Welcome to My Blog

Quick Start and Set up with Device dramatically simplifies setting up new Apple devices

Receiving a new iPhone or iPad as a gift is a wonderful thing, but setting up a new device has historically been a chore. Manually pairing accessories, joining Wi-Fi networks, remembering which password goes with which account, and the ever-increasing steps required to actually use your shiny new toy make up the worst first world problems.

The good news is Apple has acknowledged this pain point and created a dramatically simpler way to pair or upgrade new products including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and AirPods.

more…

10 Free Templates Every Small Business Needs in 2018

Owning or working for a small business can be extremely rewarding.

You have a good view of the business operations, your work is visible, and you have an opportunity to make a big impact during the company’s critical growth years.

But then there are the less glamorous aspects — from tight budgets and limited resources to lack of direction and leadership — that can really start to weigh on you.

Use the free HubSpot Invoice Template Generator to create professional  invoices in minutes.

It would be nice if someone would throw you a bone every now and then, right?

That’s why we took some time to round up 10 completely free templates that you can lean on to streamline your workflow, save time, and get more done.

10 Free Templates Every Small Business Needs in 2018

1) Professional Bio Templates

Let’s face it: Writing about yourself can feel, well, awkward.

The good news is we’ve created 40+ fill-in-the-blank bio templates that you can use to put together an impressive, professional narrative that you’ll want to share.

Use these professional bio templates to give your team page a refresh. We recommended collaborating with a couple of colleagues you work closely with as you fill these out to ensure you’re speaking to all of your awesome skills.

Professional Bio Templates

2) Invoice Templates

For larger businesses, investing in paid invoicing software is a good way to keep your payments organized, but for small to mid-sized businesses, paying for a solution isn’t always an option.

If you’re looking for a cost-free way to stay on top of your billing, check out these free invoice templates for Microsoft Word. These invoice templates come in different colors and styles, so you can pick one that best suits your business.

Invoice Template Example

*Bonus* We also just launched a free invoice template generator that allows you to create professional invoice PDFs in just a few clicks. Check it out here.

3) Company Newsletter Template

Want to keep your contacts and customers engaged and informed about your business? Try sending a monthly company newsletter.

This clean and concise template makes it easy for you to plug in things like updates, accomplishments, awards, and upcoming events to share with your community.

You can also adapt this template to use internally for an employee newsletter featuring new hires, promotions, culture events, and changes in existing policies.

Company Newsletter Templates

4) Employee Timecard Template

Keeping tabs on employee hours is a really important part of running a business. Aside from ensuring your employees get paid (and get paid on time), having a log of hours can also help to resolve conflicts, evaluate employee engagement, and plan quotes in service-based industries.

With the help of this timecard template, you can keep all of your employee hours organized by week, month, and year. And don’t worry about busting out that calculator: the template takes care of totaling each line for you.

Employee Timecard Template

5) Business Letterhead Templates

An on-brand letterhead, while it may seem like a small detail, can go a long way when it comes to establishing credibility and trust through written communications.

In many cases, your letterhead serves as a first impression to potential customers, so you want to make sure it represents your business well. Additionally, your letterhead typically houses valuable contact details, so you’ll want to convey that information in a really clear and concise way.

Business Lettehead Templates

6) Email Templates

Think about how much time you spending crafting emails on any given day. One hour? Two hours? More than five hours?

Aware that email can be a serious time suck, we created 15 email marketing templates to simplify all of your marketing and sales needs — from PR and blogging outreach to customer reference emails.

These fill-in-the-blank templates are especially helpful when it comes to reducing the time you spend on emails that you’re sending on a repeat basis.

Email Template

7) Meeting Agenda Template

We’ve all been in our fair share of meetings that have gone off the rails. But unproductive meetings suck up valuable time that could be better spent on impactful projects.

To keep things on track, try using a simple meeting agenda template.

Fill out this template a few days ahead of your meeting and send it out to all of the participants. Doing this in advance will give folks time to prepare for the meeting accordingly — and ultimately eliminate any confusion.

Meeting Agenda Template

8) Infographic Templates

When you work at a small company, design resources can be hard to come by. But that doesn’t mean your content creation efforts need to suffer as a result.

These free infographic templates can be used by designers and non-designers alike to create quality inforgraphics right in PowerPoint or Illustrator.

Use these infographic templates to visualize your latest research report, create a shareable blog post, or promote a piece of gated content on social media.

Infographic Template

9) Social Graphic Templates

With the help of these Canva templates, you can create stunning social media images for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more.

These templates are designed to meet the dimension requirements for each network, so you can spend less time hunting down accurate aspect ratios and more time boosting your social media engagement.

Social Media Template

10) Small Team Status Board Template

If you’re working on a really small team — let’s say 1-10 people — you might find this status board template useful.

The template provides a column for each member of your team where they can add high-level status updates. This can be updated daily, weekly, or monthly to keep everyone on the same page about priorities, progress, and opportunities for collaboration.

Not to mention, the handy color-coding system allows you to determine the current standing of the task (good, needs attention, waiting on someone, etc.) at a quick glance.

Status Board Template

Save Time in 2018

So there you have it: 10 incredibly useful business templates that will help you save time and hit the ground running next year.

Can you think of any other templates you lean on for support? Share them with us on Twitter @HubSpot.

Invoice Template

 
Invoice Template

6 Instagram Hacks for Better Instagram Stories

Want to learn about some hidden Instagram Stories tools? Wondering how to change pen sizes, color-match text, and more? In this article, you’ll discover six Instagram tricks for enhancing Instagram stories that will engage your audience. #1: Customize Font Colors To add text to your Instagram stories, tap the Aa icon in the top-right corner […]

This post 6 Instagram Hacks for Better Instagram Stories first appeared on .
– Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

from http://ift.tt/2BEsreq
via socialmediaexaminer

Amazon Alexa and Google Home top App Store charts on Christmas Day, implies smart speakers were popular holiday gifts

The App Store charts always provide some interesting nuggets of information on Christmas Day and other big holidays as you can see the sudden influx of app downloads.

This year, the Alexa app for Amazon Echo smart speakers topped App Store free charts, hitting the #1 in a few regions, with Google Home also charting in the top ten. Smart speakers were a hot holiday shopping item this year for sure.

more…

Logic Pros: What’s new in iOS & Mac music production this week

This is the place to catch up on all the biggest product announcements, hardware, apps, synths, Logic/GarageBand instruments and so much more in the world of iOS and Mac music production. This week, Audio Damage releases the new and improved Filterstation2 plug-in for Mac and soon for iOS, we review IK’s latest iRig Keys I/O hybrid MIDI controller, Korg brings the new ARP Odyssey soft synth to its Legacy Collection for Mac, and much more below.

more…

Last-minute iTunes Gift Card deals include $100 for $85 w/ email delivery at Amazon

Christmas is nearly upon us, and the opportunities for last-minute gifts are dwindling. Thankfully, Amazon has you covered with a $100 iTunes Gift Card for $85 with email delivery when promo code ITUNES15 is applied during checkout. You’ll be able to save 15% on your next purchase in the App Store or on movies, TV shows and more. Email delivery makes it easy to cross those remaining names off your holiday shopping list.

more…

Facebook Engagement Bait News Feed Updates, New Fonts for Instagram Stories

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show with Erik Fisher and Kim Reynolds, we explore the Facebook “engagement bait” news feed updates, new fonts for Instagram […]

This post Facebook Engagement Bait News Feed Updates, New Fonts for Instagram Stories first appeared on .
– Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

from http://ift.tt/2DBlIn6
via socialmediaexaminer