5 lessons to learn from Salesforce about making business changes

August 31st, 2015

Salesforce.com is one of the biggest businesses in the world. When it comes to IT solutions, this presents one of those companies that will always be at the top of the list. The company has been around for a very long time now. However, it has not always been as successful as today. The quality of its work saw a serious development in 2006. This is when it changed dramatically to different and outcome-focused, customer-driven management practices that were more responsive. In the software development circles, it is known as Scrum or Agile. Many are the businesses that adopted these new practices as well but few had as spectacular results as Salesforce.com.

 

business

It is speculated that more than 70% of Agile or Scrum implementations fail to achieve their projected benefits. What is it that Salesforce.com did that these other businesses or failed to do that led to their failure?

Five things Salesforce.com did not do:

  1. Skimping on training and coaching

This comes in at the top of the list. Trainings and coaching sessions tend to be quite costly and therefore many businesses will skimp of them to cut costs. However, when the future of an organization relies heavily on success skimping on training will be detrimental to the growth of the business. It is also a very counterproductive form of saving on money. Salesforce.com placed a lot of emphasis on the training and coaching. It sent a large team of people primarily comprised of functional and program managers for training. It also bought training books for all staff members.

  1. Keeping management decisions a secret

Openness is important and that is what Salesforce.com has always been about. This is not something that is common to all businesses as they want to keep the decisions of the management to themselves. This is very unhealthy for the growth of the business. The company wants to make some change to the Saleforce metadata API?They will make sure that everyone in the company is aware of this change. It is important for the people working in a business always to stay up to date with goings-on in a business.

  1. Apply foreign methodologies rigidly

It is one thing to learn something and another totally different thing to ape it. When you apply rigidly methodology that has been conceived somewhere else to your business, then you will have serious problems. You need to be flexible with things that you adopt from another place. Improving on them by making a few changes will make them more suitable for the immediate needs of your business.

  1. Introducing changes like any other business process

In as much as change is always constant, every change that you make to a business should be ideal for the running of the business. This is easier said than done. Salesforce.com understood that adopting Scrum would not only involve adopting new business processes but also transform the management of work in the business. Introduction of such changes like any other business process would most probably cause some kind of shock and disorientation.

  1. Committed right from the start

Salesforce.com did not take up the traditional ‘wait and see’ method of implementing change. Most companies will do this, if the change works out they will adopt it. The leadership at Salesforce.com made it clear that they were committed to making sure that change worked out. Few companies are willing to do this.

Bio

Daniel Wellington is an IT consultant with years of experience in executive IT management. He also has experience with the Salesforce metadata API, which he writes about on his blog.

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Posted in Guest Post, small business, Tips & Tricks | 2 Comments »

Jiji The Number One Nigerian Online Marketplace For Real People

August 28th, 2015

Everyone has a need. But our needs varies. Someone desires to buy while another desire to sell. When the buyer and seller are giving a comfortable platform to meet without much ado, they both go away smiling. The market place is the common place that buyers go to meet with seller. Back in the days, the market place has to be physical. But in this information age, distance is no barrier. The team behind Jiji understand this too well, and has put together a beautiful platform for the Nigerian teeming populace to conduct their transactions without hassles. Introducing Jiji the #1 Nigerian Online Marketplace for Real People.

Jiji.ng

Jiji

Jiji is your Number One Nigerian Online Marketplace For Real People

Catering for buyers and sellers  with different needs

For example, while the household head may want to buy a machine for his work, the lady of the home desire may be to change the furniture while their growing teenager wants a phone or tablet. It is always a good thing when every member of the household can visit a one stop market to get their needs met with high quality products being offered by assorted sellers. That’s where Jiji.ng comes in. Jiji is your number one Nigerian Online Marketplace for real people. Why bother visiting a store physically, when you can buy from the comfort of your home or office. There are many online stores, but Jiji excels where many fail. The products on Jiji, whether new or used are affordable and highly competitive in pricing. Since Jiji.ng is a meeting point for buyers and sellers, with the middlemen completely cut-off, you can be rest assured that you will get a good bargain whether you are buying or selling your products or services.

Jiji Provides Free classifieds for Nigerians

nigerian_map

On this resource every citizen of the country can sell or buy anything they need. Jiji is all about buying and selling to real people! The site presently provide over  142,971 ads and is still growing. You sure can get great deals at affordable pricing.

The process is quite simple

  1. A seller post Ad for product or service for FREE.
  2. The seller gets calls from real buyers.
  3. The seller choose the best one and the transaction is conducted.

The site’s interface is user friendly.

The team at Jiji understands that teenagers and youth are more comfortable with conducting transactions on the Internet. That is why extra effort has been put into ensuring that the older ones won’t need to go back to school before they can effectively use the tools and resources provided on the platform. Jiji.ng has a simple interface. All the necessary buttons and links are on the main page. You can conduct your transaction in less than 5 minutes once you register.

Items are in Categories.

For convenience, all products are organized into categories for example:

  • computers, tablets, and laptops;
  • cars, mopeds and motorcycles;
  • smartphones and mobile phones;
  • furniture and more.

jiji_categories

Also, a filter feature is provided to help you streamline your search. You can specify that you need a product that meets certain criteria. For example, you can easily specify that only new things or used things should be returned by your search.

Products and Services are listed

The site is not limited to physical products alone. You can look for diver kinds of services. The site can help you find a job or recruit an employee. Both employees and employers are welcome to use the site. You can call a plumber, carpenter, or gasman. To appreciate fully the features and benefits provide click the link and visit JiJi.ng! A pleasant surprise awaits you.

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Posted in Guest Post, Nigerian | 3 Comments »

Key Facts Signifying: Whether You Should Add a Sidebar In Your Blog

August 21st, 2015

When it comes to creating a blog, there are several aspects that we need to consider, ranging from design to content. But, what you might not understand is making the correct use of the sidebar. In fact, chances are that you might not have even given a though to adding a sidebar in your blog. Let’s have a brief overview of what a sidebar actually is.

Sidebar: An Overview

The sidebar has been with us since the time of blogging was introduced. In the blogging landscape or blogosphere (ideally when using WordPress web development), a sidebar is just an area or a space that comes next to your content, so as to help readers pick some content and/or navigate throughout your blog.

A sidebar contains most recent/popular posts, social media links, email sign-up form and much more. No doubt, this information (added in the sidebar) is important in terms of navigation, but it doesn’t add any value to each of your blog post.

Drawing Out Conclusions: Do you Need a Sidebar or Not?

Not to mention, people come to your blog to read the content posted on it. Besides this, your readers may ask questions regarding your blog, by posting comments. And, if they like your content they may even share it on social media networks. For the sharing purpose, you can place social buttons on each of your blog post.

Probably by now, you may be wondering what is the purpose of having a sidebar on your blog? You might even wonder if you actually need one? Let’s have a look at things that can be placed in the sidebar:

1. Ad banner/Promotion

Well, you can use a sidebar to run 3rd party promotions. For example, Forbes run advertisements in the sidebar displayed on the right side of its web page (as shown in the image below):

1. Ad banner-Promotion

 

 

2. Author Bio, Social Media Buttons and Email Sign-Up Form

You can even use the sidebar to highlight something – that encourages visitors to take some action. For instance, you can add your “author bio” in the sidebar to connect with more readers. This is appropriate for bloggers running longer posts. It’s pretty obvious that most of the users won’t read the complete posts if they’re long. But, by displaying the author bio at the top in the sidebar can get you instantly noticed by your readers. This will eventually help in building a loyal customer base.

Furthermore, you can place your social links in the sidebar or email sign-up. This, in turn, helps in getting repeated traffic. Well, the more people will like your content, the more they’ll share your content via social links, which means more traffic.

2. Author Bio, Social Media Buttons and Email Sign-Up Form

Are you still not convinced whether adding email or social media profiles will prove effective or not? Then, you’ll be surprised to know that Quick Sprout (a popular marketing blog run by Neil Patel) received 145,971 visitors in just 30 days, from email included in the sidebar.

3. Reviews/Testimonials

This is something that business bloggers can consider: to be added in their blog sidebar. Of course, reviews or testimonials can be posted on personal blogs as well. But, people will most likely prefer reading testimonials posted regarding any business, product and/or service.

If you want to build trust among your users in relation to your products and services, then posting your client reviews and testimonials can make a huge difference between the success and failure of: being able to convert a lead into a potential customer. And when added to a personal blog, reviews or testimonials can help in converting your reader into a subscriber.

However, make sure to position your reviews/testimonials prominently on the sidebar of your blog, as follows:

3. Reviews-Testimonials

4. Recent/Latest Posts

Chances are that the main page of your blog might contain the most visited pages – somewhere at the bottom of the blog. In fact, there’s a possibility that your blog posts are displayed in a reverse-chronological list. If that’s the case, then you may lose many readers, who particularly avoid scrolling the blog page till the end, and rather want to devour information presented at the top.

For those users, you can make your recent posts available in the sidebar on the homepage of your blog (not to mention, in the sidebar). In case, you don’t have a sidebar available in your theme, you can hire WordPress development services to have one.

Note: It would be better if you’ll include the recent posts in the sidebar section only if required.

4. Recent-Latest Posts

5. Categories

Finally, you can add categories in the sidebar. It is one of the necessary items of a blog that help group some of your best work (i.e. blog posts) separated by a topic along with an excerpt. Also, they can help in increasing user engagement rate of your blog.

It won’t make sense to show categories somewhere in the middle or at the bottom of your blog page. But then again, content is what you need to present (first) to your visitors. After all, they’re visiting your blog with the purpose to read what all you have to offer. And so, sidebar proves a viable means to display all the categories just next to your content.

So, Do You Really Need a Sidebar?

All of the above discussed key points shows that you can achieve success via your blog, even without a sidebar. However, to make that happen, it is important that you’re able to convey your message in the right manner via your blog.

What’s more?

Despite of the fact that sidebar needs to be included in your blog, it is not necessary to place it each page of your blog. Since having a sidebar on each page can distract your readers. Instead, you can keep it on the homepage and put things (as discussed above) to drive traffic and increase conversions.

Where You Should Place Your Sidebar: Left or Right?

Ok, so now, you would have probably come to know when and where adding a sidebar in your blog page can help you. But, the question that remains is: where you should place your sidebar on the left or the right?

According to the research conducted by “small SEO tools”, it has been observed that most of the bloggers prefer having a sidebar on the right, as it looks visually better. On the other hand, placing sidebar on the left is believed to boost conversion rate. Below are a few key considerations that will help you take an informed decision.

Putting Your Sidebar At Left: Enable users to emphasize on the content rather than navigation. That’s because, many usability studies show that people tend to look at websites in “F-Shaped Pattern”. According to this, in case the sidebar is kept on the left, then what your readers will view in the middle of your blog page will actually be the beginning of its headline, sub-headings, etc.

Putting Your Sidebar At Left

Moreover, Neil Patel while presenting his views on use of the sidebar in the blog also said that: placing a sidebar in Quick Sprout on the left side resulted in 9% bounce rate in terms of users’ reading the blog posts. In contrary, the blog observed an increase in the number of email opt-ins added to the sidebar by 13%.

Also, if you tend to make navigation more prominent to users, you should consider placing it in the sidebar area of your blog.

Putting Your Sidebar At Right: But, if you’re creating a blog with the purpose to educate people, you would certainly have more concern towards increasing the interest of people reading your blog. And this means, you should consider placing your sidebar on the right side of the blog.

In addition, since search engine crawlers would be able to see your content first prior to navigation, you’ll can expect better placement in search engines.

What’s the result?

It is recommended that even though placing the sidebar on the right hand side leads to fewer conversions, it would be better to choose this option. That’s because, people are landing upon your blog to obtain information and to read. And thus, your main objective should be to make your blog content easily accessible to viewers.

Note: If you still want to know how to choose whether to add a sidebar on the left or right side, then you can create two versions of your blog page: one having sidebar on the left and another with a sidebar on the right. And then, perform split tests to see the result which includes information about conversion, bounce rate and so on.

Wrapping Up

In case, you’re not having a sidebar in your blog, then you should definitely consider including one without much ado. Although, it may not add value to individual pages of your blog, but offers several other benefits as discussed in this post.

If you already have a sidebar on the blog, the next thing to consider is placing it on the right side of the blog page containing elements such as author bio and email sign-up forms. Also remember that in case you own a corporate blog, then rather than bio, it would be better to include an excerpt about your brand in the sidebar.

And if your goal is to maximize conversion rate, then you must get rid of the sidebar from all the pages of your blog.

Author Bio :

Sophia Phillips has been a professional HTML to WordPress theme conversion expert since many years from now. She has a remarkable expertise in converting the markup of simple and complex HTML websites into WordPress. If you too are thinking about switching to a new markup for your existing site, then do get in touch with Sophia via her account.

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Posted in Blogging, Guest Post, Tips & Tricks, Wordpress | 2 Comments »

8 Rules That Will Help You Create a Successful Business

August 16th, 2015

More and more college graduates are opting to cope with the uncertainty of the job market by launching directly into business after graduation. Most people in employment are also opting for a side business to provide extra security should they lose their job or should they have to contend with a salary cut.

The threat of losing one’s job, or even becoming indigent, was bona fide by the 2008/09 financial crisis, as many people lost their homes and other property following the collapse of banks and companies from different industries.

Emerging world trends are also beginning to render most job posts irrelevant. For instance, most companies are fast becoming reliant on the internet for selling and marketing. This threatens the position of employees in sales and marketing positions. The same thing applies to software design jobs, where most companies are beginning to crowd source their ideas, thereby needing their software designers less and less.

With such trends, even those who still hold jobs find themselves in underpaid positions or find that their wages have stagnated. What’s more, the cost of living is not adjusting downwards to cater for these changes in the work environment, hence people have to work more to get more money to feed their families and maintain the standard of lives that they are used to.

Whatever your age, motivations for going into business, or the line of business you want to go into, your rate of success will be shaped by the same factors. Whether you are opening a physical store or an online business, there are some rules that apply in all lines of business and these rules create success.

Business Success

  1. Define what motivates you

Most people find motivation when they are at the lowest point in their lives. In every economic recession, there are those around you who usually seem to emerge unscathed. Most of these individuals tend to be very successful entrepreneurs, who have experienced firsthand what it feels like to be on their last dollar and have vowed to themselves never to go through the same experience again.

You too could find motivation from similar situations. If you have a family, the thought of what could happen if you are laid off could spur you into action. If you don’t have an additional source of income, it could mean that you might have to lose your home and have your family live on the street or in the basement of your parents’ house.

To prevent such a scenario, investing your time and money in creating additional income sources should become a priority for you.

  1. Go into a line you are interested in

Starting a business in a line of work that you understand is one way to guarantee success. This is simply because you understand the inner workings of your industry and are less likely to make mistakes.

Starting a business in another industry could mean having to upgrade your credentials by getting some form of education. This will cost you money and time. Not to mention, your full time job is already time consuming and draining, therefore having to switch your mind to a different line of work will require a lot of mental effort.

  1. Live within your means

If you like spending, you will have a hard time building a successful business. You will find that the less you spend, the more money you will have to inject back into your business to make it grow.

Avoid getting loans to buy things which will not make you money. Also, if you can, get rid of credit cards.  Once you succeed, you will afford any car you want and you can get credit cards.

  1. Surround yourself with the right people

You can learn a lot from the people you surround yourself with. Social media platforms serve as a meeting place for people, where plans are made and ideas are shared. If you have the right people in your network, you will find solutions to most of your problems from them.

Technology designers or application developers, for instance, help each other to develop useful applications without stealing each other’s ideas or competing with each other. Participants in such projects see this as an opportunity to learn new things.

  1. Learn to promote your brand

The only way others will know what you are up to is if you aggressively promote your brand. You have to develop a maximum of three key selling points for your products or services, then market them based on those selling points. Your marketing efforts have to be convincing enough to make people want to buy.

  1. Learn to manage your time

If you are poor at managing time, you will find it extremely challenging to juggle your full time job and a side business.

You can find a few hours a day to build your business by waking up early in the morning. If this is not possible, you can dedicate your weekends towards your business.

  1. Learn to take setbacks in stride

Any business will have set backs. You might find that your sales are not coming in as you expected or that customers are giving negative reviews to your product.

Instead of giving up, such challenges should motivate you to find solutions.

  1. It shouldn’t be all about the money

Money is good because in an economy that is driven by money, it gives you the ability to afford things. However, don’t go into business just to make money.

A sense of accomplishment and satisfaction are equally, if not more, important as money. Knowing that you created a product or are providing a service that people would pay money to use is indeed a big achievement and should not be ignored.

If you take the above into consideration when building your own business, you will not only become financially secure, but you will also build a business that is relevant to people’s lives. More so, if you are persistent in your efforts, your business could succeed to become your full time job.

About the author

Noella Tesi started a successful business after getting out of debt. Her past experiences in debt give her motivation for succeeding financially. Read on for more.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Financial Intelligence, Guest Post, small business, Tips & Tricks | 9 Comments »

14 Simple Pointers You Can’t Ignore While Choosing A WordPress Theme

August 14th, 2015

The wonderful flexibility of choosing from tons and tons of WordPress themes often makes it quite tedious to settle down for the right one. In the wake of getting their WordPress blog/site up and running in no time, a majority of webmasters tends to resort to inefficient and low-quality WordPress themes that end up causing irreparable harm to their online presence. Hence, it is better to stay informed about all the exquisite things that need to be considered for curbing the uncertainty associated with choosing the best suited WordPress theme.

In today’s post, you’ll get to know about 14 most crucial pointers that need to be paid special attention to, during the selection process for WordPress free or paid themes. So, let’s take a closer look at the things you need to keep in mind while hand-picking the perfect theme among a huge collection of WordPress themes.

Wordpress Theme

  1. Analyze the type of website that you’re intending to build

Never get seduced by the stunning designs of WordPress themes, rather, be clear on the type of website that you’re planning to create. For instance, if you’re about to build an e-commerce website, choosing e-commerce related WordPress themes will prove beneficial. On the contrary, you may also opt for the multi-purpose WordPress themes that allow you to showcase any type of business with any target audience.

  1. Check whether the theme you’ve shortlisted for your website is accompanied by an easy setup

A WordPress theme that takes long hours or even multiple days to setup should never be chosen, irrespective of whether it comes to you for free or for a small fee. Hence, prior to choosing a WordPress theme, it is recommended to check whether the same comes with an easy setup or not. Possible ways to finding the complexity of theme setup is by noticing the things below:

  • Whether or not the WordPress theme seller is offering any setup documentation?
  • Whether your website content matches with the one displayed in the theme’s demo?
  • Whether the theme seller is inclined on offering any open support forum?

Theme Design

  1. Check out whether the WordPress theme is enriched with Third-party plugin support and compatibility

The more compatible a theme is with a plugin, the better it is for the overall speed and performance of a WordPress powered blog/website. Hence, while picking a theme for your WP blog/site, don’t forget to check for the third-party support and compatibility feature. Some of the most popular plugins that your theme should be compatible with, include BuddyPress, WPML and bbPress.

  1. Check the level of customization available with the WordPress theme

The capability of changing the look and feel of a theme is simply unbeatable. With the huge crowd of free and premium WordPress themes, it is imperative for you to choose the one that can be customized with utmost ease and flexibility. While some WordPress themes come with a default customizer, allowing webmasters to change the visual appearance and functionality of the theme; there are other WP themes which expect the webmasters to rely on PHP and CSS code for tweaking the way the theme looks and works.

  1. Simplicity is the word for an ‘Outstanding’ WordPress theme

The web market is flooded with free WordPress themes that comprise of complex features. Though such themes might look truly stunning in their display, they might not turn to be the best asset for your WordPress site. Hence, I suggest you to stay away from the fancy world, rather go ahead with choosing a WordPress theme with simple design. Easy modification and cross-browser compatibility are two of the best known advantages of using a simple WordPress theme.

  1. Ensure that the theme you choose for your WordPress portal is mobile-friendly

Mobile Friendly Theme

If a majority of reports are to be believed, about 30% of all website visits are being received from mobiles, tablets and other hand-held devices. Considering this, you can’t do away with the utmost urgency of installing a fully responsive theme onto your WordPress website/blog. Fortunately, a huge collection of WordPress themes available in the web market is mobile-friendly by default, but it is always better to check with the vendor whether the one you’re shortlisting is 100% responsive.

Check for a clean and intuitive navigation in the WordPress theme

Despite the amount of time, money and effort that you put into making your website beautiful and feature-rich, a poor navigation can easily make your layout look cluttered, keeping the visitors annoyed. Hence, in order to refrain visitors from leaving your website/blog, it is recommended to choose a theme that has an intuitive navigation system, allowing visitors to navigate through different sections of the website.

  1. Check whether the theme is accompanied by a Pre or Post-Sales Support

During the process of shortlisting a suitable theme for your WordPress blog/site, it is advised to spend some time on identifying the pre and post-sales support that is available with the respective theme. For instance, there is a good count of WordPress stores and marketplaces which render open access to their customer communication areas and support forums. Additionally, you may choose to get in touch with the theme’s support team via telephone, email etc.

  1. Check whether security and compatibility patches would or wouldn’t be released for the WordPress theme

During the process of shortlisting a WordPress theme for your website/blog, it is better to pick up the one for which you’re sure enough that the security and compatibility fixes would be released without a fail. For instance, after six months of using the WordPress theme, you must be confident about receiving a reply regarding your specific queries. All in all, it is better to choose a themes company that has been into the business of designing and delivering bug-free WordPress themes backed by a strong support team.

  1. Check whether the theme comes with social media integration feature

Today, it is quite unusual to find a user who doesn’t have an account on any of the popular social media platforms. Hence, if you are running a WordPress powered blog or website, you might be interested in attracting users to comment/share or like the posts that have been published on your portal. It is a cool and trendy WordPress theme (equipped with social media integration feature) that allows you to make the most of your social media presence via enhancement in total page views.

  1. Unique designs make for a perfect WordPress theme

As the WordPress webmaster, your intention to stand apart from your competitors can meet its end if you opt for a theme with 100% unique design. The web market has a good suite of WordPress themes which are an accurate replica of other popular themes. You should stay away from such themes and instead choose the ones which are completely interactive and loaded with several features like tons of page builder shortcode modules, free fonts, layouts and a lot more. Check out whether the theme that you’re about to settle down for has a perfect blend of contemporary web design trends like full-width visuals, grids, ghost buttons, slow load effect etc.

  1. Get to know about the Terms of Service associated with the WordPress theme that you’re planning to choose

Irrespective of whether you’re excited about choosing a free or a premium WordPress theme, a timely knowledge about the Terms of Service related to the theme is greatly befitting. For example, there are several free WordPress themes which expect multiple backlinks. You must avoid installing such themes and instead opt for a different free theme which doesn’t come with too many backlinks. Moreover, do check out the Terms of Service laid down with the theme. Doing this will act as a guarantee that the hardwork of the theme designer is being appreciated and that the theme won’t lose its credibility in any way. Browse through the free-to-download WordPress themes available in the WordPress’ Official Themes Directory. Here, you’ll find a wide array of good themes that come with simple terms of service.

  1. Look for a WordPress theme that’s loaded with shortcodes

Shortcodes serve as the right means of attaching media data to your WordPress posts and pages. Hence, get on with looking for a theme that comes with shortcodes out-of-the-box, allowing you to embed audio, tabs, video, grids, lists and Google Maps into your WordPress website.

  1. A WordPress theme that relies on the Cherry framework shouldn’t be missed

Launched by TemplateMonster, Cherry framework has served as the parent framework for a whopping 900+ child themes. Equipped with multiple shortcodes, widgets and Bootstrap options, Cherry framework has an admin panel that resembles the traditional WordPress admin interface. That means, even a non tech-savvy individual can quickly set up a WordPress website/blog within minutes. WordPress themes that rely on the Cheery framework are by default loaded with stunning WordPress features like XML Sitemap generation, custom post creation, easy import/export data procedures, SEO optimization and many more.

Final Thoughts

The kind of theme that you install on your WordPress site/blog will determine the fate of your online presence. Hence, take my words and pay heed to each of the above mentioned pointers to get hold of the WordPress theme that looks awesome and allows you to achieve your kind of web-based portal.

Author Bio: My name is Andrey. I am a web developer in CMS Web Development Company. I am fond of finding simple solutions to complex problems. If you loved the topic, do share and comment. Also, you can follow me on Twitter for more updates.

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Posted in Blogging, Wordpress | No Comments »

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