Categories

4 Things I Learned While Researching Web Calendars

A calendar is a calendar, right? Not anymore, web calendars have reached a whole new level of organization and information that you might never have imagined. They can single-handedly draw new users or customers to your website, keep a company’s offices all across the world organized, and self-manage timely tasks to completion with a click of a mouse. If your organization or business is thinking about utilizing a web calendar, here are a few of the most surprising things that I discovered in my quest to find the best web calendars on the market.

What you want may be way more than what you need… and it will cost you!

With prices for web calendars ranging from free to a freaking fortune, you may want to write out a list of your basic product needs and functionality requirements. That way if your budget is very limited, you can stick to your own MVP list (minimum viable product) and get exactly what you need without paying more for the tools that may sound great, but will likely never be used. Here is a checklist to get you started:

• Storage
• Shareability
• Conferencing tools
• Integration
• Security
• No Ads
• Images
• Customization
• Videos
• Mobile friendly
• Buttons
• Registration
• Set-up/Installation
• Plugin or code (static or dynamic)
• Allow for multiple calendars
• List view or traditional (or both)
• Searchability

There are a lot to choose from

After narrowing down your needs, do a little more research on the company. Maybe this is an obvious one to some but when I first started doing research, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Within the first few hours, I found over 50 different embeddable calendars. All with similar features but slightly different functions or target markets. Don’t forget to check reviews, read testimonials, call and ask questions, and look at their websites. Remember that you’re choosing a company, not just a product.

You can use free trials or subscriptions to test products

A lot of calendar companies offer free trials or free subscription packages. I advise you to try different things and see what works best for your company, after all, you don’t really know if a product works for you until you try it! This way you can use it, test it, and ask questions. Most software is designed to be used in a specific way, the system may not be cooperating the way you thought it should and it could be a quick fix on your end. Plus, if you find out there is no easy fix, then you know that this may not be the best option for you and your company.

Software support is not that great

This is a great thing to test during a free trial or free subscription. Some of the big-name web calendar companies seem to be dominating the market but when there is an issue with their product it’s like they fall off the face of the Earth. While smaller companies might not have 24-hour support be open to trying them out, I have found that most smaller companies’ response times are short and they are more willing and able to help you in a timely manner.

These are just a few things that I wish I had known before I started my search. Some may seem obvious but when starting research blindly like I did, it is helpful to have a general background of what to look for and what you may come across. If you have done research for other software in the past, use what you learned then to help in your web calendar search. Finally, be sure be confident in your decision making and take your time during your research to make sure you find the best product for you and your organization.