4 Tips for Selecting Great Mining Hardware

In the early years of cryptocurrency, mining crypto was such a rewarding and straightforward venture as it could be done from CPUs. However, as the industry matured, the mining of crypto became more competitive, phasing out CPU miners. Currently, for an investor to enjoy maximum returns, a wise selection of mining hardware should be considered.


Mining hardware are responsible for solving complex mathematical problems that verify a blockchain transaction. Upon finding the right solution, the miner is awarded a certain value of the coin minted. And the approved transaction is cryptographically added to the blockchain. A few pointers to picking excellent mining hardware include:

Determine the type of mining investor you want to be

There are two types of crypto drilling investors. Those who get into the venture as a hobby, and those who mine virtual currencies with the aim of meeting maximum profits. Depending on the category you belong and the finances you have at your disposal, there are three types of mining rigs you can purchase. These include GPU Miners, FPGA Miners, and ASIC Miners.


Graphics Processing Units (GPU) miners are ideal for hobbyists or those who want to try out mining without committing many risks. If you are no longer interested in mining as an investment, you can sell out the graphics cards and regain a significant portion of your initial investments.

FPGA miners, though not so popular, offer something in between GPUs and ASICs. They are more profitable that GPUs but less income-generating that ASIC rigs.


On a different note, ASIC miners have the highest returns on investments. However, their resale value are quite limited once they grow obsolete. Most ASIC miners are configured to be task specific.

Work out a cost-benefit analysis

Different mining hardware bear varying profitabilities depending on a given number of factors. These include the efficiency of your mining rig (commonly known as hash rate),and electricity costs. Before investing in any miner hardware, it’s important that you determine how long it will take to get back whatever amount of money you invest in the crypto mining activity.

ALSO READ - 5 Tips for Understanding Bitcoin Predictions

Generally, depending on the electricity costs and other factors held constant, ASIC miners are more profitable, followed by FPGA, and lastly GPU miners.

Be futuristic in your choice of mining hardware

The more transactions (blocks) within a given blockchain are processed, the more difficult the mathematical solutions to be solved by miners grow. This means that less powerful mining risks are likely to be rendered obsolete within a short period of time compared to powerful miners. Consequently, if you envision being in the mining business for long, opt for a mining hardware that will generate profits for the longest time possible while demanding minimal costs of maintenance.

Get the best out of your budget

Finally, whether you are considered GPUs or ASICs for mining, ensure that you shop for the best that your budget can sustain. Factor in the efficiency of the mining rig, vis-a-vis other critical factors such as the accessories it will require.

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5 Tips for Understanding Bitcoin Predictions

Cryptocurrency market is significantly growing, and people are starting to store the value in this form. Just like the traditional currencies, cryptocurrency has challenges and the most notable limitation is instability of value. The granddaddy; Bitcoin is not spared either. Therefore, you have to play your cards right to gain optimally as an investor. An understanding of Bitcoin predictions is crucial in informing you of when to invest. This article elaborates some tips that will help you understand Bitcoin forecast and assure some sense of security.

Keep updated with reliable Bitcoin market predictions

The market forecast can be derived from the open study of trade charts and establishing a trend. Such projections can be short-term or long-term, and accuracy of the predictions relies on the level of expertize involved in this particular exercise. Bitcoin Prediction Market and Exchange gives a glimpse of what the future holds for Bitcoin, and in most cases, these are confirmed later as accurate. By registering with such agencies, you will acquaint yourself with knowledge touching on Bitcoin trading. Besides, guidance in the form of tips provided will see you gain big. Trade on cryptocurrency involve colossal gamble, and you can barely make it without good tips.

Do your research independently

There is a lot of information on Bitcoin, some rumors, which are baseless and not everything on Bitcoin will be right. Adequately doing your homework will help you sieve the chaff from the grains and get the best from your investment. It is prudent to invest your time in studying trends and trade charts on Bitcoins, this way, you can come up with your forecast or elucidate rightful predictions from the wrong ones thus you will not fall prey of malicious people. Bitcoin trade can be complicated and confusing especially when you don’t get the basics and enter on the hype expecting gains.

Appreciate that Bitcoin trade involve risks

Just like any other business, Bitcoin trade entails a peril, and considerable caution is required. Sometimes even with the most precise predictions, the least expected can happen, and you must have a backup plan. Sometimes it is advisable that you don’t go around chasing at Bitcoin price and choosing a starting point and after that sticking to the ideal. Besides, sometimes consistency works best on Bitcoin trade, and you don’t have necessarily to chase the wind with prospects of high gains.

Acquaint yourself with the basics

As a new investor, your priority should be first learning the ways of the land. A clear understanding of terms used in the Bitcoin market will make the predictions sink more vividly and get more sensible in all respect. Sometimes consultations and tutorials may be necessary especially if it’s large-scale and a vast fortune is at stake.

Involve your conscience and seek trustworthy opinions

Sometimes instincts can be crucial in guiding your choices. Never go ahead investing in a given trade when your conscience suggests otherwise. In an understanding Bitcoin prediction common sense is indispensable. Sharing with your friends on given predictions can also help you understand details especially when such contributions are genuine.

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How to Record Higher Quality Videos Using Screen Recording

Screen recording is very different from recording conventional videos – especially in terms of the factors that affect its quality. In fact it is actually much easier to record high quality videos using screen recording, provided you know how to go about it.

Setting the Right Recording Parameters

The two main recording parameters that will affect the quality of your screen recording videos are the resolution and frame rate.


Overall a higher resolution will have better definition and look much sharper and clearer. However the resolution of your screen recording video will be based on the resolution of the frame that you’re recording from your screen – and its upper limit will be your display resolution.


As such if you want to record at the highest possible resolution you will need to record in full screen.

In contrast to that, the frame rate is a setting that most screen recorders will allow you to adjust. Because a higher frame rate will produce a smoother and more fluid-looking video it should be set as high as possible and typically a range of 30 to 60 is considered good.

Making Sure the Performance is Stable 

Keep in mind however that recording at high resolutions and frame rates will require more processing power and system resources – which may cause performance issues. That will adversely affect the quality of your video, because it will be recorded as part of the video.

All in all it would be a good idea to close background processes and unwanted apps before you start recording. On top of that you may need to adjust the recording parameters if you still have issues – or upgrade your hardware


The goal should be to make sure the app that you’re recording is running smoothly, and your computer isn’t sluggish or slow.

Other Factors

Sometimes there are other factors that may affect the quality of your screen recording videos. One of the most important is the audio quality – if you’re recording audio via a microphone.

Another important factor is the encoding settings that you use – especially the bitrate, resolution, and frame rate.


The fact that some screen recorders have editors can often help when it comes to the video quality, and will let you improve it in various ways. For example you could use Movavi Screen Capture Studio to record video on PC then edit it after you’re done.


The next time you use screen recording to capture video footage, be sure to try everything listed above. In most cases the difference that it makes should be very noticeable, and you’ll end up with a much better quality video that looks far more professional by the time you’re done.

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EaseUS Review - Best Free Data Recovery software for Windows PC

Have you lost your files due to system crash? Or by random mistake you deleted files from your PC and you want to get or recover it back into your system? Perhaps you need to know how do I recover lost files in Windows 10, 8, or Windows 7.

Here is a great recommendation, among the many names and types available online, this is among the best recovery software you can use to get back your lost data/files for free. It works flawlessly on Windows PC with the press of one or two buttons, everything else in the software automates and fetches your lost data/files back for you.

Apart from being a Data Recovery software that works for free. EaseUS supports lots of useful and powerful features that you would surely need.

Some EasyUS FEATURES:

Below some few awesome things this software can do for you:

Recycle Bin Empty Data Recovery

You can filter scanning results by file type and selectively recover filed deleted after emptying the recycle bin.

Accidentally Deleted Files Recovery
Quickly recover data from unexpected lost caused by accidentally deletion or affected by virus attack.

RAW Partition Recovery

If your hard disk or partition suddenly becomes RAW and you cannot get to the stored data, download the best free data recovery software to regain access.

Virus Attack Recovery

Virus attacks are annoying and can make your computer not work normally. This tool can recover your data safely and quickly etc

STEPS TO RECOVER DELETED/CORRUPT FILES Successfully in Windows 10, Windows 8 and 7

Using EaseUS free recovery software, simply launch the software and pick the folder in your PC where the file or data is located or was found before it was lost.
The software does the rest of the job for you.

Recovering your data after scanning is complete is quite easy.

Once any files or data are recovered, they are displayed in a single file tree. Then click on the “Export” button to save the scanned files and complete the recovery process.

You can also preview the data you are about to recover before doing a full recovery. During the file preview, you can check the boxes next to each of the files to select the file you would like to recover and the ones you would like to leave out. The last step is selecting the location you would like to save your recovered files.

We've been using this free data
 recovery software for a few days now, I can surely tell you that it's been a lifesaver as I had been able to recover important files that are valuable to me.

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4 Things to look for in a Vinyl wrap company

How do you find a great vinyl company for cars, covers, cases etc?

What Makes a Good Vehicle Wrapping Company

When it comes to purchasing a wrap, people are very selective and choosey on what to pick. This is because there are so many options on the market to choose from and at times it can be tricky and confusing.

However, this is not the main problem as the challenge and the confusion that arises on which company is best at this business and why that is. The company you choose to represent you and be your brand and the main supplier of your vinyl wrap must have certain qualities that will be outlined to help guide you in choosing which the best is.

There are so many frauds in the market with counterfeits to take advantage of people by offering sub-standard quality goods. It is for this reason that you need to be careful of the company and even go a step further as to doing a background check to verify its authenticity. Below are some of the things to look for in a vinyl wrap company:

1. The quality
   This is an important aspect to look at and verify before you make a purchase. It is true that cheap can be expensive, but you should ensure that you get what your money is worth. This is in terms of quality. You should look for a company that has a high-quality product. You can get this information from online reviews made by previous customers. You can also go a step further as contacting the previous customer to check on the quality of the product. Quality is what you need, don’t just buy, you should verify it first.
   

2. The varieties available - 
   When you are choosing a company that will handle your vinyl wrap product, it is important to have a wide variety to choose from. This is because, with the mixture of choices, you will be able to choose one that suits you. This could not have been the case if you were limited to a number of choices. Variety makes it more fun to even alternate. It is best advised that you even look for a company that makes custom made vinyl wraps to explore your creativity and uniqueness.
   

3. The warranty
   A good vinyl wrap company will have an extended warranty of their product if it is good as advertised. At WrapsStudio, they offer a lifetime warranty. This means that if your vinyl wrap is old or damaged and needs replacement, all you need is to send the old wrap and they give you a new one. This means that you will make a lifetime partnership and investment that won’t be costing you. This also shows excellence assurance on their quality and will save you a lot of money that could have been from the purchases for replacement.
   

4. Experience and reputation
   If a company has done a vinyl wrap production and distribution for a long time, this means that they are the best in the market and they thrive at what they do. You need however to verify that it is true. You can do this by asking the previous customers their experience with the company. What are their pros and cons and how have they improved on their cons if any.
   

With the above things, it will be easy for you to make a selection of the best vinyl wrap company in the market.

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Pros and Cons of Mobile GPS Tracking

Innovation in mobile phone tracking technology allows business owners and parents to track the whereabouts of their employees and family members, at any time of the day. However, this tech presents a double-edged sword that features benefits and drawbacks. Let’s analyze the pros and cons of implementing tracking technology in your life, and that of your employees and family.

Find a Lost Device

The most significant advantage of mobile tracking technology is the fact that you can find a lost, stolen, or misplaced device. All you need to do to find out the location of the phone or tablets is log onto an app like GPS–Handy Orten and execute a search command. The app pinpoints your device with outstanding accuracy providing you with the location history

Keep an Eye on Family Members

Concerned parents can use a third-party tracking app to keep an eye on their children. If your child exhibits irrational behavior and you’re worried about what they’re getting up to a tracking app can provide you with peace of mind.

The app tracks their movements and gives you a complete history of where they’ve been during the day. There’s no more getting away with skipping school or telling you they’re going to the movies when they’re going somewhere else. A tracking app works as long as their phone is online, and if there’s a gap in their location history, you’ll know somethings not right.

Monitor Driver Behavior

Third party apps let you monitor driver behavior. This feature serves business owners and parents. If you think your driver is wasting business resources and running errands on your time, a third-party tracking app lets you know their movements.
The app alerts you of any driver misconduct, such as talking on the phone or texting while driving. You’ll receive alerts of and hard braking or speeding as well. This system works well for monitoring the behavior of delivery drivers, and learner drivers.

Protect Company Data and Assets

A third party tracking app can take things to the next level for protection of your business data and assets. Can you imagine if your employee's phone goes missing? They may have sensitive business documents or data on their phone that your competitors are dying to get their hands on at any cost. A tracking app prevents this data from falling into the wrong hands. If you can’t recover the phone, you have the option to wipe it clean.

Certain tracking apps allow you to monitor communications behavior, as well as location data. Track your employees or family member’s texts, search history, and call logs without them being any the wiser. If your child is lying to you about their whereabouts or what they did during the day, you can check up on their communications and discover if they're telling the truth.

Invasion of Privacy – The Ethical Debate

This level of tracking causes a moral crisis with some people. Your children and employees may not like the fact that you’re monitoring their every move. It may seem kind of creepy.
However, In the case of your business, you have the right to know what our employees are doing with your time and money. If they feel you are invading their privacy, then they must have something to hide.
The ethical problem is a bit more challenging when it comes to covertly monitoring your children’s or spouse’s behavior. You could consider it the same as reading their private diary. The decision to use covert tracking software is up to the individual and its line that you’ll have to cross by yourself.

Loss of Trust

If you’re discovered using covert tracking software on your employees or children without their knowledge, it may cause a crisis of trust between you.
People don’t like to know that someone is spying on them, even when he or she is doing nothing wrong. The choice is up to you, take it or leave it, face the consequences if you get caught.

Wrapping Up – The Pro’s Outweigh the Cons
Overall we can say that the pros of implementing tracking software in your business or at home outweigh the cons. In the case of data loss, or one of your children going missing, a tracking app is invaluable to the recovery of the device or learning your child’s whereabouts.

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8 Evolving Printing Trends in 2018

The buzzword in offices around the world over the past few years have been 'we are going paperless'. Unfortunately for the vast majority of businesses who have said that repeatedly in the past 3-5 years it has not quite materialised.
Far from being a dying industry, printing is a mission-critical function, even though many innovations and initiatives are moving away from physical printing, the business is ready to evolve along with them.

Managed Print Services (MPS)

This is a fast-growing printing trend for small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) where technology and cloud-based solutions are part of the service provided, and this ever-increasing trend has created a new marketplace for solution providers.
Recent trends in office related printing have seen the shift toward multifunctional machines and inkjet technology. 3-in-1 devices save time, money and also frees up more office space.

The Generation Gap

Millenials are driving significant changes in the workplace. With almost 50% of the global workforce now they will account for around 75% by 2025. Millenials are more familiar with working on digital devices, simply put they work differently to the older generation who prefer traditional methods that are paper related.

This is something that is common to most business owners in 2018, but it is not as simple as eliminating your entire printing policy and expect everybody to switch without issues occurring. Training is a must when you have a diverse set of staff of different generations. In the meantime you find yourself having to cater to both.

Multifunction Vs. Single Function

Multifunction printers (MFPs)
This trend came to the fore in 2016 when global shipments of MFP's eclipsed single-function printers. As we speak the gap between the two are widening making it a straightforward decision for businesses that cannot be paperless to go with a device that is a printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. As the business world becomes more competitive, businesses focus on cost efficiency as more management of printing fleets come into play

Inkjet Printer Vs. Laser Printer

For many years now laser printing has dominated the office scene, on average less than 10% of office printing in western countries is being done using an inkjet printer using Ink cartridges.
But inkjet technology is evolving and in leaps and bounds in speed and quality, add to this that it is more cost effective than laser printing (especially in suppliers, power and repairs).
HP and Epson are pushing the boundaries with inkjet technology in the belief that SME's will find it more suitable cost-wise especially in the start-up phase. So we can expect to see Inkjet printers making somewhat of a comeback and taking a more significant share of the market by 2020.

A3 Market Competition

The A3 market is estimated globally at US$55 billion per year.
Inevitably that comes with significant competition and recently it has been getting intense. HP gate crashed and disrupted the market last year with a new twist on PageWide its inkjet technology. A3 played a significant role in HP's US$1.05 billion deal to acquire Samsung's printer business in the 4th quarter of last year. Although they stole a march on the competition, the competition has been busy themselves. Take Canon for instance, they unveiled new A3 third-generation ImageRunner printers, and Xerox followed suit launching multiple new A3 machines.

RECOMMENDED REVIEW - Why Are Printers So Cheap, but Printer Ink is So Expensive?

 

Managed Print Services Growing for SMBs

Managed print services (MPS) are companies that evaluate and propose printing management for a business to help control usage and cost, make printing more efficient and provide cloud-based technologies. This has created a new arena for management software companies that leaves businesses with many options right now. As more MPS providers arise it is creating higher competition and resulting in lower pricing while opening the door to various industries in need of the assistance they provide

 

MPS Providers Expand Their Sights

The growing trend this year and next with MPS is they are becoming full-service. Traditionally a MPS would manage your print solutions, which was of course, useful to any business, but now we see a branch out from tradition. They are becoming more affiliated and involved with their customers, covering their IT landscape too.
This trend has many SME business owners looking at MPS in a very different light as managing just print solutions, although in itself a pivotal role, compare it with managing a company's entire IT landscape makes them invaluable to the business.

Document Security

Document security seems like it should be relatively simple and straightforward, it must ensure that the correct person or business receives the correct document. However, making sure you have the best and tightest software is key. As we go digital, we must ensure that there are no breaches in document distribution, such as a classified document fell into the wrong hands for example. We tend to see this happen when companies are looking to consolidate their printing fleets. So new solutions have come along for added and bolstered security such as personal swipe ID and passwords, with all data being back-up in the cloud where it is retrievable even if deleted or lost.

Conclusion
In September of last year, we saw HP announce the deal to acquire Samsung's printing business for US$1.05, the industry as a whole is now shifting to the realisation that this will be the beginning of many more collaborations and combinations in the printer space industry as it continues to take-on rapid and significant changes. It looks very lightly that there will be a consolidation of the number of providers in the marketplace but what will be left will be intense competition, creating ever more ground-breaking software solutions coupled with a price-war to gain customers. All this is good news if you are an SME looking to work alongside an MPS.

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Xoom, PayPal service: How to Send & Receive Money in Nigeria and other Unsupported countries

Xoom, PayPal service: How to Send & Receive PayPal Money in Nigeria, and other Unsupported countries 2018 - Xoom is a newly acquired PayPal service that lets you easily send & receive money in and out of Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Namibia, Tanzania and many other countries that cannot receive payments via PayPal, regardless whether you're in the country or outside Nigeria (in various currencies, Naira is supported now because it's the country's major currency). - Sign up here for Xoom account by PayPal

With PayPal's Xoom you can request money, mobile reloads/recharge your mobile from any where, and perform bill payments from friends and family in the U.S.

 In time Xoom will be more used and welcomed by those living in and outside diaspora,

Here's more of all what you need to know about Xoom Nigeria


HOW XOOM WORKS
Xoom is here to bridge every gap, this means you'd be able to receive, send and withdraw money through this PayPal's service known as Xoom.
Easy and affordable, Instant Bank Deposit and Secure. Plus, Xoom offers a money-back guarantee for your peace of mind

HOW TO SEND & RECEIVE MONEY FROM USA WITH XOOM BY PAYPAL
It's quite simple to send money or receive money in Nigeria via Xoom.
Login or Sign up for Xoom account here >> You also can choose to Login with your PayPal  account, this will merge your PayPal with your Xoom account. Follow the steps below after you're logged in.

1. Select the country you want to send money to e.g Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, or any other countries that cannot receive payments via PayPal.



2.Click Send Money. This again will prompt you to choose the country where you want to send money to. This is also the country where the receiver's bank is located.
The amount the receiver will get will be displayed, it is calculated using exchange rates used by the platform.

3. Confirm you want to send the amount

4. Select How you want to Pay >> there are various options for you here and this is where you'll find XOOM PAYPAL TRANSFER FEES (at the time this post was published)

• Bank Account (Transaction fee: 4.99 USD)
• Credit Card (Transaction fee: 9.99 USD)
• Debit Card (Transaction fee: 9.99 USD)

5. Recipient information
Enter the receiver's bank account details and go to next stage where you'll pay and send the money.

Here is a list of Banks Supported by PayPal Xoom

Access Bank plc

Diamond Bank

Ecobank Nigeria

Enterprise Bank

Fidelity Bank

FIRSTBANK

First City Monument Bank Ltd

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

Heritage Bank

Keystone Bank

Skye Bank Plc

Stanbic Bank

Sterling Bank

Union Bank

United Bank for Africa Plc

Unity Bank PLC

WEMA

6. Review: Xoom will take a moment to review the details your prov and approve the transaction.
There you go! Money sent.

Xoom Transfer Exchange Rates - The rate varies for each country according to their local currencies, and it might be lower than you expect but overall the rate is almost very good, I guess this is also where the platform makes its money from)

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5 Most Popular eCommerce Marketplace builders for Multi-Vendors

There's recently been a large rise of vendors and shoppers online, hence the need to build more marketplaces online for them, so today, you'll find out the best and most popular eCommerce marketplace builders online and everything you need to know about them in this concise honest review.

Before heading to the main review, quickly allow me to summarize what eCommerce Marketplace builders are all about, and the goals they help vendors accomplish. You can scroll down now if you already know about it.

What is an eCommerce Marketplace builder?

These are powerful software that allow a person or a company effectively run their business that has to do with helping different vendors or retailers sell their products of various kinds to online shoppers or customers in return for commission from the vendors. In other words, this software lets your users rent or sell goods, spaces or services online after which they pay you a commission for providing them the platform (marketplace). Some of the biggest and successful websites that are good examples of eCommerce for independent sellers are AirBnB, Etsy, and Themeforest.


When you get an eCommerce marketplace builder then you can achieve great results, or even better results than them.


Now, back to the main topic: a few marketplace builders have emerged the Internet and they're doing great for vendors, marketplace owners, and shoppers due to their nice and productive functionalities, hence we will be reviewing the 5 Most popular eCommerce Marketplace builders for Multi-Vendor marketplace so you can make the best choice if you consider getting one soon.

1. CS-Cart Multi-Vendor

CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Quick Review

CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is a standalone eCommerce software that allows you to create an online marketplace. In Multi-Vendor, independent vendors can sell their products through a single storefront. CS-Cart is straightforward and doesn't need external plugins, as everything is built-in and super easy to customise and roll-out for the marketplace owners, vendors and shoppers.

CS-Cart also offers Mobile App (iOS and Android) for marketplaces, the app is fully synced with the web and mobile version of the marketplace.

Advantages

• 500+ admin functions
• Real-time and manual shipping calculations
• Separate vendor panel
• Separate mini store for every vendor
• Vendor account balance, sales reports & statistics and even more vendor features
• 26 built-in translations
• You can try free for 30 days and create your free personal demo, No credit cards required when signing up for that.
• Offers mobile app for marketplace (iOS and Android)
• Supports listing physical and digital products

Disadvantages

• The software is quite pricey

Summary
Apart from the price, we can deduce that the popular CS-Cart eCommerce Marketplace builder has the best and most robust features than other marketplace builders for vendors which makes this software to be a wise choice.

There's more added value to the list of advantages it offers, a mobile app for your vendor marketplace is also among. It's highly recommended as one of the most reliable softwares for creating an online marketplace right now and you can try it free for 30 days.

2. Sharetribe

Sharetribe Review
Sharetribe Marketplace builder takes care of the technology, with frequent updates. With Sharetribe you can create a marketplace website exactly the way you want it to look. Simple to customize. The interface is slick and Sharetribe’s registration and listing process is adapted to work more towards individual sellers than organized stores.

With this you can build your own concept, with your own brand.

Advantages

• It comes with payment plans if you want less or more features
• Super quick setup
• Create a marketplace in minutes.
• No need for online marketplace software installation.
• No developers needed

Disadvantages

• It comes with good number of extra-charges here and there.
• Wouldn’t suit for uploading large numbers of products

Summary
Sharetribe's design is pretty slick and although it's also quite expensive and paid on monthly basis but that's if the quantity of members (including the vendors and shoppers) on the platform is within 1,000 members which it serves efficiently. Aside that, Sharetribe is focused more on creating peer-to-peer marketplaces rather than multi-vendor marketplaces with organized storefronts.

3. WordPress with Marketify and Easy Digital Downloads

WordPress with Marketify - Quick Review
With Marketify, you can build any digital marketplace you want. The software is built to support WordPress. Marketify easily allow authors to create accounts and list their products. Buyers can then purchase products and immediately have access to downloads. The theme integrates with Easy Digital Downloads to create multi-vendor marketplaces for digital products.

Advantages

• Very affordable
• Performs most basic vendors’ needs

Disadvantages

• You don’t create your own products—only sellers do
• You have to buy all sorts of various plugins to make it work
• Supports mostly selling softwares or digital products unlike others that support both digital and physical goods

Summary
WordPress with Marketify is a good choice for those who has lean budget for creating their marketplace, but this also means a lot of limited features

4. Magento with Marketplace

Magento Marketplace Quick review
Magento Marketplace is developed and brought online by Webkul, the developer company also provides versions for WordPress, Shopify and other CMS platforms. This one is also quite more robust than Marketify. It's actually an extension that helps you build your own marketplace for vendors or yourself. Magento Marketplace can handle both physical and digital products. Vendors can specify whether their product is physical or digital when they create a product listing

Advantages

• Magento Marketplace has slightly better search functionality than Marketify out-of-the-box.
• Customers can search by keyword and then sort by category, price, relevance, and name

Disadvantages

• Add-ons/Plugins are often required
• You have to buy all sorts of various plugins to make it work

Summary
Marketplace in conjunction with Magento is another good Marketplace builder that does a good deal for vendor business owners, it's also quite similar to WordPress with Marketify that was already reviewed up here in this article.

5. KREEZALID

Kreezalid Marketplace builder - Quick Review
Do you want to go into Selling Products, Rentals or Services? For Merchants or Peer to Peer?

Whether you want to sell new jewelry from multiple vendors or just used parts for motorcycle enthusiasts, Kreezalid Marketplace builder solution fits all types of new and used community marketplaces with easily adaptable plug-ins.


Advantages

• No coding required
• Supports English and French languages
• Customizable
• Quick setup
• Responsive design
• You can start your free trial, there is no risk and no credit card is required.

Disadvantages

• The features are quite limited
• Works for small scale business vendors
• A good number of Add-ons/Plugins required often

Summary
Kreezalid comes last in the list because their user interface is a bit poor and they're still gaining ground in building marketplaces for their users, although there are some improvements to be done, the Marketplace builder has potential to become better as they're already serving lots of vendors.

 

CONCLUSION

From the reviews of the 5 most popular eCommerce Marketplace builders, Sharetribe, Magento with Marketplace, WordPress with Marketify and Kreezalid all offer simple interface and a bunch of nice features and solutions for vendors at basic prices, as said earlier, this can also mean that performance will be limited with some of them unlike CS-Cart Multi-Vendor that steps further for vendors by providing an all-in-one package for the marketplace owners and marketplace vendors. All of them offer free trial for 7-14 days, meanwhile CS-Cart Multi-Vendor offers 30 days trial.

Also, multi-vendor business owners can deduce from this article that a larger number of great functions means a higher price for a software, hence it's obvious and understandable that CS-Cart takes the lead at that.

However, whether you're considering price or not, it's important to take and weigh the advantages, disadvantages and flexibility of a marketplace builder software you choose for your multi-vendor marketplace and the kind of business you want to run with it.

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5 Simple Ways to use SEO for Customer Acquisition

SEO means a lot of things to many people, but most of its meaning is embedded in customer acquisition, which every business owner needs to keep growing as a brand. While SEO might hint at areas like Serpbook, keyword analysis, link building and user experience, SEO keenly focuses on attracting relevant organic traffic and equally to identify the channels that bring in qualified leads.

Typically, SEO is gaining massive popularity for its ability to reveal newer techniques on how to increase likeability and visibility online. Fortunately, this article covers 5 simple ways that anyone can use SEO for customer acquisition:

Keyword Research

This is a well-known SEO concept that has widely been used to improve ranking in search engines.

What you did not know is that keyword research plays a major role in attracting new customers to your site. Finding new keywords for a website’s pages and using them in the content will draw more traffic to your website, some of which is by audiences that are not aware of your brand.

Ideally, keywords will help you feature relevantly in search engines positioning yourself as a solution to people’s searches, which also captures a new customer base.

Tip: Instead of relying on your main keywords, use long-tail keywords, which carry more weight, simply to boost conversions by targeting search queries that will actually end in sales.

 ALSO READ -  SEO as a Tool to Your Website Success

 

Boost the user experience to your site

Studies conducted have shown that a good user experience plays a huge role in affecting a customer’s willingness to be a loyal advocate. Your main goal should be to build credibility and strong relationships with your current audience-base so that they can convert to your advocates.

With an impeccable user experience, click-through rates will increase as well as cut down on exit rates that might be causing your traffic instability.

Improve the content Experience

Your content is the whole reason you have an audience, and therefore you should be able to provide them adequate value for their time, which is the number one reason you should engage in a lot of content research to remain up-to-date with the trending topics in your industry. 

Ensure you create highly shareable content that is relevant to your industry of operation and is properly structured to address the needs of your audience, but more importantly, generates content that can evoke emotions and provoke conversations and other types of feedback from people. 

Every once in a while, consider repurposing content to increase the content experience, and even try the skyscraping technique. Develop different types of content that will boost the rate at which people share your content as well as increase the number of click-throughs which stand to positively affect the flow of organic traffic on your site. 

Use social media

Today, almost everyone is using social media, which means a huge part of the people you are trying to reach out to are on social media.

Determine the most favorable social media platforms for your type of business and work on sharing your content on those platforms. Remember to integrate the different social media icons on your website linked to all the social media platforms you are on.

While at it, develop and build relationships with important persons in your industry that will get you the right kind of attention. An unknown fact is that the social media users with few followers can champion your brand and turn to be loyal advocates that can attract an even higher audience-base.

Typically, social media platforms work differently, so be sure to create messages relevant and unique for the different platforms, and focus more on impressions rather than followers that do not necessarily determine your audience reach.

Actively participate in forum marketing

Forums are a great way for business owners and customers share their ideas and views with each other, by sharing useful information where potential customers can discuss your services or products, or those that are similar to yours.

Read what your competitors post and see what connections they have so that you are better placed at analyzing what you can do to improve your site or product to attract such a liking. Consider posting on these forums to answer people’s questions and build relationships with them, rather than push your products and services.

Either way, the chosen tactics should be justified by the findings or results you uncover at the end of it all, measured by the behavior of the director organic traffic on your site.

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How to be Eligible for Sending & Receving Payoneer funds

This article guide will show you all you need to know about how you can easily activate Payoneer payment services and become eligible to send funds or make local and international payments and also receive funds with your Payoneer accounts.

What is Payoneer?
For those who may not know it yet, we once discussed it here with how to earn $25 bonus with new Payoneer.
Payoneer is one of the best PayPal alternative today, it's used to Send and Receive mass payments with/from or for individuals, small and big companies.

• Whether you are a blogger, business owner, professional or freelancer, Payoneer offers you multiple ways to get paid by your international clients and global marketplaces – quickly, securely and at low cost.  Register for your own Payoneer account here

They also provide debit cards to use anywhere in the world for online payments and for your ATM cash withdrawals (anywhere that supports MasterCard). The Payoneer Debit MasterCard service is awesome.

 

How Do I Sign Up For Payoneer Account?

You can go here now and sign up for your Payoneer account!

Now, back to activating and eligibility for Payoneer payment services for your account.

Activating your Payoneer to Send and Receive Funds

Everyone can Sign up to use Payoneer and recieve money but NOT all accounts are allowed to perform some core Payoneer payment services (especially sending money/funds) like sending payments.

If Payoneer payment service is not open for me, What to do?

We'll explain below and how you can successfully activate your account to send and receive funds in any currency of your choice.

There are two possibilities – you either need to gain eligibility or there is a limitation for your particular account. Let’s look at both scenarios:

Eligibility

• Many Payoneer users receive payments in several currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, etc.). Your account may only be open to make payments from one of these currencies. If you have at least one card or currency balance eligible to make a payment, you will see Pay in the top menu.

• To be eligible for Make a Payment, you must be receiving payments from Payoneer partners or directly from clients (other individual and companies using Payoneer) into your Payoneer account.

• Have you filled out the questionnaire and provided a copy of your photo ID? Sometimes we need just a bit more information about you before we can open the service, so if you haven’t already, be sure to provide this information.

Limitations

• This service may be limited based on partner, country, or industry. For more information, please contact Payoneer Customer Care.

** Most payments take up to 2 hours. In rare cases, the transaction may take up to 2 business days.

This means payments

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How to Add Animated GIFs to Your Stories

Looking at the latest features that has been introduced on Instagram story, you probably know you can add stickers to your stories.
These stickers are interactive but, like real stickers, they don't move ... until now. In a Jan 23 update to the app, more action can be added to your stories with animated GIF stickers.

Instagram teamed up with GIPHY to provide a high-quality, transparent collection of GIFs to all Instagram users.
While the photo app cut ties with the service due to a controversial, racist GIF, GIPHY support is currently reinstated. To sift through such a large volume of GIFs, Instagram built a search feature into GIF stickers, which gives users access to countless options that match whatever location, mood, or event they want to capture. Snapchat's going to be playing catch up on this one — GIF stickers are pure, goofy fun.

Searching For & Adding Live Stickers to Stories

Adding GIFs to stories sounds more complicated than adding stickers, but it's pretty much the same process.

To get started, swipe right or tap your icon under "Stories" to access the story camera as you normally would. Once you take or choose a photo or video, you just tap the smiley-sticker icon in the top-right corner of the display. Among the stickers, you should find the GIF search option on the second sticker page.

You can simply browse the GIF stickers on the screen or you can search for them by name in the handy "Search" field. Just tap there, enter your query, then tap the GIF you want. You can place and resize the GIF on your story like you would any other sticker.

What do you think about GIF stickers? Think you'll use them in your stories? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to use Google Photos on Android & Desktop without downloading the app (PWA)

Google Photos is now available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on Android devices, so you no longer need to download and install the application on your Android smartphone or tablet before using it. The PWA is also available on desktop through the Google Chrome browser.

A Progressive Web App lives in your browser and allows you to enjoy the features of a native application without actually installing it on your device, which is a huge plus for users of smartphones with low storage capacities.

With this latest development, Google Photos joins other apps like Twitter and Google Maps Go in the growing list of native applications that have PWA versions. PWAs don't have the same adoption rates as native applications yet, but with big players in the smartphone and app industry including support for them by the day, PWAs just might overtake native apps someday, especially on mobile devices.

For now, though, PWAs are still limited in their applications, and they don't offer the full range of functionalities provided by their native counterparts. Google Photos PWA currently doesn't have an offline mode, so you can only use it when you're connected to the internet. You also don't get push notifications yet on Android, but the notifications are available on the desktop version. Other features unavailable on the PWA right now are automatic photo uploads and Share Target support.

How to get Google Photos PWA on Android & Desktop

For both platforms (Android and Desktop), you have to be using the latest Google Chrome browser in order to use Progressive Web Apps. Simply update the browser to version 67 and above, and you're good to go.

For Android

1. Visit photos.google.com in the Google Chrome browser.
2. Click on the three dots at the top right corner of the browser.
   
   
   
3. Select "Add to Home screen".
   
   
   
4. Click on "ADD" on the dialog that appears, and wait for a few seconds for the Google Photos PWA to be added to your home screen.

For Desktop

1. Visit photos.google.com in the Google Chrome browser.
2. Click on the three dots at the top right corner of the browser.
   
   
   
3. Select "Install Google Photos.." from the list of menu options.
   
   
   
4. Click on "Install" on the alert window that appears at the top of the browser.

NOTE: If you can't see the Install Google Photos option on your desktop even after updating to Chrome 67, visit chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas and change the option for Desktop PWAs from Default to Enabled, restart the browser and try again.

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How to get iPhone X-like gesture navigation on any Android smartphone

Gesture navigation is not a new thing on smartphones, Android and iPhones alike, but with the iPhone X came native support and custom gesture navigations. Google is just adding native support for gestures on the upcoming Android P which currently runs on a very small percentage of smartphones, and you have to either be using a custom ROM pre-loaded with the feature or install a third-party application to enable gesture navigation on your device. One of such apps, probably the best of them all, is Navigation Gestures by XDA Developers.

Navigation Gestures does everything almost every other gesture-control app will do for you, but it is unique in that it is the only gesture control app that allows you to completely hide your phone's default navigation bar without requiring root access. If you're not a root user, you'd have to use the navigation bar in conjunction with gestures when using other apps, which doesn't seem so exciting.

Another interesting thing about Navigation Gestures is that it supports a wide range of Android devices, indeed almost any Android smartphone running Android 8 Oreo down to JellyBean (4.2). It, however, doesn't support Android P and higher, which shouldn't be a cause for concern since native support for gestures is being added to Android from that version upwards anyway.

How to get gesture control on any Android smartphone

All you need to do is to head to the Google Play Store and install the Navigation Gestures application. Most gesture controls are enabled by default on the app, but to get some additional gestures for actions like pulling down the notification shade, pulling down quick settings, opening the power menu and media controls, you'd have to install a premium addon for just $0.99, also from the Play Store.

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Nokia 3.1 Review, Quick Specs and Price

The Nokia 3.1 is the successor of 2017's Nokia 3 smartphone, and it comes with beefed-up hardware and the latest software version. It was launched alongside the successors of the other high-end and budget Nokia smartphones launched in 2017, the Nokia 2.1 and Nokia 5.1.

The Nokia 3.1 is slightly larger than its predecessor, comes with a faster processor with double the number of cores, double the memory, better cameras, a stronger battery and the latest software updates. Considering that the Nokia 3 was the company's most successful smartphone in 2017, the number of upgrades on the Nokia 3.1 aren't surprising.

Nokia 3 Specifications Review

Design & Display

The Nokia 3.1 comes with a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display which has an HD+ (720 * 1,440) pixel resolution. It's covered with 2.5D curved glass and protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, like the Nokia 3.

The smartphone keeps the looks of the Nokia 3, featuring a polycarbonate back and metallic (aluminium) frame. It has a thickness of 8.7 millimetres and weighs just 138.3 grammes.

Storage & Performance

The Nokia 3.1 comes in two memory variants, the first with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, and the second with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. Both can take an external microSD card with a size of up to 128GB to complement the default storage.

The smartphone is powered by an octa-core 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750N processor which promises a 50% increase in performance over its predecessor. Graphics rendering will be better too, thanks to an improved Mali T860 GPU.

Battery & Camera

The Nokia 3.1 packs a 2,990mAh battery, an upgrade from the 2,600mAh unit powering the Nokia 3. It comes with a 13MP camera on the rear (with a LED flash) and an 8MP camera with 86.4-degree wide-angle lens on the front for taking selfies.

Connectivity & Software

The Nokia 3.1 comes with a dual SIM slot and supports 4G LTE connections, including those with Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) functionality. It runs on Android 8.0 Oreo and will be upgraded to Android 9.0 P when the final build is released later in the year.

 

Nokia 3.1 Price and Availability

The Nokia 3.1 comes in Blue with Copper, Black with Chrome, and White with Iron colour options and will be available for sale starting from June. The 2GB RAM version costs $160 (N58,000) while the 3GB RAM version costs $195 (N72,000).

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Creating a Video From Pictures Using Movavi Video Editor

Would you like to create a video from some pictures that you have captured in the past? It could be photos from a vacation, a special occasion, or even just with a particular person that is important to you.

By compiling your photos into a video, you could transform them into a memento of sorts. In fact if you dress it up with some stylish animated transitions, solid background music and a few other bells and whistles – it will really stand out. Assuming you’d like to do all of that, there’s no easier way than with Movavi Video Editor, this guide will show you everything you need to know about how to Create a Video From Pictures Using Movavi Video Editor.

Guide to Create a Video From Pictures Using Movavi Video Editor

1. Create Project in full feature mode
All that you need to do to start compiling a video from your pictures is launch Movavi Video Editor and select the ‘Create project in full feature mode’ option to open the editor.

RECOMMENDED - How to Create a Video Guide from Scratch with Movavi Screen Capture Studio

2. Add Media Files
Next you should add the pictures that you want your video to comprise of by clicking on the ‘Add Media Files’ button and selecting them.


3. Timeline
In the ‘Timeline’ area you’ll be able to see all the pictures that you added to Movavi Video Editor and can drag them around to position them in the order that you want. If you like you could drag and drop image files in that area as well, to add them to your video.

By this point you should have the structure of the video all laid out, so the next step is to start giving it a bit of polish and jazzing it up. There are a lot of ways in which you can do that with Movavi Video Editor, but a good place to start is by adding some background music by clicking on ‘Add Media Files’ and selecting the song you want to use.

Adding Transitions
Another way to make your video stand out is to place transitions between some (or all) of the pictures. In Movavi Video Editor you can either open the ‘Transitions’ tab and drag and drop specific transitions between pictures, or you could click on the ‘Transition Wizard’ icon above the ‘Timeline’ to add them to all your pictures.

On top of all that Movavi Video Editor’s features will let you apply filters and special effects to your video, transform the frame and orientation, enhance the pictures, or add creative captions to it. Simply put you’ll have no shortage of ways in which to make your video look truly impressive.

As you can see using Movavi Video Editor as a picture video maker is easy and straightforward. At the same time it will place numerous powerful features at your disposal and give you a lot of options to customize your video and make it look and feel exactly the way that you want it to.

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Nokia 2.1 Review, Quick Specs and Price

The Nokia 2.1 is the 2018 version of the Nokia 2, one of the new Android smartphones launched by HMD Global in the last year. The Nokia 2.1 was launched alongside the Nokia 3.1 and Nokia 5.1, also refreshes of the Nokia lineup in 2017.

Some of the specifications are similar to those of the Nokia 2, but there are upgrades in some departments, especially in the hardware. The phone comes with a bigger display and a more powerful processor, and everything is topped with the latest software and promises of an update to the next version of Android.

Nokia 2.1 Review

Design & Display

The Nokia 2.1 comes with a 5.5-inch display which has an HD (720 * 1,280) pixel resolution and anti-fingerprint coating. This is an upgrade from the 5-inch display present on the Nokia 2, although it appears that the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection has been sacrificed in the process.

In terms of design, the Nokia 2.1 looks pretty much like its predecessor. It has a polycarbonate back with a metallic frame, but the speaker count has been increased to two, both front-facing. The phone is still lacking a fingerprint sensor.

Storage & Performance

The Nokia 2.1 is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 Mobile Platform processor with a clock speed of 1.4GHz and an Adreno 308 GPU handling its graphics. The RAM size remains 1GB, and there's still 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD.

Battery & Camera

Not much has changed in these sections; the smartphone sports an 8MP camera with autofocus and a LED flash on the rear, while a 5MP camera handles selfie photography at the front.

The Nokia 2.1 packs a 4,000mAh battery, which is a little downgrade from the 4,100mAh unit powering the Nokia 2. There's no sign of fast-charging yet, though.

Connectivity & Software

The Nokia 2.1 comes with a dual SIM slot and supports 4G VoLTE network connectivity. It runs on Android 8.1 Oreo (Android Go edition) out of the box and will be upgraded to Android P (Android 9.0) when the final build is released by Google later this year.

Nokia 2.1 Specs

• 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with HD (720 * 1280) pixel resolution & anti-fingerprint coating.
• Dimensions - 153.6 * 77.6 * 9.67 mm.
• Weight - 174 grammes.
• 1.4GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 Mobile Platform Processor.
• Adreno 308 GPU.
• 1GB RAM.
• 8GB Internal Memory, expandable up to 128GB via microSD.
• 8MP Rear Camera with Autofocus and LED Flash.
• 5MP Front Camera.
• Dual SIM Slot.
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE.
• 4,000mAh battery.
• Android 8.1 Oreo (Android Go), upgradeable to Android P.

Nokia 2.1 Price and Availability

The Nokia 2.1 comes in Blue with Copper, Blue with Silver and Grey with Silver colour options and will be made available for around $115 (N42,000) in July 2018.` 

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Google Assistant Screen Search not working? Here's a fix

Here's A Quick Fix to Google Assistant Screen Search not working - Google Assistant has many uses related to searching for and finding out information, one of which is to find things on the internet related to what is currently displayed on your phone screen. This feature, called Google Assistant Screen Search, was first introduced as Now on Tap in the days of Google Now. The feature hasn't been working properly of recent, with many users (including me) getting a Nothing found on screen result. In this article, I'll show you how to use the Google Assistant Screen Search despite this bug using a workaround.

To use the Google Assistant Screen Search feature, you have to start Google Assistant (by long-pressing your phone's home button or manually launching the application) and tapping the What's on my screen? button. However, when I tap the button immediately after launching Google Assistant, I get the following result:

This is not a one-time glitch. It happens over and over again and is probably a bug in the latest update to the Assistant app. There's currently no fix for it, but there's a workaround, and it's not by clearing the cache and data for your Google app, uninstalling and reinstalling the Assistant application, or installing the beta version of the app. It takes a simple thing: patience.

When you launch Assistant, wait for around 3 seconds before tapping the What's on my screen button. If this doesn't work for you, wait until the four dots at the bottom of the screen turn into a microphone before tapping the phone, and the feature should work properly.

We hope Google will fix this soon in an update to the Assistant application. Till then, you're welcome.

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How to Send message to Contacts on WhatsApp without saving their number

Looking for a way to send message(s) to a phone number without having it saved as contact in your WhatsApp? Here's how, works for both Android and iOS devices.

From inception till now, WhatsApp has been a peer-to-peer messaging platform, which means that you have to personally know someone, or at least have their primary phone contact before you can message them. In fact, you have to save the contact of the individual you wish to message via WhatsApp on your phone, with or without a name...or do you?

In this article, I'll show you how to send messages to a contact on WhatsApp without saving their number.

Without much ado, there are two ways to send messages to an unsaved phone number on WhatsApp, and one is easier than the other (takes fewer steps). These are explained below:

Method 1

Unsaved number with one or more groups in common

If the contact you want to send a message to without saving is on the same WhatsApp group chat with you, you can message them easily. Simply open the WhatsApp group, find any message sent by that contact to the group, and click on the contact's number displayed on top of the message.

In the menu that appears, select Message [contact's number] and a new chat will be opened for you and that contact. You can then proceed to send messages to the contact without saving their phone number.

Another way you can do this, if you can't readily find a message sent by the contact to the group (or don't want to), is to open the group info page (from the overflow menu or by clicking the group name at the top of the group chat) and scroll through the list of members until you find the particular contact's number.

Then click on the number and select Message [contact's number] and a new chat will be opened for you and the contact.

Method 2

WhatsApp Click to Chat

WhatsApp has a feature called Click to Chat with which you can send messages to numbers not saved in your phone's address book directly. To do this, you'll need to create a special URL with the contact's phone number in international format. When the URL is clicked or visited in a web browser, a new chat will be opened between you and the contact on WhatsApp (on your phone or on WhatsApp Web).

To create the special link, add the contact's phone number at the end of this link https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=. To get the international format of a phone number, remove the 0 at the beginning and add the country code without the + (and the leading zeros if the country code starts with zeros).

For example,

If the phone number is 08012345678 and the country code is +234, the international format for WhatsApp Click to Chat will be 2348012345678 and the link will be https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=2348012345678.

Again, if the phone number is +001-(555)1234567, the link will be https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567.

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