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Learn Which Steps To Take To Be Safe When Selling Your Business

Whether you’re ready for retirement or you’re ready to move on to your next career adventure, selling your business can be a very stressful, even scary experience. You’ve worked hard to build your company, putting endless hours, energy, and passion into making it what it is today. So, it’s easy to become overwhelmed trying to decide on things like valuation, if you should use a broker, and how to manage the business during a sale. Your first priority should be protecting yourself, and here are some strategies to do so.

Get Your Ducks in a Row

What the customer sees is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your business. There are so many moving parts to a business, and all of them need to be put down on paper for potential buyers to do their due diligence. From accounting to marketing, you need to prepare for all of your business documentation to be reviewed with a fine-tooth comb. Work with your accountant and/or bookkeeper to prepare your finances. Gather all important information including profits, expenses, losses, and projections spanning the last few years, documentation relating to suppliers and vendors, descriptions of operations and business practices, and expected/necessary replacements or repairs to be completed prior to the completion of the sale. Remain actively engaged in the business, even try finding new marketing strategies opportunities and sales-boosting initiatives. The more organized you are and the better you present your business, the more likely you are to have a more efficient sale and even increase the offers.

Broker: to Hire or Not to Hire

Just like hiring a real estate agent, hiring a broker will cost you some money. If you are arranging a sale to a family member, employee, or someone else who you trust will respect the terms of the sale, then hiring a broker might not be worth the commission fees. However, if you are selling to someone outside of your close circle, a broker will mitigate the risks, get you higher offers, and allow you to continue focusing on the business while the business is on the market. The average length of the sale of a business is 7 months. Consider how much time it takes to advertise and promote your business to potential buyers, then to further communicate with them, and provide the required documentation for their due diligence and, finally, consider their offers. That’s a lot of time and resources that could be put into the business, which could increase your valuation.

Over or Under

Deciding what your business is worth is a very personal experience. Entrepreneurs often aim too high or too low when evaluating what their business is worth, and either end up struggling to make an equitable sale or settling for a low offer. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into your business, and you know its ins and outs better than anyone. However, the value that it holds for you may not translate into market value, so be realistic. The folks at Global Career Book created this calculator for business valuation that will help you gain an understanding for what your business is worth at market value. Remember that there are many variables that will contribute to the final valuation; the age and type of business, recurring revenue, hours worked, and income diversification, to name a few. The size of your business will also play into the final price. Businesses priced below $3 million average about 2-3 times profit, mid-size businesses between $3 and $20 million tend to see 3-5 times the profit, and large businesses over $20 million can expect 5-10 times profit. Of course, the larger the business and the more money involved, the longer the sale will generally take.

Friends Close, Enemies Closer?

Be careful of who you are handing your records over to. Selling your business means you’ll be sharing all of your most sensitive information, and potential buyers have the right to review it all. Of course, it’s not information you want just anyone to have access to, so considering buyers who are pre-qualified for loans from third parties such as banks and investors is one way to protect yourself throughout this process. It is unfortunate but true that your competitors may make an offer or have someone act on their behalf for the chance to review your financials and sensitive documents, only to use this information for their own benefit with no intention of completing the sale. This is another area where a broker’s expertise can serve to keep you safe and informed.

Play the Field

It can be exciting and a huge relief to receive your first offer, especially an offer that far exceeds the asking price. However, it’s very important to take your time and consider multiple offers. Do your own research and contemplate what each offer could mean further down the road. While it’s unfortunate, it is all too common for a new owner to crash and burn in the first year of taking over even a very successful business, leaving the former owner with nothing. It is far safer to take a lower offer with a buyer who can offer an upfront payment than it is to take a higher offer with a longer financing period and no upfront payment. Consider not only the offer but the person/people behind it. Are they capable? What sort of experience do they have? Do they understand and value the company you’ve built – this will be especially important for the customer base. Look beyond charm and charisma to see if they have the time, energy, passion and resources that it will take to continue on what you have built.

For the fortunate ones, selling a business can mean continued success. For the unlucky ones, it can lead to devastating losses. Taking time to prepare yourself for the sale the right way can help ensure that you’re protecting yourself and the future of the business. This is more than just the closing of a chapter; it’s an opportunity to set yourself up for the long-term future, giving yourself peace of mind for years to come.

July 1, 2021
4 Tips For Making Your Computer Run Faster

We all know the feeling of trying to get some work done – especially when there is a deadline for it – only to find that our laptops are running slowly. Even having to wait just a few extra seconds can cause problems since we’re all so used to having anything and everything we want immediately. With around two-thirds of the adult US population stating that slow-running computers are one of their biggest modern-day frustrations, at least you’re not alone with this problem, but that still doesn’t help to do much about it.

Luckily, there are some useful techniques to put into practice if you feel your computer has started running slower than usual. In fact, even if you haven’t noticed any difference, there might still be things happening that will eventually slow the device down, and taking note of and using these strategies before that happens can save a lot of time and, of course, frustration. Read on to find out more.

Stop Programs From Auto-Starting

One of the biggest reasons for a computer to become slow is that several different programs are running in the background, taking up memory. This in turn means that everything you do will take longer. You probably aren’t even aware that most of these programs are running, and perhaps you’re not aware of any of them, as they are programmed to start up once you log in.

Some of these programs will be necessary and include firewalls and antivirus software which would be potentially dangerous to remove or shut down. However, there are sure to be many other programs that are simply not needed, at least not needed in terms of running in the background; they can stay on your computer, but if you need them, you can choose to run them. By disabling the automatic start-up function on these non-essential programs, you will find that your computer becomes much faster.

Uninstall And Delete Unused Programs

Have you ever opened up the uninstall dialog box to see just what is on your laptop? If not, you should try it; you might be surprised at the results. You’ll find a plethora of programs you either didn’t install (because they came with the computer when you bought it) or that you did install but now don’t use or need and had forgotten all about.

Before you uninstall anything, make sure you know what it is and are sure you don’t require it on your computer. If you don’t, you can uninstall it and not only free up a lot of space on your computer, but help it to run more quickly too (especially if some of those programs were auto-starts, as mentioned above).

Clean Up Hard Disk Space

You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes to the smooth running of your laptop when you clean up some space on its hard drive. The less free space you have, the slower your computer will be, and if you have under fifteen percent free space, you will have some serious problems to contend with – your laptop might even freeze or stop working entirely, causing you to lose work and become even more frustrated than before. This could be an expensive problem to fix, as the ultimate solution will usually be a new laptop.

Simply cleaning up the disk space and ensuring that large files are compressed and temporary files are removed when they are no longer required can be enough to not only help your laptop run faster but also prevent you from having to buy a new one when your current one is perfectly fine. Of course, if your storage isn’t full or even nearly full and your computer is running slowly, then you may have more significant operating system issues, and that could result in a new computer – however, it’s best to check your storage first, as this could save you a lot of money.

Use An External Drive

We know that when your computer gets full, it will slow down. We also know that you are sure to want to store your digital photos, videos, and various documents – more so if you use the computer for work and your personal use – on the hard drive. This means that, over time, the drive will fill up, and you won’t always be able to delete unused and unwanted items because they are all important to you. In this case, rather than filling your computer’s hard drive with photos and other items, use an external drive. In this way, whether you choose to plug a separate hard drive into your computer or you intend to use cloud storage instead, your personal items will be kept safe and secure, and you won’t use up any of your computer’s space, meaning that it will continue to run quickly at all times.

July 1, 2021
Managing Space In The Office Giving You Headaches? Here’s Some Help

One challenge most business owners and office managers are very familiar with is the lack of space. No matter the size of your office space, you’ll find that you need more at least once in your time at the workplace, if not repeatedly.

While it is rarely possible to move workspaces and actually increase the size of your office, it is possible to maximize whatever space you do have. Not only does an organized office mean more space for people to move around in, but it has also been shown to boost productivity and reduce wasted time among employees.

You will, of course, need to personalize your strategy to fit your space and organizational needs. However, there are some tips you can keep in mind.

Cut Down on Paper

It’s not immediately evident, but paper takes up an enormous amount of space in an office. From filing cabinets and printers to binders full of physical documents, the amount of paper you use quickly adds up.

While it may not always be possible to shift away from using paper, cutting down on your usage where possible can help free up a lot of physical space. One advantage is that the legal system is catching up with these needs – electronic signatures, for example, have the same legal validity as physical signatures in much of the world. This reduces the barriers to ending businesses’ dependence on paper.

Purge the Space

This step is, in many ways, the other side of the coin to cutting down on paper. Not only do businesses use a lot of paper for official documents, but many companies also have the habit of storing these documents in filing cabinets, no matter whether they are needed or not.

While going paperless is a great first step, it doesn’t do much for the paper you have already accumulated around the office. By going through the heaps of documents you have stored, there’s a good chance that you’ll discover that much of it can be shredded and destroyed.

Depending on what you have accumulated and over how long, this could undoubtedly take a significant amount of time. However, once you’re done, you’re sure to be taken aback by how much you didn’t need and the sheer amount of space that is now free for use.

Consider Dynamic Partitions

Dynamic partition walls allow you to constantly reconfigure a space, redesigning it to meet your changing needs. For example, you may not need large meeting rooms more than once a week. Designating a permanent area for this limits the amount of space your employees have during the rest of the workweek and forces you to work in a smaller space.

Dynamic office partitions provide an easy solution to this challenge. You can leave a space open for employees when it is not in use and create a private room when the necessity arises. Additionally, as the team here points out, these walls don’t get in the way of the HVAC system, so you don’t need to worry about the logistics. More than that, for the benefits they provide you, they are surprisingly budget-friendly.

You can find dynamic walls in a variety of styles and colors, allowing you to customize them to match your workspace’s existing design. Furthermore, they are available in numerous materials, including glass, aluminum, bamboo, acrylic, resin, wood, and more.

Think Vertically

So, you may not have a lot of floor space – but that doesn’t mean you don’t have vertical space you can use instead!

Vertical space can be filled with shelves and wall hooks, perfect for storing items neatly instead of messing up the look of the office. Additionally, using a little floor space can pay a lot of dividends in terms of vertical space – one great storage solution, for example, is a wall of bookcases. These take up significantly less floor space than filing cabinets do and allow you to display important files just as well. More than that, they can be used to store other items and are easier to access than cabinets.

You can even use vertical space to provide personal storage for your employees, which will allow for more efficient usage of their desks while still allowing them to personalize their space. If you have cubicles, use the vertical space provided by the dividers to create stackable areas or dry-erase whiteboards where they can work easily.

Furnish Strategically

When furnishing an office space, it’s important to think strategically. While bulkier chairs and bigger sofas may look better, they also take up a lot of space and can make your office feel cramped.

Instead, consider investing in space-saving furniture. Alternatively, look at multipurpose furnishing options, so you can cut down on the number of pieces you need to have in your office. Some options you can consider include foldable and expandable tables and chairs, mobile furniture that can easily be transported around a space, and smaller desks that take up less space.

Embrace Natural Light

So, this is admittedly a bit of a cheat. Sometimes, no matter what you do to maximize space, your office will still look crowded. Aesthetics play a significant role in any workspace, as a better-looking space will be more attractive to current and prospective employees.

While you may not be able to shift locations completely, you can use natural light to make the space seem bigger. Aside from making the area look better, an increase in natural light also has health benefits for employees, including a reduction in issues such as headaches and eyestrain.

Natural light can also increase the retail value of space and boost productivity. In fact, a survey found that access to natural light and the ability to see outside is the biggest office perk that employees look for. Without enough natural light, workers report feeling gloomy and tired, especially if they do much of their work on electronic devices like computers.

Office organization can be challenging, especially if you’re working with a small space or one that is not big enough to meet the business’s growing needs. However, with a few clever moves, you will soon find that your workplace is actually much bigger than you ever thought possible!

July 1, 2021
How To Successfully Promote Your Online Business And Get More Traffic?

“If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” When asked about network marketing, that was Bill Gates’ response. Now more than ever, this rings true because life happens online as much as it is offline. Everything, from the latest TV shows to social justice movements, is now online. As for the business sector, the e-commerce industry is booming, search engine developers are developing algorithms to help users filter through millions of search results, and online ads are all over the place. This only goes to show how much the internet has shifted the way business is done. In order to succeed, you need to adapt your marketing plan to a world where success is defined by likes, shares, and followers. This article will show you how to promote your business and get the traffic you need to generate a buzz for your business.

Social Media

Social media can be a very powerful marketing tool. If you haven’t realized that by now, then you’ve been looking at the wrong examples. Take a look at how Spotify used its #yearwrapped campaign to engage users all over Instagram and Twitter. At the end of 2019, Spotify compiled each user’s most played tracks into one playlist. The streams recorded from these playlists were just under three billion. Of course, social media platforms don’t welcome just about anyone with open arms. To generate a social media following, you need to post little bites of highly attractive content that engages your followers.

Your two main goals should be: making content that generates an organic following through users voluntarily interacting with your posts and getting people to visit your website. Both goals can be fulfilled by piquing people’s interests through posts, captions, stories, and videos. Along with your posts and in your profile, provide your link. By making yourself accessible to interested users, you’ll be massively increasing your conversion rates. Remember to keep your content short and entertaining enough for users to stay engaged. How many seconds do you have until you lose a user’s attention? Let’s just say that the average attention span of a Millennial is 12 seconds. The younger the user, the shorter the span.

Email Marketing

It’s not as flashy as social media marketing which is why people underestimate its power, but this doesn’t change the fact that email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools. Here are some numbers to get you excited. According to the Direct Marketing Association’s Marketer Email Tracker published in 2019, email marketing has the highest recorded ROI which is $42 per $1 spent. As for the open rate, 76% of businesses recorded a steady increase. Keep in mind, the key to success here is constantly adapting your emails to the changes in consumer trends.

Email marketing is all about personalized communication and well-crafted messages that offer specific valuable content to prospects. Given that there are several platforms available on the market, this shouldn’t be hard. Many platforms offer useful features, from webinars to attractive interfaces for easier campaign management. Once you’ve figured out your message and the tone that accurately reflects your brand image, you can use a platform to arrange your mailing lists. Better yet, you can personalize emails based on a prospect’s information, and automatically send out scheduled emails.

Blog Articles

Articles serve two main functions. The first is generating leads in the awareness stage of the marketing funnel. Most businesses nowadays fill their websites with blog articles related to their industry. Software development companies post blog articles about the pros and cons of one software over the other. Law firms post articles that help people understand how and when to take legal action. When a user searches for their topic of interest online, these related articles come up, directing them towards a business’s website. By offering informative content, articles generate web traffic and contribute to a company’s brand image by showing off its expertise and professionalism. An added bonus here is that when a search engine’s algorithm sees that a website is providing useful content and is getting many clicks, it automatically places it above the rest and closer to the top of the page, thus easier for a user to find.

The second function is nurturing leads during the following stages until prospects get to the intent stage. Let’s say, you own a business that sells phone accessories. Capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic, you created a Facebook post that stresses the importance of keeping a clean phone screen. How do you get the reader to go to your website and stay there? By providing valuable content. In this case, a good example would be a how-to article about cleaning phones where you mention your selection of cleaning kits in passing. This will keep the people coming your way interested in what you have to sell. They may not buy from you the first time around, but they will note your potential value and keep a close eye on your content.

These are the three most powerful online marketing methods, but to achieve success, one needs more than knowledge of the methods. Now that you know the available tools, you need to prepare a solid marketing plan that takes into account the market trends, your target audience, brand image, and company goals. Combined with the platform you intend on using, your target audience should dictate the type of content you post. Younger audiences, for example, respond to flashy graphics and dynamic videos. Older audiences respond more to simplified information. If you’re going to market yourself on Instagram, you’ll need to rely heavily on pictures. Meanwhile, email is text-based, so you need to hone your writing skills, or hire someone with the relevant know-how. The true power of marketing lies in the ability to control how people see you. Before you start posting, make sure you have a good grasp of what you want to tell people about your business. That’s all there is to online marketing. Once you put in the effort, you’ll start seeing the results. What’s your next move going to be?

July 1, 2021
10 Reasons Why Marketers Need To Use The New GetResponse Website Builder

Competition for Internet Marketing customers is growing every year. That means that businesses need to get more creative in order to get their message across and get people interested in what they have to offer them. But those skills are not always as simple as they sound, especially with the constant technological changes we are being faced with.

GetResponse websites and GetResponse landing pages are a great way to get your message across, but they’re not necessarily the most cost efficient. How do you get around this problem? Well with GetResponse’s newly designed website builder tool, the answer is simple!

GetResponse has just unveiled their new website builder design and online marketing tool for all marketers – GetResponse website builder. This is great news as they now have the ability to get their business name out there on the Internet with a GetResponse website, which will get them new customers and increase profits.

This is made possible because GetResponse’s website builder tool gives marketers everything they need in order to get their message across effectively and cost-efficiently. The GetResponse landing page builder tool allows marketers to get the word out about their business for a very low price and in a short amount of time – all within the GetResponse platform itself.

How does GetResponse do this?

With GetResponse’s new website builder, they have designed it with one thing in mind: simplicity. GetResponse has made the GetResponse website builder user-friendly and effective, so that marketers will never have to worry about spending hours trying to get their GetResponse landing page just right. GetResponse has made a GetResponse landing page designer that is easy to navigate through and understand – making it easy for even beginners to create GetResponse websites.

Top 10 Benefits Using GetResponse Website Builder Tool

GetResponse Website Builder

1. GetResponse Website Builder Gives Unlimited Design Possibilities

With GetResponse’s website builder, marketers can get a GetResponse website up and running in no time flat! The GetResponse Landing Page Editor comes with 500 free layouts to use for GetResponse landing pages – that’s more then enough to get started on your marketing campaign today.

Marketers GetResponse landing page designs have been proven to get online customers interested in the products and services that they offer. GetResponse websites are easy to understand, making sure your online customers know exactly what you’re offering them – this helps get more traffic for less work!

2. GetResponse Website Builder Has Tons of Templates To Choose From

No matter what type of GetResponse landing page or website design you want to make, GetResponse has a template that can help you get the job done. GetResponse templates are simple and easy to navigate through with GetResponse’s Editor tool.

You can choose from GetResponse website builder templates for all types of different products and services – making it easier than ever to get the word out about your business!

3. GetResponse Website Builder Allows You To Create GetResponse Landing Pages On-The-Go

Now you can get GetResponse landing pages wherever, and whenever – all with GetResponse’s new website builder design tool. No longer will you have to worry about going to a computer lab or library to get your GetResponse website up and running. GetResponse has brought GetResponse landing pages to the palm of your hands!

GetResponse has all their new tools on a mobile app, so you can GetResponse websites wherever you are – whether it be in the car or at home!

4. GetResponse Website Builder Offers SEO Friendly Website Layouts

With GetResponse Website builder, you can easily setup a website from scratch to a perfectly SEO-optimized in no time. GetResponse has designed these GetResponse website builder tools to help your GetResponse websites rank higher in search engines like Google and Bing. With GetResponse’s new tool, you can forget about creating GetResponse landing pages from scratch. Just a few clicks of the mouse is all it takes to have a great looking marketing campaign ready to go!

5. GetResponse Website Builder Makes it Easy To Get Your Business On-Line

The best thing about the GetResponse landing page design software is that after you create one or more GetResponse Landing Page templates, you will be able to duplicate them over and over again in the future – page builder is that GetResponse has made it so easy to get GetResponse landing pages up and running. GetResponse’s new app will help you get your GetResponse website builder with just a few clicks of the mouse. You can add text, pictures, links – all in different colors and sizes!

6. GetResponse Website Builder Helps You Attract More Customers Than Ever Before

With GetResponse’s new GetResponse landing page editor tool, you will be able to create the most effective marketing campaigns ever seen! With no more getting frustrated over simple things like misplacing an accent mark or having too many hyphens in one sentence.

Your GetResponse marketing campaign will look professional while still being interesting enough for customers to want to click it – GetResponse ensures this GetResponse website builder has been designed to get your GetResponse landing pages noticed!

7. GetResponse Website Builder Allows You To Have A Unique GetResponse Landing Page For Every Campaign You Run

With the new GetResponse website design software, you will be able to have a totally unique and customized GetResponse website for every one of your campaigns – it can’t get any easier than that!

Once you create your first design using the builder tool, then go ahead and duplicate the template over as many times as you need to. No more worrying about making sure you’re having all your websites point back to one main site. With GetResponse’s website builder, there is no limit on how many different GetResponse websites you can get!

8. GetResponse Website Builder Gives You The Ability To Track Which GetResponse Landing Pages Are Working And Which Aren’t

With GetResponse’s GetResponse landing page builder, you get the benefit of seeing which GetResponse landing pages are working and which aren’t – all at your finger tips! With GetResponse’s new app, it is so easy to see how many people clicked on your ad. As soon as someone clicks on it, a live Google Analytics tracking link pops up in real time – this means that you will be able to see if a particular GetResponse landing page performs better than others.

If one is not performing well then don’t waste any more time or resources on marketing that page – create a GetResponse website builder page that will get your customers interested in what you have to offer. GetResponse’s GetResponse landing page editor tool is a great way to get your GetResponse website builder up and running quickly and effectively!

9. GetResponse Website Builder ‘Forces’ You To Make Your GetResponse Landing Page Look Professional

If you use the old HTML editor, then it can take forever to get your GetResponse landing pages looking the way you want them. If you’re like most marketers, then you will know that time is money – something which GetResponse knows all too well! That’s why they have done away with those outdated methods and instead given us a new platform for creating our GetResponse Marketing Campaigns!

The GetResponse website builder allows users to create professional-looking marketing campaigns without having to worry about having coding or design experience at all. GetResponse’s GetResponse Website Builder makes it so easy to get GetResponse landing pages noticed – no more struggling with code or having your GetResponse website builder look like a basic template!

10. GetResponse Website Builder Makes It Easier Than Ever Before To Get GetResponse Landing Pages Noticed By Customers And Search Engines

With GetResponse’s new GetResponse landing page editor tool, you can create the most effective marketing campaigns ever seen! With no more getting frustrated over simple things like misplacing an accent mark or having too many hyphens in one sentence.

Your GetResponse campaign will look professional while still being interesting enough for customers to want to click it – GetResponse ensures this by having their new website builder created by experts who know what it takes to get GetResponse landing pages noticed!

How much does GetResponse website builder costs?

GetResponse website builder is included in all GetResponse plans which you can get as low as $10.50 per month. You can take a look at their full pricing right here.

Summary: The GetResponse GetResponse Website Builder Is A Dream Come True For Marketers

There are so many reasons why marketers need to use the new GetResponse website builder. If you haven’t already started using the GetResponse advertising platform, then now is the time to start! Once you get your marketing campaigns up and running with GetResponse’s new easy-to-use GetResponse Landing Page Editor Tool – you’ll wonder how they ever got by without it!

Try now for free (no credit card required)

June 30, 2021
Streaming Content Online The Right Way: A How-To Guide
It is safe to say that every internet user has come across a streaming service at least once. This is because a variety of reputable companies such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have adopted the core concepts of online streaming and integrated them into their platforms. So, a technology that picked pace from its popularity on YouTube, is now a defining feature for a variety of social media platforms and serves as a significant factor in their revenue generation.

This is why young and aspiring content creators need to jump on the bandwagon and become part of this transition in the early stages. This will only help them accelerate their careers and create a bigger audience.

Online Streaming – How to Prepare for it?

Since the origin of online streaming, the dynamics of content consumption over the internet have changed dramatically. For all the young online creators who are planning to start their streaming journey, here’s a myth-buster for you. Live streaming is not always about being impromptu. While the literal meaning might seem like you can afford to go impromptu, but all your popular streamers, whether they are gaming or showing whatever skills they’re showing, are not always impromptu.
- Always plan your content strategy regarding your topic and your timing of hosting your live stream.
- Figure out the areas of interest in which you want to create content and approach the niche aggressively.
- You need to have realistic and short-term goals to keep the process intuitive for yourself.
How To Stream Your Content Online?

Since streaming your content online has become extremely common and is widespread now, it is about time that you be equipped with the necessary information to start your online streaming channel.

Establishing a Streaming Setup
1. Stable Internet Connection
Since a live stream purely depends on the internet connection of the host, you need to have a stable internet connection with minimum latency and ping to ensure you do not have a laggy stream.
1. Audio and Video Source
If you’re a beginner stepping into the realms of online streaming, you don’t need to dent your wallet with expensive purchases on your microphone and camera choices. You can afford to start with an ordinary camera that has the recording capability of 720P at least to ensure your video is crisp. However, you would want to invest in a good microphone.
1. Streaming Software
You can find a variety of free encoding software that can help you transmit the audio and video input to your desired streaming platform.

Step-by-Step Guide to Your First Live Stream

Step 1: Establish a connection between your Encoder and Audio/Video Source

If you’re using a free software-based encoder, you only need to connect your audio and video sources to your computer and launch the encoding software for it to detect the inputs.

Step 2: Your Encoder needs to be configured

You can easily configure the audio and video settings based on the capabilities of your input devices to make sure your streaming quality is in line with your preferences. The most important configurations to keep in mind are to keep a high frame rate and high resolution and maintain a balance between them. Having an outrageously high resolution with a ridiculously low frame rate can easily destroy your stream quality. So, find your balance.

Step 3: Configure Your Streaming Destination Settings

Now login to your streaming platform and set up the stream settings to connect your platform with your streaming software.

Step 4: Enter the required URL and Stream Key from your CDN into your Encoder

Upon setting up, you will get a URL and stream key from your streaming platform that can be entered into your encoding software to establish a connection between them. This will allow you to use your audio and video input for your live stream.

Step 5: Step into the world of Streaming by clicking “Start”

Lastly, after rechecking all of your settings you can finally hit start and begin your live stream with the huge load of creativity that you have gathered to share with your audience.

Where to Stream Your Content?

While you’re figuring out the essentials for setting up your live streaming setup and hosting your first live stream, you should also start thinking of a platform that you will be using. Although the internet is full of general CDN that provides fresh live streamers a starting point for their streaming careers, you need to figure out which platform suits you best. This helps you create a dedicated audience that will value your content and follow you in case you switch platforms.

Advantages of Online Streaming

For an online creator, the advantages of streaming online content can be hard to track with great publicity and a prominent platform to showcase its skills. However, there are a few benefits that help the creators gain and sustain a stable audience.
- Goodbye to Download Time
Due to the advancements in internet technology, streaming platforms can broadcast media on their platforms without having to worry about the download times. Unwanted and elongated download times were a major turnoff for many content consumers. So, platforms identified the issue and resolved it with online streaming.
- Instant Playback
Unlike the tedious cycle of downloading a piece of content and then waiting to start watching it, with online streaming, you can instantly watch your desired content. This not only saves you time but also saves you from the unnecessary irritation that was bundled with the tedious download periods.
- No Worries of Shortage of Storage Space
Since there is no need to download media on whichever device you’re using, the need to have vacant space for storing the downloadable content has diminished. Now, people can relax with the current storage capacities of their devices.

It must be apparent that live streaming is not a simple topic to be summarized with ease. However, the gist of the discussion is to emphasize the significance of creating online content and understand the essentials for streaming it on a specific platform, if not multiple. This will allow you to showcase your skills on an audience-ridden platform that is hungry for creative content.
June 29, 2021