Blogs Archives - App City

A Checklist For Better SEO

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 06:50:52 +0000

More than 5 billion Google searches happen daily, which means search engine optimisation (SEO)—adjusting your website to boost the amount of quality traffic that comes to it—is an essential part of connecting with your audience.

When you know what boosts your position in a search result—and what pushes down your ranking—it’s easy to design and update your site for SEO. We’re here to teach you a little bit about it. use this checklist to integrate SEO into your digital marketing strategy or contact us to look after it for you.

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Search engines like Google and others use formulas, called algorithms, to determine what sites to serve up in response to a search. While search engines update their algorithms regularly, there are plenty of predictable ways they’ll assess your site.

Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT) are among the top factors Google considers in its rankings. There are several ways to build this.

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Reviews, mentions in social media, links to your content from other websites, and guest posts that backlink to your website will all help your ranking. But, don’t take a shortcut and pay firms to purchase links for you—Google doesn’t approve of this practice.

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Build your EAT by ensuring that Google has pertinent information about your business. Use Google My Business to manage your profile so you connect with your audience on Google Search and Maps using location data.

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Keywords are words or phrases that people type into search engines to find something. All areas of your website—including page names, headlines, site copy, image captions, page descriptions, and URLs—need to include keywords in a natural way that doesn’t sound too forced.

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Make sure your website is organised in a way that makes it easy for users and search engines to travel through your site and find what they’re looking for. Internal links from one page to another within your site should provide content that educates your visitor, answers a question about what you offer, or engages them in some other valuable way. Internal links give Google more clues about what your website is about, so it can send relevant visitors your way.

Feature substantial content. Create website content that’s relevant to your top keywords and hefty enough to be valuable. While punchy, skimmable content is great, keep in mind that Google wants content that solves the search intent, so pages with fewer than 200 words will not be highly ranked. If you want to add meat to your copy, be sure each page solves a problem, answers a question, or moves a visitor forward in their journey through your site.

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A title tag or page tag is the “headline” for a page when it appears in search engine results pages (SERP). The words or phrases in your title tags should be specific and descriptive. Think, “Learn How to Paint Landscapes and Portraits” instead of “Painting Class.” Combining this with the meta description—a longer blurb in search results that says more about what your content provides—encourages users to click through to your website. Title tags also appear in your visitors’ web browser tabs and in social media when your content is shared.

Add alt tags. An alt tag is a text description of an image. It serves 3 important purposes. Search engines can’t interpret images, so alt tags help them identify and rank these pieces of content, improving your SEO. They also help website visitors when an image doesn’t display properly on their screen or load quickly by providing a clue about what image they should be seeing. Last, and definitely not least, alt tags are easy for screen readers to decipher, so they help with web accessibility. Alt tags should be short and descriptive—think, “paddle board on lake with smiling boy” or “chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and strawberry.”

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Google prioritises mobile websites, so making sure your website is mobile friendly is critical. This means providing a visually pleasing and easy-to-use experience no matter what device someone is visiting from. Mobile sites also must load quickly on a 3G connection, render properly on any sized screen, have well-spaced site elements that users can easily tap on to take action, and feature content that’s entirely visible without having to scroll left or right.

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Ideally your pages should load in under 2 seconds—less than 3 is a must. If they do, it’ll improve your search rankings. There are several things that can slow down your load time, including issues with your content management system (CMS), poorly written code, low bandwidth that can’t handle your traffic volume, or numerous large images on a page. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test how quickly your website is loading.

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Google Search Console will help you see if Google is finding and indexing all of the pages on your website to highlight places you can improve performance. It can also help you set up your own site search tracking.

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Google considers HTTPS encryption a top priority, and will show a security warning in search results if a website is not HTTPs encrypted.

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When people type a query into a search engine and then make their way to your website based on the results, they’re likely to have high engagement potential. A solid website on which you layer SEO best practices will provide an experience that attracts high-potential visitors and makes them want to engage.

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We have a team dedicated to this service that work on our client’s SEO DAILY, to ensure the very best results are achieved. If it’s something you would prefer to outsource, please do reach out. We’d love to work with you.

The post A Checklist For Better SEO appeared first on App City.

Why Car Dealers Need A Mobile App

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 11:20:44 +0000

The importance of a mobile app when selling used cars cannot be underestimated. Here are some of the many benefits of having a mobile app for your car dealership:

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There’s no smarter way of spreading the news about your dealership than developing a mobile app. Customers are free to browse the cars for sale, place an order, chat, and send referrals through the app.

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For car buyers, ready-to-consume information helps in their decision-making process. Details about the inventory, payment methods, pricing, and the dealer educate the customers. A mobile app is a fantastic resource for all this information.

Buying that first car, then having the company service it for all its future needs, builds long-term loyalty and one that you’ll be sure to tell all your friends about.

Research by Google and Ipsos shows 90% of first-time car buyers have no clue what model they want to settle on.

As they perform a thorough search online, they develop ideas they can use to make a decision. The app is a perfect place to gather knowledge on everything regarding used cars and servicing.

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Reach out to app users by sending through push notifications for reminders to book their service appointments or invitations to exclusive sale nights.

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Leveraging mobile applications should be a goal for car dealers. When customers visit your business, request their location information so that you regularly keep in touch.

It’s not only a way of building your business but also a way to promote your business to potential customers.

Getting your customers’ location, then sending notifications when they are near the dealership works like magic. As you do this religiously, something strikes in their minds, and they will finally make that purchase.

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Maintaining loyalty to a company that delivers quality products is exceptional. A mobile application is a pathway to getting additional offerings.

Buying that first car, then having the company service it for all its future needs, builds long-term loyalty and one that you’ll be sure to tell all your friends about.

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A mobile application eases the process of reporting on business analytics. You can easily track daily performance for all aspects of the business.

Better still, management can use automatic tools to disseminate information to staff and customers.

Knowing where to improve your business by using these trends is straightforward and useful. If, for instance, you want to know the best performing car model, check the analytics for statistics and details.

Also, you can gauge various aspects of the business, such as financial management and managerial conduct.

Developing a mobile app as a car dealer should not be ignored. Imagine closing more deals in virtue of using a mobile application for your car business.

Want to find out more? Get in touch today.

Related Tag: App development company

The post Why Car Dealers Need A Mobile App appeared first on App City.

8 of the Best App Marketing Strategies you need to know

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 11:55:50 +0000

So exploring ways to reach out to your customers in a bigger and better way. Launching a mobile application is the best way forward.

It brilliantly caters to the needs of your customers, it’s incredibly user-friendly and smooth, and has an extremely engaging and interactive interface. You’ve invested a generous amount of time, effort, and money in making this app. And your job is finally done! Wait, is it? Creating an effective mobile application for your business is only half the job, the (significant) other half is to let your audience know that such an app exists.

That marks the beginning of your app marketing journey.

Pre-Launch Mobile App Marketing:

Start marketing long before your launch:

These times are overwhelmingly competitive. Please do not wait for the completion or launch of your app to start marketing it, it must start as soon as the concepts and designs are done.

Start your research. Figure out who your ideal audience is and why they should download the app. Find your differentiating factor and start encouraging them to download the app.

Marketing an app at the right time (at an early stage) will get your audience interested. They’ll start looking forward to the launch. Once the anticipation is built, the chances of them downloading your app will increase manifold.

Start Engaging Potential Customers:

Do you know the fool-proof method to create an ideal app? Ask your prospects what they want in the app! See, you’re building the app for your customers, so there cannot be a better way than taking their feedback during the creation process.

Engage your potential customers throughout the creation process. Collect feedback from your audience on forums and social media. The sure-shot way to not go wrong is to ask them what they’re looking for, and take care of those needs through your app. You can also leverage monitoring tools to identify industry leaders and reach out to them for feedback.

Start a blog:

Aggressive advertisement is one thing but educating your prospects about a topic so that they begin to trust you and start looking forward to your products/services is a whole different ball game. Once your website is up and running, you must immediately start a blog for your mobile app.

With a blog, you’ll have the chance to engage your audience (by educating them) and share your success, failures, experiences, and lessons. Make your potential customers a part of your journey – when they know you value them, they’ll undoubtedly trust your services and use it.

A blog will also help you answer your audience’s questions and keep them updated about the app’s creation process. The same blog will help you even after the launch to maintain a connection with your audience. Effective communication is the key, remember?

Start Releasing Teasers:

The thing about teasers is – they need to be promotional and informative at the same time. The right teasers can build the right kind of hype and get your prospects genuinely excited about the app.

Also, remember to make these teasers exceptionally gripping and shareable. That increases the chances of its wild circulation on social media (exactly where your audience is).

Teasers hit at a different level as they ‘show’ what you’ve been talking about. They are not words but visual proofs of what your audience can expect from your app.

Start preparing your press kit and launch materials: Before you can finally launch your app, there’s a list of must-haves you need to take care of – a complete website, video promo, blog posts, and perhaps a press release. These are the launch materials you will need before your app reaches its audience.

Also, as you’ve already made your prospects aware of the app – from your end, you must now leverage the relevant media, industry influencers, and authoritative bloggers to do the same. This builds credibility around your app and also expands your reach.

Post-launch Mobile App Marketing Checklist

Get more feedback from Customers: Now that your app is out – you need to make sure that it ranks among the top few on app stores. How do you do that? Apps on the app store rank on the basis of popularity and value which is decided based on the ratings and feedback.

You, thus, need to create a plan for getting customer ratings, reviews, and feedback which will in turn increase the downloads of your app. Make sure you include your contact info in the app description so that customers can reach out to you in case of queries, suggestions, or detailed feedback. Going forward, do your best to cater to their feedback.

Get app reviews and explain the features: You can send your app to blogs and video channels to get honest and unbiased reviews. Also, make sure you explain each feature of the app in great detail to your customers – through videos and a step-by-step guide. This is important because your customers might require help within certain parts of your app. If they cannot find an immediate way out, they may delete the application.

Optimise the app for mobile app stores: To cater to the individuals who’ll download your mobile application through the app store, make sure your app is completely optimised. That means you need to leverage the power of keywords to make your app searchable and rank among the top. To improve visibility, you might also want to consider search ads so that your app pops up each time someone searches for a similar app.

Conclusion: You have developed the greatest app but it’s of no use if it doesn’t reach the right audience. By following the aforementioned marketing strategies – you direct your audience’s attention towards your app and arouse their interest.

Take advantage of the included support and contact the App City team for any tips or advice in marketing your app.
Advice is FREE and always available to our customers.

Related Tag: app development company

The post 8 of the Best App Marketing Strategies you need to know appeared first on App City.

Top 12 Trends Shaping Mobile Application Development in 2020

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 11:50:11 +0000

Mobile apps have created a buzz due to functionalities and features. The proof of its continued popularity is millions of applications on the app store. To meet users’ expectations, it’s pivotal to create an innovative app that inspires millions of users and developers.

To stay up-to-date on the latest mobile application development trends, considering the following points is a great way to start. Below, we’ve compiled a list of current trends in Mobile App development.

Based on the extensive research, these 12 mobile app development trends will dominate 2020.

Trend #1: Machine Learning (ML) & Artificial Intelligence (AI)

One of the most common types of artificial intelligence is machine learning, which is used in development for business purposes. It should not be surprising that machine learning is on the list of mobile app development trends. Machine learning trends would have been among the top mobile app development trends in 2020, and they will most probably be on the list for 2021 as well.

Both consumers and businesses have taken advantage of machine learning tools to make their lives easier. AI technologies that can be used in a mobile app are chatbots, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Image recognition, biometrics, and emotion recognition. The question arises, what are the changes expected on the machine learning front?

It’s expecting to see more AI upgrades such as search suggestions, spelling corrections, and product recommendations. The main goal is to empower users for performing daily tasks in a lesser amount of time by eliminating time-consuming tasks.

Here’re some uses cases of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI):

Use Cases	Machine Learning	Artificial Intelligence
	 Sales optimisation  Customer service  Security  Process automation	 Financial trading  Improved online searches  Marketing personalisations  Increased data security via an intelligent security system

Trend #2: AR/VR

Both AR and VR technology are amazing! In 2020, their use cases are not limited to gaming applications anymore.

The gaming app, Pokémon GO, has already taken the gaming industry by storm. Snapchat and Instagram are the best examples of using AR. These apps have already released AR filters that can transform any human face into numerous digital characters.

Apps like IKEA Place enables its users to see how furniture would like and fit into their interiors without leaving home. Bosch is another example of AR technology that is using Augmented Assist, which provides a live and realistic display of virtual objects and information in the field of vision through smart glasses or tablets. It enables the check the machine condition, defective components, and instructions for action to be taken during servicing.

Being an entrepreneur or startup, if you are planning to invest in AR/VR technology, you should invest in this technology to provide better optimization and stability of apps.

Trend #3: IoT (Internet of Things)

The term “smart objects” or “smart devices” was initially originated by relatively new technology, called the “Internet of Things”. Industries like healthcare, automobiles, agriculture, and child & pet care have already used IoT technology to the fullest. Not only this, but the growth of the IoT market for smart homes also assures to be even more excellent.

Google Home and Apple Home are great examples of IoT and ensuring consumers can transform their residences into smart homes. It’s also going beyond smart refrigerators and thermostats. Moreover, you can also find all kinds of appliances connected to the Internet, including air purifiers, lamps, blinds, and pet feeders. Furthermore, IoT apps are also used for enterprise management. With this technology, it’s possible to control various aspects of a manufacturing unit, self-driving cars, and more.

Trend #4: Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has opened a world of new and exciting opportunities in the IT sector. With the use of blockchain technology, it’s possible to develop decentralised apps. Undeniably, blockchain is a game-changer that has helped so many startups and businesses to create their own blockchain-powered apps, smart contracts, and blockchain-based solutions. It’s also expecting to contribute more in the mobile app industry by making mobile apps decentralised like bitcoin blockchain did for money.

Trend #5: Wearables

Wearable technology has become increasingly popular. For instance, smartwatches, healthcare monitors, fitness bracelets, and glasses can easily pair with mobile apps.

For instance, Fitbit tracks all the movements of a user wearing it through an app. Users can check their heart rates and how many miles they walked in a day. By syncing with mobile devices, these apps can be used socially. Apps enable users to compare their progress with their friends and make it a competition.

In 2022, the wearable market is expected to grow to over 1.1 billion in 2022, according to Statista. The reason for its popularity is its ability to connect with mobile devices.

Trend #6: Chatbots

According to HubSpot, 55% of consumers are willing to interact with a business via messaging apps to solve a problem. The best thing about chatbot is to provide personalised responses to user queries in real-time. Instead of being more specific, they are fully automated with zero human intervention. Initially, chatbots started as a messaging app on Slack, Facebook, and Skype. The use cases of chatbots are: improve user retention, online customer support, and streamline social media activity.

The chatbot market size is expected to reach USD $1.25 billion by 2025. With current scenario, advancements in AI has made it possible to integrate chatbots in native applications.

Trend #7: On-demand Apps

One of the most successful business models of the current business world is – on-demand apps. Almost every organisation is implementing this business model in 2020. From booking a ride to ordering food, the on-demand business model has been thriving for the past few years. Therefore, companies are heavily investing in the development of mobile applications “on-demand”. For instance, Uber, a taxi booking app, enables users to book rides on-demand in a matter of seconds. Besides, users can determine the duration and cost of the trip, the approximate waiting time, and even choose a travel route.

Here’re a few examples of on-demand apps in various sectors:

Telemedicine
Food delivery
Fitness on-demand
House cleaning
Laundry service
Pet care
Maintenance services
Barber and beauty salon
Virtual tutors and coaches

It’s important to know that the apps have already gone through many changes. Therefore, it’s also essential to consider ordering mechanisms through voice commands and synchronisation with other devices, from laptop to Smart House.

Trend #8: Instant Apps

Developing an app requires finding a balance between all the features you want to add and the storage space it could occupy in the phone memory. The successful mobile app development factor lies in the apps that load fast, occupy less memory, and feature-rich. Instant apps load with just a touch. There is no need to download a vast installation package. This is because apps are created in modules that can be downloaded and executed on their own. All you need to download the only part you need by following a link.

Trend #9: Mobile Wallets & Payment Gateway Integration

The demand for mobile wallets is rising nowadays. Mobile app developers are taking special care of security features due to which the use of mobile wallets will increase in 2020. The advantages of the popular trend, mobile wallets are highly secured, contactless payments, and the maximum number of wallet users.

Today’s users prefer frictionless payment methods for smooth transactions, and they love to see features in their apps. Therefore, both payment gateway integration, as well as mobile wallets, provide users with the highest level of secure encryption that has become a standard feature for all such apps.

Trend #10: Cloud-based mobile apps

Cloud is a luxury option for mobile app development. Cloud-based mobile apps are considered as the future of mobile apps. The world has already begun to realise the benefits and possibilities offered by the cloud. For instance, improved load capacity, optimized business operations, and reduced hosting costs are some of the cloud’s benefits.

Furthermore, with the help of cloud technology such as Dropbox, AWS, SideRocket, etc., it’s possible to develop powerful apps that run directly in the cloud. It means that we can expect more such apps to launch, requiring minimal storage space in 2020.

Trend #11: Apps for multiple platforms

Apps that work on Android do not necessarily work on iOS. That’s why it is important to separate mobile app marketplaces. But, it does not mean that developing an app that works on multiple devices (smartphones, tablets, and desktops) is impossible. Kotlin is a programming language that enables developers to develop mobile apps for multiple platforms. Developers can easily write code for every part of the system like back-end, front-end, mobile apps, and desktop apps.

Trend #12: 5G Technology

The rollout of 5G technology has a greater impact in the year 2020 mobile app development trends. According to Statista, it’s predicted that there will be around 1.9 billion 5G subscriptions worldwide by 2024. By 2025, it’s predicted that around half of overall mobile connections are projected to be 5G-enabled in Asia and North America.

You might be thinking about how this impacts mobile app development?

By implementing this technology, both speed and efficiency will drastically improve. 5G is expected to deliver a 10x decrease in latency while enhancing network efficiency and traffic capacity. If we compare to 4G, 5G will be up to 100 times faster, depending upon the mobile network operator. Moreover, the penetration of 5G technology will also boost the functionality of mobile applications. This way, it will allow developers to add new features to applications without affecting the app’s performance.

Hence, mobile app developers and resellers must use 5G network speed during the testing and development stages of creating an application.

Bottom line

Mobile app development is continuously changing. If you have an app developed using information from the past few years, you won’t be able to stay competitive. By considering, as mentioned above, mobile app development trends, you can gain an edge in your space.

However, you don’t need to implement every trend into every app you create, but you should have a general idea about how the market is shifting and how you can adapt such technologies.

If you happen to be planning to develop a mobile app, make sure that you inculcate these trends. App City can help bring your vision to fruition and ensure that you have an app with the best performance. Reach out to us anytime!

The post Top 12 Trends Shaping Mobile Application Development in 2020 appeared first on App City.

5 Design Tips For Creating Killer Apps

admin — Tue, 26 May 2020 10:56:21 +0000

“A gorgeous app with poor UX isn’t a gorgeous app—it’s an invitation to frustration.” – InVision

This powerful quote points to the significance of a good user experience and user interface. It will literally make or break your app. The following article goes over app design tips that will enhance the usability and appeal of your app. Even though some of seem obvious, there are plenty of bad apps out there that prove the opposite. Stand out with an app that is both gorgeous on the inside and out.

1. Apply The Rules of Interaction Design

Even though the screen is a lot smaller, the rules of good interaction design still apply. Interaction design is an important component within the giant umbrella of user experience (UX) design. According to DesignModo, “Interaction design is a process in which designers focus on creating engaging web interfaces with logical and thought out behaviors and actions. Successful interactive design uses technology and principles of good communication to create desired user experiences.” So when you start building your app, keep the Five Pillars of Interaction Design in mind:

Goal-driven design: User research, such as interviews and surveys, helps you design for the right user. Uncover personas and user scenarios to create a complete picture of the experience with your app, as it will allow you to tailor your app’s workflow to suit users’ needs.
Usability: If anything, your app needs to be easy to use. “Usability makes a product useful, which is the first step in being desirable”, says The Next Web.
Affordance & signifiers: The affordance is the function; the signifier hints at the affordance. For instance, blue, underlined text (signifier) indicates that it is “clickable” and will take you to a linked page (affordance). Signifiers need to be used correctly, so users don’t need to think about what each UI element does.

Learnability: Users should be able to intuitively navigate your app. Using familiar mobile patterns will help (new) users acclimate to a (new) app – more on this later in the article.
Feedback & response time: Feedback lets a user know if an action was completed, whether through sound, image or text. This feedback needs to happen in a timely manner, as well as be user-friendly.

2. Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

Besides following basic design rules, do not try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to your app’s interface. There is a reason why many (successful) apps look similar, they build off of established mobile patterns that users are familiar with. Users shouldn’t be required to learn a new pattern every time they open a different app. This would cause instant abandonment of the app. Therefore, use patterns that you see in popular apps, including the colours, icons and gestures. For instance, use red for errors and an envelope icon for your email feature. Furthermore, touch devices are defined by gestures, including swipe, double-tap, zoom, and pinch.

According to TNW, you should “use common UI patterns as a baseline for usability, then layer on your own creativity. In doing so, you’ll ensure that your app design matches user expectations without feeling boring.”

3. Remember Accessibility

We’ve all experienced the frustration of accidentally hitting the wrong button on our phone, and ending up on a random screen. Fingers are a lot bigger than precise mouse cursors, so make sure you build a ‘finger-friendly’ design. Allow enough space for users to tap with their fingertip to minimise annoyance as much as possible. Fingers are about 45-57 pixels wide, which is bigger than most design guidelines state for hit targets. Apple’s recommendations (44×44 pixels), for example, are actually too small.

Also consider that people hold their phones in different ways: one thumb/one hand, two hands/one finger or two hands/two thumbs. Keep this thumb and finger placement in mind when adding important touch buttons.

4. Know Your Colours

Different colours convey different meanings and emotions, so it is crucial to pick the right ones for your app. As the guide shows, blue can convey trust and strength, whereas orange can signify cheerfulness and confidence. The colour palette should, of course, also match your current company colors.

According to Envato, “we have seen a shift in trends from heavy use of colors throughout mobile app elements, to more minimal use of colour, with much more focused palettes being used. As well as this, there has been a move towards using more white space alongside high contrast, experimental colours.” Most importantly, you need to use colour contrasts that facilitate a better reading experience.

5. (Con)text is King

Text and design go hand in hand, so make sure not to skimp on this element. Some even argue that words are the most important part of interaction design. Crucial is that your copy is easy to understand. “The first step to any writing endeavor is to know both your audience (your target users) and your medium (web page content, sidebar, pop-up, etc.), says Fast Company. In other words, the writing needs to be tailored to who will be reading it, when they will be reading it, what they need to complete their goal and so on. Here are some tips for writing compelling app copy:

Phrase labels positively to make users feel in control. Users are coming to your site to do something to achieve their goals, so create copy that encourages interaction.
Use the most important words first. Mobile users are especially impatient, so make sure the point comes across as fast as possible.
Use consistent wording across each screen. Besides being a stand-alone product, the app should be an extension of your company’s brand.

Time to go (back) to the drawing board with these app design tips! Do you have any app design tips that you swear by? Share it in the comments.

Related Tag: App Development Companies

The post 5 Design Tips For Creating Killer Apps appeared first on App City.

Building Online Presence: 8 Mistakes Small Businesses Make

admin — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 10:51:45 +0000

Investing in building online presence can be one of the wisest decisions for any business in today’s times. With the majority of your customers active on the internet, online elements – executed appropriately – can make all the difference to your business marketing campaign. That being said, having a strong online presence goes beyond building a website and having accounts on all social media platforms. Taking your online presence seriously is all about working to stay visible and relevant to your customers.

The road ahead is long, and not devoid of potholes. If you’re ready to take your small business online, be sure to avoid these 8 common mistakes.

1. Not Having a Website

With the majority of people being online and numbers only set to increase, you can’t afford to not have a website. Even if you consider yourself to be a primarily offline business – like a salon or a cafe – having a functioning website in place can help you unlock immense business potential and pave the way for stronger offline relationships with your customers.

Take property information provider Arivify, for example; while their website allows viewers to browse through available properties, they also have a blog section that features articles ranging from topics like housing market trends to builder’s warranty! The brand thus builds relationships with customers by offering useful advice in addition to featuring properties.

2. Having a Bad Website

First impressions matter and this is applicable online as well! Apart from having a visually appealing website, you also need to ensure that the message you’re trying to convey to your customers is clearly presented to them. Strong visual imagery, quality content, and quicker load times are equally important. Do have your address and contact information easily visible, as your website could be the first point of contact for new customers.

3. Not Optimising for Mobile

Mobile devices are now taking over desktop website views! It goes without saying that having a functioning website that is optimised for mobile phone users is essential for all businesses.

What do you have to do to optimise your website for mobile?

It should load in 3 seconds
The eye should be drawn to your key message or selling point
It should be easy to navigate
It should have a prominent call to action

4. Not Creating Device-Specific Ads

Bear in mind that behavior and search intent vary highly among desktop users and mobile phone users. Desktops or tablets are used in similar scenarios, and these device users are typically not ready to commit – they’re just looking for more information. On the other hand, mobile phone users are looking for fast results, and are more likely to respond to your CTA. Needless to say, your ad copy should be altered accordingly for each device category.

Moreover, mobile-optimised ads receive higher click-through rate on mobile devices, as compared to ads that aren’t optimised. So set a mobile preference for your ads on Google and get creative with your copy and CTAs. Make sure to enable call extensions to allow for one-touch dialing.

5. Not Being Accessible

Your potential customers are most likely to look for you online first, and if you have a strong online presence across platforms, it’ll give you a competitive edge over other players. Furthermore, your business can remain open 24/7 with the power of the Internet. Whether you help your audience with tips and tricks, in-depth information, directions, or more, you’re sure to build stronger relationships with them.

Make your business accessible to your customers by making contact information readily available. Don’t force customers to contact you or make payments in a particular way; be open to all forms of communication, across channels, and diversify payment options.

6. Being Present Everywhere

Building your online presence doesn’t mean you have to have an account on all social media platforms. There’s such a thing as ‘too much’, and you don’t want to realise later on that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew! You’ll have your website, blog, and other traditional advertising to manage, so choose other outlets considering the platform users and what you want to convey to them.

Note that you’ll need to churn out different content for all networks. Sharing the same stuff across all platforms won’t help you reach your targeted audience. You’ll also end up with bored followers. The key to deciding where to be present is understanding where your customers spend time. If it’s Facebook, then head on over there. If they are more likely to browse LinkedIn, create a LinkedIn presence etc.

7. Not Implementing Local SEO

In a survey, 89% of participants said they searched for a local business on their smartphone at least once a week. This only means one thing: You can’t ignore local SEO if you want to build your business’ online presence.

Even if you want to reach out to a global audience with global SEO, implementing a local campaign will reward your business with good rankings on the search results page for your area. This can boost your business visibility and provide exposure to local Internet users. Boost local SEO by incorporating local keywords in your website content and optimising meta tags. Embedding a Google map on your Contact Us page and verifying your Google My Business listing will also help.

8. Abandoning It All

Whether it’s a stagnant website or a Facebook page that’s not monitored, abandoning your efforts to build your business presence online can be detrimental to your image. For example, if a potential customer lands on your Facebook or Twitter page that has been inactive for quite a while, they are bound to wonder if you’re still in business, eventually moving on to your competitor.

Giving up on your efforts also means missing out on social media conversations relevant to your business and industry, and severing ties with your followers. More often than not, businesses abandon their efforts to build a strong online presence only because they can’t see returns on investment. It’s necessary to realise that this is going to be a long-term process and consider revamping your strategy if required.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt about it, having a strong online presence can benefit businesses in more ways than one. With the information provided here, you now know what mistakes to avoid when taking your business online. So get started on building your online presence and unlock the immense potential that’s in store for your business!

If you need a hand, just give us a shout! We’d love to help.

The post Building Online Presence: 8 Mistakes Small Businesses Make appeared first on App City.

How Small Businesses Can Get More Out of Their Mobile Apps

admin — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 11:32:53 +0000

Today, smartphones have become the primary mode of communication and mobile apps have become an indispensable part of brands and businesses. In fact, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneur Council Study, small businesses that built mobile apps now save more than 725 million employee hours and over 370 million of their own hours manually.

Consumers, on the other hand, are also spending more time and money on mobile apps. For example, an average smartphone user today spends more than 3 hours on mobile apps, a whopping 20% increase in usage from 2016. As far as money is concerned, Mobile apps are forecasted to generate over $581 billion in revenues by the year 2020.

Despite these statistics, small business owners often fail to understand the importance of having a mobile app. If you’re a small business owner looking for ways to attract new customers, improve customer experience, or stand-out from competitors, building a mobile app is the solution to fulfill these endeavors.

Creating a mobile app, although, takes lots of planning, time, resources, and money, which is why it’s important to learn how to get most out of a mobile app, especially if you’re a small business.

In this article, I’ve listed 7 tried-and-tested tips that small businesses need to follow to get maximum return on their investment in a mobile app.

1. Market Research Is Absolutely Necessary

Market research is an arduous task. But once you know for whom you’re developing a mobile app, it will be easier to reach the right users.

Conduct thorough market research, study competitors’ apps, and ask your customers for feedback on your app idea to get a better understanding of what type of mobile app will resonate the most with the target audience.

2. Specify App Purpose and Functionalities

Once you’ve done your market research and know who your target users will be, it’s time to define what problems your mobile app will solve for those target users.

Just like market research, specifying the app purpose and its functionalities is also a very crucial step in the mobile application development process. An app’s functionalities are what drives most users to download and use a mobile app. So, it’s crucial to add the right functionalities that really solve users’ problems and matches their expectations.

3. Aim for a Visually-Appealing Yet Simple-to-Use App Design

There are over 2 million mobile apps, in the Google Play Store and 1.8 million mobile apps in the Apple App Store which means you’re highly unlikely to invent a unique app that differentiates your business app from the market. But, one way to make your mobile app a commercial success is by providing simple-to-use yet visually-appealing user interface.

To build a mobile app delivering better user experience, analyse similar mobile apps in the app stores and make your app faster, better, and more powerful to distinguish it from the marketplace.

That being said, it’s also worth mentioning that your mobile app is not supposed to a sole solution for every problem and every user. So, don’t try to build one.

4. Personalise User Experience

No customer wants to feel as if he or she is just another user of your mobile app. That’s why personalising user experience in your mobile app is an important factor.

Take YogaGlo app, for example:

Did you notice the greeting message with the user’s name?

Whether you believe it or not, but those kinds of little details matter and add value to the overall experience of users. Adding such details in your mobile app is worth every penny, as it can help you differentiate from competitors.

5. Make Security Number #1 Priority

It is kind of compulsory to make security a top priority while developing mobile apps, as today’s users don’t give a second chance when it comes to the security of their private data and information.

And it’s only fair, right?

Everybody just wants to feel safe when it comes to sharing personal data with mobile apps. Moreover, mobile app security breaches can cost not only to loss of trust from customers, but it can also lead your business towards the loss of millions of dollars. Therefore, once your mobile app is developed, make sure to test it under different environments and conditions.

6. Target Multiple Platforms for Your Mobile App

Be sure to develop a cross-platform mobile app so that you can reach a far broader audience.

Mobile app development is not only time-consuming but if can also be a costly process. So, instead of spending lots of money and time let us help as we cover all bases.

7. Put Together a Smart App Marketing/Promotion Strategy

Just because you believe your mobile app is great, don’t assume users will feel the same, even if your app is actually great.

You need to devise a clear app marketing/promotion strategy to make sure your app reaches the target users when it’s released on both App Stores.

Conclusion

A mobile app will help you expand your business reach in the industry!

The post How Small Businesses Can Get More Out of Their Mobile Apps appeared first on App City.

How To Design The Perfect Icon For Your Mobile App

admin — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:14:57 +0000

How To Design The Perfect Icon For Your Mobile App

You have an idea and you want to convert it into an app. However, developing an app that reaches millions of downloads isn’t a cakewalk. There are over 2.7 million apps on Google Play and 2.2 million on Apple’s App Store, but only a few stands out. With that, you may be wondering how to make an app icon.

Although there is no predefined pathway for developing an app that thrives, some things are necessary when it comes to developing a successful app. This includes finding the best app name, writing the perfect description, and creating an attractive logo.

While the name and description are necessary, an app icon is even more. Why? Because an app icon is the first thing that a user notices!

On average, there are around 41 apps that a user utilises regularly. To make your app get on that list, you need an irresistible app icon. Otherwise, you will have a tough time convincing people to download and regularly use your app.

In this blog, we’ll be talking about how to make an icon app that stands out.

What is an app icon?

An icon is a visual anchor that represents your brand. It helps your brand communicate its essence.

Most people think that icons are just logos, but that’s not true. While both of these are indeed used for branding, they still differ a lot.

A logo is a graphical representation of a company’s name which is usually made up of texts. An icon, on the other hand, is a graphical representation of about anything that helps to communicate a message instantly.

5 Core Aspects To Consider When Designing An App Icon

Scalability

Scalability is one of the most critical aspects of an icon. This is basically because your app icon is going to be represented in several places. With that, it has to look perfect and not distorted.

For this, you need an icon that looks simple yet compelling. Icons overloaded with graphics or other design elements fall victim to bad scalability.

Uniqueness

There are millions of apps out there and every app has an icon. What’s the purpose of those icons? It’s to make the app look unique and distinctive when someone looks at it for the first time.

You need to spend time and money on research before you finalise an icon for your app. Look at some of your competitors and check out how they made their icons. Try a design that’s different from what they made to make your icon look distinct.

It might sound like a daunting task at first, but there are several ways to do this. Try to communicate with different people and ask for suggestions regarding how your design should look.

Seek help from coworkers, family, and friends and ask what impression is your icon drawing on them. This will help you to come up with something that looks unique yet creative.

Recognisability

The primary objective of an app icon is to hook users and make them use your app. But it isn’t undoubtedly possible if they don’t understand your idea.

It is advisable to create icons that are simple and easy to remember. They should also reflect your brand. Take note that simple doesn’t mean boring. It just means that the icon isn’t overloaded with several unnecessary elements.

The idea here is to make it easy to remember. This way, users can easily get hooked to your app and download it without looking for other options.

Consistency

It’s the responsibility of the icon to describe the main features of the app and what domain it is serving.

If someone misunderstands your app’s domain, he is likely to uninstall it immediately and that will leave a negative impact on your app.

It’s better not to include screenshots or interference elements in any icons. It’s advisable to use ingredients that accurately describes the domain, as well as the objective of your app.

Compliance With Guidelines

You might assume that the Play Store by Google and Apple’s App Store are similar, but they are a lot different in reality. And so, you need to have different app icons for both platforms.

Users are used to their operating system and that’s why they need app icons that completely resonates with the operating system’s guidelines. The more we understand this fact, the more we build trust.

It doesn’t mean that the icons should be completely different. You can just tweak its size, shape of the frame, and the color palettes.

Just make sure that all the icons look similar so that no one gets confused while hopping from one operating system to another.

When developing icons as per the guidelines of operating systems, you can check out the following links:

For Apple’s Guidelines — You can visit iOS Human Interface Guidelines and for icon specific guidelines, check App Icon section.

For Google’s Play Store Guidelines — Visit Play Store Developer Guidelines. To check the icon specific guidelines, visit Google Play icon design specifications.

How To Make An Icon App

You know what in an icon is and the things that you need to consider while making your design. Now, do you know how to do it?

Whenever you ask a designer, you might get different answers every time. However, one thing is for sure — all the answers will resonate to each other.

So, here’s what most of the solutions are going to be like:

Know The Design Standards

As already mentioned, both Google and Apple have their own set of guidelines regarding how the app’s icon should look like.

The guidelines are created to maintain the industry standards and the ongoing trends. If you follow these guidelines, the chances for your app icon to get more downloads will substantially increase.

Recently, Google has implemented a new design language for Android called Material Design. It is an extensive set of guidelines that helps in designing a cohesive visual interface.

For designers who love to contribute to this cohesive look and feel, a throughout document has been released by Google on Material Design.

In the same way, Apple, too, has its own set of guidelines that you need to follow if you want to launch an app over there.

While Apple’s guidelines are handy for iOS developers, they aren’t as in-depth as Google’s Material Design.

Reflecting Your App’s Feel

It’s quite evident that your app icon needs to reflect the look as well as the feel of your brand. You need to be quite clear about what the icon needs to represent.

Let me illustrate with an example:

Imagine that you bought a mobile of a particular brand. After you open the box, you saw that it is a different model. You must feel like you’ve been cheated.

So, for the app’s look and feel to be consistent, you need to use a similar kind of app design and app icon.

For example, if your app design follows Google’s Material Design guidelines, the icon should also be following the same.

Communicate Your App’s Features

You must have apps like calculator, calendar or flashlight in your smartphone. These apps generally make the user feels like they got the utility under their fingertips. Your app should similarly be inspiring this sense of service.

Moreover, beyond this, your app icon should also instantly get recognised and communicate what the user expects from the app. Design an icon that adheres to the described points.

Get A Designer

While you can have an entire set of teammates, you need to get someone to look after the graphics department of your business. That’s where we can step in.

Conclusion

Your app icon is one of the most important things that you need to consider while creating a branding strategy for your app. To do it in the right way, you need to make sure that you’re taking all the necessary steps. We look after the development for our clients which includes the design. Whilst some might prefer to use their own designer we provide the run down for them to pass across to ensure they are ticking all of the boxes to ensure their apps overall success.

Related Tag: Business app developers

The post How To Design The Perfect Icon For Your Mobile App appeared first on App City.

Reputation Management: Why Reviews Are King

admin — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:34:02 +0000

Reputation management. You might be imagining a celebrity who needs to do damage control after sharing something inappropriate during an interview with TMZ. In reality, reputation management is crucial for any business, big or small. Even a company who doesn’t have a dedicated Reputation Manager is – or should be – engaging in reputation maintenance and amelioration on a daily basis.

So, what does reputation management for companies look like? In a nutshell, it means influencing and controlling a company’s reputation (shocker, right?). However, with the growth of the internet and social media, the notion of reputation management has transformed into online reputation management. The latter makes search results a core part of a company’s reputation, meaning you control what shows up when someone looks you up online.

An important piece of the online reputation management puzzle is online reviews. Online reviews are crucial to any business that wants to keep control of their online reputation. According to The Online Department, “Online reviews have created a new form of marketing and communication that bridges the gap between simple word-of-mouth and a viral form of feedback that can move virtual mountains for a business.” The importance of online reviews for businesses is truly mind boggling.

Why are reviews so important?

When it comes to word of mouth, online reviews have taken the spotlight. They are now the ultimate “word of mouth endorsement.” The stats speak for themselves:

88% of consumers trust online reviewsas much as a personal recommendation.
72% say that positive reviewsmake them trust a local business more.
A one-star increase on Yelp leads to a 5-9% increase in a business’s revenue.
92% of consumers say that they will use a local businessif it has at least a 4-star rating.

Before we get into the importance of positive reviews, we should discuss why it is at all important to have reviews. In other words, what are the consequences of having no reviews? You might think that no reviews is better than bad reviews, but this is not always the case. Without reviews, people doing research on your company are lacking the evidence that you are a real brand that they can trust. Without a number of online reviews to your name, you are missing out on new business.

Imagine this: You own a restaurant. Someone is visiting the area and looking for a place to eat. They use their smartphone to determine which restaurants are available to them. The search results show yours and one other establishment on the same street. Your restaurant does not have a single review on Yelp, Google, Facebook or any other platform. The other restaurant has several 4 or 5 star reviews. In that moment, it does not matter that your restaurant has tastier food or better service, the customer will pick your competitor. Without reviews, your business lacks credibility and looks questionable. Prospective customers will wonder why there aren’t any reviews, thinking “Is this business not popular? Does no one know about it? Is it a bad restaurant?” Every time a potential customer comes across your business online – and 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business – you might be losing them to the competition.

While it’s important to have reviews in general, the impact positive reviews have on your business is astounding. Here’s the impact online reviews can have:

Increase Sales

This is what it comes down to: online reviews will lead to increased profit. Reviews give customers the information that they need to make the decision to purchase a product or service from a business. Today’s consumer is highly informed, conducting their own in depth research before buying anything. Reviews are an important part of this research and can be the tipping point in decisions where there is little-perceived product differentiation. Again, imagine you are picking between two hair salons. If both salons offer the same services, fall around the same price point, and are in the same area, the reviews will be the tiebreaker. A consumer will almost always pick the establishment with better reviews as this is the differentiating factor between the two.

According to Dimensional Research, 90% of respondents who read online reviews are influenced by the reviews in their buying decision. Even more noteworthy is that for every $1 of online revenue influenced by reviews, that impact is multiplied offline by 4x or 5x.

Strengthen Customer Loyalty

Reviews go hand-in-hand with loyalty. Customers who take the time to leave a positive review for a business are far more likely to feel a certain loyalty to that business. There is a much higher chance that they will keep coming back. Think about the good reviews you have written on Yelp, as a customer. You probably frequent those places a lot more often than the ones you didn’t review. The act of leaving an online review establishes a relationship with the business, allowing customers to feel like they have a voice. Consumers want to be able to provide feedback in a meaningful way and know that their voices are heard by both the business and their peers. These reviews will then drive new prospects to your business, making it a tool for both customer acquisition and customer retention.

Improve SEO & Ranking

Online reviews work towards improving your website’s ranking on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Yelp and so on. The more that is written about your business online, the more important a search engine considers you to be. Besides moving up in ranking, you will also be featured in a wider array of keywords. With reviews coming in, your business website will have a steady influx of SEO keywords that help your business strengthen its online presence. These new keywords will help to bring up your website in search results when customers are looking for the type of product or service you sell. According to MOZ’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, online reviews are thought to make up 10% of how Google and other search engines decide to rank search results. Online reviews are as critical to your local SEO strategy as link building citations and on-site optimisation.

Spark Brand Advocacy

If you’ve started collecting reviews, you will soon realise that they are worth a great deal in terms of marketing. Reviews can offer your business benefits that a simple marketing campaign just can’t, they keep working long after the review has been posted. It fosters continual brand awareness, with your customers taking the role of brand advocates. And it’s safe to say that if your customers left a positive public review, they might also be recommending your business offline to their network. Treat these customers well and recognize their efforts, as they are your personal brand influencers.

Better Serve Your Customers

Reviews can tell you where you are excelling and where you might need to improve. By being open to this feedback, your business will be able to better serve customers and adapt accordingly. This will create an even more positive experience, giving customers a sense that their voice is heard and taken seriously. In fact, 78 percent of consumers say that seeing management respond to online reviews makes them believe that the business cares more about them. It’s important to take all reviews into account. Some companies make the mistake of glorifying positive reviews while brushing off negative ones. Both, however, hold equal value and should be handled accordingly. More specifically, ReviewTrackers found that 52 percent of customers expect to hear back from brands within 7 days of writing an online review, particularly one that’s negative or critical.

How can you manage your brand’s reputation through reviews?

With App City have developed a tool which allows small businesses to harness the power of positive reviews. Your branded mobile app will become even more powerful, being a consistent source of online reviews. So, how exactly does this reputation add-on work? With our mobile reviews campaign, app users will be prompted to review your business on the most popular online review sites, including Google, Yelp, Facebook, and TripAdvisor. We ensure only the reviews with positive ratings get published, while you can directly handle the negative feedback as a business owner.

The customisation component is what really sets our reputation management system apart. You can set up triggers to send review requests when the app users are experiencing a positive interaction with your brand. For instance, users may receive a prompt right after they redeem a reward or after they have enjoyed their meal. Based on a user’s actions within the app, you can determine when they are most likely to leave a positive review about your business.

Most companies send out emails asking for reviews days or even weeks after the customer’s purchase. By doing this, they are forcing customers to do the hard work of remembering the details of their last interaction with the brand, long after it has happened. According to Groove HQ, “we already know that customer loyalty is built on making your customers’ lives easier, and that principle extends to asking for reviews, too.” So, the best time to ask for a review is when the value that you’ve delivered to the customer is at the top of their mind. This makes it easy for them to recall what happened and write an honest review. The Reviews Campaign, then, allows you to send out review requests at the right time depending on your business.

Once you have set up your campaigns, sit back and watch the results come in. You can track metrics that matter, like total requests sent, total reviews received, and level of satisfaction. And if you have a franchise or multiple locations, you can set up and track performance for each location separately. Each Reviews Campaign will be tailored to reach the right people at the right time. As 72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review, this reputation management model will directly drive new business.

Conclusion

Positive reviews will help you get noticed by prospective customers, get honest feedback from customers, improve your online rankings and turn your customers into marketers. These are all surefire ways to increase your profit as a small business. And if that’s not enough, when you have a collection of online reviews to your name, it encourages others to leave their own feedback too. Reviews breed more reviews, which will only amplify their positive impact on your business. Now it’s time to ask your customers for that word-of-mouth endorsement.

The post Reputation Management: Why Reviews Are King appeared first on App City.

How to Increase Your Mobile App Reviews

admin — Wed, 08 May 2019 10:42:17 +0000

You might be wondering whether reviews really matter when it comes to your app… Let’s jump straight to the conclusion and say yes, it does matter (and much more than people realise). This article will guide you through tips to increase mobile app reviews.

Online reviews, in general, are extremely important; they can make or break a business. Reviews are part of a consumer’s online research efforts, and the opinions of others can directly affect your business. In other words, reviews play a major role in people’s purchasing decisions, whether the opinions are about restaurants, movies, or apps.

70% of people trust local businesses more as a result of positive online reviews
80% of consumers have changed their minds about a purchase based solely on the negative reviews they read.
88% said they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
57% of consumers visit a local business website after reading online reviews, and another 15% call the business.

With respect to apps, these opinions and reviews also affect how visible they will be in the app store search results. Users tend to download the first app that appears in their search result and app reviews are one of the factors that decide which app gets this highly coveted spot. It is also important to note that not having any online reviews can be just as harmful – if not more so – than having some negative reviews.

Unfortunately, people are not lining up to review your app, even if they are in love with it. Users won’t go back to the app store on their own accord to write a review, but they might do so with a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Here are 4 ways to increase mobile app reviews:

1. Create a Great App

It might seem obvious, but you need to have a good app to generate good reviews. If your app does not function well in the first place, you cannot expect many users or positive reviews. You need to create a great app that provides value to its users. The happier the users are, the more positive reviews will come in. Make sure you update your app regularly to keep it relevant and functional.

2. Encourage User Feedback

The key to increasing and improving your app reviews is by providing exceptional customer service. By allowing unhappy users to easily get in touch and express their concerns, you show them how valued their opinion is. How? Include a “Send Feedback” button in your app that connects straight to an email form. You can use this as a two-way channel of communication to improve your app. This way problems get solved much quicker, and the customer is left with a more positive feeling after they deal with support. Once you have helped your customer, you can politely ask them to review your app. As a result, bad reviews are minimised and your (now) happy customers will leave good reviews.

3. Use Gamification

Gamification, according to Badgeville, is “the concept of applying game mechanics and game design techniques to engage and motivate people to achieve their goals.” In this case, you will try to entice users to leave a review by creating a game around it. Think of a contest or a giveaway. You can offer a small prize, like a gift card or a discount code, that will go to a randomly-chosen winner. Keep in mind that both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store have rules about contests, so make sure to check these out before you set up a game.

4. Integrate Social Media

Ask the people who are already a fan of your company to use and review your app! Leverage the power of your social media channels to increase app downloads and, simultaneously, increase reviews. Remind users to rate and review your app by cross-promoting through email, newsletters and social media. Another strategy is to ask social media users and influencers to rate your app during the beta stage. This way your app will already have a good amount of reviews before the full version is launched.

Remember, never purchase fake reviews or you will run the risk of having your app suspended from the app store! Anyhow, organic reviews are a win-win for the user and the app developer: it helps to improve the app for its users, as well as increasing its ranking and downloads. Now that you know how to increase mobile app reviews, go out there and rake in those good ratings!

The post How to Increase Your Mobile App Reviews appeared first on App City.