Month: August 2018

For many business owners, Google’s announcement to switch over to mobile-first indexing comes as a real shocker. It’s a revolutionary thing to do in a world of disruptive technology. Since the beginning of the World Wide Web, a company’s desktop website was their first and foremost consideration when developing a marketing plan. With the new changes announced by Google, all that changes. Now, a company’s mobile website is what must be in prime condition.

For some business owners, this change will just be a bump in the road. For others, it’s a huge sinkhole where their profits could fall in and never be seen again. Many business owners still struggle to get their mobile website in excellent working order.

One business owner commented recently, “My mobile website comes up with these huge, looming images and you can’t really read much of the text.”

If this is you, then it’s time to get serious about fixing those issues. The top 5 problems that business owners face with their mobile website are:

1. Being denied access- Users hate getting those little messages that the mobile site they’re searching for isn’t viewable on their device. Or, some say, “Mobile support coming soon.”
2. Performance- Why can’t a mobile website just work the same as a regular one? That’s a big question with lots of answers. Sometimes the mobile device is at blame. Sometimes it’s the load speeds/internet connection.
3. Design- Many users have landed on mobile sites where the images overlay the text, so you can’t really read anything. It’s frustrating and it usually ends with the user going someplace else to shop.
4. URL redirects- This confounded message has been the scourge of surfing the web for many years. There are several reasons why you might get a redirect message. It could be that you typed the wrong thing in your browser. Sometimes links are broken. Other times, the website owner simply has several pages that refer to the same site and they need to do some maintenance. It can also be the result of phishing attempts.
5. Confusing apps- There’s no excuse for this but many business owners have attempted to save money by doing it themselves or hiring a non-professional to design their app.

Why is Google Doing This?

Back in November 2016, Google announced its initial mobile-first indexing effort. They called it “an experiment” and it seemed like a good idea on the face of it. However, no business owners could foresee that the Tech Giant might eventually decide that mobile sites were more valuable than desktop sites.

The reasons they give seem pretty concrete. Almost 60 percent of all searches are performed from a mobile device now. A report from 2015, verified that 56 percent of global search queries originate from a mobile phone. Mobile traffic was responsible for about 49 percent of all website traffic according to this report.

These numbers are expected to rise significantly over the next ten years. Google has a long reputation of knowing where the next big trends will take place so you can trust their word when it comes to topics like this. The only thing left to do is make sure your mobile website is amazing!

The Good News

Google has repeatedly said that they will transition into this new phase slowly. That’s the good news. All this will not take place overnight. Instead, Google will give business owners time to fix whatever they need to so their mobile site will be first-class.

The other piece of good news is that Google has assured business owners that if they do not have a mobile site, the google bots will still continue to crawl the desktop version of the site. That means your revenue stream should not decline for lack of a high-performing mobile site.

The Google announcement says, “If you only have desktop content, you will continue to be represented in our index.”

Further Clarity Needed

Google also made it clear that mobile-first indexing does not mean that there will now be two separate indexes performed. There will still be only one and it will focus on mobile sites, not desktop sites.

The reason they cite for this is:

“…To better help our primarily mobile users find what they’re looking for.”

For those who don’t know, mobile-friendliness has always been a major factor in determining how a site is ranked. Of course, it’s not the only factor, but it is still a component of ranking your website. Google is quick to point out that if a non-mobile-friendly page has the best (most relevant) information, it will still rank higher than a mobile site with similar content.

The Bottom Line

All business owners should begin to see more traffic in their logs from Googlebot Smartphone. Google search results will contain snippets that have been generated from the content on the mobile version. Though Google has historically used the desktop version of your site for its indexing purposes, times they are a’changin’.

We can either get on board with the changes or be left out in the cold. Most business owners are already hard at work making sure their mobile website is the best it can be. For those who are willing to go the extra mile, this could be a great time of increases in traffic and sales. The sites that are ready to go are the ones that consumers will flock to for all their buying needs.

Have you ever been in a position where you are supposed to work on an assignment or important document but you forgot your laptop or cannot access your desktop? That can be frustrating, but thanks to Microsoft, as long as you can access the internet on your phone or even tablet, you can easily resume working on your assignment. Microsoft 365 is an excellent business tool that provides you with lots of options when trying to access a saved document on another device.

A closer look at Microsoft Office 365

Office 365 is Microsoft’s global offering designed to provide users with access to the company’s top-of-the-line cloud-based tools for collaboration and productivity. The service is complete with web conferencing and high definition (HD) video, calendars, business-class email, online Microsoft office suite, as well as file storage and sharing.

When you stay connected to the Microsoft Cloud, you can be sure that all programs are up-to-date and available for users on a 24/7 basis. Below is a simple outline of just a few of the Microsoft 365 apps that enable us to work from any location or device.

Using Outlook App on your phone to work on the go

When you open your Outlook Application, you will see a calendar function, a file function, and a mail function. When you tap on the calendar function, you can see how similar it is to the one that is on the desktop, which means it will be easy for you to use. The files function will help you view all recently accessed documents on OneDrive and even some of the recently shared files—very convenient!

When accessing the mail function, this is where you are able to see all files, documents, and links shared with you. You can also share a file via OneDrive.

Accessing information shared via a link

Simply click on the link and it will open into SharePoint, which will allow you to view the file. If you need to edit the file, open it in the word App and as soon as you start editing, anyone who has access to the file will see your edits right away. Such an incredible feature! This is great because, after editing, you don’t have to keep sending final copies of the same document to everyone on your team. Documents are updated in real time, which is a real time saver!

Accessing the same information on different devices

It’s frustrating to lose devices such as phones, tablets, and even your laptop. If you travel a lot, you may even damage your laptop or phone. Though this can be expensive, it’s also devastating to lose important documents. Retrieving data from a damaged phone or computer usually requires an IT expert. Data retrieval used to be such an expensive ordeal and sometimes unsuccessful. The good news is that on Microsoft 365 you don’t have to worry if you find yourself in any of the above predicaments. Here is a simple outline of how you can access your information from any device.

Open any browser and type the words office.com, then log in. A page will come up with various Microsoft 365 Applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and services such as OneDrive. Click on the OneDrive service, which will immediately take you to all files located on OneDrive. You will then be able to access all files that have been saved to OneDrive.

These files are all live so this means that any changes made, such as editing by anyone on your team, will be there. You can view, share, or edit these files. Let’s say you wish to edit a file that you recently shared with someone. Just open that file and you will see an editing option on the top right. You can do all your editing in the browser. This works with all files including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft applications. All updates will immediately show up on any shared documents.

There are so many other noteworthy features in Microsoft 365 that can help make your work easier. If you want to learn more about these helpful features, just visit this page: www.Microsoft.ca/GetItDone

Wrap Up

Losing or damaging your phone or laptop is always stressful, but you don’t have to lose any of your important documents when you work with Microsoft 365. You may be home sick for a few days, but you don’t necessarily have to get behind on your projects. It’s possible to work from anywhere using any device with Microsoft’s helpful range of products.

Remember that you can work from home and even share updates in real-time with your colleagues. As long as documents are stored to Microsoft’s OneDrive, they’ll always be right at your fingertips. That’s the epitome of convenience!

 

There are many reasons why you would want to download a live video from Facebook, whether it is yours or someone else’s. Sometimes a video is shared into a very active group and finding it later would be a bit tasking. Another reason why someone may want to download their own live videos is to keep a copy for future reference, or even upload it to another social media platform like Instagram.

For whatever reason you may have, here is a step-by-step explanation on how to do it. First, this article will outline the process of downloading your very own live video from Facebook, then explain how to download someone else’s live video from your wall, or a group where the video was shared.

Previously, Facebook didn’t have this feature and it was difficult to download a live video but now it is available and very easy to use.

Downloading your own live video from Facebook

Step 1

Locate the video on your Facebook account page profile or on your feed. On the left side bar you will see under “Explore”, a button for Live Videos. When you click on that button, it will generate all the live videos you have shared or the ones that have been shared on your wall. Find the one you would like to download, then click on it to open it.

Depending on the method you choose to access the video, say through your feed, you will also be required to click on the time stamp. Once you click on the time stamp, it will open the video. On the right side of the screen, you can also view all the comments about the video.

Step 2

On the upper right side, there are three dots. Click on them and you will get a number of prompts including one allowing you to download your video. Click on this and you will start downloading the video automatically. It will be saved to your device as an MP4 video.

Now you have the video downloaded to your hard drive. You can share the video to your other social media platforms, email it to someone, or use it for whatever purpose you like.

Downloading someone else’s Live Video

Downloading someone else’s live video from Facebook is totally different from downloading your own. This is because of the strict privacy measures put in place by Facebook. The steps are a bit complicated and you may need to use a third party site in order to download the video and save it directly to your device as opposed to saving it on your Facebook page as a feed. There are other strategies of course, such as switching to the mobile version of Facebook. The bad news is that this is no longer supported by most web browsers. So for now, we will discuss the other option of using third-party software to download someone else’s live videos. One of these programs is called SaveFrom.net.

Step 1

Find the live video, open the time stamp, and play it. Locate your browser’s address bar, which is always at the top of the page. This displays the URL to the video. Highlight and copy the link. Alternatively, just right click on the video and then choose the option, Show Video URL. This is another method of copying the link.

Step 2

Go to the SaveFrom.net site and paste the web link there.

Step 3

Click the download button and you will have a drop-down menu with two options: download your video as an MP4 or in High Definition (HD). Choose a suitable format to save the video to your device.

Browser Extensions

Some browsers, such as Chrome, do have download extensions that you can use to download a Facebook Live Video. These extensions include Fbdownloader and Social Video Downloader, just to mention a few of them.

The trick to choosing the most suitable method to use when downloading a live video is the time it takes to do this and also the quality of the video saved. Choose a method that is best for your situation.

Wrap Up

Live Videos on Facebook are becoming a common trend lately and they are preferred because they have a larger social media following compared to YouTube. It’s common to see everything from funny cat videos to breaking news stories. Millions of people all over the world use Facebook today and everyone enjoys viewing the many videos found there.

In addition, more people are using Facebook as compared to any other social media platform. The important thing to consider is time and quality of the video. Depending on the device that you are using, you may have a number of options to choose from when downloading your video as discussed above.