Flexibility: Plugins

Probably the greatest advantage of WordPress is its flexibility. The main reason is the plugins system: small bits of software that could extend the functionality of your website.   You could literally plug-in different new features in your site: e-commerce, payments, shipping. Just like apps on the App store, there are tons and tons of 3rd party plug-ins available for everything you could imagine from SEO to CRM for example.  Even if you don’t find a plug-in that answers your needs, a skilled developer could create one for you.
However, you should be careful when installing different plug-ins and ask for advice from technical partners or staff. Many businesses overload their websites with plug-ins making them slower to load and unstable that turns customers away. Last but not least plugins could be a potential source of vulnerability and reason for your website to be hacked. As every 3-rd party software, it could hide malicious lines of code or be a target of hackers, who could try to break into your website via the specific plug-in.

Themes

“First impressions matter” holds true in the web world. Well designed and good looking website would build brand trust and convert more visitors to customers. Luckily WordPress offers a  huge variety of pre-made themes (templates) both free and paid. Many of the premium ones provide a nice look and feel without the need of hiring dedicated UI/UX Designer. They are highly customizable come with different support plans.  When the time comes and you think your website look is outdated, you could simply switch to another theme easily

Powerful CMS

In its essence WordPress is a CMS: Content Management system.  It allows you to keep your site up-to-date easily. In the modern web world, you could not simply build a website and forget about it. If you want to have a website that attracts and retains users you should do things like blogging, create new pages, A/B test different content etc.  The WordPress CMS provides the means to do all those things relatively easy for non-developers. One could learn the basics of website administration within hours. The huge WordPress community is also greatly supportive. Not only do they publish a lot of useful guides and tutorials but also make every new WP release more powerful and user-friendly.

We just outlined a small fraction of the reasons why global sites like TechCrunch, MTV and Sony use WordPress. The fact is it is an extremely capable, cost-effective and reasonable choice for all of your business websites.
If you are considering developing a WordPress site the right developer could make the difference between a world-class website and a sloppy job, drop us a line for a quick consultation.

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Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has grown big in the last years. Influencers are usually well-known people in your market and niche that could affect your buyer’s decisions.  Usually, they have a big social following on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. They are a good alternative to traditional advertising channels.  Influencers could promote and recommend your app from the viewpoint of the normal user. This could be a better option rather than sending them an anonymous advertisement. According to emarketer.com 31% of people download apps following recommendations.

Discount Prices

Marketers know the advantages of discounting for years. Why not use it in your mobile app? If your app is paid ,offer a limited free offer. If you make money via in-app purchases offer a free one-off in-app purchase for a limited time.  Leverage human psychology to create a powerful incentive in your prospective customer minds.

Leverage App reviews

Ratings are an important part of your App store optimization strategy. Not only do they help you rank better, but also have a psychological impact on potential users. According to a survey by Apptentive, 59 % of people usually or always check ratings before downloading a new app. Therefore, it is important that once you launch asks all your friends and contacts to write a positive review of the app.

If you have the budget to spare, you could turn to paid app review provider to supply you with reviews This strategy is widely employed in games app, but proceed with caution as it could be a costly and double-edged sword. Apple and Google are also trying to battle the incentivized app reviews in their stores. If your reviews have been posted by a bot (Cheapest option) or script you run the risk of your app to be banned.  Good (10+ words) reviews by a real user could cost between $2-$4 depending on volume and platform.

The last thing you could do is simply prompt your early adopters to leave reviews. You could implement this easily in the app without making them go to the respective store.  The main step is to ask for the review in a proper time. I would suggest asking for review whenever the user has accomplished a major work or achievement in the app.

Become featured on the App stores

Apple redesigned significantly the App store in 2017 in order to offer app developers better exposure, as well as a better app discovery experience for consumers. According to study from Sensor Tower, getting a featured spot on the new App Store can increase downloads by as much as 800 per cent, with the “App of the Day” or “Game of the Day” spots offering the most impact. Google Play also relies on both automation and their editorial team to highlight the best apps in several categories and award them with extra publicity.

Needless to say, being featured in either of the two stores is not an easy task.  Firstly, you should have well designed, developed and optimized app following Apple and Google guidelines.  You may need to start thinking even before the development process is started. For example, Apple gives preferences on new apps that are iOS exclusive. Google, on the other hand, releases a lot of software products and technologies such as Gpay, Google Cloud, Maps, Firebase etc . They introduced Android excellence program in 2017. Found under editor’s choice in the Google Play  it aims to promote apps that “are noteworthy for adopting the latest Android features.” If you’d strive to incorporate as much of Google latest technologies in your app you increase your chances to be selected.  The award is given every quarter so as a developer you’d be enjoying months of increased exposure.

Another way to become featured is to directly pitch your app to Apple and Google.  If you look in LinkedIn, you could find App Store Manager profiles and send them email or message. Developers have overused this tactic and you have to be really creative and persistent in order to catch their attention.

Developers face a lot of challenges when promoting and making their aps stand out from the rest. If you use some of the tips above as part of your marketing plan, you could make the journey easier. In the meantime, if you’d like to help you develop an app, drop us a line. 

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Alternative to the email

The proven old-fashioned method to communicate with your web customers is the email. Although email newsletters and campaigns could be effective, they still have some weaknesses. The average open rate is only 20.81% in 2018(according to Mailchimp). The mailbox has also become a contested place as many businesses are vying for the user’s attention. Furthermore, email clients like Gmail are making it even harder by automatically shuffling emails in categories. If your email ends up in the promotions or updates tab, it is less likely to be seen as users focus mainly on their primary inbox.  Thus push notifications are a good complimentary way to stay in touch with your clients. They are permission-based service and the user has to opt-in by just clicking allow on the pop-up in the browser when visiting your site. They do not have to fill in forms with their names and email address to subscribe where often they would leave rarely used email address.

Better engagement

Push Notifications are short and delivered instantly just like their native mobile counterpart. They enable you to send messages to web visitors even if their browser isn’t open. That makes web push a powerful tool for keeping your web audience engaged — and for re-engaging visitors who have stopped visiting. For example, one big problem in e-commerce is the abandonment of the shopping cart. A lot of users browse and add products to their shopping cart but leave the site before finishing the purchase. Sending them email may end up never opened. Employing timely push notification that prompts the user that he has some unfinished business may actually bring him back to the site. Jumia, a large African online electronics retailer, saw an increase of 9 times in conversions using the above-mentioned approach.

Instant Communication

Another benefit of web push notifications is the fact that is an instant communication channel. They arrive quickly to the screen of the user where he could see them within minutes. That makes them especially efficient when you’d like to communicate simple ideas urgently. For example, there is a 30% discount in your store in the next 24 hours. However, you should not overuse this. Only send notifications when your idea you want to communicate is timely, precise and relevant.

Save costs on building an app

Building an app is significant investment both in terms of development and support cost. With better mobile phones coming out every year and good wireless network speeds more people shop on their phones without needing an app. If you have well designed and optimised mobile site that implements browser push notifications, you could reap many of the benefits of a mobile app. This could be a good idea if you don’t have the budget to invest in an app. We have to note that the native mobile app still offers better User Experience, performance, check-out process etc. An alternative solution is to develop a Progressive Web App(PWA) . They combine the UX of a mobile app with the ease of accessibility of the mobile web.

They cover desktop

Another advantage of web push notifications is that they cover the desktop.  Desktop still accounts for 37% of the web traffic(according to Stonetemple) and not going away anytime soon.

Clearly, web push notifications have the ability to drive more revenue to your website. You should consider including them in a wider omnichannel marketing strategy.

In the meantime, if you are looking to build a new website, drop us a line.

The post 5 ways how web push notifications could help your e-commerce sales appeared first on Payapars.

Cost and Flexibility

Working with remote contracted team offers better cost optimization and flexibility. A full in-house group requires significant overhead, including salaries, benefits, office space, equipment, training, recruiting, and more. Hiring development agencies or contractors could be expensive. However, most of the time you will pay hourly, meaning that you’d pay only for the productive time. Not to mention, you would have access to a broader range of specialists from design to QA. If things do not work-out, usually contracts could be cancelled rather painlessly compared to the labour law.

Result Driven Mindset

Sometimes in-house developers and employees operate on pay-roll mode. That means that you rely on internal politics. You show up every day for 8 hours, the boss likes you so even if you do not deliver he won’t necessarily fire you. Remote contractors and agencies, on the other hand, have to bring results otherwise their invoices may not be paid or the engagement with the company prolonged.

Less Micromanagement and distractions

In our conversation with technology managers and CTO’s, the one point they always bring against working with an external development team or having remote employees is the notion of control. How I would be sure you do the work you are supposed to do? Controlling the results is very important but is often misunderstood for meddling and micromanagement. Checking in with your developer every day could be counter-productive and sometimes contradicts the agile principles. Having remote developers could help you focus on the bigger picture and the results. After all CTO’s job is half technology and half management.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. Lao Tzu

Now you could argue that working with external and remote people could bring more overhead to communication. This could be true but if you have a well-established and tried process it shouldn’t be a problem. Agencies and external teams have a lot of experience in working remotely so they have devised processes for effective communication.
On the other hand, in the modern open space office often time there a lot of distractions and useless communication. For example, a simple question could turn into half an hour long discussion involving all the people around. It usually drifts away from the topic and adds no value to the company.

Scaling development teams is hard and requires a lot of time and effort. Working with agencies or remote development team poses some challenges and risks, it also provides benefits. At Payapars we have worked with  clients from multiple countries and if you are on the look-out to add some ad-hoc dev resource give us a shout.

The post Scaling your development team? 3 ways working with а remote contracted team could beat in-house. appeared first on Payapars.

Blockchain

Blockchain was one of the big hypes in 2017 and is undoubtedly one of the next big things in finance and technology. Furthermore, the surging prices of crypto cryptocurrencies that operate on the blockchain generate a lot of interest from the public and popularise the idea behind the technology.

The concept of digital decentralization and secure peer-to-peer transactions has attracted a lot of enthusiasm from investors to entrepreneurs. The blockchain is expected to be widely adopted in 2018 and by 2020 20 per cent of trade finance globally will incorporate blockchain/distributed ledger technology(according to IDC). Another interesting development in that area is the common project between Deutsche Bank, UBS, Santander and BNY Mellon to launch their own cryptocurrency in 2018.
Finally away from finance, many Start-ups will try to implement the Blockchain in other fields as well. Potential areas would be: healthcare, manufacturing, ID verification even government: Dubai announced its intention to turn itself into the first blockchain-powered government in the world.

Artificial intelligence

Gartner’s studies show that only 40% of enterprises have adopted AI-based solutions in their IT systems. In 2018 the ability to use AI to enhance decision making, reinvent business models and ecosystems, and remake the customer experience will be a major success factor. AI is becoming ever more mainstream: in the coming years, every app will incorporate AI and Machine learning at some level. They will be in our phones and favourite apps, helping us stay connected and do what we do best in the shortest possible time.

Internet of things

As more consumers around the globe purchase smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets which hook them into the web, the expanse of the IoT will only grow ever-greater. Low-power, short-ranged networked devices will be increasingly pushed by companies hoping to cash in on the boom in tech, and millions of more sensors embedded in our world in just a year’s time.
One of the main issues for companies that invest heavily in IoT is the amount of data they generate and how to make meaningful sense out of it.
One possible solution is creating Digital twins. Digital twin is a virtual/digital representation of a physical entity or system. It is more than a blueprint and schematic. Based on real data collected by the sensors and IoT devices, the Digital Twin is an exact replica of its real-life twin in the cloud. It expresses the same behaviour, qualities and problems. Digital twins, in the context of IoT projects, is a promising area over the next three to five years, Gartner says, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Maybe something more?

One thing is for sure 2018 will mark another peak in the development of the three technologies outlined above. However it is the first time that these technologies could potentially take advantage of the others’ capabilities, and together, they may form the foundation of an ecosystem that will change the way humanity lives, works and plays. Imagine healthcare system built around medical records being stored and communicated via the blockchain, connected health devices collecting data and AI making sense out of all of it: helping doctors, optimizing processes, advising on how to live better etc
Would 2018 would be the year for all of that to happen? Only time will tell…

Sources: Gartner,Inc, NetworkWorld

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