Tag: Quick Digital

Mobile marketing tools and tips for 2017

Mobile marketing tools and tips for 2017 by Margie Kupfer.  Available from <https://www.luxurydaily.com/mobile-marketing-tools-and-tips-for-2017/> [January 03, 2017]

As the New Year begins, marketers are carefully planning their strategies for their campaigns in 2017. Sure, there are plenty of tools, tips and tricks to choose from, but selecting the right ones for your brand’s objectives is crucial.

Here is a crash course in the mobile marketing tools that brands should use in 2017:

Location-based marketing
As futuristic as it sounds, location-based marketing is sweeping the nation as one of the most popular marketing tools with both consumers and businesses.

What makes location-based marketing so popular is that it eliminates irrelevant ads by presenting the consumer with promotions based on their current location.

Location-based marketing can be accomplished through the use of geofencing, beacons, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Tip: Think outside of the box when it comes to selecting your location to send customers promotions.

Instead of just sending customers notification when they are near a store, send them promotions when they are near locations in which the brand’s products or services would be useful.

For example, a pet supply store could send customers promotions when they are near the dog park.

Developing an app-plus strategy
It is obvious that mobile marketing is a major factor in the success of any marketing strategy.

According to British publication The Guardian, 91 percent of top brands have applications. But simply having an app is not enough to satisfy mobile customers anymore.

A recent survey by us shows that more than 25 percent of apps end up abandoned after the first use. By developing an app-plus strategy, brands can help keep customers engaged.

Tip: Create additional capabilities for brand apps such as messaging, mobile wallet and an integrated loyalty program.

Businesses are increasing the longevity of the app by creating one that does more than just deliver information about the brand and lets customers browse product offerings.

Social media messaging is the new SMS
Messaging alternatives to text messages are quickly becoming a preferred method of communication.

Adweek cites that 49 percent of mobile users in the United States use messaging apps monthly.

One of the most popular examples of these messaging apps is Facebook Messenger. This kind of messaging seamlessly integrates with already popular social media networks and allows users to send information back and forth quickly over the Internet as opposed to traditional text messaging.

For these reasons, these apps are ideal for communication between brands and customers.

Tip: After a customer has reached out to a brand via Facebook Messenger, the brand has a 24-hour window in which it is allowed to send that customer promotional content.

Take advantage of this opportunity to offer customers personalized and exclusive deals. This will build the relationship between the customer and brand, increasing the chances of repeat business.

Mobile marketing tools and tips for 2017 by Margie Kupfer.  Available from <https://www.luxurydaily.com/mobile-marketing-tools-and-tips-for-2017/> [January 03, 2017]

15 Tips for Ensuring Top-Quality Mobile Apps

15 Tips for Ensuring Top-Quality Mobile Apps by John Barnett.  Available from <http://www.business.com/mobile-apps-and-tools/john-barnett-app-making-tips/> [December 30, 2016]

When developing an app for your business, one of the top priorities is creating one that people actually want to use. Unfortunately, there is often a significant disconnect between what a target audience needs and what a mobile app offers. Keep the following mobile app development tips in mind to ensure the utmost quality.

Be Proficient with All Target Platforms

All too often, developers favor one mobile app platform over another, and it shows in the quality of their work. Ideally, mobile apps should be developed by professionals who understand the unique aspects of all of the platforms that they are targeting. Read user interface guidelines carefully to understand the available features for each platform. Being familiar with the visual and behavioral differences and similarities of various platforms allows you to put them to use more effectively.

Don’t Be Biased

Make an effort to learn to appreciate all of the most popular mobile app platforms. Sure, you probably prefer one or two over others, but all platforms have their strengths. By embracing differences between app platforms, you will get enthusiastic about designing for each. This enthusiasm will result in products that are truly out of this world.

Don’t Sacrifice Performance for Analytics

For many businesses, mobile apps are more about collecting useful information than about providing services to customers. Still, resist the temptation to bog down your app with too many SDKs (software development kits). Apps that are bloated with excessive SDKs tend to run slowly, crash often and drain battery life at a remarkable speed. No one likes apps like these.

Keep Scale in Mind

There is no telling how popular any given app will be. It pays to design apps with the assumption that they will go viral. That way, there’s a minimal risk that your app will fail due to thousands of concurrent users. Always develop apps with a huge scale data distribution in mind.

Build Native User Interfaces Last for Cross-Platform Apps

The vast majority of apps are cross-platform ones, which makes sense if you want yours to be accessible to the largest number of people. Save yourself time and effort by modeling the programming logic off as local web services and building native user interfaces last.

Avoid Redundant Tracking

Going overboard with tracking can be highly problematic. Repetitive, redundant tracking makes it more difficult to maintain the underlying code as your company expands and evolves and as developers update their APIs.

Use It Yourself

If you’re not already comfortable with all of the platforms that you are targeting, try your hand at all of them to get a feel for how they work. The same applies to your app. Try to put yourself in users’ shoes. Would this app address your needs? Would you keep it on your smartphone and use it, or is it a waste of time?

Enable Easy App Integration

Don’t assume that users won’t be interested in sharing information from your app through other apps like Facebook or Gmail. Make it easy for users to do this by enabling app integration in your mobile app. A little extra work is involved, but it will make your app more useful and help you avoid going back and doing it later.

Accommodate for Different Design Styles Across Platforms

What looks amazing on an iOS device may look anything but that on an Android or Windows OS device. Different platforms have different aesthetic qualities, and it pays to understand these parameters before developing a cross-platform app. Carefully consider how your branding will translate across platforms and design your app accordingly.

Make it Simple

The best apps are easy for just about anyone to use. It’s easy to lose sight of how people with varying degrees of technical prowess will interact with an app, so make sure to include non-tech-savvy people during the testing phase. Is the design intuitive enough for newbies? Is the written content easy to understand? Where do users seem to get stuck?

Take Advantage of the Latest Features

Your new app shouldn’t be outdated. Avoid this issue by always using the latest client device SDKs. It also pays to stay up to date regarding the latest changes and advances in various platforms. By including cutting-edge features in your app, you’re more likely to attract a wider audience.

Test Often

Apps are often rushed, and testing is the step that developers are most likely to speed through. What’s worse is they complete a single round of tests and call it good. It pays to test early and often — especially when it comes to cross-platform apps, which can quickly cause issues.

Plan for Offline Use

A mobile app isn’t truly “mobile” if it ceases to function when the device is offline. The best apps boast a decent offline functionality, so be sure to include it in yours. Data should be saved to local storage so that it can be restored when the app is opened again. Any changes can then be synced, for the user to have a seamless online/offline experience.

Have One Purpose

As tempting as it may be to cram a ton of features into your app, it’s far better to focus on one and to really make it shine. Make it something that you’re truly good at and that users will actually benefit from. That way, they are less likely to get tripped up on unhelpful, confusing features that never belonged there in the first place.

Embrace Analytics

While you shouldn’t overdo it with the analytics, you should monitor them regularly to see how people are faring with your app. How are they using it? Which devices are they accessing it from? Are there features that seem to trip users up and make them abandon the app? By keeping an eye on your analytics, you can respond swiftly when issues arise.

If you find yourself going for custom app development versus out-of-the-box one, keep these tips in mind to create a product that your audience will rely on and become loyal to.

15 Tips for Ensuring Top-Quality Mobile Apps by John Barnett.  Available from <http://www.business.com/mobile-apps-and-tools/john-barnett-app-making-tips/> [December 30, 2016]

What does 2017 hold for web design?

What does 2017 hold for web design? by Mark Lusted.  Available from <http://www.netimperative.com/2017/01/top-tips-2017-hold-web-design/> [January 03, 2017]

2016 has been an eventful year, to say the least. Now as the dust begins to settle it’s time to reflect on what 2017 will have in store for us. In particular, what the world of web design might look like next year and what trends will we see start to take off.

Of course, like any trend, these go in and out of fashion and may not necessarily suit every person and every taste. However, we like to think of each trend as an ‘additional tool’ to our designer toolbox, where we pick the right ones for the job at hand.

Custom illustrations and photography

Stock photography and iconography library websites are available to millions of designers all over the world, making it harder to be original and risking ending up like a competitor.

Custom illustration or photography can bring something unique and communicate the brand message in a more meaningful way. It can create a personality, set the appropriate tone and help convey the key information with your audience.

Take our latest project, the redesign of our company website. We decided to take all our own photographs and draw our own icon library set so that we could show our users who we truly are and communicate what it’s really like to work at Dock9.

There is a lot of ‘same same’ evident on the web. Thanks to template offering services such as Squarespace, websites are looking more and more similar to each other. Many are realising that the bespoke design can actually go a long way for a brand and we expect to see a significant change here.

After all, in a hugely competitive business world where your website is often the first place customers interact with you, wouldn’t you want your site to stand out from others?

Conversational interfaces

As the emergence of robo-advisers, such as mortgage firm Habito, chatbots will become an increasingly important part of the online UX, which presents challenges to designers.

Not all designers are able to switch to being content creators – this seems to sit better with those who have been in performing arts or literature previously (Howdy – a chatbot within Slack – and X.ai – a personal assistant who schedules meetings – both hired writers with performing-art experience to assist with defining their products’ UX).

Here the micro-copy writer becomes king. We all know only 5% of language is conveyed through words so it is easy to accidentally come across as rude or offend someone. Designers who have the ability to insert personality (and sometimes humour) into chatbots will be in higher demand.

Animation

Animation is becoming an expected feature. Since the release of Google Material Design, interface animations returned to the designer’s toolset. Not as over the top flash animations, but as a way to give more meaning to mundane interactions, making the interface feel more real, fun and even enabling designers to spin something negative into a potentially positive experience. For instance, loading and 404 animations.

The Google Material Design subtle shadows effects and concepts of movement and depth are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to flat design for designers. We expect to see a lot more of it next year.

Microinteractions

We all use microinteractions both in the physical and online world on a regular basis, from pressing the button at traffic lights to liking a friend’s status on Facebook. They are not new, however, they are becoming more important in terms of design.

Done correctly, microinteractions make users feel in control like they know how to use your site. Done badly and impacts can range from irritating your user to them closing the site completely. It will be interesting to see who gets them right, and wrong, in 2017.

Minimalistic Design

Minimalistic design is popping up more and more on the web. With less ‘cramming’ of content above the fold, companies are choosing their copy and imagery carefully, to create beautiful aesthetic experiences. Not only does it look great on all devices but it loads quickly and is no fuss. Designers are cutting down on the number of elements in order to create hierarchy and a fresh, uncluttered UI. Flat icons, flat navigation bars, flat buttons and a general loving for everything minimal is pretty much everywhere.

Continued growth of long scrolling

Once upon a time, scrolling through lots of content meant moving your arrow to the side of the screen and pulling a bar down repeatedly to reach the bottom. Dark times.

Now with a simple swipe of the finger (including on my touchscreen laptop), it is easy to sweep through long content. Long scrolling requires fewer clicks and allows for more narrative approaches.

What improves the UX is the use of fun and/or eye-catching transitions and differentiated section designs, making what could be a lengthy schlepp into a voyage of discovery.

Virtual Reality

This one may be a bit further in the future than next year but this list would be meaningless without mentioning VR. Both designing a site that uses it and designing using VR itself will happen more frequently in the future. This will require a whole new set of practices and tools that most designers have yet to discover.

What does 2017 hold for web design? by Mark Lusted.  Available from <http://www.netimperative.com/2017/01/top-tips-2017-hold-web-design/> [January 03, 2017]

How To Keep Your Web Browsing Safe From Public Wi-Fi Networks?

How To Keep Your Web Browsing Safe From Public Wi-Fi Networks? by Navdeep Yadav.  Available from <http://www.mobipicker.com/keep-web-browsing-safe-public-wi-fi-networks/> [January 03, 2017]

A lot of people, including you, love shopping, posting photos and updates, and even conduct banking tasks on the internet. It is quite convenient to perform all of these tasks remotely. Isn’t it?

But, while doing so, you may forget that your information is floating around the internet. Whatever data you share on the internet bounces through different servers across the country or even across the world. That makes a good prospect for the hackers to steal your data, especially when you’re using public Wi-Fi networks. And, when you’re not using any VPN proxy to keep your web browsing safe, the prospect becomes much higher. Hackers may exploit public Wi-Fi in a number of ways

So, how would you ensure the privacy of your data that is being shared online and how would you keep your web browsing safe while using public Wi-Fi networks?

For your ease, we have listed down a few safe web browsing tips which you can adopt to keep your data secure and web browsing safe. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Using a VPN

Not all of you would be aware of this measure but it is regarded as one of the best ways to keep your web browsing safe from the risks associated with using public wi-fi networks. A VPN (virtual private network) connection cloaks the connection between your computer/electronic device and the internet, thus making your web browsing safe from the online hackers. Though hackers can still intercept the secure data, they cannot do anything harmful with it. There are a lot of VPNs available in the market such as FalcoVPN, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, etc.

Turn Off Wi-Fi AutoConnect

It is always safe to turn off the Wi-Fi auto-connect feature on your device, especially when you’re not using it. Doing this will prevent your device from getting connected to any public Wi-Fi network automatically. All you need to do is open your device’s network settings and disable the auto-connect button.

Turn Off File Sharing

When you’re using a public Wi-Fi network, make sure you have turned off file sharing. Windows 10 users can turn off file sharing simply by heading over to the Control Panel and then opening View network status and tasks. Once you’re there, click on Change advanced sharing settings and then turn off file and printer sharing. Click Save Changes at the end. If you’re using MacOS, then go to Settings, click on Sharing, and turn it off.

Enable Firewall on Your System

Having a firewall installed on your computer is necessary as it protects your system against unwanted network connections. Therefore, you need to make sure it is installed and is enabled. Windows users can use Windows Firewall. However, if you’re a Mac user, you can get help from the built-in firewall. You need to turn on Stealth Mode in advanced options to prevent hackers from accessing your network connection. To do this, just go to Settings, open Security & Privacy, and click on Firewall. It will turn on and get ready.

Install an Anti-Virus Software

An anti-virus software can help you know if any malware is residing in your device or computer system. Getting your computer or device scanned with an anti-virus software is a good practice because the software will send you an alert if there is any virus in them. This software will not only alert you but also help in quickly removing the offending bugs.

TURN OFF Wi-Fi When Not Using

To keep your mobile web browsing safe, it is better to turn off Wi-Fi on your mobile device when you’re not using it. It is the best guarantee to stay safe on the public Wi-Fi. However, during emergency situations, we suggest you to sparingly use the public Wi-Fi.

It is quite possible that you might know a couple of other measures to keep your web browsing safe but the ones we have listed will surely benefit you some way or the other. Ensuring data security should be on your to-do list, especially when you’re handling sensitive and confidential information on the public networks.

How To Keep Your Web Browsing Safe From Public Wi-Fi Networks? by Navdeep Yadav.  Available from <http://www.mobipicker.com/keep-web-browsing-safe-public-wi-fi-networks/> [January 03, 2017]

5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A RELIABLE WEB HOSTING SERVICE COMPANY

5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A RELIABLE WEB HOSTING SERVICE COMPANY by @leadernewspaper.  Available from <http://www.theleader.info/2016/12/30/5-tips-for-choosing-a-reliable-web-hosting-service-company/> [Dec 30, 2016]

In the world of the internet it is important to produce attractive content and a responsive website in order to provide the biggest benefit to your audience. But more often than not, internet developers and content marketers do not spend enough time evaluating their web hosting service in order to ensure that their content remains available 24/7.

The main web hosting buying criteria is usually price with web developers and content marketers focusing on companies that provide cheap virtual web hosting and cheap domain hosting. But in addition to this, some attention should be paid to reliability. It is critical that the web host company is able to provide a reliable web hosting experience.

Your hosting company should be able to offer a high level of internet security in order to safeguard from cyber attacks and website hacking a security breaches can result in a high level of lost revenue as users choose to buy products and services from competitor websites.

So what should be considered when you are searching for a reliable web hosting service?

Know what kind of traffic you will attract

If your website is just an online CV or just a few static pages, it will not be as resource intensive as a website which is streaming or hosting large amounts of data. If your website is not resource intensive you may consider an inexpensive web hosting solution using a shared server. If your website is very resource intensive you may wish to consider a dedicated server which uses linux hosting.

Select the right hosting package

Businesses often select low cost hosting solutions which use cheap virtual hosting solutions. However, the small price tag could result on slow response times which will cause your users to click away from your products and service. Whilst a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a dedicated linux server might be a little more expensive, they usually provide high quality web performance, faster response times, and a better overall customer experience.

Ensure you have the right bandwidth solution

Many web hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth. It is important that you select the right bandwidth solution. A traffic analysis will give you an idea of how much bandwidth your website will need.

Test the customer service

It is important that the customer service offered by your hosting provider is knowledgeable and offers a quick and efficient solution to any problem you may encounter. Ensure that you test the customer support to confirm that it meets your technical requirements.

Use an established provider

It is important that you use an established web hosting provider. Your business has the potentially to grow very quickly and it is imperative that you have scalable resources in place to take advantage of this rapid growth.

5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A RELIABLE WEB HOSTING SERVICE COMPANY by @leadernewspaper.  Available from <http://www.theleader.info/2016/12/30/5-tips-for-choosing-a-reliable-web-hosting-service-company/> [Dec 30, 2016]