The Biggest ASO Mistakes To Avoid in 2021

Underestimating ASO’s Impact

It’s easy to overlook the impact that App Store Optimization can have on your app or game. Between internet marketing campaigns, social media, and good old-fashioned word of mouth, do you really need to optimize your app for the app store? The answer is a resounding yes. ASO works with your other marketing efforts to generate organic downloads and helps keep your conversion rate high. Without ASO, a prospective user might see an ad, become interested in your app, and then get distracted before downloading it. With ASO, you’ll increase the chance that users see your app on the Browse or Explore section later, earning you a download.

Treating ASO and SEO Identically

ASO and SEO use many of the same techniques. Despite this, they’re quite different, and it pays to think about them separately. There are a number of ASO tools that you can use to boost your rank in the app store that won’t work in SEO and vice versa. Things like paid advertisements, improving your visuals and changing where you have what keyword can make a huge impact on your app store rank. These same techniques do very little for SEO.

Ignoring App Quality

Both Google and Apple use a number of metrics to determine your app’s visibility on the app store. Some of the most important metrics have to do with how good your app is at keeping your users satisfied. User engagement, user retention, and even the speed at which your app downloads can have massive impacts on how visible your app is in the store. Bad reviews and bug reports can tank your ASO, while good reviews and great retention will encourage the store to show your app to prospective new users.

Failing To Understand Your Niche

The best apps are the kings of small kingdoms. When you’re starting out, it’s important to define exactly what your app is, who it’s for, and who you’re competing against. This lets you figure out what your users want, making it easy to deliver an outstanding product or experience. Don’t forget to scout out the competition: check out their listings regularly, study any changes they make, and adjust your own ASO strategies to compensate.

Not Starting Before The App Is Released

You might need an app to have an app store listing, but you do NOT need an app to do keyword research, to research your niche, to start A/B testing on prospective customers, or to assemble the graphics that your store page will use. Getting all of this done before you launch lets you hit the ground running. Ideally, you’ll know exactly what your app store page will look like well before your app is ready to release.

Putting Keywords In The Wrong Places

Even if you’ve researched a great set of keywords you still have to put them in the right place. In the Apple App Store, there’s not a lot of room for keywords. With only 30 characters in your app name, 30 characters in your subtitle, and 100 characters in your keywords field, you’re essentially limited to extra-important keywords. It’s tempting to try to cram as many as you can into these fields, but be careful – readability is often more important than getting in a few extra search terms.

On Google Play, by contrast, you have a 4,000 character description that you can use to insert all of your long-tail keywords. Adding an important keyword or two to the title field is still a must, however, as the description field isn’t weighted very highly by the algorithm.

Using Bad Visuals

SEO is almost entirely about words, but ASO is often about pictures. Having strong visuals for your icon, screenshots, and videos on the app store can massively boost your conversion rate. This has an exponential effect on your ASO strategy: the more users download your app, the more the app store will want to show it to new users, and the strong visuals will in turn make these new users more likely to download.

Neglecting A/B Testing

Just because something sounds great to you and your team doesn’t mean that your target audience likes it. Be sure to regularly test your visuals, copy, and videos to make sure that your app store listing is as effective as it can be. A/B testing involves running two different sets of listings, each with different versions of one or more elements. By comparing metrics, you can choose the version that performs better and draw conclusions about how you can adjust things in the future.

On Android, the Google Play Console has a built-in platform for performing A/B testing, called Experiments. On the Apple App Store, however, you’ll need to use ASO tools to perform proper A/B testing.

Failing To Use ASO Tools

Trying to do everything involved in ASO by yourself is simply impossible. Neither Google nor Android shows you all of the useful metrics by default, so you’ll be in the dark when it comes to your app’s true performance. Not only do ASO tools like TheTool put all of your KPIs, ratings, reviews, and other metrics at your fingertips, they also let you snoop on your competitors, research keywords, and more. Used properly, ASO tools can massively multiply the effectiveness of your ASO strategies by giving you the information and leverage you need to find the right strategy, fast.

ASO – The Key To App Success?

If you’d like your app or mobile game to take off this year, don’t forget to think about ASO! Optimizing your app to show up in the app store’s search, browse, and explore sections will give you a steady stream of organic new users. By delivering a quality app that lives up to your app store description, you’ll retain those users, generate word-of-mouth advertising, and let your platform know that your app is great. This can quickly lead to a feedback cycle of exponential growth, where great reviews and great retention by existing users lead to the app store showing your app to more and more prospective users. Using the best ASO tools to track your metrics and improve your strategies is a must for any developer that wants to harness this exponential growth.

The post ASO Mistakes You Need To Avoid In 2021 appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Web developers specialize in front-end, back-end, and full-stack development. Each evolving around the web development trends that imbibe the ever-changing demands of users and industries. Growth of web development is higher than in other industries. The jobs worldwide rise from 1.67 lacs in 2018 to 1.69 lacs in 2019. With rising jobs and technological advancements, the expectations form developers are altering. They encourage to keep sharpening their skills and continue learning.

Main 8 Web Development Trends

Technology like push notifications may not seem but are part of web development trends. They are powerful in creating a great user experience, reaching out maximum people who had visited your site. It focuses on reducing the marketing efforts of the company. The reason for it being popular is the use of mobile applications. It has increased with rising in a number of Smartphone users.

On the web applications, these push notifications are used to deliver a different kind of information to the end users. They bring in a variety of results (e.g. new series of books, fashion accessories, stock, etc.) This is developing and companies have started using it, as it does not require user’s registration. It additionally provides interactive channels for companies to relate with their target audience, which in turn provides additional marketing opportunities. Push notifications built using tools like PushEngage, PushCrew, and One Signal etc are show stoppers.

Technology and web development trends keep changing and attracting organizations to adapt and encompass the latest one. Technology can never take a back seat. Hence we need to trace the best of the web development trends of 2019.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and BOTs

The digital transformation strategy used by companies involves technologies like AI, ML, and Bots. The web-based and mobile applications assist in every phase of the project and routine tasks. They are gaining popularity and acceptance from organizations all over the world. AI has given a new curve to customer support an assumption. They say almost 40% of companies will opt for it to enhance productivity and achieve customer satisfaction. Business Management Solutions like ERP, CRM, HRMS will facilitate process automation, increase proficiency, bring in accuracy and professionalism, reduce operational expenses, and relate to profitability.

Machine Learning Development

ML is growing on collective know-how and gradually builds the responses and incessantly improve them. Bots or Chat Bots is robotic process automation. They have begun replacing humans in job works that are monotonous and need extreme precaution or standardization e.g. Customer care, Healthcare and Smart Home devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, etc. The assumptions that people may run out of jobs due to this technology is a myth. For those who will upgrade themselves, the nature of jobs will change and people will draw satisfaction form quality jobs.

Modern innovative applications change the interactions humans have with machines. Sites like Facebook and Skype used bots and slowly every service sector business wants to implement it or has it. The Chatbots have been improving with machine learning and artificial intelligence applied together. Customize applications and their 24×7 availability benefits users as well as businesses. Bots market will rise to 1.25 billion by the year 2025.

Developers need to learn Python, R, Lisp, Prolog, and Java to work in field of Artificial Intelligence. Languages like C++, R, Python, and Java will let you work on Machine Learning.

Blockchain Technology

This open decentralized ledger is designed for multiparty interactive transactions. It allows the addition of new entries and restricting the modification of existing entries making the transactions secure. Fast and secure peer-to-peer transfer of digital goods enhances online transactions, reducing the dependencies, eliminating the unnecessary checkpoints or parties.

It improves transparency cultivating the culture of trust in business relations. It can restrict access by authorization making it professionally acceptable with digital certificates used in blockchain. The ease of transaction, its validation, and verification, records of the transaction

Initially, blockchain linked with the cryptocurrency bitcoin used in buying food, hotel stays, etc.. Now this technology used in applications for banks, supply chain, accounting, and various services. Developing blockchain programs will need languages like Go, C, C++, JAVA, and Python.

Web Development Trends – Cyber Security

Increased digitalization and growth of industries is technology bound with IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data. Cybersecurity is for the safety of business documents. Confidential information is crucial. It keeps business software and servers safe, increasing cyber theft, data breaches, and hacking activities. Internet users are increasing internet users, which is around 56% of the world population. Viruses like Ransomware attacks leak victim’s personal and professional data, companies fear this and spend more on antivirus software.

Cybercrime Vs. Cyber Security

IoT and serverless apps is also a reason for increased cybercrime. More devices are internet connected providing channels to the cyber attack. Affecting the cybersecurity will attract investment in cyber solutions that provide software and hardware protection against electronic data damage. Developers have a lot of chances. This field has less number of professionals and experts than required by industry to produce persistent solutions. ,

Cyber Security is evolving around other technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Cloud Technology. In future robots will help to defend cyber-attacks. New technologically advanced solutions can prevent cyber threats and thefts at a preliminary stage. Hackers will continue to break security and enter the phase. Developers with a keen interest in Cyber Security should know C, C++, Python, JavaScript, PHP, and SQL. Jobs in this field can get them a six-figure income.

JavaScript

This language is popular in software development; nearly 70% of developers use it worldwide whether as individuals or private and public organizations. It is the best programming language for website processing and information display. Practically speaking, every website has JavaScripted codes that help run the functionality or process animations on the websites.

The libraries and design of this language have evolved over a period to benefit the users. It provides a completely fresh experience with its flexibility and power for programming. Developers with Javascript knowledge can survive in the market even when the market is changing faster than expected. It allows them to meet the web development trends. After 20-25 years of extensive use of JavaScript, it has become officially a standard language for website development. It has dozens of libraries and alternative languages originated from this framework.

JavaScript Additions

Angular is most suited for application development due to adaptability and ease of connecting with other libraries. React.js is a JavaScript library that creates interactive user interfaces extremely useful for single-page apps and mobile apps. It allows the editing page changes in life without reloading the page. Vue.js is light and easy to use compared to React.js. It is an open source framework for creating user interfaces and single-page applications. JavaScript includes all these new additions making it frequently used language for web development and web development trends.

Web Development Trends – Mobile-Friendly Website

Mobile users have increased extensively, so the businesses need to have Mobile-friendly websites that work well on Smartphone. Gone are the days when people adjusted that the websites will not display accurately on mobile phones. Technology has changed. The new touch controls used in web development trends make them fit on small screens allowing quick navigation and faster loading.

Google’s mobile-optimized search index provides best user experience irrespective of the device they use to log in or search. Companies need to focus on these web development trends without any further delay as the statistics of mobile users in 2019 is 4.68 billion and predicted to reach at 4.78 billion by 2020. Developers need to have a grip over Python, Java, PHP, and C++ in order to work in this field. In the near future, the demand for mobile-friendly websites is climbing the peak with the attractive traffic and sales every company enjoys.

Voice Search Optimization

This invention is very useful and is one of the latest web development trends. The people who cannot type or do not want to type, people who are not aware of how to search can easily find the information with VSO. People who want to search but are busy in driving, taking care of kids, eating food and cannot search using the mobile screen for the voice search optimization is a boon. Users are already using it in Google search, GPS maps, etc. It is slowly gaining popularity; it is likely that use of VSO will rise up to 30% of total search by the year 2020.

This technology will not only change the way people search but also make things easier and may increase selection, sales and change the competition game. Considering the market situation, consumer mindset, preferences, and acceptance of new technologies shall make voice search optimization the web development trends that you will need to implement if you want to lead the market. Technology has two parts of Web Speech API, one is speech recognition, and another is speech synthesis. Speech recognition works towards recognizing voice context that helps in responding to queries. Speech synthesis is just a text to speech component due to which scripts can read text content. Combining both the speech recognition and synthesis gives user unique experience. 

Web Development Trends – Motion UI

Static page websites are similar to plain vanilla flavor, for dynamic layout and graphic presentation that is appealing requires motion UI. It can add energy to any page making it lively enough to hold user’s attention keeping them engaged for a longer duration on that page increasing the probability of prospect turning to lead later converting to sales.

This technology is spreading fast as strategies defined on the current situations, demands, web development trends and market trends as more successful. We all observer, the user’s behavioral change and the attention span which is declining. If the page is not interesting the users may not even stay there for a fraction of second and interesting display, animation and content makes them visit the websites frequently rising your Search Engine Optimization rank organically. Most unique aesthetics suggested for every website giving its a point of differentiation. Motion UI animation libraries permit entry and access to developers for customizing animating requirements.

Motion UI Applications

Applying Motion UI is one of web development trends due to its flexibility, simplicity. Know how of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS can help you master motion UI in a way that can provide unique and memorable experiences to the users. This technology allows you to be a creative expert with animating 3D objects, illustrations, and shapes. Either combine it on the existing webpage by making changes to it or create a new one.

Motion UI makes users feel welcome and other attractive features help to reduce bounce rates on the website or applications. Places, where animations are incorporated, are the login page, dashboard, calendar, Field forms, rotation of the image, profile page, text editor animation, scroll, settings, maps, printing and many more features that can be more attractive.

Few precautions can make the user accept the animations is limiting the number of animations per page, not necessary to animate each feature, see to it that they load faster and do not irritate or hide the content. Allow it to scroll not hang over all the time or repeat too often in order to engage the user. The simple things like buttons; toggles etc. if animated to make the website look fancier can pay off well. Animation experts will remain in demand at least for a while now.

Progressive Web App

They are web apps load just as web pages, however, provide the experience similar to that of a mobile app. Progressive web apps built to run across devices like mobiles, tablets, desktops, ensure the same kind of flawless experience to the users every time they open this app. They do not need downloading on any mobile device for it to be fully functional. These pages are loaded from the browser on user’s request and closed with the click on tab close. PWAs are modern applications, which have a high level of functionality.

These apps built to load instantly on any type of network strength and browser choice, this is possible due to progressive development strategy for web design that emphasizes on main webpage content. PWA brings reliable user experience due to its data being displayed on the web as instant apps thus data manipulation is not possible, it can be shared as URL, the best part is they create no cache issues and the push notifications encourage the users to remain engaged or re-connect. Progressive Web Apps combines the features of mobile and desktop web applications. Best PWAs are apps like Trivago, Forbes, Twitter Lite, and Flipkart Lite, etc. Progressive Web Apps recognizes the mobile gestures and movements on the web browser, it assists to take desired actions whether it is selecting and moving the items in cart or view them offline.

Benefits of Progressive Web Apps

The benefits of these non-downloadable apps are in analyzing consumer behavior, draw the customer back to the site by features that work at great speed and are attractive, increase user engagement and conversion. PWA sites are light and programmed to work faster leaving no traces makes them highly acceptable by users more than the mobile version of websites. Progressive Web Apps are custom made and proficiently applied in industries such as banking and finance, travel, e-commerce, media, and healthcare. Developers planning to work on PWA need to know HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

As businesses, grow so do, their needs and web development trends in by various sectors their products/ services and their differentiation point while the technology used earlier may lose its importance due to introduction of new technology and its features.

Downward Web Development Trends

Web Development Trends – Single Page Application

This type of application may sound boring but it is useful for the businesses that need or prefer to display huge images and large content or has such dependency that breaking information in parts may cause a disconnect. Viewers may prefer to surf such pages as the content in a single page, thus reducing the effort of navigation to different pages and simply have to scroll down. It is quite successful due to its simplicity in development and convenience in use.

This web application created using Javascript works well among various user devices like mobile, tablets, and desktops. It improves performance, lessens interruptions of page reloading, decreases time and effort of web development and saves users time of waiting after each request to fetch new HTML from the server. Latest SPAs developed using React and Angular JS seems to work faster than earlier ones. The SPAs can take time in loading if information or images are large and the viewer can lose interest.

They are different from the normal websites and hence the SEO does not work in our favor, the Google analytics works on the complete page loading which takes time in single page application when compared to other sites. Small companies or startups may prefer this Single Page Application.

Low-Code Development

The minimum coding at a fast speed to deliver the development is Low-Code Development. Application development platforms facilitate rapid application delivery even with minimal coding effort, faster setup, and deployment.

Developers who want to release their programs immediately on the server prefer this low code development as it reduces load, and gives the user a wholesome experience. Its main use is for enterprise apps that processes payments, handle email marketing systems, as well as content management systems. It is conceptually for people with minimal or absolutely zero technical expertise that prefer to use this low-code development software to create enterprise apps targeting certain company requirements, requiring automatic code generation, visual programming, and drag and drop modules.

It speeds up the development process but it cannot be a solution to well programmed strong coded applications. They are very basic and cannot sustain the complex programming due to which low-code development is on the downside of the trend.

The minimum coding at a fast speed to deliver the development is Low-Code Development. Application development platforms facilitate rapid application delivery even with minimal coding effort, faster setup, and deployment. Developers who want to release their programs immediately on the server prefer this low code development as it reduces load, and gives the user a wholesome experience.

Use of Low-Code Development

Its main use is for enterprise apps that processes payments, handle email marketing systems, as well as content management systems. It is conceptually for people with minimal or absolutely zero technical expertise that prefer to use this low-code development software to create enterprise apps targeting certain company requirements, requiring automatic code generation, visual programming, and drag and drop modules. It speeds up the development process but it cannot be a solution to well programmed strong coded applications. They are very basic and cannot sustain the complex programming due to which low-code development is on the downside of the trend.

Web Development Trends – Downward Internet of Things

The data generating devices embedded with electronics that can communicate with each other are due to the Internet of Things. The data generated through the devices is more used for improving service for user specific. This data collected in large quantities, later processed for business development via real-time and speedy analysis. Even when there is poor internet, connectivity the data processed at the micro-data centers usually referred to as edge computing; data dispatched later to the centralized data center for processing.

The load on the internet is minimum, tight security and privacy, lower data management costs and lesser inactivity. Internet of Things will never die as we continue to fetch data and utilize it but it is already developed hence it cannot be considered in the web development trends as of now unless innovation bounces it back. Developers willing to work in IoT should learn C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Swift, and PHP.

The web development industry with eminent new frameworks, design and web development trends and mobile web app development satisfies the ever-rising demands of individuals and businesses. This field is challenging, the errors are easily noticeable and the efforts are not when it works smoothly, the technology gets appreciation and when web application fails Nowadays technology and web development keep changing. So, to keep on track, we need to trace the best of the web development trends of 2019!to perform it is a developer’s blunder.

Final Points –
Web Development Trends

Selecting the technology best for your client/ business is your job that needs precision and the decision making backed up with the knowledge and expertise. So, no matter what the web development trends opt for one that suits your idea and business strategy for it to execute well.

Concluding the discussion, web development trends will ensure jobs in development, programming, testing, support, and maintenance and make them more interesting for those who love educating and practicing. The industry will continue to embrace the new technology and you need to sail with the tide abolishing your orthodox concerns that mainly arise out of insecurity built over ignorance.

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Benefits of Building Your own App

1. Mobile apps work faster than the websites.
2. Their ability to work offline and online.
3. Apps provide instant notification and updates to the user.
4. Apps have their own beneficial features.
5. Building your own app reduces cost and increases communication.

When we talk about building apps, Ionic app development is the best option. Ionic app development is a mobile app development framework that helps the developer to create the mobile apps in Javascript, CSS, and HTML in any language which the developer prefers. At M-Way solutions large-scale, enterprise-level apps with Ionic are built. In addition to this, Generator-M-Ionic is also created which delivers highly advanced workflows and Ionic CLI is created for the Ionic app development.

Salient Features of Generator-M-Ionic

1. Provides Functional Workflows

• For Ionic app development, quality assurance, building apps, testing etc.
• For sensitive and complex projects like managing versions of API’s, app icons etc.

2. Standardisation of Project Setup

• Easily configures development tools like Git and ESLint.
• Can easily be modified to adjust with different project requirements
• Makes usage of apps easy and more approachable.

3. Embeds Easily into the Ecosystem

• Easily fixes into the Ionic platform, Ionic CLI, and Relution.
• Uses a technology stack which many people are aware of Git, Gulp, Cordova, Yeoman, Bower etc.

Development of Apps with Ionic and Generator-M-Ionic

Make Your System Ready

Firstly, you have to install Node and if you want to run your app on a real device during development then you have to download Platform SDH’s. To make your work hassle free, you can follow the ‘Installation and prerequisites guide’. After setting up everything, launch the terminal and run it. Further, other development tools will get installed like Bower which helps in managing client packages like Angular, Yeoman which runs the Generator-M-Ionic, Gulp which runs all post setup task.

Creation of Your Project

After all the above things are done, then you have to create a new folder to generate the project. Then you have to keep the name of your project. To get more information you have to go through the question’s document. After all these procedures, run the programme. After that, your default browser will run automatically. Adding the flag will prevent opening the browser. Finally, your app is built.

Structure of the File

Now your project folder contains numerous files which were generated for you. Some of the important files are-

• Cordova related files and folders
• Application Files
• Gulp Tasks and dependencies
• index.html

Git Integration

Git integration is for securing your progress. Your project comes with the fixed tuned Git integration already. Git ignores all the files which are not useful and specific for your project. To know more about Git integration, you can take the help of Git integration guide. It can help you solve your problems and confusions.

This was the first part of the series; coming to the second part includes testing, plugins, quality assurance, an addition of angular components, running your app on a browser and on a device etc.

Difficulty in Cross-platform HTML 5 App

Despite having notable tools like Angular JS, Cordova Ionic, Generation-M-Ionic( which supports Windows, mobile web, Android) Cross-platform HTML 5 can be difficult. A lot of things like offline data, persistence, data syncing etc. have to be given much emphasis to satisfy the customers.

Ionic App Development Includes

1) Quality assurance– Generation-M-ionic ensures that the coding you are doing is of high quality.

2) Coding

• Now, for the Ionic development, you have to add your own Angular components using the subgenerators.
• To style up the app add some Sass
• Add Cordova plugins to use with ngCordova for the proper functioning of the app.
• Add some bower packages for special purposes.

3) Browser or Device- which is better?

Apps can work on the browser using gulp watch. But, when working with plugins, apps should be tested on a device as well. If your system is set up according to the Cordova Platform Guides, then it is a quite easy task-

1. Connect the device to your machine.
2. Ensure that the network you are using is the same for both the machine and the device.
3. Begin the livereload command and make it run.

With the use of livereload you can make changes to your coding and can immediately see those changes on the device as well. This is why it is named ‘live reload’. Now your app is ready to be tested on the device.

The post Ionic App Development – How to Scale Your Ionic Apps appeared first on DesignWebKit.

A future-proof, sustainable business has to follow the latest technologies and embrace them closely. The most recent of these is mobile optimization through various SEO rules that are important to remember during the app design phase. So here are our top ten tips on how to make website mobile friendly.

Fast Initial Load Times

The first metric to set you apart is how fast your page loads are. The initial load time for your website shouldn’t be more than three seconds on mobile. Most developers are used to creating dynamic sites for the web – featuring a slew of scripts and style sheets. However, mobile phones don’t pack the same power as desktop computers.

If anything, their processors are often weaker, which means all those scripts will take a second or two longer to load. Before launching your site, it would do you a lot of good to use the page speed insights tool for mobile-friendly SEO provided by Google.

How to make website mobile friendly? You could go about optimizing your site by removing some of the analytics on the mobile site or redirecting users to a different subdomain based on their device. This subdomain could contain an optimized site built specifically for mobile users.

Watch Out for Fat-Finger Error

Fat finger error is a lot more common than most people are willing to admit. Most developers design with their own prejudices in mind. One of these is that their site will be easy to navigate regardless of who visits it.

For instance, Joy McMillan, Team Lead – Term paper writers at Aussie Writings, says, ‘’Spelling mistakes are common in our field of work. This extends to the mobile SEO space as well.’’ She adds, ‘’You strive to get your keywords right and then to waste the opportunity by misspelling them is something you cannot afford to do.’’

When designing your site, create a margin of error. Imagine the average, not-obese-but-really-is American and think of how easy it would be for them to click a button or link on your site. Mobile menus and navigation options should be large enough to be seen and wide enough to be easily clickable by fat-finger Sally.

Compress Your Content

Videos and audio can dramatically slow down how fast the page loads, which is especially true for limited-power mobile devices. You could cut the length of your videos, but that really won’t do if you want to deliver them in HD.

The alternative, techy way would be either tell your developers to use gzip compression on every request delivery or manually compress everything yourself. The former option is preferable because it means a lot less work for you in the end.

Manual compression would entail visiting size shrinking sites for every photo, audio, and video you want to put up on your website. On the other hand, gzip compression is a lot better for mobile friendly SEO since it works on everything – from fonts to scripts and even multimedia content such as audio.

Don’t Block the Page While Loading Content

A common design-fail some developers make is to block the loading of the rest of the page using various scripts and images. Normally, when the browser meets a script, for instance, a javascript link in the HTML ‘head’ tag, it will fetch the script, execute it and move on to the next one. If it meets a CSS script, it will be fetched and rendered before the next element is catered to. This will lead to some serious issues with load times.

If you can, server-side rendering is a lot more convenient and lighter on the browser than client-side rendering. Server-side rendering is more convenient for crawlers and bots, which is a big plus for mobile search SEO.

Lastly, scripts that don’t have to be loaded right away can be marked with the ‘async’ option, and those that aren’t strictly necessary can be marked with the ‘defer’ option. If the user’s internet connectivity is slow, any ‘deferred’ scripts will be skipped altogether.

Have Different Landing Pages

Any business person will tell you your landing page could be the single piece of the puzzle that makes or breaks your business. Landing pages are what welcome customers. It is what helps them to explore more of your site and lead to lower bounce rates.

Having a single, really long page, or even multiple long pages to cover the various aspects of your business is a prevalent and harmful idea. The better mobile search SEO strategy would be to have different landing pages for each campaign. This will not only help keep every page as simple and uncluttered as possible, but it will also improve interactivity with the site. The best way to improve user engagement is to improve the overall aesthetic.

Avoid Pop-ups at All Costs

Alongside landing pages, another mobile SEO google recommendation is to get rid of any pop-ups on your site in favor of more user-friendly options. It’s a fairly recent development, but newer versions of Chrome, the most popular browser in the world, flag websites with intrusive pop-ups, especially if they are ads.

Flagged websites will have their mobile SEO google rankings cannibalized and may not see the light of day if they don’t change within a set amount of time.

Accordingly, the only acceptable kind of pop-ups you should have are age consent forms. Most countries protect children under the age of 13 from partaking in certain kinds of online activities. You could either show a simple banner at the top (or bottom) indicating your privacy policy.

Limit the Number of Forms

Another trend that usually goes hand-in-hand with intrusive pop-ups are forms and inputs littered all over the page. It’s not strictly forbidden, but pop-up forms in the middle of a user scrolling your site have been historically bad luck. These will end up being a bigger burden than you have to bear.

The rule of thumb is to never have more than one registration form or input on any single page. And if you do decide to go this route, be strategic about how to display them.

A common rule for SEO for mobile devices is to have a script that detects if the user is about to leave, then show the newsletter form. Registration forms, on the other hand, can be shown to users who try to access content that needs authorization to view. This includes downloading certain content and personalized content.

Have a Simple, Clear CTA

Another way of avoiding annoying pop-ups and limiting the number of forms your site displays is by having a simple, clear CTA. Considering the smaller size of mobile devices, one of the simplest SEO for mobile devices to live by is only showing relevant information. This would mean reducing the amount of content being shown at any single time, and important links should be highlighted.

Any buttons you want clicked should be large, well-labeled and clear to enable easy navigation of your site and increase user engagement. Remember, engagement is an important part of mobile SEO and market acquisition.

Test on All Popular Browsers

Websites are always either designed on desktops or laptops. The user interface differs greatly as the size of the screen shrinks, and there is less screen real estate to take advantage of.

As you might have guessed, with all the different kinds of devices available on the market, testing each one of them is no mean feat. Luckily enough, you don’t have to. Since the browser takes care of everything to do with the native software, all you have to worry about is the size of the screen (and browser).

Browsers handle data very differently, thanks to a little something called the rendering engine. The end result is Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Internet Explorer all handle HTML very differently. Each of these popular browsers has a ‘developer tools’ sidebar where you can emulate everything about a mobile device – user agent and screen size. Once you are confident about the responsiveness of your site, you are one step closer to mobile SEO optimization.

Summing up Mobile SEO

Mobile usage has grown dramatically in the last decade or so, and it isn’t slowing down. By 2030, there are expected to be a billion more people with access to phones and a reliable internet connection. With all that market lying around, you need to be prepared on the mobile SEO battlefield.

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What is hybrid app development?

A hybrid application is essentially a web application which can run in a thin native container and as such can use the functionality of both web and mobile worlds.

A native application is a software that is designed to run on a specific device. The mobile applications are basically native in nature. They are designed either for Android or iOS devices. So, a native app is one which is designed for a particular device or platform.

Web applications, on the other hand, make use of the client-server architecture. The client typically runs on a web browser and sends requests to a web server over the internet.

What is hybrid app and how to build it? A hybrid application is built using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript are capable of some offline functionality and can use your device’s camera, calendar, geolocation, contacts and more. The mobile provides what is known as the WebView for running your hybrid application. It is a miniature web browser or simply put, a chrome-less browser. It lets you display and interact with web pages.

To the layman, it is difficult to distinguish between a mobile application and a hybrid application. On an Android platform, a WebView has all the features of a browser like a history, cookies, HTML5, JavaScript support and more. On an iOS, a WebView may contain tap highlights and touch callouts.

Also, the virtual keyboard will contain the Next and Previous button. There is a difference in the scrolling momentum of a WebView and a native view on an iOS. A network analysis tool can be used to detect whether the application is a hybrid one in iOS.

Some important tools available for hybrid app development

1. PhoneGap (Apache Cordova) – It is the most popular mobile hybrid app development tool. It used to be formerly called PhoneGap and later renamed Apache Cordova. It is a free and open source framework. It lets you build applications using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It does not make use of any platform-specific APIs.  The resulting application is neither completely native nor web-based hence the name hybrid applications. The HTML5 and various plugins let the application access the various features of the phone like the camera, contacts, and others.  It is supported by almost all platforms like Android, iOS, Blackberry, Nokia Symbian to name a few. PhoneGap automatically converts the files uploaded to websites to App files.
2. Sencha Space – It provides a secure and managed environment to develop applications for any mobile platform. It provides various cross-platform development tools.
3. Trigger.io – It uses JavaScript API which lets you access the device camera, contacts, and other functionalities. In addition to this, it contains a cloud-based service which lets you compile the application for each mobile operating system.
4. IBM Worklight – It is an open and advanced platform for developing hybrid applications. It lets you build applications for many operating systems. It is an Eclipse-based IDE and uses SDKs for various development platforms.
5. Ionic Framework – It is an open source, free to use web-based platform. It uses Bootstrap3 and AngularJS. Also, it has a wide number of third-party plugins and extensions to aid development.

Hybrid App Development Specifics

The next important point to consider is when to go for hybrid mobile app development. There might be a number of occasions when hybrid apps are required, the most important being lack of time, limited budget, a single code across all platforms and availability of your application in the app store.

The other situations demanding hybrid development would be the availability of a workforce with HTML, CSS and JavaScript competencies but also requirement to use native features like push notifications, reminders and offline working.

Another use a hybrid application has is that it does not require to be updated very frequently as updated pages can be accessed through the server. This gives another reason to choose hybrid application development while updating or launching an app on an app store takes longer.

Besides the above-stated reasons, there are certainly other advantages of hybrid applications. They provide a uniform User Experience across all platforms. The hybrid applications are quicker, can adjust to any screen sizes and resolutions and can easily load complex graphics.

The ease of maintenance of hybrid applications makes them scalable. Hybrid applications are able to provide most of the functionality of a mobile application like connecting with your friends through social media, take photographs etc.

The hybrid apps can reach more audiences than native apps as they can be used on all mobile platforms. This helps in increasing the customers and the revenue. Besides, hybrid applications are also useful when implementing BYOD (Bring Your Device) in an organization as the hybrid app can run on multiple devices.

An organization wanting to implement Minimum Viable Product technique can easily use hybrid applications as they can be updated faster through pages and a web server to make it available to the early adopters as soon as possible.

Hybrid applications make the need for learning different languages for different platforms redundant. Any new mobile operating system can be easily included in mobile applications. So, it has a ‘write once, run anywhere’ approach. A popular example of hybrid application is Netflix.

Also, another benefit of using a hybrid app is you can reach your customers faster than a native app. If the time to reach your customers is crucial for you as you don’t want to fall far behind your competitors than a hybrid app is a way to go.

Mobile apps and web apps on other hand have few downsides. Web Applications are responsive websites which run in browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and others while native apps run on a smartphone or a tablet. Web apps are slow, less user-friendly and not always on a user’s smartphone like a mobile or hybrid app. Mobile apps are expensive to develop and maintain. Getting a mobile app approved for an app store is also a difficult task.

As with any other technology, hybrid applications also have certain shortcomings. The hybrid applications are slower than the native applications as there is an extra layer added to the source code and the mobile platform. If the developers are not well-versed with the target platform then debugging is a tedious task.

Mobile operating systems are frequently updated with new features and organizations want to use these feature as soon as possible to stay competitive. It takes time to include these features in the hybrid apps which make organizations opt for mobile applications instead.

Hybrid App Development & Testing

Testing a hybrid app takes longer as it must be tested in numerous environments which is not the case with native apps which are built for proprietary platforms.

Hybrid apps work well for small-scale projects but not recommended for heavier applications which are feature rich and require the use of many low-level functionalities. This is the reason why Facebook shifted from HTML to a native application. There is also a dearth of expert hybrid app developers and might not be able to create sophisticated applications.

The user experience is found to be more wholesome with the native app than hybrid apps as the former can access all the functionalities of the device. Also, if you plan to develop a product then the Native app is a better option.
On a more technical note, it has been found that the WebView in Android lags the WebView in iOS which may limit your application. If your application is a gaming app or requires animation and videos, then build a native application.

It is difficult to handle gestures in hybrid apps than in Native apps. They are handled programmatically which may slow down the application.

Web apps are easier to maintain, can work even on older devices and no app store approval is required.

Winding Up About hybrid app development

A hybrid application is in the true sense a middle path between a web application and a native application. It is a cost-effective and easy to use and develop a solution. Certainly, the best approach in various scenarios.

The post Hybrid App Development – The Middle Approach, Tools and Platforms appeared first on DesignWebKit.

What Is an App Builder?

An app builder is a tool that enables you to build and deploy apps according to your requirements. Whether you intend to create an app for business or pleasure, an app builder may become your irreplaceable assistant. The good news is that in most cases you need neither tech skills nor coding knowledge. In other words, modern app builders allow anyone to bring his ideas to life.

Best App Builders to Create an App for Free

Actually, the number of powerful app builders is quite large. Unfortunately, not all of them let you create an app for free. To save your time we did a careful research and compiled a list of 7 best free app makers. Hope, you’ll find it useful.

Siberian

Siberian is a simple way to create an app for free. This open-source CMS lets you build iOS and Android apps to publish them in the App Store and Google Play. To begin with, you don’t need any technical knowledge. This means that even a beginner can succeed. Just download the Single-App Edition and you’re ready to start. The CMS offers you free templates to begin creating your app. Moreover, it enables you to add such features as an In-app mailbox, Individual Push Notifications or your own Previewer App.

Appy Pie

Appy Pie is one of the best solutions to create an app for free without coding. Furthermore, you don’t have to download or install anything. The entire process of the app creation takes place in the well-structured interface. The drag-and-drop functionality enables even novices to build progressive web apps with ease. Unfortunately, the Free Plan includes neither Push Notifications nor App Analytics. You get them only with the paid versions.

Mobincube

Mobincube is another option to create an app for free in no time. The coolest thing is that the number of apps, as well as the amount of space, is unlimited. Whatever kind of app you’re dreaming of, Mobincube is able to turn your dream into reality. From business and education to entertainment and games – everything is possible with this helpful app builder. What’s more, Mobincube suggests you an absolute level of customization. So, only you decide how your app will look like.

Appsbar

Appsbar is an absolutely free app maker without any upgrade plans or hidden fees. The only requirement for creating an app is a signup. Appsbar lets you build apps for various operating systems such as Android, Apple, Black Berry, and Windows. There are thirty-seven separate app types already started for you. Therefore, you don’t have to start from scratch. All you should do is just click on the type you’d like to build and preview step by step instructions.

AppsGeyser

AppsGeyser is a convenient tool to create, download, distribute, and monetize your app for free. Believe it or not, there are no charges, no subscriptions, and no limitations in terms of creating and publishing apps. AppsGeyser offers you a wide range of diverse customizable templates and presets. In fact, it won’t take you more than 5 minutes to create any app you wish. Besides, the platform provides you with multiple tutorials on the process of app creation and publication.

CreateMyFreeApp

CreateMyFreeApp is an online app maker for anyone to effortlessly create an app for free. The platform lets you build iPhone and Android apps via three simple steps: login, design, and publish. As soon as you create your app it goes straight to the App Store. Consequently, you don’t have to waste your time on downloading it in order to upload to the store yourself. What’s more, you can modify and update your app anytime you want.

App.Yet

App.Yet is a completely free app maker both for beginners and pros. It enables you to build a professional Android app within minutes. The only thing required is registration, which is a quick and simple process. All you need to provide is the links to RSS/Atom feed or website. After you create your first app, you have an opportunity for selling it on Google Play or other Android Markets. Furthermore, App.Yet lets you earn money with embedded Ad.

How to Promote Your App

Imagine you’ve already managed to create an app for free. What’s next? Obviously, it’s high time to take care of its promotion.

While thinking over your app marketing strategy, don’t forget about an app-devoted website or landing page. It goes without saying that successful promotion today is impossible without a notable web presence for your app. In case you don’t have multiple apps, a landing page is quite enough to completely cope with the task.

Demo

A landing page helps you effectively present your app to the whole world. It enables you not only to showcase the app but also highlight its advantages. Furthermore, a landing page is a great place for creating a buzz around your app among the prospects. In a word, it’s one of the main tools that pave your way to success.

Bottom Line

To sum up, today it’s not a problem to create an app for free. So, if you have an idea for the new app, don’t waste your time. Try one of the free app builders and enjoy the simplicity of bringing your idea to life.

The post Create an App for Free with Any of 7 Top Tools appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Stats show that more than 45% of online shopping is done through mobile usage. According to data collected, more than 85% of consumers prefer using mobile technology for their e-commerce shopping needs. This clearly shows that the numbers will continue to increase as more and more people switch to shopping from e-commerce apps. But before you rush to have your own ecommerce mobile app created, you need to know that certain things are more attractive to customers.

Ecommerce Mobile Apps Design Features

Here you will find 5 must-have design features that will make your sales go up the roof. Read on to find out more.

1.  Interactive Yet Easy to Maneuver Ecommerce Mobile App Design

A cluttered or haphazard mobile app is every e-commerce shopper’s worst dream. Nobody has the time or the inclination to spend hours on trying to understand precisely how your business app works. Keep the interface and navigation simple. Your business app needs to be such that from the minute users sign in, they are hooked. It should be good to look at and very easy to maneuver through.

Keep the menu positioned consistently in the same manner throughout the app. Don’t forget that the size of the screen is ‘kind of restricted’ and people will need their finger to move around. So the navigation system should be such that it benefits all kinds of shoppers. The easier your app is to use, the more people will want to come back and use it.

2.  Sorting and Categorization

If everything is scattered around the mobile app, customers will get confused and resentful quickly. Make sure your mobile e-commerce app has a responsive design that fits any screen size no matter what the resolutions and allows everyone to use the app comfortably.

Sort and categorize your products in such a way that consumers can find whatever they need within a few seconds. Make your app as customized to the needs of your target audience as possible. This will create a strong bond between you and your clientele.

3.  Simple Loading Cart and Payment Methods

Loading the cart should be as easy as clicking one single button. Some mobile ecommerce apps make the whole process difficult and time-consuming. First, the customer has to register, then give out personal details about themselves, where they live and their bank details. After that, there are even more questions. This irritates everyone. Avoid it. Keep the registration processes simple, add to cart option easy and payment method quick.

Make sure you let the customer choose whether they want to pay with their credit/debit card or if they want to pay when the goods are delivered at home. These options let the customers feel they are in control and they are more likely to come back to your app to shop again!

4.  Distinguished ‘Add to Cart’ Button

Most app developers or business managers forget that you need to remind the shopper again and again how they should buy more than they came for. That is the reason why there are shelves upon shelves of various goods in superstores, so people end up buying things they may not even particularly want or need.

The same kind of ideology works with an e-commerce website. If you keep showing your visitors the ‘add to cart’ button everywhere they go, they will end up buying more, and your sales will go sky high. If there are too many steps in between liking a product and purchasing it, consumers are going to run away to competitor apps. So let the customers see they can ‘buy now’ whatever page they may be on.

5.  Push Notifications for Ecommerce Mobile App

These are your best friends when it comes to increasing sales through your ecommerce mobile app. If you click open some favorite mobile apps, you will notice that there are Push Notifications present in the list of features. These notifications allow the consumer to take action immediately, the action that you want them to take, that is, purchase. This mainly comes in handy when you have special sale or discounts going on, or there is the launch of some new product, or exclusive offers are taking place.

The features mentioned above will only honestly work when your target market knows that you have a mobile e-commerce app. So spread the word quickly. The best way is to leave a download option on your main e-commerce website. Email marketing can also help in letting the masses know your mobile app is ready and waiting for people to come and shop.

Ecommerce Mobile App Final Words

Remember one more thing, the apps need to remain updated at all times. If your app is outdated or does not meet the needs of your consumers, then chances of them coming back to use it ever again are pretty much over. So pay attention to your app, keep it simple, engaging and fun. You will see a visible difference in your profits within no time. Good luck!

The post 5 Design Features that Make Ecommerce Mobile Apps Successful appeared first on DesignWebKit.

These days you will hardly meet a person who doesn’t have a mobile phone. Half of your own life is probably tied into it: contacts, reminders, payments, ticket reservations, shopping, TV streaming, even heart rate tracking. We want to do everything on the go and anyone hoping to run a successful business must adapt. Your restaurant is no exception. Launching phone apps offers tremendous benefits for your dining outlet that can take your marketing to a whole new level. Here are some for you to consider.

Reason 1. Increased Customer Reach

The number of people using PCs is drastically waning while mobile usage is growing by the day. That means having a website for your restaurant isn’t enough anymore to keep up with the target audience. Using a mobile app for viewing the menu, making orders, booking tables and learning about interesting offers is fast and convenient. It can be done from any place, at any time. Why not use that to your advantage? You can stuff your application with a host of compelling features, integrate it with other services and engage customers through powerful visuals, all to cover their mobile-specific needs and offer a better experience with your venue.

Reason 2. Personalized Service

We all like to be treated personally. If you know exactly what your customers want, you are more likely to leave them satisfied with your service and encourage return visits. A mobile app will make a great assistant in collecting valuable information on your clientele. When making orders or reservations on a mobile device, users can save their dining preferences, favorite dishes and even preferred tables. Aside from sheer convenience, this data can further be used for targeted notifications, emails and ads.

Reason 3. Online Ordering

Introducing online ordering is a sure way to boost in-store efficiency. Ability to select and pay for their meal in advance without waiting at the restaurant will save your visitors’ precious time and reduce lines at the counter. That works particularly well for takeouts and home deliveries. Really, what can be more convenient than ordering food from your mobile gadget to any address, whether you wish to chill on the couch with a pizza or need to quickly whip up a business lunch at the office? It is also a great tool for streamlining the entire process of order acceptance. Spending less time answering the phone and getting accurate instructions on every order will minimize human error and allow your staff to focus on the diners instead.

Reason 4. Table Booking

The worst thing that can happen to you while planning a romantic date or dining out in a strange city is coming to a restaurant only to find out that all places have been taken. Table reservation via phone apps solves that issue. This handy feature will instantly provide users with a clear map of available tables while also giving you an estimate of the expected attendance. Besides, it’s much more convenient for customers to tap a few buttons on their mobile screen than finding the right time to call in and making their point through irritating background noise.

Reason 5. Push Notifications

Your customers may forget to check their mailbox or overlook your promotional email, but it’s hard to ignore a message that pops up right before your eyes. Push notifications will keep the diners informed on upcoming events and attractive offers at your restaurant ensuring a growing inflow of visitors. You can also drum up more walk-ins through location-based messages prompting users to drop by whenever they are in the area. This trick will come in particularly handy during the ‘dead’ hours. Finally, you can boost your ranking by sending out push notifications asking users to leave a review and rate your app on sites that matter most for your business.

Reason 6. Social Media Integration

Linking social platforms like Facebook and Twitter to your phone app can prove to be highly efficient in improving your online visibility and driving even more customer engagement. Since most users check their social media profiles on a daily basis, it’s a great way to stay in their focus and keep them updated on your restaurant’s agenda. That will also spur them to share their dining experience with followers spreading word about your restaurant at the speed of light. And given the fact that people are prone to trusting someone they actually know personally rather than some smug commercials, you can’t wish for better advertising.

Reason 7. Loyalty Program Adoption

Loyalty programs exist to motivate customers toward higher spending. However, people don’t like things that are too complicated and troublesome. Having to go through a long and tricky registration process or squeezing yet another loyalty card into your wallet isn’t exactly stimulating. Combined with mobile payment and online ordering, digital loyalty programs eliminate these inconveniences. Customers can sign up for one right in the app resting assured that all their visits will be recorded and all their points will be collected properly. You can even run several loyalty campaigns at once offering your audience an extra benefit of multiple bonuses.

Reason 8. Brand Awareness

Making your brand stand out among a whole army of competitors is a real marketing challenge. But no matter how well your business strategy is planned out, you won’t be able to achieve strong recognition without repeatedly exposing customers to your brand. One of the easiest ways to do it is – well, what else? – launching a mobile app. That will expose users to your brand at least a few times a day. Although most of them will use your application only occasionally, the app icon will hover within their sight every time they take out their smartphone. Of course, the icon has to be recognizable and eye-catching for that to work.

Under the right approach, phone apps can turn into a formidable tool for boosting your restaurant business, immensely expanding your customer base and sending your profits sky-high. Here are some sites where you can create a mobile app for your restaurant in a couple of clicks:

Restaurant Hill

Offering an impressive set of features with strong customer focus, this service allows you to launch a fully synchronized website and mobile app for your dining outlet within 10 minutes:

• Stylish customizable templates
• Scalable design
• Full integration between mobile app and website
• Online ordering and table reservation
• Advanced content management

Appypie

With this app constructor, you can market your restaurant service much more efficiently by reaching out to a wider audience through a custom-built mobile app.

Appmakr

Create a code-free phone app with a compelling design, real-time analytics and powerful monetizing features to boost your sales.

Mojobistro

This restaurant app builder has all possible tools for effectively interacting with your mobile clientele and increasing customer engagement.

Biznessapps

Set up a unique mobile app experience for your diners offering an easy way to enjoy your meals and stay updated on special offers.

The post 8 Reasons to Launch Phone Apps for Restaurants appeared first on DesignWebKit.