by Nick Throlson | Mar 19, 2018 | Marketing
Apps are more than just a toy. Companies are finding a growing use for them in the business world with apps designed to help with everything from project management to accounting. Apps can also be particularly effective when it comes to marketing. Here are just three ways to use apps in marketing.Display ads on appsIn-app advertising is the fastest growing form of mobile advertising. Many apps display a picture and video ads within them ? by getting your ads displayed in apps that your target audience uses you could help to attract more customers. Smartphone screens are smaller than PC screens and so ads need to be smaller and simpler to stand out, which could require hiring a specific in-app advert designer. Videos are likely to be more expensive to produce than picture ads but could help to make more of an impact. Companies like MoPub can help you to target specific apps using real-time bidding. This can often be more effective than standard pay-per-click advertising in which impressions can be a lot more random.Download apps to help with your marketingThere are a number of apps that can help you with your marketing. Social media sites such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter all come with their own apps, which could come in use for social media marketing. You can also make use of apps such as Buffer which can allow you to schedule posts for specific times on multiple social media sites. Meanwhile, there are apps like MailChimp that can allow you to manage mass emailing from your phone. You can even download apps for WordPress, which could allow you to write blog posts and edit your company website using your mobile device. All of these apps can allow you to handle digital marketing on the go. This could be great for business owners that are rarely in the office, but still, need to keep on top of marketing.Create your own app for marketing purposesYou can also create your own app as a form of marketing. If you own a store and want to encourage return customers, you could create a digital loyalty card app that gives people point and rewards every time they buy something at your store. If you?re a takeaway restaurant, you could create a menu app that people can order directly from. You could even offer discounts to app users as an incentive. There are several ways to go about creating your own app. If you?ve got programming knowledge you may be able to make your own from scratch. Alternatively, you could seek out an app development company to build an app for you. There are also app builders out there such as Appy Pie, which can allow you to build your own app with little or no coding knowledge for free. This option is ideal for those only wanting a simple app, whilst the former options may be better suited for those wanting to create something a little more complex.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 19, 2018 | Guest Post
As the internet becomes more and more an integrated part our day to day lives, becoming as commonplace to us as the radio, electricity or zinc, the dangers of it are becoming more apparent. Not just the danger of wasting valuable time watching kittens when you?re supposed to be working, but serious dangers such as cyber-attacks, loss of data, or even the theft of one?s identity.It used to be you could impersonate anyone you wished on the internet, but developments over the past decade have helped ensure that our identities are more protected than ever.So listed below are some of the key trends we?ve spotted over the past couple of years within the realm of user identification technology, and how they can help protect you and your identity whenever you?re using the internet.Two Factor VerificationUsually, when you sign up to a website or something similar, there?s just one line of user verification. Most usually, this is the password. The problem is that even 12-character alphanumeric passwords with one lower case, one upper case, and one special character are actually very easy to bypass. And as most of us ? perhaps unwisely ? link most of our accounts to a single email address, if you find one breach the whole system is at risk.As such, many sites are now employing two-factor verifications when signing up for an account, making important transactions, or when adjusting your account?s details. For example, as well as having a password, the website may also require a verification code sent to an email address or a mobile phone before any further action is taken.This provides an extra layer of security so that even if someone has managed to guess your password they still can?t make any major adjustments to your accounts or your data without getting past that second layer. This at least delays them, and for casual attacks, that?s often deterrence enough, and can also alert you personally when they occur.Use of Mobile PhonesWe already mentioned that the two-factor system may ask you to link your account to a mobile phone so that verification codes can be sent if someone tries to access or adjust your account. In general, the growing universality of mobile phones has meant that many websites and companies are making use of them to protect their users and their identities.Popular games developer Blizzard, for example, offers the option of a mobile phone verification app when users sign up to their online gaming platform, Battlenet. Whenever the user?s account is activated by a new device, a verification code is needed before access can be granted. Likewise, if anyone attempts to change the account?s password, or make any online purchases.As it?s highly unlikely that the user?s mobile phone will be in the possession of the attacker, it provides a layer of security very hard to overcome.Some companies, such as Cognito, have started offering similar services for a number of websites. Using their app, you can connect accounts to your mobile phone, thus ensuring they can?t be accessed without a special ID code.BiometricsBiometrics are nothing new ? customs and immigration officers have been using biometric data to verify passport holders for quite a long time now. However, we?re starting to see biometrics see more use in our daily lives as well.Most mobile phones now have the option to be secured using biometric data, typically a fingerprint or facial recognition. The phone then cannot be unlocked without that input, at least in theory. Many phones also maintain a typical pin code or pattern security system, as biometrics are notoriously finicky and do not always work as intended.While not foolproof by any stretch, they provide a very convenient and quick means of providing user identification for our mobile devices.New Methods of Data StorageRecent events in which personal data has been acquired and illicitly disseminated across the internet due to the actions of hackers have also caused a rethink on how data storage is managed. If a hacker can access important personal information, such as your date of birth, address, or mother?s maiden name, they can use this to bluff their way into your accounts and cause all kinds of damage.One solution is to ensure that no one organization has access to all your information, a process called blockchain. Instead, data is added sequentially in blocks using a ?hash? of data from the preceding block.? Already used for bitcoin transactions, it?s a highly effective and secure method of protecting personal data.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 13, 2018 | Social Media
If you use Facebook, I?m sure you?ve found yourself scrolling endlessly through feeds. How often have you found yourself scrolling for 10 or 15 minutes without even realizing it?At first, it?s just a notification. Next thing you know, you?ve seen pictures of somebody?s vacation, some funny cat videos, and that little Billy lost a tooth. Who is little Billy anyways? Must be someone?s nephew. Then you realize it?s time to stop scrolling and get back to work.. but what was it you were working on again?If you think about it, when was the last time that Facebook improved your productivity? A better question might be to ask, how much time have you wasted using Facebook? Don?t worry. You might not be wasting that much time as compared to the average user. Or you might be a Facebook maniac and not even realize it yet! (probably not).Major Time WasterAn hour every day. That?s about the average time users spend on Facebook. All of those times checking notifications and getting sucked in really add up. And it?s pretty difficult to track yourself. Minutes seem to fly by while you?re scrolling.It starts off as a simple notification. That?s the bait. And if you go for the bait, you?re likely to get hooked. That quick look at your phone turns into a few minutes. Those few minutes turn into about 7 hours a week, 28 hours a month, and two weeks a year (on average)! Now here?s where it?s going to get a bit uncomfortable. That amount of time adds up to about 8.4 work weeks. It?s like sitting at a desk working full time for 8 and a half weeks scrolling through Facebook. That?s a lot of time. And this isn?t considering the amount of time it takes to refocus your mind back to work.Broken AttentionYou?ve seen how much time the average Facebook user wastes on the platform alone. But there?s another effect at play here. It?s the amount of time it takes to refocus your mind. Have you ever noticed how long it takes to get that mental momentum back after taking a break on Facebook? It could take 10-15 minutes to get back in the zone. This is a hidden cost of pulling your phone out and scrolling through the app. You think you?ve only wasted 5-10 minutes but in reality, it took you another 10-15 to get your focus back.It takes time to focus your mind on work. That momentum has to build up for you to get in the zone. And if you?re constantly looking at notifications and scrolling through Facebook every hour or so, you?re downgrading the quality of your work. How much can that cost your business, job, or school career?Negative EffectsA lot of people have said they feel negative after using Facebook. And a lot of people have talked about the joy of leaving the social network. They talk about it as if a weight has been lifted from their shoulders.I was reading Harvard Business Review recently and came across an article called A New, More Rigorous Study Confirms: The More You Use Facebook, the Worse You Feel. Doesn?t sound like a very positive article, right? Well, there are some positive takeaways. The study found that having a face-to-face social network in real life has some positive effects on overall well-being. But, on the other hand, Facebook users self-reported some pretty negative side effects of using the social network. The researchers found that liking posts and clicking links were predictors in users feeling negative in the areas of physical health, mental health, and life satisfaction. Researchers can?t pinpoint the exact cause but it may have to do with the way we compare ourselves to other people?s polished profiles and posts.Deleting the AppI personally could tell that Facebook was draining my time and productivity. It felt like I was wasting hours looking through the feeds and other people?s lives. Look, I?m happy that someone somewhere got married and someone else?s kid lost their tooth. But I don?t need to spend my attention on those things when I should be working. And that?s why I had to get rid of the Facebook app. Now I just post to Facebook via Instagram without getting lost down the rabbit hole.You might feel better too. Try deleting the app for a week. See if anything changes. Maybe you?ll find that you can accomplish more, have deeper focus, and feel better overall. The only way you?ll know for sure is to test it yourself. I did and it?s working out great for me. by Nick Throlson | Mar 12, 2018 | E-commerce
By some estimates, every 1 out of 10 websites on the internet is an eCommerce site- putting its number in millions. And even if we take into account the top 1 million eCommerce websites, the top 50% sweep away 97% of the revenues. Now if you have a digital store to run, this should make two things very clear to you: 1. With so many eCommerce platforms out there, it is almost certain that whatever you are selling, there is someone else doing it as well; 2. eCommerce is a winner takes all industry and unless you are among the top, you are a failure.Our apologies if that seemed a bit demotivating but we have a different point to make. If most of those eCommerce sites sell more or less the same products, how come a few succeed over the others? That where user experience comes into the picture. While having a wide catalog and competitive pricing are the basics, it is not the products themselves that deliver success but how consumers feel while purchasing it, is what makes the difference. That is, if you want your eCommerce business to be successful, the user experience is where you need to excel and here is how you do it:UsabilityRemember this- the easier customers find your website to use, the more they will engage. Finding a product description is as important as looking at the way it is displayed on screen. Proper indentation, spacing, font style, font size, colors and figures with labels ? all adds up to the overall aesthetics of the content. And while businesses agree that their store should be easy to use, the problem arises when it starts to conflict with the interface or aesthetic beauty, as some call it.The solution is simple- if you have a layout that looks very good but isn?t simple to use, don?t deploy it. The best example is Amazon.com. They have all the expertise and resources to create the most beautiful site on the internet but yet choose to be more efficient. Keep all your products in neat categories, provide images with a description, provide links on images, allow express sign-in, are just a few of the small details that can make or break the mood of your potential customers.Minimize frictionBut how do you test the usability? The general rule of thumb is to look for friction, i.e clicks. You should aim to minimize the number of clicks that a user has to do to make the purchase.While it is tough to quantify for those customers who are just browsing, it is the single most important factor for regular customers- they should be able to make the purchase without having to use their mind even once. If it takes more than 4-5 clicks from the product page to the final invoice, you need to cut down the complexity.Feature-rich shopping cartPeople are generally confused while shopping and having a shopping cart that can?t handle even the simplest of tasks like changing quantity or size, is simply off-putting and generally results in cart abandonment. That is if you want your traffic to convert, get any seasoned eCommerce development service capable of building a sophisticated shopping cart for your store.Payment optionsMost of the internet traffic comes today from mobile devices but the majority of the businesses still rely on payment methods designed for desktops. After all, it is okay to enter credit card details on a full-size keyboard but on a 5-inch screen when on the move? Not really. This is something eCommerce developers must take into account- responsive design can take you only so far. after that, it is only a mobile-first strategy that can deliver a superior experience.As an eCommerce store, you must provide the widest possible options in terms of payment. The aim should be to not force customers to use any payment mode they haven?t used before- because people generally aren?t comfortable sharing financial details!
by Nick Throlson | Mar 2, 2018 | Business, Web Design
So, you own a blog, but you want to do more than just own it, don?t you? You want to do more than just leave it sitting on the Internet. You want to do more than only upload a few pieces to it every so often. Yes, you want to take your blog as far as it can go, don?t you? Well, if you do, then you've come to the right place because comprehensive advice on doing so can be found below.Run an e-commerce site concurrently with your blogYes, blogging success is not just about blogging. Yes, you have to offer more than just your blog if you want to take it as far as it can go. What this means is that you should offer more, and this more should come in the form of another site. And, there is a little better site to run concurrently with your blog than an e-commerce site.By running an e-commerce site concurrently with your blog you will give your blog a genuine stamp of approval, a genuine stamp of approval being that the audience will see your blog as being professional. And, your blog is seen as professional in this sense is what it needs if it is going to be taken as far as it can go. But where will this feeling of professionalism stem from? Well, first of all, it will show your audience that you not only interested in informing and entertaining them with blog posts but that you are interested in offering them something to take away from their experience with you too. This will show that you value your audience and are not interested in them as traffic numbers, and that will make you seem as professional as a fully-functioning company as that is what the best ones do.So, if you want to get your quest in taking your blog as far as it can go to the next level, make sure to focus on more than the blogging by opening up an online store. By doing so, you will even make some extra cash on the side through the selling of whatever it is that you sell.Engagement is your best metric, so use itNo matter how big or small your blog is if you want to take it as far as it can go you need to be using engagement as its best metric. Why? Well, because a blog that is not engaging is not something the audience will want to go out of their way to click on, and a lack of a clicking audience in this sense will do nothing for you in your quest for blogging superstardom.When it comes to engagement, first of all, you should be ensuring that you are uploading pieces to your blog frequently and that it never turns into a barren, post-less wasteland. Whether this means you writing and uploading the blog pieces yourself, or whether this means delegating it to contribute writers if you simply do not have the time, you simply must be ensuring your blog is always active. And, the pieces you do upload should always be thought-provoking or informative in some sense or another, and they should never be a repeat of any pieces you've uploaded before.Something else that you should be doing when it comes to boosting your blog?s engagement performances as far as they can do is to work on your SEO. By doing so, and by doing so alongside a professional in the field of doing so such as SEOJet.net, you would be able to get your blog right to the front of every search engine search that takes place in your blog?s field or market. And, only when this happens will you blog be attracting the high volumes of audience numbers it needs to see itself go as far as it can go.Keep your blog up at all timesSomething that is just as detrimental to your blog as uninspiring content and a lack of content is it going down and becoming inactive. You see, when it does this, quite simply, those that clicked on it with the attention of scouring it for entertainment and information purposes will bounce right back off it, and them bouncing right back off it as a cardinal sin that must be avoided. So, make sure your blog is up and running and is accessible at all times.To do this, you should enlist the assistance of something known as an uptime operator. What such an operator would do is watch your blog at all conceivable points for instances of downtime, and would alert you to it happening via SMS or email. It would then be your task, as the owner of your blog, to do everything in your power to get the blog back up again before anybody else clicks on to it and bounces away from it due to a lack of patience with it.One of the best uptime operators on the market is UptimeRobot, and it would be wise of you to use it.Blogs are precarious things. One moment they can be fruitful and attracting, the next they can be a wasteland that doesn?t offer anybody anything. So, first things first in your quest to taking your blog as far as it can go, make sure you are avoiding that fate! Second of all, make sure you are taking heed of all of the advice above and implementing it into your blogging practices ? when you do, your blog will flourish in no time.For more advice on how to make your blog better, make sure to head here.
By some estimates, every 1 out of 10 websites on the internet is an eCommerce site- putting its number in millions. And even if we take into account the top 1 million eCommerce websites, the top 50% sweep away 97% of the revenues. Now if you have a digital store to run, this should make two things very clear to you: 1. With so many eCommerce platforms out there, it is almost certain that whatever you are selling, there is someone else doing it as well; 2. eCommerce is a winner takes all industry and unless you are among the top, you are a failure.Our apologies if that seemed a bit demotivating but we have a different point to make. If most of those eCommerce sites sell more or less the same products, how come a few succeed over the others? That where user experience comes into the picture. While having a wide catalog and competitive pricing are the basics, it is not the products themselves that deliver success but how consumers feel while purchasing it, is what makes the difference. That is, if you want your eCommerce business to be successful, the user experience is where you need to excel and here is how you do it:UsabilityRemember this- the easier customers find your website to use, the more they will engage. Finding a product description is as important as looking at the way it is displayed on screen. Proper indentation, spacing, font style, font size, colors and figures with labels ? all adds up to the overall aesthetics of the content. And while businesses agree that their store should be easy to use, the problem arises when it starts to conflict with the interface or aesthetic beauty, as some call it.The solution is simple- if you have a layout that looks very good but isn?t simple to use, don?t deploy it. The best example is Amazon.com. They have all the expertise and resources to create the most beautiful site on the internet but yet choose to be more efficient. Keep all your products in neat categories, provide images with a description, provide links on images, allow express sign-in, are just a few of the small details that can make or break the mood of your potential customers.Minimize frictionBut how do you test the usability? The general rule of thumb is to look for friction, i.e clicks. You should aim to minimize the number of clicks that a user has to do to make the purchase.While it is tough to quantify for those customers who are just browsing, it is the single most important factor for regular customers- they should be able to make the purchase without having to use their mind even once. If it takes more than 4-5 clicks from the product page to the final invoice, you need to cut down the complexity.Feature-rich shopping cartPeople are generally confused while shopping and having a shopping cart that can?t handle even the simplest of tasks like changing quantity or size, is simply off-putting and generally results in cart abandonment. That is if you want your traffic to convert, get any seasoned eCommerce development service capable of building a sophisticated shopping cart for your store.Payment optionsMost of the internet traffic comes today from mobile devices but the majority of the businesses still rely on payment methods designed for desktops. After all, it is okay to enter credit card details on a full-size keyboard but on a 5-inch screen when on the move? Not really. This is something eCommerce developers must take into account- responsive design can take you only so far. after that, it is only a mobile-first strategy that can deliver a superior experience.As an eCommerce store, you must provide the widest possible options in terms of payment. The aim should be to not force customers to use any payment mode they haven?t used before- because people generally aren?t comfortable sharing financial details!
