Category: Insights

MVP Development for Mobile App: Things to Know and Principles to Follow

Miley on September 21, 2018

Building a successful app with everything fine-tuned and designed to perfection is a strenuous task requiring years of creative effort and continued focus. The fact that seeing your app alive on app marketplace will take months is enough demotivation for many of us. What about creating and launching an app in a jiffy? What about quickly building an app that perfectly holds together your idea with a straightforward execution? Well, that is precisely what MVP development is meant for. MVP apps give you the pleasure of making your app lives much earlier.

What Is Minimum Viable Product (MVP) all about?

So many tech startups are mushrooming these days with brainstorming new and innovative app ideas. They have fewer resources, less money, and less manpower to take care of a large development project. But in a highly competitive and quality-focused app market, they cannot settle for less. With an ambition to stay ahead of the competition, they cannot settle for a sloppy app. The only solution is to build a minimum viable product (MVP) with few and most important features and the basic app idea executed to perfection. This urgency of the quick launching of apps with relevant features makes MVP a credible option now among many developers. For example, app developers in India the emerging market now considers MVP crucial for staying competitive. Because faster development cycle helps them stay ahead of the competition, where one of such solution worth checking out would be flutter development. MVP or minimum viable product in the context of mobile apps refers to the essential app with core features, design and user experience that expressly define the uniqueness and utility of the app. All other additional features or value-additions or design enhancements can be done upon this basic app built with MVP development principle. An MVP is neither the beta app version nor they are actionable app mock-ups. MVP apps are not also minimum featured apps unless it carries the principal app idea throughout.

Why develop an MVP app?

We have already seen that MVP mobile app serves mainly as the starting point for an app development project. The MVP app is the basic approach to shape an idea into a well-featured executable app. The enterprises can build MVP apps quickly, can assess the potential of the app idea without taking too much strain and can keep the cost lower at the initial stage of development.

Let us now have a look at the key reasons to go for an MVP app.

An MVP by boasting of the important app idea and quintessential UX element can help to launch a fully functional app in minimum time.
Taking less development time and costing too little MVP apps offer minimum development risk.
MVP app easily allows assessing the app idea through original market presence and user interactions.
All the guesswork and assessment without material grounds are no longer needed thanks to the option of building an MVP app.
An MVP also helps a business getting feedback of customers and all associates after launching a fully working app, not without it.
When people can’t decide about the features that suit their needs most, you can build a few MVP variants and help them make their choice.
MVP apps being stripped of the unnecessary elements are more performance-driven and least vulnerable to errors and bugs.
As the basic version MVP app always remains open to get better with subsequent development efforts.

Features and aspects that make MVP apps stand out

To beat the cut-throat competition in app marketplaces the developers and strategists always need to come with something genuinely viable, useful, unique and relevant for the users. This is why, shaping the basic app idea into a viable product is more important than building a fully-fledged, feature-rich app. This precisely makes MVP a commendable alternative. There are two basic sets of features, respectively as the user application and the admin panel. For the first one change can be necessary for contents and to meet the norms of respective platforms. Rest of the features in an MVP app depends as per the industry and niche. Let us describe features of MVP apps of various niches.

Features of E-commerce MVP app

Some key features of an MVP e-commerce app include the following.

Payment gateway with different options like credit and debit card, net banking, Cash on Delivery, PayPal, etc.
Navigation menu by-products, categories, and subcategories.
Ecommerce Cart
Customer registration and profile management
Order history management
Product page along with relevant filters
Product rate, reviews, and recommendations

Features for MVP food delivery app

The typical key features that any MVP food delivery app cannot do without include two basic sets of features, respectively for customers and the restaurant or food chain admin. Let’s have a look at these features.

Customer-side features

Geolocation and integrated map
Order list
Payment page with multiple payment options including credit and debit card, net banking and Cash on Delivery
Search option for food and restaurants with various filters
Restaurant profile and menu
Cart management
Notifications about order and delivery status

Restaurant-side features

Restaurant profile page
Menu page
Manage orders
View balance
Order history and analytics

Features for social network MVP app

If you are going to launch a social network app with a minimum viable product (MVP) features, the key elements that you need to ensure include the following.

Newsfeed
Registration, profile and timeline management
Friends and follower management
Creating posts
Tagging and hashtagging
Like or reactions to posts
Sharing posts
Reporting posts and profiles
Event-oriented notifications
Social bookmarking

Conclusion

So, the minimum viable product (MVP) is to boast of faster development of a useful app with all the most relevant features. Instead of opting for so-called cool or stunning features the MVP app of any niche concentrates principally on relevance and accordingly chooses the irreplaceable features that make it meaningful for the users.

Insights Products

Best Software Solutions for PCB Design

Miley on September 15, 2018

With the electronics market getting more innovative by the day it is important that the design software that is in place to support this is as innovative also. If you think of the size of a circuit board today compared to 10 years ago – now they are tiny whereas they used to be massive. This is all down to better technological advances in the electronics field and one that continues to be extremely innovative.

When you think of the designers of these products, the room for error on such a small appliance is quite big which further supports the need to have really good software for layout design which can keep up with today’s routing demands. There are many different packages out there now with the changes to support creative design engineers.

What To Look For In A Software Package

No matter what level of detail you want to get into with the end component that you are making, you will still be looking for a software package that makes it all very simple for you. These software packages on the internet look extremely complex but they don’t need to be. Here are some things that in a modern software package you would be looking for:

Storage – It sounds a no-brainer however you would be surprised the number of times you hear that people have run out of storage space in their library. Make sure that you check this out before purchasing and ensure that the storage space that they offer is adequate for your needs. Clearly, you want to keep as much of the original items in your library and do not want to have add-on storage options. Most modern software solutions have ample storage space.
Simulations – When you have finished designing a product, wouldn’t it be great if you could run a simulation to understand how it actually potentially performs? Most modern layout design packages have this option. Not only can you run it on individual components but you can assemble your products together and run an assembly simulation. Before the days of simulation, design engineers relied heavily on the robustness of their design and even the outcome of any FMEA activities that they would complete supporting this. If you do not run a simulation, you run the risk of designing components that are not fit for purpose and it is only when they have been manufactured that this all becomes clear. It’s much better to be pro-active.
Advanced Tools – When you think of advanced tools we are talking about things such as different views. Most modern software packages will have the option to complete the design in 2D or even 3D. The majority of designers prefer to complete the component level design in 2D but then move on to the 3D for the assembly, but you have your own choice on what best suits you.

Bear in mind that these software packages will also update very regularly, therefore, keep an eye out from the retailer or software originator to ensure that you get any updates downloaded.

Insights

4 Reasons Why Your Mac Needs Bitdefender

Miley on September 15, 2018

Each year, consumers lose nearly $2.3 billion due to malware infections. If you are an Apple loyalist, your computer of choice is probably a MacBook. These laptops have been one of the most popular in the world for years now and for good reason.

Rather than leaving the important information on your computer vulnerable to attack, you need to take advantage of the power of Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac. The developers of this program set out to make antivirus software that was both easy to use and very effective.

Read below to find out more about Bitdefender and why having it on your Mac is essential.

1. Take Advantage of the Bitdefender Shield

If you are like most Mac users, you want a program that continuously monitors your computer for malware and computer viruses. With the help of the Bitdefender Shield, you will be able to detect and remove threats without having to manually scan your computer.

Once you have turned on the Bitdefender Shield, you will not have to worry about nefarious malware getting onto your computer. Being able to set and forget your virus and malware protection will help you focus on more important things.

2. Cross-Platform Malware Detection Gives You Peace of Mind

During your time on the Internet, you will come across a number of programs that are made for other platforms. Many Windows-based programs can be accessed on a Mac computer. If you do not have comprehensive malware protection, hackers can use Windows-based programs to infiltrate your Mac and take the sensitive information stored on it.

The team at Bitdefender has developed a way to both monitors and protect Mac computers from cross-platform malware attacks. If you are confronted with a virus-filled program, Bitdefender will detect this threat and remove any viruses it finds along the way.

3. Fast Virus-Scanning Capabilities

Modern consumers have a notoriously short attention span. If you are concerned with getting your Mac scanned for viruses without having to wait a long time for the results, then the Bitdefender program is definitely for you.

The Bitdefender program combines speed and accuracy to provide consumers with lightning fast virus scans. Not only are these scans fast, they are very detailed. This means you will not have to worry about finding and eliminating viruses and malware on your Mac.

Source-Pixabay

4. Bitdefender is Consistently Getting Better

Using a cloud-based virus and malware detection program is essential when trying to guard your computer against new cyber-threats. The Bitdefender program is constantly updating and getting better with each passing day.

This means that you will not have to worry about your Mac being attacked by new hacking methods. Since this program is cloud-based, you will not have to worry about any drag on your Mac’s resources while updates are taking place.

The last thing you want is for your sensitive information to be compromised due to a lack of cyber-protection. With the Bitdefender program, you will have no problem keeping hackers at bay for a long time to come.

Insights Products

Facebook Advertising 101: How to Create Stellar Ads That Work

Miley on September 12, 2018

Image via Pixino

It’s no secret that Facebook is the premier online advertising tool for businesses. Rightfully so, Facebook’s advertising platform makes it simple for marketers to conduct granular searches for an ideal target audience. With this useful function, the task of creating beautiful ads is entirely left up to your prerogative and ability, or you can opt for some of the tools that can help you with dynamic creative.

Frankly, advertising on Facebook isn’t as convenient as it may initially seem. There is a wide range of obstacles modern advertisers face, even on Facebook’s advanced platform. One of the primary issues advertisers face is building ads that actually work. Now, how is the word “work” defined in this context?

You guessed it. I am simply referring to the complexity of encouraging people to view, engage, and click on your ads. Otherwise, what’s the point of creating business ads in the first place?

So, how can you develop outstanding ads that capture the attention of your target audience? What are some creative and innovative ways you can design your ads to achieve optimal results? Overall, how can you get the most return for your advertising investment?

Read on to learn how you can create stellar ads that will actually work for your business.

Coordinate Your Ads with Your Campaign’s Landing Page

When you are creating your Facebook ads, it’s essential to coordinate your ads to the content of your campaign’s landing page for two primary reasons.

First, you’ll receive a substantially higher Ad Relevance rating, giving you the incentive to pay less per click. Facebook Ads are starting to become more competitive, and its CPC rates are steadily rising as a result.

Next, align your ads with your landing pages can boost your conversion rate. When interested buyers click on one of your ads to make a purchase, they expect to receive exactly what they were promised in the ad. If this happens, your brand and your website can gain credibility with your customers who will likely do business with you again.

With the number of online scams spreading throughout the internet, trust is a determining factor to influence prospective customers to provide you with their payment information. Besides, the alignment of your ads and landing pages can effectively decrease your shopping cart drop-off rates.

Constantly Conduct Rigorous Experiments

Needless to say, all businesses are different. Each business has their own target audience, voice, and messages that they want to convey. Hence, you will only waste your time if you rely on industry research and experiments conducted by other businesses that attempt to inform you of how you should run your ad campaigns.

Try conducting your own experiments to generate marketing data you can use to analyze the advertising techniques that work for your business and the ones that don’t. One popular method of accomplishing this is to simply split test your ads.

You can begin by taking your best ad, making copies of it, and changing the headlines of each ad. When you’re finished, you’ll now have multiple ads to experiment with. During your experiment, record important data and metrics such as likes, shares, views, and comments to determine which ad receives the best response.

Once your first experiment is finished, move on to another element such as descriptions and images. Make sure you are testing one element at a time to gain the information you need to construct the perfect ad.

Invest in Video Ads

If you are creating fruitless ads that aren’t performing well on Facebook, it may be time to implement an innovative strategy to boost your ROI and conversion rates.

Investing in video ads is a perfect method of capturing the attention of your audience, and this option gives you the best opportunity to present a timely message in a creative fashion. Facebook allows businesses to create stunning video ads with their custom software, but it can initially be difficult brainstorming quality video ideas that will make your audience bow down and worship your products or services.

If you are struggling with the concept of producing the perfect video ad, take a look at Nike’s video ads for inspiration.

Nike Facebook Ad Video Embed Code

Nike’s video ads carry a motivational tone that successfully inspires their customers to purchase their products. Although Nike has a variety of celebrities at their disposal to market their products in these ads, you can craft an exceptional video and by just following this simple marketing principle: keep all of your ads relevant to your niche.

If you are running a barista, it doesn’t make much sense to create a video ad that’s full of promotions and no substance. What do individuals in your niche crave? For a barista, this obviously would be coffee.

Therefore, if you are promoting a free tasting event at your local barista, create a video ad that displays people drinking and enjoying your coffee and include a call to action at the end of the video. If a single picture is worth a thousand words, then a video should give you unlimited potential to spread your message to your audience.

Nike does this by displaying their products and allowing viewers to make their own decision about continuing with a purchase at the end of the video. Overall, investing in video ads are extremely efficacious for reaching your target audience. Nonetheless, be mindful that your video ads should tell your story and subtly promote your products or services.

Use Facebook Targeting to Your Ad Copy’s Advantage

When it comes to advertising your products or services online, it can be tempting to write your ad copy like you’re giving a speech on a stage. Though, if you want to be effective, create well-written ads that are personable. This means writing ads copy as if you’re selling to one person, and one person only.

This single individual is the person that you’ll have to convince to purchase your goods. Just as if you were a salesperson, you need to prioritize this person’s needs. Of course, your content has to be universal if it’s displayed on your website. However, Facebook gives advertisers the ability to narrow down granular audiences.

For example, if you are selling sportswear but want to create a message just for women, you can target your ads to women who are under 35 that live in the United States and are interested in exercising and fitness. Once you have your specific target audience, you can develop an ad that speaks directly to them.

Ensure That Your Ad Copy Matches Your Visuals

Most smaller business, usually in the B2B section, typically don’t have access to a ton of visuals for their social media networks. Consequently, when it’s time to create an ad, these businesses often scramble to find a last-minute image to accompany their campaign.

This can lead to creating an ad that mismatched. If your ad copy doesn’t align with your image, your audience will have no idea of what you’re advertising and your ad will be wasted.

Starbucks regularly posts captivating visuals that complement their ads. In their signature #StarbucksDate campaign ad, the copy mentioned that anyone who attended the event will receive a French press Caffe Verona with a delicious chocolate brownie. Do you know what images the company used in this ad?

You’re correct. The ad contained images of the French press Caffe Verona with the delicious chocolate brownie. By including a perfect visual in this ad campaign, Starbucks reminded its audience of what they would obtain if they attended their event, resulting in an outstanding ad.

Keep Your Call to Action Very Clear

The most effective Facebook ads have a clear and concise objective. Are you trying to obtain a lead, sell a product, or increase your brand awareness? Without this, your audience will see your ad, but they won’t know what to do or how to engage it.

Society6 sells and advertises custom cell phone cases, and their ads show the perfect example of how a call to action should be displayed.

This ad is much more than a beautiful depiction of quality iPhone cases; the ad contains a simple call to action that’s succinct and easily accessible to Facebook users. Once the image catches the eye of a prospective user, the only thing they will have to do is click “shop now” and they can move forward with their purchase.

Focus on the Offer, Not the Copy

Let’s begin this section by observing a quote left to us by the late Gary Halbert, one of the most brilliant advertisers of the 20th century.

“Strong copy will not overcome a weak offer but…in many cases, a strong offer will succeed in spite of weak copy written by marketing morons.”

In the broadest sense, Halbert communicated that a good offer will succeed on its own. This isn’t to say that excellent copy isn’t integral to an ad’s success, but the offer should always be attractive to be truly effective.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Offer #1

Offer #2

Both of these offers are great, but there is only one offer that truly stands out. Which is it? You would be correct at selecting the second offer, and here’s why.

Although the first offer promises 50% off a women hoodie, the second offer will obviously elicit a more emotional response from its audience. Hence, it’s a very bankable offer. If you’re a dog lover, you will likely purchase the shirt just to feed the shelter dogs without realizing you just bought a shirt.

This isn’t to say that you should begin your own dog shelter, but you’ll only maximize your ad’s potential if you can sweeten up your offer. The best method of doing so is to sell an item without your audience realizing you are.

The fundamental lesson in all of this is to create compelling ads that don’t directly sell your products. Allow your offer to speak for itself, you’ll successfully entice your audience to transform themselves into valuable leads for your business.

About the author:

Rolando Herrera

VP of Marketing for Insignia SEO (Co-Founder)

Business Website: https://insigniaseo.com/

Personal Website: http://rolandolherrera.com/

I’m a marketing executive and entrepreneur that enjoys helping people and businesses grow their concepts. I’ve worked in corporate for Disney, Boston Market, and many others and helped them deliver their brands to consumers. I’m currently a co-founder of a marketing agency, Insignia SEO, with business in over 50 cities in the US. My expertise is in Digital Marketing strategies that use Organic Marketing, Content Marketing, Paid Search Advertising, and Social Media as the delivery of information to the consumer. I have over 10 years of experience in the Tech and Digital Marketing space and I’m passionate about the fruition of a concept in the marketplace.

Insights Startups

Indispensable Things You Must Consider When Hiring Mobile Application Development Company

Miley on September 10, 2018

The business is depending on mobile as mobile application market has grown significantly and playing important role in any business. Technology has growing day by day and small to large business is required to having their mobile applications. Therefore, it is unacceptable to make mistakes while hiring an app developer. You should be sure and careful before hire any app developer as it will make and break situation for you.

We are showing some common mistakes that you should avoid while hiring a mobile app developer for your mobile application.

Confirm the credibility of mobile app developer

This is the most important step before hiring an app developer or mobile app development company. You should ensure their skill sets; their portfolios, their past clients and much other required stuff. Also, try to connect with their past clients and discuss their experience with them, so you get a better idea before hiring any app developer.

Schedule an interview with the developer

This is another important fact irrespective to the company you should take interview of the mobile app developer who will engage in your project. You can better understand the developer’s skills, thoughts and whether s/he enables to understand your requirement or not.

Source: Pixabay

Don’t choose price instead of skills

We agree that budget main constraint of any project while hiring app developer for small and medium size company but that doesn’t mean you should give priority to price over technical skills. You should ensure you hire best app developers who have the right skill for your project and quite affordable, as well.

Don’t be in a hurry to go live

Developing a mobile application is not an easy process. It is a teamwork of all the stakeholders, designers, developers and QA team. None of the developers can able to create an application in no time, so beware from app developers who are promising to complete your application in a few days.

Expert in niche

You should hire an app developer who has worked previously in your industry, as it will give you confidence that they will complete your project successfully. Less knowledge of your niche will give you bad results and you have pitiable mobile application.

Source: Pixabay

Not owning your intellectual property

While you hire mobile app development company or hire an app developer, you should do contract with them for rights of your ownership of source code as well as other properties those are used in your application. It will be useful if you want to upgrade or any changes with other company.

Don’t continue with the unfinished team

You should be in daily communication with the development team and check the daily progress. At a certain level, you might feel that they are behind from the actual time & products are also not up to the mark and will not be able to achieve the deadline. At that time, you should move away from them and hire professional app developers that can fulfill your requirements and complete your project on time.

Conclusion:

We have tried to cover a few common mistakes business owners should avoid while hiring app developer. The world is full of competition and if you desire to stay ahead of your competitors then you should hire app developers who are professional and dedicated to their work. Theunpluggedweb is one of the best mobile app development company in the USA with the team of dedicated developers who are always keen to provide an innovative application for your business. We have expertise in iOS, Android, iPad, and many other technologies.

Insights Martech

Four Tips to Increase Your Followers on Instragam

Miley on September 3, 2018

Who else thinks that since Mark Zuckerberg purchased Instagram, the photo-sharing app has transitioned from being an ordinary fun app? In fact, the number of active users monthly has been over 600 million with over 90 million photos shared and over 1.6 billion likes between them according to this infographic, now that’s amazing.

However, since Instagram has changed a lot since its conception and release, it has also become more difficult to get followers now than ever before. Now, to get Instagram followers some fresh strategies and methods of approach are required. These methods have been used repeatedly by Instagram professionals and celebrities and have been proven to work effectively. In this article, we would be explaining five of them.

Here are four important ways to increase your followers on Instagram:

1. Have a complete Instagram profile

Nowadays, to get many Instagram followers, you must pay attention to what your Instagram page looks like. This includes having a picture, name, short bio and URL on your bio. This is very important if you want to get Instagram followers as it is the first chance you have to create that first impression and compel people to hit the “follow” button when they land on your page.

Your Instagram profile is now like your homepage, and it has become increasingly important to modify it and arrange it in the best way suitable as customers now look to Instagram to find new business.

2. Follow suggested users

One of the key methods of getting more followers is by actually following more people. One of the ways to do this is by going to the “Explore” section and start following some suggested users. About one-third of the people you follow will follow back if they like your Instagram profile. However, do not overdo this step as you don’t want to have more people you’re following than people following you. If you’re wanting to try and increase the number of followers you have, you can look at different avenues you could go down, such as using different Instagram growth services such as this one you can read about in these Kicksta reviews or others alike.

3. Create awesome visual content

Getting people to view your page is half the job most of the time. When you get them to your page, the quality of your profile and more importantly, content will propel them to hit the follow button without thinking twice. To achieve this, ensure that your pictures are clear enough with good back up captions relating to those pictures. Videos are also important to pass clear messages.

You should also check this list of tools for the easiest Instagram post scheduling.

4. Use Hashtags

Ensure you use hashtags that are related to your posts. For example, use hashtags like #WhiteHouse #DonaldTrump if you take a picture with the President in the White House. You can also use hashtags that are not totally related to your post to expose you to a wider audience.

Getting many Instagram followers in this day is the start of something big and important in your business and brand, so be sure to take the measures listed above accurately to achieve this step.

Development Insights Products

Tech Trends To Help You Save Money This Fall

Miley on August 30, 2018

Why not start the fall off with some of the latest gadgets that will help you save energy in your home? Many of these appliances come with remote controls or an app for your phone that will help you keep track of exactly what amount of electricity is being used in your home and when. Follow this guide to stay up to date on the latest technology trends.

Smart Thermostats

Smart thermostats are the next big thing for your home because they offer you complete control over your home’s central air which is good for the homeowner who wants to use the least amount of energy possible. They have tracking features that follow your heating and cooling patterns and they respond to your lifestyle in order to maximize efficiency and save you money. Smart thermostats can be programmed to run only when you’re actually at home and can often be connected to Wi-Fi and controlled remotely from your phone. Just remember if you are going to purchase a smart thermostat then investing in a home warranty plan can help you to safeguard the systems and appliances in your home. Home warranty plans are surprisingly affordable nowadays and can be purchased in most states, so if you live in Missouri you can find plenty of helpful home warranty resources on the First American website here: https://homewarranty.firstam.com/homeowner/home-warranty/missouri

Tankless Water Heaters

Water heating accounts for a significant amount of your total heating costs so why not upgrade your heating tank to the most efficient technology possible? The newest environmentally friendly trend is a tankless water heater that takes up only a small amount of space because there is no storage tank. Some units only turn on when your use your faucets which could save you hundreds of dollars a year.

The benefits of new water heaters outweigh the initial cost because installing one could help you qualify for rebates for energy efficient homes and using one will drastically reduce your energy bill because you’ll be using less energy to heat water. There are lots of options, so be sure to do your research into the best tankless water heater reviews to see which unit will be the best fit for your home.

Energy Saving Power Strip

Did you know that your phone charger still uses power even when your phone isn’t plugged into it? Smart power strips are beneficial to any home because they eliminate wasted energy by ensuring that your appliances aren’t running while you’re not at home and they help reduce cord clutter around outlets. Many of the newer models can be controlled by a remote or by an application on your phone so there is no need to waste any more energy when you leave appliances plugged in.

Smart Lighting Solutions Make Life Easier

Turning the lights off when you leave a room can save you a lot of money on your energy bill but it’s easy to forget to do. Many people are switching to responsive lightbulbs that are activated by motion sensors so their lights will only turn on once you’re in the room. Others are using smart LED bulbs that are designed to respond to an app on your phone that allows you to control the lights all over your house by timing them and dimming them to suit your mood. You can even get lights that change colours.

Fall is a great time to update the gear in your home. Not only will these gadgets help you reduce the amount of energy used in your home in order to save you money, they’ll help you show your friends that you’re on top of your game.

Insights

Why Your Pixel Is An Essential Addition To Halloween

Miley on August 30, 2018

Whether you’re planning a Halloween party for your friends or you’re a parent looking forward to taking their kid trick-or-treating, you’ll want to check out this list. From practical apps to stylish accessories, these tips will make sure your Halloween’s a scream this year.

Find inspiration

If you’re finding it hard to come up with a unique costume idea or the perfect cocktail for your soiree, consider downloading the POPSUGAR Halloween app. It’s a convenient one-stop-shop for all things Halloween. You can use it to find DIY costume ideas and makeup tutorials to make sure your children’s outfits put the other kids’ attempts to shame. Of course, there’s no age limit to Halloween, so you’ll find a helpful section for adult’s singles and couples costumes ideas. It’s also a great resource for those planning on hosting a Halloween party for any age, with spooky cocktail suggestions, recipes, and decoration how-tos just a tap away.

Dress it up

As the official day of dressing up, it only makes sense your handset does the same. The Pixel skin is like a costume for your phone but without the dollar store makeup or Party City accessories. They’re a year-round accessory that fits around your Pixel with the utmost precision when you shop from a skin designer like dbrand. You can choose from a catalogue of true colours and organic textures to find a design that matches your Halloween look, or you can create a purple and orange carbon fibre Pixel skin that goes with everything.

The high-quality skins from dbrand are more than just spooky accessories for your Halloween. They’re made with authentic 3M vinyl to deliver the highest grade materials that protect your handset from scratches, grime, and sticky leftovers from a Halloween haul. It also adds traction to an otherwise slippery device, reducing the chances of someone dropping your Pixel to the floor, where it could break. There’s a 45 percent increase in claims filed for damaged phones on Halloween, so it’s one of the most dangerous days for your handset. Adding one in time for the 31st could save you a lot of grief on the big day.

Take the best photos

What’s the point of dressing up if people aren’t going to see your amazing costume? If you plan on taking as many selfies as possible, download the free Ghost Lens app. This simple editing tool helps you take the creepiest photos and videos possible. It helps you create a delightfully eerie photography by overlaying backgrounds and filters to your shot. You can add special effects, like the app’s clone ghost photo video editor, to make it seem like you’ve captured a ghost or two.

Use a tracker to find your lost phone

It’s not unusual to hear a ghost story or two in the lead-up to Halloween, but the scariest story you’ll hear this October is about how easy it is to lose your phone. You’ll be following your kids all over the neighbourhood. It’s easy to lose track of your phone when you’re constantly pulling it out to take pictures of your little gremlins. If you’re the one dressing up, it’s rare to find a costume with enough pockets. Unless the costume hinges on a pair of khakis, you’re probably going to have to carry your Pixel in your hand. You could set it down and forget it somewhere.

To prevent this horror story from becoming a true-life anecdote of your Halloween, it’s important you care for your Pixel carefully wherever the holiday takes you. When trick-or-treating, keep your pixel in a secure pocket of your jacket or bag to make sure it doesn’t accidentally fall out along the way. As a back-up, sync a Tile tracking device to your Pixel before you head out for the evening. While most commonly used to find things like keys and wallets, the Tile device can help find a lost phone.

Hopefully, you won’t have to use the Tile, but it’s better to be prepared than the opposite. Add a tile tracker to your Halloween checklist, as well as the other apps and accessories listed here today. They can help all the ghosts and ghouls celebrating the holiday have their best Halloween yet.

Development Insights

Do You Want to Improve Your Website Ranking? Seven Useful Tactics to Implement

Miley on August 29, 2018

Are you planning your content marketing strategy? If yes, SEO is the primary objective. Expert marketers work in a way that’s something like this –they have an SEO plan, a list of premium keywords, they start to blog actively and have the website optimized. There’s also a plan for on and off page SEO. The majority of marketers don’t find this to be a problem.

Time, however, is a concern. Also, the weekly tracking often makes you guess, cross your fingers, pray and also consult informative blogs to learn about the advanced SEO trends and tricks. Maximizing leads and high-end website visits are essential. Hence, your content marketing plan requires some help. Also, if you get to see that your competitors and other market players are ranking above you, then there’s work that you need to do.

One thing that you should also consider is going through an audit – you can even use a free SEO audit tool. That will help to keep you on the right track during this process.

So, do you want to improve your website ranking and outshine your competitors? If yes, you can refer to the seven useful SEO tips discussed below.

1. Carry out a competitor analysis

The strongest SEO tactics to increase your website ranks is conducting extensive competitor analysis and research. The first step is to recognize the principal competitors, either through geography, industry, keywords or any other essential aspects. An in-depth analysis will enable you to discern areas where your competitor is doing better than you. It will help you know your weakness. Any competitor analysis that you conduct should include the following activities:

Keyword analysis
Content analysis
Link building analysis

Additionally, tools such as Ahrefs, SpyFu, and SEMrush are useful in website optimization.

2. Evaluate your back-links

Back-links are an essential aspect of a sound SEO strategy. But not every back-link is equally created. Few links will naturally perform better than the rest. Hence, managing performance is essential. It is useful in narrowing down on many other kinds of back-links that are important. Alternatively, you can also understand the websites that are essential for generating high-end traffic.

Are there a few links that are not adding value to the search ranks? If yes, then it is essential to do away with these links. You can use tools such as Aherfs and Majestic that are useful in conducting an in-depth back-link analysis for the website. Want to get professional assistance on this? You can reach out to names like LA SEO Kotton Grammer if you are in Los Angeles and others, to have access to expert guidance.

3. Mobile optimization

The mobile search market is expanding rapidly. Also, marketers have been anticipating for long that mobile might become more impactful than desktops. Back in 2017, mobile took the lead. Today, it records for over a half of global web traffic.

There have been several criterions for mobile development. It is not just essential for websites to look decent. Sites also need to load quickly; else the online visitors will bounce off to other websites. Opting for a stripped-down version of HTML, Google asserts that the AMP optimized web pages generally load 85% faster. Hence, if your site is not optimized for mobile, it’s crucial that you do it today.

4. Make use of a safe HTTP

When you shift to Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) for encryption, you automatically witness many advantages. Some of them are listed below:

Privacy and security: By securing communications between servers and users, the scopes for third party damage or interference reduce significantly. The outcome is high trust from both web browsers and users. And you get to see the warning signs when you browse through the non-HTTPS sites.
Enhanced rankings: With the growing trustworthiness, the majority of websites that have shifted to HTTPS will witness an increase in their search ranks. You can also expect to see a vast number of traffic and referrals gradually. Google recommends secure sites more than the others.

According to statistic, after mid-2017 about 31% of web domain has shifted to HTTPS. And this number has been increasing ever since. It is because secure communication protocols are becoming significant around the globe. Right after you shift to HTTPS, there might be a dip in the search result performance and site rank. It is because of the modifications you make to the URL base. It is for a short span of time, and you’ll witness increased website ranks soon.

5. Optimize the web page speed

The internet speed has increased. Hence, there are high expectations concerning the website performance from all the mainstream users. Based on a study by Adobe, about 40% of the users are going to move away from a website if it takes excess time to load.

Want to boost the website loading time? There’s a lot you can do for the same for example choosing the fastest web hosting provider out there so that your server-side related loading speeds are top notch. And the majority of this is easy to implement. For instance, resort to high-compression for your pictures to minimize the load time. You might also want to make use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which enables your global users to have access to your web content.

6. Voice search optimization

As you attempt to optimize mobile devices, incorporating a better voice search functionality is a smart call. The primary objective of the same is to concentrate on the voice search that is the source for “Featured Snippet” as Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa that will read out data from the sources.

7. Making use of structured data

The website crawlers have gotten more advanced and gained expertise over the years. However, what is apparent to a human user is entirely vague to a machine. The outcome is, occasionally, the site crawlers might make mistakes or overlook a data when your website is indexed. The solution, therefore, is to make use of structured data.

Making use of structured data is formatting your site code to an identical layout. When the search engine crawlers index your website, they will be able to gather precious information. It is because it got designed in the expected format.

The online market space is getting flooded with new companies and brands every day. Every company wants their brand to outshine the other market players. Everyone wants to experience increased website ranks. And to be able to witness this consistently needs serious work. You can opt-in for the above-discussed SEO tactics that are tried and tested and are meant to enhance the website rankings.

Development Insights Martech

Video Marketing – Tips To Succeed With Your Online Videos

Miley on August 21, 2018

Video marketing is a sales strategy in which audiovisual pieces are used to promote a product or service, mainly online. In short, it is about adding videos to your online marketing strategy, through different platforms.

Here, you will see the different reasons why you should use video marketing in your online strategy to improve your communication to your target audience, as well as a series of tips and the different channels that you can use to broadcast your audiovisual messages.

This type of marketing is booming in our society; you have to take a look at the data of recent months, which reveal that nine out of ten people see the videos of the brands they like. And more than 65% of these people visit the website of the brand in question after viewing the video.

A bit of data

The online audiovisual content has a significant consideration today. It has become a key player among the population. An average user watches 66 minutes of online video per day. The audiovisual content already exceeds 70% of the entire volume of the network, estimating that it will reach 84% by the end of 2018 according to a study carried out by Accenture.

The so-called Generation Y or “Millennial” (young people between 18 and 34 years old) is having a significant weight. They are modifying the way to receive advertising. This generation has changed television hours by watching online video. These viewers watch 20 hours per week of video on the internet, compared to 8 hours of television (Adweek data). This means that television campaigns are less seen by this young public. It is therefore imperative that companies adapt and seek new ways to reach this part of the population.

Why you should use video marketing

The reasons for using video marketing are innumerable. These are some of them:

Message: A message transmitted audiovisually is much more effective, precise and comprehensible to the general public. One minute transmits the same information as 1.8 million words. A video allows you to express a message with many more resources, getting a more creative and emotional message. Also, when reaching the user through several senses, 80% of consumers remember the brand better if they have seen an audiovisual content about it.
Leisure: Watching videos does not require any effort on the part of the viewer, and they are associated with leisure. Therefore, it is easier to capture and maintain the user’s attention than with a written text.
Virality: Audiovisual material is the most susceptible format to be shared and therefore to be a viral content. 90% of shared videos appeal to emotional and humorous content. The important thing is to know what the audience is looking for so that more people share the content.
Purchase: The audiovisual content of a page helps the decision of online buyers. 85% of users say that they are willing to buy pages with videos about the product, as it makes it more attractive and provides extra information about its content or operation.
SEO: The videos help the positioning of your web page. Specifically, there are 50 times more chances to appear on the first page of Google. Thanks to audiovisual content, users spend more time on the website for its reproduction. Also, the more you share the video, the more visits your web portal will have.

Types of Video Marketing

To know what is best suited to your company, we will differentiate between different types of video marketing:

Advertisers: They are classic television spots, which can also be distributed by online media.

Corporate: Those that show the functions and values of the company. It is the presentation of the entity in an audiovisual way.

Portfolio: They show the different professional jobs of the company so that the client sees their best work.

Demonstrative: They are the ones that show the operation, characteristics and advantages of a product or service. Highlighting its value and importance, and thus encouraging its sales.

Tutorials: Explanatory pieces that offer training on one of the company’s products, positioning themselves as experts in the sector.

Testimonials: They reflect the experiences and opinions of real customers about products and services of the company.

Events: They show the presence of the company in important events of the sector, increasing its value and leadership in the guild.

Broadcast channels for Video Marketing

For a video marketing campaign to be a success, the distribution platform must be chosen correctly. The most successful channels are the following:

Email marketing: Thanks to the video marketing implanted in the mail, you ensure the attention of the viewer from the first moment you open the mail since the video will be played immediately, thanks to tools such as Autoplay. The success of this method is explained in that it is the user who has asked to receive information about the company and will pay much more attention and interest to a video than to a written text. Also, we will avoid distractions from the traditional advertising of e-mail providers.

Youtube: It is the largest and most important platform for videos on the internet. In a month, more than 5,000 million hours of audiovisual content are displayed, uploaded by the users of the platform.

There are different ways to use YouTube. The first is to use free video marketing. It consists of uploading videos of the brand to its official channel, which can be viewed through a link on the company’s website, or on the Youtube platform. The second is to use tools like Trueview. With the payment of a fee, the video of your brand will appear at the beginning of the video that the user wants to see, as an advertisement. Videos of less than three minutes are the most successful. Short form video content doesn’t require the viewer to concentrate for very long, so you need to focus on making your videos engaging and high impact in the shorter run-time.

If you feel this is your strong suit, you might benefit from directing your marketing efforts to a platform like TikTok, which is highly popular with the younger generation. This can be a lucrative market to target, especially if you were utilise online resources, such as this site which can be your complete guide to buying TikTok followers and other similar platforms. Using social media growth services can give your account the social proof required to get potential customers on-board with your business, having a large amount of followers gives the perception that you’re well established and trustworthy. Combining this with high quality content can help you to organically grow in no time.

Other broadcast channels for video marketing are Vimeo and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tips to succeed in video marketing

Finally, here are some tips to help you succeed with your video marketing campaign:

Starts strong: The first seconds of your video marketing is the most important. You must capture the viewer’s attention from the start.

Pass a message: Your video should convey valuable information about the product or service that is promoted, convincing the viewer that yours is the best in the competition.

Be consistent: If you make videos promoting your brand frequently, the viewer will know it better and will tend to consider it as the main one in case you need a product.

Feelings: Videos that use humour or emotions are the most persuasive when it comes to selling a brand. Try to provoke an emotional response. This way, the viewer will remember the brand much better.

Brevity: A video marketing should last less than two minutes. The less, the better, to avoid taking the time of the users and having a bad image of the brand.

Action: Your video should end with a call to action. A web page or purchase link is enough. This serves so that the spectator becomes a client.

Author Bio:

Melissa Crooks is a Content Writer who writes for Hyperlink Infosystem, one of the leading app development companies in New York, USA & India that holds the best team of skilled and expert app developers. She is a versatile tech writer and loves exploring the latest technology trends, entrepreneur and startup column.