ERIC short for educational resources information center is a great academic search engine that focuses on education-related literature.

It facilitates effective and targeted searches and retrieves high quality, academically relevant results. The content providers which are included in the BASE are intellectually selected and reviewed.

Top 5 Websites for Academic Research

It’s no doubt that whenever you are searching online about something related to your assignment or project work, the first thing that comes to your mind is Google. However, when it comes to academic research, the Google search engine does not provide that much detailed and quality research as required for academic purposes. Apart from Google, there are a number of websites dedicated to academic research purposes. In this article, we will discuss the top 5 websites that are specifically designed for academic research.

Such websites can help you to get relevant information required for deep research purposes. Many college students, professors, scientists, researchers, etc make use of such websites for preparing research papers, documents and other academic research.

Top 5 Websites for Academic Research

1. Google Scholar

As the name suggests, this special website or search engine is designed by Google. Google Scholar’s prime purpose is to provide academic research about a wide range of topics. Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. Search across a wide variety of disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions.

Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research. Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature.

• Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place
• Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications
• Locate the complete document through your library or on the web
• Keep up with recent developments in any area of research
• Check who’s citing your publications, create a public author profile

2. Microsoft Academic

Microsoft Academic is a free website or search engine, developed by Microsoft, for academic publications and literature. One of its best features is that it provides graphs, maps and trends for your academic research. It contains different types of content including scientific papers, publications, conferences, journals and many other types of academic research papers.

• Microsoft Academic (MA) makes use of advances in machine learning, semantic inference and knowledge discovery to help you explore scholarly information in more powerful ways than ever before.
• MA is a semantic search engine, not a keyword-based one (It means they match the keywords you type in the search field with the words related to it, and doesn’t rely only on keyword matching).
• It employs natural language processing to understand and remember the knowledge conveyed in each document. Thus it recognizes the user’s intent and delivers results relevant to the user’s intention.
• It also provides related information about the most relevant authors, institutions, publication outlets, and research areas.

3. BASE

BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world’s most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources, e.g. journal articles, preprints, digital collections, images/videos or research data. The BASE provides more than 240 million documents from more than 8,000 content providers. It is operated by Bielefeld University Library.

It facilitates effective and targeted searches and retrieves high quality, academically relevant results. The content providers which are included in the BASE are intellectually selected and reviewed.

• Content providers are indexed only after a check by qualified personnel of Bielefeld University Library.
• Only document servers and journals that comply with the specific requirements of academic quality and relevance are included.
• Multilingual search (find search terms in more than 20 translated languages)
• The display of search results includes precise bibliographic data
• Several options for sorting the result list (by author, title, date)
• “Refine your search result” options (by author, subject, DDC, year of publication, content provider, language, document type, access and terms of re-use)

4. CORE

CORE is one of the world’s largest collections of open access research papers. CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research worldwide and deliver unrestricted access for all. It is a not-for-profit service delivered by The Open University and Jisc.

It currently contains 207,255,818 open access articles collected from 10,635 data providers around the world. CORE harvests research papers such as institutional and subject repositories, and open access and hybrid journals.

• CORE enriches scholarly data using state-of-the-art text and data mining technologies to aid discoverability.
• Enable others to develop new tools and use cases on top of the CORE platform.
• Supports the network of open access repositories and journals with innovative technical solutions.
• Facilitate a scalable, cost-effective route for the delivery of open scholarships.

5. RefSeek

RefSeek is a web search engine for students and researchers that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. It searches more than five billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers.

It’s unique approach offers students comprehensive subject coverage without the information overload of a general search engine—increasing the visibility of academic information and compelling ideas that are often lost in a muddle of sponsored links and commercial results.

Conclusion:

The Internet is a vast collection of different types of data. If you really need to do deep research on any topic for your academic research purpose, then you surely need to gather information from genuine and reliable sources. These were the top 5 websites or search engines for academic research. These sources mentioned can be of great help to you to make your research powerful. In the end, they will help you to submit quality assignments, project work or research papers.

Are you willing to learn new things? If yes, then check out the list below:

#20. Jurn

Users can narrow their search using the advanced search option, so regardless of whether you need a book, a review, a lecture, a video or a thesis, BASE has what you need. Find more than 3 million references to journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports in computer science with this bibliography collection.

There are more than 100 million publications available on the site from over 11 million researchers. It is possible to search by publication, data, and author, as well as to ask the researchers questions.

Resources:

The Top 100 Search Engines For Academic Research

Top 5 Websites for Academic Research

28 Best Academic Search Engines That make your research easier

]

If you can t afford therapy I have a whole post about what to do when you re depressed but don t have money to pay for a therapist you can check out.

How to Slay School When You Are Depressed

I feel like I should have gotten an extra diploma for graduating while managing my depression.

Trust me, if you don’t figure out a way to study and end up letting your grades slide it will make you feel even worse.

You need to try and find tricks that will work for you, but here are some of the things that helped me study with depression. If you need a pep talk check out the episode of my podcast below.

Set a Goal

It could be to read a certain number of chapters or working on a draft of a paper.

When you sit down to study, you should be working on completing a specific task.

If you don’t have a task in mind then set a time goal (reading for 45 minutes, researching a paper for an hour etc).

Prioritize

You want to make sure you’re only using it on tasks that are important and need to get done.

I like to map everything out on a calendar so I can see what I have coming up.

Use your lists and calendar to figure out what’s the most important thing to work on right now.

Try to pull out the top three things are the most urgent and focus all of your energy on them.

Make a Plan

Figure out the most important things to get done each day the week and write it out.

Make sure you’re taking into account what you wrote on your priorities list for your assignments.

Try and figure out how long each task on your priority task will take to complete and schedule your study time.

If I put off homework, until the end of the day, there’ss a good chance I’ll end up watching TV with my dog instead.

If you don’t know what time works best for you try scheduling at various times on different days and see what works best.

Trying to get through school when you’re depressed is hard, take the time to make a clear game plan.

I have a free mental health planner you can use to plan your day that you can grab below.

Go to a Therapist

It is very unlikely you’ll be able to go to therapy for free after you graduate.

When I was doing my undergraduate degree, I went to therapy every week for free.

This would have cost me thousands of dollars to pay for out of my own pocket.

They’re trained to work specifically with students and can be a great resource for you.

If your school doesn’t have free therapy checkout Better Help. This is the service I use and I really like it. It lets you talk to a therapist via text throughout the day (you can call or skype too but I prefer texting). I like that I can text my therapist every day and it is still cheaper than going to one traditional therapy session per week.

If you can’t afford therapy I have a whole post about what to do when you’re depressed but don’t have money to pay for a therapist you can check out.

Move Your Butt

Exercise will give you more energy and you need all the energy you can get right now.

If you feel like you can’t focus take a ten-minute exercise break to recharge yourself.

Self-Care

Ask for help if you need it. Reach out to a friend or family member. Let them know you’re struggling and need support.

Make a list of things that make you feel relaxed and try to do at least one of them every day.

When you have a lot of work to do self-care can feel like a waste of time but trust me, it’s not.

If you don’t take care of yourself you’ll end up sick, stressed out and in an even worse mental state.

Take time to go for a walk, take a bath, or write in a journal. Try something like a game or puzzle. Solving puzzles diverts your attention away from the stress you face.

These things will help you stay charged. You will end up getting more done than if you skip over them and let your mental health deteriorate.

Get Out of Your House

If I tried to study at my house I would end up procrastinating or sleeping all day.

Going to study at the same place, at the same time, every day really helped me.

I used to post up at a local bakery by my house for a few hours on my way to school.

Try to Eliminate Distractions

If I needed to write a paper I would turn the WiFi off on my laptop or go to a cafe that I knew didn’t have internet access.

I also like to have the TV on when I would study but (surprise) I never got much done and my work wasn’t the best quality.

Organization and Daily Routines

Along with your child and with their permission let your child s teacher know that your child is struggling with depression and that you believe that they are not ready to catch up, or keep up, right now. One way to be productive despite depression is to see depression as a habit, says Joseph Luciani, PhD, a psychologist in New York City and the author of Self-Coaching The Powerful Program to Beat Anxiety and Depression.

Tweens and teens in middle and high school see multiple teachers throughout the school day. If your child does not have a specific homeroom or advisory teacher assigned to them, find a teacher to fill that role. This should be a teacher that your child feels comfortable talking to and that can be sure to be a regular point of contact throughout the day for other teachers and you.

Resources:

How to Slay School When You Are Depressed

https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-to-help-depressed-children-succeed-in-school-4098394
https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-photos/get-things-done-despite-depression.aspx
]

In addition, doing too much homework can also increase the chance of making mistakes, which could also lead to lower grades.

Homework Should Have a Limit

There should be a limit on homework. As in only a certain amount of assignments per subject.
There is a section in school agenda’s that tell us how much time each grade should spend on homework every day/week. But realistically, some students are getting WAY to much homework while other students in the same grade but another class are getting none. There should be a mandatory reasonable limit to homework, every student, no matter which class should have to spend approximately the same amount of time on homework. With this the kids could be getting their required homework, and having a social life.

All the Yes points:

All the No points:

overwhelming

Yes because…

Yes there should be some type of thing to do with that much homework. There are some nights where kids have none at all and then there are some nights where it seems like the kids have way to much. They should lower the limit to around 30 minutes for kids and then for high schoolers like 45 minutes. That way the kids can go outside or sit down and relax, rather than sitting doing nothing but homework.

No because…

Obviously homework should be unregulated. Children are a dangerous species and deserve to suffer at the hands of adult society. Too many children now adays spend their time going out and ‘shanking bare manz’. It is a well known belief that children should spend their time doing homework, for example look at Nick Clegg, he obviously never did any homework that’s why he ended up as a lib dem, but because of this he can put forward idiotic views in every conceivable area and hinder the progress of Britain as the worlds most powerful nation. God save the queen…..

Yes because….

Yes because…

Yes, but some may disagree, schools should limit homework because kids don’t have time. They are busy. Kids grades drop because of too much homework. Also, it’s way better to do class work then homework. It would just be better if schools limited homework.

My first reason is that kids don’t have time, they are busy. Homework is important, although too much homework is unneeded and stressful and it also puts pressure on the brain.

My second reason is that kids grades drop low because of too much homework. Believe it or not, if kids get to much homework, they get lazy & eventually don’t want do it at all.

No because…

Yes Homework Should Have A Limit

Yes because…

Yes. I do think that homework should have a limit because sometimes homework can be overwhelming and you spend a lot of time on the computer or with a sheet of paper doing homework instead of spending time with your family and doing things. You do need to do homework but there is a point where you just have to stop. You can’t have piles and piles of homework isnt good but having some homework is good. Having no homework at all would leave you bored. Overal I think that having some homework is good but having a lot of homework isnt the greatest. So yes i think homework should have a limit.

No because…

Yes, kids need to balance out mental and physical exercise.

Yes because…

Homework till an extent is good. Keeps the child busy and interested in studies. But however an excess of homework definitely leads to over burden on the mind of the child. I believe that their should also be plethora of time time given to the child for his physical development. If much of homework is put on him\er there’s less time for him\er to go out and play outdoor games. If the child after school is also busy with his homework, he finds less time for discovering himself , his capabilities and hobbies. Therefore I would like to end and say anything in excess is bad, everything should be balanced out in life for a better living.

No because…

Yes, it should.

Yes because…

No because…

Homework Should Have a Limit

There should be a limit on homework. As in only a certain amount of assignments per subject.
There is a section in school agenda’s that tell us how much time each grade should spend on homework every day/week. But realistically, some students are getting WAY to much homework while other students in the same grade but another class are getting none. There should be a mandatory reasonable limit to homework, every student, no matter which class should have to spend approximately the same amount of time on homework. With this the kids could be getting their required homework, and having a social life.

Yes because…

Yes there should be some type of thing to do with that much homework. There are some nights where kids have none at all and then there are some nights where it seems like the kids have way to much. They should lower the limit to around 30 minutes for kids and then for high schoolers like 45 minutes. That way the kids can go outside or sit down and relax, rather than sitting doing nothing but homework.

No because…

Obviously homework should be unregulated. Children are a dangerous species and deserve to suffer at the hands of adult society. Too many children now adays spend their time going out and ‘shanking bare manz’. It is a well known belief that children should spend their time doing homework, for example look at Nick Clegg, he obviously never did any homework that’s why he ended up as a lib dem, but because of this he can put forward idiotic views in every conceivable area and hinder the progress of Britain as the worlds most powerful nation. God save the queen…..

Homework can cause students to lose focus in class.

Managing stress and maintaining a level of balance between school work and free time is difficult to achieve, especially considering the high volume of homework in high school. They found that the average amount of homework the students did each day was over three hours and, Students who did more hours of homework experienced more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.

Due to the stress, pressure and lack of balance in students’ lives induced by excessive homework, the amount of work assigned outside of class should be limited or at least cut down from the size it is now.

Resources:

https://debatewise.org/3414-homework-should-have-a-limit/

Homework Should Have a Limit

https://classroommanagementexpert.com/blog/10-reasons-why-teachers-should-give-less-homework/
]

How to Write a Book Description That Attracts Readers

Unless you are a huge fan of the book’s author, you’re first drawn to a catchy title and cover appeal–a provocative illustration or that unique cover design.

The book description includes just enough about what is going to happen in the book, to make the reader yearn for answers to all the questions flitting through his or her mind…if the author has succeeded in writing a captivating description.

For self-published authors, it’s even more important to craft the ultimate book description, so that when people land on your book’s site page, they will be drawn to purchase or download your book.

Here’s how to write a book description that attracts readers:

Helpful Tips for How to Write Your Book Description

Swimming brings back a nightmare that Rebecca Fishburn would much rather forget.

So when the gym teacher announces plans to take the class swimming for the next two weeks, Reb can think of nothing else…and she is terrified!

She must do whatever it takes to stay out of the water.

Reb is convinced that she must lie…or she just might drown!

Reb Fishburn: In Too Deep

I played around with the description for several weeks, before settling on the blurb (see above) for my back cover. I wanted to write “Reb is convinced that she must lie or she just might die.” I wanted to help the reader experience the enormity of Reb’s fear.

I took their advice and changed that single word. After all, the potential buyers of my book include teachers and parents. If they found the sentence offensive, so might many others.

You might not expect to discover gold on a country farm, but Grandpa knows just where to find this hidden treasure.

Dig into Grandpa’s Hidden Gold Farm for a sweet and yummy treat!

Grandpa’s Hidden Gold Farm

The cover illustrations and the title offer clues about the kind of hidden treasure tucked inside the book, but the description never mentions bees or honey!

It is the first day of school for a new student and she is faced with a bully. This book helps readers understand that sometimes the most bothersome people may just be needing a friend.

Sophia and the Bully

The person writing this description chose to offer the reader a brief main idea paragraph, without revealing any of the events from the story. The book, written for beginning readers, contains only 12 pages. In that case, describing any single event would be to give away the whole story!

Here are some tips for writing a book description for other genres:

1. A cookbook may entice readers with delicious words and samplings from the specific type of recipes written between the covers.
2. A thriller might show the comparison between this book and a similar tale by a better-known author–with just enough details to send chills up the reader’s spine..
3. A romance will certainly play on the reader’s love strings, divulging the names of the main characters and suggesting a problem that could keep the two from coming together!
4. A nonfiction book will provide an overview of what new and exciting concepts or facts the reader is going to learn. If any special chapters, illustrations or photos are included in the book, these should be mentioned in the book description.
5. A self-help book will describe the book’s layout and explain why the author is qualified to write a new book on this particular topic. A few details or a real-life example from the chapters within will show the reader that he or she may have finally found the answer to his or her problem.
6. A historical fiction book will place the fictional main character within an accurately-depicted time and place, when an event of great magnitude (from actual history) is about to happen–and a captivating book description will include all of these details.

There, you’ll have thousands of books at your fingertips. You will quickly realize how one author works his or her magic, causing you want to read more, and why another author’s book cover fails to peak your interest.

Become familiar with how other writers within your genre handle the back cover book description. See for yourself how the title, cover illustrations and book description work together, to make the reader want to know what lies within the pages.

Resource:

https://selfpublishing.com/write-a-book-description/

What you need to know about open rates and click-through rates

Before diving into benchmarking and tips for improving performance metrics, we should review what “open rate” and “click-through rate” actually mean. Let’s go over how they’re calculated, too.

What is an open rate? Why is it an essential email campaign metric?

To calculate your email open rate, divide the email’s number of unique opens by the total number of people that saw your email. The total is the number of people that you sent the email to minus the number of bounce instances.

Different types of email campaigns—transactional emails, autoresponders, newsletters, etc.—are bound to have different ideal metrics. You should always aim for higher open rates, however, if your email campaign’s purpose is to raise your brand’s awareness and build relationships with your subscribers.

What is a click-through rate? How do you determine a good CTR for email campaigns?

To calculate your email click-through rate, take the number of people that clicked on one or more links in your email. Divide that by the number of people you sent the email to initially—don’t subtract the bounces. Now take the resulting quotient and multiply it by 100.

As an email marketer, you should be used to the typical click-through rate of an email by now, but it can seem alarming to the uninformed. Depending on your brand’s industry, your email’s CTR can be anywhere from one to five percent.

The click-through rate is more important than the open rate when it comes to lead generation. A low CTR compared to a healthy open rate means that your email’s body needs work, as it’s not compelling enough to result in clicks.

Email marketing campaigns live and die by the strength of their calls to action. In other words, the more people click through, the more effective your emails are. The more successful your emails are in terms of engagement, the higher your ROI.

Other related email campaign performance metrics

What should you remember about delivery rate and bounce rate?

Be careful not to interchange the open rate and the delivery rate. The latter is the percentage of people that received the email in their inboxes. It’s usually higher than the open rate.

The bounce rate is the percentage of bounced emails. Note that undelivered is not necessarily the same as bounced. Unless a recipient’s mail server returns the sent email and tells you the email address no longer exists, it’s not counted as a hard bounce.

What is a click-to-open rate and why should you track it?

The click-to-open rate or CTOR is a measurement of how many click-throughs are received through opened emails. To calculate an email’s CTOR, divide the total unique clicks by total unique opens. Multiply this quotient by 100.

This performance metric shows how effective your email copy is at encouraging people to take action. This is critical information, but very specific. While the CTR is informed by the actions of all of an email’s recipients, the click-to-open rate is only concerned with the actions of people that opened the email.

The CTOR is useful if your main focus is to improve your email content. If you’re taking the holistic approach of refining email campaigns based on the most relevant metrics, it’s best to stick to open rates and click-through rates.

What does a low click rate mean?

1. Your emails aren’t getting to the inbox: If your deliverability rate is low, it will affect both your open rate and click rate.
2. Your subject line didn’t interest recipients: You’ll know this is the problem if open rate and click rate are low, but deliverability is high. This doesn’t just mean it was a bad subject line — it could have been targeted to the wrong audience. A subject line about coffee might yield a low open rate from tea lovers, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be tested on a coffee-loving audience.
3. Your email content didn’t inspire action: Finally, if your deliverability and open rates were high, but your click rate was low, it’s likely that the content in your email didn’t resonate with your recipients.

Increasing your click rate is an art. What’s most effective for your business will depend on the current status of your emails. For example, if your deliverability is airtight, it’s not worth your time to try to raise your inbox placement from 99.99% to 99.999%

1. Practice healthy email list habits––and SMS, too!

High email deliverability hinges on healthy lists. Regularly cleaning your list––removing unengaged subscribers before they mark your emails as spam––helps you actually make it into your recipients’ inboxes.

“Please, please don’t blast your list,” says Katherine Burlock, CLV Strategist, &BAM. “Even if it doesn’t affect deliverability––which it surely will––you’re possibly hurting your reputation by blasting the list over and over. Segment out customers versus non customers, and by brand/collection users have shown interest in. There are are a million ways to segment and personalize so you don’t overwhelm the inbox”

You can use customer behavior to segment all kinds of campaigns. For example, on big sale emails, exclude customers who just purchased the product, since a sale on the product they just bought will probably just cause frustration and a potential price match problem.

2. Start at the subject line

“Keep your subject lines short,” says Ashley Ismailovski, CRO Operations Manager, SmartSites. “I know you just created the most amazing email and you can’t wait to share it with your subscribers, but if the subject line isn’t compelling, they just won’t open the message. The fact of the matter is that most emails are read on phones nowadays. This means that length subject lines could get cut off before you get to any of the good stuff!”

3. Create a content test

Remember click-to-open rate? It’s the measure of who clicked a link—based only on who opened the email. It’s not the same as a click rate, but it can be helpful in understanding if a content test is the best way to increase clicks.

If your CTOR is low, it’s a sign that your email content needs some love, and your click rate will thank you for it. To make content adjustments that actually increase click rates, create a content test.

If you want to make incremental changes, choose one element of your email to change. This will help you isolate a single variable and learn something specific, like if a green or white button is more effective. Another great single-variable test is comparing lifestyle and product imagery. You might be surprised what your audience prefers!

“A missed opportunity for many brands is to A/B test key flow messages with both an email and an SMS version,” says Ryan O’Connor, Director of Growth, SmartBug Media. “Oftentimes one channel performs differently depending on the brand and where the customer is in their journey.”

If you choose the latter method, keep as many variables as possible the same. Schedule your two email versions to go to a randomized group on the same day and time. Try to keep email formatting similar to avoid introducing extra variables that might skew one email to perform better than the other for a formatting reason.

4. Optimize your emails for mobile

“Approach your emails from a mobile-first perspective,” says Ismailovski. “The large majority of emails that brands send are opened on smartphones instead of a computer or laptop. When testing your email design, make sure it looks great on small screens in addition to the standard desktop layout.”

Next, visualize how much information the recipient will be able to view on their screen at one time. The smaller screen usually shortens the text lines, so keep copy concise to avoid a block of text filling up the entire phone screen.

5. Rank your CTAs​​​​​​​

“Use the squint test to check your email design,” says Nichelle Hubley, Founder, CEO, &BAM. “ Squint until the design blurs and see if you can tell where the customer should click. It should be super freaking obvious. If your CTA doesn’t stand out, then the customer will scroll on by.”

Higher click rate, higher revenue

These tips are great and all––okay, I’m biased––but I want to emphasize that they’re all ultimately intended to help you drive more ecommerce revenue. Driving a higher click rate doesn’t mean much if your revenue doesn’t go up with it, as well.

Get email marketing insights delivered straight to your inbox.

Aubrey Harper

Aubrey is a Content Strategist at Klaviyo, where she leads content efforts across EMEA. Her background is in marketing technology, but she most recently worked in ecommerce, giving her a passion for entrepreneurs selling amazing stuff online. When she’s not making content to educate fellow ecom enthusiasts, you can find her in one of the many London parks chasing after her squirrel-happy dog and listening to the Everybody Hates Marketers podcast.

8 email performance tips that work, according to experts

Collect zero-party data––and actually use it

“Dynamic content within email marketing campaigns and flows can be extremely powerful when done well. Focus on specific messaging that aligns with a particular group of users’ interests. How do you get there? Surveys, quizzes, etc. As buzzwordy as it sounds, zero-party data is the key to unlocking the potential of your email and text marketing program.” —Ben Zettler, digital marketing & ecommerce consultant, Ben Zettler Digital

“Personalize your emails. You want to personalize your emails the best you can with the data you have. Personalization will help your user experience stay relevant and keep them coming back for more.” —Tennessee Allgood, lifecycle marketing senior manager, Stak Agency

Make your emails conversational––and you’ll stay out of spam, too

“The reply email is often overlooked. Ask people to reply to 1) engage in a poll, 2) be put on an early access list for a product launch, or 3) answer a question that helps with list segmentation. Just ask people to share and engage beyond opening and clicking.” —Christopher Maroney-Petitt at Ecom Growers

“Use email as a 2-way communication channel with customers. It’s grossly underused, but it has innumerable benefits if executed well for engagement rates, email deliverability, and sales.” —Adam Kitchen, CEO, Magnet Monster

“Use proactive 1-to-1 outreach for your high-value VIP customers. No frills in the design templates, these simple text-based emails or SMS messages build real human connections with customers. Despite the simple design, the experience feels premium and has been shown to increase engagement rate, upsell, and cross-sell.”—Eli Mitchell, director of partnerships at Lexer

A/B test everything––send times, number of emails, CTAs, SMS vs. email, and more

“A/B testing send times is one of the most underrated strategies I see with brands. Just by testing morning sends vs. night sends––or day of the week––you might see an extraordinary difference in conversions.”—Brandon Matis, owner at Luxor Marketing

“A missed opportunity for many brands is to A/B test key flow messages with both an email and an SMS version. Oftentimes, one channel performs differently depending on the brand and where the customer is in their journey.”—Ryan O’Connor, director of growth, SmartBug Media

“Approach your email strategy from a mobile-first perspective. The large majority of emails that brands send are opened on smartphones instead of a computer or laptop. When testing your email design, make sure it looks great on mobile devices in addition to the standard desktop layout.”—Ashley Ismailovski, CRO operations manager, SmartSites

“Increasing cadence––such as adding a lot of resends––can quickly cause list fatigue and drive subscribers away. Focusing on inactive segments––long-term unengaged contacts––often results in low performance and can unleash email deliverability issues. While it’s a good idea to have a re-engagement strategy in place, suddenly emailing a large group of inactive contacts can create spikes in email bounce rate, including hard bounces and complaints, and can even lead to blocklisting. The recommendation here is to be cautious, and ask yourself if the efforts invested in re-engaging inactive segments could instead be automated, and energy reinvested in list growth––therefore focusing on the future, not the past.”—Ananda Farge, senior strategist, CRM and email, Tinuiti

Don’t ignore customer data and signals––change how you communicate, instead

“If an email recipient hasn’t opened an email in a month, don’t continue to send the same content at the same cadence to them. Reach out in a different way. Ask for a preferences update, or offer a discount. If a subscriber opens every email and never clicks, that’s an opportunity for a different type of outreach.”—Abby Siciliano, email expert and director business development, Tinuiti

“Don’t simply point customers to a product page. Point them to an experience with relevant content. The typical experience of ‘clicking around a catalog from an email’ really hasn’t changed that much in the past 30 years. Use email marketing to direct customers to a more interactive experience, whether it’s through a livestream event, 1:1 video co-shopping, or a metaverse implementation.”—Brittany Rycroft, director of marketing, GhostRetail

Email marketing automations are powerful––and still underutilized

“Explore having some fun with your automated emails. Use your abandoned carts, email confirmation and more as an extra reinforcement of your brand. It’s small, but when merchants do it well, it shines.”—Darin Lynch, founder and CEO, Irish Titan

Sources:

https://myemma.com/blog/what-are-good-open-and-click-through-rates-for-email-campaigns/
https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/increase-average-email-click-through-rate
https://www.klaviyo.com/marketing-resources/email-benchmarks-by-industry

Table of Contents

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a protocol of preventing and recovering from potentially large threats to the company’s business continuity. Such a plan often aims to address the need for updated business norms and operational standards in unpredictable circumstances such as natural disasters, data breach/ exposures, large scale system failures etc. The goal of such a plan is to ensure continuity of business with no or little damage to regular working environments, including job security for its employees.

It covers everything from business processes, human resources details, and more. Essentially a BCP provides a concrete plan to the organization to maintain business continuity even in challenging circumstances.

• BCP’s relevance has gone up considerably after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and was also a major testing time for organizations that did have such a plan in place. The organizations which had a business continuity plan in place were better able to cope during these unprecedented circumstances better than those who did not have any such plans.
• The recorded number of natural disasters has increased from 375 in 2016 to 409 in 2019 . Globally, the loss because of natural disasters was $232 billion in 2019, according to a study by Aon .
• The number of cyberattacks has also increased in all geographies and all business verticals. MonsterCloud reported that cyberattacks have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. All this means that the organizations have to be better prepared to fight disasters. The importance of BCP can hardly be exaggerated in this context. Preparing a BCP is imperative for any enterprise, big or small, today.

The end goal of a BCP is to ensure that the essential services continue to run in the event of an incident. For instance, if there is an earthquake where your customer service representatives operate from, your BCP will be able to tell you who will handle customer calls until the original office is restored.

Difference between a business continuity plan (BCP) and disaster recovery plan (DCP)

A BCP is often confused with a disaster recovery (DR) plan. While a DR plan is primarily focused on restoring the IT systems and infrastructure, a BCP is much more than that. It covers all areas and departments of the organization, including HR, marketing and sales, support functions.

The underlying thought behind BCP is that IT systems can hardly work in silos. Other departments also need to be restored to cater to the client or for meeting the business demands.

“Many people think a disaster recovery plan (DRP) is the same as a business continuity plan, but a DRP is only a small, yet essential, a portion of a full BCP. A DRP focuses solely on restoring an organization’s IT infrastructure while minimizing data loss. On the other hand, a BCP is a comprehensive guide on how to continue the mission and business-critical operations during a time of an unplanned disruption (natural disasters, pandemics, or malware),” says Caleb Pipkin, a security expert at Logically .

Benefits of Creating a Business Continuity Plan

1. Avoid Disruption of Business-Critical Services

One of the key benefits of creating a business continuity plan is that it ensures continuous delivery of critical services that cannot fail. Keep in mind that 2020 witnessed the first known death caused by a cyber attack that disabled systems at Düsseldorf University Hospital in Germany. A BCP can potentially save lives in addition to businesses and livelihoods. It allows businesses to redirect resources to critical services and operations and make smart choices based on the BIA.

A prime example of this is how one healthcare provider was able to withstand the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. With comprehensive and up-to-date disaster planning as a part of their BCP, Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was one of the few healthcare facilities well prepared to deal with the high patient influx and communication breakdown that resulted from the natural disaster without being overwhelmed. Their BCP even included arrangements for a 24-hour emergency child care center for on-duty staff during the crisis. The hospital’s preparedness enabled them to stay true to their mission and provide critical care when the community needed it most.

2. Build Confidence with Your Customer Base

Creating a BCP and highlighting the efforts you’re investing in business continuity can convey a very powerful message to your customers and partners. It speaks volumes about your commitment to serving them, even during the most uncertain times, and can foster a relationship of trust with your customers who can rely on you to deliver when others fail.

In the United Arab Emirates, the preparedness of Carrefour showed when it quickly launched carrefouruae.com, its online marketplace, saving businesses and customers alike during the 2020 COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. It successfully provided an opportunity for small businesses to reach a larger customer base across the entire UAE. Today, the platform receives more than 1,300 orders per day on average.

3. Meet Your Regulatory Compliance Requirements

Creating and updating a BCP is crucial in heavily regulated sectors, such as health and financial services, and several regulatory bodies require critical businesses to have an incident response strategy in place. Even a few minutes of unavailability can cost millions of dollars in fines and irreparable damage to your company’s reputation.

Lack of an effective disaster recovery plan left Deutsche Bank to deal with a civil monetary penalty of $9 million. In 2016, the bank experienced a swap reporting platform outage and then failed to report data properly for the next five days, netting them the fine for violating reporting requirements. An effective BCP would have included a strategy for reporting swap data even during the reporting platform outage.

4. Mitigate Financial Risks

In services such as the banking sector, seconds of downtime can hinder transactions worth millions of dollars. According to a research report by IDC, infrastructure failure can cost up to $100,000, while critical application downtime can cost as much as a million dollar per hour. Add to that the potential regulatory fines, and even minute disruptions can lead to serious financial consequences.

A BCP with viable recovery time objective (RTO), the maximum time a service can remain unavailable, and recovery point objective (RPO), the acceptable interval between data backups, can help businesses plan for quick recovery and mitigate the associated financial risks.

In 2016, Delta lost more than $100 million in revenue due to a computer outage that lasted three days. The crisis could have been averted if the company had an effective BCP in place that contained a clear protocol for maintaining operations if such an outage were to occur.

5. Gain Competitive Advantage over Others

As we all witnessed during 2020, those companies with an updated BCP and access to virtual technologies were much better prepared to adapt to the sudden shift of having most employees work from home. They thrived while those lacking a BCP struggled to survive in the new norm. By the time the latter resumed their services and operations, many customers had already shifted their loyalties to businesses that had proved their resilience.

Hong Kong’s Centaline Property Agency is a great example of how a good BCP coupled with technology readiness can help businesses find opportunities even in uncertain situations. The company leveraged virtual reality to provide virtual tours of properties during COVID-19 lockdowns. While most real estate companies endured a big blow, Centaline Property Agency managed a staggering 129% increase in their number of website visitors during the worst of the outbreak.

Sources:

https://www.spiceworks.com/it-security/vulnerability-management/articles/guide-to-business-continuity-planning/
https://www.parallels.com/blogs/ras/benefits-of-creating-a-business-continuity-plan/
https://www.unitrends.com/blog/business-continuity-planning

What Is the Daily Scrum Meeting?

The daily scrum meeting is one of the five types of scrum ceremonies. The daily standup scrum meeting is where the scrum team meets typically in the morning to discuss the work ahead for the day. They are short, standup meetings, strictly timed for no more than 15 minutes. This is done to keep the meeting brief but focused on only relevant information. Also, the other scrum ceremonies or agile events are meant to cover all the topics that the team can’t discuss during the daily standup meeting.

Everyone from the scrum master, who is the expert, to the team members must attend the daily scrum meeting. They are all committed and expected to participate. Others, such as sales or people from other projects, can attend but only to listen. To keep track of these meetings, scrum masters and managers use project management software, also referred to as scrum software.

After the daily scrum meeting, teams can use project management software to execute their sprints. ProjectManager is cloud-based software that connects scrum teams and fosters the collaboration they need to get their work done. Our kanban boards allow them to manage their backlog and plan sprints together, while the product owner has transparency into their process so they can reallocate resources as needed to avoid bottlenecks.

What Is the Purpose of a Planning Meeting?

The obvious reason to have a planning meeting is to create a plan and get buy-in from the team. It’s the first step in developing a plan and requires that certain questions be answered, such as how do we achieve this goal? What do we know already about it? Who is going to be responsible for what?

When the planning meeting is complete, there should be a few deliverables, such as a rough outline of the plan that has been quickly sketched after answering the questions above. There must also be some clarity about who is going to be doing what in the project.

It doesn’t hurt if you can begin to identify dependencies, what resources you’ll need and which you don’t already have. Plus, you’ll have questions that need answering or require further investigation and research.

A general understanding of what the plan’s scope is should also be established. Everybody present should have a good idea of the plan. Get feedback to make sure those parameters were clear in the planning meeting and, if they’re not, encourage questions from the group until they are. This includes how individuals will coordinate with others on the team.

Key Elements of a Planning Meeting

A planning meeting is only as good as its parts. Those parts are what you have to prepare before even calling the meeting. You want to have all your ducks in a row, so to speak, so that the meeting goes off without a hitch and the plan and team responsibilities are well-outlined. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure you’ve addressed each of the items below.

Vision, Goals & Objectives

Before you can have a plan, you must have a target. In other words, what are the goals and objectives you want to achieve. To figure that out requires asking yourself simple but important questions, such as what are you trying to do and what problems are you trying to solve?

Answering these questions will define the vision, which is an important lodestar to follow when implementing the plan. This will also give stakeholders and team members a ramp to onboard to the project. This leads to creating a business case, aligning the project to the organization’s overall business objectives and identifying the project’s benefits.

Critical Success Factors

According to D. Ronald Daniel, who first developed the concept, it’s “the limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. They are the few key areas where things must go right for the business to flourish. If results in these areas are not adequate, the organization’s efforts for the period will be less than desired.”

In other words, what are the things you can’t fail at doing. These basic components of your plan must be defined and clear to all. These include the deliverable for the project, an agreed upon budget and schedule, etc.

Having critical success factors in place means that you can prioritize not only the planning process but the project execution. You’ll know who the leaders are, where to put your resources and how to adjust your plan to make sure those critical success factors are always safeguarded.

Key Performance Indicators

A key performance indicator or KPI is something that is of a measurable value. It shows how effective a project is working towards meeting its key business objectives. It’s a way to evaluate success, but in order to do that you first must determine what the KPIs are for the project.

Therefore, the planning meeting must address the project KPIs and, more specifically, what everyone on the project team is responsible for doing in order to achieve those KPIs. Without setting a target to hit and explaining that to the team, as well as their part in reaching that target, the project is less likely to succeed. This is why it is an essential part of the planning meeting.

Key Issues

Then there are the key issues: the things most pressing that must be immediately addressed. Before moving forward with the project or even the planning, there are likely obstacles that must be cleared. This is the time in which they are identified, and a decision is made regarding the resolution and who will lead that charge.

Hitting these points will provide a basic outline for a one-day planning meeting. Of course, you can and might need to have more time devoted to the planning, but that will depend more on the size of your team than the project. Regardless of how big or small your team is, in order to make the planning meeting more productive you’ll want to include them prior to meeting and get their ideas and comments.

Step 5: prepare for meetings effectively

Ask directors about what gets in the way of a well-run board meeting, and next to an ineffective chair, the most common complaint is hard to access board materials that make meeting prep inconvenient or frustrating.

Good board meetings require timely distribution of board materials and clear communication of the board meeting agenda at least 4 days in advance of meetings, and ideally with a week’s lead time. For many organizations, making that happen requires board governance teams and management to spend weeks preparing. And competing priorities can lead to late delivery of the board package or last minute updates that can cause confusion. Not only are directors frustrated, executives and governance administrative teams are distracted from having time to calmly prepare for strategic discussions and decisions as well.

What makes for a better board meeting?

1. Accessible, online board materials – make all board materials easy to view, search, and add notes to with a board portal. Log in to see complete information, including the latest versions of materials with no confusion around updates. Travelling? No problem. Board materials can be accessed through mobile devices, both online and offline.
2. Electronic agendas with links to key background info – take the time to consider which strategic topics are right year round, then pre-save strong agendas in the portal – so no matter how hectic it gets, you avoid the risk of re-using last month’s agenda. Link right from the agenda topics to materials for review, and make it easy for directors to foresee meeting dates on the calendar. If a meeting date is moved, directors are instantly updated.
3. Easy between-meeting collaboration – invite directors to share their questions or comments with their fellow board members. Encourage pre-meeting discussion with the chair or peer directors to ensure everyone has background questions answered to focus meeting time on discussion and decisions.
4. Efficient onboarding of new board members – new directors are a welcome fresh perspective and energy boost to a board. They can be valuable contributors as soon as they have base education on the organization and the industry – so do that effectively and quickly with online learning tools, including a library of archived board reports and minutes.

Board portal software provides a way for boards to save time preparing for meetings, safeguards the cybersecurity of board materials, and helps to best engage board members from onboarding, through to convenient meeting preparation, online discussions, and voting.

For board administrators, board portal software streamlines the processes for assembling and distributing board books and finalizing a strong agenda with automation tools that make repeat work time efficient. With the time savings of a board portal, board governance teams are able to more consistently distribute meeting materials early, giving directors adequate time to prepare. Board portal software also streamlines the process for writing board minutes with a minutes-builder tool that mirrors your agenda, and makes for expedient distribution of minutes after the board meeting.

For board members, a secure board management system, such as the Aprio board portal , provides a convenient, one-stop location online to access board materials, annotate documents to prepare for productive conversation on core challenges at the meeting, and pose questions or table additional topics to the board chair or other directors. For orientation and ongoing learning, the board portal also provides a searchable library of board bylaws, strategic and financial plans, and archived board materials. Finally, board directors can log into the portal at any time and from any location including via mobile device.

Improve meeting prep

We’re all busy people. Directors are often travelling, and may sit on multiple boards or have other jobs. Board admins are also busy people with demanding schedules. Why should anyone need to spend countless hours trying to make sure everyone has access to the latest board materials when it could be as simple as clicking a button?

Directors will no longer need to carry around a highlighter and pen to take notes on paper board materials. They’ll be able to add their annotations directly to digital documents, even while they’re offline. If needed, they can also share their notes with other board members.

Admins can also add links to agendas, allowing directors to quickly and easily access the right documents without having to search through endless files or email swirls. This allows directors to come to meetings more prepared.

Timely, inclusive access to updates

Creating a board culture of inclusion – which means same time access to same board communication – is job #1 for a board chair looking to create a board that invites every member to have an equal voice. Inviting input through voting, polls, and online discussion is a valuable way to invite every director to have their say beyond board meetings.

Additionally, when board admins have to replace a board document with a newer version, it’s no longer a hassle to update directors. Admins can upload the new version directly to Aprio, and an automatic notification alerts all directors of the update. Version confusion ceases to exist.

Improve boardroom communication and onboarding

Board portals like Aprio provide a centralized forum for board members to collaborate in real time between board meetings. With a board portal, older board materials are easily accessible and searchable in the Library. This is particularly useful for new directors during their onboarding, and is also convenient for any board member who wants to reference previous materials.

Resource:

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/how-to-run-a-great-scrum-meeting
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/planning-meeting-with-checklist
https://aprioboardportal.com/news/how-to-run-a-board-meeting/

Top 60 ways to promote your business

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Finding a product or service to sell is only half the story. Now you have to get out there and tell people about it. In the days before the internet and social media, promoting your business meant spending a fortune on advertising or PR services, a high cost for a small business trying to get off the ground. Not anymore.

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There is a variety of online and offline mechanisms to market your business, such as social networking, advertisements, word of mouth and outdoor advertising, some pricier than others. Here are 60 ways you can promote whatever business, product or service you have, whether it’s offline or online.

Create a brand & logo

Don’t be fooled by how simplistic this first tip may seem. Widespread brand recognition is your ultimate goal, and your business needs to inspire credibility and persuade others to spread the word about your work.

You need to create a brand you can build on from the start. Start by taking inventory of your business’ unique value proposition, its personality, and the values that define it. Then you can start to think about your visual brand.

Hiring a design firm may be costly, but there are popular design services on the web, that can provide a selection of custom logo designs for your brand, and at an affordable price. You can even create a logo using an online logo maker if you’re on a very tight budget. Your visual brand may evolve with your business, but you need to start with something on which you can build your business’ reputation.

Answer Questions On Quora

With over 300 million monthly visitors, Quora has now become the perfect place to expose your business to a vast audience and build your authority online. You can start by creating a Quora profile in the same niche or industry that your business lies in and answer questions.

Instead of directly advertising your business in your Quora answers, try to make your answers more informative and useful for the audience. You should mention your business and company website in the most organic way possible – as a clear solution to the problem. The idea is to get more upvotes, followers, and engagement to build a community of high-quality potential leads and establish yourself as an expert in the topics that matter the most in your business.

44 Methods to Advertise Your Business for Free

The best marketing plans draw on a multitude of strategies: social media marketing, email marketing campaigns, flash sales, in-store events, even experiential marketing—whatever your business has the resources to take on, take them. Use every opportunity you get to share your product or service with the world (and, ideally, turn them into paying customers).

Start your search with this list of mostly free, relatively low-lift, but definitely fun ways to advertise your business. Remember that each method for how to advertise your business comes with its own nuances and tricks. Business advertising is an art, not a science.

1. Reward Social Media Sharing

It’s great to find new customers, but it’s also important to show your appreciation for those who are already loyal to your brand—especially if they’re willing to shout it from the proverbial rooftops.

Providing discounts to your followers who share your brand on social media rewards their customer loyalty, and gives you a boost. After all, word-of-mouth endorsements are still the best form of advertising around. Engaging with and rewarding your customers is a great way to advertise your business for free.

2. Cultivate a Cadre of Brand Ambassadors

George Clooney probably fetches a pretty penny for his work as Nespresso spokesman, but there are other, more accessible methods for how to advertise your business with brand ambassadors.

Focus on social media influencers who might not be Clooney-level celebrities, but who have established themselves as prominent figures in a circle that relates to your brand. Gaining an endorsement from an influencer strengthens your brand’s presence and legitimacy in that world. If you go this route, though, make sure your social media influencer campaign is legal.

3. Look Within for Positive Word of Mouth

Your strongest advocates for your business might just be under your own roof. An employee willing to share positive things about the company on their personal social media accounts can grab the attention of potential new customers. Therefore, incentivizing that behavior is a savvy business move and a great way to advertise your business for free. Platforms like Dynamic Signal make it easy for businesses to encourage their employees to serve as brand advocates for their employers online.

4. Have Fun With Interactive Content

Who can resist the allure of a clever internet quiz? Putting interactive content on your website, blog, or social media platforms is both fun and informative for your customers. And quizzes and surveys that encourage users to share their results on social media expands your brand’s reach further. This has the added bonus of converting your loyal brand followers into brand ambassadors on their own social media platforms.

5. Let Your Customers Peek Behind the Scenes

Whether you use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, share a behind-the-scenes video. This could be an interview with a member of your staff, a tour of a manufacturing facility, or a montage of your participation in a recent trade show or industry event. Giving your customers a sneak peak into what it’s like on the inside is another creative way to advertise your business for free.

Giving customers a greater sense of what goes into making your product is a transparent way to interact with your customers, which’ll give you a credibility boost. It also lets you show off your team and your brand’s personality, and define your company’s unique point of view within your market. That’s how to advertise your business in the era of social video.

6. Play Game Show Host for a Day

Alternatively, ask those who are already loyal to your brand to participate in a contest where they generate testimonials or share positive stories about your business online under a designated hashtag. That can generate a lot of buzz in a short amount of time.

7. Put a Face to Your Company’s Name With Live Video

CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs are inextricably linked with their brands. Customers feel like they know them personally, and that is part of the fabric of the brand loyalty that Facebook, Tesla, and Apple enjoy. Using live video through Facebook or other social media channels can humanize you and your business, and make any customer even more likely to become a loyalist.

8. Trade in a Thousand Words for a Picture (or Video)

If that adage is true, then Instagram lets you do a lot of talking in a very short amount of time. While Facebook dominates in terms of overall number of users, Instagram followers for certain brands—including titans like Nike and Starbucks —have surged lately. Certain industries, such as restaurants, have been transformed by the platform. And with younger demographics turning away from television and spending more time on social media, there’s a huge benefit to focusing your marketing efforts here. It’s important to learn how to advertise your business using this surging platform.

Sources:

https://entrepreneurhandbook.co.uk/how-to-promote-your-business/
https://invideo.io/blog/how-to-advertise-your-business-for-free-in-2020/
https://www.fundera.com/blog/advertise-your-business-for-free

30 Best College Majors for the Future Rankings

Top Choice #1 Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum Engineering is first on our list of rankings for the best college majors. It can be one of the most fruitful majors for young students. While the market is insanely competitive, the financial rewards for majors in this field can be incredibly high.

Because of the high competition levels for future jobs in this major, students should consider taking a master’s or even a PhD in this field for furthering their chances of success once they enter the job market in the future.

If you have a good background in math and the sciences, this may be the best college major for you. Although some core courses for this major may be completed online, petroleum engineering bachelor degrees are not offered entirely online.

#2 Cybersecurity

In an ever-changing world increasingly reliant on the use of technology, a bachelor’s in cybersecurity can be a huge advantage when looking to start a career. This major will ensure you’re knowledgable about all of the latest developments in the field and will teach you other information technology related skills like coding and software development.

A person who has studied cybersecurity will most likely end up working in cybersecurity for a business or government entity, but that isn’t the only potential career path for graduates with this college major.

Software and application development, along with several other information technology and technology-related jobs, are very popular options for someone who completes this top college major.

#3 Nuclear Engineering

Nuclear Engineering sits 3rd in our rankings for best college majors. It is an incredibly specialized major, and the financial rewards can be excellent in the long run for those who earn a bachelors in this field.

This may be a more niche field, but finding work can be incredibly beneficial from a financial standpoint. As the planet moves toward more renewable energy sources, jobs in this major are becoming more in demand, and future opportunities are becoming a little easier to come by.

If you major in this field, expect a bit of hard work and brush up on your math skills. Learning nuclear physics and how nuclear energy works, along with the necessary safety procedures, will be key parts of a nuclear engineering major.

While the employment opportunities for this college major can be lucrative, it’s important to note that a lot of employers may even expect their engineers to have either a Master’s or a PhD in the subject to secure the best future jobs.

#4 Software Engineering

Software Engineering is 4th for top college majors. It is another computer-related college major that has become increasingly popular in recent years. The increase in popularity of this best college major should come as little surprise though, with the job markets constantly expanding in this technology field.

A major in this specialty will likely feature classes in application programming, core computer concepts, cloud technology, and database systems development. It will teach future engineers some skills that will be transferable to other technology related jobs.

Software engineering majors generally find themselves working in a number of different job positions, with software and application programming and development being among the most common future career paths chosen.

#5 Physics

Physics takes 5th place for best majors. It is a top choice of college major for students because bachelor programs in physics can open up a lot of doors for graduates and can lead to someone continuing their education and working in research facilities.

Physics graduates can usually find work as engineers in various sectors or in potential roles working in academia and research. This is a top college major because research roles in physics can be particularly lucrative.

A college major in physics requires potential students to have a mind for calculation and science because the course of study will incorporate these disciplines regularly. It’s common for bachelor’s holders to pursue a doctorate in engineering for advancement and more lucrative salaries.

Easiest College Majors

1. Business Administration

Business administration is one of the most popular college majors on this list of the easiest majors to study, offering a low weekly homework load, less time in the classroom, a great return on investment, and a high average GPA. As long as you have a good head on your shoulders and like to work with people, this is a smart choice for you.

If you want to make your degree a bit more challenging, you might want to consider adding an additional concentration to your degree. One popular option is management information systems, while other students might find economics or accounting to be a better choice.

2. Criminal Justice

Criminal justice is an easy college major not just for aspiring police officers, but for aspiring lawyers, political analysts, court reporters, justices, and more. You won’t spend very much time in the classroom but you’ll need a certain level of emotional resilience in order to be successful.

3. Creative Writing

If you enjoy reading and writing, a creative writing major might be a good choice for you. While this isn’t the easiest college major if you struggle with basic spelling and grammar (no surprise there!) it’s a good option for people with strong communication skills.

What can you do with a creative writing major? You have a few different options – with the most obvious being to become a writer. College students who pursue this major may find that the strong liberal arts background that’s included as a core component in this major lends itself nicely to career paths in journalism, education, public relations, and other communications-centric fields, too.

4. Communications

A communications degree is quite versatile, providing you with a solid liberal arts education that you can use for a variety of careers, including those in broadcasting, marketing, advertising, and more. Consider this major if you enjoy working with others and want to hone your skills in (you guessed it!) communications.

5. Psychology

If human behavior intrigues and excites you, you may find a psychology major to be one of the easiest college majors around. A psychology major will acquaint you with the skills you need to pursue eventual doctoral studies as a psychologist or psychiatrist (two college majors that are decidedly not easy!) or for general work in the humanities. Many psychology majors end up pursuing further study in special education or school psychology as well.

The numbers don’t lie on this one, either – out of all college graduates, psychology comes in as one of the most popular programs. Many college students choose this field as a minor, too, allowing them to get a bachelor’s degree in another subject while still pursuing an easy field of study that they enjoy.

6. Human Resources

Whether you want to work as an office manager, a human resources representative, or in customer service, human resources is a smart college major to consider if you want to earn your degree in as pain-free a way as possible. This major includes uncomplicated coursework and often, an associate’s degree is really all you need to land a job.

7. Education

Education majors tend to have lower starting salaries on average than other majors, but the good news is that by pursuing education as a minor instead of a major, you might be able to make up for some of those shortcomings. Consider majoring in your area of interest (if you’re interested in mathematics, major in that with a minor in education, for example) so that you have something else to pursue if an education major turns out to be harder than you thought in the real world.

Another option? Consider an education major, like special education, that has a higher return on investment. Special education majors are more in demand than other kinds of teachers, so you will likely have a much easier time finding a job.

8. Public Relations

Public relations and advertising is another popular and easy major. If you’re one of those people who watches the Super Bowl just for ads or you find yourself captivated when it comes to learning how to craft the best and most fascinating stories, then a public relations major might be the right choice for you.

Tips For Choosing The Right College Major

Find A Major With Plenty Of Career Options

A college major, no matter how easy or difficult it might be, that only has one potential outcome isn’t a smart choice. The average person changes jobs dozens of times throughout their lives, selecting a major with lots of career options is a good idea.

Average GPA Requirement

If high school learning wasn’t exactly your strong suit, what makes you think that college will be any different? Make sure you research the average GPAs of students accepted into your chosen major and also check the school rankings to learn more about admissions standards. This will give you a good idea of whether your major – and your school – is within reach.

Pay Isn’t Everything

Pay isn’t everything – of course, you should choose a college degree that doesn’t just pay well, but one that you also enjoy. That said, you may find it helpful to narrow down your list of potential college majors based on your passions as well as the potential average salary. You do have to think about your bills, after all!

What Tasks Do You Enjoy?

Something else to consider is what you enjoy doing most. While a science-heavy major is going to have you complete tons of research papers, one in the humanities will have you doing more critical thinking so you can pursue a career that is more communications-driven. Consider what activities you enjoy most in high school, and this will help you as you consider the best college degree for your goals.

Resource:

https://www.mydegreeguide.com/best-college-majors/
https://wisdomfuel.com/easiest-college-majors/

10 Best Companies To Invest In for 2022

Investors could do nothing but cheer their returns in 2021, as the S&P 500 shook off the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and returned over 26% to investors through Dec. 16, 2021. Whether the same will be true in 2022, however, is a question mark. Many analysts expect 2022 to be more of a “stock picker’s market,” meaning the broad averages may be lackluster but there will still be pockets of opportunities. Check with your financial advisor to see whether any of these names match your investment objectives and risk tolerance. Here is a wide range of stocks that may outperform in 2022 based on a variety of factors, from being undervalued to being oversold.

Tesla has continued to outperform expectations for years now, following up its extraordinary 700% gain in 2020 with a 31% YTD gain in 2021 (as of Dec. 16). In 2022, further gains may be ahead. The company has transformed itself into a profit engine, after years of losing money, and analysts expect the company to earn $8.17 per share in 2022. On top of that, Tesla will be opening two new gigafactories in 2022, in Texas and Germany, and this should increase its production greatly. With a market cap now exceeding 800 trillion, Tesla is on a seemingly unstoppable roll.

Atlassian (TEAM)

Atlassian is the Australian-based software company behind products such as Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello and OpsGenie. The company’s software is primarily for software developers and IT departments, but it also helps small businesses collaborate and become more effective. Atlassian’s growth boomed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s likely to remain in favor as even more companies are now familiar with how productive Atalassian’s software can make corporate teams, whether they are remote or return to the office. Consensus analyst estimates are a buy, with a 12-month median price target of $338, or about 83% above current levels (as of June 20).

Find companies with large addressable markets

Finally, you’ll want to invest in businesses with large addressable markets — and long runways for growth still ahead. Industry reports from research firms such as Gartner (NYSE:IT) and eMarketer — which provide estimates of industry sizes, projections for growth, and market share figures — can be very helpful in this regard.

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, PhD, CFP

Dr. Cherry: Because growth stocks tend to operate in a growth business cycle or business sector, finding high potential growth stocks should contain metrics that attempt to confirm or support current growth and best signal sustainable growth patterns. One important feature of a growth company is to ask, “do they possess a unique business service or product in their sector that provides a valuable moat?” This service or product is the lifeline of growth where the company needs to market, produce, deliver, and protect better than competitors and new entrants. Performance metrics to consider are whether the company shows historical increases in earnings over select periods and profit margin analysis, which illustrates how a company can manage costs and increase revenues. Other analysis considerations are the technical chart trend characteristics and experienced market analysts’ forward growth and price projections.

Dr. Cherry: Growth and value stocks tend to differ in a few areas, such as company size, business stage, and revenues to return gains to the shareholder. Growth stocks tend to be in the emerging markets or small or mid-cap company size areas whereas value stock companies tend to be large-cap. The size of companies tends to be the lens of what business stage a company resides. Growth stocks tend to be in the early to mid-business stages, the growth stages (although a small segment of large companies can be growth companies too), and value stock companies tend to be larger, more mature business stage companies. The value stock companies tend to be trading at a discount, “on-sale,” or a premium, “overvalued,” to their valuation, thus their name, finding value. Growth stock companies tend to reinvest their earnings back into the company and return value to shareholders solely through stock price appreciation. In comparison, value companies may return earnings to investors through a dividend, representing income to an investor and complements stock price appreciation. This income and stock price appreciation mean a total return approach.

Scott Stewart, PhD

Dr. Stewart: The Gordon valuation model is an excellent tool to illustrate the difference between growth and value stocks. Professor Gordon’s model, with some simplifying assumptions, shows that stock prices equal next year’s earnings (e) divided by the expression r – g, where “r” is a discount rate and “g” is a growth rate. For the same stock price, a lower growth rate necessitates a higher earnings number. Conversely, (illustrated by dividing both sides by e) a high-p/e stock is associated with a high growth rate. Of course, these numbers reflect investor expectations.

Investors bid up the p/e ratios of some stocks because, despite low current earnings relative to their market values, they expect earnings to grow at high rates. These are traditionally defined as growth stocks. Tesla stock is a good example of a growth stock, with its 154 p/e multiple and 73% earnings growth rate (using Yahoo Finance data).

Dr. Stewart: Note that a company’s risk is embedded in its discount rate “r.” As a result, companies with stable earnings will justify higher p/e multiples than ones with volatile earnings, other things equal. Clorox, a large-cap, stable-earnings company with only modest growth expectations (basically 0% using Yahoo Finance data) still justifies a p/e of 30 (using next fiscal year’s earnings).

Empirical evidence suggests that high-growth stocks underperform low-growth, low-p/e “value” stocks over the very long term. For example, the Russell small-cap Value index yielded roughly 3% a year higher than its Growth peer over the forty years ending 2019, and at lower return volatility. One explanation is that investors over-estimate the sustainability of high-growing companies since these “glamour” stocks subsequently fail to deliver on those high expectations. However, there can be long periods in which growth stocks outperform, such as the 10 years ending 2020.

The theory and evidence suggest that the key to picking good growth stocks is to identify the ones whose earnings growth rates will accelerate in the short term (increasing the p/e and price) and not disappoint in the long term (sustaining e growth and maintaining a high p/e). For value stocks, some practitioners suggest picking companies that investors have given up on (ones with very low-p/e or other multiples if e is less than zero), that won’t fail in the short-term and will recover in the long-term. Not easy tasks!

Sources:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-best-companies-invest-2022-005108423.html
https://www.gobankingrates.com/investing/best-companies-to-invest-in-for-2022/
https://www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/types-of-stocks/growth-stocks/