9 Best Side Hustles to Boost Your Income

9 Best Side Hustles to Boost Your Income

Making money on the side can be tricky. However, if you do it right it and make it work for you, finding the right side hustle to increase your income can make paying bills less of a struggle ? and you don?t have to be Gary Vee to do it! ?Consider these possibilities for accruing extra cash.

Tips for Increasing Your Income

  1. Drive for an on-demand ride service: One of the easiest ways to make money currently is to become a driver for an on-demand transportation service. These services are becoming huge all over the world. Because they?re so popular, drivers are almost guaranteed business anytime they?re on the clock. Another great perk for employees of on-demand transportation services is a flexible schedule. Working for these companies, employees can mark themselves available ? or unavailable ? anytime they want, which allows them to work day or night, making room for in their schedule for other commitments.
  2. Pick up some extra skills: In the workforce, having certain skills, licenses, or certifications can command a pay increase over the salaries of others who don?t have those skills. One great certification for anyone to obtain is CPR certification. Being certified to perform CPR is a great skill to have in case of emergencies, especially if you work with small children. If you?re employed as a babysitter or lifeguard, being CPR certified allows you to charge increased rates because you?re better trained to ensure that the children you?re watching are safe. Many other certifications are available online, and most of them never require you to step foot in a classroom.
  3. Make home improvements in exchange for rent: This tip is a little tricky to accomplish sometimes, but if you?re friendly with your landlord and you?re handy with a hammer, you just might be able to exchange work for rent. The homeowner is more likely to allow this if the place you?re renting is a fixer-upper and needs a lot of work.
If this path isn?t an option, and you need to find another way to make rent, it?s important to first know exactly how much money you need to be making ? and how much of that should be going toward rent. That way, you?ll know exactly what you?re able to pay each month for rent.
  1. Offer pet-sitting: If you?re an animal lover, becoming a pet-sitter on the side is a smart way to make money. Not only will you make some extra cash, but you?ll get to watch some cute pets while doing so. When you pet-sit, you look after an animal whose owner is out of town. Pet-sitting is popular because pets feel better and are happier when they remain in familiar surroundings and interact socially while their owners are gone. Pet-sitting also comes with flexible hours that you make yourself. Dog walking is also often considered pet-sitting, too, and it allows you to get some exercise while making extra money.
  2. Sell crafts online: If you?re someone who enjoys making crafts, turn that hobby into a moneymaker. Using a site like eBay or Etsy to sell your merchandise is a great idea if you create things including (but not limited to) jewelry, clothing, candles, artwork, home decor, or beauty products.
Being a seller on eBay or Etsy requires some preliminary work. Before opening your store, it?s important that you secure the rights to your designs. After that, you?ll need to photograph and provide descriptions of your items as well as price them and then package and mail them once orders have been placed. You?ll also need to pay regular attention to the sales site you?re using and be sure to address your customers? questions or concerns.You could use your online shop to even sell hidden gems you find at thrift shops and garage sales. Check out this video by Gary Vee searching his neighborhood yard sales to see what kind of valuable goodies you might find:?
  1. Use your extra room as a vacation rental: If your home is a rental, it?s best to ask your landlord or the home?s owner about this before starting. Once you get the go-ahead, start making money using your extra space as a short-term rental via Airbnb or similar online vacation rental service. One of the biggest benefits of this plan is that it doesn?t take up your time. Other options like pet-sitting or driving for an on-demand transportation service require your time, but renting on Airbnb only requires your space. Also, your marketing is taken care of and you?re paid online by the service, so the process is relatively easy.
  2. Cash-back/survey apps: Taking surveys and logging your purchases with cash-back apps can help you save a little money each month. While you won?t be raking in the big bucks with this tip, if you just need a little money and you have very little free time, scanning your receipts and answering surveys while you?re on the go is a great option. NOTE: Some of these apps are scams, so be careful.
  3. Sell your old textbooks: Many people have textbooks lying around, collecting dust. If they?re in good condition (or even if they aren?t), secondhand booksellers will often give you a pretty penny for those books. Be sure to call around to different stores to make sure you?ll get the most money for your books. Don?t rule out textbook buyers online, as they make it easy to get the book to them and get paid.
  4. Start a side business: If you?re an expert on something, find a way to make money doing that thing. Become a math tutor, do some freelance photography, or give piano lessons. People are always going to want to pick up different skills or improve upon the ones they already have ? and that?s where you come in with your specialized side hustle to fill the niche. If you charge competitive rates and advertise responsibly, your side business has the potential to really take off.
Whether you need to make more money to cover bills or you just want to add to your savings, there are countless ways to boost your income. Taking advantage of any of the tips above will help you feel more secure about your financial standing.By Laura Gayle, Business Woman Guide
Smartest Uses of Stock Photos for Visually Powerful Websites

Smartest Uses of Stock Photos for Visually Powerful Websites

The importance of visual appealing is ?web design 101? at this point. Even if you are not a web designer and you?ve never owned a site, it?s very likely that you instinctively feel a good website has to be visually beautiful. And you?re absolutely right. Photography is an inseparable element for visual impact in website design, but one that many might think is out of their reach, cost-wise. Plus, it is not enough with throwing a photo here or there in your layout: there are several tips to achieve powerful sites using images. We will show you not only the super cost-efficient resource of royalty-free stock photos but also the top expert tips to use them in a truly eye-catching, engaging and successful website.

Photos in Websites: Yes, Always

We mentioned the visual aspect of a website is very important, and that most of you already know or sense this. This is well-documented and verified by nearly all of the latest and most advanced researches that include eye-tracking technology and consumer behavior analysis. Cross-field, experts agree that while we were always very visual a species, such a trace is ever so increased today thanks to the latest technological developments of our times. From digital imagery to Internet access for the masses, from smartphone photography to omnipresent social media networks, the web 2.0 and the mobile platforms with which we now interact on a minute basis are turning into a highly visual realm, not only in quantity but also in quality.And this is not just to please the potential viewer from an aesthetic POV --though it?s not one to be overlooked-- but because in the practice it is undeniable that web pages with high resolution, strategically chosen and placed photos perform a lot better than the rest.In today?s online world, anything you want to say to your audience will be said better, louder and clearer through compelling photos. They can help you capture your visitor?s attention and deliver your intended message successfully, serving to both reach your site?s goals and keep the feared bouncing rate low. This is why using photos on websites should not even be a question. The answer will always be yes.

Royalty-Free Stock Photos: A Round & Sound Resource for Web Design

We are at knowing a powerful website needs high-res photos that are beautiful and professional. At this point, those under restrictive budgets might start growing concerned as professional photography is a considerable cost that not all can cover.Those working with a short deadline might feel uneasy too, knowing to commission a photo shoot can take up to weeks from the moment you contact the photographer to the time the final files are delivered. But there is no reason to stress: royalty-free stock photography efficiently solves both the money and time constraints at once. At very affordable rates that go from $30 to as little as less than $0.50 per photo (and they?re one-time-fees!) when buying in bulk, Royalty Free stock photos are ready to download and use, legally and honoring artist?s work. If such low prices are still out of your possibilities --or if you simply love a chance to save your bucks--, there is also free stock photos. Now, these can be trickier, as you must find good quality photos and make sure they are safe to use. But that won?t be a problem if you keep this great list of the best stock photo sites for websites at hand - it includes advice on the best stock photo agencies to buy cheap royalty-free images too! Stock photos are professionally shot, with superb technical quality and commercial value, in high resolution that suits all kind of uses. Furthermore, the Royalty Free license they come with gives you multi-purpose rights: you pay for the photo once, and get to use it forever and not only on your website but also in any other projects you wish - marketing campaigns, social media posts, ads, for example. This is what makes royalty-free stock photography such a valuable resource for web design, one that should be in every designer?s toolkit.

The Right Kind of Images for Websites: Authentic & High Quality

Mobile phones with cameras and massive social media platforms not only flooded us with millions of photos to see every day, but they also influenced photography trends across all fields. We now constantly crave the kind of photos we see in social media (and our phone?s media libraries) all the time: intimate, spontaneous, natural. These kind of photos are quintessential of relatability and that?s why viewers connect with them more: they can see themselves in such images. The hottest photography trend for websites (and nearly all purposes really) at the moment is that of authentic, realistic and intimate images. Photos of people will always be the most evergreen topic, as it?s proven they can evoke and provoke emotions in viewers like no other image can. What you want is photos of real, good looking and interesting people, doing everyday things in a realistic way - No more photos of perfect women cringeworthily smiling as they eat their greens. And definitely make sure to include people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and styles! You want people that look great, but the kind of people you can walk by on the street. Of course, always go for high-resolution photos, shot and edited by skilled professionals. The key is for images to feel realistic and effortless? but still be technically and aesthetically on point. Royalty-free photos, as we just told you, cover all of these needs and more. You will find millions of very high-res, beautiful and authentic stock photos ready to brighten up your site in the blink of an eye.

Efficient Use of Images in Websites: Optimize or Else

A visually beautiful site that is slow and takes too long to load is a complete waste: your visitors are very much likely to bounce back from it as quickly as they would if it was poorly designed. Load speed and sleek functionality must merge with powerful visuals, not submit to them. This is the immediate catch in using photos for websites: the bigger the photos are and the more of them you add to your page, the heavier and slower it will be.Luckily technology is there to save the day (and your website), in a very simple way: image optimization software tools compress your image files making them lighter and significantly improving your site?s load speed, making possible to use very high-res photos in websites without any negative impact in the user experience. There are both free and premium options to choose from. See some of the best along with pro practices to optimize your images in this list of the best image optimization tips for SEO.

The Precise Use for Images in Websites: Purpose & Connection

The most beautiful and trendier high-resolution photos won?t do the trick on your site if you don?t use them strategically, though. A wise use of photos in websites implies finding the right spot between where it makes sense to add a photo in the design, and where --and how-- it can serve an important function in it.The connection of photos with your goals is a good start point. Select images with a direct liaison with your brand, your company and the targets your site is set to hit. The purpose of each part of the design also helps in finding the best possible placement for photos, as well as picking the ideal image for each location. Think of what you want the user to do in that part of the page - to know what you?re offering? To understand something? To buy what you?re selling? And how you want them to do it - just by seeing an image? Reading a bit of copy? Clicking on a button? With that info, you can expertly reap the benefits of a photo for your site. Photos can actually lead your visitors' eyes to where you want them to go. For this, the orientation of the eyes, the hands and the body of people in your photo should more or less evidently point to where you want them to look. Plus, ?one picture is worth a thousand words? line couldn?t be truer: one single photo with the perfect composition can explain your product or service better than any chunk of copy. This is not limited to what you show in the image but includes how you show it. Remember our image style tips: people pictures convey and trigger emotions, one of the most powerful user engagement keys. So make sure to select a photo where the model/s are exhibiting the ideal expression and feel you want to communicate. A fictional scenario for a bit of visual help: Let?s say you?re designing a website to promote a brand of organic edibles, and you want customers to click on a call to action that leads to your product gallery. A flat-lay shot of fresh colourful veggies on a rustic wood table, overlaying the call to action phrase would be cool? A photo of a person joyfully choosing veggies in a farmer?s market, with their eyes looking at and their hand casually reaching out to where your actionable button is placed, that would be perfection.

Conclusion: Low Cost, Visually Powerful Sites are Possible Using Images Wisely

As we said in the beginning, it?s not enough with throwing photos --no matter how lovely or sharp-- on your site to make it visually appealing or efficiently performing. That is done by using photos on your website in the smartest possible ways, that you just learned. A cost-beneficial and accessible method to source the beautiful and professional photography you will need to lift your site?s appeal is to use royalty-free stock photos that, being low cost or free, cover all your image needs elegantly and quickly without threatening your budget. Armed with these resources, you will soon see that visually powerful websites are right at your reach!
Networking At A Trade Event – How To Excel

Networking At A Trade Event – How To Excel

Networking at a trade event can be a great idea. It gives you the tools to build your audience, to connect with like-minded people and projects, and to generally help raise your profile. People at trade shows are there for one purpose and one purpose only, to see what?s on offer. So offer something. Networking at trade events can seem quite scary upon first consideration. Not only do you have to be in your best ?presentation mode? for a number of hours or days, but there?s a very real chance of you being shown up by a business similar to yours, effectively ruining your investment in being there.Don?t let this happen. Learn how to network. Of course, if you have this goal in mind, there?s no need to traipse around the internet trying to figure out how to make our initial advice a reality. We?ve condensed some of the best information for you below:Be AttractiveWe?re not talking about physical appearance. Your stand needs to exhibit something that catches the eye, out of hundreds of other booths trying to do the same. You might go for a particular size, such as a 10x10 trade show booth, or perhaps custom design the fringes with neon lighting. You might make it mysterious, such as crafting a booth with a curtain that by presence alone asks people to come and find out what?s within. It might be that you dress those members of your staff presenting inappropriate cool uniforms, or even those with novel and humorous appeal. For example, if the product you?re trying to sell is some variant on Wild West rum, dressing as cowboys can certainly turn heads.Think about how to brand this particular square footing dedicated to you, and you?ll no doubt begin to spawn ideas from that point. Why is this important? Because when you take care of this, people will come to you. Networking will be easier when people want to meet you and understand what your operation is all about.Business CardsBusiness cards are important to craft. They help you spread the word to people who might not be able to absorb the full offering of your trade presence. Think of ingenious methods of transferring them. You might give out goody bags to those who take part in your offering, and give them three or four business cards in there. They will likely make their way somewhere.You might decide to place carefully crafted ?gotcha? cards in the pockets of those attending the audience, but remember this might be worthwhile at a humorous event, perhaps not a highly executive business show.Offer Something NewOffering something new is worthwhile to trade show networking. Everyone knows the usual pace of networking. Greeting, smiling, exchanging information could be relatively boring. It might be worth walking around offering free samples to other businesses, or having a VIP section even more beautifully decorated than your main frontal showing. Giving people something to think about, and a unique platform of interest will ensure they feel more connected to you than others, because you will be the one offering something worth remembering.With these simple efforts, networking at a trade event will be more than worthwhile.
Why Is It Important To Conduct Pre-Employment Background Checks

Why Is It Important To Conduct Pre-Employment Background Checks

Whenever there is a vacant position in a company, the human resource department goes through the same process to fill the position. Firstly, they would have to publish the job description on paper or online to reach out to individuals looking for a job. Upon receiving applications, the employer will then sort out the applicant pool to find potential candidates for the job and to schedule their interviews. The interviews, whether on-the-phone or in-person, will supply the employer with information so they can assess if the applicant suits the job.That?s how the employment screening process usually goes; however, one important step was forgotten: the background check. If it seems quite excessive to go through that extra step, here are four reasons that might change your mind before you hire a prospective employee.

Highlights If There Are Any Criminal Records

Criminal records are the top reason why pre-employment background checks are being run. Of course, you?d want to hire only the best people in your company, and sometimes the existence of criminal records help you with deciding.Having a criminal record does not necessarily mean that the applicant will not be hired, though. Reportedly, 90% of employers would automatically disqualify applicants who were convicted of crimes related to violence, theft, or dishonesty. These charges imply that the applicant may be dangerous, unreliable, or not suitable for hiring which is a red light.The number is a lot lower if there were only minor infractions found; only 32% would disregard your application. An employer has the right to possess this information to decide in the best interest of the company.

Flags Past Infraction

Alongside the criminal history, some background checks will also flag driving records, credit histories, or other relevant information. Some may argue that several license suspensions or some missed payments and debt have nothing to do with how the applicant will perform their job.However, if the position entails driving or handling of money, this may be an important deciding factor. For example, you hire a driver without running a background check, and he gets into an accident because he was driving under the influence. You later find out that this was not his first DUI charge when he was apprehended by the police. If only you had run a background check, you could have avoided this situation completely.

Verifies Education and Certification

For some positions, such as managerial roles, the employer sometimes requires the applicant to be of at least a certain educational attainment and have specific qualifications. Around 75% of employers would reject applicants who have lied on their resumes about their educational attainment.If you think that altering their educational history just to land a job is uncommon, you?d be surprised at the number of people who lie about their degrees or diplomas. James Morris, the president, and chief operating officer of EmployeeScreenIQ, claims that they come across fake degrees and diplomas easily a hundred times per week. With that sheer amount, you should already be convinced to do a background check on your applicants.

The Honesty of the Candidate

Everything just boils down to the honesty of the applicant in their resume and their interviews. In addition to the 75% mentioned above, 44% would disqualify applicants who lied about their dates of employment, and 34% would reject those who altered their job titles. Background checks involve calling former employers to confirm the information on their resumes. A dishonest applicant is not someone you want to hire.In addition to that, 75% of employers would ask potential employees to divulge any criminal history before they even run a background check. Usually, when the applicant lets their potential employer know about their circumstances and perhaps do a little explanation, it might do better than when the employer finds out by himself after the background check.To help you sort through the pre-employment background check and to learn more about the different qualifications in hiring an employee for your business, you can check this business?blog.

Conclusion

Employment screening takes up a lot of time, effort, and money. You need it for the betterment of your whole team, work, and company. From here, you want to hire the right person on the first try to save wasted resources if you find yourself in the screening process again.Conducting a background check also confirms if the applicant were truthful and transparent in their resume and in their interview which are some characteristics you?d want in all your employees. You would also want to keep the safety in the workplace and integrity of the company in case you run into an applicant with a dodgy history.If you want to avoid all of the complications that could arise without getting a background check on your applicants, you better start upgrading your employee screening process to get a comprehensive profile of your potential staff. After all, better be safe than sorry!
11 Plugins Every WordPress Blog Should Have – 2018 Edition

11 Plugins Every WordPress Blog Should Have – 2018 Edition

WordPress is one of world?s most popular content management platforms. With easy to use free blog tools and self-hosted sites, WordPress has a lot to offer. From amateur site-runners/owners to seasoned industry veterans, everyone is in love with WordPress and none can deny the fact that not only is it easy to use, cool, and chic, but also extremely robust, and thanks to its thousands of plugins, a complete solution for website management.WordPress maintains a repository of many powerful plugins which developers and site owners appoint to give their websites a complete feel. While the utilities of these plugins vary, many among the plug-in bank exist to serve a single purpose. So choosing a couple among them, gets quite confusing. ?And to further add to the confusion, not all of these apps are free to use. Some of them are Premium, but most of them are freemium(Plugins which offer basic functionality for free but require you to purchase them if you need to add additional features). Now because there are so many plugins in the WordPress Plugin directory, it is not possible to rate each one of them and tell you which ones you should have and which ones you shouldn't. So instead, we have created a list of some must-have plugins for your WordPress websites. So let?s jump in!
  1. WP Smush- image optimization
A picture is worth a thousand words. Yes, and especially nowadays. An image can be used to pass on a plethora of information which will reduce the amount of content you would have had to write instead just to explain the same thing. Also, images bring a lot of visual appeal to your website as well.But while they are incredible tools, images take up a lot of storage space and take too long to be uploaded and downloaded. This problem intensifies for slow speed networks. This can be disastrous. So to reduce the size and loading time of these images, plugins like WP Smush exist in the WordPress plugin repository. What this tool does is compress your image using advanced compression techniques and makes sure that the quality of your image remains intact. It is a freemium plugin.
  1. Yoast SEO
It doesn?t matter how beautiful or useful your website is; if it can?t be reached, then it is of no use, to you or your users. Search engines are a major source of website traffic. Most users will be able to use your website only if a search engine can index it in search results. Thus you need to make sure that search engine crawlers can get to your site. Search Engine Optimization is just as vital for you as having a website in the first place. It makes sure that your site has been designed in a way in which search engines can get to it. For WordPress sites, a plugin called Yoast SEO is there to do all of that. It helps you in creating more SEO friendly content which will compel search engines to list your website higher in the search results. The key to SEO is to provide users with relevant information and not to catfish them onto your sites for the sake of views. Latest algorithms followed by search engines these days are extra cautious of such trickery, and so, you need to prove it to these bots that your website has relevant content.From choosing proper keywords and writing your articles in a way which makes the most of these keywords, to tell you how to format your article to increase its visual appeal, Yoast SEO does it all.It is a freemium plugin.
  1. Jetpack
Jetpack is a plugin which has been developed by the creators of the WordPress itself. It is a powerful tool which is jam-packed with many functionalities which will help your website in ranking higher in search results. Jetpack looks after Security, traffic growth, image optimization, and many other such things. It contains an upgraded distribution function which automatically shares your content with other third-party tools like search engines and helps in increasing your site traffic. It is a free plugin.
  1. Akismet
Developed also by the good people at WordPress, Akismet is one of the top anti-spam plugins in the WordPress plugin repository. It goes over all the comments on your website and provides users a history after flagging the spam content. It is basically a one-stop tool for you to make sure that your website remains free of any sort of spam. It is a default plugin which comes along with every WordPress core installation. It is a freemium plugin.
  1. W3 Total Cache
Among the most significant setbacks your website can suffer from, one is a longer loading period. If your website has a lot of CSS work and if the images on your site take too long to load, then users will get frustrated and exit your site. The solution to this problem is caching. Caching is the process of storing temporary data in small memory segments called caches. There are many caching plugins in the WordPress plugin repository. What they do is they save temporary HTML files in users? cache, so that the next time they load your site, it will not take as long as before. This will increase the traffic on your site and your SEO quotient too. W3 Total Cache in one of the most popular caching tool on WordPress. It allows you to cache web pages, databases, browsers, etc. Because of the reduced loading time, you will get higher rankings in search results, and that will lead to higher site traffic.It is a freemium plugin.
  1. Security Plugins
We can?t overstate the necessity of having security. Countless malicious bots are roaming the spectrum which will latch on to your site and make it collapse in a matter of seconds. So you need to have armor against these cancerous troublemakers. There are many plugins in the WordPress plugin repository which will enhance the security of your website. Some of them are:
  • All in One Security
  • Wordfence
  • BulletProof Security
  • Sucuri
  • iTheme security
There is no clear winner and no clear loser among these tools; all of them are high-end plugins which are very good at their jobs. So you can pick anyone you like for your website.
  1. Everest Forms- Easy Contact Form and Form Builder
One of the key pages every website needs to have is an excellent looking contact page. It needs to be visually fetching and at the same time, needs to give users just the right amount of information. Furthermore, contact pages these days allow users to contact you directly, without them having to send you an email. It enables users to type in some information about themselves and then jump straight to their query, complaint or question.To create such contact forms for your WordPress site, plugins like Everest forms exist. One of the biggest advantages of Everest is its incredibly easy to use drag and drop interface. It lets you create your contact form by merely picking up elements from the side of the interface and dropping them anywhere you like on your workspace. And not only does it let you create fundamental forms, but also advance ones with Google reCaptcha support, redirect page options, etc.It is a free plugin.
  1. Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
Studying your traffic and knowing more about it will help you in creating a better site and increase the user traffic. There are many insight tools for WordPress websites which help you in obtaining vital stats for your website. The best among them by leaps is Google Analytics for WordPress by Monster Insights.This plugin will allow you to monitor various real-time statistics for your website and will create multiple demographics and interest reports to better your knowledge about your site traffic.It will also allow you to keep an eye out on your product popularity and because it comes integrated with Google Adsense, the stats related to your ads will also be made available to you as well.It is a free plugin.
  1. MailChimp for WordPress
It is very crucial that you keep in touch with your users. And to that, nothing is more effective than a properly created marketing mail which you can send to all your users in one single click and then track the results in bulk. Plugins like MailChimp are excellent email marketing tools for every site owner to have. It allows you to create beautiful subscription forms in your blog and can also be integrated with any other forms on your site like- Contact forms, checkout forms, etc. It is a freemium tool.
  1. Google XML Sitemaps
It is another SEO tool which your website needs to have. Google XML Sitemaps creates a sitemap for your website which makes it easier for search engine bots to browse through your website. This in return will help search engines in getting a better idea of your site structure and index it higher in search results. It is a free plugin.
  1. WordPress Amp
WordPress Amp is a plugin which can add AMP (Accelerate Mobile Pages) to your website. With just a few clicks, this tool can make your site mobile ready. AMP HTML is an open source solution by Google which lets you turn your websites into mobile-optimized content which can then be loaded anywhere you like. WordPress Amp brings a lot of other things to the table as well. It boosts up your site SEO, brings more traffic from Google, improves user experience, and using Adsense and Woocommerce, it allows you to earn extra money by selling goods.It is a premium plugin.ConclusionUsing the above plugins, you can manage your website and juice out the maximum profit from it. They give you a complete control over your website and make sure that you get your money?s worth out of it. Apart from these, there are many other useful plugins which you will find in the WordPress plugin repository. But be sure you go over all of them and compare them against each other before you buy them though. And if you are not that technically inclined, then you can hire a website development firm for a robust process and flexibility to develop paramount solutions.