Category: Development

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

This Is Why You Should Hire The Best Web Developers For Your Web Development Project

on November 13, 2019

Mobile app and web developers are always ready to help new businesses grow and expand. They offer various customized services directed towards business support and development. Website development is the most popular service that you can get from web developers. Nevertheless, some business owners still practice the brick and mortar business. They seem not to understand the advantages of having a website. So, some of the advantages will be discussed.

Advantages of website development

1. To improve advertising

Having a website will help you to improve your advertising. By placing your website address on printed and/or promotional materials, you can attract more customers. Anybody that sees an e-mail address on the material will most likely search for that website. So, the more people view your website, the more your chances of converting them to your customers.

2. A website can attract direct customers

Top mobile app and web developers from top web development companies know how to optimize keywords for SEO so that your website can generate a lot of traffic from search engines. The benefit of this service is to increase your conversion rate. What this basically means is that as more people go to search engines to search for businesses that are similar to yours, if you have a website that has been optimized with researched keywords, your website will be among the search results. However, without a website, nobody will find you on the internet.

3. To improve productivity

When you have a website, most of the information that people may need will be available there. So, you have no need to start explaining about every product to every potential customer. This, in turn, gives you more time to concentrate and focus on more productive aspects of your business. Nevertheless, this does not mean that people will not make inquiries. You will always have inquiries because it is part of a business- without an effective communication process between you and your customers, your business may become shaky.

4. A website can serve as your information channel

When there is a new development, your website is the best place to go to; that is what you need to update. Let us say that you are offering a discount on any product, your customers and potential customers will get to know when they visit your website. You may also have new products that you want to advertise to your customers, your website is equally the best place to do so.

5. You can integrate your social networking platforms to your website

If you are already advertising your products on social media platforms, that’s a good development. However, you can achieve a much better result when a web and mobile app developer helps with social media marketing techniques. More so, when you have a website, you can integrate your social media accounts to your website to provide your customers and potential customers with more options and channels to reach you. This creates some level of trust and customer satisfaction for them.

6. A website can help to expand your business

If you want to expand your business then you need to go beyond that brick and mortar store by adopting modern business models or techniques. Website development and social media marketing are two cost-effective methods of marketing. However, you may include a mobile app to aid brand building. Nonetheless, the internet has made it possible to put your business before millions of people via your website. So, you can now do business with people from other countries, which is one of the ideas of IT specialists and what they intend to achieve with communication and the management of information systems. Moreover, top IT software solutions providers are now developing bitcoin and supporting the blockchain industry, and thus can be of great help should you plan on adopting bitcoin as a means of payment.

7. It creates a strong online presence

A combination of all the marketing techniques mentioned will help to create a strong online presence. Although, adopting all may make you break the bank, so you can just design a website and support it with either e-mail marketing or social media marketing. All the same, that method alone will still make it possible to enjoy an online presence.

8. You can build an e-mail list if you have a website

If you need to prepare an e-mail list for e-mail marketing, you can make people subscribe to newsletters, this way you can automate the collection of their e-mail addresses for your e-mail list. Also, the advantage of using an e-mail marketing technique is that you can advertise your products to your target audience.

9. A website can help you to save printing costs

A website is not just your virtual billboard, it is also your online catalog. So, you do not have to spend additional money on printing brochures, shirt printing or catalogs like it used to be in the past. The internet has helped to bridge the gap between business owners and their clients or customers.

Finally, with all that was discussed, you should be able to understand the role of web and mobile app developers in business growth and expansion. Now, you can go ahead and set up that business you have in mind, but remember to hire only reputable web developers if you want your business to enjoy some business support.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

Essential Points To Consider For A Better Mobile User Experience

on November 13, 2019

Presently, a mobile phone has become a precious possession. They are not only used to make and receive calls but also to write important emails, share content on social networks, entertain us with an interactive game, read the news, etc.

This growing need to be in front of our mobile devices makes many app development companies and designers begin to pay more attention to mobile web design, adaptive design and of course, mobile applications. For this reason, in this article, we mention some essential tips that can do a lot for the user experience on mobile devices.

Consider creating an application

The first step in being able to have an online presence is to create a website. If you already have it, you must ensure that this site is optimized for mobile devices. There is a growing number of people accessing the internet from their mobile devices, even Google has begun to take this factor into account in the positioning of search results. But it is not enough to have a website optimized for mobile phones, this is only the first step to create an online presence.

Social networks are an essential part of a plan to attract more customers. In these social networks, brands share content such as promotions or special discounts, images and phrases related to the brand and other content that strengthens the link between a customer and the brand. The success of social networks is also partly because each one of them has mobile applications designed by app development companies.

The reason why many social networks have versions of their site optimized for mobile devices and a mobile application is due to the number of people who are part of their target audience. Each of these people will have different preferences, some of them will not hesitate to install the mobile application, while others may be content to occasionally access the mobile version from their smartphones.

The “active” nature of an application demands more interaction from the users. If users frequently access your site either because you offer interesting content, then they will have no problem downloading your app designed by top app development companies.

The main benefits of an app translate into greater customer loyalty, greater interaction with the brand and greater possibilities to attract customers. You can offer your customers the news, discounts and new products. You can send information continuously to your customers and if this information is of interest to them, it is easier for you to form a more personal link between your customers and your brand.

Research your target audience before starting the design

Internet marketing is the future. Perhaps, the best part of this type of marketing is that it does not cost much money unlike making an ad on television or radio. Despite the ease that the internet gives us today to carry out a marketing campaign, it may not give the result we expect. Due to the great competition that exists on the internet and people’s expectations, we must know our target audience very well.

Conducting an in-depth study of the target audience is the first step to create an effective marketing strategy. With this information, we can make a more specific and user-centered design, thus offering a different experience from the competition. In this aspect, it is important to understand the limitations we have when designing for mobile. It is important to remember that both the experience of computers and mobile devices should be equally good.

Analyze other mobile applications

Currently, there are a lot of mobile applications. In both Google Play and the App Store, there are millions of applications. With this high number of apps and app development companies, it is quite obvious that users have various options to choose from. In the end, the application that is easier to use and offers a better user experience will be successful.

Before defining the interface of your application or even if you don’t know how to start, you can start by reviewing successful mobile apps. Study why they have succeeded. This may be the first step in identifying what makes a successful application different from the rest.

Evaluate your application statistics

Evaluating and analyzing the statistics of your website or mobile application is essential to identify possible problems and adapt your marketing strategy. Thanks to free services such as Google Analytics, you can verify the number of people who visit your site and from what device they do it. However, this information is not enough, you should also identify how many times a day they enter, the estimated time of each session, the most visited pages, etc.

This information allows you to determine if the objectives you have set in principle are being met and in a certain way, it allows you to verify if your application is succeeding or not and what possible improvements can be made in the future.

So, it is not only important to verify the most remarkable data at a glance, but also other types of data that can give you clues about consumption habits, about the parts of your application that are successful, about the parts that need to be improved, on the problems that exist and based on that analysis offer a series of possible solutions.

Put yourself in the place of your users

This is great advice for top software companies and firms creating their first mobile application. You are likely to be a user of some application, so to some extent, you understand what a good application should have. Each group is different and a lot of the design decisions depend on the research you have done on your target audience. But putting yourself in the place of your users is an excellent practice to achieve a usable mobile application. That way, you avoid unnecessary advertising that obstructs the screens or the use of some function of your application.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

Creating Push Notifications That Improve The User Experience

on November 12, 2019

Do you really know what push notification means?

Push notifications are messages that are sent through the server of a mobile app to notify about news, offers or updates. Every type of business always has some news or last-minute information that it wants to share with its customers. Before now, reaching all your audience takes time and was complicated. Thanks to the technological advancement that has taken place in recent years, we no longer have to wait for the courier company to deliver the correspondence, or for our commercials to call all customers to comment on the offers. Today we have the famous Push Notifications!

Push notifications can be a very effective communication channel for your business, since, unlike emails, which can often be blocked by anti-spam filters, they can speak directly with the users through their most personal device.

We are all attracted to our mobile devices and this becomes something that we hardly manage to control. The impulse to look at it appears especially when we receive a push notification. However, it should be noted that our curiosity continues to insist on looking at our mobile phones, even without receiving any notification.

Given this change in behavior and receiving information, brands must learn to take advantage of the enormous potential that communication using mobile app offers. However, special care must be taken, since no one likes to receive notification that adds no value. Brands can take advantage of this marketing channel in several ways, including to:

  • Promote and advertise products and services
  • Increase sales and brand awareness
  • Improve the experience with the brand and ensure loyalty
  • Turn app users into loyal customers

Currently, people, having access to the internet from their mobile devices receive numerous notifications not only from their social networks and applications but also from the system itself. This, as expected, becomes frustrating for users as there is no way of knowing if that notification is of importance to them unless they review it.

However, as app developers, you know that notifications are necessary, not only to report critical errors or new available versions, but they can also be used as a form of marketing. If you deliver the correct information at the right time, your users will develop a link with your application and that way, the user experience will be improved.

We list 5 points to keep in mind to improve your notifications and therefore the user experience.

1. Importance

Before designing notifications, you should ask yourself if it is really necessary. Previously, we have said that keeping the user informed is essential to improve their experience with your application. But many times the user does not need to know, that is, many times the notifications are purely informative and there is no action that the user can take. On the other hand, if these are critical errors of application performance that could result in loss of data and that depends on some user action, in that case, notifications are necessary.

2. Relevance

The best form to determine the relevance of your push notification is to analyze user information. When designing notifications, pay special attention to the behavior patterns of your users, any other type of information about your target audience will help you at this stage.

Designing relevant notifications also requires you to be timely and those notifications are sent at times when the user is less likely to ignore them.

3. Customization

It is a good idea to give users some control over the notifications they want to see. This is especially useful if you don’t have enough information about your target audience and you don’t know which notification might be relevant to your users. In a while, you can see which notifications your users consider more useful and timely and which not.

The option to customize notifications also generates user satisfaction, since they will never see a notification they don’t want. This will greatly improve the user experience which is important in every interface.

4. Clear and understandable message

Regardless of the type of content of your notification, be sure to use a language that the user understands. The message must be clear, concise and completely understandable. Remember that notifications are just one more part of your image as a brand or company, so you must take into account the communication tone, and above all, be creative.

5. Effective delivery

There are many ways to send notifications: by text message, by email, pop-up windows, etc. To determine which delivery method is appropriate for your notifications, it is important to differentiate two types of interaction: “Product to user notifications” and “user to user notifications”. Depending on the purpose of your application, these notifications have different levels of priority. For example, a Facebook user would be more interested in seeing their notifications about the photos they have been tagged in than seeing a notification about a survey.

You should contact app developers for animated, personalized, interactive and geolocated images push notification through your application. It has become the most efficient digital channel for your communications and helps you improve customer loyalty and conversion. App developers can create push notification service for your application and website that integrates with all major CRM and CMS platforms.

Improve the loyalty, retention, and conversion of your users and increase the value of your brand, especially before your brand with strategy well suited to ensure that you use notifications that improve user experience.

Author Bio

Ricky Brown is an energetic content strategist and marketer at App Development Companies, the platform that helps you to find best IT Partner for your app, web and software requirements across the globe.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

5 Helpful Tools for Software Development Startups

on November 6, 2019

You have a great idea, drive, and you’re ready to get your feet wet with a startup. But where do you begin? And how are you going to figure out how to run all the complex areas of a business?

Trying to get a company off the ground can be overwhelming. And keeping costs low while making sure you have all of your operational tools in line can be a challenge.

Fortunately, there are a number of tools to assist you in getting your startup off and running. From financials to marketing, creating a virtual team of tools will give you a well-rounded business plan. Here are 5 that are worth checking out.

1. Track Tasks with Asana

Created by two Facebook founders, there is a reason Asana is used by over 70,000 companies worldwide. The user-friendly, social media-style format and intuitive tools are essential in staying organized. It’s a great tool for teams to track and collaborate who is doing what and when. It is essential to communicating and delegating among your team.

Like a virtual project manager, Asana makes large projects more manageable. Bigger projects can be easily broken into smaller tasks. Assigning and transferring tasks among employees is easy and convenient. Timelines and milestones can be created to manage deadlines. The activity feed, to-do list, and reminders will keep employees on track.

Asana can be used for communication and meeting planning. You can make managing schedules easier with Asana’s calendar tool. With everything from marketing tools to sales tracking, Asana is the well-rounded tool your startup needs to function efficiently.

The basic version is free but is limited in features. Higher priced plans are reasonable in cost but include access to more features and greater customization. A free trial is available so you can check it out before committing.

2. Manage Your Finances with Wave

One of the most intimidating tasks in starting a business is managing the financials. Especially if you don’t have any background in accounting or banking. Wave is a reasonably priced option to take the guesswork out of the large variety of financial tasks involved with running a business.

Wave’s payroll system can manage internal financial needs like direct deposit. Employees have access to tools for budgeting, investments, and other personal finance needs. 

Wave can also be used for billing with customizable invoice templates. Sales tax can be added easily, and the generated invoices can be easily mailed to customers. Customers then have the option to pay their invoice by credit card.

The reconciliation tool gives businesses the ability to connect their bank, PayPal, and other financial accounts. Receipts can be recorded in the system, and transactions can be easily categorized. This combination of features makes generating accounting reports quick and efficient.

Wave is incredibly affordable. The accounting, invoicing, and receipt features are free. Each credit card and ACH transaction is charged a service fee. Payroll features have a monthly subscription cost with a per-employee fee.

3. Using Mailchimp for Marketing

Letting customers know that you exist is a huge hurdle in the startup world. Get the word out about your company using Mailchimp. Design and send your company’s emails from this easy to use program. The program allows you to create eye-catching, professional-looking emails with little to no design experience.

Priced reasonably, the company even has a free version of the program available. This option has a 10,000 email per month sending limit and access to basic email templates. Still, it may be enough to meet the needs of a start-up at no cost.

The paid versions gain you access to great features. Additional email templates are available for customizing messages. The plan also includes chat and email support. The ability to target on social media is a valuable feature of the paid plans. 

Not ready for the commitment? Mailchimp offers a pay as you go option. Credits can be purchased, then applied to your communications individually. This is a great option for a startup that’s not emailing a ton yet.

4. Handling HR with Recruiterflow

Good employees can be tough to find. Finding and attracting high-quality applicants can be challenging, especially when trying to avoid the costs associated with agencies. Simplify your recruiting process and keep costs low with Recruiterflow. The simple to use interface makes the hiring process more efficient, and the low cost makes it an attractive option.

Recruiterflow makes it easy for you to post job openings and track their engagement. It also stores easily-searchable resumes to keep a candidate database. You can quickly screen applicants by qualifications and reach out to candidates. Interview instructions, as well as candidate scorecards, can be managed in the system.

The system enhances the communication of everyone on the hiring team with email and calendar synchronization. Reports can be generated to find potential improvements in your recruiting process.

There are several plan options available. Recruiterflow even has a plan tailored to new and growing businesses. There is a 14-day trial available before committing to a monthly plan.

5. Manage Documents with ContractZen

You don’t need a full legal team to keep your company secure and in compliance. ContractZen can manage your legal documents and help you minimize risk. Use this cloud-based program to transfer, sign, and store documents securely.

You can send and request signatures on contracts digitally with the E-signature feature. This makes getting legal documents signed from third parties safer and more efficient.

The unique Virtual Data Room feature gives you the ability to access your company’s documents from anywhere. The Full-text search feature allows you to search for documents easily. Tax documents are stored securely, and easy to find should an audit arise. 

The program also gives you the ability to better coordinate meetings. The scheduler allows meeting attendees to agree on the best time. Meeting documents can be exchanged, and meeting minutes can be signed right in the program. 

This easy-to-use service also comes with a reasonable price tag. The less than $10 per month is worth the legal peace of mind. A thirty-day trial is available before committing.

6. Administrate Employee’s Attendance With factoHR

The difficulties that occur in recruiting a top talent continue as well in retaining them for a longer span. With factoHR’s attendance management system, the crucial and daily task of employees’ attendance marking will be simplified. How will it remain if you can bring more flexibility and engagement in performing such actions? Surely you can get such benefits using this attendance management tool.

It is an integrated and automated platform that determines the total working hours of the employees by allowing them to punch in and out using a mobile app, web portal, and biometric machines with geo-tracking, geo-fencing, and face recognition authenticity features. All these features together enhance punctuality in the workplace and make the employees more efficient.  

Moreover, employees can be involved in the attendance management process using the mobile application and ESS portal. Here they can perform attendance regularization, request for OT and comp-off, manage late coming and early going actions with the leave balance.

The system enhances its usability by allowing you to download various reports related to the employees’ attendance, like in/out punches, late coming, and early going based on specified months. What’s more? You can directly link the attendance data with payroll to accurately calculate employees’ salaries. Thus, factoHR is a unified solution that entirely handles all the aspects related to the workforce, making it a perfect choice for your organization.         

Conclusion

Starting a business can be a scary feat. There are so many working parts and pieces to fit together. Like the CICD pipeline, you have to make sure you’re being organized, especially when the business you’re starting involves software development.

There’s a lot of effort involved in researching what tools are best for you, and the effort can be a little daunting at times. You might be tempted to go with whatever tools you find first on a Google search, but it’s best to forgo that idea. Making sure you have the right tools in your arsenal will give you confidence and be your best chance for success.

DevelopmentInsightsProductsSaaS

Reasons to Choose Flutter for Next Mobile App Development Project

on November 4, 2019

Mobile applications are the newest way to promote business along with expanding the reach of a product or service to the maximum number of users. Seeing the potential of mobile applications, many businesses as well startups are making up their minds to invest in the mobile app development project.

Also, businesses, on the other hand, are expecting that mobile app development companies should bring up something to them so that they can easily target a different set of audiences from a single application. In short, businesses seeking better growth in the market are willing to target iOS and Android users at the same time or better say a cross-platform application.

Seeing the constant demand for the same, Flutter mobile app development companies are continuously evolving their way of developing an application in order to provide maximum benefit to the clients that too in their estimated budget.

Meanwhile, developing a cross-platform application sometimes looks a bit problematic for mobile app developers as users experience lags behind in comparison to actual native apps. To give a cure to such issues, various mobile frameworks like React Native, Xamarin, AngularJS, and now Google’s Flutter are making a big around the Flutter mobile app development industry. 

Among many frameworks, Flutter is taking the lead and entering the app development industry in a full form making it mandatory for users to know its introduction to the core. Here are the reasons showcasing how Flutter is flourishing in the app development company giving ease, and comfort to the mobile app developers.

Reasons to choose Flutter mobile app development

1. Flutter is overcoming traditional cross-platform approaches

Earlier it was difficult to go ahead with offering one app on two different approaches (Android and iOS) for users who often complain of great user experience in comparison with native applications. 

This is the reason, with Flutter the headache of writing too many substitutes with a “write once” approach. By using so, one can create a high-performance application and in return offer a native experience to the users due to Ahead of time compiled, machine binary executable.

2. Productivity increases in mobile app developers

Due to the feature of hot reload in Flutter and Hot Restart, it allows developers to notice and see changes when developing an app that too in less than one second. Also, using Flutter, it is easier for developers to make changes in the overall app structure in a few seconds.

3. Coding for both- Backend and Frontend

As compared to Android coding which uses View for frontend and Java for backend, Flutter uses a single language called Dart for both frontend and backend.

Dart has been built from the amalgamation of popular features of other languages without losing the essence of Java while keeping the developer’s ease in mind.

4. It is more powerful

Flutter offers the ease of creating powerful UI experiences that too out of the box. Thus, it helps mobile app developers in producing a smooth, glitch-free, lag-free, crisp experience similar to the experience one gets when using native application.

Also, flutter consists of widgets that implement Human Interface Design specifications for iOS offering a great native feel on Apple’s devices.

5. It got the support of various IDEs

When using Flutter, developers can choose the codes from a number of Integrated Development Environments. This is the reason, Flutter is everywhere, be it in the process of developing an application or putting it in the process of MVP app development.

6. It got widgets too

Almost everything in Flutter is said to be a widget like Appbar, Snackbar, Drawer, Scaffold, etc. Also, by using Flutter, it is easy to wrap one widget inside another. This is the reason, Flutter thus offers a great experience to the users.

7. 2Dimension Flare makes Animation easy

Animations give actual life to the overall mobile application. 2Dimension is the tool that creates extraordinary UI or animations that too with ease to the app developers. Furthermore, it tapes the gap between the UI designer and the developers by reducing the overall time required to apply UI or animation related changes.

8. Flutter is for both- Web and App

Flutter also has prototype flutter apps that work in a web browser too. A top-secret project called hummingbird was unveiled during the flutter live to prove its potential in the market. Sooner, Flutter will be able to use the same codes for creating apps for mobile, desktop and web in an effective and easeful manner.

9. Support from team and community

Flutter is getting a lot of support and encouragement from the flutter team as well as the community formed for it. It has been said that every Wednesday, many of the Flutter community comes up on Zoom to offer live help to the people around the globe. By doing so, it is easy to get the necessary information and required help in a collaborative manner.

These are a few of the reasons which made Flutter the most prominent part of the mobile app development industry. Also, in the coming years, it is also true that Flutter is going to get a huge fan base and developers’ interest all the more.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaSSEO

Some Key Features to Consider While Using a Bootstrap Template to Build your Portal

on October 31, 2019

You could spend thousands of dollars on hiring an expert design agency or a freelancer to construct each of your websites for e-commerce or trading business. However, even with spending that much, it is not always ensured that you get the best results. The call is yours, and many also agree to the fact that usage of pre-built Bootstrap templates to custom-weave your website is also a brilliant approach to try. There are many websites out there, including that of the top brands, which are custom-built based on the Bootstrap templates. Such custom-built sites can make a big difference in your business, too, someday, but if you are in need of charming and professional websites, then neglecting the scope of Bootstrap may not be ideal. However, once you start to explore it, you may come across thousands of Bootstrap templates and design options with a handful of feature sand options out there. There are limitless possibilities in terms of Bootstrap templates, and you need to have a professional and picky approach to get the best out of the ocean. So, in order to help the users focus more on the top features, let’s explore the key features to consider while picking the ideal Bootstrap templates for your purpose.

Key features to look for in a Bootstrap template

The major advantage of Bootstrap templates is that it is highly portal and super easy to start with. You don’t have to code at all, and these basic CSS and HTML templates could do the rest for you. The readymade code blocks, as in Designmodo free Bootstrap templates, can save a lot of time as well as effort, which could have been otherwise billed in thousands by skilled developers and designers. Some of the features to look for while picking the ready-to-go Bootstrap templates are as below.

A mighty grid system

Bootstrap is equipped with a 12-column responsive fluid grid system, which is Flexbox-based, which makes it easier for the users to get benefitted instantly. It helps the website builders to scale the site automatically and take your design down or up based on the resolution of the destination device. So, by dividing the screen size into 12 columns, this is made easier for the website builder to see how to group them more effectively or how to use each individually. Building this way, by adding appropriate classes to desktops, tablets, or smartphones of varying screen sizes, you may decide whether you have to hide the content or make it visible.

Easy integration

Bootstrap is much easy to integrate with other frameworks and platforms, either with the existing platform of the new frameworks. With such an ability to ensure seamless integration, Bootstrap will make your life easier and make your dreams true. If you simply want to use, just download that file and simply link it up. You can also hotlink it to even the social media platforms like Twitter and get the best results using Bootstrap. By being just CSS based, it is much easy to integrate and modify the content.

Browser Compatibility

As we have seen above, Bootstrap is compatible also with the latest browsers for mobile and desktop use. With this, you can create a site that could work the best irrespective of being used for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or IE. On using Bootstrap templates, you can keep your results uniform across all the platforms and browsers.

Instant and easy customization

Based on what types of websites you build; Bootstrap can do it most effectively. Developers can tailor-make their applications using Bootstrap based on the project specifications. The major advantage of Bootstrap is that it comes with everything that you want in order to develop and functionalize a professional portal. You can be choosy in order to include or exclude various components based on your requirements. With this approach, you can easily get rid of what you don’t require, and you can also create the most customized websites.

Excellent community support

With vast community support from across the globe, Bootstrap offers a large number of upgrades and updates than any other such web building frameworks. On GitHub, you can find about 16,000 commits, and here are about 868 contributors always alive to help the developers with whatever points they face an issue with. Besides these, you may also enjoy the Bootstrap blog, which could be your one-stop-shop to many of the unsolved queries. There is no need to mention apt documentation available with easy examples and demo, which will further make things easier for novice users.

A handful of pre-designed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript elements

The designers and developers, while building a website, need to take care of various elements, including but not limited to headings, tables, buttons, anchors, and lot more. Each of these has its significance in terms of creating a professional-looking website, which is also functional. Used properly, Bootstrap can save the day for fellow developers as it comes with many pre-designed elements, which are so easy to learn and use.

Plugins

A dozen of Bootstrap offers a large number of upgrades and updates available with Bootstrap will help the users to start quicker and easier. If you need to get some additional functionality like a dropdown list, carousel, or sliders, then one needs to simply make use of the corresponding plugin offering the functionality to the website design. It should also be noted the fact that Bootstrap plugins can be best used for your benefit without the need to write even a single line of code.

Go far beyond ensuring consistency

Even though developed to encourage and ensure consistency among internal tools, Bootstrap now has the potential to go far beyond this purpose. Effectively backed up by many expert Twitter employees, now Bootstrap is the first of its kind open-source application version, which further got enlarged with the major idea to pair designers and developers to reap success out of the web. TO effectively connect between the dots, Bootstrap could be a real choice for the developers who want modern responsive websites. It is also consistently developing, and so it is enough wasting time on coding and manual designing of your websites, and everyone should effectively explore Bootstrap templates in a better way.

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Why and How an SEO Can Save Your Business

on October 24, 2019

Are you struggling to build the online presence of your business? Is your website way down the search results? It might be high time that you hire an SEO expert to help you get back on your feet. But could a local SEO really be all that you need? Allow us to shed some light on why and how an SEO can save your business.

What is SEO?

According to MOZ, SEO is the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. In Layman’s terms, it’s making your website rank higher in the search engine results page (SERP) to make it more visible to people. There are plenty of SEO techniques to increase your website’s rank in SERPs such as using Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords, link building, mobile-friendly optimization, etc.

Why do you need an international or local SEO expert for your business?

If you’re not yet seeing the possibilities an SEO can give you from the above-mentioned description, then you need to read these reasons why you need an SEO for your business. Hopefully, this would help you make the decision to hire one.

Photo courtesy of PhotoMIX via Pexels.com

1. Bring more traffic to your website the right way.

Let’s say your business has the best service in town. But because nobody can find your website, you won’t be able to get more clients. When you hire an SEO in your company, they can update your website and digital marketing campaigns using techniques and tools to make your website more visible and organically increase traffic.

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2. They know the competition and how to beat them.

Using the latest SEO tools, they can check out your competition and find out what works for them. Your own SEO can take a look at their top-performing content, what backlinks they use, target their keywords, and more. This will make it easier for them to create an SEO marketing Strategy that will put you ahead of your rivals.

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3. Improves Return on Investment (ROI).

With the money you put into hiring a rock star SEO, you could get a solid digital marketing strategy that will help you set measurable goals for brand recognition. With more people seeing your business, it’s no secret that the inquiries will start to come in, which increases the likelihood of scoring a sale. Of course, this will also depend on your skills in closing a sale. Soon enough, you’ll be experiencing ROI thanks to your SEO.

Types of SEO Experts

There are three types of experts who can help you build your SEO strategy – white, gray, and black hat. Who do you hire to help you out? Here’s a quick break down of the types of SEO experts so you know who to call depending on the need.

White Hat – These are the SEOs who use techniques and tools that adhere to Google’s guidelines. They make sure that they update your website or digital space using an SEO Checklist. It’s a safe and sure-fire way to help your website gain some ground in the SERP. It does, however, cost more and could take longer.

Gray Hat – These SEOs tend to drift away from Google’s guidelines. They look for loopholes within the system to get you to the top faster. While Gray Hats don’t really break the rules, they come really close to doing so. And when Google updates its guidelines and algorithm – which they do 500 to 600 times a year – and your website or digital space gets caught, you could be penalized.

Black Hat – Do you want to get to the first page faster? You could talk to Black Hat SEOs and they could do it for you at a lower rate. You risk your website, however, from being penalized or even banned in the SERP. Why? Black Hat SEOs will do anything to get the job done even if it means going against Google’s Webmaster guidelines.

Strategies

Have you already decided to hire an SEO for your business? Get them working on these three important strategies so your business can make up for a lost time.

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1. Install web analytics from the start.

How would you know if your SEO is turning your business around? You need to have key performance indicators (KPI) that would show you how well your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy is working. That’s why it is so crucial for your SEO to install web analytics from the get-go.

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2. Make your website mobile-friendly.

Optimize your website for the mobile platform. It’s essential to do this as Google rolled out its mobile-first protocol that will prioritize websites with a mobile-friendly code/design. Have your SEO assist the web developers so you can have a mobile-friendly website that adheres to Google.

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3. Fix broken links.

Broken links can put a serious dent into your SEM marketing strategy. Having broken links will have a negative effect on your SEO and Google, as well as turn people away from your website. Make your SEO do an audit so that your broken links can be fixed.

Having an SEO in your team can turn the tide around for your business. They can help your sinking ship float and sail into deeper waters to reach a new audience, which can help bring in more profit. Don’t hesitate to hire one to boost your digital marketing strategy.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSEO

10 Golden Nuggets To Improve Your Site’s Search Rankings

on October 22, 2019

The success of any online business depends on the amount of traffic that it can draw. No matter how good your products and services are or how good your brand’s reputation is, you will never bring in any sales if no one is visiting your site. Therefore, it is important to improve your rankings in the search engines to be ahead of the game. If you are experiencing low traffic volume or have noticed fluctuations in your analytics, here are some tips by NYC Company that could help you generate organic traffic to your site.

Use keyword-embedded links

Building backlinks is one of the best ways to optimize your rankings. Some people, however, think that they have to shell out some cash to have their links appear in other sites. The truth is you can do this without expense as long as you know how to identify opportunities. You can ask your friends, partners, or clients to post your links on their sites and you can do the same for them. If the referring site happens to have a high volume of traffic, there is a big chance that a chunk of that traffic will be directed to your site.

Use long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords have better conversions simply because they are more specific, which lessens your competition on them. There are online tools that you can use now in finding long-tail keywords that are relevant to your site and to your primary keywords. Try using them and you will realize that they can bring in more traffic to your site.

Value your visitors

Connect with your visitors. If they have questions or inquiries about your products and services, make sure that you give them immediate feedback. Also, encourage site visitors to interact with you. You can add a short paragraph at the end of your blogs that invites your readers to give their comments or opinions. This will keep them coming back to your site and even subscribe to your feeds.

Avoid too much animation on your pages

Too many banners and animations will just annoy your visitors and that can greatly increase your bounce rates. Search engines hate bounce rates, so to keep your high SEO rankings, make your pages clean, easy to read, and very user-friendly.

Maintain the quality of your content

Search engine crawlers also evaluate the relevance and usefulness of the content of your site. This is why it is important that you always create original content that will satisfy what your readers are looking for. Do not stop at just creating quality content. You should also make sure that you give them proper tags, descriptions, titles, and keyword density to get good scores from search engines.

Create a blog site

It is hard to use the main website of your business for optimizing keywords because it will result in long content, which will make it difficult for customers to find what they need. Still, you have to invest in keywords to bring traffic to your site. The best way to do this is to create a separate company blog site that will link customers back to your main site.

Give your multimedia files proper names

The images, videos, and infographics that you post on your pages can also bring in organic traffic to your site. To do this, make sure that your multimedia files are properly named with the use of relevant keywords so that when internet users make an image or video search, your content can pop up at the top of the list.

Keep posting content

Even if your site is already getting huge traffic, do not stop posting new content. You have to keep your site valuable if you want to maintain and increase the amount of traffic that you are getting.

Be listed

Have your site listed in popular directories. Most of these directories offer free registration and oftentimes, search engines get the results from these listings. For instance, if someone from Ohio is looking for a local plumber, it is likely that your business will be on top of the result if you are listed in these directories.

Always be informed

Search engines often update their algorithms. Therefore, the strategies that could be working for you before could suddenly stop getting good results. Be updated with the latest news and try to observe what your competitors are doing so that you can improve your strategies and remain competitive.

DevelopmentInsightsProducts

Make More Money with These Ecommerce Tips

on October 18, 2019

Like much of the business world in general, the online retail space is filled with buzzwords. Companies rush to implement the latest trend, fearing that they’ll miss out on opportunities if they don’t enact the latest thing everyone is talking about.

The truth is that growing a successful digitally native vertical business is all about using an ecommerce platform that provides you the best tools and solutions so you can sell better than anyone else. Read on to learn more about how the right ecommerce platform can help secure your business while making more money.

Smarter Analytics

Data is everything in online retail, so you need to pick a platform that provides you an insight into your store data with powerful analytics. There are platforms out there with over 20 different dashboards, which clearly present every aspect of your business and customer lifecycles to you with easy to understand visuals. This line of sight allows you to make good business decisions.

Get a separate dashboard for subscriptions, affiliate analysis, order analysis, P-&-L, and more. You should be able to filter through each analytics dashboard based on traffic source, channels, verticals, campaigns, or whatever custom Smart Tags help you reach your business growth goals.

Leveraging this type of data is what informs the platform’s algorithm so that your ecommerce store can cross-sell and up-sell products more effectively. How can you know what related products they want to buy, if you don’t truly know your customer?

Safe Transactions, Fewer Chargebacks

Online retail businesses don’t have a security guard, a CCTV camera or alarms — ecommerce businesses need robust digital security that verifies that buyers are real, and security which safeguards all company and customer data.

Only consider ecommerce platforms that have their own anti-fraud specialists and features. It is even better if they partner with industry leaders to provide multiple layers of protection. When you get industry-leading identity verification, it’ll mitigate chargeback risk for your business and shift the liability from you to the issuing bank. Chargebacks should go down on average 20% when you use a real industry-leading platform.

Investing in security is essential: not only do the transactions themselves need to be secure, but consumers need to feel the perception of security so they make purchases without making even the slightest hesitation.

Reduce Cart Abandonment

One of the pitfalls of ecommerce is cart abandonment, a term for when consumers put something into their cart but close the window before the sale is complete. Many ecommerce businesses are offering subscription-based services, as a way to keep sales constant and revenue predictable.

The cart abandonment rate is a shocking 70%, but there are ecommerce platforms that specialize in revenue maximization. They make it easy to manage your company’s shopping cart experience, so consumers face no hurdles to clear when they make purchases.

Ecommerce is thriving, and it evolves quickly and can be quite complex. When it comes time to choose an ecommerce platform to grow your digitally native vertical business, don’t get too focused on any one trend. Find the platform that lets you understand your customer and your business, so you can protect both while generating more sales for your company.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSEO

Django: The Web Framework For Perfectionist?

on October 18, 2019

Coding is without a doubt one of the most useful job skills in the present day as well as the future. There are many different programming languages out there, each with their own different use cases and benefits. One of the most popular and widely used right now is Python.

Python can be used for a range of different tasks, from web programming all the way to scientific computing. It is quickly rising the ranks of the most popular programming languages, and many believe it will soon find itself in the number one spot. The language is also one of the first programming languages that many universities are teaching their students before any others.

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However, if you truly want to use Python as best as possible, you need to choose the right framework. A framework helps to create code and web apps much easier and simpler and can speed up the process of development. But with several different web frameworks for Pythons to choose from, which should you consider?

One great option that is incredibly popular is Django. This article is going to look a little more closely at Django, including what it is, why it is a good option and more.

What is Django?

Django is a very high-level framework that assists programmers by allowing rapid development as well as a clean design.  Django has been around since 2005 but was created a few years earlier in 2003. Web development can be a hassle and be quite tedious, and Django helps make it simple. It allows you to focus on simply writing your app or software, and not have to worry about anything else.

Django is all about reusability and cutting down the amount of work a developer needs to do and how much time they need to spend. Django will ensure that you can use Python pragmatically, as well. Many well-known sites and platforms use Django including Instagram, Mozilla, Nextdoor and more. If it is good enough for those large companies and all that goes along with operating them, it is likely good enough for your needs.

Best yet, Django is completely open-source and free. It is built and maintained by those experienced with development, so you can be sure that it is designed with developers in mind. The community for Django is also quite large and if you ever struggle with the framework, finding support and assistance is always simple.

Why is it a Good Option?

Source: Pixabay

So why is Django a good option for all different types of Python developers? Well, there are a couple of different reasons. The first reason is its speed. Django prides itself on taking your idea from a concept to a completed design quicker than any other framework. Another great benefit of Django is how incredibly secure it is. Security is an incredibly important concern for businesses and developers alike, and Django helps programmers prevent common mistakes that relate to security.

Django is also fully scalable, so no matter how large or small your needs are, it will be able to meet them. It is also very flexible and can be scaled up and down very easily. Add to that dozens of other extra features aimed at helping optimize development and you have a great choice for Python developers looking for a framework to use. The company claims to be the “framework for perfectionists with deadlines” and this is accurate. It is great for anyone who needs to create applications or software in less time, with less code.

Hopefully, this list of resources below will be able to show you why Django is one of the best Python web frameworks, especially for perfectionists. It is completely free, so there is no risk and no reason not to at least try it and see if it can improve the quality and efficiency of your code.

Additional resources:

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