WordPress is an excellent system when it comes to support and constant development. Any time there is a new release, users are notified through the admin dashboard. While you can automatically update the platform with just a few presses of the buttons, sometimes a manual upgrade is more ideal.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to manually update WordPress to the latest version using FTP. This has potential to save you a great deal of trouble depending on the circumstances.
What is FTP, and why should you use it for manual updates?
File transfer protocol, or FTP, is a method used that connects your computer system with your web hosting provider. Software such as FileZilla essentially give you complete access to files of your website. For many developers, this is often a preferred method for making customized changes to templates and other files.
For the most part, WordPress will update its own minor additions without input from you. These are often quick fixes that the developers send out when they spot something minor that needs tweaking. Major updates, on the other hand, require more attention and often will not complete until you do this yourself.
Although WordPress is a resilient platform, sometimes updating through the admin panel is not possible. Perhaps you’re unable to access the WordPress admin dashboard. As a result, you may not be able to update WordPress to the newest version. That’s when FTP applications come into play.
4 Steps to Use FTP to Manually Update WordPress
Updating WordPress is not as difficult of a process as some may think. Even if you’re not a programmer or developer, this is done easily through the FTP program of your choice. Today, we’re going to use the free program, FileZilla. This software is compatible with many operating systems and is downloaded by visiting the FileZilla website.
Once you’ve downloaded and installed your FTP program, you’re ready to begin. Here are four steps to update your WordPress manually with FTP applications.
Step 1: Back Up Your Website
Before you make any changes to any website, it’s always good practice to back up your files. In the event that something goes wrong, you don’t want to lose important data. This is done easily in two ways: backup plugins or copy the site with FTP.
Backup Plugins
Plugins to back up your files in WordPress are convenient. Some can be set to do this automatically. Plugins like blogVault Real-time Backup are nice because they will save your files directly to a Cloud-based server and easy to access.
FTP Backup
When you use programs like FileZilla, you can copy all of the files from your website and save them directly onto your computer. Essentially, you can make a duplicate copy for safe-keeping. However, you’ll need to backup the database separately by using phpMyAdmin from your web host. This is usually found in cPanel in the database section if you are using that system.
Step 2: Download a Recent Copy of WordPress
By going to the WordPress.org website, you can download the most recent copy of the content management system for free. It will come in a ZIP format and will need to be extracted into its own folder.
Once you have a separate WordPress folder unpacked onto your computer, you can start the process of updating.
Step 3: Using FTP to Upload Files
Open your FTP program. If you’re using FileZilla, it will automatically check for updates when you first load it. If there is an update available, click the button to install the newest version. This usually takes less than a minute depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
Once the FTP program is loaded, connect to your WordPress root folder. In the local site window, find the WordPress folder you recently unpacked from the ZIP file you downloaded. It will have folders inside it such as wp-admin and wp-content.
Select all of the files and directories within your new WordPress folder and upload them to the root of your web host. Note that both the local and the remote screen of your FTP program should look similar in regards to the files each contains.
When FileZilla begins uploading files, it will give you a message that states, “Target file already exists.” This is normal. Select the radio button to “Overwrite” and check the box for “Apply to current queue only” on the bottom right. Click “OK” and FileZilla will upload the rest of the files without giving you this message again.
After the files are uploaded to your website, you can shut down FileZilla. Your website will now be using the latest version of WordPress.
Step 4: Updating the Database – Optional
Some installations may require a database update as well. Luckily, you can do this after you manually update WordPress. To do this:
Log into your WordPress admin area.
If WordPress shows you a message that reads, “Database Update Required,” you’ll see a button under the message to, “Update WordPress Database.”
Click this button.
After a few moments, the system will display a success message after it completes its task. At which point, your website will be set to the newest version and ready for more content.
Will this remove my themes and plugins from the website?
When you upload files and directories through FTP, the only things that will be overwritten are the core operating files of WordPress. Themes and plugins should remain untouched and working. Your own custom CSS to WordPress themes or plugins will remain unaffected by a manual update.
However, you may want to check to make sure your themes and plugins are compatible with the newest version of WordPress.
If you have made custom code changes to the WordPress default themes, such as Twenty Fifteen or Twenty Sixteen, these will be removed. This is because they are included in the files that are uploaded to your root folder.
Will this get rid of custom scripts and CSS adjustments in WordPress?
If you customized the core files of WordPress, then your modifications will be removed after the update. Adjustments to themes, plugins and the like should be unaffected as those files are not replaced or overwritten. In reality, it’s uncommon that core files are modified by users such as yourself.
Any changes you make to the wp-config.php file will remain unaffected as well. Because this file holds a large portion of how your website behaves and operates, it’s usually not the target of an update.
In the event that something is wrong with this file, the update ZIP does come with a “sample” of wp-config.php that can be renamed and used to fix your site. However, you don’t want to do this unless the config file is somehow broken. This file stores all of the functions of your site and replacing it will set everything back to default.
Using FTP to modify your website can have a lot of benefits. Whether you’re updating WordPress manually or simply backing the files up, free applications like FileZilla can save you time and energy. In any event, it’s always best to make sure your copy of WordPress is always running the latest version.
How often do you use FTP to fix problems on your site? What FTP program do you find to be the best value?
The business world needs more highly skilled project managers. Otherwise, it will continue to bleed around a hundred million dollars (ouch!) for every billion it spends on projects and programs. Without the right talent and strategy, project schedules and budgets will remain elusive — with only 57% of all projects completed without additional funding, and only 51% successfully making the original deadline.
If you are a project management professional or planning to become one, the coming year will be a great time to progress your career and help businesses overcome the challenges ahead. But you’ll need the right project management skills to make an impact.
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a project’s success rate improves by approximately 40% when project managers possess and nurture the ideal skill set (a powerful mix of technical, leadership, and business management expertise).
Those in the know have been shining a spotlight on the increasing demand for project management skills in recent years. Computer World ranked project management among the hottest skills for 2017, while PMI projected a dramatic increase in the demand for project-oriented skills from 2017 through 2027. For each year during this period, companies around the world will need to fill an annualized figure of 2.2 million new project-oriented roles.
Despite the growing number of jobs, the serious lack of candidates with adequate project management skills creates a huge talent gap. With competition expected to become more intense across industries in the coming year, the scramble among recruiters for professionals with excellent project management skills will remain fierce in 2020, to say the least.
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How much do project managers make?
When strong demand meets scarce supply, prices go way up north. This can be alarming to employers but quite a good thing for project management practitioners. Entry level project managers in the U.S. receive a median annual salary of $70,249 while senior project managers easily take home $102,318 on average. The most skillful and ambitious — those at the high end of the scale — are worth more than $142,000 according to Glassdoor.
Project managers who obtain an industry-recognized credential like PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certification have an extra edge. Research by the Project Management Institute revealed that project managers who earned a PMP Certification received a 20% higher median salary than non-certified project managers. The study found the median salary of a PMP was $111,000, compared to the median salary of $91,000 for those without a PMP certification.
Top 25 project management skills needed in 2020
Project management may well be the career where technical, business, and people skills routinely intersect.
To become a good project manager, technical skills are must-haves. You need full proficiency in the tools (such as project management software) and techniques (such as the Agile framework) of the trade.
While you don’t necessarily need to be a domain expert (e.g., non-architects or non-engineers can be project managers in construction while non-programmers can serve as project managers in software development), you need basic familiarity and topview knowledge of the field you are in.
In addition, you need to have a strategic and logistical perspective on each project you undertake to optimize cost efficiencies and benefits. And lastly, you need to possess leadership and people skills to effectively manage a diverse team of people who are also bringing their unique personalities and skill sets to the table.
We have broken down the top 25 project management skills for 2020 into 3 categories – technical skills, business management skills, and personality traits – in the handy matrix below.
Project management skills matrix
Based on studies and recommendations from PMI, KPMG, EY (Ernst & Young), APM (Association for Project Management) and other domain experts, here’s a comprehensive project management skills matrix that can help you make a positive impact in 2020:
Technical skills and functional knowledge
Skill Name
Description
Project Management Software
Proficiency with commonly used technology tools such as Microsoft Project, Asana, and Trello.
Project Management Methodologies and Frameworks
Ability to apply frameworks and methodologies such as Agile and SCRUM throughout a project’s lifecycle.
Reporting/Stakeholder Management
Coordinate with managers, clients and team members to set expectations, deliverables, and objectives.
Team Building/Management
Build and lead a team of people with different skill sets towards a unified goal by guiding each member to complete their unique deliverables on time.
Resource Planning and Management
Formulate and implement a strategy on how project objectives can be met efficiently in the right sequence, by a group of people with unique skills within project constraints (time, budget, quality, etc.)
Time Management/Scheduling
Ability to 1) accurately map out talent resources, tasks, and dependencies; 2) make timeline estimates and set specific and general schedules; and 3) keep everyone up to speed.
Cost Assessment/Budget Management
Achieve cost efficiencies by optimizing work hours and establishing rationale for key procurements and other expenses.
Review/Monitoring
Tr
ack overall project and individual stakeholder progress throughout the project lifecycle, resolving conflicts and optimizing gains along the way.
Conflict Management and Resolution
Fix project discrepancies, overlaps, stalled workflows, and other issues due to internal roadblocks or unforeseen external setbacks. Help address interpersonal conflicts among team members.
Policy Knowledge
An adequate grasp of the regulatory regime governing the sector, including health, safety, business best practices, and environment.
Business management and soft skills
Skill Name
Description
Leadership
Enable, motivate, and inspire the team to meet deliverables within project constraints by demonstrating commitment, expertise, confidence, genuine concern, and ability to help everyone solve challenges and achieve goals.
Business Communications
Use the right language, tone, and storytelling techniques when communicating, describing, or explaining issues over email, chat, reports, presentations, and other forms and channels of communication. Generate the right impact or response from specific audiences (team members, managers, clients, vendors, partners, other stakeholders).
Collaboration/Relationship building
Establish a collaborative culture where people with unique personalities and skills happily work together towards a unified goal.
Decision-Making
Make prompt, informed, and fact-based decisions for the good of the project.
Accountability
Embrace ownership of and accountability for the project.
Problem Solving/Critical Thinking
Assess issues from different vantage points and formulate the best solution in addressing specific challenges.
Active Listening
Practice active listening to glean insight and truly understand the needs or message of all project stakeholders.
Negotiation
Apply the appropriate framework (SWOT, risk-reward, etc.) to arrive at a best-case scenario for all parties involved.
Research/Information Gathering
Fill knowledge gaps through active research or by directly engaging resource persons.
Personality traits
Skill Name
Description
Commitment/Motivation/Drive
The project manager owns the project and should be the person with the highest level of commitment and motivation to see it through from start to finish.
Goal-Orientedness
No one can become a decent project manager without a personality that places tremendous value on outcomes, objectives, and results. Project managers should be focused on the goal and the most efficient route to get there.
Confidence
Project managers should exhibit process mastery with confidence and humility. Bragging, bullying, and bossing around don’t work.
Open-mindedness/Trainability
Because continuous learning and self-improvement are integral to project management, practitioners should be open to new technologies, approaches, and experiences.
Adaptability/Proactivity
Workplaces, workflows and project development practices rapidly change over time. Hence, project managers should possess the required agility to nimbly adapt to different situations and make proactive adjustments when necessary.
Inclusivity/Sociability
The workplace is becoming more global and more diverse in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, and other demographics. As such, project managers should embrace everyone in the team and help nurture a culture of fairness, diversity, and inclusivity.
Key takeaways for project management job seekers in 2020
In addition to technical skills, companies are probing the job market for project management professionals with the right emotional intelligence, critical thinking, mentoring, and communication skills.
Here are some key takeaways for jobseekers who wish to participate in the project management field:
A project is a unique and temporary undertaking that is defined via a specific scope, timeline, budget, quality standards, and a set of desired outputs, outcomes, or benefits. A project is often contrasted with “normal,” “as usual,” or “ongoing” business operations to describe or distinguish its nature. For example, corporate finance is a “business-as-usual” operation while the development of a mobile financial app for Android devices is a project.
Project management refers to the systematic application of frameworks, processes, tools, and techniques to achieve the desired outcome for a project within a set of constraints such as quality, budget, and schedule. It covers strategic planning, resource allocation, process administration, overall monitoring, risk management, documentation and reporting.
With a projected job growth of 33% through 2027, a career in project management faces much-better-than-average outlook compared to other occupations.
Project managers are in demand across many industries as the project-based approach to doing business becomes more widespread. While project management has reached high maturity levels in IT and construction, industries with the greatest current demand include healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, and energy.
Project management ranks among the highest-paid careers, with well-experienced practitioners typically bringing home six-figure salaries.
Because it is radically goal-oriented and requires collaboration with people of diverse backgrounds, project management is among the most fulfilling and satisfying career paths. Success (or failure) of each project has a palpable impact not only on the company’s bottom line but also on its morale and culture.
Success in project management requires a range of diverse skills spanning technical, strategic, business management, and leadership competencies. Examples of project management skills include negotiation, team-building, and technical proficiency in tools such as Microsoft Project, Asana, PowerPoint, Slack, and Trello.
Project management takes its practitioners on a path of continuous learning, training, and skills development. Moreover, most skills learned in managing projects for one sector are easily transportable to other fields and industries.
Certifications matter. Project managers with accredited certifications outearn non-certified practitioners by 20% on average.
Like sales, a successful stint in project management is considered a stepping stone towards executive leadership in many global companies. Simply put, if you are a successful project manager, then you have bragging rights to claim that you “literally get things done” pretty much all the time.
How strong are your project management competencies?
It’s easy to see why the appeal of a project management career can be very strong. The demand is high, the outlook is good, and the pay is head-turning. Job satisfaction, relevance, corporate impact, and self-worth similarly score very high on just about any metric.
But project management is not for everyone. This skill-intensive role fits people who actively seek out learning opportunities so they can discover new things, improve competencies and build their skill sets over the course of their career.
If you are that person — someone who likes to get
things done and embark on a journey of continuous learning — then nothing is stopping you from becoming the best project manager you can be.
Looking for more project management resources around the web? Check out our list of the Top PM Blogs in 2020.
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Take your project management skills to the next level with our comprehensive (and free) ebook!
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Joseph Mapue
Joseph Mapue wears his writer’s hat wherever he goes, crafting top-notch content on business, technology, creativity, and innovation. He is also a dreamer, builder, father, and gamer.
Hear from Wheeler Machinery to learn how WebFX helped their business grow with web design.
Top 10 list: Best web design agencies of 2020
Here is our list of the top design companies:
6 qualities of the best web design companies
Defining the best website design company isn’t based on design alone. Not only is design subjective, it is also impossible to rate all the top web design companies based on only that set of criteria.
This means that you can’t determine if a company is one of the best, based on just their design portfolio. There are many other factors to consider as well.
So if it’s not just the quality of web design that qualifies a firm as a “best web design company,” then what does?
Here are the qualities that we feel the best web design company in the world should have.
1. Award-winning design
This is the most obvious on our list of criteria for the best web design company. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that an agency’s work has to be recognized for its quality and effectiveness to be considered one of the best.
National awards available for stellar website design include the Horizon Interactive Awards, the Webby Awards, and The Interactive Media Awards. There are also many awards available in specific regions or states that can be given to the best local web design.
2. Innovative approach
Because web design is a constantly-changing industry, the best web design companies are those who keep their clients’ sites up to date with the latest technology. Even the coolest designs are bound to feel outdated within a few years, and with modern consumers who are used to constant updates and innovation, it’s important for the best design company to provide cutting edge ideas that are unique, fresh, and satisfying for the customer.
Some companies may think that simply updating visual elements is enough to make clients happy, but true innovation means embracing change in all forms. To be a top design company, you need to do more than follow the trends—you need to be a trailblazer.
For example, the recent shift towards browsing the web on devices other than desktop computers led the best web design companies to develop an entirely new approach to design that is compatible with smartphones, tablets, and other devices.
This approach, called responsive design, is now essential for success in search engines.
Although most companies will eventually jump on the bandwagon if a new strategy or trend becomes popular enough, the best web design companies are those who stay at the forefront. True dedication to clients means always wanting them to have the best, and sometimes the way to give them that is by creating it.
3. Expansive portfolio
The best web design companies should have a wide range of past work.
To qualify for the “the best web design company” title, a firm needs to show that they’ve worked in a variety of industries. It’s not enough to build and design websites for just one industry or area of focus.
For example, does their portfolio include as diverse project as a roofing company website, followed by an online ecommerce store website? These different designs force the best web design agencies to get creative and change perspective.
In short, the best website design and development firms can display work with dozens of clients across multiple industries, showing strong elements of versatility and adaptation that is indicative of any good web design company. The best web design company could tailor their user experience and results to accommodate the needs of any business, from construction to textiles and more.
The more clients a design company works with, the better! Customers want to know that you can, without a doubt, work with their company to design the best possible website.
4. Extensive services offered
It would be easy to rank as the best web design company if the focus was solely on web design. To us, that’s not good enough.
To qualify as one of the best, a web design firm has to do more than just web design. The best website design companies offer a full-range of services to meet all the needs of clients, from Internet marketing to development.
Just like only offering web design, not having proven records of successful work can easily knock an agency off the best web design company list.
To be considered in the running, a company needs to provide proof to show potential customers that their work has continuously satisfied customers.
To make our list of website design companies, a firm needs a history of satisfied clients that report success. Testimonials offered to web design companies are an excellent indication of happy customers, as are long-standing accounts and a high client retention rate. Combined with other important elements behind each company, these factors can all help indicate the best web company.
6. Company growth
Like any successful business, the best design company in the world should be constantly growing and increasing its revenue. These are both signs of continued development, and they’re good indicators that a company is worthy of being considered one of the best in the industry.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the largest web design company is the best, though.
Continued growth is integral to any business model. The top web designing company will show growth with its customer base, employees, revenue, and other elements which clearly sets them apart from their competitors.
Where does WebFX fall on the top web design companies list?
Knowing where WebFX ranks on the best website design companies list requires first, studying the other companies on the list.
Since we are a United States-based firm, the majority of the companies we researched were websites written in English, so our study might be better titled “The Best Web Design Company in the U.S. and Europe.”
In conducting our research on the best web design companies, we also limited our review to firms that had over 30 customers and had been in business at least three years. This is because we feel that a proven track record of success is necessary for being considered the world’s top web design company. We didn
‘t look at just the biggest web design companies, though, because we know bigger doesn’t always mean better.
After our research, we came up with our own list of web development companies we believe to be the top of their game.
How much does a web design from the best web design companies’ cost?
Professional web design costs vary, especially when looking at the rates of the best web design companies. Businesses can spend anywhere from $1000 to $100,000 on a custom design. For the most accurate rates, request a custom quote or use a free web design cost calculator, like from WebFX.
How long does a web design, from a top web design company, take?
A web design from a top web design company can take 12 to 16 weeks to complete. Depending on your site’s size, complexity, and design requirements, you may see a longer or shorter turnaround time. For the most accurate answer, talk with potential design agencies about your site and its needs.
How does a top web design company help my website perform after launch?
A top web design company can help your business (and its site) after launch a few ways. How your web design agency assists your team, however, will depend on their services and specializations. If they only do web design, for instance, they probably won’t offer post-launch services, like site maintenance.
Either way, the best web design agencies will prep your website for success with the following:
A responsive design so that any device, from mobile to desktop, can use your site
A fast site so that users can access and browse your site fast
An SEO-friendly site so that your site has a better chance of appearing in Google search results
If you partner with a design company that specializes in other areas, like search engine optimization, they can help you grow your site’s presence in search results. A bigger presence (and position) in search results can drive more qualified traffic to your website, which can lead to more leads and revenue.
We don’t just want to tell you about the beautiful work we do.
Is WebFX the best web design company in the world?
Even though WebFX has many of the qualities necessary to be the best web design firm in the world, we understand that there are always improvements to be made. We also can’t be the best judge since we aren’t completely objective.
But what we can comfortably say is that WebFX is one of the best web design firms out there. We have all the qualities that we defined as crucial—and then some! Read on to learn more about what makes us great.
Award-winning design
Our team of talented web designers has won numerous awards for their work, including the prestigious Horizon Interactive Awards. We create the best company website design for all our clients.
And our efforts pay off.
Clients who have a website designed by WebFX receive attractive, well-converting presences online. In other words, we offer the best web design services possible to make sure a website not only looks good, but functions well, too. Our testimonials speak for themselves: we know how to make customers happy!
Our award-winning designs are what put us on the list of best web design firms. Contact us to learn how we can provide the best company website design for your business.
Expansive portfolio
Our portfolio is massive. We’ve worked with hundreds of clients in many different industries. Our varied works show we’re one of the top web design companies out there, and that we’re flexible enough to meet almost any need.
We’ve worked in numerous industries, and with both B2B and B2C companies. We’ve designed websites for everything, including ecommerce stores, local businesses, and national service providers, always using the most current approaches, like responsive design.
No matter what kind of business you have, we can design something great for you.
Extensive services offered
Take a look around and you’ll see we aren’t just a web design company. What puts us on the list of the top web design companies is our ability to provide clients with a comprehensive solution. We know it takes more than just visual elements to be one of the top website design firms, and we’re prepared to go the extra mile for you.
Being one of the best web design companies means providing exceptional designs, integrating innovative development solutions, and increasing brand exposure through top-notch search engine optimization and other Internet Marketing strategies. We do just that, which is why we’re in the running for the best web design company title.
Track record of success
Our record of success is our pride and joy. Just take a look at our portfolio and you’ll find a slew of case studies, client testimonials, and search engine position results, that make us one of the top web design companies on the market.
WebFX customers praise us for our professional website design, our flexibility, and our great communication. We also have proven success in ranking websites for competitive keywords, and for building valuable links to websites. We have a track record of improving online business for customers in many industries.
You’ll find we easily qualify for one of the top web design companies because our work is not only innovative and cutting-edge, but also effective. Our site designs not only drive traffic, but also help create conversions.
We believe that in order to be the best website company, we have to please the ones that matter — the client.
Company growth
WebFX has enjoyed positive growth consistently over the past five years. We’re constantly expanding our team with the best talents in the industry. And our client list is swelling.
The growth of our agency also allows us to be closer to our clients and their businesses.
With offices in Pittsburgh, D.C., Orlando, and more, we make it easy for companies like yours to work with a leading web design agency that’s close by. Even if we aren’t near your business, you can easily call and connect with your site’s project manager to ask questions, provide feedback, and more.
While we may not be the very best web design company in the world, we’re definitely one of the best web design companies out there – and we’re committed to improving until we reach the top spot!
How is WebFX different from other top w
ebsite design agencies?
Quality and experience aren’t the major differing factors between WebFX and the others on the best web design companies list.
The major difference between WebFX and the biggest web design companies out there is the price. Those companies have project bill rates approximately 25 to 50 times higher than ours. That’s a lot of money to spend on website design!
WebFX offers professional, inspiring, and attractive website design at a fraction of the cost of our competitors, including those on our web design companies list. We strive to keep our prices reasonable so that we can deliver great design without draining your entire marketing budget.
And as a full-service marketing agency, our portfolio goes beyond design: we also offer Internet marketing services, SEO, social media management, content marketing, and so much more.
Want to work with the best web design company?
If you’re in the market for a new web design for your company’s website, some SEO, a PPC campaign, or just an update to some stale content, WebFX can help.
We’re one of the best in the industry, and have some of the best employees to prove it. Whatever website design or development project you may have, we can take it on and deliver extreme success.
Want to work with one of the best web design companies in the world, but don’t have an unlimited budget? Call 888-601-5359 or contact us online today to get a free quote on our web design services.
The Google local search game is about to change drastically! Google is testing what they are calling the Google Guaranteed Program. Currently, the program is in beta and only available to home services, locksmiths and other similar businesses in San Diego, Sacramento, Stockton and San Francisco, CA.
All businesses that want to become “Google Guaranteed” have to go through a strict screening process by Google including a background check, license and insurance check as well as a screening of your reviews and ratings.
As seen in the image below these Google Guaranteed business listings are the first results shown in a Google search, topping even the traditional Google Search Ads from AdWords and verified Google My Business listings.
When someone clicks on a Google Guaranteed listing they will be taken to a screen like the one shown below, allowing the consumer to request an estimate for the company’s services.
Any customer that works with a Google Guaranteed business and is not happy can submit a claim to Google. Any job booked with a Google Guaranteed business must be done correctly or the customer can receive their money back. The work done by the businesses are guaranteed for up for $2,000.
The Google Guaranteed Program is part of its AdWords product and businesses will likely be charged per lead they receive through the program. Because the program is still in beta and only available in certain markets, the pricing is not yet publicly available. However, we can expect that Google will charge businesses a fee to get the Google Guarantee badge to cover costs for its screening process.
Be Prepared For The Google Guarantee To Come To Your Area
The businesses in the beta test have had drastic amounts of success with increased leads by 1800% when compared to other companies who are using other forms of advertising! With this type of success, the Google Guaranteed Program is likely going to attract a plethora of businesses once the availability expands.
To prepare for the Google Guarantee in your area be sure to:
Ensure your business is properly licensed and insured.
Create, verify and maintain your Google My Business page.
Address negative reviews and ask satisfied customers to leave your business reviews on Google and other review platforms.
Sign up for the program as soon as it becomes available to your business type and area.
What does this mean for verified Google My Business pages?
GMB is not going away (at least not yet). So of course, you’ll want to maintain your current GMB pages to take up as much real estate on search results as possible. A complete search marketing plan would include Google Guaranteed listings, AdWords search campaigns, a complete GMB page and search engine optimization (SEO).
The OMG National team is actively following the advancements with the Google Guaranteed Program. Stay tuned for more updates. If you need help getting your current online presence up to par before the program launches in your vertical market, contact an expert at OMG National today at 800-789-4619.
Today’s technology is ever-changing, at times complicated and overwhelming. Navigating the world of Network Security, the Cloud, server migrations, email backups, remote work, office 365, and desktop support can be overwhelming. Auxzillium provides expert guidance and management for our clients with tailor-fit cloud, security, and workflow solutions that will improve efficiency, increase productivity, and reduce costs for our clients. From our Technical Support to our Managed IT Services, we strive to provide a complete, comprehensive, and professional solution for your business environment.
People are now watching one billion hours of videos on YouTube every day. We’ve all fallen down the YouTube “rabbit hole,” losing hours of time after intending to watch a single video. But did you know that YouTube backlinks can give you as a serious boost in the search rankings?
Many people are still ignoring the incredible link building strategies waiting on YouTube. It’s easy to consider YouTube as “just video marketing” or a good place for “brand exposure.” Unfortunately, this means they’re missing out on a massive link building opportunity.
Luckily, this post will cover everything you need to know about YouTube backlinks. Let’s get started.
Building links on YouTube can seem complicated at first glance. But with a little practice, you’ll be a pro in no time. Here’s how to get started:
Keyword Research
By now, you probably know that anything in SEO begins with keyword research. And YouTube SEO is no different.
Your aim is to look for keywords that have results from YouTube on the first page of Google. These are known as Video Keywords.
In general, the search engine will use video results for the following keywords:
Funny videos (“Charlie bit my finger”)
Sports and fitness related (“Tae Kwon Do videos”)
Tutorials (“How to curl your hair with a straightener”)
Reviews (“Hostgator review”)
How-to keywords (“How to train a puppy”)
Why is this so important?
If you optimize your video around keywords that don’t have any video results within Google, you’ll only be getting traffic from people who search on YouTube. But if you optimize your video for Video Keywords, you can snag a whole lot of targeted traffic to your videos straight from the first page of Google.
How do you Find Video Keywords?
The first step is to simply look for keywords in your chosen niche. Then you can see if those keywords have video results on Google.
Next, you need to check if enough people are searching for that particular keyword. Look for one that’s getting at least 300 searches a month, which will mean it would also be getting plenty of searches within YouTube.
The goal is to get that video to rank well in Google so that those 300 people searching for your keyword will choose your video. That will mean that your video will be getting high-quality traffic which can be passed on to your website.
Create the Best Possible Video
The more effort you put into creating your videos, the more you’ll get out of them. If your videos stink, they won’t rank- regardless of how well you optimize them for SEO.
YouTube judges the quality of your videos based on how many people are interacting with them.
These metrics include:
Video retention (how many people watch)
Comments (how many people are engaging)
Subscribing after watching (a signal that your video is useful)
Shares (on social media sites)
Favorites (people adding it to “watch later” or favoriting it)
Thumbs up/down
Longer videos rank the best on YouTube. If you have something interesting to say, don’t worry about it being too long. Aim for at least five minutes.
Upload with YouTube SEO
Here’s how to make the most of YouTube backlinks with your video:
Filename
Use your keyword in your video’s filename. For example, if you’re aiming to rank for “meal prep recipes,” you’ll name your YouTube video meal_prep_recipes_video.mp4.
Title
This should be at least five words long. That way you can use your full keyword while avoiding keyword stuffing. Put your keywords at the beginning of your title for a slight SEO boost.
Description
This is hugely important. YouTube and Google can’t yet “listen” to your videos, which is why they rely on this description. They use it to determine the content of your videos.
Put your YouTube backlinks to your site at the very top of your video. This will maximize your click-through rate.
Make sure you include your keyword within the first 30 words of your description. Aim to include your keyword at least 4-5 times, and write at least 250 words for your description. This will tell YouTube and Google what your video is about without looking like spam.
Tags
Tags also help show Google and YouTube what your videos are about. They help you rank for your keywords, and help you show up as a related video in the sidebar on the right-hand side.
Using Annotations for YouTube Backlinks
Another place you can use backlinks for your website? In the YouTube Annotations.
These are little boxes that pop up while a viewer is watching your video. Use a compelling call-to-action and add your website, and you’re likely to see a huge increase in visitors for that page.
It’s often a good idea for the presenter to draw attention to the annotation when it pops up. Tell your viewers what the link is for, and let them know why they should click on it.
Using YouTube Cards for Backlinks
These are different from annotations in a big way: They work on mobile devices. This can make a massive difference to your clickthrough rate since so many people use their smartphones and tablets to watch YouTube videos.
Walmart uses YouTube cards incredibly well. They use a little “i” icon (for information) in the top right corner of their videos. When you click on that button, a “more info” button appears. These clickable links lead to the landing pages on the Walmart website for the items shown in the video.
If you do this well, with compelling images and links leading back to your site, you’re likely to see a massive increase in your visitors for those pages.
Wrapping Up
Ready to get started with your YouTube backlinking strategy? It doesn’t need to be complicated. Simply create an interesting video, choose the right keywords, use SEO effectively, and make the most of annotations and cards.
Have you been making the most of the backlinking opportunities available on YouTube? Get in touch to learn how we can help you get high-quality backlinks for your website.
Are you looking for a project management tool that can help you manage your projects and team members in a better manner?
If the answer to the above question is yes, then you’ve come to the right place. It won’t be wrong to say that adopting new methodologies, implementing new technologies and tools has become the need of the hour to boost your standing in the current scenario
We have compiled the best project management tools to improve your game. Before we take a look at them, let’s understand why it’s important to use them in the first place.
A project management tool is what brings projects and team collaboration at one place for everyone to be on the same page.
Why should we use project management tools?
You might be living under a rock if you’re really not aware of the benefits that come along with project management tools. We’ve outlined some common benefits below:
Faster collaboration
Easier delegation
Accurate project tracking
Central data storage
Seamless communication
Quick file-sharing
Time tracking
Automated invoicing
Quick reporting
Now that you know the advantages offered by online project management tools, let’s learn how to choose the right one.
How to select the best online project management tool?
Make sure to check if your preferred project management software offers the following features or not.
ProofHub is a versatile project management software used by leading organizations like NASA, Disney, Taco Bell and many more. This all-in-one tool comes packed with powerful features to eliminate the need of having too many different tools to run your business. Features:
Online proofing software saves a lot of time during the feedback-sharing process
Makes task-management less stressful for teams
Get a visual picture of projects using Gantt charts in ProofHub
Also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS users.
See how ProofHub is the best of all project management tools. Try now!
2. Scoro
Scoro is known as one of the most comprehensive business management software for professional and creative services. For those who wish to bring structure to your work, Scoro is the right pm tool for you.
Features:
A single place for projects, clients, and teams
Be organized in every aspect of your business with seamless workflow
Get a real-time overview and automated reports
Can be integrated with tools like DropBox, Mailchimp, Outlook, and more
Pricing: Premium plan starts at $33/user/month
3. Workzone
Workzone is built by a highly dedicated team to help individuals and organizations gain better control and visibility in work management. It gives them a central place to manage and share work, so everyone stays on the same page.
Features:
Get top-level reports so everyone knows what’s next on the list
Makes way for faster communication
Features like creating tasks, to-do lists, sharing files easily improves collaboration
Set permission for different users including clients
Pricing: Starts from $200 per month
4. Zoho Projects
Without a doubt, Zoho Projects stands out as one of the best simple project management software that can help you streamline your upcoming work and tasks with a click.
Features:
Effective file management
Gantt charts to oversee project progress
One tool for teams to create, collaborate, and communicate
Can be integrated with ZOHO CRM and other tools to manage every aspect of a growing agency
GanttPRO is one of the best pm software, appreciated already by 250k project managers around the globe. It helps build project plans and timelines, track workflow, control expenses, follow deadlines, and arrange productive collaboration in a single place. The solution offers ready-made templates for an easy start.
Features:
Workload: keep all resources engaged and balanced
Collaboration: comments, attachments, and notifications
Workspace: Gantt charts and Board view
Project templates for easy start
Pricing: Team plan starts from 7.90$ per user/month (billed annually)
6. nTask
New on the market, nTask is still in its burgeoning state of development, with new features and AI that are being introduced as the tool matures. Its intuitive software design that is easy on the eyes as well as easy to adopt, is one of the many reasons why start-ups, solopreneurs, and even enterprises will readily switch to this newcomer pm tool.
Risk Management: Use risk matrix to identify and assess potential risks and their frequency of occurrence.
Issue Management: Create and manage issues with customizable severity, priority, and status options.
Time Management: Beautifully designed weekly timesheets with manual hours linked to a suitable task or a project.
Resource Management – Manage resource allocation, project budget and currency using the Project Planner.
Meeting Management – Schedule multiple meetings at a time with a clear concise agenda, discussion points and follow-up actions
Pricing
Free plan- Unlimited workspaces, 100MB storage.
Pro Plan – $2.99, Unlimited everything.
7. Functionfox
Functionfox is a timesheet tool trusted by creative professionals all around the world. It is both powerful and easy-to-use. You can track your projects accurately from conceptualization to completion, reduce admin time, and increase productivity and profits.
Features:
Simple project creation and management
Interactive real-time reporting
Compare budget estimates with actual figures
Pricing: From $5 user/month ($35/month for the 1st user)
8. Workbook
Workbook is a grown-up software suite for project and resource management, CRM, collaboration, file-sharing, forecasting, and accounting. You can choose exactly as per your requirements and only pay for it. Features:
Create projects and tasks easily
Easily customizable
Supports a client portal
Pricing: $19 user/month, minimum 30 users
9. Redbooth
Redbooth is an easy-to-use online task and pm software for busy
teams. Moreover, you can keep your entire team organized, in alignment, and always on schedule with Redbooth.
Features:
Intuitive task and project management
Easily delegate and assign tasks
Mobile apps for iOS and Android
Pricing: From $5 user/month
10. Celoxis
Celoxis is an award winning all-in-one pm tool. It helps organizations to plan and track their portfolios, projects, tasks, resources, timesheets, issues and risks from one place. It has extensive collaboration features including a customizable free client portal. It’s dashboards and reporting capabilities are superb and one of the best in the market. It is feature rich, intuitive and highly customizable.
10,000ft is a simple yet powerful pm software that helps you make confident operational decisions about your teams and projects. Apart from this, it has resource management and time-tracking capabilities as well.
Features:
An effective visual resource planning software
Detailed project tracking
Flexible planning interface
Pricing: Basic plan starts from $10/month
12. TeamGantt
TeamGantt is a refreshing pm solution that brings project scheduling software online. You can manage projects with this super-easy Gantt software. Inviting your co-workers, teammates, and friends to view and edit your Gantt chart is simple and fun!
Features:
Fast drag and drop scheduling
Intuitive and easy-to-use
Real-time progress updates
Pricing: Standard plan starts from $7.90 /user per month (when billed annually)
Switch to a reliable project management software to deliver projects successfully. Try ProofHub
13. Proworkflow
Proworkflow is one of those project management software your teams would love. It’s beautiful, versatile and extremely easy to use. Also, it integrates with all the tools you need – saving you time and streamlining your processes.
Features:
Makes it a breeze to assign staff, track time or reschedule projects
Quoting and invoicing have never been simpler.
Reliable support and consultation
Pricing: From $22 month/user for team
14. Mavenlink
Mavenlink is a modern software designed for services organizations to connect with people, projects, and make profits. In a world where connectedness, transparency, and performance matter more than ever, Mavenlink helps you deliver projects successfully.
Features:
Manage multiple projects with ease
Handle project schedules in an intuitive interface
Gain visibility of all your projects in your portfolio
Pricing: Professional plan starts at $39/month/user
Insightly is a powerful CRM with a project and business management set. It allows you to grow your business faster than ever by building strong customer relationships over time.
Features:
Effortless tracking of project activity
Accelerate sales and manage leads
Helps you build meaningful relationships
Pricing: From $15 month/user for teams
16. Clarizen
If you are looking for a cloud-based project management tool to help your business grow, Clarizen can come to your rescue. It is a single collaborative pm solution that could manage projects and help you connect with team members effortlessly. Features:
Automated processes and workflows
Budget tracking and expense management
Flexible UI
Pricing: From $60 user/month
17. Comindware
Comindware is a popular workflow and business process management software. The workflow management software provides key capabilities for task, data and document management.
Features:
Focuses on process optimization
Customer order management and CRM capabilities
Full process automation, activity monitoring, business analytics as well as enterprise system integration.
Pricing: Starts at $29.99 per user
18. Easy Project
Easy Project is a professional project management tool for you, your team, and the whole company. Trusted by top-notch companies like Toyota, Lenovo, Bosch, it is a perfect fit for numerous industries be it IT or educational.
Features:
Visual project maps and plans
Compatible with modules for Resources, Finances, Help Desk and CRM
Integrated with Outlook, Project, Excel, Redmine
Pricing: $21/month per user Pro plan (60 portfolios, and 100 custom fields)
19. Crocagile
Crocagile is a simple agile project workspace designed to streamline communication and is focussed towards software development teams. It’s powerful pm tools and simple design is uniquely engineered for agile developers. It has all good stuff including collaboration and gamification feature giving a much-needed boost to agile practices with cutting-edge technology.
Features:
Activity Streams, Smart Alerts, and Group Chat to eliminate email
Team member updates are visible in one place, automatically
File Sharing – Store and Share files with commenting
Pricing: Starting from $2.50 per user, per month with the 30-day free trial.
20. Producteev
Producteev has been a task management solution for small and medium-sized teams. Project managers can easily access all their projects, tasks and other collaborators. With this pm tool you can easily plan any projects, map your route, organize files, delegate tasks, and various elements. Users can easily track the progress of each task. Features:
Organize on your fingertips
Powerful collaboration
Seamless tracking
Interface customization
Personalized support
Pricing: The Premium plan is available at $99 per month
21. Teamdeck
Teamdeck offers a complete solution for companies to deliver projects faster. It is an essential pm software for managing resources and monitoring time spent on tasks and projects. With Teamdeck you can book your employees on different projects and create accurate timesheets with one-click time tracking.
Features:
Resource scheduling
Timesheets and time tracking
Leave management
Measure billable time
Pricing: Free startup plan limited to 6 team members. Business plan starts from $3.99 / team member / month, $1 / basic resource / month
22. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a portable project management software to help teams collaborate, time-tracking, reporting, resource management, and planning tasks. The cloud-based software has some amazing features that brings it on the list of best project management tools.
Features:
Leverage team collaboration
Automatic update requests
File attachment from Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox and more
Gain visibility into who’s busy and who’s not
Secure permission control
Pricing: Individual plan starts $14 and business plan at $25 per user per month when billed annually.
This is an extremely simple and intuitive tool for large organizations including architecture, interior design, IT services, retail, telecommunication and many more. Freedcamp offer functionality to unlimited users making organizing details and tasks quick and super easy.
Features:
Gantt chart to keep a bird’s eye view on tasks
Split large tasks into smaller subtasks
3rd party integrations
Password manager
Shared file management
Pricing: Available at $3.99 for the owner and $0.99 for each additional user per month ( billed yearly )
24. Hive
Hive’s powerful project management and collaboration software put the needs of a team at a single place. The system lets you track project status, provide a Kanban-style status view, Gantt charts for project progress, and everything that a project team needs on a single page. Features:
Provides a central platform for everything
Plan and repeat tasks using action templates
Move seamlessly between projects, messages, and files
Access anywhere from a desktop or mobile apps
100
0+ integrations
Price: Professional plan at $12/user/month
25. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a pm software with a comprehensive set of tools to help businesses support the need of customers. It’s simple to set up and offers the best value for money.
Features:
Integrated Live Chat, Phone Support, and Game Mechanics
High customizability
Multi-channel, multi-product and multi-lingual support
Great email messaging and self-service portals
Keep track of conversations
Resolve issues together through collaboration
Pricing: Freshdesk offers four price points for various business sizes. You can sign up for Freshdesk free trial.
26. Flock
Flock is every team’s collaboration hub. Packed with tons of productivity features, Flock is a messaging and communication tool for project management. It drives efficiency and boosts the speed of execution.
Features:
Collaboration in real time
Jump into video calls with just a click
Share all types of files and find them easily
Invite guests to work with you
Create notes and collaborate with teams on the go
Share code snippets on the go
Access your entire Google Drive from within Flock
Manage your GitHub repos without switching tabs
Pricing: Flock offers monthly and yearly billing. Pro plan starts at ₹ 149 per licensed user, per month billed annually (₹199 billed monthly).
27. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a collaboration tool that combines project management and time-tracking. It has an interesting methodology for project management as it lets teams set realistic deadlines based on different scenarios.
Features:
A realistic range of time to complete tasks
Integrated time and budget tracking
Task-specific collaboration boards
Adding notes to projects
Cross-project visibility
Pricing: From $39 user/month, billed annually
28. CoSchedule
CoSchedule is an intuitive marketing project management tool that’s made to help marketers keep their work organized. It improves company visibility by simplifying all project workflows inside one cross-functional calendar. The possibilities of creation are now endless by being able to view all projects, tasks, deadlines, and ship dates in one place.
Features:
Complete more work by streamlining marketing workflows.
View, manage and approve all projects and tasks in one place with Marketing Campaigns and Marketing Projects.
Visualize project progress from start to finish more easily with Kanban Project Dashboard.
Pricing: Pricing begins at $20 a month and scales up to accommodate teams of all sizes.
29. MoneyPenny.me
The MoneyPenny Project Time Tracker is a smart and professional suite of online pm tools that keeps projects and teams organized. By live-monitoring team performance against project deadlines, tasks, and budgets, businesses of any size can save more time and streamline workflows.
Features:
Auto timesheet creation, management, and approval on the cloud, from any device
Full data integration, live synced online with invoicing, project tracking and team timers
Project progress live notifications and instant messaging team communication
Pricing: After the 30-day free trial, from $15/month/1 user (Starter plan) up to $55/month for 30 users (Enterprise plan).
30. Basecamp
Basecamp is one of the most popular online pm tool today. It combines all the necessary features at one place helping project members to know what to do and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Monday.com is a simple but intuitive tool that enables people to manage work, meet deadlines, and build a culture of transparency. The solution is best for streamlining discussions, to see who is working on what, and keeping everyone in the know.
Features:
Centralized communication and document management
Visual project management and tracking
Analytics and reporting are well-executed
Smartly integrated with Dropbox, Zapier, Google Drive, and similar sharing and management tools
Pricing: Monday.com offers a free trial. The Basic plan is priced at $25 per month billed annually.
32. Wrike
Wrike is a robust and versatile tool that helps team collaborate better and communicate with greater transparency. Wrike has plenty of best-in-class collaboration, communication and document management tools. The tool allows to set priorities and align your team to work faster and smarter. Features:
Tasks and milestones can be synchronized to Google, iCalendar and Outlook calendars
Gantt charts help create visual timelines
Helps you to turn strategy into an actionable plan
Provide accurate and up-to-date info to clients
Pricing: Professional Package – $9.80/user/month (billed annually)
33. Asana
Asana is a cloud-based project management software that helps teams to map out every single detail of projects within an organization. Asana enables you to plan your work in a way that’s best for you. It is flexible enough to adapt to you.
Features:
The free tool offers a basic dashboard and search
Group tasks into sections or columns in a list or board project
Notify employees using a personalized inbox
A Gantt style view of how projects fit together
Schedule and prioritize tasks on a special Asana calendar
Generate detailed Progress reports
Pricing: Asana offers three tiers of pricing: Free, Premium and Enterprise. The premium plan starts at $9.99 per member/month.
If Asana doesn’t come out to be your cup of team, you can pick any best Asana alternative.
34. Podio
Podio is an extremely versatile tool. More than 500,000 organizations use Podio to run projects. It is built with a series of app and tools that help teams organize tasks and track their work.
Features:
Break down large projects into simple to-do lists with assigned tasks
File uploads, progress statuses, updates, and comments done in real time
Real-time comments and deadlines are all laid out on one dashboard
Integrates with file sharing services, customer support, and help desk tools
Visualized reports to mark team’s progress
Pricing: Podio offers varying pricing tiers, which are priced per employee per month. Premium plan available at $24.
35. Project Insight
Project Insight is a simple and user-friendly interface that fits any team and project size. It offers notable integrations with Box, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Quickbooks. It comes with a simple and user-friendly interface. Users can track all steps of their projects from start to finish.
Features:
Real-time reports and manages projects from a single location
Time and expense tracking, resource management, and more
Real-time access to their tasks and project schedules
Balance resource work across all projects
Pricing: Business plan starts at $45 per user per month.
36. Teamwork Projects
Teamwork Projects is designed to work seamlessly with the tools to form smarter workflows. With a perky interface, easy-to-use toolset, users can create a project, and generate tasks and milestones. Teamwork Projects is available on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and the Web.
Features:
Set start dates and end dates to your projects
Get a snapshot view of what your team is up to with the project activity overview
‘Gantt’ style view of your projects
Gain valuable insights on your team’s performance
Assign low, medium, or high priorities to tasks
Pricing: Free 30 day trial. Pro plan is available at $9/month per user.
37. ProjectManager.com
Projectmanager.com is an online project management tool that helps users plan, track, and report on projects online. A powerful project planning and scheduling feature that allows users to manage a team of individuals, balance projects, and document effectiveness.
Features:
Attach files and comments to collaborate on tasks
Seamless importing and round-tripping of MS Project plans, Excel files & CSV files
Real-time dashboards show your status at-a-glance
Pricing: business plan with unlimited features at $25 per user per month.
38. ClickUp
ClickUp is a high-rated productivity solution helping you better manage your tasks, notes, projects, and time. The project management tool helps you figure out who’s doing what and brings all your tasks, projects, and resources in one place. ClickUp lays special attention on views, statuses, features, and processes to give you a better user experience
Features:
Customize workflow with stages to keep people on the same page
Create spaces to organize work with customized features, workflows, tags
Add time estimates for automatic scheduling
Control what others can see and what they can do
Make goals and track their success
Pricing: $4.99 per user per month
39. EventCollab
EventCollab is a web-based application which focuses on event project management and logistics tracking. Whether it is about contacts, data, tasks, schedules, calendars – you can securely manage everything in EventCollab. The interface is easy to navigate which makes managing complex tasks easier than ever. EventCollab uses a variety of technologies to create effective solutions for project and event management.
Features:
Access projects in real-time
Keeps track of the details and connects team members
Restricted permissions, role settings, and data encryption
Available in the cloud at any time from any location
Pricing: From $20 per month
40. Advantage
Advantage software is a management tool best suited for business agencies and marketing companies to manage the business side. It successfully integrates all agency roles into a single solution with robust modules, powerful features, and extensive reporting. It automates all facets of project management, proofing, billing, client relationship management. The good news is that it works well for medium to large agencies.
Features:
Automate and manage projects more efficiently
Streamlined processes to manage time, tasks, and expenses
Complete reporting and forecasting
Share files and collaborate
Pricing: Upon request
41. Redmine
Redmine is an open-source tool which works cross-platform along with multilanguage support. It gives registered users the ability to create and manage their own projects meaning once you have registered, you are allowed to create your own projects and get access to their features. Being a free downloadable software, it is definitely worth a try.
Features:
Multiple project support
Role-based access control
Custom fields for issues, time entries, projects
Gantt chart, calendar, issue-tracking system
Pricing: Free
42. Nutcache
Nutcache brings the best of Agile workflow to manage to plan, track, and organize your projects and tasks better. It provides you with all the tools required to complete the project delivery lifecycle. It is trusted by 1,30,000+ companies worldwide to meet their deadlines. With its agile planner which allows you to see at a glance what others are working on.
Features:
Assign cards to manage priorities
Set milestones and alerts to never miss a deadline
Bill time and expenses accurately
Customizable workflows and well-organized tasks
Pricing: $15/user/month
43. Notion
Notion is an all-in-one workspace where you can write, plan, and collaborate. Unlike traditional tools for project management, Notion has a modern feel both in its looks and features. It is being used to plan and discuss projects, communicate with teams and clients, and keep track of all the important stuff. Notion keeps records of everything and captures unique workflow in the best possible way.
Features:
Outline ideas and rearrange them in any way
Syncs across various devices and collaborators in real-time
Works in the browser and runs offline with the Mac, Windows, and mobile apps
Pricing: Starts at $4 a month
44. Paymo
Paymo is a full-fledged task management software helping teams to work better with advanced proper planning, scheduling, task management and time tracking features. It’s a great tool to bring everyone together and on the same page. Whether you’re a part of a creative, marketing, web designing, business consulting team, Paymo lets you work in harmony and help you manage work faster and better.
Features:
Advanced task management tools, Gantt charts and Kanban boards for accurate planning and scheduling
Discussions and comments for real-time seamless collaboration
Compare initial time estimates against actual work
Customizable time and work reports
Pricing: Business plan starts at $15.16/user/month
45. Cage
Cage is a media collaboration software best-suited for designers, creative agencies, and in-house teams. It lets you collaborate with your team directly on the work enabling you to deliver work on time. With its advanced toolkit, you get to gather, discuss, and act on feedback faster. You can also manage projects, teams, and communicate at a single place. It’s also quite effective to get a clear picture of ongoing projects and how your team is performing.
Features:
Add annotations directly to images, video, audio, PDFs
Share design decisions, customize color palettes and layouts
Record different work in progress
Pricing: Professional plan for $14 per user per month
46. Avaza
Avaza is productive solution that teams use to collaborate on projects, schedule resources, track time, m
anage expenses for a more efficient business. It helps you get more done faster with quick file-sharing, activity feeds and more. You get to see a bird’s eye view on who’s working on what and manage work assignments and make smarter scheduling decisions.
Features:
Visualize, filter, and group tasks within and across projects
Flexible project budgeting and billing options
Easily manage resource allocated to each project
One-click time tracking from every screen
Pricing: Basic plan starts at $19.95 per month
47. Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper launched by Dropbox is a new way to collaborate, organize teamwork and work from anywhere. It is a collaboration app that runs on shared Dropbox space to collect ideas, create documents, chat, and keep everything together in one place.
Features:
Help teams collaborate in a distraction-free environment
Keeps people in loop with real-time collaboration
Link your Google Calendar or Microsoft Office 365 account
Visual representation of whatever is happening
48. Evernote
When you’re planning a project, having all the information in one place makes it easier to keep things organized. Evernote is an app for all your needs of taking notes, making lists, reading content online, and having to look up something that you’ve written before. Keeping everyone on the same page will always make sure that you focus on what matters as projects from start to finish.
Features:
Set reminders, track deadlines, and gather feedback
Save important emails
Stay on schedule with checklists and reminders
Add keyword tags on notes to find it quickly
49. Todoist
Todoist is a customizable solution to meet project management needs of small and midsize businesses. It is a powerful task manager loaded with great features to boost productivity as well as organize tasks and set schedules.
Features:
Capture and organize tasks with Quick Add
Measure your progress with visualization
Email tasks and subtasks directly to your inbox
Sync across all your devices and integrates with all your favorite apps
50. TimeCamp
Time Camp lets you easily track the time spent collectively on each project to keep the team’s work under control and communicate with them efficiently. The tool allows its users to manage unlimited projects and customers without any additional costs.
Features:
Track the progress and detect possible delays
Collect valuable information about how much time tasks take
Plan the work of your team
More precisely estimate time needed to do a particular type of task
Bill your clients accurately
51. Confluence
Confluence helps you manage the details of all your projects. Atlassian’s Confluence provides powerful tools for teams to collaborate, complete projects, and review task.
Features:
No more separate documentation process
Powerful task management to assign a tag, assignee, and due date
Organize, track, and review decisions
Hassle-free file sharing
Conclusion
With the changing times, the needs of businesses are changing as well. Spend a good amount of time to figure out if you need an invoicing tool, robust reporting software, or a holistic view of projects and processes at one place.
We hope that the above list would serve the purpose and provides you a list of top project management tools to be used in 2020. If you think, we have missed a tool that could make a difference in your life, don’t forget to drop your comment below.
What are project management tools?
Using project management tools is an effective way to deliver projects on time and organize tasks. It is the way to track progress and manage time for successful projects.
What are the top features in project management tools?
Some of the key features are collaboration, task management, file sharing, reports, Gantt chart, & Kanban. To a great surprise, this is all that ProofHub has and a lot more.
What is the best project management tool in 2020?
ProofHub is the most highly rated project management tool today. It is ahead of the rest as it gives all the features at a great price for unlimited users.
How much does a project management tool cost?
Different project management tools have a different plan for everybody but the one like ProofHub has a plan that is available for unlimited users when you pay once.
Vartika Kashyap is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2018. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.
Web design trends are constantly changing. In 2020, the technical possibilities seem endless and we’re seeing designers play with extremes, reinvent previous styles and ceaselessly experiment with new techniques. At the same time, there are some popular styles that just won’t go away, such as the ever-present minimalism and colorful flat illustrations we’ve been seeing for some time now.
So, what will the web design trends 2020 be? If you want to discern the newest trends early on you’ll need help from the experts. We asked some of the top designers in the 99designs community what 2020 web design trends they’re seeing. Here’s what they came up with, based on their knowledge of the craft.
Dark mode web designs not only look ultra modern, but they’re easy on the eyes and make colors and design elements pop.
Sometimes the most visually stunning web design trends have practical beginnings. Dark themes are better for OLED screens—saving power and extending screen lifespans—but that utility doesn’t stop them from looking good. Dark backgrounds improve the visibility of other accent colors for truly dynamic design.
Coincidentally, the dark mode design aesthetic also fits in perfectly with other prevalent 2020 design trends that include dark and moody color schemes combined with glowing neons as well as futuristic yet dark cyberpunk and dystopian styles.
Imperfect, hand-drawn design elements inject emotion and humanity into websites, which users seem to be craving after seeing perfected yet impersonal graphics dominate web designs for years. In 2020, adding some hand-drawn realness gives web designs the heart and soul visitors find appealing.
Indeed, who couldn’t use a little extra positivity these days. Unique and stylized, hand-drawn icons and other elements show off your brand personality and stand out from your competitors. In fact, this rebellious trend is almost a countermovement to the trend of pixel-perfect flat designs—so flaunt your scratchy edges and open shapes to show how human and lifelike your brand is.
Whether it’s hand-drawn icons or hand-made illustrations, in 2020 we’ll see more designers adding purposefully messy-looking elements to their web designs.
3D visuals have always delighted people; what held this trend back was technology and the (previously) expensive price tag. But as Pinch Studio explains, the technology is now in a place where you can design in 3D without NASA-tier equipment, opening the gates to more and more designers.
Until VR becomes more mainstream and cost-effective, hyper-realistic 3D that’s often taking up the whole screen is
the best way to create an immersive experience for your site. That’s not just an advantage for visuals, but for UX as well—interactive 3D design encourages users to stay longer. As 2020 unfolds, expect to see more immersive 3D web designs drawing users in and visually breaking down the boundaries between digital space and reality.
This trend is all about creating depth. Like the 3D effect from above but want to tone it down? Soft shadows and floating elements add interest and depth and give your web page a “3D Lite” look. It’s not just graphics either: you can use this effect with text and photos, too.
Taking the principles of material design a step further, designers can add a little extra pizzazz to 2D layouts with soft drop shadows and layering elements on top of each other for extended depth. These effects give the design a lightweight feel, as if the elements are floating over each other—a sharp contrast from classic, impenetrable flat design where the layers seem, well, flat.
Overlapping original graphics on top of real photographs creates a memorable visual, which lends itself to letting your creativity go wild.
This collage-like trend is a versatile one; you can use it to add a special cuteness and charm to otherwise bland product photo (TSP stoneware, above), or you can use its more serious attributes to better communicate complicated or abstract concepts like tech or finance. It’s a way to customize your imagery and add more personality (a reoccurring trend in 2020) to your web design.
To make the most of this trend’s flexibility, be sure to match the style of the illustrations and graphics with your brand personality. Their style can sway how people interpret the photograph—cartoon squiggles for something more playful, or geometric and detailed illustrations for something more sophisticated.
Full bleed layouts have been trending in web design for quite some time. Now, designers are gravitating towards solid structures and playing with different ways to use lots of white space (and space of any color, for that matter) to give their designs more structure and make use of clean framing to give their designs stability and a canvas to jump off of.
In 2020, we’ll see wide frames of white space giving web designs a solid structure. By allowing each element on the page a generous amount of space, framing creates the perfect foundation for making visuals shine. Neatly structured frames around websites create a satisfying sense of order and help prioritize and separate all the different parts of a page.
7. Glowing, luminous color schemes
<
img src="https://99designs-blog.imgix.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Screen-Shot-2019-11-12-at-8.46.03-PM-e1573609778854.png?auto=format&q=60&fit=max&w=930" alt="Example of 2020 web design trend of bold duotone" />via MONOGRIDvia Matthias Vambairguevia Magic People Voodoo People
As we head into 2020, we’ll be seeing courageous color pairings, used strategically to make web designs jump off the screen. Web design is becoming more bold and daring, using glow-in-the-dark neons and highly saturated colors in combination with darker, muted shades to give the designs a luminous feel.
Duotone web designs in particular make this trend shine. Duotone keeps reinventing itself to maintain its place at the forefront of design. This latest iteration is the boldest yet, relying on futuristic, neon pops of color and stark color opposites to make veritably vivacious visuals.
In 2020, intriguing color schemes will play a critical role in web design. With web design trends like extreme minimalism and dark mode on the rise, glowing and luminous colors can really shine.
With the rise of wearable devices like smartwatches, web design in general is thinking smaller. The area most affected by this is navigation, the glue that holds a website together. Over the last few years, navigation has been getting simpler and simpler to accommodate extremely small devices and even smaller attention spans.
Extremely minimalist navigation takes away much of the difficulty in usability. The less a user has to think about moving around, the more time they spend immersed in the site, actually moving around instead of wondering how.
At the same time, imagery is becoming more important. Large-scale photos and videos are your chance to impress users—while only using the bare minimum of text.
A minimalist web design with large photography by David & GeorgeA minimalist web design with large photography by Hitron
With less text on the page large images are being pulled to the foreground and represent the main focus of the composition. Because the image gets the lion’s share of attention, make sure it’s worthy; use a powerful or artful visual that says it all.
Looking forward to web design trends 2020
With those annoying 2010s coming to a close, web design trends 2020 are embracing futurism like never before. Attention-grabbing visuals and colors, 3D effects and old trends reinvented are all clear indicators of this new 2020 style. This movement extends beyond the screen as well, with modern web design emphasizing more user friendly site experiences, as with minimalist navigation and less eye-straining dark design.
At the brink of this new decade web designers are simultaneously looking to the future and to the past for inspiration. And thanks to this multitude of opposing design trends, movements and styles it’s safe to say that web design in 2020 will be full of surprises.
Let our designers create something unique for you.
Do you feel like you spend half of your workday dealing with IT issues?
Are you concerned that your current IT strategy isn’t doing enough to protect your customer data?
Do you simply lack the IT knowledge and expertise to lower your risk and keep things running smoothly on your own?
If so, then you need to keep on reading.
In this post, we’ll help you to understand what managed IT services are. We’ll also discuss just a few of the many managed service benefits that working with a professional can offer you, your employees, and your company at large.
Read on to learn why now is the time to make the switch to managed IT services.
What is Managed IT Services?
Before we get into the many benefits of managed IT services, let’s make sure you’re clear on what they are. Essentially, these services give control over IT equipment, installation/updates, software, and the day-to-day functionality of your IT needs to a professional service.
In general, these IT services include data protection and 24/7 monitoring, network administration, software integration, data migrations, and much more. In exchange for these managed IT services, you pay a set monthly fee to the professional company.
Managed Service Benefits
There are countless benefits to making the choice to go with managed IT services. Whether you’re a large or small business, and regardless of which phase of business you’re in, we know that working with these services will save you both time and money.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular reasons to make the switch now.
1. Increased Security
With about 14 million businesses hacked within a single year, the reality is that the odds aren’t always in your favor when it comes to cybersecurity.
Managed IT services offer proactive security solutions that help you mitigate your risk. They’ll be able to identify both the digital and the “real-world” threats to your business and work to mitigate them.
Plus, remember that a security breach can seriously damage the reputation of your company. Once you’ve lost that consumer trust, it can be tough to get it back.
In fact, about 60% of smaller businesses that are hacked end up closing their doors within just six months.
It’s not worth the risk.
Managed IT services will constantly monitor your website, run backups of your data, and alert you as soon as they notice any suspicious activity.
2. Lowered Business Costs
We know that you’re always looking for ways to save on the overall operating costs of your business. Are you a little uncertain about whether or not you can afford the monthly fees of a managed IT service?
You need to consider how much money — and time that you can spend pitching instead of updating your software — it will save you down the line. First of all, you’ll lower your risk for violations and data breaches, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix.
You’ll also know exactly how much you’ll need to put towards the cost of your IT services, which helps you to keep your expenses consistent.
3. Assistance with Compliance
Did you know that a shocking 80% of companies are not actually PCI compliant?
If you suspect that your business may not be in complete compliance with industry standards, you need to take immediate action. Especially if you’re in the beginning phases of your business, the hefty fines associated with being in violation of regulations could very well cost you your business.
Managed IT services can help.
First of all, they’re likely familiar with the compliance regulations that you need to follow. They can quickly pinpoint areas that aren’t in compliance, and work to find a solution.
This helps to ensure that your software is always up-to-date, your clients’ credit card numbers/payment information are safe, and that your security practices are in line with current regulations.
4. Access to Professional Expertise
The final benefit of managed IT services that we’ll discuss in this post?
Immediate access to the expertise of IT professionals who can quickly diagnose a problem and prevent new ones from cropping up at the same time.
When your website is down, you’re experiencing technical difficulties with your software, or if you’re struggling with your email accounts, every second counts.
This is true not only when it comes to security and data protection. But it also helps you increase your overall operating efficiency and site uptime.
Your team of IT professionals will have the experience to quickly and correctly identify the problems so you don’t have to lose two full business days (or more) waiting for things to be fixed.
Plus, remember that it’s likely that the majority of your competitors are also using some type of IT managed services. In order to keep up with the advantages that these services offer your competitors, you’ll need to leverage the benefits of IT services for your own company, too.
Ready to Work With Managed IT Services?
From helping you to lower your business costs to providing assistance with data security and backup, we hope this post has helped you to see the benefits of managed IT services.
When you’re looking to streamline your business and lower its operating costs at the same time, make the switch to a managed IT service.
We want to be able to provide you with the level of service and expertise that you deserve. Spend some time on our website to learn more about how we can make that happen — from IT services to web design and more.
When you’re ready to have access to some of the top IT services in the industry, reach out to us to get started.
No more big phone bills Just save money and stay connected, any time, anywhere
Unitel offers businesses like yours state-of-the-art hosted and on-site office phone systems that use the power of the cloud to save you money and enhance office efficiency. You can wave goodbye to big phone bills, and enjoy better communication between staff, customers, and mobile workers. Best of all, our team takes care of it all, from purchase, installation and setup, to hosting if required. You and your staff enjoy more chat for less cash.
Unitel does all the work And you enjoy the best technology solutions
Why choose Unitel to help with your telephony?
Expertise
Our technicians are CTP (Converged Technologies Professional) Certified and Network+ Certified.
Full service
We take care of everything from from installation to full service and support with all our solutions.
The best partners
Unitel works closely with the best system providers, such as Toshiba and Shoretel.
If you currently use between 5-500 phones Our hosted and on-site solutions can help you
With phone solutions, either hosted or on-site from Unitel, you enjoy not just state-of-the-art technology, but also a range of other features and benefits.
A solution that fits your business
We give you a complete communications system put together with your needs in mind. We take into account your staff, mobile workforce, customer base and future plans for growth.
For hosted PBX That brings big benefits and savings
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A minimalist web design with large photography by 
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