

One of its noteworthy attributes is the provision of real-time analytics dashboards, offering an eagle-eye view of your business landscape. This enables businesses to meticulously monitor leads, gauge the efficacy of marketing campaigns, and project future revenue streams. Given its design, Insightly CRM is ideally suited for small to mid-sized businesses, as it falls short in certain enterprise-level user management capabilities.

Does Insightly CRM Extend a Free Plan?

Absolutely. Insightly CRM extends a basic free plan catering to 2 users.

Pricing Schemes for Insightly CRM

• Plus and Professional tiers: Priced at $29 and $49/user/month respectively, they offer an enriched set of features such as advanced lead management, robust email campaigns, business intelligence dashboards, and compatibility with third-party integrations.
• Enterprise tier: At a rate of $99/user/month, this plan is endowed with capabilities to nurture deeper relationships, automate intricate business processes, and execute serverless operations.

Dive Deeper into Insightly CRM

7. Workbooks

Workbooks shines as a tailored CRM solution, principally designed for small to medium-sized enterprises. It boasts a comprehensive toolkit accommodating the needs of sales, marketing, customer services, and operational teams. Through Workbooks, businesses can architect impactful marketing drives, adeptly manage team tasks, prioritize resources, and draw meaningful insights via its in-depth dashboards and reports. Furthermore, the platform accentuates the sales journey through features designed for sales pipeline optimization and customer service automation.

A standout feature of Workbooks is its Shared Success program. This initiative bestows users with complimentary consulting hours coupled with annual workshops, ensuring that Workbooks’ capabilities are well-aligned with an organization’s overarching objectives. Reinforcing its commitment to its clientele, the platform also introduces a co-funded implementation model, underpinning a sustainable partnership for mutual success.

Is There a Complimentary Plan on Workbooks?

Indeed. Workbooks extend a complimentary plan, encapsulating fundamental features for a duo of users.

Tiered Pricing Structure for Workbooks

• CRM package: At a rate of $39/user/month, this suite encompasses functionalities related to sales, marketing, and customer service management.
• Business package: Priced at $78/user/month, it augments the CRM package by adding features tailored for order management.

To bolster engagement and reach, Workbooks also offers optional add-ons, including provisions for email marketing, web-driven analytics and intelligence, and advanced social media tools, each carrying an additional fee.

Dive Deeper into Workbooks

8. EngageBay

EngageBay emerges as an all-encompassing CRM solution, designed to foster robust customer relationships. It’s packed with features for crafting sales pipelines, orchestrating automated email campaigns, and dispatching text messages.

The platform’s distinctive kanban board-inspired sales funnel interface facilitates a comprehensive view of your sales journey, task management, and social media endeavors, all unified under a single roof. Pushing its versatility even further, EngageBay extends an array of tools tailored to enhance post-sale customer rapport. In the realm of integrations, it syncs seamlessly with popular third-party platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and Microsoft Office.

Read Also: A Deep Dive into EngageBay’s All-in-One CRM (Review)

Does EngageBay Offer a Complimentary Plan?

Indeed, it does. EngageBay’s free tier caters to up to 500 contacts, fortified with features for email marketing and designing landing pages.

Pricing Tiers for EngageBay

• Basic plan: At a monthly rate of $14.99/user, this plan caters to 1,000 contacts, introducing features for SMS marketing and enabling third-party integrations.
• Growth plan: Priced at $49.99/user/month, it supports a generous quota of 10,000 contacts, and is enhanced with marketing automation, service automation tools, and more.

Explore EngageBay in Depth

9. Keap

Keap emerges as a CRM solution imbued with an impressive array of sales and marketing tools. Its offerings encompass features like appointment scheduling, integrated payment gateways, email marketing utilities, and beyond, all while maintaining its foundational capabilities in contact and pipeline management. With Keap, teams can deploy marketing automation to channel leads and leverage workflow automations to bolster productivity.

Beginners will find its intuitive dashboard user-friendly, granting straightforward access to its robust feature set. Keap excels at facilitating smooth lead acquisition, sidelining distractions via automation of routine tasks, and delivering emails and texts to meticulously segmented user lists. Furthermore, it empowers businesses to forge connections with their clientele through a diverse range of channels like calls, emails, and texts.

Is a Complimentary Plan Offered by Keap?

No, as of the current update, Keap doesn’t provide a free tier.

Keap’s Pricing Schemes

• Pro plan: Priced at $169/month, it caters to up to 1500 contacts and supports 2 users. Features encompass CRM, automated lead capture, email marketing, dedicated landing pages, sales pipelines, and a suite of automation tools.
• Max plan: At a rate of $249/month, it scales up to support 2500 contacts and 3 users. Apart from retaining the features from the Pro plan, it introduces promo codes and in-depth marketing analytics.

Dive Deeper into Keap

10. Salesflare

Designed with a focus on lead management, Salesflare streamlines the process of gathering pertinent information for leads and sales activities. It employs intelligent mechanisms to automatically extract and compile contact details and associated information from emails, social profiles, and beyond.

Given its uncomplicated interface combined with its robust features, Salesflare is an ideal fit for small to medium-sized businesses. Its capabilities extend to meticulously logging every action undertaken by your team members – be it calls, meetings, or emails. This ensures an exhaustive contact record for all potential leads and clients. In addition, it incorporates a set of automation tools designed to expedite sales activities and promote visibility into team-wide sales opportunities.

Is there a Free Plan Offered by Salesflare?

Unfortunately, Salesflare does not offer a complimentary plan.

Subscription Tiers of Salesflare

• Growth plan: At $35/user/month, it provides email and website tracking, tailored email campaigns, and more.
• Pro plan: Priced at $49/user/month, it delivers features such as multiple email workflows, granular user permissions, and specialized user dashboards.

Discover More about Salesflare

The post 10 Top Affordable CRMs for Startups appeared first on Hongkiat.

Thankfully, WordPress offers a wide array of plugins specifically designed to facilitate the management of multiple authors. Below is a curated list of exceptional WordPress plugins that aim to make author management more efficient and straightforward.

Editorial Calendar Plugin

Managing your blog’s posting schedule can be challenging, especially when WordPress lacks a built-in solution for tracking upcoming posts. The Editorial Calendar Plugin effectively fills this gap.

This plugin provides a calendar-based overview of your entire blog’s content pipeline, allowing you to see at a glance when each post is scheduled for publication. This simplifies your content planning process.

The plugin also offers robust management features. You can easily rearrange the schedule by dragging and dropping posts within the calendar. Quick edits to your articles can be made directly from this interface.

Author Box for Authors Plugin

The Author Box for Authors Plugin, also known as Molongui Authorship, gives due credit to your content authors. It features a responsive and customizable author box that automatically appears on your WordPress posts.

This plugin supports multiple authors for a single post, allowing you to credit everyone involved. It also includes a feature for guest authors, enabling you to add contributors without creating a WordPress account for them.

The plugin also allows you to change the position of the author box, modify its design to match your site’s aesthetics, and even add additional profile fields. It supports microdata for SEO and offers various layout options.

Co-Authors Plus Plugin

The Co-Authors Plus Plugin enables you to assign multiple authors to a single post, page, or custom post type through an intuitive search-as-you-type input box.

Each co-author gains visibility through their own archive page and feed. They also have the ability to edit posts with which they are associated. For contributors, editing is restricted to unpublished posts, aligning with WordPress’ core functionality.

A standout feature is the ability to add guest authors without requiring a WordPress user account. You can simply create a guest profile and assign it as you would any other byline.

WP User Frontend Plugin

The WP User Frontend Plugin enhances the frontend experience on your WordPress site. It offers a frontend dashboard, editor, and uploader, making it easier for users to manage their profiles, post submissions, and memberships.

This plugin allows for unlimited post-type form creation, enabling users to create new posts and edit their profiles directly from the frontend. This eliminates the need for backend access, making the process more user-friendly.

Admins can manage users from the frontend and configure backend access permissions. Additionally, the plugin supports featured image and image uploads from the frontend.

Post Pay Counter Plugin

The Post Pay Counter Plugin streamlines the payment process for authors on multi-author blogs. It allows you to set up payment criteria and then automatically calculates payments based on those criteria. The plugin provides both a general view of all users and a specific view for each author.

This plugin is useful for implementing a revenue-sharing or paid-to-write model. It supports various payment methods, including pay-per-post, pay-per-word, pay-per-visit, pay-per-image, and pay-per-comment. Payments can be calculated using either an incremental or zonal system.

Additional features include a date picker for selecting specific time ranges and customizable permissions to restrict user access to stats and functions.

User Access Manager Plugin

The User Access Manager Plugin aims to simplify the management of multiple authors in WordPress by allowing you, the admin, to customize the WordPress admin interface based on user roles.

This plugin enables you to selectively hide or display menu items, down to the sub-menu level. It also provides control over meta fields for both posts and pages.

You can tailor the admin interface for each user role, optimizing the backend header for more space and reorganizing the menu for logical navigation. This ensures a personalized and efficient admin experience for all users.

Adminimize Plugin

The Adminimize Plugin focuses on decluttering your WordPress dashboard. It allows you to hide specific menus and sub-menus, streamlining the interface for your authors.

The plugin also enables you to hide meta boxes and other elements in the post/page writing section, resulting in a cleaner, more focused writing environment.

This plugin is particularly useful for multi-author blogs where you aim to offer a simplified and efficient writing interface.

Simple Author Box Plugin

The Simple Author Box Plugin enhances your WordPress posts by adding a responsive author box at the end. This box displays the author’s name, gravatar, bio, and social media icons.

The plugin is highly customizable and supports over 30 social profile fields, which can be added to the WordPress user profile screen.

Additional features include the automatic insertion of the author box at the end of posts, as well as RTL, AMP support, and GDPR compatibility.

PublishPress Capabilities Plugin

The PublishPress Capabilities Plugin provides a robust solution for managing user roles and permissions on your WordPress site. Designed for both ease of use and powerful functionality, this user role editor is highly versatile.

You can manage all WordPress user roles, including custom roles, to ensure that each has the exact capabilities needed for your site. The plugin also allows you to customize the post editing screen, admin area, and user profile screens based on user roles.

User Role Editor Plugin

The User Role Editor Plugin for WordPress simplifies the management of user roles and capabilities. It allows admins to easily add or remove capabilities for any role by checking or unchecking boxes.

This plugin enables you to create new roles either from scratch or by copying existing ones. If a role becomes obsolete, you can delete it as long as no users are assigned to it. The plugin also allows you to change the default role assigned to new users.

It also has the ability to assign multiple roles to a single user. You can add new capabilities or remove ones that are no longer needed. The plugin offers multi-site support, making it a comprehensive solution for role management.

The post 10 Plugins to Manage Your Multi-Author WordPress Blog appeared first on Hongkiat.

As you navigate the web, various entities collect your personal data, such as advertisers, marketers, and analytics services, to better understand your preferences.

To illustrate the kind of personal information at risk, consider this: You’ve probably seen ads that say, “Chat with Alice. Join our network and connect with people in New York” (or your current location). Ever wondered how they knew where you were?

How Your Data Is Collected and Used

Companies gather information like your browser type, platform, IP address, search history, browsing behavior, and even your geographical location. They use this data to create detailed profiles and leverage it for their benefit.

Moreover, the internet is rife with other risks such as viruses, malware, and spam, which can compromise your system. There are also individuals who engage in unauthorized access to steal your data. Safeguarding your online identity has become a business in itself.

Protecting Personal Data with VPN

While there are various security measures like antivirus software and firewalls to protect your system, these solutions fall short when it comes to preserving your personal data online.

Web browsers offer features like Private Browsing mode (Incognito for Chrome users) and Do Not Track, but these have limitations. A VPN serves as a robust solution to such privacy concerns, effectively safeguarding your sensitive information.

What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, establishes an encrypted ‘tunnel’ between your computer and the VPN server. This secure tunnel ensures that your data is protected when transmitted over the public internet, safeguarding it from unauthorized users and data breaches. While the underlying technology of VPNs may seem complex, it essentially serves to prevent unauthorized access to your data and conceals your IP address to protect your online identity.

Connecting to a VPN is as straightforward as logging into your email account. When you purchase a VPN package, the provider will supply you with a username and password, or in some cases, authentication files or certificates. You can then set up a VPN connection in your operating system, following the guidelines provided by the vendor, and log in using your credentials.

Alternatively, you may use a VPN client software, if provided by the vendor, to simplify the connection process after you’ve authenticated yourself.

Understanding VPN Security Levels

VPNs offer a variety of protocols, each with its own level of security and ease of use. Think of it like commuting to work: some people take the train, while others drive. Similarly, VPNs have different methods – known as protocols – for establishing secure tunnels.

These protocols vary in terms of platform compatibility, cost, and other features. Once you’ve decided to use a VPN, you’ll need to choose the specific VPN technology (protocol) that best suits your needs.

1. PPTP

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is the most commonly used protocol. It offers relatively weak 128-bit encryption but is faster due to lower encryption overhead. PPTP is compatible with a wide range of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Linux, and DD-WRT routers, and doesn’t require any additional software.

PPTP is user-friendly, easily deployable, and works well with Dedicated IPs. It’s generally the most affordable protocol and is suitable for users who prioritize ease of use over high-level security.

Reasons to Choose PPTP: Wide platform support, user-friendly, and excellent mobile device compatibility.

Reasons to Avoid PPTP: Lower encryption levels result in reduced security, lack of support for alternate VPN ports, and easier to detect and block.

2. L2TP/IPSec

Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) uses Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) for data encryption. It offers high 128-bit or 256-bit encryption and is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

L2TP/IPSec requires no additional software and is compatible with Dedicated IPs. It offers better security than PPTP and is ideal for those seeking higher security levels.

Reasons to Choose L2TP/IPSec: High security, better than PPTP.

Reasons to Avoid L2TP/IPSec: No support for alternate VPN ports.

3. OpenVPN

OpenVPN is the most secure VPN protocol and is effective even in places like schools and offices where other protocols are blocked. It offers robust 256-bit encryption and is generally the most expensive protocol option.

OpenVPN requires its client software to be installed on your system. It is compatible with Dedicated IPs and operates on multiple ports, making it difficult to detect and block. It is the best choice for advanced users seeking high levels of anonymity and security.

Reasons to Choose OpenVPN: High security, works where other protocols are blocked, support for alternate VPN ports.

Reasons to Avoid OpenVPN: Requires software installation, may be challenging to set up on iOS and Android in some cases.

Conclusion

VPNs serve as an effective tool for safeguarding your sensitive data from unauthorized access. By encrypting your data, you achieve a higher level of anonymity and security, giving your information the protection it deserves.

For more insights, check out our other security-related articles.

The post Understanding VPN Protocols: How to Safeguard Your Personal Data Online appeared first on Hongkiat.

Battery longevity varies based on several factors, such as the age of your device and the type of tasks you’re performing. For example, casual web browsing will consume far less battery than intensive gaming or video editing. And let’s face it, when deadlines loom, you can’t afford to be hunting for an outlet.

That’s why a portable battery, also known as a power bank, is an essential accessory for anyone who works on the move. In this guide, we’ll explore the top portable batteries designed specifically for MacBooks, breaking down their features, advantages, and drawbacks to help you make an informed choice

Overview:

BatPower ProE 2

The BatPower ProE 2 is a portable charger about the size of a small book, making it easy to carry at just under a pound. It’s designed specifically for Apple products like the MacBook Pro, Air, and Retina models, but its USB Type-C port also allows it to charge other devices like tablets and smartphones.

What sets it apart is its huge 26,800 mAh battery capacity, which means you won’t have to worry about your devices dying when you’re on the move. It supports fast charging and even comes with a magnetic charger for extra convenience. Whether you have an older MacBook or various USB devices, this power bank adjusts its output to charge them efficiently, making it a versatile and reliable choice for staying powered on-the-go.

Omni-20+

The Omni 20+ is a versatile and portable charger that’s like a mini power station you can carry in your bag. It’s perfect for charging a variety of devices, including laptops, phones, and other gadgets, thanks to its multiple charging ports. It features a powerful 100W outlet for laptops, a 60W USB-C port for newer devices, and even offers wireless charging for your phone.

What sets the Omni 20+ apart is its flexibility. It provides five different charging options, allowing you to choose from adjustable power settings, traditional plugs, USB-C, or wireless charging. Additionally, it comes with two USB-A ports that support quick charging. So, whatever device you own, the Omni 20+ ensures you stay powered up on the go.

RavPower PD Pioneer

The RavPower PD Pioneer is a fast-charging portable battery that can fully recharge itself in just 4 to 5 hours, although you’ll need a separate fast charger to use this feature. It’s powerful enough to charge laptops like MacBooks, delivering up to 30 watts through its Type-C port. However, it’s not compatible with certain phone models like some Huawei and OPPO phones.

This charger boasts a large 26800mAh battery capacity, capable of fully charging an iPhone 6S up to 10 times or an iPad Air 2 twice. It also has two extra ports for charging multiple devices simultaneously. Its Advanced iSmart 2.0 Technology automatically adjusts the power output based on the device you’re charging, making it both efficient and safe to use.

MAXOAK K2

The MAXOAK K2 is a handy and safe gadget that you can even take on airplanes. It’s perfect for people who are always on the move and need to keep their devices charged. With a strong battery capacity of 26756 mAh, this power bank can charge a variety of gadgets like your laptop, camera, drone, cell phone, and even your Nintendo Switch.

This power bank comes with multiple charging options. It has a standard U.S. plug, a fast-charging USB-C port, and two regular USB ports. Plus, it even has an LED light that can be used in emergencies with its SOS mode. You can also recharge the power bank in different ways, including using a car charger.

What’s really cool is that you can charge the power bank while it’s charging your devices. It’s built with safety in mind, featuring protections against overcharging, overheating, and other electrical issues.

The power bank can deliver a continuous power output of up to 100W, peaking at 140W for short bursts. So whether you’re working remotely, camping, or having an outdoor party, this power bank is your go-to solution for all your charging needs.

HyperJuice 245W

The HyperJuice 245W USB-C Battery Pack is a traveler’s best friend when it comes to keeping gadgets charged. Imagine a portable battery so powerful that it’s the first of its kind in the world! With a huge 27,000mAh capacity, it can charge multiple devices at the same time. You can plug in up to four devices like your laptop, phone, camera, or even a drone.

Worried about running out of juice? Don’t be! This battery pack has a handy screen that tells you how much power is left and how much each plugged-in device is using. Plus, it’s super quick to recharge; you can fill it up in just one hour.

Best of all, it’s safe to take on airplanes and has special safety features to make sure your devices are protected from things like overheating and overcharging. So, whether you’re a busy professional or just someone who loves gadgets, this battery pack has got you covered.

Anker 747

The Anker 747 is perfect for charging a wide range of devices, from MacBooks and iPhones to Samsung smartphones and iPads. With its massive 25,600mAh battery capacity, you can go days without worrying about running out of power. The device features a USB Type-C connector and offers four ports, allowing you to charge multiple gadgets simultaneously – and quickly too!

What sets the Anker 747 apart is its user-friendly features. For starters, it fully recharges itself in just 2.5 hours, so you’re never out of juice for long. Safety is also a priority; the power bank comes with built-in temperature control and high-voltage protection to ensure both you and your devices are secure.

Additionally, it offers a unique “Trickle-Charging Mode” for smaller gadgets like earphones or Bluetooth speakers. Simply double-press the power button or hold it for 2 seconds until a green light appears, and your smaller devices will be charged in the most efficient manner.

ROMOSS PEA40

The ROMOSS PEA40 is a must-have for travelers and busy professionals alike, boasting a huge 40000mAh battery capacity to keep all your gadgets—be it an iPhone, iPad, or Samsung Galaxy—fully charged while you’re on the move.

One of its standout features is the 18W fast charging capability, which not only juices up your devices quickly but also allows the power bank itself to recharge at a rapid pace. This ensures you’re never left waiting for power when you need it most.

What makes this power bank even more user-friendly is its digital display, which shows you the exact battery level, so you’re never caught by surprise.

It also includes an auto shut-off function to prevent overcharging, keeping your devices safe. Its compact design makes it easy to slip into a bag, making it the perfect accessory for business trips, vacations, and even outdoor adventures like camping and picnics.

Crave CRVPP10

The Crave CRVPP10 is a powerful portable charger that’s ideal for on-the-go lifestyles. With a massive 50,000 mAh battery capacity, it can charge multiple devices, from MacBooks and iPhones to Samsung phones, several times over before needing a recharge. It features a USB-C port for fast charging, capable of delivering up to 100 watts, making it great for even the most energy-hungry laptops.

What sets this power bank apart is its ability to charge up to three laptops simultaneously, making it a lifesaver for group trips or long journeys. It’s compatible with a wide range of popular laptop brands, including MacBook, HP, and Dell. Designed for portability, it’s easy to carry and perfect for keeping all your devices charged when you’re away from home.

Baseus PPBLD100-X

The Baseus PPBLD100-X is a super handy and portable charger that you can take anywhere. It’s really powerful, with a 100-watt output, so it can charge your laptop or other devices super quickly. Plus, it has a huge 20,000mAh battery, which means you can charge multiple gadgets like your MacBook, Dell laptop, iPad, iPhone, or even your Nintendo Switch without running out of juice.

What’s really cool is that it’s super slim – only 0.7 inches thick – so it won’t take up much space in your bag. It also has a smart screen that tells you all sorts of useful info. It shows how much power is left, how fast it’s charging, and even how long it will take to fill up the charger again. So, you’re always in the know and never have to guess when your devices will be ready to use. With this power bank, you can keep all your gadgets charged and ready to go!

The post 9 Best Portable Batteries for Your MacBook (2023) appeared first on Hongkiat.

In this post, we’ll introduce you to five iOS apps that provide temporary burner phone numbers. Each one will equip you with a safe, temporary number to use. Keep reading to learn how these apps can help secure your real number.

How Burner Phone Numbers Typically Work

A burner phone number is a disposable, temporary phone number. It acts like a stand-in for your real number, which you can use for a brief period before discarding. Here’s how it functions:

Suppose you’re selling something online and prefer not to share your personal number with strangers. Or, perhaps you’re registering for a service and want to avoid getting spammed with unwanted calls or texts. In these scenarios, a burner phone number proves extremely helpful.

You can use a burner number in lieu of your actual one. When someone dials or sends a text to the burner number, the call or message gets redirected to your real phone. You can respond to these calls or texts as you typically would, and the person on the other end only sees your burner number, not your real one.

The best part? Once you’ve finished using the burner number, you can simply delete it. This means that the number you distributed no longer functions, ensuring that your personal number stays private.

Essentially, a burner phone number serves as a protective shield, keeping your actual phone number hidden from exposure.

Why Use a Burner App?

Here’s why a burner app could be just the tool you need:

• Online Safety: The web can be full of scams. Using a burner app, you can get a temporary ‘fake’ number to use online. This keeps your actual number safe and secure.
• Protect Your Personal Number: Imagine you’re buying or selling items online, or perhaps chatting with new acquaintances. Burner apps allow you to use a disposable number, saving you from sharing your real number with people you might not know very well.
• Work Calls Made Easy: If you’re a small business owner or freelancer, a burner app can offer you a different number solely for work. This helps separate your personal life from your work life. When the number is no longer needed, simply discard it.
• Avoid Annoying Spam: Are you fed up with constant promotional calls and messages? Use a burner number when you sign up for services, and keep your real number free from unwanted spam.
• Secure Verification: When websites ask for your number to verify your account, use a burner app. This lets you use a temporary number instead of your real one, protecting your privacy.

In summary, burner apps are a simple yet powerful tool for protecting your personal information. They help keep your real phone number private, shield you from spam, and aid in managing your calls. It’s a small change that can make a big difference to your privacy.

1. 2Number

2Number is an app that allows you to have separate phone lines for personal and business use, without needing an extra SIM card. It even lets you call and text internationally. With this app, you can pick a custom phone number and make calls without revealing your actual number.

The app provides phone numbers from various countries including the USA, Canada, Israel, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and Estonia.

2Number operates on a credit system. Each incoming and outgoing call, as well as text messages (SMS/MMS), will use up these credits.

When you create a free account, you’ll receive 150 credits for free. You can use these to get your first temporary (‘burner’) number. If you need more, you can purchase additional credits. Prices start at $5.97 for another 150 credits, going up to $89.89 for a bundle of 3500 credits.

2. Hushed

First, you’ll need to download and create an account with Hushed. This app gives you access to local phone numbers from over 300 area codes across the US, Canada, and the UK. It’s perfect for private calls and texts. You can even manage multiple lines for different aspects of your life. When you make a call or send a text through Hushed, it comes from your Hushed number, not your regular cell number. This makes Hushed an excellent choice for classified ads, dating, and travel.

Hushed also offers a 3-day free trial. During this trial, you can get a second number from any available country at no cost. After the trial ends, you have the option to subscribe to their plans. Hushed offers two types of plans: prepaid plans, which start at $2.99 for 7 days and go up to $34.99 for a full year, and a pay-as-you-go plan, which costs $6.99 for 30 days of worldwide coverage. They even have an unlimited plan where you can get unlimited texts, pictures, and call minutes for just $4.99/month.

3. Dingtone

Let’s talk about Dingtone next. Dingtone is an app that allows you to make and receive calls to and from any type of number, including landlines, in over 195 countries. If you’re calling another Dingtone user, it’s free! And you can earn free credits by making calls to landlines and mobile phones. This is great for personal, business, or privacy needs because you can add as many local numbers as you need.

To begin, you need to sign up for an account. During this process, you’ll be asked to provide your local phone number.

Dingtone is generous, too! They start you off with 25 free credits so you can try out their services. If you decide you want a second number through Dingtone, the pricing starts at $4.99 per month or $23.99 per year.

4. Text Me

The Text Me app provides unlimited texting and calling to any number in the US and Canada at no charge. Additionally, it offers a free voicemail service and has competitive rates for acquiring a foreign number. Plus, it works on iPads and allows you to have as many custom phone numbers as you need.

After you sign up and log in, you’ll receive 10 free credits. If you need more, you can purchase additional credits – the prices range from $0.98 for 40 credits up to $39.98 for 2000 credits. Alternatively, the app also offers a subscription plan. For $8.98 per month, you can renew your number.

5. Wabi

Finally, we have the Wabi app. Wabi offers you a virtual number that you can use to set up a WhatsApp Business account. Not only that, but you can also use Wabi’s numbers for verifying accounts on other services. Wabi guarantees clean, dedicated phone numbers that are compatible with WhatsApp Business.

Getting a virtual number with Wabi starts at $5/month. If you’re in countries like the USA, UK, or Belgium, there’s a free trial available. Wabi also lets you pick the virtual number from the country and state you prefer. However, one thing that sets Wabi apart from other services is that you can’t see the full phone number until you decide to make a payment. Before that, you’ll only see the country code and a few numbers at the start.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the growing need for privacy in our increasingly digital world is clear. Protecting your primary phone number through the use of temporary burner numbers can add an invaluable layer of security. Whether you’re a small business owner, an online seller, or simply someone who values their privacy, these five iPhone apps for temporary burner phone numbers can provide a solution tailored to your needs.

From Hushed’s affordable plans and Phoner’s range of free numbers, to Burner’s robust functionality, TextMe Up’s flexibility, and Wabi’s specialized services for WhatsApp Business, there’s an app for every situation. Remember, the right app for you depends on your unique needs and budget. So, give these apps a try and find the one that fits best for you. In an era where data privacy is key, a burner app could be the tool you need to keep your personal information safe and secure.

The post 5 Best iPhone Apps for Temporary Burner Phone Numbers appeared first on Hongkiat.

Chrome Remote Desktop works with many different systems. This means you can help someone who uses a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. You can also reach your own Windows or Mac computers anytime. All you need is the Chrome browser on any device, even a Chromebook.

In this article, we’ll show you a simple way to use your iPad to connect to a desktop computer with Google Remote Desktop.

What You Need to Use Google Remote Desktop

To use Google Remote Desktop, you need two things:

• A Google account.
• The Chrome browser installed on your computer.

Installing Chrome Remote Desktop on Your PC

1. Navigate to the Chrome Web Store and enter “Chrome Remote Desktop” into the search bar. Refer to the attached screenshot for the correct application.



2. Proceed by clicking on the “Add to Chrome” button.

Installing Chrome Remote Desktop on an iPad

1. Open your App Store and type “Chrome Remote Desktop” in the search box.
2. Look for the app that matches the picture shown below, then click on “Get” to start downloading it.

How to Set Up Chrome Remote Desktop

1. Start by opening the Chrome browser on your desktop and sign in to your Google account.
2. Navigate to this website: remotedesktop.google.com/access



3. Click on the “Download” button and follow the instructions that appear on your screen to install Chrome Remote Desktop.



4. After the installation is complete, click on “Turn on” to enable remote access to your computer.



5. Give your computer a name and then click “Next”.



6. Lastly, create a PIN and click on “Start”.

Using Chrome Remote Desktop to Access Your PC

1. Next, go to the device you want to use to access your PC, for example, an iPad.
2. Open the “Chrome Remote Desktop” app. You should see a remote device listed. If you don’t, try refreshing the page.



3. Tap on the name of the PC you want to connect to, then enter the pin.

And there you have it! You can now remotely access and control your PC or Mac using your iPad. By tapping the small blue icon that looks like a stack of lines (often called a ‘hamburger’), you can adjust your settings. If you select ‘trackpad mode’, you’ll be able to control the mouse on your computer just by touching your iPad screen. You can also type text using a connected keyboard or the on-screen keyboard on your iPad.

Don’t worry if your computer screen doesn’t fit perfectly on your iPad – you can easily zoom in and out by pinching your iPad screen to see everything clearly.

The post How to Control Your PC with Google Remote Desktop (2023) appeared first on Hongkiat.

So, whether you’re a casual user or a tech-savvy professional, read on to discover the perfect tool for your needs. And remember, optimizing your internet usage not only helps you avoid unnecessary expenses but also enhances your online experience.

1. NetBalancer

NetBalancer is a powerful tool designed for network traffic control and monitoring. It allows you to oversee your entire system, including multiple network adapters, processes, and system services. This means you can simultaneously monitor both LAN and Wi-Fi connections, supporting both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

One of the standout features of NetBalancer is its ability to set priorities and speed limits for processes. Unfortunately, this is a premium feature. However, even with the unregistered version, you can establish system-wide traffic control limits. Additionally, you can monitor network speed, current connections, and perform detailed traffic analysis for all applications and services.

Designed with simplicity and automation in mind, NetBalancer can load traffic rules, priorities, and limits from a network file. Another impressive feature is its ability to group local network computers and synchronize their network traffic configurations. Furthermore, NetBalancer provides a speed graph in the tray icon and its mini-window for easy monitoring.

2. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor

The Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a robust network monitoring tool best suited for advanced monitoring needs. It offers comprehensive monitoring for your entire infrastructure, including network traffic, applications, bandwidth, cloud services, databases, storage, and more.

3. GlassWire

GlassWire is a network monitor and security tool with a built-in firewall. It visualizes your current and past network activity by traffic type, application, and geographic location, alerting you to any unusual changes in your network activity.

4. BitMeter OS

BitMeter OS is a free, open-source bandwidth monitor that works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. It allows you to monitor your internet connection by displaying a scrolling graph that shows your upload and download speed over time.

5. NetWorx

After installing NetWorx, it will track all your Internet usage with an icon on the taskbar. You can click and launch the program to view usage graphs for each day. A notable feature of NetWorx is the ability to set a daily, weekly, or monthly quota to track uploads or downloads or both. You can also set on/off peak usage that some internet providers offer, and it will warn you if you’re about to reach the limit.

6. NetTraffic

NetTraffic is a straightforward yet powerful tool designed to monitor bandwidth data across various network adapters or connections, including LAN and Wi-Fi. However, it’s important to note that it only tracks system-wide bandwidth usage, not individual users, apps, or services.

The tool provides a statistics window that graphically displays bandwidth usage. It offers data usage information for daily, monthly, or yearly periods. Interestingly, within the same window, a general tab provides a summary of usage and even projects the potential bandwidth quota you might use daily, monthly, or annually.

One of the standout features of NetTraffic is its high level of customization. You can modify its real-time floating window to display the details you find most relevant, similar to the Bandwidth Monitor. Options include changing colors, scale, chart type, and more. Furthermore, its notification area icon provides a clear indication of network activity and displays the current download and upload rates when you hover over it.

7. BitMeter 2

This program features a desktop widget meter graph of your download and upload speeds. Similar to NetWorx, you can add a quota limit — in the case of BitMeter 2, it is named ISP Restrictions. Once set, it’ll inform you about the remaining days and bandwidth before reaching your limit. You can also view your usage stats that can be sorted by hours, days, and months.

8. Net Guard

Cucusoft’s Net Guard is a free tool that shares many of the excellent features found in NetBalancer. It offers robust bandwidth monitoring and tracking capabilities, allowing you to keep an eye on your system’s network bandwidth. You can also set a global network limit and identify any programs that are consuming excessive bandwidth.

One of its standout features is the interactive bandwidth usage report, which employs graphs to illustrate the bandwidth usage of each program and service. Additionally, it includes a bandwidth usage prediction tool that estimates your monthly bandwidth needs. It also features a speed test function to measure your network speed.

Net Guard also offers an over-limit notification feature, which alerts you when your bandwidth exceeds the set limit, helping you avoid any additional charges for overuse. Similar to NetBalancer, it includes a floating window that displays real-time network data usage.

9. NetworkUsageView

NetworkUsageView is a network usage viewer, not a comprehensive network monitor. It’s designed to work with Windows 8 and later versions, as earlier Windows versions do not collect bandwidth usage data. Despite this, it provides essential bandwidth usage information, though it lacks a floating window feature.

Compared to other tools, NetworkUsageView is faster and uses fewer resources because it primarily serves as a usage log viewer. Its viewer window provides detailed information about bandwidth usage, including data on specific apps and services. This feature allows you to monitor all network usage activities and identify any potentially harmful tools.

One unique feature of NetworkUsageView is its ability to display the user and network adapter associated with each record. This can be particularly useful in a multi-user environment, as it allows you to monitor users who may be exceeding their bandwidth quota. It can even track the bandwidth usage of a remote computer. Additionally, NetworkUsageView offers the option to export bandwidth usage data into a CSV file.

The post 9 Best Windows Apps to Monitor Internet Usage appeared first on Hongkiat.

Why is WordPress so popular?

Primarily, WordPress is free, with the exception of domain and hosting costs. It is backed by a vast community of developers and users. Additionally, WordPress offers a variety of e-commerce plugins, most of which are free and provide extra features at reasonable prices.

If you’re planning to establish an e-commerce store, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re a beginner seeking valuable tips and tricks, or you’re searching for the best plugins and tools to manage your online store, I have you covered. In this article, I’ve gathered the top tips and tricks, along with the best WordPress plugins.

10 Essential Tips for a Successful WordPress E-commerce Store

Here are ten crucial tips and strategies for launching a successful e-commerce store. Implementing these suggestions can significantly enhance your store’s performance.

1. Use High-Quality Images

High-quality images are essential for showcasing your products, especially for design or fashion stores. They not only provide detailed product information but also increase your chances of being featured in Google Search shopping campaigns.

2. Incorporate Product Videos

Product videos are a powerful tool for boosting sales, particularly for electronic or digital products. They allow customers to see your product in action, fostering trust and familiarity.

3. Optimize Product Titles and Descriptions

Optimizing your product titles and descriptions for SEO can help your products rank higher in search engine results. Ensure your titles are descriptive and include relevant keywords.

4. Maintain Transparent Policies

Customers often review policies before making a purchase. Keeping your policies straightforward and concise can build customer trust, ensuring they don’t feel misled by complex legal language.

5. Simplify Registration

Online shoppers often seek quick purchases. A lengthy registration process can be off-putting, leading to abandoned carts. Therefore, your registration page should only request essential information.

6. Streamline the Purchase Process

A quick and straightforward purchase process is key to customer satisfaction. Include only necessary steps and data, and make optional features, like coupon application, non-intrusive.

7. Leverage Social Media

Promoting your products online can expand your customer base. Consider collaborating with influencers, launching advertising campaigns, running promotional contests, or sharing informative videos on social media platforms.

8. Add a Blog to Your Store

A blog can enhance your store in several ways. It provides additional content for SEO, allows you to share news or tutorials, and engages potential customers.

9. Optimize Loading Times

With mobile being the primary browsing platform, site speed is crucial. Slow-loading websites risk losing customers to competitors, so investing in a fast website infrastructure is essential.

10. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness

As most people now browse the web on mobile devices, it’s vital for your e-commerce store to be mobile-friendly. Your mobile site should load quickly, offer easy navigation, and include impressive features.

10 Essential Plugins and Tools for Your WordPress E-commerce Store

Let’s delve into the top plugins and tools you need to launch a successful e-commerce store using WordPress. Unsurprisingly, we’ll kick things off with WooCommerce. Did you see that coming?

1. HubSpot

HubSpot is a popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. HubSpot for WordPress brings its power to your e-commerce store. Its plugin helps you to grow your business by improving marketing, sales, and services.

It offers numerous features such as contact management, forms and popups, live chat and chatbots, email automation, built-in analytics, and a lot more.

2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a highly customizable and widely used eCommerce platform built on WordPress. Its flexibility allows you to enhance existing features or introduce new ones through various extensions.

Additionally, it offers mobile applications, enabling you to manage your store from anywhere. As the leading eCommerce platform, WooCommerce provides a vast array of options when it comes to selecting themes, service providers, or support for store setup.

Check out our list of 20 Useful WooCommerce WordPress Plugins.

3. MemberPress

MemberPress is a WordPress membership plugin that enables you to monetize your blog or website by adding a paywall. This means you can use MemberPress to limit access to certain content, charging users for access to premium materials.

With MemberPress, you can create and manage various memberships. You can then control access to specific content such as posts, videos, and digital files based on the membership level.

4. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads offers an excellent platform for selling digital products via WordPress. It’s ideal for a variety of digital goods, including ebooks, photos, videos, software, and music.

This solution allows you to customize your website to suit your local audience and integrate various payment gateways as needed. Additionally, it’s expandable with extensions, empowering you to enhance your online store’s functionality.

5. ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an email marketing tool that seamlessly integrates with WordPress. It allows you to design and incorporate forms into your e-commerce website, transforming your readers into dedicated subscribers. But that’s just the beginning!

With ConvertKit, you can categorize your subscribers using segments and tags. This enables you to send personalized emails tailored to their interests. Additionally, ConvertKit can be integrated with various other tools to enhance your marketing efforts.

6. Veeqo

Veeqo serves as a comprehensive solution for inventory and order management specifically designed for WooCommerce. This centralized platform simplifies the management of orders, shipping, inventory synchronization, and return processing. It also extends its support to other e-commerce platforms.

Veeqo allows you to synchronize your inventory across multiple online and brick-and-mortar stores, preventing the issue of overselling products. Additionally, it streamlines the process of shipping and returning products, enhancing efficiency.

7. LearnDash

LearnDash is an excellent resource for launching your e-learning platform. It provides a wide range of features that allow you to construct courses, monetize them, and manage all the associated tasks. With LearnDash, you can create quizzes, integrate forums, and award badges and certificates to your learners.

In addition, it offers various monetization options such as subscriptions, memberships, course bundles, and licenses. Doesn’t that make it an impressive tool?

8. Relevanssi

Relevanssi is an enhanced search solution for WordPress. It supersedes the default search engine, offering improved results and a superior display.

This tool is packed with numerous features and customization options. It enables phrase searching and supports fuzzy matching, which allows for partial word matches. Additionally, Relevanssi can index custom post types and provides helpful “Did you mean?” suggestions.

9. 404page

The 404page plugin is a popular tool for creating custom Error 404 pages in WordPress. Traditional 404 pages often lack information, which can lead to customer loss if they land on such a page in your online store due to an unavailable page.

The 404page plugin addresses this issue. It allows you to design personalized pages to replace the standard error pages. These custom pages can include useful information and links to products, enhancing the user experience even when they encounter an error.

10. Clever Ecommerce Ads

Clever Ecommerce Ads is a robust marketing automation tool designed to enhance your marketing strategy through Google Ads. It automatically generates pertinent keywords derived from the products and categories in your store.

If you choose to use Google Ads, this plugin can be a valuable asset. It optimizes your advertising campaigns, fine-tunes your bids, and ensures optimal utilization of your budget.

That’s all about the best tips and tricks and the must-have plugins and tools for launching an e-commerce store with WordPress.

The post Starting a WordPress eCommerce Store (20 Tips and Tools) appeared first on Hongkiat.

Zapier stands out as a highly popular automation tool. It’s compatible with hundreds of web services and even supports conditional workflows. Plus, you can start using it for free! While the free version does have some limitations (like missing out on conditional workflows), it’s definitely worth exploring. Intrigued yet?

How does Zapier function?

Zapier operates by establishing links between various web applications and services. These links are referred to as “Zaps”, which are based on the concept of cause and effect, or more specifically, triggers and actions. In Zapier’s terminology, a “Zap” is a connection that binds a trigger and an action together.

To illustrate, suppose you post an image on Twitter, which is set as a trigger. Zapier recognizes this activity and then executes the corresponding action. For instance, it might take the image from your tweet and save it to your Google Drive. Fascinating, isn’t it?

How to create and use zaps?

Before talking about the useful zaps, let’s see how to create and use them:

1. First of all, open and log in to Zapier (or sign up if required).



2. You’ll see the home screen asking you to create your first zap. Type and search for the apps you wish to connect. Next, select a trigger and an action from their dropdown and click “Use Zap“.

   Note: Alternatively, you can click the links given below to check out those zaps directly, and then, you can continue below to configure them.



3. In the zap editor, click “Connect an Account” to connect the trigger app or service first. Then, click the “Save + Continue” button.



4. Now, pick a sample (if asked) to test the zap and click Continue.
5. Then, select the app or service to carry out the action when the trigger happens. You need to select this again even if you picked it earlier.



6. Now, select an action to perform in the zap. Of course, if you selected it before, it will be pre-selected for you. So, just click Continue.



7. Then, press “Connect an Account” to connect the app or service you wish to perform an action. After you connect it, click Test to check its connection with Zapier, and finally, click “Save + Continue“.



8. Next, you must configure the options for the action. It will differ per the action in your zap, but it will be simple as shown here. For example, I am creating a zap for saving my tweets’ links to a text file in Dropbox.



9. Finally, on the next screen, test your zap before activating it. If you’re satisfied with it, click Finish to save and activate your zap.

Zaps for Google Apps & Services

Allow me to introduce you to the concept of “zaps”, a tool for automating Google apps and services. While Google Apps Scripts offer a more customizable approach to automation, Zapier provides a quick and easy alternative.

For those seeking greater flexibility, we recommend exploring our collection of handy Google Apps Scripts. These scripts can help you master Gmail and automate tasks in Google Drive.

Gmail

Google Calendar

Google Contacts

Google Drive

Google Forms

Google Sheets

Zaps for Productivity Tools

Next, let’s check out the zaps aka recipes for automating productivity apps like Evernote and Slack. Then, you can boost productivity even more.

HubSpot

Evernote

Slack

Todoist

Zaps for Social Media

Let’s now explore the automation tools, often referred to as ‘zaps’, for social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. With these tools, you can conveniently share images and updates across multiple networks by simply forwarding them from one platform to another.

Facebook Pages

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

More Zaps & Recipes

Finally, let me list some recipes for a few more apps and tools — all the useful ones like Dropbox and WordPress.

Dropbox

Typeform

WordPress

I believe in automation in spite of the debates going on around its issues as it boosts productivity. It helps me every day in my work, and I hope it will help you too.

The post 100+ Zapier Zaps and Recipes to Boost Productivity appeared first on Hongkiat.

Yet, merely setting up an Instagram account won’t guarantee success. To fully leverage the platform’s potential, it’s vital to employ the right Instagram tools for businesses. These tools can assist in optimizing your profile, enhancing user engagement, and elevating your online visibility. In this guide, we will delve into 40 such tools that can turbocharge your Instagram activities.

If you are looking for tools for Pinterest, check out our posts on Pinterest tools for everything.

Tools to Create Beautiful Photos

Over

Created by Godaddy.com, this is a professional tool for editing photos on the go. It showcases curated content for inspiration and features easy tools (such as layers and masks) for enhancing photos. Also, it allows asking for feedback on your photos.

Afterlight

Afterlight is a superb image-editing app for iOS, which features an immense library of filters and photo-editing tools, including frames and overlays. Most of all, I’m impressed by its option that allows the creation of custom filters.

Layout

Layout is an intuitive app from Instagram that helps re-mix your photos in one-of-a-kind fun layouts. You can mix up to nine photos from your camera roll or use its Photo Booth to catch new moments; then share them instantly. Layout is also available for Android.

Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express is a creative powerhouse that helps create and edit collages and images. It features an auto-fix tool, a text tool, eye-catching effects, borders and frames, correction tools, and many more features.

PicMonkey

PicMonkey is another professional tool that offers numerous design tools and collaboration features. It also features hundreds of templates and numerous effects, filters, and graphics for creating dazzling photos.

VSCO

VSCO is a popular app for creating next-level photos. It packs powerful presets, image-editing tools, and community spotlights for inspiration. Its premium membership offers a lot more.

Tools to Create Videos

Boomerang

Boomerang is an app from the team behind Instagram. It helps create mini videos which loop back and forth by snapping ten photos and stitching them together. You can then share it instantly on Facebook or Instagram. Boomerang is available for Android.

Filmm

Filmm is a iOS app for mixing and stacking color-grading filters in your videos, along with film textures, beautiful effects, and subtle distortions. It also features audio control and avails royalty-free music as well.

Magisto

Magisto is an online video editor that helps create awesome videos. You need to choose a video style and the music for the video, and its AI-powered editor will do the rest to create fast and dazzling videos.

StoryArt

StoryArt is a app that helps create amazing video stories by re-mixing your photos and videos together. It features 200+ templates, 20+ themes, numerous cover templates, and various fonts and filters, too.

Tools to Manage Instagram Posts

Buffer

Buffer is social media management tool that supports many social platforms. It lets you plan and schedule posts, collaborate on the content with your teams, and get advanced analytics for tracking the ROI.

Crowdfire

Crowdfire is yet another social media management tool for Instagram. It helps you discover and schedule posts, find tailored posts for different social platforms, and publish content from your blogs or websites.

Display Purposes

This is a handy tool for researching relevant hashtags that helps your posts stand out from the crowd. It auto-filters banned or spammy hashtags and features a tool for removing existing banned hashtags from your account.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a well-known social media management tool that supports Instagram. It lets you schedule posts, publish them, collaborate with others, and analyze your posts, customers, and competitors.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is another social media management tool for managing and scheduling content, getting insightful and intelligible analytics, tracking your competitors, and understanding your posts’ performance.

Later

Layer is a productivity utility for Instagrammers that features scheduling posts with a visual calendar, collecting and re-posting user posts, etc. It also allows the creation of a shoppable feed that helps to drive traffic and track sales.

Panoramiq

Panoramiq is an extension tool for Hootsuite that adds a lot of powerful features. It brings feeds and account management tools for Hootsuite. You can track hashtags, discover content, analyze posts, and do more.

Plann

Plann helps you plan and schedule posts, search relevant hashtags, and analyze your competitors and posts with advanced analytics and metrics.

Canva

Canva is a well-known design tool that helps create banners, flyers, posters, etc. Its photo-editing tool packs in a lot of awesome features, such as a photo enhancer, photo straightener, speech bubble maker, etc.

VistaCreate

Crello is another design tool, like Canva, which offers numerous formats and themes along with a big library of backgrounds and illustrations. It helps to create ads, flyers, and social media posts and videos.

PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic assists you in discovering content, creating and scheduling posts, monitoring social media profiles, and engaging directly with followers.

Regrammer

Regrammer is a re-posting tool for every marketer and user that helps re-post photos, videos, and stories. It supports multiple photos or videos, adds no watermark, and allows scheduling the re-posts as well.

Repost for Instagram

This is yet another tool for re-posting photos and videos on Instagram while attributing (giving required credits) to the original author. However, it doesn’t support re-posting stories, unlike Regrammer.

Sendible

Sendible helps you collaborate with others to find and schedule posts. It also offers advanced reporting features with insightful data.

Sked Social

Sked Social is a tool for visually planning and scheduling posts and stories on Instagram. It features a photo editor, allows bulk uploads, and supports team accounts. It can also post to Facebook Pages and Twitter.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a media management tool for Instagram. It supports managing multiple accounts, publishing and scheduling posts, managing campaigns and hashtags, and providing insightful analytics and reports.

Toptager.com

Toptager is used for researching hashtags for adding to posts on Instagram. It lists the top hashtags for you and allows searching for relevant hashtags, too.

Tools for Selling Products on Instagarm

Foursixty

Foursixty is a tool that helps businesses to sell their products on Instagram by creating shoppable galleries and tagging products within posts.

Shorby

Shorby is a platform that allows users to create a landing page with clickable icons that lead to multiple links including Instagram and other social media profiles.

Sked Link

Sked.link is a tool that allows users to create a clickable landing page with multiple links including Instagram and other social media profiles, as well as customize the design and track performance.

Soldsie

Soldsie.com is a tool that allows businesses to sell products directly through Instagram comments. It features an inventory system that supports managing customers and orders, tracking sales, etc. It also works with Shopify.

More Instagram Tools

AdEspresso

AdEspresso for Instagram is a tool that helps businesses create, manage, and optimize their Instagram ad campaigns.

Combin

Combin.com for Instagram is a social media management tool that helps businesses grow their Instagram audience, engage with followers, and track analytics.

Command for Instagram

Command for Instagram is analytics tool for Instagram, which provides simple yet actionable analytics to help grow your followers. For example, it supports tracking competitors, finding collaborators for growing together, and more.

HypeAuditor

HypeAuditor is an influencer marketing solution that analyzes influencers on Instagram and YouTube. It helps you analyze and find influencers for your next marketing campaign or prospective clients if you’re an influencer.

Keyhole

Keyhole is a marketer’s tool for Instagram that allows monitoring advertising campaigns, discovering influencers, monitoring your brand reputation, monitoring events in real-time, and getting insightful market research.

Kicksta

Kicksta.co is a platform that helps users grow their Instagram following by engaging with other users through automated liking and following strategies.

Mentionlytics

Mentionlytics.com for Instagram is a social media listening and analytics tool that tracks and analyzes a brand’s mentions and engagement on the platform to provide insights for improving its performance.

SocialRank

SocialRank is an audience management tool for Instagram. It assists in identifying, organizing, and managing your audience on social media platforms. You can sort, filter, and export audience data in its intuitive interface.

Unmetric

Unmetric is an analytics and reporting tool for Instagram. It helps analyze and track brand leaders and your competitors (including their campaigns’ performance), discover content ideas, and engage your followers.

Upleap

Upleap is a follower management tool for Instagram. It connects you with an account manager who engages with probable followers to help grow your audience, your brand’s exposure, and its social influence.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare helps you get analytics of your Instagram account for things like your most liked photo, the average number of comments or likes, followers’ growth displayed on a chart, and more useful analytics.

Past Book

Print your Instagram photos as coffee table books for as little as $19 for 24 pages. Prices vary according to the number of pages, size, and cover preference (hardcover or softcover). They ship worldwide.

The post 40+ Tools to Supercharge Your Instagram Account appeared first on Hongkiat.

From apps that block digital distractions to those that create a conducive work environment with ambient noise, these tools can transform the way you work. Whether you’re a student, a freelancer, or a professional, these apps can help you achieve your goals more efficiently. So, let’s dive in and discover how you can reclaim your focus and supercharge your productivity with these innovative apps.

Forest

Forest is a productivity app that utilizes a game-like mechanism to help you maintain focus on your work. When you aim to concentrate, you have the ability to plant a seed in the app, which will gradually grow into a tree over the next 30 minutes.

However, should you succumb to temptation and begin to browse websites on your Blacklist, your growing tree will unfortunately wither away. This engaging mechanism fosters a sense of achievement and responsibility, encouraging users to effortlessly steer clear of distractions.

While Forest is free to download and use, it also provides the option for in-app purchases to access additional features.

Download Forest for:

iOS Android

Focus

Focus is a Mac app that blocks distracting websites (such as social media, news, and entertainment) and apps while you’re working.

Focus is not free. The Personal Plan starts at $2.50/month.

Download Focus for:

Mac

Freedom

Freedom is a multi-platform app (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android) that enables you to block distracting websites and apps across all your devices. It provides the flexibility to schedule blocks in advance or initiate a block instantly.

While Freedom is not free, it does offer a free trial. The premium plans start at $2.42/month.

Download Freedom for:

Mac Windows Linux iOS Android

Noisli

Noisli is a background noise and color generator designed for both work and relaxation. It features an array of high-quality sounds aimed at enhancing your focus during work, alleviating anxiety, or simply providing a relaxing backdrop for reading or pre-sleep routines. In addition, Noisli offers a color-changing background, introducing the health benefits of chromotherapy to users.

Please note, Noisli is not a free service. The Pro plan, tailored for individuals, is priced at $10 per month, billed annually.

Download Noisli for:

iOS

Brain.fm

Brain.fm provides music designed for the brain (generated by an AI we’ve developed) to improve focus, meditation, relaxation, naps, and sleep within 15 minutes of use.

While Brain.fm offers a free trial, it should be noted that it’s not completely free.

Download Brain.fm for:

iOS Android

Bonus #1: Be Focused

This is another Pomodoro-style app that breaks your work into intervals. It also allows you to track your tasks and goals.

Download Be Focused for:

iOS

Bonus #2: RescueTime

This app tracks how you spend your time on your computer, giving you insights into your habits and helping you understand when and where you get distracted.

Download RescueTime for:

iOS

Bonus #3: SelfControl

This open-source application for mcOS lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. Just set a period of time to block for, add sites to your blacklist, and click “Start.”

Download SelfControl for:

Mac

The post Top 5 Apps to Stay Focus and Boost Productivity appeared first on Hongkiat.

In this blog post, we’ll guide you through some of the most affordable domain registrars in 2023 where to get your domain name without breaking the bank and we’ll focus on their pricing for ‘.com’ domains.

What is a Domain Registrar?

A domain registrar is essentially a company that sells domain names (addresses for websites) in the online world, akin to selling land for construction of houses in the real world. A domain name, for instance ‘google.com’ in ‘www.google.com‘, is what people type into the browser’s URL bar to visit your website.

These registrars are accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit organization that oversees all domain names globally. After purchasing a domain name from a registrar, you gain official ownership of that address on the internet. This address cannot be utilized by anyone else as long as it remains registered in your name.

Key Takeaways

	Price of .com	Whois Privacy Proection
	$7.99/yr	Yes (Free)
	$10.99/yr	Yes ($8.99/yr)
	$12.99/yr	Yes ($1.25/mth)
	$9.48/yr	Yes (Free)
	$1 (first year), $15 (subsequent)	Yes (Free)
	$9.99/yr	Yes ($1.99/mth)
	$13.99/yr	Yes (Free)
	$7.99/yr	Yes (Free)
	$12/yr	Yes (Free)

Cheap and Affordable Domain Registrars

Here are nine of the most affordable places where you can register your domain, along with their prices.

1. GoDaddy

GoDaddy is one of the leaders in domain registration, offering a wide range of services to help individuals and businesses establish their online presence. It provides a simple and user-friendly platform for searching and purchasing domain names, with over 500 domain extensions to choose from.

GoDaddy is recognized as the world’s largest domain registrar, trusted by over 21 million customers and managing over 84 million domains. They offer 24/7 customer support and ensure a hassle-free setup process, even for those without technical skills.

Additionally, GoDaddy provides free domain privacy to protect users’ personal information, real-time monitoring to ensure your site is always up and running, and tools to forward your domains to any existing website. They also offer a unique feature where you can start accepting payments immediately without a website, using a pay link branded with your domain.

At GoDaddy, a .com is priced at $7.99 for initial price and same for renewal. They also provide free basic Whois privacy.

Register a domain with GoDaddy

2. Domain.com

Domain.com is a trusted and comprehensive platform for online presence management, serving customers for over two decades. It offers a wide range of services including domain registration with more than 300 extensions, web hosting, website building, and professional email services in collaboration with Google Workspace. The company also provides web design and marketing services for those who need expert assistance.

Domain.com is not just a domain registrar or a website builder, but a one-stop solution for individuals and businesses aiming for online success. They offer a variety of domain hosting packages and tools to help you establish and grow your online presence. Their customer service is top-notch, offering live chat support, a knowledgebase, and a blog filled with tips and advice from industry professionals.

Domain.com offers a variety of domains across over 25 country codes. The prices start from $0.99 for the first year for non-premium TLDs (.art, .click, .foundation etc), .com starts at $10.99. Privacy protection costs $8.99.

Register a domain with Domain.com

3. Bluehost

Bluehost is a reputable domain registrar that offers a wide array of domain name extensions, allowing you to create a unique and memorable online identity for your brand or business. Their service is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for you to manage your domains from a single control panel. They offer features such as domain forwarding, auto-renewal, domain lock, and expert support to ensure a seamless experience. Additionally, they provide domain privacy to protect your personal information from potential spammers and identity thieves.

Bluehost also offers a lightning-fast search feature to help you quickly find the perfect domain among the multitude of options available. They are a trusted global domain provider, offering peace of mind and a huge selection of creative domain names to help your site stand out.

Bluehost sells .com domain at $12.99 per year and .org from $9.99. Those buying a shared hosting plan from Bluehost get a free domain thrown in.

Register a domain with Bluehost

4. Namecheap

Namecheap is known for its competitive pricing and comprehensive offerings. They offer a wide range of top-level domains (TLDs) including .com, .net, .org, and many others at discounted rates. Namecheap also provides free products and services when you register a domain, including privacy protection for life and a free email address. They have an easy set-up process and provide expert help and advice whenever needed.

They also offer monthly coupons and package deals that include a free domain with hosting. Namecheap is committed to privacy and security, and they have a 24/7 customer support team ready to assist with any issues.

A.com domain with Namecheap cost $9.48 for year one, $13.98 on renewal, .co.uk priced at $2.98 for year one, $9.48 on renewal, .org costing $8.99 for year one, $14.98 on renewal, and .mobi reaching $19.99. They also provide WhoisGuard domain privacy for free.

Register a domain with Namecheap

5. IONOS

IONOS offers a wide range of services to help you establish and grow your online presence. When you register a domain with IONOS, you also receive a number of free essentials such as an SSL certificate for secure data transfers, a domain email address, and up to 10,000 subdomains to structure your website.

They also offer a free 2 GB email account and easy setup to connect your domain with third-party services or social media accounts. IONOS ensures the security of your domain with a domain transfer lock and provides 24/7 customer support. They also offer a personal consultant service for tailored advice and support.

IONOS offers .com, .org, .net, .biz, and several others for $1 for the first year. After that, the renewal price for .com is $15/year, and for .org, .net, and .biz it increases to $20/year.

Register a domain with IONOS

6. Network Solutions

Network Solutions is a comprehensive digital service provider that assists businesses in establishing and growing their online presence. Being the world’s first domain registrar with over 25 years of expertise, they offer a vast range of services including domain name registration, website and eCommerce building, web hosting, and security solutions like SSL certificates and cybersecurity.

Additionally, they provide professional email services, productivity tools like Google Workspace, and various online marketing tools to boost site traffic. Network Solutions is trusted by Fortune 500 companies and is committed to providing a quality experience for all its users. They offer flexible and affordable solutions, facilitating businesses to start building their brand online.

Network Solutions offers .com at $9.99 per year. They also offers private registration to protect your personal information online. The extra protection is free for the first month then auto-renews for an additional fee of $1.99 per month.

Register a domain with Network Solutions

7. Hover

Hover is a domain registrar company that makes it easy for anyone, whether a newbie or an IT professional, to search for and manage domain names. They offer a wide range of top-level domains (TLDs) to choose from, and with their Hover Connect feature, you can easily link your domain to your preferred publishing tool or site builder. Hover also provides bulk pricing for those who have multiple domains, making it a great choice for agencies and entrepreneurs.

On top of that, they also offer industry-leading customer support and free WHOIS privacy, ensuring your experience is smooth and secure. They also have a domain search tool that suggests alternatives and helps you explore domain extensions relevant to your industry.

Hover provides .com registration at the cost of $13.99 for year one. They also provide Whois privacy for free.

Register a domain with Hover

8. Dynadot

Dynadot provides a platform for searching, discovering, and registering domain names with over 500 domain extensions available at industry-low prices. They also offer a free website builder to get your website started.

Dynadot prides itself on its suite of tools designed for comprehensive domain management, making it as simple as possible with quick setup and intuitive controls. They also offer 24/7 support through live chat or email to answer any questions. Whether you’re a brand looking to control your digital presence or an investor seeking to build a domain portfolio, Dynadot has the tools and services to meet your needs.

Dynadot offers .com sites priced at $7.99 for initial price and same for renewal.

Register a domain with Dynadot

9. Google Domains

Google Domains is a domain registration service offered by Google. It allows you to find your place online by choosing from more than 300 domain endings. The service is known for its simplicity, security, and speed, with extras like email forwarding, privacy protection, one-click DNSSEC, and Google 2-Step Verification. Google Domains also offers 24/7 support from real humans.

In addition to domain registration, you can transfer a domain you already own, get a professional email address, build a website without needing to code, and market your business online with Google Ads. All these features make Google Domains a comprehensive solution for establishing and managing your online presence.

Google Domain offers .com, .co.uk and .org domains all priced at $12. Free Whois privacy is provided.

Register a domain with Google Domains

Domain Registrations FAQ

1. Can I own a domain name forever?

Well, it’s not exactly like owning a piece of land that you can keep forever. When you get a domain name, you’re actually leasing it for a certain period, typically up to 10 years.

But don’t worry, you won’t lose it after that time as long as you remember to renew your lease before it runs out. So, in a way, you can hold onto a domain name for as long as you want.

2. What happens if my domain name expires?

So, let’s say you forget to renew your domain name and it expires. It’s not the end of the world. There’s a grace period where you can still get it back. But if you still don’t renew it during this grace period, it goes into what’s called a redemption period.

During this time, you can still get it back, but it might cost you a bit more. If you still don’t claim it, then it’s up for grabs and anyone can register it.

3. What is domain privacy and why might I need it?

Domain privacy, or WHOIS privacy as it’s also known, is like a cloak of invisibility for your personal information. When you register a domain, your contact details (like your name, email, phone number, and address) are listed in a public database called WHOIS.

Now, if you’re not keen on sharing this info with the world, domain privacy is your friend. It swaps out your details with those of a forwarding service. This way, you’re less likely to get bombarded with spam or have your identity stolen.

4. How do I choose a good domain registrar?

Picking a domain registrar is a bit like choosing a good restaurant. You want to look at the price, the service (like customer support), the extras (think email hosting or website building tools), and of course, what other customers have to say about it.

One more thing – make sure the registrar is on the good side of ICANN, the big boss of internet domain names. ICANN stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and they’re in charge of all the internet’s domain names.

5. What happens when my domain name expires?

If your domain name expires, it’s a bit like forgetting to renew a library book. You have a grace period (usually about 30 days) to renew it at the usual price. If you miss that, it goes into a redemption period where you can still get it back, but it might cost you a bit more.

If you still don’t claim it after that, then it’s like a book returned to the library shelf – anyone can pick it up.

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