Author: Rebecca Alston

Malware infections and cyber attacks have significantly grown in frequency over the last few years, highlighting the need for the protection of sensitive data and safeguarding against malicious attacks more than ever before. For this reason, an increasing number of companies are now focused on hiring professional and experienced cyber security personnel that will keep their data and their business safe. But unlike many other job descriptions, the requirements of a good cyber security expert aren’t quite clear to many employers, especially the less tech-savvy ones. To help you hire the best people and ensure you’ve made the right decision, here are some of the most crucial cyber security skills to look for:

Cloud security

If you’re currently looking at cloud solutions for running applications and storing data, you will need qualified individuals who have knowledge of the underlying infrastructure behind this model, as well as how to incorporate authentication and identity management. As a high percentage of cloud breaches happen due to stolen credentials, individuals who understand efficient tactics will help you manage the cloud more securely, and identify and monitor potential schemes. In terms of business, it’s also beneficial to have someone who understands the clauses in contracts with cloud service providers, particularly in terms of your security responsibilities in the agreement.

Threat intelligence analysis

While there are a wide array of threat intelligence tools currently available on the market, individuals who can utilize them properly, along with analyzing and contextualizing trends in threats, are not that easy to come by. Many businesses have difficulties finding people with this specific skill set, and often even more challenges properly training them, as this job usually requires curiosity, great analytical capabilities, as well as the ability to handle critical pressure. Threat intelligence professionals also need to be talented in terms of analyzing digital forensics and have great programming skills, particularly when it comes to Python. Additional incident response experience might also be of help in this area.

Application security development

Your business also needs security employees who are proficient in DevOps operations, and are able to closely work with your software engineering teams. As engineering professionals are often more focused on the functionality of the product rather than its security, good communication skills can be quite important in this area. Similarly, security personnel also needs to be flexible and adaptable, as application security development doesn’t normally fall under their scope of work and direct control. Because security professionals tend to be more focused on protecting from breaches instead of building security solutions into products, adapting to new security culture and mindset could be of benefit here as well.

Networking & IT

You can’t expect to defend a network if you don’t understand how it operates. As this is one of the most important required skills, it’s recommended to take a professional cyber security course that will allow you to develop the foundational skills in networking and IT, and understand the best practices. Whether you take a course yourself or even ask one of your IT employees to expand their knowledge, having certified credentials will give you the opportunity to improve your security skills, configure devices and operating systems, troubleshoot and solve service problems, and implement the best security protocols, all while improving your soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking.

Penetration testing

Individuals with penetration testing (or red teaming) skills need to be forward and direct types. They should be able to confidently walk into companies, point out exactly what is broken, and offer solutions for fixing those issues. Years of specialized training and previous experience are typically needed to perform this job well, which is why you might have difficulties finding such professionals as well. Keep in mind that the best penetration testers like to believe they could hack virtually anything. It takes plenty of boldness and confidence to perform this job, but the work also requires extensive skills and knowledge gained in classrooms, interactive seminars, as well as previous job opportunities.

Access & identity management

A significant percentage of breaches are thought to be caused by weak, compromised, and reused passwords. To that end, your business also needs a professional who is able to explain potential threats to other employees and teach them ways of improving password practices, such as using authenticator applications or biometrics like face ID and fingerprints in their everyday office work. Your company will also require skilled individuals who will be able to implement user access review software, as well as configure and manage networks efficiently, in order to protect your business against intruders. Experts in this field should define access levels to specific data sets and set privileges correctly tailored to employee responsibilities and defined roles.

Remote computing

After the recent remote working requirements, many security teams spent their time introducing VPNs and managing Remote Desktop Protocol servers in order to allow employees to seamlessly access corporate data and applications even from home. Whether your company is slowly going back to in-office work or even adopting a hybrid working model, chances are high not all employees will be in the workplace just yet. If that’s the case, your business will also need security personnel that understands RDP servers and VPNs, helping your employees to segment their home networks for higher security.

Risk and compliance auditing

The skills and capabilities that are necessary for this area will likely depend on the industry you operate in. For instance, any company working in the medical field should understand HIPAA compliance for protecting sensitive data, while e-commerce businesses will need to comply with PCI DSS regulations. Depending on your location or the areas in which you operate, you might also have to comply with the EU’s GDPR or California’s Consumer Privacy Act. In either case, you will need skilled professionals who are able to assess non-compliance risks and understand which security protocols to implement and what paperwork to file, in an effort to allow your company to comply with necessary regulations.

With cybercrime continuously on the rise and a lack of privacy presenting an increasing threat to companies worldwide, your business would do well investing in cyber security. The cyber skills mentioned above are some of the most essential aspects to look for when hiring the best, most highly qualified security personnel.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius once famously said, “choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” These ancient words of wisdom are probably more relevant today than in the time they were first ushered in.

In this day and age, most people need to tackle more than one job to get to the end of the month. With the things as they are, why wouldn’t you try to monetize hobbies you hold dear and try to make your passion a source of income?

Here, we are going to quickly go through a couple of steps that will get you to the finish line.

Test the concept

Although most hobbies like cooking, art, and artisanship can be monetized in one way or another, not every business idea is equally viable. So, use your friends and family to test whatever may be crossing your mind at the moment. This “soft launch” will help you to learn more about your professional weaknesses, iron out some of the wrinkles from your business model, develop ideas even further, and hit the market confident in what you are doing. Of course, all these efforts should be performed as a side-gig. A full-scale launch should be postponed until you are sure of the concept and have solid two years of savings put on the side.

Write a thorough business plan

Essentially, the business plan is a blueprint for your future business. This document outlines your company’s short-term and long-term goals, business structure, sources of income, expenses, market projections, and other topics vital for the development of one company. Although it requires a great deal of effort, a business plan is an excellent reference point for all of your future efforts, as well as a tool you will use to pitch your idea to potential investors. Starting a company requires a lot of money, and no one will be willing to buy into your ideas if they are not backed up by some data.

Get yourself a domain

We are living in a digital age, so earning any kind of money off your hobby can’t be imagined without registering an appealing website that will serve as the launching pad for your marketing efforts. Hobbies and artisanship are inherently interesting, attractive, and passion-driven, so you can only benefit by blogging about your personal experiences and what made you fall in love with the hobby in the first place. Of course, you can always go one step further and get yourself a .me personal domain that will double down on that unique experience. People are emotional beings, and they beg for a good story behind their products.

Set up the business for growth

Who knows, maybe you are going to experience a real boom much sooner than you expected. So, be prepared to use opportunities as they come with as little growing pains as possible. For a start, use business tools that allow scalability. Do you want to get some new features? Just subscribe for a service. Don’t need it anymore? Unsubscribe. Also, be sure to always have access to drop-in workers. For instance, you may get some huge catering gig, and you don’t want to keep additional workers full-time. See if you can cut a deal with some local restaurant to “borrow” an extra pair of hands when you need them the most.

Infographic created by Clover Network, a retail POS company

Develop a focused marketing plan

No matter whether you want to become a successful blogger or get into aromatherapy, your goal is the same – offer the product to the people who need it. So, stop knocking on the doors that will never be opened. Instead, you should have a very clear idea about the people who need your product and focus all of your efforts on them. Do your homework, perform thorough market research and see what channels work best for the people you want to win over. The same goes for the voice you are going to use. Corporate events and birthday parties may use the same food, but we are talking about two completely different audiences.

Measure your progress

Making progress is hard if you don’t know the direction in which you are heading. Roughly translated to the business lingo – you should really find some way to measure how well you are doing at the moment. You will do that by identifying some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) relevant for your company and trying to learn as much as possible about them before you finally launch the business. Granted, this can be pretty exhausting and tiresome, but great companies are built on hard work and compromises. Hitting the market without the tools to measure if you are actually doing well is a far, far worse outcome.

We hope these few suggestions gave you some general idea about the steps you need to take to turn your hobby into a full-scale profitable venture. We are living in a time when earning enough is hard, and time for doing the things you actually like is few and far between. Why wouldn’t you then try to earn by doing the things you like? Give it a shot – you have very little to lose and very much to gain.

Explore different methods to increase your Amazon store’s conversion rate while minimizing the cost involved. Keep reading to find out!

For years, Amazon – the world’s biggest e-commerce platform – has offered an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to make profits. But recently, this goal has been increasingly difficult due to the rising competition within the website, where more than 9.7 million sellers are launching their businesses.

If you are new to the industry and would like to convert the existing traffic into loyal customers with a limited budget, you might as well try out the free-of-charge techniques below. This way, you can dial down the expense and make sure the strategies do not cost a fortune!

What Is Conversion Rate?

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of people who decided to buy a particular product from your listing after viewing it. To calculate the conversion rate, simply divide the number of orders by the total visits you get within a fixed timeframe.

This formula is also applied to Amazon conversion rate, which measures the sales made solely from the platform. Needless to say, the higher your conversion rate is, the more lucrative your business has become.

Despite having no universal standard for what constitutes a good conversion rate, most experts agree that a typical Amazon seller account should aim for roughly 4-6%.

This statistic is heavily influenced by the clickthroughs from users, the quality of SEO, how effective ad campaigns are, as well as pricing. Thus, it makes sense to curate all of these aspects and ensure your Amazon store has an edge over its rivals.

4 Free-Of-Charge Ways To Increase Amazon Conversion Rate

Optimize the ad copy

When customers first drop by your main web page, the first thing they notice is arguably the text. Hence, making the ad copy readable, scannable, and informative enough for shoppers should be your top priority.

Headline

If written properly, headlines will strike a good impression with your target audience and raise the visibility of your product. Therefore, you should try to include as many details about what you have to offer as possible.

The name of the product and the brand itself are two indispensable factors that must come first. Next up, give potential buyers a brief of the item by adding more about the size, capacity, color, package, material. If needed, you can even add a few unique selling points of your item.

Still, it is worth remembering that Amazon only allows a title to be under 250 characters. You might want to avoid cramming and stick to the most important bits.

Bullet points

As the name already indicates, bullet points are where you can display the most distinctive features of your product in short texts.

It is best that you group similar traits into one umbrella category (such as safety, comfort, powerful performance, etc.) and dedicate each bullet point to quickly capture why customers should choose this item from your store.

Product description

This part is an extension of the bullet points, which enables store owners to dive deeper into the characteristics of each product. Here, you should take the chance to explain the working mechanism, functions, as well as any noticeable merits.

The more comprehensive your texts are, the easier it is to convince potential shoppers to take action.

Add suitable photos

Imagery helps illustrate a listing and offers customers valuable insights about the product they are currently viewing. Currently, Amazon leaves enough space for businesses to upload 9 photos maximum to a listing, including one primary and eight secondary.

For the former, go for a front shot that shows the most seeable angles. As far as the rest is concerned, you should add a back shot, a detail shot, a step-by-step instruction, a before-after (if your product requires an assembly), and even a video.

In most cases, it would be ideal to use a white background in all photos so the product and its features can stand out.

Strengthen the keywords

Keywords are what determine the visibility of your listing. Even when you do not intend on running Amazon ads, it does not kill to put them in relevant terms, as they would boost your ranking higher on the search result page. So what are some highly recommended tactics for keyword optimization?

• Backend keywords: These are not visible to Amazon users, but the algorithms still take backend keywords into account when calculating the quality of your landing page. Common phrases that usually belong here are misspellings, variations, and names of similar products.
• Long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords do not offer the highest search volume, but they are strong intent. Including a few long-tail keywords makes it easier for your product to appeal to a specific section of customers.

Take advantage of upselling

Upselling is the art of persuading customers to buy more than what they intended in the first place. There are multiple ways in which you can increase the value of each order on Amazon. The most common tactic is to make related items visible when customers reach the “Add to basket” stage. For the best results, you should pick out anything that can complement the benefits of the original product but is significantly less expensive.

For example, your Amazon store focuses on selling smartphones. To upsell this line of products successfully, consider adding phone holders, phone cases, or pop sockets.

These items are capable of optimizing the user experience while costing only a few more dollars. Consequently, shoppers are more inclined to buy the whole package.

Conclusion

Increasing the revenue of an Amazon business is no piece of cake. Suppose you are well-equipped to handle everything on your own, then good for you. But if not, do not hesitate to contact Olifant Digital and explore what the professionals have in store.

Here, rest assured that the agency is more than willing to provide you with detailed instructions on maximizing the conversion rate and maintaining the performance in the long run!

Cars benefit greatly from having a reliable set of floor mats in place to protect the interiors from the attrition of the outside. From dirt and sand, mud and snow, floor mats on the car can keep any of these destructive elements in one place. They even provide a sense of balance when on the roads.  

But floor mats are supposed to be exposed to dirt and dust and other elements. Therefore, they are prone to damage far faster than most other car goods. But you can extend the longevity and value of your floor mats by choosing items of improved quality.  

Finding the right floor mat for your truck or car is easy and fun. Here is what you need to know about making the best selection for your VW Polo.  

Carpets 

Tufted carpets floor mats for cars are often made of polypropylene, nylon, and other durable synthetic fibers. On the reverse side, you will find non-slip rubber grips that keep the floor mats sturdily in place. 

The great thing about carpets is that they can be tailor-made to your personal needs and style. When it comes to the style and design that car owners are looking for, there are virtually unlimited options available. Furthermore, the vast availability of this product does much to keep the prices at an affordable low.  

Of course, these carpets will always gather dirt and mud very quickly as this is their purpose. A well-designed floor mat will actually be designed to collect and hold dirt until it is properly cleaned and can release all contaminants.  

But carpet floor mats are the best option for cars that will not be driven daily or regularly. They are best reserved for a finer car that will never see much dust or dirt on the interior. Furthermore, they are an aesthetically pleasing option and only a good investment for those with aesthetics on their mind.  

Rubber 

Rubber floor mats are made of a thick rubber designed and crafted to withstand rough treatment and all types of damage from rocks, mud, and dirt. Therefore, they are also very easy to clean, simply hose them down and in just a few minutes they will be dry enough to be returned to their position. Because rubber is an especially long-lasting material, rubber floor mats are also especially long-lasting even under the harshest treatment. You will notice that these rubber floor mats typically feature long grooves that make them weather-resistant and non-slip.  This is something you will notice in all VW Polo mats.  

But the only downside to rubber floor mats is that they are not available in such a wide range of design options and don’t do much to improve the aesthetics of the car in one way or another, other than simply looking like high-performance top-quality floor mats. If these floor mats are left in the sun for too long, they will begin to crack and they also can become slick when wet or oily.  

For cars that will be heading out for adventure and possibly hard work, there is no better option than a rubber floor mat. If you have to transport rowdy passengers who will potentially throw their food and drinks around, rubber floor mats would also be a good option for you.

Buy your VW Polo mats here for an aesthetically pleasing interior that is protected.

Despite a seemingly fancy title, estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy. In all actuality, the term ‘estate” might not even mean what you think it does. At the end of the day, deciding who’ll inherit your belongings is a massive decision and a critical part of the actual planning. Intelligent estate planning will assist with protecting families that have young children while also keeping your heirs from needing to pay too much on inheritance taxes. The fact of the matter is that without it, you don’t get to choose who gets what. Let’s take a closer look.

Protect Your Beneficiaries

One way to ease your mind about passing on might be to make sure your beneficiaries are protected. Life insurance is one way to do this, and the insurance premium you’ll have to pay doesn’t need to be too expensive, which makes this an ideal solution. When the inevitable happens, the insurance will provide your beneficiaries with funds to cover your final expenses and to give them a bit of a cushion – especially if you happened to be the primary earner.  

Young Children

Naturally, nobody wants to consider the possibility of dying at an early age, especially people who have young children. But it happens. If you pass away early in your life, what happens to your kids? You have to secure your child’s future. This means you need to be prepared for anything.

To do this, you need to have a will, which is an element of estate planning. In the will, you’ll designate who’ll take care of any children under the age of 18 and what they’ll inherit when they reach legal adulthood. Without this document, the courts decide these critical matters.

State’s Will

Whether you know it or not, the state you live in already has a default will for those who don’t have one themselves. This is referred to as an intestacy statute. The thing is, this will rarely distribute your assets in a way that you’d desire. Having a valid will ensures this never happens. 

Conservators

Not only is it possible to name a guardian for your children, but you also need to think about naming a guardian for your estate. This is called a conservator. This person is responsible for managing any assets that you’ve designated for your children to inherit. They’ll ensure that your wishes are followed and can even allow your designated beneficiary to bypass the process of probate, which can be rather pricey.

Avoid Family Drama

Surely, you’ve heard of (or seen on TV) families fighting over who gets what after someone dies. It happens quite often, actually, and surely you don’t want this for your family members if something happens to you. As part of your estate planning, you choose a person to be in charge of things once you die, or even if you become incapacitated mentally before you pass away. You’ll also choose who you want to get your belongings to — and when. This can help keep family members from fighting over your assets and even going to court over them.

Estate planning is vital for your family’s future. If you choose to leave anything for your loved ones, you’ll need to have quite a comprehensive plan for it. It should specify who gets what so that it isn’t left up to the courts. Without a plan of this nature, your family might be facing the burden of going to court, paying copious amounts of taxes for their inheritance, and might not even have any say over what happens to any minor children. 

If you’re a parent right now, that reference probably really makes sense to you. Ah, the nineties and aughts, what a time to be alive and not yet have created your own people. But, maybe you did have a young child in 1999, and now they’re finally old enough to get out of dodge for the weekend. Perhaps they’re on Spring Break. Maybe they’ve planned an epic camping trip with friends. No matter why they’re out of the house, they are out of the house – time to celebrate! 

Of course, you’re going to miss them and worry about how they’re doing while they’re away from you, but what better way to distract from that worry than by throwing a get-together with your friends and loved ones? So, start googling “DJs near me,” and let us get this party started quickly, right?

How To Plan The Party Of The Century When The Kids Are Away

If the kids going out of town didn’t leave you with a ton of notice, absolutely throw caution to the wind and send a group text invite to all your favorite people – make haste! Forget a theme. Forget a dress code and a menu. Now is the time to seize the day! So, order a bunch of pizza, run to the ABC store and the grocery store, and create the charcuterie board of the century. As far as music goes, you can go with a premade playlist from any streaming service like Apple Music or Spotify, and you should be good to go. And, when it comes to the decorations, you could fill some helium balloons for a pop of color.

Maybe though, you had some time to plan; if that’s the case, the sky (or your budget) is the limit. When planning parties, it’s always a great idea to have a theme in mind; that way, when your guests get their invites, they have a general idea of what to expect they’re walking into when they arrive at this kid-free party. If you want to do something black tie, you could even go so far as to hire caterers and servers for the event – and never forget the bartender. They set the mood in more ways than one. 

Consider The Venue 

Maybe you don’t want to deal with the hassle of cleaning up and restoring your home to its pre-kid vacation state before the kids get back. After all, the whole point is enjoying your time to relax and unwind with loved ones without your usual responsibilities hanging over your head. If this sounds appealing to you, consider renting a venue. The choice is yours – hotel event hall, a club you fancy, a beach, it’s entirely up to you. The main bonus here is (with the exception of the beach) you don’t have to worry about cleaning up afterward, and it’s often worth the cost to have someone do that for you, so you can enjoy the party as much as your guests do!

Feeding Frenzy 

Let’s face it – we’re all adults here – one of the most exciting things about walking into an adult event is the promise of delicious food that keeps us somewhat sober while we’re mingling and dancing the party away. So, whether you decide to hire a caterer, order off of Grubhub or turn it into a potluck, everyone gets to enjoy Janice’s famous spinach & artichoke dip. Make sure you’ve got plenty of food for everyone attending. Let’s include drinks in this section too. Make sure you’ve got several options of drinks for everyone in attendance; this goes without saying. Additionally, there may be (and likely will be) several people in attendance that live a sober lifestyle, so accommodate them as well with flavored waters, sodas, and anything else you think they’d like. 

Music Matters (A Lot)

We may not be as cool as we thought we were in our twenties, but now that we’re parents, we know what we like, and we like it a lot! Let loose with some seriously good music. Music sets the tone for everything at your epic party – so think such amazing nineties throwbacks all the way to the newest Justin Bieber or Drake album. Everyone loves to let loose when they’re spending time away from their children, and not only is dancing incredibly fun, it’s also a great way to stay in shape, so it’s a win-win for everyone!

Just like they told you to “sleep when the baby sleeps” when you became a parent, I’m telling you now to “play while the kids play.” So, if you’re lucky enough to get an entire weekend or even just the night, take advantage of it and throw whatever version of a “rager” is to you. You won’t regret it, and most importantly, you deserve it!