by Nick Throlson | Sep 5, 2017 | Business, Web Design, WordPress
While in our every other post, we always talk about how businesses that follow latest technology trends can transcend their competitors, this time we are asking you to unroll your sleeves and stay away from few oddballs. Because not every time a new thing is good for your business growth. As web development and mobile app development are our favorite subjects, here, we?re going to point out some development risks every startup business or an established brand should avoid if they want to go online. Most startups launch with a bang, work for a year and then just disappear for the various reasons they didn?t heed attention to in the start. And we don?t want you to fall in the same category. For developing a customer-centric eCommerce website, a reader?s favorite blog site, a talked about social networking website, a profit-generating B2B website, quick launch and long project life are the secrets. Since your website is the online representation of your business, you can?t risk its existence. There are a couple of things you need to consider before, during and after web development, ensuring that you have a growth-driven website at the end.Risk #1: Doing it all by yourself?Don?t force pieces that don?t fit.? So, if you know business but aren?t an expert in technical development/ design and coding, you shouldn?t do that. The problem begins when each of you start believing that developing a website/web app can be done either by yourself (having a little knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript) or by asking a friend to do it as a freelance developer. You don?t have to be good at everything; it?s better to focus on your business idea, take charge of the sales and marketing before and after launch. Don?t risk your website in the hands of any run-off-the-mill developer.Solution:Hire a reputed, reliable web development company capable of delivering top-notch solutions and converting your idea into a professional, scalable online platform. Risk #2 Developer?s ProfileWhile startups and businesses look for full-scale web development agency to outsource their project, they fall for web developers that have a similar portfolio as their own project. Some decision-makers assume that it?s plentiful if the developer they hired has delivered the project that aligns with their planned idea. Hold on to this thought! All projects are not the same, even if they seem alike. And if you want to stand out, you need to bring the individuality.Solution: Find a dynamic and innovative web developer who is flexible in working with an advanced and new technology bundle pertaining to the same web vertical. A broad competence is more progressive and creative as they can propose expertise from other domains, other business areas and bring forth a future-ready solution.Risk #3 Lengthy IterationsIt?s not true that anything that?s done with attention-to-detail calls for a long wait. Of course, focus and step-by-step approach are paramount, but not at the sake of project getting delayed. A project development process horizontally involves different expertise from different departments, moving from one phase to the other. The common steps to any web development project include sketching the idea, prototyping, UI/UX design, development, quality testing and final launch. But in the course of implementing each of these linearly, you tend to lose a lot of time and may end up launching your project when it?s outdated.Solution: To avoid such a case, go for smaller development cycles, where the developers or designers don?t wait for days for BA?s to give them the blueprint of the whole project and then start on. As soon as a mockup for one screen is finalized, the design and development teams should work collaboratively to devise a final product in a relatively shorter time.Risk #4: Fixed time estimationThere?s hardly any project we have seen in our lifetime, which doesn?t require a scope change or a new addition to what?s planned initially. Once the development team starts the work, many times, it happens that business owners come forward with a new functionality which wasn?t discussed before or sometimes they even change the complete plan going forward. So, fixed time estimations are bothersome. Instead of completing a web project on time, strict estimates spoil the flow. Solution: Typically, the website owner and Project Manager should understand this time game and keep a hidden buffer at each stage of development. ?This leaves room for adding novel features or make changes during development.Risk #5: Project delivery at onceWith a sack full of web development companies onboard, the options are limitless. Not only early deliveries and cost-effectiveness are remunerative. Imagine if you receive a d?class? website in just two weeks of development, will you be happy? Clearly, no. This happens because as a business owner, you are only concerned with the end-product, insensitive to what the developers and designers have been doing. Project delivery at once is harmful because that risks the whole project. Even if it?s a one-page website, you should be allowed to see the website?s progress time and again.Solution: Think big, but pay attention to details regularly. Ask for the web developer to deliver the project at the end of each development cycle, which actively demonstrate how the project looks like and where it is heading. Exactly the way we do it.Over to youDon?t shillyshally ? take a wise decision sidestepping these risks that may pull you down from marshaling a high-quality robust website/web app. ?Be cautious during the website development so that you are not screwed up by the developers, bearing a far-higher cost.It?s time to get your physical business on the desktop and mobile screens of your potential customers and construct the best lead-generating system, with a revolutionary design.
by Nick Throlson | Sep 4, 2017 | Business
You may have some customers who gravitate toward you naturally, but the majority of them you?re going to have to win. You do this by learning what it takes to drive more business to your company. Although being a business owner is challenging, you have to make time to nurture relationships and bring in more customers. If you?re struggling to meet your numbers, don?t give up. Start by implementing a few different strategies and taking advantage of opportunities to draw more people to your business. It takes hard work and dedication, but many are already doing it and succeeding. See four ways to attract more customers. Well-Designed WebsiteEven if you own a physical store, a lot of your customers are going to be searching and looking for you online. Make sure you?re not only there, but that you?re there to make an impression. Hire a website consultant to help you if the design isn?t your forte. Potential customers will be instantly judging you based on what they see when they come across your website. Give them the exact information they need in a beautiful layout, and you won?t have much to worry about.Smart MarketingAttract the right customers at the right time by implementing a marketing strategy. Use a full-service marketing agency, like Click Intelligence if you?re in need of help with your SEO, Paid Search, PR Outreach or Link Building. They deliver ROI focused online marketing to improve your visibility on the web. Link building services should never be taken lightly as they are truly the backbone of any effective online marketing strategy. If you?re looking to have your brand easily identifiable as an authority within your industry, it all starts and ends with SEO link building tailored to gain rank on the SERPs.Identify Target AudienceStop trying to do it all and be everywhere. Instead, turn your focus to your target audience and those people who are actually going to purchase your product or service. You?re going to get far better results when you narrow your efforts to those who are more likely to take an interest in your business. Align your marketing efforts with your target audience and you?ll not only find an increase in the amount of traffic to your business and website but the right kind of traffic. Superior Customer ServiceWhat?s going to set you apart from most businesses are offering top-notch customer service. Believe it or not, many companies are failing in this area. Put your time and energy into training your customer service department to deliver excellent customer service and your clients will be thrilled. When people have a particularly great or poor experience, they typically have the urge to go and tell their friends and family. Do whatever it takes to make sure they?re inclined to talk about you because of the fantastic service.ConclusionCustomers aren?t just going to show up at your door. Put your thinking cap on and start implementing new strategies to get their attention. These are four ways to attract more customers.
by Nick Throlson | Sep 3, 2017 | Business, Web Design, WordPress
There are today no second thoughts on the way eCommerce development has taken the entire consumer market by storm- with billions of people using the channel to generate revenues worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But few people actually realize that it is in fact just the tip of the iceberg- with a much larger B2B (Business to Business) component lying underneath. If we go by statistics, B2B eCommerce is at least 4 times that of B2C and is expected to account for a staggering $6.7 trillion market by 2020. So, if you happen to be in the business or are looking to step in, now would be a good time to take a second look at your web development strategy and make the most out of the current boom.While most of the technical aspects for B2B web development remains the same as others, there are some innate factors that ultimately decide the fate of such businesses. And though you can hire any well-regarded web development company to take care of the design and development, following are risks that you must lookout on your own before you actually do:1. Expertise overratedOne of the crudest mistakes that businesses make while choosing web developers for their project is that they look out only for expertise in technologies that their project demands. While that is obviously a plus, it isn?t nearly enough to meet all business requirements in future. Especially in this age of ever evolving technology and ever shifting business priorities, there is no one technology you should lean your business upon. So, while expertise must always be a preference, experience in the industry and competence in widest possible technologies is what you must also consider before finally trusting any web development agency with your business prospects.2. CopycatsThis is more applicable to those who are just starting out or are looking to bring major overhaul to their online presence. These businesses generally find a web developer who has created a product that they would like to copy. In their opinion, it won?t only save the efforts that would otherwise go into analysis and design, but has the additional benefit of being a tried and tested product.But in their rush to save a few bucks and efforts, they overlook a very fundamental aspect- no two businesses are exactly the same and if there are, eventually only one of them will succeed. So, unless you are willing to invest the required efforts and resources to turn your idea into a unique product, there is essentially no leverage you will have over competitors.3. TimelineAs mentioned in the beginning, B2B eCommerce is an immensely huge market with countless businesses competing to make their mark. And every day that you stay out of the competition, is a potential lost opportunity. Many businesses in the hope of launching a perfect B2B platform spends too much time in the development and testing phase and by the time it is ready, they realize that the market has moved on and their product has become outdated even before launch! To put it simply, there is no such thing as a perfect website and the best one are those that keep users engaged and push for maximum sales.4. Static development cycleGenerally, web development follows a fixed procedural cycle- requirement gathering, design, development, testing and deployment. While this approach may serve well for small projects, B2B is certainly not one of them due to the sheer number of clients and much higher financial stakes. Unless the development cycle is flexible enough to incorporate the needs of both these components, there will always be a doubt over business feasibility in the long run.Since the most valuable suggestions and feedback any business can get is from their clients, a better approach would be to start with a prototype and get feedback from all stakeholders. This will not only help you document the requirements precisely, but will also pave the way for the future course of action that is expected.Closing RemarksCreating a B2B platform isn?t an easy task and something that must only be done after in-depth research and with utmost commitment. Having worked with businesses of all scales and industries, we have the first-hand experience of the unique challenges and opportunities they have from web development services. And it is this industry insight coupled with technical competence that our clients bank upon to prosper their business.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 24, 2017 | Business
Despite the wide range of communications tools now available, email is still one that businesses and business people use the most on a daily basis. Emails give you that sense of formality and professionalism. There are etiquettes to follow, but modern email messaging is very robust.You can choose to run a large email marketing campaign to attract clients and generate interest. If the goal is to earn new clients and boost sales, however, a more personalised approach works better most of the time. Here are the top three tips you can try if you want to use emails to boost sales and earn new clients.Know Who to Contact
Every business has a decision maker, especially when it comes to staging events. Knowing who to contact is half the battle; sending your personalised promotional email or offer to the right person in the company will greatly boost your conversion rate.There are plenty of resources you can use to discover the right person to contact. LinkedIn, for example, lets you connect with key figures in different companies. You can find out about the position and responsibility of each person you want to contact in just a few clicks.You can also use services such as The Email Finder to figure out the email address for key figures in a company. It is a good approach because you don?t have to worry about your promotional email not reaching its intended targets. For more information about how to use The Email Finder, check out the company?s website.Build Relationships
Hard-selling is a thing of the past. You may get one or two additional clients by trying to sell you services directly, but it is certainly not the way to build relationships. The latter is what you really want to do. You can get more businesses in the long run by maintaining a genuine relationship with the decision makers.Starting is always the tricky bit. The best way to get started is by introducing yourself, your company, and the services you provide. You can add a couple of paragraphs or lines explaining the kind of services you offer. End the email with a sincere request to connect.Pay Attention to Context
As mentioned before, an email that is too sales-oriented isn?t the kind of email you want to send. Instead, the email needs to be contextual. You can spend some extra time researching the person or the target company. Find talking points that can be added to the email for a more personalised approach.Let?s say the person has just been promoted to his current position. This is information you can easily find online thanks to social networking sites. You can then congratulate the person in your email, turning that information into a positive, highly personalised gesture that will help you start a fruitful relationship.As you can see, using emails to earn new clients is not as complicated as you think. Instead of sending mass emails and hoping for responses, try the personalised approach we just discussed in this article and get better results.
by Nick Throlson | Aug 23, 2017 | Business
Having an agile team at your disposal is a great way to ensure that your business is always running on all cylinders. When you know your employee s are highly flexible, adaptable, and capable, you have a lot more options available to you, for sure, But, how do you ensure that your team is more agile?
Here are some simple tips to increase the agility of your team: ??
Hire the Right Staff
First, and most importantly of all, you need to recruit the right people into your business. This will perhaps mean a more rigorous recruiting process than you?re used to with lots of vetting, interviews, and tests to ensure the people you?re hiring are not only competent, but able to adapt to any situation and willing to work more flexibly, but it will be worth it when you can look at your team and know that they will make your business boom.
Implement Location Neutrality
Location neutrality is an amazingly effective way to boost your team?s agility because having employees in numerous different locations across the globe, where they will be working in different time zones, means that you will not only be privy to different ways of thinking and different cultural practices, but you will also have access to excellent employees round the clock, should you need them.
Increase Collaboration
Increasing the level of collaboration your team has, using, for example, cloud-based software testing tools that offer many integrations, or using Skype and other video conferencing software to ensure everyone is included, is a great way to foster fruitful working relationships which will help employees to come up with more creative solutions faster.
Plan for Defeat
Every business experiences defeat, failures and setbacks along the way, so if you want your team to be as agile as possible, you need to plan for the worst case scenario. This will inform everything from the tightness of your deadlines to the size of your budget, building in a cushion so that your team feels freer to make mistakes along the way. After all, it is mistakes which teach us the most and help us to ultimately succeed.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
It?s the 21st Century, which means we have an abundance of technology at our fingertips, and you?d be remiss not to use it to make your team more efficient, agile and successful. You can use spreadsheets to automate basic tasks, testing tools to find bugs more quickly and, as I mentioned above, collaboration tools to bring the team together, and that?s just the tips of the iceberg or what is possible.
Work on YourselfImage source
As a team leader, it is important that you are always working on yourself, looking at new and improved ways of managing your employees and meeting their needs. There are numerous management styles out there, and experimenting with them all will help you to determine what works best for you and your team in any given situation.
All of the tips above will help you to create a more agile team and a more successful business. All that remains now is for you to jump in and start implementing them as soon as possible.
Hire the Right Staff
First, and most importantly of all, you need to recruit the right people into your business. This will perhaps mean a more rigorous recruiting process than you?re used to with lots of vetting, interviews, and tests to ensure the people you?re hiring are not only competent, but able to adapt to any situation and willing to work more flexibly, but it will be worth it when you can look at your team and know that they will make your business boom.
Implement Location Neutrality
Location neutrality is an amazingly effective way to boost your team?s agility because having employees in numerous different locations across the globe, where they will be working in different time zones, means that you will not only be privy to different ways of thinking and different cultural practices, but you will also have access to excellent employees round the clock, should you need them.
Increase Collaboration
Increasing the level of collaboration your team has, using, for example, cloud-based software testing tools that offer many integrations, or using Skype and other video conferencing software to ensure everyone is included, is a great way to foster fruitful working relationships which will help employees to come up with more creative solutions faster.
Plan for Defeat
Every business experiences defeat, failures and setbacks along the way, so if you want your team to be as agile as possible, you need to plan for the worst case scenario. This will inform everything from the tightness of your deadlines to the size of your budget, building in a cushion so that your team feels freer to make mistakes along the way. After all, it is mistakes which teach us the most and help us to ultimately succeed.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
It?s the 21st Century, which means we have an abundance of technology at our fingertips, and you?d be remiss not to use it to make your team more efficient, agile and successful. You can use spreadsheets to automate basic tasks, testing tools to find bugs more quickly and, as I mentioned above, collaboration tools to bring the team together, and that?s just the tips of the iceberg or what is possible.
Work on YourselfImage source
As a team leader, it is important that you are always working on yourself, looking at new and improved ways of managing your employees and meeting their needs. There are numerous management styles out there, and experimenting with them all will help you to determine what works best for you and your team in any given situation.
All of the tips above will help you to create a more agile team and a more successful business. All that remains now is for you to jump in and start implementing them as soon as possible.
