Career Prospects in Digital Marketing

Simply put, digital marketing employs the help of the World Wide Web for advertisement and publicity. As long as businesses continue to grow and flourish there will always be a need for effective marketing strategies, and doing so digitally is the need of the hour. With increasing human interest in online quests, a career in digital marketing is surely an envious one.

I am sure you are bombarded with advertisements whenever you surf on the net. Be it search engines or social media websites, the latest trends in digital marketing have taken the world by storm. Have you ever wondered who the people behind all that publicity are?

Yes, there exists a human being who toils day and night to market products to the relevant target group. It is not an easy job, however; considering the massive requirements, it’s not such a bad idea to pursue this line of work. If you are passionate about copywriting, developing apps, web designing, or social media in general, a career in digital marketing can be a great fit for you.

Future Scope

Before we delve into the various career prospects associated with this field, it’s important to throw some light on the scope of this industry.

• India has the second largest internet population after China, which is only augmenting with time.

• Digital marketing’s contribution to Indian economy is expected to reach US$ 100 billion in 2015.

• This industry is highly creative so there is no dearth of jobs.

• The salary packages are decent for both beginners and a seasoned professional making this is lucrative career prospect for current and future generations.

• The popularity of social media will only increase with time and so will the public standing of digital marketing.

• New businesses will rake in better digital strategies.

• Digital marketing fuels artistic temperament, thereby attracting talented individuals from many backgrounds.

Possible Career Prospects

If you think that a career in digital marketing is the best option for you, hone some foundational skills and knowledge or else you won’t get anywhere. Possessing a specialization in this field increases your employability rate substantially. Here is what you can become as a digital marketer:

Digital Marketing Manager

• Responsible for website management and online brand strategy.

• Executes the different aspects of digital communications.

• Supports all the branded marketing initiatives.

• Uses analytical tools like Google Analytics to report on traffic trends and other advertising campaigns.

• Responsible for social media, website development, and e-newsletters.

Digital Marketing Strategist

• Responsible for the development of digital strategies.

• Helps build plans for user research.

• Ensures integration between paid, earned, and owned media.

• Compiles all the data and results while providing recommendations for future programs.

Digital Marketing Analyst

• Measures, executes, and analyses those programs that are in support of cross-channel efforts of marketing.

• Develops certain systems and processes that standardize reporting.

• Responsible for data analysis and recommendations required by the customers.

• Helps develop strategies to capture campaign performance across mobile, social, offline, and digital channels.

Digital Media Planner

• Manages and develops digital media plans.

• Manages several media projects.

• Develops project estimates.

• Defines a budget for media vehicles.

• Presents campaign plans to clients.

• Takes care of the budgets, goals, and objectives of the client’s media plan.

• Analyzes and reports results.

Digital Advertising Specialist

• Displays all advertising placements.

• Analyzes and monitors online campaigns.

• Identifies areas that require optimization.

• Documents customer communication.

• Works in tandem with other team members including SEO professionals, IT support, Account advocates, and fulfilment partners. 

• Prepares internal performance reports and monthly performance reports for the management and customers respectively.

Social Media Specialist

• Creates and manages advertising content for social media platforms.

• Evaluates and monitors social media results on a daily basis.

• Supports SEO strategies by understanding the priority of every keyword.

• Assists in the link-building exercise.

• Provides recommendation and analysis as the social media campaign evolves.

Conclusion

Apart from the aforementioned job profiles there are several others like Digital Advertising Analyst, Digital Advertising Account Executive, Affiliate Marketing, Analytics, Blogging, Copywriting, Inbound Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Pay per Click, Video Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, User Experience, and Conversion Rate Optimization, which might suit your fancy as the ultimate career prospect. Working as a digital marketer is not so difficult as several companies are looking to hire talented individuals all the time. If you ever receive a job alert for something interesting, jump onto the bandwagon and go ahead with the flow. A career in this field will never be a disappointment for sure.

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The Benefits of Using TLS/SSL on Your Website

Attached is the PDF, which defines what TLS and SSL encryption are and why encryption is beneficial. It also helps to debunk some of the reasons sites haven’t started using encryption yet, and how they are creating vulnerabilities for both themselves and their customers. We encourage you to use this information for save business.

Download PDF

If you are interested in learning more about TLS/SSL security, check out SingleHop.com. They are a cloud hosting company which offers a free security certificate with every purchase of their virtual private cloud. Their expertise helped create the PDF above to help keep others safe when surfing the web.

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How to Budget Your Business Expenses for 2015

Having a monthly budget for any business is essential. The sole purpose for having a budget is to measure goals and evaluate spending on advertising, outsourcing, or expansion plans. Having a budget dramatically reduces anxiety. Once the details have been worked out on paper, you will then know every single month where your money is going. There is no longer a need to borrow money from one account to pay another account. Creating a budget can be a little time-consuming, but it is worth it. It's a good idea to have vendor invoices and recent bank statements nearby when starting the process.

1. Identify Spending Categories. Evaluate where your money is going every month. Make a list of monthly expenses and categorize them. This list will vary by business size and type. By using your bank statements and invoices, you can accurately list expenses rather than relying on your memory. 

2. Estimate Expenditures. Now that your expense list is completed, a price will be assigned to each category. How much do you spend every month on a specific item? You may want to start off with expenses that are usually the same every month, such as rent and salaries.

Now, you can start working with expenses that vary from month to month such as utilities, office maintenance, office supplies, and sales commissions. Although you cannot predict future expenses, bills that vary every month can be totaled up for the last 12 months and then divided by 12. This will give you a good estimate for the year. 

There may also be some expenses that accrue infrequently, such as building repairs. These can be some very large expenses, so you may want to start budgeting for them now. For instance, if building maintenance was $3000 last year, you may want to budget the same amount or a little more for the upcoming year.

3. Track Spending. Keeping track of your expenses is not only important for tax purposes, but it also allows you to see where your money is going. Give yourself a couple of hours per week to enter your expenses in your accounting software, for this will make things easier for you in the long run. When paying bills or making large purchases, you may want to think about whether the services or products are necessary. Wanting something is completely different from needing something.

4. A Balanced Budget. Now that all of your numbers are in place, you can begin subtracting your expenses. Make sure that you are not spending more than you earn. If your expenses exceed your income, then you will need to cut back. If you have made every possible cut, then you will need to evaluate your business goals. How many sales are needed to balance the budget? How many additional clients do I need? How many products do I need to sell?

If you input your receipts in your accounting software on a daily basis, you will always be caught up. This is the best way of managing your money. Most of today's accounting programs allow you to budget expenses, so budgeting is not as difficult. By taking these steps, you will be well on your way to having a balanced budget. 

Aubrey Moulton is a writer for Nethosting.com. In her spare time, she loves to go hiking on local Utah trails and spend time reading.

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5 Tips for Choosing the Right Domain

The domain that you choose for your website will affect all of your future online marketing efforts. You can make things very easy or very hard on yourself in subsequent months simply by picking the right or the wrong domain name.

Below are a few ways to know that you are picking the right domain name for your online company.

Your name is short and easy to remember:

Remember that people will be typing in your domain name constantly. In online promotion, there is no promotional tool that you can use to put your domain name in front of your audience all the time. You need to make it easy to remember.

Your domain name describes what your business is about:

Ideally, your domain name should be a long tail keyword that you are optimizing for within the major search engines. Barring that, you should at least be able to make a case for how your domain name describes your business. If you are having trouble, you can look on the Google keyword tool to find keywords that search engines deem relevant to your business purpose.

Your domain name is unique:

Your audience should be able to pick out your business from another without a great deal of confusion. If your domain name is similar to a company that already has a foothold in the market, then you are doing yourself a disservice by naming yourself something similar. You may even be getting into legal trouble if you do this. Do not give established companies the leverage that they need to put you out of business before you even get started. Stay away from trademarks and names that have been copyrighted over many years.

Your domain name has a good suffix:

You should have the proper suffix for the type of business that you are running. Although there are many new suffixes that may give you more leverage with your prefix, .com is the go to suffix that is trusted by most people. You should always try to get a .com domain name first.

Finally, your domain name should be short:

Find some way to shorten your domain name into something that is easy to type. The longer that your domain name is, the more likely that your audience will make a mistake when they are typing it in.

It is also good if you leave out special characters when you are picking your domain name. Try to go for a name that has only letters. Stay away from "l33t" speech as well. Not everyone speaks in letters and numbers, so you can never be sure whether people will get the joke if you replace "e" with "3."

If you follow the tips above, you are sure to have a domain name that people will enjoy typing in. They will remember it as a bookmark for your company, giving you more business as they spread the word among their friends. Remember to make it as easy as possible for your audience to find your business, and you can never go wrong picking a domain name.

 

Aubrey Moulton is a writer for Nethosting.com. In her spare time, she loves to go hiking on local Utah trails and spend time reading.

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My 9 Wordpress Plugins for your Blog

Are you a setting up your blog with no real idea of what plugins you need for your blog?  As I have been building my website on Wordpress over the last 6 months, I have found several helpful Wordpress plugins that have been useful in maintaining my website security, managing my image sizes, helped with lead generation and overall functionality of my website. Here is my current must-have list of WP plugins for your blog.

1. Smush. It - Install this free plugin to your WP site and it will compress your images, saving file space and improving your websites performance.

2. 404 to start - Install this free plugin if you want to design a custom 404 page (this is the website page that people get redirected to if they click on a dead page on your website). You can redirect all 404 page not found errors permanently (or temporarily) to the start page or any other site/page you like. You just create a new page and then link it to 404 to start in settings. I use this form an optimize it to get leads to my email list. This plugin is perfect for people who use OptimizePress as they does not currently have a template for 404 pages to customize. Click on the picture below to view my entire customized 404 page.

 

3. Webpage Test - Use this free tool to test your website speed. Just enter your web address and get your results.

4. Author bio box - This free plugin is great! It allows you to create a customized biography with links to your social media pages.

 

5. Keyword Tool IO - This keyword search tool gives you keywords that people are using to search for things on Google. Get 750 keyword suggestions to help you with content creation for your KeywordTool.io is one of the best keyword research tools available today

6. Click to tweet this free tool allows you to create tweetable text that can be placed within your blog post. This encourages people to click and tweet a useful fact or quote, thereby promoting your blog post to their followers. You can enter hashtags and a unique weblink to your blog post. See an example below.

7. Hello bar is a free opt in option that ads a compelling header opt in form that you can customize. You can use it for promoting your offer or directing people to like your social media pages. I use it to promote my opt in report.See my example below.

 

 Click on the hello bar right now to grab my free list Building Ideas!

8. Use any font - this free plugin allows you to override your WP theme font and install a new font. This is an easy plugin to use. Just get your API key are enter your font name and you’re all set!

 

9. OptinMonster is the #1 lead generation and email list building tool. You to create lightbox popups, floating footer bars, slide-ins, and other highly effective optin forms. OptinMonster also comes with built-in A/B testing functionality, robust analytics, and powerful exit-intent technology. This is a plugin you must pay for but by far the best for lead generation.

  

Share with me below what some of your favorite Wordpress Plugins are for your blog.

Written by Jolynn Oblak

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Schooling must adapt to the changing contours of information technology and connectivity - Robotics

Schooling must adapt to the changing contours of information technology and connectivity. STEM education especially in computer programming and robotics is becomingly increasingly important day by day in all walks of the economy. Most of the low skill, routine, assembly line jobs are being routed to automated performers. Human intelligence is increasingly being put to implementing non routine tasks, flooded with new information, intelligent, autonomous and highly adaptive technology. Schools, therefore, must shape up the foundational skills of students, including independent, critical and creative thinking, curating and implementing new ideas. These skills shall prove to be integral to future job markets and to employees in order for them to be progressive and efficient. 

Left unexposed at early stages of education, most middle school students experience a mental handicap in science and technology. Such students then begin drawing away from the fields of computer and information science, engineering, and the physical sciences. The inculcation of mathematical, analytical and logical aptitude in students suffers as they are unexposed to the strategic problem solving and organisational training in STEM. No wonder the domain of information and technology has constantly employed toppers, nerds and geeks.  In a future job market constantly vetted with data and technology“ science and technology is increasingly coming out of the black boxes of 'nerds'. Technological infiltration will become deeper and broader in all domains of life including and most importantly, education and workplace. No vocation can then choose to ignore technological and professional productivity brought in by the information technology systems. Robotics education would therefore go a long way in creating productive workers, capable of being effective decision makers and strategic problem solvers, irrespective of their fields.

Majorly all the students these days are pro at basic computer skills and internet operations, long before they even join elementary school.  Ironically, sometimes even in high schools, students lack even the most basic knowledge of coding. The essence of coding is that it enables students to recognise the actual working of a computer, the real execution of programs and communication. Programming languages allow students to effectively  communicate with the computer, exposing its actual working mechanism, providing a deep seated knowledge of information systems and artificial intelligence. Most students and parents feel that introduction to computer programming and computer science is a course relevant only for college students. This is a MISTAKE. Students in fact must be exposed to programming at a very early age. Programming enhances and feeds on the analytical and logical abilities of children.

Contemporary curriculum focusses on integrated learning of Math, Science, and Technology. Mathematical skills remain absolutely important to programming of robots. Students are required to implement decisions regarding the actions of the robot which requires skills of calculation, geometry, optimisation and measurement. While students directly engage in computer programming, robotics can expose students to ideas of spatial concepts and geometry. The principles of physics, as well as electrical and mechanical engineering can also be delivered in a hands on manner as students understand about electronics, motors, sensors and actuators. Robotics also represents a great pedagogical tool for learning and application allowing students to hone skills such as problem - solving, strategic analysis, cooperation and develops their high order thinking faculties. Robotics exposes students to the domains of mechanics, electrical circuits, and applied mathematical reasoning, all of which are otherwise perceived to be bland and inanimate by students.

Most schools worldwide have started embracing digitisation of education however the implementation remains greatly superficial. Students however now need to switch roles from being passive consumers of modern technology to active creators and designers of modern information technology systems. Various tools are available that allow students from K-12 to learn computer pogromming skills. Scratch is a free tool designed by MIT media labs for children 6 years and above and allows them to learn and create various gaming and animation projects which they later share with other community members. ALICE is a free and open source 3D programming tool which teaches essentials of animation and storytelling to kids. Lego pioneered with Lego Mindstorm which is essentially a robotics kit containing sensors, motors, programming language guidance for kids and adults.

Most effectively, robotics can be taught as a part science or technology curriculum, however various cross curriculum paths are also viable. Educators worldwide have designed robotics curriculum as a mix of theoretical and practical exercises. It includes building complex robots, solving problems, optimisation attributes, multiple programming and testing activities, animation and gaming activities, as well as informal activities such as robotics clubs, robotics tournaments, various inter school robotics training and participation programs. Students are not merely supposed to design, build, and program robots for fun filled activities but they also develop research solutions to real world problems. Working with robots engages students actively in direct learning and creative problem solving techniques. Students are encouraged to take independent initiatives after careful planning and optimisation. Students create flow charts, plan their steps in detail, understanding the action and reaction fundamentals. group based activities and robotics tournaments and Lego leagues also enhances cooperation, leadership, sharing, team management, communication skills and various other life skill attributes. Robotics is a perfect way to inculcate fun in an otherwise complex and scary subject of science and technology.

Schools and education societies worldwide need to invest in robotic education resources, including training for teachers who must be made comfortable in embracing digital classroom techniques and incorporating the learning and understanding of these in their curricula. 

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Learning apps of the week

At present kids are highly equipped with the knowledge of latest gadgets and apps. Even your toddler knows how to tap the touch screen and start an app out of your tablet. Your children will probably learn sooner rather than later about all the entertainment options technology can bring to their lives. So it’s better to teach them from an early age that gadgets can be useful learning tools as well. Here are some selected educational and learning apps of the week that you can try using with your toddler or elementary school-aged child in order to teach them more about language, math, science, music and more. 

Preschool and Kindergarten learning kids games for girls and boys

This app is perfect to start with your preschool kid as it has all what a child needs to learn with fun and joy. This app goes beyond with simply great colorful graphics and music by engaging your child to learn preschool basics trough exciting game play. This app is all FREE and available at App Store, just download it and make your child learn the preschool basics with this colorful and unique way.

Preschool EduKidsRoom - Free7

This app has 16 different educational games which teach your kid about Time, Matching, Sorting, Organizing, Shape recognition, Puzzles, Colors, Number, Letters and so much more. Kids can learn with the help of adorable animated 3D characters, which guide them for every learning process. Just go for this colorful and fun-to-learn app. Download it (FREE!) from App Store.

iTooch Elementary School

This elementary school free app is another wonderfully designed app for kids to learn with fun through games. So far it’s the largest collection of educational activities based on US National Common Core Standards on the App Store. It includes different activities on Maths, Language, Arts, Science and Health. This app can be downloaded from App Store as well as Play Store for your smart phones and tablets. 

King of Maths

King of Maths, is a highly-paced game, with different sorts of mathematical problems according to the age group of kids. The free version includes Addition, Subtraction and Mixed problems, but full game can be bought as a one-time in-app purchase and includes Multiplication, Division, Arithmetic, Geometry and other high level mathematical problems. This app is best suitable for kids of grade 5 and above. It’s all FREE, and easily available at App Store and Play Store.

Amazing Time

Amazing time is a wonderful app to make your kid learn about time. It teaches kids the concept of Second, Minute, Quarter, Hour, Day, Week, Month, Year, PM and AM. Kids can set the time in analogue as well as digital mode. They can play clock puzzles, matching digital time with analogue and sort the clock by time sequence. This one app (freely available at App Store) got whole different ways to make your kid learn about Time within days. 

Learn with Homer

This beautifully designed app can give your child a complete way to speak, read and write English. It supports kids with a variety of skills like Letter Sound Recognition, Spelling, Vocabulary, Comprehension etc. Just 10 minutes a day and you’ll see your kid more confident in all the required skills within days. It’s easily available at App Store. Give it a start to make your child a better learner. 

Seasons and Weather!

This awesome app will help your child learn to identify various weather situations in different seasons and will teach him/her all about weather suitable clothing and different activities. This freely available app (at App Store) will get your child ready for school with these fun science-learning and educational games and make them feel self-assured to learn the new concepts in school.

By: kidslearning games

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GoPro or the Camera of the future

The Camera's industry revolution keeps on growing. After famous brands such as Canon, Lumix, Nikon, Olympus and even Samsung, the market recently welcomed the GoPro HD HERO : the camera which best fit your needs anywhere at any time.

Invented by Nick Woodman in 2001 and designed by Woodman Labs since 2005 in California, GoPro HD HERO is known as nowadays most versatile Camera.

Such as SEO companies in London, It suits each ones needs either you have a great passion for photography or not. It offers the possibility to capture the best moments of your life or make a video and allows to enjoy your favourite moments thanks to one of the best quality of image the market offers.

Those who can really find an interested on this product are extreme sports practisers. Indeed, they can take it anywhere, from the top of a mountain to when hiking, to the snow when skiing and even in the deep water of an ocean when surfing on huge waves. The only thing to do is to attach it on a part of your body according to what you expect to film; turn it on and start enjoying. 

Nowadays, the range counts four different cameras :

• GoPro HD Hero which was the first one to be commercialised and which is compatible with the HD Hero 2.
• GoPro HD Hero 2 which is similar to the first one but makes its difference thanks to its capability to accept SD Cards up to 32 Go bits.
• GoPro HD Hero 3 which offers much more opportunities than the previous ones. It also allows up to 64 Go of storage, has Wi-Fi integrated, can be controlled with a remote, is 25% smaller and 30% lighter.
• GoPro HD Hero 3+ which also has a Wi-Fi integrated but its main particularity lies on the fact it offers better sounds thanks to its capacity to reduce noises caused by the wind.

When reading this you may ask yourself (or not) why you have never really heard about this fabulous camera? This was my question when I discovered its existence.

Indeed, it is quiet complicated to know about these products when on TV we have all these adverts promoting new cameras, the quality of image that they offer, their new skills and so on. But for the GoPro, the communication campaign works differently.

It is often said that the best way to convince someone that your product is good, is not to talk too much about it but to show what your product can do and this is the strategy the company chose to put in place. The brand does not talk a lot about the product, it shows what its little cameras can do and how they can fulfil needs and expectations.

Pictures talk for the camera and so does the huge word of mouth which is spread around the products. I got to know this product thanks to a friend, who knew it thanks to another friend and now I am sharing my discovery with you so just imagine the impact that each of us has on the development of this brand.

According to the recent development of the brand, we can say the company will keep on improving the quality of its products in order to always offer the best.

The cameras are really easy to use, press on the start button to capture images or make a small video, view your pictures and even impress your friends and family during holidays, parties and why not during your lunch break at work. 

And for those who love doing everything with their smartphones, it is possible to control your GoPro thanks to an App. All you need is your GoPro, your Smartphone and your Computer to view your pictures or videos. 

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Travel Apps to Help You Save Time, Money and Effort

Holidays are always meant for traveling. If you are planning to spend your holiday somewhere away from home, travel apps should be part of your baggage list. Your iPhone is actually more than a communicative device, it can handle all the needed arrangements and help you search for accommodations, recommendations on good eats and best travel deals. Without further ado, here are some great choices of travel apps for your iPhone: 

1. Hotel Tonight 

Hotel Tonight is a free app which provides discount deals on hotels in San Francisco. Should you spend some time in this lovely city, this app allows you to view hotels that fit your budget. Getting half-price for a five star hotel is such a reward. If you are up for great deals, you should be willing to wait up to the last minute in order to book a room. The only drawback to this app is that deals last for just a few days and their availability usually takes place during noon time. 

2. TripAdvisor 

TripAdvisor is a free app that provides you with shopping spots, hotel booking options and nearby utilities. By using this app, you can view photos and videos of places you are to visit on your vacation. Also, you get to read reviews from travelers who have gone to such particular place. This will give you an idea on what to expect and what your destination looks like. This app comes with a location feature that enables you to locate nearby attractions, entertainment spots and various restaurants. The TripAdvisor app lets you save time and effort as you don’t have to do the legwork finding what you need. 

3. Foodspotting 

Foodspotting is an app that speaks for its name. It is a restaurant guide which provides you with the best eateries and restaurants within you area. If you are craving for something special such as authentic Chinese cuisine or hot Mexican food, the app will give you the best restaurants for these types of food. You also get to view their menu and corresponding prices so that you can allocate a good budget for meals. Food lovers will surely enjoy this free app. 

4. Flight Tracker 

Flight Tracker is a free app that enables you to access departure and arrival details for flights heading to various destinations in the world using major airlines. It includes an airport map which helps you locate the right exit and entry zones. This saves you time especially in a gigantic airport where you have a few minutes left before flight. An added feature is information about the weather conditions of your destination. Flight tracker also gives you access to view which seats are still available in the plane, should you wish to transfer to a window seat. 

5. Travelzoo 

Travelzoo is a free app that will interest you with great vacation deals at any season of the year. If you love taking vacations, this app is great for you. Travelzoo is operated by a team of ‘Deal Experts’ who are tasked to share the best travel deals such as all-inclusive trips, early-bird promos and exotic getaways. Apart from great vacation packages, you also get to view deals on hotel rooms and discount tickets for entertainment events. Travelzoo is a helpful app for those who want to travel and at the same time save on their expenses. 

Explore every corner of the world with these travel apps installed on your iPhone. Having all these readily available, getting lost is no excuse. Choose the apps that could answer to your needs and visit the App Store on iTunes. Travel apps truly make a vacation stress-free. 

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Top 5 iPhone Apps for 2014 - Part III

Since the first iPhone release almost 7 years ago our concept of what a phone can do has been continuously pushed to the limit. The days of paying for each text message, playing cell phone snake and swapping phone faceplates is long gone! iPhone apps are the new craze and have changed our daily lives! Don’t believe me? When is the last time you actually headed into a bank to deposit a check? If you still do, then stop it! There’s an app for that now. With hundreds of new apps being added to the App Store each month it may be difficult to know which ones are worth your while. Check out our list of the top 5 iPhone apps for 2014!

Snapchat

Now you may not be a newbie to the media messaging Snapchat app but there have been some exciting updates to the app’s features in 2014. For beginners, Snapchat is used to send pictures or short videos, known as Snaps. Once you send it to a friend list the message will self-destruct after a set time. Talk about living in the moment! Turn up the entertainment value of your snaps with text or colorful drawings. In 2014, Snapchat added a chat feature allowing you to instant message your friends, without changing applications. Send funny faces or tell a dirty joke with Snapchat in 2014!

Cook With M&S

Dinner time is fast approaching and you’re all out of ideas for the night’s meal. You have 2 choices: boil water for another night of Ramen Noodles or download Marks & Spencer’s latest cooking app for meal inspiration and support you’ve only dreamt of. Cook With M&S is the only food app you’ll ever need with the capability of creating shopping lists, search for new recipes, clear step-by-step cooking instructions and even built in timers to keep everything on schedule. It’s like having your own sous chef in your home, except you still need to chop the onions!

Uber

Gone are the days of standing in a taxi pickup line for hours and then cramming 5 friends in the back of a smelly yellow cab. Uber is a real-time ridesharing app service where you can arrange a one-time trip from your cell phone. Private Uber drivers can be scheduled in more than 100 cities and 30 countries around the globe. Choose from the low cost uberX cars that can seat up to 4, UberBLACK featuring luxury vehicles like the Lincoln Town Car, Mercedes and Cadillac’s or the UberSUV service that can fit more friends into Chevy Suburbans, Escalates or GMC Yukons. Change the way you move in 2014 with Uber!

Mint

Do you need a little help when it comes to budgeting expenses? Join the already 10 million active users relying on the Mint apps’ personal cash and credit account summary, free purchase categorization and bill alerts. Mint even provides charts and graphs helpful to track your spending habits, income and net worth. Love data? Compare these figures month-to-month or year-to-year. Reach your personal finance goals and avoid missed bills and overdrafts with iPhone’s Mint app.

QuizUp

Prove once-and-for-all your mind is superior than your friends’ with the QuizUp app. This timed trivia game pits you and your opponent in a 1-on-1 battle of over 250 trivia topics. After 6 multiple choice questions and a bonus question the winner will determined on points based on number of correct answers and speed. This fast paced mobile game, most games take under a minute, is 100% free and is an entertaining way to pass the time or to resolve a friendly disagreement. Learn something new and earn bragging rights with QuizUp.

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