Question 1

What are the benefits of Twitter Search & Hashtags?

Accepted Answer

This video uses a metaphor of “Twitterville” to illustrate the opportunities to use the Twitter Search feature to find people and information, read news and discover emerging information. It teaches how Twitter Search:

Helps businesses listen to customer feedback
Creates a real-time news source
Makes trending topics visible
Connects related information with hashtags

Video Transcript:

Let's get started by visiting Twitterville. This town represents all the people using Twitter. There are millions of them and they're constantly talking to each other and sharing information 140 characters at a time. The typical townsperson only sees part of the messages, or "tweets" and that's fine - there are way too many to follow them all.

But if all the tweets could be captured and organized all the time, amazing things could be possible. The town would have a resource for knowing what's interesting and who's talking about it. This is what Twitter Search has done for Twitter - it captures and organizes every tweet so that it's possible to find people and specific information in real time.

For instance, meet Roy of Ice Cream by Roy. Other than the people who come to his store, he could never hear what customers said about his ice cream. However, because everyone in the town uses twitter, he can now search for "Ice Cream By Roy" and see tweets from people who mention his product. Then, he can reply to say thanks or follow their future updates. Twitter search helps Roy listen to customers and make the flavors they want.

It's also a great way to learn about news. When an explosion is heard outside of town, the townspeople report it in real time. This means that Roy can check Twitter search to find a constant stream of information, sometimes from the very people who experienced it. He can even limit the results to tweets near a specific location. It's news as it happens.

Every minute of every day on Twitter, people are using some words more than others. Maybe the town has a new mayor, a concert came to town, or the same joke is being told over and over. If the most popular words could appear on a sign, a person just arriving in town could get a feel for what was interesting to the residents at the moment.

On Twitter, the most used words are known as trends and they're a great way to see what's interesting on Twitter. You can always find up to the minute trends on your Twitter profile, or search.twitter.com. Clicking a trending topic shows the most recent tweets that include that word or phrase.

Sometimes, Twitter members work together and use a specific key word, called a hash tag, to connect related tweets. For example, people talking about elections may use the hashtag #vote to create the connection. The way, by including the #vote tag, Roy can make sure his tweet is part of the discussion.

If enough people use the tag, it may become a trend, attracting even more people to the conversation.

Of course tracking these conversations is easy because Roy can search right on his Twitter profile. And if he wants to see results over time, he can save the search.

With Twitter, all the small messages are useful when shared between people, but by organizing all the tweets and making them searchable, we can learn what's on the minds of millions.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 2

Why is Twitter Popular?

Accepted Answer

This video introduces the Twitter service. It focuses on Twitter's ability to connect people in new ways, using short messages and includes:

Why answers to the question "what are you doing" are interesting
The mechanics of Twitter - signing up, sharing and reading messages
How a skeptical person fell in love with Twitter

Video Transcript:

So, what are you doing? It's one of the first questions we often ask friends and family. Even if the answer is just mowing the lawn or cooking dinner, it's interesting to us. It makes us feel connected and a part of each other's lives.

Unfortunately, most of our day-to-day lives are hidden from people that care. Booooo! Of course, we have email and blogs and phones to keep us connected, but you wouldn't send an email to tell a friend you're having coffee - your friend doesn't need to know that.

Thanks to Twitter, it's possible to share short, bite-sized updates about your life and follow the updates of people that matter to you via the web. Yaay! Here's how it works.

Meet Carla. She's addicted to her mobile phone, reads blogs every day and has contacts all over the world.

She heard about Twitter and was skeptical - she's already overloaded with information. After some of her friends couldn't stop talking about it, she gave it a try.

She signed up for free and saw that Twitter pages look a little like blogs with very short posts. Each page is personal and has updates from friends.

She got started by looking up her friends on Twitter.com. After finding a few, she clicked "follow" to starting seeing their updates on her Twitter page.

Within hours, she began to see a different side of people she chose to follow. She didn't know that Steven in Seattle was a baseball fan, or that Julia in London was reading a new investment book. The little messages from Twitter painted a picture of her friends, family and co-workers that she'd never seen before - it was the real world.

Soon she became a fan of Twitter and posted updates every day. Her friends followed her updates and learned that she recently discovered a passion for Van Halen. They could see Carla's life between blog posts and emails.

For Carla, Twitter worked because it was simple. The updates were always short - under 140 characters each. Plus, she could post updates and follow her friends using the Twitter website, software on her browser, a mobile phone or instant messages. She wasn't tied to one device.

By asking members to answer the question "what are you doing?" Carla found that Twitter brought her closer to people that matter to her - 140 characters at a time.

Find out what your friends are doing at Twitter.com.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 3

What is affiliate marketing?

Accepted Answer

Affiliate marketing can help individuals earn a living by promoting products and services they love online. But how the system works is complicated and comes with important best practices. It teaches:

Why affiliate marketing is like word-of-mouth marketing
How affiliate programs provide links and graphics to affiliates
How affiliate links and graphics are used in promotions
How revenue is shared when a website visitor buys from an affiliate link
Why it is important to disclose affiliate program participation

Video Transcript:

Companies always need ways to reach new customers. Some may buy expensive TV commercials, pay to have ads on websites or even hire someone to dance at intersections.

But many companies know that nothing beats a friend telling another friend about a product they love.

It’s this kind of person-to-person connection that helped a new marketing idea become popular. It’s called affiliate marketing.

Meet Shauna, who has a popular blog about books. Among her friends and fans, she is known for great book advice and has started looking for a way to earn money for all the time she spends on the site.

Recently she learned that her favorite online bookseller offers an affiliate program. By becoming an affiliate, she could earn money by promoting books on her site. Here’s how it works.

Once Shauna joins the program, she gets special links, or even graphics, to use whenever she writes about books online. These links are unique to her as an affiliate. If one of her readers buys the book using the affiliate link, Shauna earns a percentage of the purchase price.

Over time, these small payments can add up and she can earn money by simply writing about and linking-to her favorite books.

Before using affiliate links, she did research and learned about best practices. Her fans love her website because she’s honest and authentic. They trust her advice. Because she earns money from their purchases, she has the responsibility to be clear about her participation in the program. This could mean adding a disclosure to her site or labeling affiliate links differently. Her fans don’t mind - they just want to know.

Affiliate programs are popular because they give businesses a way to reach potential customers, through people like Shauna. And when an affiliate helps someone discover something new, they can earn a little money that helps support their passion.

This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai as a free resource to help beginners understand the online world.

Eran is the founder of Dot Com Truths, a membership that helps entrepreneurs solve every day problems without the marketing hype or high ticket prices.

Eran lives off passive income thanks to affiliate marketing, his membership and freelance business where helps course creators and membership site owners with their software and technology challenges through 1:1 done-with-you services and information products.

Eran has a free Facebook group you can join. By answering the questions upon entry, you'll be given automatic access and an email with a free mini-course on how to start an online business. (keep an eye out for an email within the hour or requesting to join the Facebook group).

Question 4

What is the relation between Social Media and the Workplace?

Accepted Answer

To most organizations, social media represents a new and different style of communication. Navigating this new social landscape can be a challenge. This video explains how the world of communication has changed and how organizations can adopt new practices that account for social media. It teaches:

Why social media is making organizations rethink external communication
How one company confronts a crisis - and learns how social media can help
Why empowering employees to participate can be a smart strategy
How policies and guidelines in social media participation can help

Video Transcript:

These days people have new powers. Not that kind. I mean on the Web. We can create websites and post messages to the world with the click of a button. Blogs, social networking sites and Twitter - all make it easy. But this power comes with new responsibilities, especially when it comes to the workplace.

Organizations often monitor what is said about them in the media and control every message that comes from the company. But these days blogs and social networking sites mean that companies can't keep up - the media has become social. New ways to understand and react to what's being said online are new needed. That's why organizations are beginning to encourage employees to understand and be a part of online conversations. Consider this:

Chair Hero had made quality chairs for twenty years. Recently something happened: one of their chair models was defective and people were falling down. Soon enough, blogs, social networking sites and Twitter were all writing about their defective chairs. Within two days, they were overwhelmed.

The company started to panic. What could they do? What will work in this new world?

At first, they wrote press releases and posted information on their website. It helped a little, but they could see the conversations were happening elsewhere. They felt powerless, like they had lost control.

A potential solution to this problem requires a new way of thinking about company communication. These days, customers want more than just another press release - they want to have an honest conversation with someone from the company - often outside the company website.

To make these conversations productive and reduce the risks, companies need to have a few things in place:

Official accounts on popular social media sites
A way to monitor what's being said about them, using services like Google Alerts or Twitter Search
Guidelines that give employees clear direction

Let's look at how this works. Silas recently went through Chair Hero's training sessions on using social media. It's now a part of his job to identify and respond to people talking about the company online. Before responding to a recent blog post, Silas goes through a quick checklist:

He asks himself, Does this need a response? In this case, Yes - he can offer valuable information.

Is he the right person? Yes - He knows the facts.

So, Silas decides to get involved. Following the guidelines at his company, he introduces himself as a company representative and provides a short disclaimer. He's careful to speak in the first person and focuses on the subject and not the person. His goal is to be personable, respectful and never angry. In this case, he may just need to provide a link to clear up the issue and an offer to help in the future. Before posting it, he quickly makes sure no confidential info has been shared. The next day, Silas receives a quick "thank you", and an added benefit - his response will now be seen by others - and even appear in search results.

Silas was able to take a risky situation and turn it into an informative message - without taking the rest of the company's valuable time. He added value and built trust with customers - and that's the main role of employees using social media, whether is a crisis like a defective chair model, every day customer support or just sharing information.

The web is too wide for a company to control every communication. But a company can understand the growing influence of social media, and create an environment where employees are empowered to participate and build trust with their customers.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 5

What are the Benefits of Saving for Retirement?

Accepted Answer

This video is designed to teach the benefits of using a retirement account for financing a comfortable retirement. It teaches the basic ideas behind retirement accounts, including:

Why saving now matters in the future
How 401ks and IRAs grow over time
How these accounts are different from normal investments
The tax benefits of using a retirement account

Video Transcript:

One day, we all want to retire. After working for most of our lives, we imagine a time when we can stop working and have choice in how we spend our time. Because we're all living longer than ever before, it's going to take even more money to support our retirement. The secret to a financially secure retirement is to start saving now.

Let's meet two retirees to make our first point.

This is Simon. He and his wife worked hard to support their family and now they're retired. They're happy, but feel insecure about money. An unexpected expense could put them in debt. To help, Simon has a part time job at a hardware store. He'd prefer to be fishing or playing with his grandkids, but he doesn't have a choice.

Next, let's meet Caroline. Like Simon, she and her husband worked to support their family and now they're retired. They live a relatively carefree life. They travel, spend a lot of time with family and don't worry too much about money.

Both Simon and Caroline have a long life ahead of them, but Caroline and her husband learned early in life that saving a little bit of money over a long time can make sure they retire comfortably. This wasn't the case for Simon and his wife. They started saving too late.

To retire like Caroline, the first step is understanding how to save for retirement. The basic idea is to start saving now and save as much as possible over a long term.

To start, you'll need a place to save it. It's usually called a retirement account and two examples are 401ks and IRAs. Many employers offer a 401K program or you can open an IRA yourself. Once you have an account, you add a little bit of your income to it on a regular basis so the money you contribute over the years, plus what it earns, creates a fund that's ready to support your retirement. These accounts are meant for a lifetime of savings, so don't plan on touching it until retirement.

To get an account started, you'll work with a representative to decide on an amount that you can contribute to the account with each paycheck. This way, you don't have to think about it - your retirement account grows automatically as long as you have income. And some employers even offer to contribute to your account too. That's free retirement money that will buy a lot of maitais. And remember you have to pay tax on your income. By contributing part of your income to a retirement account, there's less income that's taxable with each paycheck.

The money in these accounts is usually invested in the stock market like a normal investment, but retirement accounts are different. Here's why.

When you invest in stocks normally, they hopefully grow in value. Each year, you have to pay taxes on the money as it grows. That's tax money that could be making you more money. Retirement accounts are designed to protect you from having to pay taxes on your money as it grows year after year. This way, your money can grow faster over the long term. Of course, you'll still have to pay taxes, but most retirement accounts make it possible to delay paying taxes until you withdraw the money. But even considering these taxes, you've been able to build a fund that will support a long and comfortable retirement.

The best thing you can do is start a retirement account as early as possible and contribute as much as you can to your account.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 6

What is Agile Methodology?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

Traditionally, software has been developed using a process called Waterfall Methodology. In recent years, a new way using Agile Methodology emerged and fundamentally changed how we think about software development and other projects. This video explains the basics of Agile Methodology. Using an analogy of two road-tripping teams, this video highlights how Agile Methodology offers the chance to reach better than expected outcomes. It teaches:

The two basic approaches to software projects: Agile and Waterfall
The role of continuous iteration and cycles of development
Why the final destination is not always known in Agile projects
How Agile projects can produce unexpected results

Video Transcript:

The dragons and the sharks are two teams who both love to develop software…and recently clients came to them independently with exactly the same needs. How they each complete these projects highlights an emerging way that software is created.

Each team sees software development as a road trip - like trying to get from the east coast to the west coast efficiently and with the best possible outcome for their clients. Right now, everyone involved expects Portland, Oregon to be the ideal place to land.

The dragons are planners. Here one group may research, test and plan every part of the trip and hand-off responsibility to other groups for putting those plans into action.

They make assumptions early in the process that defines the path forward.

The sharks, however, look at their journey a little differently. Portland looks good to them now, but they prefer to keep their options open and learn along the way.

While the dragons are still planning, the sharks get on the road as quickly as possible. Rather than handing off the driving to different teams, they take a mixed team with them throughout the trip.

They look at the trip as a series of sections or legs – and each leg informs the next. At every step, their team takes time to reflect on what they’ve learned and whether or not the route should change. This way, the next leg starts with lessons they learned from the last.

This repeated cycle means the Sharks may move more slowly than the dragons. It also means that the final destination, or what it will take to get there, isn’t always known ahead of time.

While the dragons stay focused on that address in Portland...the sharks reach the Rockies and discover that Portland may not be the best destination for their client’s goals.

Their tests and discussions show real potential in heading towards San Francisco instead. The closer they get to the coast, the more new information guides their way.

In this simple example, the sharks are using agile methodology – with frequent cycles of iteration. They understand that up-front planning is helpful, but the best outcomes come from learning from experience. They plan for change, respond to data and communicate clearly within a diverse team.

The dragons, on the other hand, use the traditional waterfall method, where upfront plans are followed throughout the project.

At the end of the trip, both the sharks and dragons reach the west coast successfully, but at different places.

Portland works for the dragons. But because their early assumptions were a little off, they nearly ran out of gas and didn’t prepare for the weather. By following the plan, client expectations were met.

But the sharks are celebrating in San Jose. Their software works and solves problems their clients didn’t know existed. They discovered a new destination that exceeded their client’s expectations.

While Waterfall methodology can be ideal for some types of projects, Agile Methodology gives software teams the chance to make their outcomes even better than expected.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 7

Is EranFunnels available in other languages?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can create your sales funnel in other languages other than English. Here is a screenshot showing exactly how to do it.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/Z4OkBENr5j/resources/O7HIbgaaIA/FAQ%20is%20EranFunnels%20in%20other%20languages%3F.png (FAQ is EranFunnels in other languages?.png)

To sign up to EranFunnels trial, click this link.

Question 8

What are Flowcharts?

Accepted Answer

Using an example of washing laundry, this video walks through the process of creating a simple flowchart and discusses why flowcharts can be useful in many other contexts. It teaches:

Why it’s important to be able to visualize a process
How processes can be understood and improved using a flowchart
Why organizations use flowcharts
How to structure a simple flowchart

Video Transcript:

To make one of these processes more efficient, we need a way to visualize it. This means laying out steps and decisions so we can truly understand how it works. With this understanding, we can improve the process or teach it to someone else.

A flowchart is a great way to draw and understand a process. The big idea is that almost any process can be drawn and analyzed using a flowchart.

Organizations large and small use flowcharts to understand and improve processes to help the them be more efficient. This could include how a product is built in a factory, how travelers move through an airport, or how a computer program is designed.

Let’s look at a simple example. Imagine it’s time to do the laundry. Your clothes need to be washed with a washing machine. We’ll use a set of standard flowchart shapes to draw this process.

Each process has a beginning, like deciding to do laundry. We’ll use an oval as our starting point. Now we need a way to connect that starting point to the next step, so we’ll use a line with an arrow. Next we’ll need to gather the clothes to be washed. This is an activity and we’ll use a rectangle for this step.

Now, we need to make a decision about the clothes with a yes or no answer. We’ll use a diamond that points to each answer. We’ll sort the clothes by asking whether the fabric is white or not.

This splits the process in two, with different activities. Clothes with colored fabric are washed with cold water and clothes with white fabric are washed with hot water.

In both cases, we take specific steps to add soap, turn on the washer and inspect the clothes when finished. With this process complete, we have another decision: are the clothes clean?

The clothes with colored fabric get a stain remover added and clothes with white fabric get bleach added.

We’ve now drawn a flowchart to visualize and understand a process. Each step and decision is represented, along with what to do when activities have different results.

By laying out each step of a process in a standard way, we can not only understand it and find ways to improve it, but help others learn and see it from a new perspective.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 9

What are the risks and realities of borrowing money.?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

This video introduces the risks and benefits of using a bank to borrow money. It tells the story of Rachel who reaches her goal of publishing an album by making smart decisions based on interest rates and timeframes. The video includes:

APRs - the fees involved in borrowing money
Basic borrowing plans
Risks of borrowing money
Avoiding penalties and late fees

Video Transcript:

Sometimes we don’t have the money we need to accomplish a goal. Borrowing money can help, but if we aren’t aware of how the system works, it can create bigger problems for us.

Among friends, borrowing money seems easy – you just pay them back. However, we sometimes need to borrow a large amount of money from a financial institution, maybe for a home, a car, or education. Understanding how these relationships work is a key to being responsible with your money.

Let’s say you need to borrow $10000 from a bank. As long as you meet their requirements, the bank is happy to loan you this money because when you pay it back, you’ll have to pay a fee. This is how the bank makes money – it’s called “interest.” When you borrow money, the interest you pay is usually a percentage of the total you borrowed. This percentage is called the “Interest Rate.” You’ll see this rate referred to as the Annual Percentage Rate or APR, which is the interest and fees you’ll pay over a year for borrowing money.

Let’s see how this works for Rachel. She’s a musician who needs to borrow $10000 to produce her new album. $10000 plus interest is a lot of money to pay back, but she doesn’t have to do it all at once. To make it more affordable, she pays it back in monthly payments. Each month, she’s paying back part of the money she borrowed plus part of the interest. It adds up over time.

This way, Rachel can see if she can afford to pay back the loan on a monthly basis. She found one loan that had a 5% APR with a 1 year timeframe. To pay it back, she would have had payments of $856 per month. It was too much! With what Rachel earns she would run out of money in just six months.

To avoid serious problems and owing even more money, she kept looking. Eventually, she found the right loan for her – a lower APR and longer timeframe. She found that spreading the payments across a longer timeframe meant less to pay each month.

Before signing on the dotted line, she was careful to understand all the terms of her loan. She learned that some interest rates could change during the loan which could impact her monthly payments. Because she had a fixed budget, she made sure the interest rate for her loan wouldn’t change.

While Rachel was asking questions, she learned the rules as well, because breaking the rules can cause an affordable loan to become a big headache. For instance, if she pays late, she may owe the bank more money. She made a promise to herself to pay on time and avoid any late fees. It was wasteful.

It was clear to Rachel that without care, problems could snowball. Changing APRs and late fees could have made her loan impossible to afford. Because Rachel took the time to find the right loan for her, she was able to pay back the loan on time and publish her new album. Yaay!

Borrowing money can help you accomplish your goals, but only if you’re realistic about what you can afford. When it comes time to find a loan, discuss it with a financial professional and ask questions. Learn about your payments and terms. It’s up to you to make sure you know the rules and get a loan that fits your needs.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 10

What is Clear Communication in Email?

Accepted Answer

Every day, emails are sent that don’t get results. Part of the reason is that people aren’t receiving the information they need. This video explains the problem and how to fix it by asking three simple questions. It teaches:

Why writing effective emails can be difficult
What prevents recipients from seeing or responding to email
How to get the recipient’s attention
How to respect the recipient’s time
How to get the results you want from email

Video Transcript:

Think about it this way… When you speak with someone in person, you can tell a lot about them. You can see if they are happy, sad, or in a hurry. This information helps you adjust what you say and how you say it. For example, if someone looks confused, you might try using different language or examples.

With email it’s difficult to make these adjustments because you can’t see the recipient. And if your message doesn’t account for their needs, it could be ignored.

That’s why it’s important to write emails in a way that’s very clear and helpful for the recipient.

You can do this by answering a few basic questions for them. What is this about? Why am I receiving it? Is there anything I need to do?

When your email appears, this busy person will quickly need to decide if it’s a priority.

Next, your recipient will wonder why they are receiving the message. In the beginning, quickly explain the situation. You might write, “I’m writing to update you on the project.” or “I’d like to schedule a call.” Be specific and direct and they will notice.

Lastly, they will wonder if they need to act. Be sure to state your request clearly. This might be a request for a response, a link to a website to review or a number to call. Consider using bold font to be sure your request is noticed.

By considering these three questions, you can communicate clearly, get results and respect the time and attention of those who receive your emails.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.