As you might be aware, the domain commission released .nz domain extensions on the 30^th of September. This is similar to the recent changes where .kiwi, .community, .cleaning, .builders, .ninja were released. Don't fret, these aren't replacing .co.nz or any other domain version, but this may be a great opportunity to buy another domain name for your website.

What is the benefit of having multiple domain name versions?

Having multiple domain versions such as www.example.co.nz, www.example.net.nz, www.example.nz is beneficial because your target audience might have a preference of typing a particular version of your URL over another. For example, they might type .co.nz instead of .org.nz.  

Over time, some versions become more popular than others, leading to a change in typing habits e.g. typing .nz  without a thought, instead of .co.nz.

So in the future, if most people type .nz instead of .co.nz , you want to make sure you own the .nz version of your URL. If not, chances are a competitor has it, and that traffic will go to them instead of you.

However, it will take time to see if the domain version becomes popular, and worth the purchase. 

Another advantage of having multiple domain name versions, is that they can increase your search engine optimisation (SEO). Different versions of domain names are able to target different types of people. For example, .com is best for a website trying to attract international customers, compared to .co.nz which is best for targetting New Zealand customers. Over time, there may be a chance that .nz ranks higher for local search, over .co.nz. 

At Zeald we recommend .com domain names and then .co.nz, and then any other versions after that. 

Registering for the .nz domain 

If you are interested in purchasing the .nz domain name, preferential registration will be given to those who already own the .co.nz, .org.nz or .net.nz version of the URL they want. 

For now you have several options:

1. You can reserve your .nz domain for free for up to 2 years (you will need your UDAI code to do this.)  http://anyname.nz/reservation-process.html
2. You can preregister them through http://anyname.nz/ and point them to their Zeald website following instructions here. 
3. You can choose to leave it for now, and continue with your current domain

From there, you will want to point your new domain name to your website. You can do this by following the Zeald support documentation. 

For more information, you can check out anyname.nz. They have some great FAQ’s on what happens with conflicted names, what will happen when your .co.nz domain expires, and how to go about this. For any other questions, contact our Support team on 0508 932 748 ext 1

Apps are designed to make our lives simpler. No other app could boost our productivity more than Hours. Its aim is to take the pain out of time-tracking, and that it definitely does.

If you’ve ever had to use, often archaic methods of time tracking, you’ll know how much of a headache it can often be. Now, there are no more excuses for painful spreadsheets or guessing what projects have filled our day. With Hours, you’ll no only stay on track you’ll perform tasks better.

What you get with Hours is a visual timeline, displaying colour-coded projects you are working on. Setting up and using Hours is very easy. You can add a project name and assign it a colour; if you want to, you can further clarify clients or tasks depending on the level of detail you want.

Once your projects are created, you simply tap the clock icon to start. Once you are ready to move on to a different project, hit a different clock next to that project, automatically stopping the previous project.

You can set how you round your minutes, which is great if you bill in minimum time blocks.

Plus, you can edit your timeline if you forget to switch timers, or account for a break. If you are naturally forgetful, Hours can also be set to send you reminders, schedule regular working days and special rules, such as “remind me to track if I haven’t done so for an hour”.

At the end of each week you can see where you’ve spent your time, and send yourself a spreadsheet or pdf report, great for billing, exporting to your companies system, or so you know where to spend more or less time the week following.

I found the Hours app a great way to help focus on a particular task, and not be distracted by incoming emails or social media feeds. It would be a valuable tool for any business, or student.

It does however, cost a little money, approximately $6.49 on the app store; but it is worth the small investment. Learn more about Hours here >

A: What is this? 

When a visitor arrives at your website, the first thing they will often ask themselves is “what does this business offer me?” or simply “what is this?”

You need to assure your website visitor within 3 seconds of them landing on your homepage that they have indeed landed in the right place.

We often refer to this as: a clear UVP (unique value proposition); or a USP (unique selling proposition). This lets your visitor know what sets you apart and what you can offer them.

Some examples of Zeald clients that have answered this question:

 

Mainland Driving School Limited

Mainland let the visitor know quickly that they are about heavy vehicle licensing, through use of images and text. They also are very specific about what location where they provide their service.

 

Excelso Coffee Roasters

Beyond just text, Excelso use a range of images to convey their message: they are about coffee.

 

Durafence

Here the visitor can tell what sets Durafence apart from other fencing solutions. Perhaps they even solve a problem the visitor didn't realise they had. If they were looking for a fence, they might not have realised that they ordinarily come with unwanted maintenance. 

 

Excaveyor

Finally a solution for that excavation issue. 

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a website page, which only has one function: to create leads via a form.

A home page that has a form on it is NOT a landing page, but a web page that’s only point is to have a form on it to gather visitors information IS a landing page.  

This is because a homepage has many more purposes than purely gathering information through a form.

Why should you have landing pages?

Landing pages are specific; they only have a form, and one call to action. Because of this, visitors are unlikely to get distracted and click on something else. It is a sure-fire way to generate leads efficiently.

They are also a quick and easy way to direct potential leads to complete a call to action.

For example, a company who is advertising their products or services will have a call to action which asks people to enquire about their service, or buy their product. This call to action would then be linked so that if clicked on, it would take the visitor directly to a landing page whose only goal is to complete the conversion by taking their information. 

Click here to see an example of Zeald's Audit landing page.

At Zeald, we have a lot of customers asking what they can do to get better results for their business. This resource will cover off important topics which will help you to reach your website goals; SEO, PPC, directory listings and social media.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is how a website ranks organically in search engines, that is, how it ranks without paying any money to Google.

The easiest way to improve your SEO is to create fresh, user friendly content that your customers will want to share with all their friends. This means writing blog posts, creating videos, and resources which you then share on social media, on your website, and in email marketing. 

To read more on how to improve your SEO please consider the following articles:

• Why doesn't my website appear in Google?
• Why is SEO important for your business?
• Why content marketing is king
• Correct the names of your images to improve your SEO
• All you need to know about inbound links

Pay Per Click and Google AdWords

 Pay Per Click is a method where you pay Google to rank well. You will have seen this when you search in Google and ads come up the top of the listings. Using PPC is a fantastic way to rank well without putting a lot of effort into content creation (you do have to pay though). PPC means that you only pay Google when someone clicks on your listing, which means that you only pay when someone is interested in your business. At Zeald, we have a team of Google certified PPC specialists that can help you with your PPC goals. To get started, have a read of our resources regarding PPC and Google AdWords.

• How to setup a Google AdWords campaign 
• 10 reasons you should commit to PPC
• Benefits of keyword analysis
• Google AdWords: Should you do it yourself?
• How to do a keyword analysis for your website

Directory listings 

Listing in directories is not only a fantastic way to improve your SEO, but it also lets potential customers know how to get in contact with you. It is important for local businesses to be listed in a directory that their target market uses. The best way to cover this, is to list in as many valuable directories as you can. It is also vital that your contact information is consistent on each of these listings.

To learn which directory listings might be good for your business, and how to go about making a listing, read the articles below.

• The importance of directory listings
• How to rank well locally to improve your SEO

Social Media

Social media is a great platform to share your content, and to create brand awareness. Here, you can get to know your customers, and see what they respond to. By having a community of your customers, you can get your information and offers out into a group of people who are already interested in you. For many businesses, social media should not be their only marketing platform, but it is a fantastic place to create a two-way relationship with your customers.

• Pinterest: Should you jump on board?
• Facebook rule breakers- are you guilty?
• Facebook, not everything in marketing
• Make Linkedin work for you
• Social media strategy 
• Instagram as a recommendation tool

If you would like extra help with any of the topics covered, please get in contact with the team at Zeald. We have a team of specialists that can help your business generate the business results you are looking for.

Email marketing is an effective tool to drive customers back to your website. It allows you to reach out to your customer and let them know what products and services they may be interested in.

1. Schedule your emails

What time and day to schedule your emails for will depend on the type of customers you are trying to reach. For example, if you are a B2B business, it is best to send emails in work hours, and on work days. Sending them an email at 5pm on a Friday is sure to go unnoticed by an employee whose mind is already on the weekend. Likewise, if your customers are stay-at-home mums, you might want to consider sending an email after the morning rush has slowed down. A good idea, is to schedule emails in advance, so your email goes out on time, regardless of someone needing to be there.

2. Have an interesting subject line

We all have inboxes overflowing with offers, your email needs to stand out among the masses. Identify the need of your client, and offer a solution. For example, a pharmacy could ask, ‘Are you ready for cold season?’. Try to avoid adding words like 'free' to your subject lines as they trigger spam filters.   

3. Segment your customers

Group your customers based on their needs. For example, if you are a sports website, and you stock the latest NRL merchandise, you want to let all your rugby customers know. Although other customers may also be interested, it will be more efficient to directly contact customers who you know have a keen interest in the sport. 

4. Have a strong call to action

What do you want people to do once they have read your email? Buy a product? Enquire about your services? Ensure you have a clear objective in mind so that your customers, in turn, know what your intentions are. Embed buttons and hyper links with your calls-to-action so that your customers can easily make the next step.

5. Split test 

Not sure if one subject line works better than the other? Split test your emails to see what works best. This is an excellent opportunity to continuously improve your emails, increasing your click through rate. All you need to do is to split up your customer group, and assign a different email subject line to each group. After you have sent out your emails, run a report on each email to see which was more successful. This may give you an idea to what your customers are most responsive to. This is not only useful for testing subject lines, but for design and offers as well. 

6. Report 

Are you not getting the responses you are looking for? Start reporting on your emails to see how many people are opening your email, clicking through, or unsubscribing. From there, you may start to see a pattern of specific offers being responded to more than others. This process of reporting means that you can refine your messages so that each email becomes more efficient. 

 

Want help with your email marketing? Talk to Zeald about our email marketing tool today. We can also help you with designing email marketing templates unique to your business. 

 

1. Buying products that have celebrity endorsements

It is common for people to be interested in products that their role models promote. This is especially strong when it seems natural that the celebrity would use the product themselves. For example, it would seem natural for wild-man survivalist, Bear Grylls to use a knife he promoted, compared to him eating at a fast food chain he promoted.  

Do you have a product that you know a customer uses? Write a blog about it, or post it on social media! For example, if you own a kids retail shop, and know that a celebrity mum uses a brand that you sell, let people know! You will most certainly catch the attention of customers who are a fan of the celebrity. 

2. Spending more to get free shipping

We’ve all been there, we have $25 worth of product in our cart, but free shipping is offered if you spend $30. What do you do? Some people will hunt around to find small something to bring their basket up to $30. Whereas other people may find your free shipping offer to be just the justification to spurge on the other product they were initially undecided on.

Because of this, you may want to consider the benefits of offering free shipping once a certain cart price has been reached. It is a great way to incentivise customers to spend that little bit more, without losing them to high shipping costs.

3. Spending more to save more

Offering a discount on one item because a customer has bought a number of other products encourages people to 'spend more to save more'. I have to admit, that while I know what shops are doing, I often fall for this. When you are already choosing between a few products, it does not take much for a company to grant you the permission you are internally looking for.  

Look to add this sales technique to your website seasonally when you are looking to get rid of excess stock, and to create hype via email marketing and social media when you do.

 

Viber is a great app to use to keep in contact with people when you are overseas. The app allows you to send free messages and free calls to other Viber users. You can download it to your smartphone, or use it on desktop.
This is a great tool for anyone who travels regularly and needs to keep in contact with colleagues, friends and family.

Use Viber to:

• Best-quality HD voice calls
• Video calls
• Text, photo and sticker messages
• Full sync between your mobile and Windows
• Transfer ongoing calls between devices

You can also make international calls with Viber, to any mobile or landline number (someone who doesn’t have a Viber account) for much lower rates than your local supplier would charge.

Viber is really easy to use, much like using messaging on an iPhone; the design is clean and simple. The app supports group chats with up to 100 Viber members and you can send or take photos and video from within the app, or send existing ones stored on your phone or computer.

Messages are sent and received seamlessly, and call quality is really great.  The only downside with Viber is there is no status display, so you can’t let people know you are not available to take a call, but this is really the same with receiving any type of call, you just don’t have to answer!

Viber is available for free download, visit www.viber.com for more details.

Your product pages on your website are extremely important in converting visitors to your site, into customers. In order to make purchasing decisions, you need to provide as much information as possible to your potential customer. This includes multiple product views, detailed descriptions and delivery information. Think of your customer when designing your product page. You need to answer their questions before they’ve even asked them and alleviate purchasing anxiety. Do not let them become frustrated with your website or lack of detail and turn to a competitor to complete their purchase.

Some of the information you need to include on product pages are:

• What does it look like from the back? Images are the first impression of your product. You need to draw the customer in using a great image. Then you need to provide multiple views of the product – the customer should be able to see it at all angles as-if they were rotating it in their hand. Show a stand-alone shot of the image as-well-as it being used in context – eg a model wearing the garment or a vase with flowers in it.
• What do others think? Allow your products to be peer-reviewed. Have a great rating system and even a statistic available so shoppers can see at a glance what others think of it over all; such as 95% of customers rate this product 4/5 stars. Any bad reviews will allow you to address the problem and/or remove the product if unsatisfactory.
• May I suggest…? Based on what they are buying or purchase history, suggest other products shoppers might like. This can increase your average order amount.
• Is it in my size? Have a sizing chart to reduce returns on an item.
• Is shipping extra? Be up-front about shipping. You could include a tally in a pop-out checkout that shows them how much more they need to spend to get free shipping. Do you have pick-up options? Unexpected shipping costs are one of the most common reasons for cart abandonment.
• Does this include…? Finally be detailed in your description of the product. Give specifications and ingredients lists. Describe how you use the product, even how you can pair the product with another product and cross-sell.

Link building is hard work, when done right. You don't want to resort to creating spam links. It is about continual updates, to keep content fresh and share worthy. 

Inbound links, also called back links, are valuable for any website. These are the links that come to your website from a different website. For example, if your business was a sports shop, a local rugby club website may link to your website to show their members where to buy their uniform. 

Why are they important?

Inbound links act as a direct pathway to your website. This means that a whole new audience can now find your website with ease. The amount of visitors that come through that link, depends on how much traffic the initial source receives.   

Another benefit of inbound links is that they serve to increase your SEO.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is how well your website displays in a search engines unpaid results. To get more traffic, it is better to appear in the first page of results, as close to the top as possible. 

The more inbound links your website has, the more likely that your website will rank higher in search engines. This is because the inbound links are effectively telling the search engine that your website is trustworthy. Search engines (like Google) take this into account when ranking websites. 

However, not all inbound links are weighted the same. So it is not wise to create a bunch of spam websites to link to your website. 

Inbound links from other trustworthy websites are weighed much higher than inbound links from low ranked websites. For instance, an inbound link from Kings Plant Barn will be weighted higher than a small garden shop website whose website has not had any new content for years. 

Natural linking

It is important to ensure any inbound link seems natural. This means that the link should ideally be used as part of a sentence. This can easily be done with the use of a hyperlink. E.g. "Anthony’s Sports Shoes in Albany has a fantastic range of rugby shoes fit for any age this winter."

By placing a link within a sentence, customers are more likely to click on it. People are less likely to click on a link if it is just a URL, let alone a URL that they have to copy and paste into their browser. 

How to get inbound links

Since inbound links come from other websites, it can seem difficult to know how to get them. The best trick to get inbound links, is to have great content that people want to share with their audience. From there, you want to ensure people can find your content easily. This means, placing your content where your target audience is. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow for immediate sharing, as well as related forums. Another fantastic idea, is to add your content to your email marketing and newsletters. 

Here are my top 5 ways to get inbound links:

1. Create a blog 

   This is a great resource for getting original content out infront of people. What does your audience want to know about? What are problems they might be facing? Create blogs centered around their needs, this will not only ensure people come back to read your articles, but they are more likely to share your link to likeminded people. Make sure you send out your blogs to your customer database, or on social media to ensure more people see them. 

2. Guest blog

   Guest blogging is where you create content for another website. This means that you able to talk directely to another websites' audience. Not only that, but you can direct the audience to your website for more information. For instance, a landscaping company could write up a blog for a gardening website, on the top new trends for utilising space. 

3. Write case studies

   Case studies are a fantastic opportunity to promote your business without a heavy sales pitch. Find a client of yours who is happy to talk about their experience with your product or service. Any case study that makes your client or customer's business look good, will be sure to be shared by them too. Make sure you put your case studies on your website and on social media platforms too!

4. PR

   Is your organisation doing something fantastic in the community? Why not write into your local newspaper with a story! Online articles best for SEO, but even a paper only version means that you get more brand awareness. Most newspapers have great SEO because of their rich content, so having them link their online articles to your website is sure to result in a heavy weighted link. 

5. Create informative or fun videos

   Vidoes are one of the top shared types of content. Does your company have an upbeat personality? If so, create a video about your product/service, or team. If your business has more of a serious personality, why not create an informative video? Bunnings Warehouse creates fantastic DIY videos that are a huge hit with DIY rookies. 

Take home message:

Create new fresh content whenever possible. Post your own articles on social media platforms and in relevant forums. But resist spamming people, only post what you think is valuable and relevant to your audience.  

On a daily basis, Zeald customers are adding new products to their stores, setting up email campaigns, changing forms, creating coupons, writing blog posts, and so on. However, an often overlooked step in the process is testing.

Testing is a fundamental part of having a website. It pays to set aside some time on a regular basis to test your main conversion pathways, so you can catch a bug before your customers do.

What should I be testing?

You want your customers to have a positive experience and return again. Not testing your website can cause a lot of frustration. It is important to check any change you make before running with it. We have developed a testing checklist for you to run through.
 

• Conversion Pathway

You should think about your main conversion pathways and test these on a regular basis, across the main browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari). Does the link work? Does the form work? Does the shopping cart work? Test as a customer (front end) and as yourself (back end), meaning can you easily purchase a product or fill in an enquiry form as a customer would and receive confirmation emails; do you receive the notification of these orders/enquiries so you can then process them?

For instance... making your website live without testing your enquiry link and email address, so when a customer clicks on the link to email you, the email goes nowhere. This could result in numerous enquiries going unanswered.
 

• New Software

If you are about to launch a new software development, you should also assist with testing as per the checklist. New software also goes through a two-phase process of alpha and beta testing during development:

1. Alpha with internal testing - You the client goes through the conversion pathway - The alpha is what is presented at the launch plan.
2. Beta is deploying / announcing with just a select few of your customers - guinea pigs before a full blown email out to all your customers.New features/ Upgrades/Downgrades

Basically if you change something you should test it.

Imagine if you changed the price on a product and didn't test to see what your customers see. You could end up selling a product at the wrong price, before the mistake is noticed.
 

• Coupons

Check to see if the coupons work, test them on excluded products and after expiry date too (change the date settings on your computer.)
 

• Email Marketing/Newsletters

Test links. Check send times and dates. Check the subject line. How does your email look in different email programs? Test in Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Thunderbird. How does your email look in popular email devices? Are there any spelling errors?

A company is able to set up a draft email marketing campaign for a future date, using it to edit and craft their ideas. Unfortunately, they may forget that it is still there when the date comes around. In doing so, an email would be sent out with outdated info, prices, offers, and spelling errors.

Testing is second nature at Zeald, we ensure that every element on the website, and every item that we send out, has been tested and viewed by multiple people. This increases our chance of catching any errors. 
 

Test checklist:

Pathway Testing	Email Testing	Software Testing
FRONT END: Visit landing page/homepage Is your call to action compelling? Click button/link Fill in form / add product to cart Submit form / go to checkout & purchase product eCommerce: was the payment process smooth? Did you receive a thank you page / Order confirmation? Did you receive a confirmation email? BACK END: Did you receive notice of the enquiry / order? Are you able to process the order?	Email content created Check spelling for errors Have someone else check spelling Send to yourself. Check your subject line. Is it compelling? Check design spacing Are the images displaying? Do the images fit the width of your email? Check every link Check email on different email clients. Check display on mobile Periodically check future dated emails for any test sends.	Software developed Minimum Viable Product deployed Alpha testing Test as your customer uses and as you receive Run your conversion pathway Test on different browsers Does it work? What is broken? Does it need to be fixed? Report back bugs Beta testing Email link to select clients, friends, family for testing Repeat process using real clients as guinea pigs

 

In 2008, we wrote an article on how to produce high quality product photos. If you would like to view that article, click here. 

The below infographic has combined recent information on producing product photos, with the basics.

Case studies are a fantastic way to promote your products and services without the hard sell. In a world where customers are constantly exposed to advertising, case studies can be a natural way to get your message across.

Benefits of promoting your products through a case study

1. Build trust

Having an existing customer demonstrate the reliability of your product and business is a fantastic way to build trust. A third party discussing your product in a positive light is seen as more trustworthy to potential clients, and is a method of building trust that all businesses should action.

2. Solve problems

Discuss your existing client's problems and show how you solved them. Chances are, other potential customers have similar problems that they are anxious to solve. An added bonus is that leads generated by your case study will be of higher quality because people are already seeking out a solution for an acknowledged problem.

3. Showcase unique features

A case study puts your product in the spotlight so you can show off all the great features that are missing in your competitors products. Here is your chance to highlight your point of difference!

4. Back up your claims

You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? Customers will often be a little hesitant about believing claims without proof. Case studies are an excellent source of real life evidence on how your product or service helped your customer.

5. Make your product relatable

A great way to sell your products or services is to showcase them in their natural environment. What better way to show a customer that you sell shoes great for racing, than a case study on a race winner who wore your shoes! 

6. Ensure your product is memorable

People tend to favour a story, they are also more inclined to remember the gist of something they are told, or read, rather than the facts. For that reason, it is best to discuss your product in a story-like manner alongside facts and figures.

Tips to get started...

• Ask an existing client for permission to use their story, or to interview them about their experience.
• Use story telling to excite your audience.
• Discuss the problem your client had before using your product- you want to ensure other clients connect to the case study.
• Show exactly how you fixed your client's problem, and what features of the product or service made a big impact.
• Wherever possible, use percentages, or quotes about how your product has improved the initial problem the customer had.
• Try to break up the text with easy to interpret graphs, or images. Make the audience want to keep reading!
• Near the end, add testimonial about your product and business from the customer. 
• Sign off with information on how customers facing similar problems can get in touch with you. 

For more inspiration on how to write a case study for your business, have a read of our real life case studies about Zeald clients.

You may have heard of Snapchat, if you are under 25 or have teenagers in the house, you probably have. Snapchat is an image and video sharing app for smart phones. The idea behind it is that images only last for a predetermined amount of time, and then close permanently. Receivers are unable to save or reopen any Snapchats they were sent, and the sender is notified if the receiver took a screenshot of their image. 

Alternatively, the user can add their image to their Snapchat Story, in which the image will be available for unlimited views by all their followers for 24 hours. Snapchat Story is simply a user's board which they can fill up with as many images or videos as they would like for all of their followers to see in a 24 hour period. 

Untill now, the app has only been used between friends, but businesses are now tapping into the marketing possibilities Snapchat provides.

How Snapchat has worked for some businesses

The nature of the snap only lasting a small amount of time creates urgency that demands full attention. This is a great motivator for any follower to find out more about your products and services.

Check out these businesses that are using Snapchat in their campaigns:

• Taco Bell
• The TV show 'Girls'
• Karmaloop, online clothing retailer.
• GrubHub, online food ordering company.

How to use Snapchat in your marketing campaigns

1. Promotions

   • Send followers an in store or online promotion. Build the hype by making the offer exclusive by sharing a promotion code. Your followers will grow fast if they think your Snapchat is an account they MUST follow to get the best deals.

2. Contests

   • Want feedback from your followers now? Send out a snap of your latest competition. For example, ask your followers to snap their ugliest shoes, worst shoes win a brand new pair for the following weekend! Post the competition on other social media platforms to grow your Snapchat follower base.

3. Create buzz

   • Got a new product or service you want everyone talking about? Send a 10 second image to all of your followers. This would work especially well for a retail shop that just got the latest winter fashion must-haves in store.

4. Reminders

   • Is the most hyped movie of the year set to come out this week? Remind people! Send out a Snapchat of the movie poster and the date of the first session. 

What businesses would Snapchat work for?

If your target market is 15-25 you should definitely consider Snapchat.

Using Snapchat in your marketing strategy is a great way to show customers you’re ‘cool’ without explicitly saying it. So if you’re having trouble connecting with your young clientele, Snapchat could be your way forward. 

A must do for the following business types:

• Restaurants, cafes and bars
• Retail outlets
• Theme parks or entertainment providers incl. Cinemas, mini golf, swimming pools
• Automotive (WOF’s, car maintenance)
• Higher education providers
• Pet shops or Zoo’s (people love a good animal pic!)

What to keep in mind before using Snapchat 

Snapchat is instant, so if you choose the wrong image or text, you cannot take it back once it is sent. You should also choose your Snapchat administrator carefully, as there is limited accountability if it all goes wrong.

It pays to keep in mind that Snapchat followers may reply, and the images they send back might not always be positive. In this case, block the user or ignore it. As with all social media, make sure you don't take negative feedback too personally.

How to use Snapchat

Part one: Download the free app from your Play Store or Itunes. 
Part two:Take the image. 

Part three: Tap the image to add words, decide how long you want to set the image for, then send it to your followers.

VideoBite makes it easy to create short movies on your smartphone—no experience necessary!

This app is great if you like to take video using your iPhone. Let me just say upfront, sorry this app is currently only for iOS. If you are an Android user you’ll find some alternatives, such as Kinemaster Pro, but video editing seems to be an area of weakness within Android.

Adobe are the crowd behind VideoBite. The app is really easy to use, and lets you create a video masterpiece, which you can upload to Facebook or Youtube, save on your phone, or send privately via SMS or email.

How it works is:

• Shoot your video as normal using your iPhone camera.
• Open VideoBite to edit.
• Mix and match clips from your camera roll.
• If you like, insert photos you’ve taken, add titles and transitions.
• You can add music directly from iTunes or use the pre-loaded soundtracks
• Trim long clips, add effects and filters, add text, preview and share.

This is a great little app that can really compete with iMovie, with an added bonus that it only takes up 28 MG of space, compared to iMovie’s 635MB.

Edit and create movies for your presentation while you are on your way in the taxi! Upload demos of your product in a jiffy. Also great app to have on hand for weddings, parties, or showcasing your trip.

Download your VideoBite app today for free from iTunes.