Category: Lifestyle

When people become involved in accidents it can be highly stressful. They often occur suddenly and unexpectedly, sending people into a state of shock. If it occurred on the road, there may be damaged vehicles and scattered debris. Worse still, people often get injured and require immediate medical treatment. 

Right from the start, the involved parties try to assess what has happened and why. There may be a profuse apology or a shifting of the blame. If it seems another party has breached their duty of care or been negligent, the accident victim may be able to claim financial compensation. Because of the complexity of the law and the potential battle that could ensue, many people use personal injury lawyers to support their claims. Perhaps this is you right now, in which case this article will help you choose the most suitable attorney. 

Transparency 

In Oakland, California in 2019, 46 vehicles were involved in incidents, resulting in 32 deaths. Tragically, 11 of these were pedestrians. At times like these, people often make the internet their first port of call for guidance. If you visit KerleySchaffer.com you’ll learn that people want to see how much money lawyers successfully recovered from compensation claims. They desire to read what previous clients have said about them and to discover how long they have been in practice. 

Accident victims also want it to be easy to gain a free consultation or to have a live chat with a professional. 

Honesty About Fees

If someone has just had an accident, they may be struggling to pay their medical expenses. If they are currently not fit for work this could make things even worse. 

If someone is considering employing an attorney they will want to know exactly how much it could cost them. They won’t want to be blinded by complex pricing structures or fall prey to hidden fees. 

Compassion

Some accident victims suffer trauma as a result of what has occurred. There may be an uneasy time of waiting for a medical diagnosis or surgery. The individual may have been harassed by the other party’s insurance company or be struggling to prove another person was responsible.  

At such a vulnerable time an attorney must be human and personable. There could be discussions about sensitive medical issues and personal finance. The client needs to feel they can relate to their attorney and that they are being listened to compassionately. 

Accessibility 

If a person’s lawyer lives in another state they will know little about the area in which the accident occurred. Some laws vary across the USA, so a local firm could be far superior. If your attorney works nearby, you can pop in for a chat whenever you need or to drop off important documentation. 

You need to establish your required methods of communication from the very start, be it by telephone, text, or email. Define how frequently you will require updates. See if a member of staff will be your dedicated contact point and find out the hours they will be available for. 

Experience

It’s uncommon to find a personal injury lawyer who can deal with any type of claim. Work-related injuries require a strong knowledge of employment law, including Workers’ Compensation. Incidents involving trucks are more complex than those involving cars. Medical negligence is a totally different arena where attorneys look for untrained or careless staff. Sports injuries are different once more and could involve faulty equipment or poor crowd control.

For this reason, most attorney websites will specify their area of specialism, be it slip and fall accidents or dog bites.

Negotiation Skills

If you read ten websites hosted by personal injury lawyers, you will be surprised how often they use the word ‘aggressive’ when discussing negotiations. This is because the party responsible for the accident will have an insurance company that doesn’t want to lose money. 

If they can avoid paying out or can get away with paying less than requested, they will do so. They’ll use their own attorneys and claims adjusters to protect their interests, and seek to blind people with medical terminology wherever possible. Personal injury lawyers are fortunately adept at countering such resistance, and doggedly pursuing justice. 

As we can see, the most appropriate lawyer will be the one who has all of the above competencies and qualities. Added together, they can create a force to be reckoned with in your fight for justice. As your legal advocate, you will be able to rest secure in the knowledge that they will be seeking the best possible outcome for you.

As CBD is becoming increasingly popular for its non-psychoactive benefits, the industry is growing by leaps and bounds. However, the recent surge in popularity has posed some unique marketing obstacles that go beyond the usual “how do we let more people know about our product?” But it’s not all bad news. This article will cover seven common marketing obstacles that CBD businesses face, so you can avoid them and embrace your CBD business.

Finding An Ecommerce Solution

To find the best platform for your needs, it’s a good idea to evaluate all of your options. Some will allow the sale of CBD products, whereas others will not. One of the largest online markets is Amazon, but they took the unfortunate step not to let anything CBD-related be sold on their platform. This severely restricts a vast swathe of the market as it is one of the most popular destinations for online shoppers. 

Solution

There are two potential solutions to this problem:

1. Find an eCommerce option that allows CBD.
2. Set up your website using the free and open-source WordPress platform.

The two largest are Shopify and BigCommerce, which fortunately allows you to sell this product where the laws permit. This is fantastic because they are easy to set up and sell from. Another option is to use the combination of WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin that allows you to sell almost anything while maintaining control over your shop.

Payment Processors

Unfortunately, several payment processors do not permit purchases to be made using their systems, similar to the eCommerce situation. This is arguably more difficult than finding a platform to sell on, as getting paid is vital to all businesses. The most well-known processor, PayPal, doesn’t allow any high-risk industries to use their platform, and they class CBD in this category. Unfortunately, the same goes for the second biggest option, Stripe.

Related read: Here are different methods of taking CBD (beginner-friendly guide).

Solution

Some other interesting payment solutions have recently begun to relax their policies regarding CBD, one of which being Square. This is beneficial as they offer solutions for payments in person or online, so you can choose to sell in a physical shop using their terminals and online. It should be noted that there are some strict requirements to adhere to, and during their trial phase, any mistakes could result in your money getting frozen for a considerable amount of time.

Banks

Following payment processing, you need a location for your money to be deposited to continue running your business. However, some banks seem to be squeamish about accepting income related to the sale of CBD products. This is very disappointing but an unfortunate reality of life.

Solution

Luckily with the passage of the SAFE Banking Act in September 2019 by the US House of Congress has lifted all traditional restrictions for banks, which should make life easier. There is also the added benefit that moving banks is not as complex as some of the other issues on this list. Therefore if your current bank is unable or unwilling to accept your money, there are plenty of alternatives to choose from.

Shipping

While shipping is usually relatively hands-off and allows you to ship whatever is technically legal, it is not they who are the issue. The biggest problems arise when you are shipping worldwide and you are sending packages to countries, each with laws governing CBD. While you may not get into legal trouble per se, they could likely seize your shipments, meaning that you will lose the product and most likely have to refund your customers.

Solution

The most straightforward action to take would be keeping up to date on every country you deliver to and what their laws are. This even extends to interstate shipping within the USA. Some states still do not allow any CBD related products to be sold, including (as of 2021):

• Indiana.
• Kansas.
• Kentucky.
• Mississippi.
• North Carolina.
• South Carolina.
• South Dakota.
• Tennessee.
• Texas.

Uniqueness And Competition

As a fast-growing industry, you need to ensure that your business and product stand out from the crowd. There is a tremendous amount of competition globally, and if you are unable to create a product that appeals to a large audience, you will suffer the consequences.

Solution

One of the best things you can do is to engage in content marketing. This could include written content, video, and test cases of new and exciting products. You can also go down the route of creating private label products to differentiate yourself from others who resell existing products. CBD business advisors Joy Organics suggest numerous methods to create your own unique product that will appeal to an interested audience. They suggest that you will be able to build a loyal customer base in this rapidly increasing market.

Advertising

One of the very best forms of digital advertising involves using Google using their AdWords platform and Facebook Ads. However, just like many other businesses, Google has banned using their platform to advertise CBD and other products that they deem as high-risk, and Facebook used to but still has strict limitations.

Solution

With AdWords, there is an unusual workaround that involves sending ad traffic to a CBD-related landing page. Still, this landing page mustn’t sell any products directly on it. However, if you can get your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) on point, you should find that you can convert a large section of your traffic into buying customers more holistically.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is the holy grail when it comes to online marketing of any kind. If your customers can find your business searching via a search engine, you will see an immediate bump in sales. However, it isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Solution

There are several methods to improve your SEO. If you want to go it alone, you can create lots of great content and publish it frequently. This will also help you to stand out as per number 5 on this list. Another alternative is to hire agencies that can take care of the entire process. This can be pricey, but once the traffic starts rolling in, the cost will be worth it.

The widespread popularity of CBD as a treatment for arthritis and other conditions is spurring growth in the cannabis industry, which includes not only CBD products but also other marijuana-derived products. Every company in a growing sector faces unique challenges. Still, although CBD marketers face many unusual problems that other businesses don’t, there are solutions to every problem.

The travel bubble is opening around the world. With it, comes a whole new set of safety precautions to be taken into consideration. COVID-19 pandemic is very real and can strike anyone at any time. This health article will outline what one needs to know and do when to another location in order to stay safe from germs and bacteria that are present in the air.

Besides that, you will also find some travel safety tips and travel recommendations post COVID-19 pandemic.

General rules to travel safely

• Ask yourself if you are only travelling for a few days or more than five. If the answer is that it will be longer, make sure to pack toiletries like soap and hand sanitizer with you. These items can be hard to find in countries outside of one’s own.
• If travelling by plane (air travel), stay away from people who are coughing and sneezing. They may have COVID-19 or another illness that is contagious.
• Stay away from crowded areas in airport, bus stations, and other public transportation locations where germs can easily spread throughout the air and onto surfaces like escalators and chairs.
• Put a mask on and maintain social distancing throughout your travel plans, domestic travel and international travel

Specific safety precautions when travelling

1. When travelling by plane, many airlines require passengers to stay at a distance from one another. This is done in order to avoid spreading germs and bacteria through the air.
2. If you are planning on travelling for more than five days or so then make sure that you have your own soap and extra hand sanitizer with you because they can be useful if you do not have access to a sink.
3. Choose your travel destination wisely. If possible, avoid locations in the world that are considered as “germ hot spots” or “COVID hot spots”.
4. You’re visiting someone with COVID-19 and they offer food or drinks then politely decline their offer if it is something that would usually make you sick.
5. Bringing your own food can be a good idea. This is because the food that restaurants and hotels serve may not have been prepared with proper hygiene standards in mind which could lead to instances of COVID or other germs passing through.
6. If you are going on vacation overseas, then bring some medicine for any potential illnesses such as influenza or diarrhoea that can be used to prepare for the potential of catching a foreign illness.
7. Bringing your own food and drinks or cups when visiting someone is also important because you do not know if these items have been properly washed, cleaned, or sanitized in order to avoid germs.
8. It is important to keep at least one meter apart from others especially in the effort to curb COVID-19 infections.
9. Wash your hands before and after eating, using the bathroom, or touching someone to stay safe.
10. Lastly, make sure that you have a COVID safety kit with enough medicine for one week in case of emergency.

Important note about travel safely

Infections from germs and bacteria are becoming more common as travel is continually opening up around the world. This article covers the importance of knowing how to stay safe while travelling and outlines a few safety tips that should be taken into consideration by all travellers, especially those with compromised immune systems or respiratory illnesses that make them more likely to catch these foreign illnesses.

The whole idea behind this is in order to stay safe on your travels you need to vigilant and stay alert. This is because foreign illnesses, like COVID-19, are very real.

One of the best ways to perform safe travelling is to keep an eye on the latest news (local news) especially in the COVID-19 era. This allows you to keep yourself away from virus hotspots and align yourself with the local government’s ruling.

Some ways that you can stay safe when travelling include: washing your hands regularly with soap and water; staying away from crowds of people to avoid being sneezed on or touched by someone who may have an infection; avoiding unpasteurized dairy products and undercooked meat.

There are quite a few safety measures that one can take in order to stay safe when travelling, but the most important is being vigilant and staying alert at all times. This will keep you away from foreign illnesses like COVID-19 which have been reported lately due to large overseas travel numbers.

Bonus: Stay in rented apartments or houses (instead of hotels)

In the post-COVID-19-era, I personally feel that it is better to stay in a hosted or self-hosted location (such as Airbnb) as you will have lesser contact with a large number of people.

Some of the other safety measures that you can take include:

Avoid travelling in groups

Another great way to travel safely after COVID-19 is to avoid travelling in groups. If you need to travel, keep the travel short and as least amount of people as possible. In this way, it will be easier to keep infections at bay.

Avoid touching your face

One of the worst habits to get into is constantly putting our hands on our faces. This can lead to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases during travel.

Wash your hands often and keep them away from your face as much as possible. Wearing a face mask will also put off the urge to touch your face accidentally.

Stay away from large tourist areas

If you are interested in exploring a new place, stay away from the busiest tourist spots and try to explore lesser-known locations instead. This is because these places have more foreign germs which can lead to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases.

Time your visits

I get it. When it comes to holiday and travelling, it is easy for us to put our guards down. If you need to visit popular locations such as tourist areas, keep in mind the timing and try to avoid going during peak hours.

Conclusion – Staying safe while travelling

The threat of COVID-19 is still very real, and while the travel bubble has opened up around the world, it’s important to be aware that there are some things you can do to keep yourself safe. These safety tips will help keep you alive and happy during your next trip abroad.

What is your must-do tip for holiday travelling? Let us know in the comments below!

Social media marketing is the future of all forms of marketing. Since the creation of various social media platforms, we have seen a tremendous increase in the presence of businesses on these platforms. 

As a result, social media platforms have also introduced many features that help businesses to advertise their products and services effectively. Some of these features include paid ad campaigns, post promotions, and analytics.

One of the fastest-growing social media platforms of this generation is Instagram. Since it is relatively new when compared to other popular social media platforms such as Facebook, you face much less competition.

However, the audience you can target on Instagram is still very large. You can expand your brand’s exposure overseas by using websites to buy Instagram followers. Websites such as Getviral.io provide you with real followers from across the world at affordable prices and also help increase engagement on Instagram.

In this article, we will be discussing various tips and tricks with which you can use Instagram for your business effectively.

Related: How to quickly see any private Instagram profiles (guide)

1. Play Around With Content Formats

Instagram offers you the choice of multiple content formats apart from regular posts. You can choose between Stories, IGTV clips, Reels and Live streams. Such a wide variety of content formats help you to avoid repeating the same type of content that can bore your audience.

Each of these formats is unique in its own way. Stories can be pictures or videos that are 15 seconds long. You can also share posts and other forms of content on your Stories. These Stories last 24 hours, but you can choose to Highlight them so that people can view them on your profile even after 24 hours.

Reels are videos that are 15 seconds long. People have been increasingly creative with Reels which has made the feature a huge hit. IGTV clips are much longer videos that you can use to post how-to videos, behind-the-scenes, and other informative content.

Lastly, Live streams are widely used for live interactions. Such interactions can be in the form of interviews between you and someone who is well-known in your field, or you could interact with your audience.

2. Create Anticipation For Events

There are many types of events you can conduct on Instagram itself and you can also advertise real-life events here. Be sure to advertise all types of events well before the day they will be held. 

By creating an air of suspense and curiosity, you can attract more people to your page. This works amazingly well for increasing audience engagement. You can hold events such as contests, giveaways, sales, and more.

3. Analyse Your Performance

Instagram has an in-built analytics tool that is quite comprehensive by itself. You can study the increase or decrease of audience engagement with each post and Story. You can also schedule your posts according to the time that most of your audience is active.

By tracking how you perform in various aspects of social media marketing, you can develop more effective strategies keeping in mind your weak spots. By doing this, you can improve upon all such areas and make the most of your online presence.

Social media marketing directly affects the growth of your business. Regular analyses of your page and updated strategies will surely help you to ace the marketing game and grow your business as well.

4. Collaborate With Brands And Influencers

Within social media marketing, there is another form of marketing known as influencer marketing. Influencers are social media personalities who create content around specific niches. 

Such influencers have a huge number of likes on Instagram posts and are able to influence those followers into using the brands that they trust. As a result, if you partner with such influencers, they will market your brand and products and share reviews based on their experience.

Followers have a lot of trust in the influencers that they follow so they will be inclined to use products that the influencers themselves do. In this manner, you can partner with and even sponsor influencers in your industry.

You can also collaborate with brands and create products or content together. There are many ways in which you can collaborate effectively. For example, if you are a local eatery, you can partner with soft drink brands and provide offers on your meals with those drinks.

This helps to increase your exposure and people who are already a fan of the brand you partner with will be interested in trying out your products as well. It is a way in which you are tapping into another brand’s fanbase.

5. Engage With Your Audience

In the end, it is your audience that provides you with business. Without an audience, you would not be able to market your brand. Hence, it is absolutely essential that you engage with your audience as much as they engage with you.

This can be done by replying to comments, messages, feedback, and complaints. You can even ask them questions in your posts and Stories. Featuring user-generated content on your page also works really well in keeping your audience interested in your brand.

Using these tips, you can successfully create your own brand image on Instagram and gain new customers from all around the world. You can also take the help of professional digital marketers to create strategies and carry them out to grow your business.

If your acquaintance with malware boils down to viruses and you think that antivirus is sufficient protection, you need to be updated on the topic. In 2021, there’s still a multitude of harmful programs that can do a lot of damage to your system. Here’s how. 

Types of Malware

Malware is an umbrella term, a combination of “malicious” and “software”, that encompasses several potentially harmful software types. Experts specify from five to more than twenty of them, the most common being:

• Viruses
• Worms
• Trojans
• Spyware and adware
• Ransomware
• Rootkits
• Keyloggers
• Bots

Long list, isn’t it? This is not comprehensive, however. There are even more types of harmful software – polymorphic and mobile malware, browser hijackers, and other, less common, variations.

All of them are still thriving in 2021, despite the advancement of endpoint protection software, and every malware type can be damaging to your system in its own way. 

Some are extremely hard to detect and remove, so it’s better to prevent contamination in the first place than to deal with the consequences of your carelessness.

In this article, we’ve put together a list of the most common ways malware can do damage to your system in 2021. Read it attentively and take the necessary precautions!

1. Stealing Sensitive Data

The Internet is undoubtedly one of humanity’s greatest achievements ever. Sadly, it’s also one of the greatest threats to every individual’s privacy at the same time.

Every time we use it, be it to pay for online purchases or to look for essay help from an essay writing help service, we put our personal data at risk. In the best-case scenario, we’re only risking our reputation. The worst output can be the leakage of important credentials like passport data or credit card numbers.

There are plenty of ways how hackers can obtain this data, from using spyware and keyloggers to sophisticated social engineering tactics. The latter ones have been reported to be on the rise since the pandemic began, and the only way to defend against them is for you to be vigilant.

2. Damaging Your Files

Ransomware is another malware type that’s enjoying momentum in 2021. Its name speaks for itself: it’s designed to steal something and then make the victim pay a ransom.

“Something” in this case is the files on your computer. Once it’s implemented into your system, ransomware starts encrypting all data on your computer, and the only way to get your files back is supposed to be paying a ransom to the intruders.

While this scheme is usually used to attack those who are most likely to lose something truly valuable – like government officials, business executives, or celebrities, – everyone can fall victim to it.

Surely, if you’re a student, you may only be risking losing your term paper, but it can be quite distressing, too. Just imagine having to write it all over again!

To protect your data from ransomware, never forget about backups. You must have at least one on a reliable storage agent, but it’s better to have a few. There are your standard system backups, external devices, cloud storage – take advantage of them all.

That said, it’s also essential to remember that some viruses can still make a perfect mess of your system unless you have sufficient protection. So, how long has it been since you’ve scanned your files?

3. Hijacking Your Computer

As if the risks of exposing or losing your data were not enough, there’s more that malware can do. It can literally hijack your computer so that you would lose control of it, partially or completely.

First, there are rootkits that are commonly used for ad fraud as they can operate the way humans would, opening browsers and clicking on ads to gain profit for the attackers. These programs are particularly dangerous because they can gain full remote control of your system and thus remove the antivirus software which poses further risks to the system. 

But there’s something even more threatening – bots. By themselves, bots are not malicious and are normally used to perform harmless routine operations. It is only when they are designed by criminals that they become truly dangerous.

Criminals use bots to gain control of your computer and make the system run at their command. This allows them to create a network of remote computers called a botnet that’s powerful enough for a large-scale malicious attack. It can be a:

• Ad-click fraud
• Spam attack
• DDoS attack

What’s more, not only can your computer be hijacked, but your website can be, too, if you have one. Losing it – along with the domain name – is usually a significant problem, so it’s crucial to learn about the means to protect your data online in advance. While this information may seem difficult to digest, it’s still necessary if you care about your online safety and privacy. 

4. Slowing Down Your System

Every type of malware is harmful in its way, but there’s also something that they all have in common: slowing down your system.

Surely, there are many other harmless programs that can do that too – antiviruses, for example. But all experts note that the sudden underperformance of your computer should always be a red flag. So, if you notice that your gear is not working as fast as it used to, the problem might be that it’s infected with malware.

Conclusion

There are many types of malicious programs that can still do damage to your system in 2021. And while some of the threats they pose can be easily eliminated by effective endpoint protection, others require more than that. 

In these times of thriving social engineering tactics, it’s crucial to always be on alert. It also helps to learn about some technical aspects of cybersecurity, even if you’re far from being a tech geek. It may take time, but isn’t your data valuable enough, after all? Oftentimes, users lose data and assets because of their own carelessness, so don’t follow in their footsteps!