Why Facebook and Social Media Are Great for Business, But Awful for Your Career

Social media platforms have an incredible reach, with Facebook alone boasting 1.94 billion monthly active users as of March 2017. What’s more, Facebook and other platforms like LinkedIn are expanding their functionality at a breakneck pace, giving businesses inspired new ways to collaborate, complete projects and connect with customers. But if you’re looking to use social media as a career booster, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

1. Social media makes you one more face in the crowd.

In an interview with Inc., Dhanusha Sivajee, Executive Vice President of Editorial and Marketing of XO Group, said, “I think it’s become harder [to find a mentor now], because […] everybody is your friend, you’re connected to everybody at all levels through LinkedIn and through social media. […] Social media is a definitely a place where you build your brand and you know people are going to look up your LinkedIn profile, so make sure that you’re well represented. But in terms of making connections, not to say that social media can’t be a jumping off point, but it does become harder to differentiate yourself and be remembered.”

2. You might be tempted to have looser lips.

A recognized problem with social media is that getting online often offers a greater sense of anonymity. That feeling of being unknown has been known to lead people to interactions that are far less kind. And while you can’t always be fired for something you post, saying whatever you want might negatively affect how potential teammates, employers and mentors view you.

3. Distraction might kill your productivity and creativity–and get you disciplined.

Facebook is powerfully distracting for a host of psychological and physiological reasons. Seeing likes adding up, for example, strokes our egos, but it also can stimulate the reward centers of the brain, resulting in the release of dopamine that makes you feel happy and relaxed. The fear of missing out also is a factor in social media use. Studies also show that people routinely access Facebook during work (particularly in the afternoons), and that work-related problems with overuse of social media are on the rise. If you can’t control the impulse to get online, you’ll likely get less done, innovate less and, potentially, create conflicts that put your job in jeopardy. None of those situations empowers you to climb the ladder and gain industry authority.

Making the most of logging in

As Sivajee asserts, social media isn’t something that you need to completely disregard. It can be a wonderful tool for promoting your business and initially locating fantastic opportunities and support. But ultimately, on the individual level, creating the meaningful relationships you need to develop a successful career requires old-fashioned phone calls, face time and supportive gestures. It takes empathy and the ability to hone in on language/tone connotations that are lost online. That said, use these tips for decreasing your social media use while increasing the influence you get from online time.

  • Use applications or other tools like timers to prevent you from accessing social media during hours you should be working.
  • Make sure you have separate professional and personal social media accounts.
  • Provide relevant, valuable content through links to articles, blogs, etc.–people will follow you when you consistently provide entertaining, informative posts, and you’ll appear more knowledgeable the more sources you can offer.
  • Avoid getting on social media right when you wake up or just before bed. The former habit won’t do you any favors given that the cognitive areas of your brain aren’t fully on board for a while, and blue light from screens can interfere with sleep.
  • Consider the ways your content can be used more generally around the Internet, and don’t limit yourself to just the big social media players–think about where the content needs to be based on the viewer.
  • Keep social media apps off your mobile devices or turn off the notifications. This will force you to use social media only on your laptop or desktop and reduce the temptation to constantly check in.

Since everyone’s daily habits, personalities and preferences are a little different, don’t be afraid to create a system that fits your individual needs. The key is just to remember that you need to be in control of the media, rather than having it control you. Combine that with prioritizing quality over quantity in your relationships and you’ll keep your career in good shape.

10 Most Colorful Cities Around The World You Must Visit

10 Most Colorful Cities Around The World You Must Visit

Exploring new cities is always an exciting adventure to take on when you travel, but when the cities are painted with eye-popping colors, it makes the atmosphere so much more of a treat (not to mention the photography is fantastic!). Here is a look at a few of the most colorful cities around the world!

Most colorful cities to visit when you travel

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

While Old San Juan may be one of the most popular Caribbean travel destinations, it is far from being your typical vacation hotspot. Puerto Rico’s historic area has streets filled with churches, houses, and forts coated in old-world Spanish and Caribbean tropical hues, bright pastel colored buildings, blue toned cobblestones, bright pink flowers, and a view of the bright blue ocean, which makes walking down the streets of the town an attraction of its own!

Old San Juan

Old San Juan

Havana, Cuba

The brightly-colored colonial architecture (buildings with colors including florescent yellow, green and blue) helps bring out the vibrant and tropical feel of Havana. Make sure to stop by Avenida de Maceo, Paseo del Prado, Parque Central, and Plaza Mayor to check out some of the most colorful buildings. However, as you travel to Havana, you will see that the color is not only found in the buildings, but also through their classic cars, and festive outfits! A travel photography dream destination.

Havana Cuba

Havana, Cuba

Havana Cuba

Burano, Italy

All who travel to visit the Venetian town of Burano are intrigued by the picturesque visual of all of the colorful houses lined up down the channels of water, making each street look like a rainbow. An ancient legend says that the island’s fisherman painted their houses with bright colors so they could see them from long distance in the fog when they were far away for fishing. The town has carried on the Italian tradition by continuing to keep up the colorful paint. Interestingly, the houses follow a special color pattern based on a specific system: if you wish to paint your house, you must send a request to the government, and they will respond with a list of colors permitted for that specific lot of houses.

burano

Bo Kaap, South Africa

Travel to Bo Kaap, an area of Cape Town, South Africa, specifically known for its brightly coloured homes and cobble stoned streets. The colorful houses are a recent innovation that celebrates the district’s Muslim identity. In earlier days, all the houses of Cape Town were mostly painted white, but residents began painting their houses in vivid colors in preparation for the celebration of Eid. Additionally, painting the homes in these bright, cheerful colors brings in a way to express happiness and joy and has now developed into a tradition throughout the neighborhood.

Bo Kaap, South Africa

Ilulissat, Greenland

Aside from their enormous, and spectacular ice sculptures, this town in western Greenland is known for the colorful buildings that stand out amongst its Arctic surroundings. In the 1700s, Greenland began the tradition of color-coding their buildings: hospitals were yellow, police stations black, fisheries blue, and people eventually chose more varied pigments for their homes. The color coding system of the past has definitely benefited us today by providing some major eye candy! How’s that for an off-beat travel destination?

Ilulissat Greenland

Cochem, Germany

The charming, scenic town of Cochem is a fairytale travel destination – composed of many medieval castles, colorful storefronts, river boats, etc., and the array of colors can be seen reflected in the Mosel river. Walking around the small, traditional town and taking in its atmosphere is the best way to enjoy it. Make sure you visit the town hall, the St. Martin church, and Balduinstor (a town gate), as well as the ruins of Winneburg castle.

Cochem Germany

Wroclaw, Poland

While most tourists who travel to Poland flock to the popular destinations of Krakow or Warsaw, visiting the smaller (more unknown) town of Wroclaw would be your best bet! Immediately you’ll notice that the picturesque old town has many buildings painted in rich colors that bring the city to life, and reflect the city’s youthful vibe. The colors range from subtle earth tones to pastels – nothing too over the top! No matter what your mood, or how dreary the weather may be when you travel, you’ll definitely leave happier and more cheerful after a visit. The medieval market square, a placed lined up with restaurants, flower boxes, and incredible architecture, also leaves you with your jaw dropping to the ground!

Wroclaw Poland

Wroclaw, Poland

Newfoundland, Canada

Also referred to as “Jellybean Row,” travel to this area to see its brightly colored houses, laundry hanging on the line, and boats, all stand out against the grey skies, green forests, and dark stones in St. Johns, Newfoundland. However, you will immediately realize that these colorful buildings are not found in one street, but actually all over the area. Like most of these other fishing towns, the reason why these houses were painted in bright colors was because it helped sailors and fishermen find their way home through the fog and inclement weather. Makes for a gorgeous travel destination for your bucket list.

newfoundland canada

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Famously referred to as “The Blue Pearl”, Chefchaouen is known for its striking blue architecture, attracting travel addicts from all around the world to walk around the town’s narrow streets and take pictures with the blue walls. Chefchaouen’s medina (old quarter) is very peaceful, and was initially painted by Jewish refugees from Europe who lived there during the 1930s to symbolize heaven. Also, in order to keep up with tradition, all of the houses in the area are washed with new coats of paint every year!

morocco blue

Jodhpur, India

When you travel to India, head to Jodhpur in Rajasthan. ‘The blue city’ of Jodhpur, this city gets its name from the bright indigo paint that many Brahmans use in order to cover their houses. However, the deeper you travel into the city, you’ll find that blue is not the only color you’ll see! For example, The Sardar Market in the city has an explosion of color of oranges, yellows, greens, and purples around every corner from the bangles, spices, footwear, to clothes!

Jodhpur India

Jodhpur

Jodhpur bangles

Jodhpur shoes

3 Easy Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Online Store

As consumers, we are overwhelmed with choice when it comes to satisfying our shopping needs. Giant retailers like Amazon and eBay carry almost everything we could want; delivered right to your front door.

The popularity of online shopping only continues to grow as brick and mortar retailers take their businesses online. The challenge for these growing small businesses? Figuring out how to boost business and increase web traffic without burning through your entire budget.

Gone are the days when an SEO strategy alone would drive traffic to your website. In today’s digital economy, websites need to be creative and unique to generate traffic in a cost-effective way. To stand out from the crowd, ecommerce businesses need to rely on standing out from their competition.

Tap into the power of influencers

With so many “Insta-famous” celebrities harnessing the power of social media, consider looking for organic ways to tap into their influence. A Shopify study found that Facebook was the dominant source that drove social traffic and sales to e-commerce sites, with Instagram providing brands with 25 percent more engagement than any other social platform.

You’ll want to target influencers who are viewed as industry experts and have built a loyal following to promote your brand. Consider providing influencers with a sample or trial of your product or services and if they want to endorse you, provide them with a custom URL to place in a blog or social media post that redirects their followers back to your website.

When brands tap into influencer networks to speak on their behalf, posts shared by trusted influencers converted at 3x-10x higher rate than offers sent by the brand itself. Additionally, customers who were acquired through social influencer efforts saw a 37 percent retention rate compared to traditional marketing efforts.

Use not-com domain name

With so many businesses jumping on the web, the dot-com space is becoming increasingly crowded with long and confusing URLs. One way to carve out your own unique digital nook is to ditch the dot-com and go for a name that’s fun and more descriptive of what you actually do — ‘dot-style’ (.style), ‘dot-life’ (.life) or ‘dot-boutique’ (.boutique) are a few examples.

Two companies taking full advantage of creative, eye-catching domain name endings are TheWrap.life, a fashion brand, and Driftaway.coffee, a subscription-based service that delivers freshly roasted coffee right to your doorstep. Both New York City businesses found their domain names while looking for a way to be more memorable to customers.

Nnenna Stella, owner of TheWrap.life, told Internet Retailer in early 2016 that her customers take note of the quirky domain name that she picked when she redesigned her website last year.

Previously ShopWrapLife.com, she believes the new URL is much more concise and to the point. “My URL is more memorable, so I like when it gets noticed,” Stella told me. “If someone has a ‘not-com,’ I’m always more intrigued as to what they are creating.”

A concise yet descriptive domain name not only boosts your search engine marketing but is also a great way to tell the world who you are and what you do. In the ecommerce space, every little detail counts when it comes to setting your brand apart from your competitors.

Provide valuable content

As consumers, we are overwhelmed with choice when it comes to satisfying our shopping needs. Giant retailers like Amazon and eBay carry almost everything we could want; delivered right to your front door.

The popularity of online shopping only continues to grow as brick and mortar retailers take their businesses online. The challenge for these growing small businesses? Figuring out how to boost business and increase web traffic without burning through your entire budget.

Gone are the days when an SEO strategy alone would drive traffic to your website. In today’s digital economy, websites need to be creative and unique to generate traffic in a cost-effective way. To stand out from the crowd, ecommerce businesses need to rely on standing out from their competition.

Tap into the power of influencers

With so many “Insta-famous” celebrities harnessing the power of social media, consider looking for organic ways to tap into their influence. A Shopify study found that Facebook was the dominant source that drove social traffic and sales to e-commerce sites, with Instagram providing brands with 25 percent more engagement than any other social platform.

You’ll want to target influencers who are viewed as industry experts and have built a loyal following to promote your brand. Consider providing influencers with a sample or trial of your product or services and if they want to endorse you, provide them with a custom URL to place in a blog or social media post that redirects their followers back to your website.

When brands tap into influencer networks to speak on their behalf, posts shared by trusted influencers converted at 3x-10x higher rate than offers sent by the brand itself. Additionally, customers who were acquired through social influencer efforts saw a 37 percent retention rate compared to traditional marketing efforts.

Use not-com domain name

With so many businesses jumping on the web, the dot-com space is becoming increasingly crowded with long and confusing URLs. One way to carve out your own unique digital nook is to ditch the dot-com and go for a name that’s fun and more descriptive of what you actually do — ‘dot-style’ (.style), ‘dot-life’ (.life) or ‘dot-boutique’ (.boutique) are a few examples.

Two companies taking full advantage of creative, eye-catching domain name endings are TheWrap.life, a fashion brand, and Driftaway.coffee, a subscription-based service that delivers freshly roasted coffee right to your doorstep. Both New York City businesses found their domain names while looking for a way to be more memorable to customers.

Nnenna Stella, owner of TheWrap.life, told Internet Retailer in early 2016 that her customers take note of the quirky domain name that she picked when she redesigned her website last year.

Previously ShopWrapLife.com, she believes the new URL is much more concise and to the point. “My URL is more memorable, so I like when it gets noticed,” Stella told me. “If someone has a ‘not-com,’ I’m always more intrigued as to what they are creating.”

A concise yet descriptive domain name not only boosts your search engine marketing but is also a great way to tell the world who you are and what you do. In the ecommerce space, every little detail counts when it comes to setting your brand apart from your competitors.

Provide valuable content

As consumers, we are overwhelmed with choice when it comes to satisfying our shopping needs. Giant retailers like Amazon and eBay carry almost everything we could want; delivered right to your front door.

The popularity of online shopping only continues to grow as brick and mortar retailers take their businesses online. The challenge for these growing small businesses? Figuring out how to boost business and increase web traffic without burning through your entire budget.

Gone are the days when an SEO strategy alone would drive traffic to your website. In today’s digital economy, websites need to be creative and unique to generate traffic in a cost-effective way. To stand out from the crowd, ecommerce businesses need to rely on standing out from their competition.

Tap into the power of influencers

With so many “Insta-famous” celebrities harnessing the power of social media, consider looking for organic ways to tap into their influence. A Shopify study found that Facebook was the dominant source that drove social traffic and sales to e-commerce sites, with Instagram providing brands with 25 percent more engagement than any other social platform.

You’ll want to target influencers who are viewed as industry experts and have built a loyal following to promote your brand. Consider providing influencers with a sample or trial of your product or services and if they want to endorse you, provide them with a custom URL to place in a blog or social media post that redirects their followers back to your website.

When brands tap into influencer networks to speak on their behalf, posts shared by trusted influencers converted at 3x-10x higher rate than offers sent by the brand itself. Additionally, customers who were acquired through social influencer efforts saw a 37 percent retention rate compared to traditional marketing efforts.

Use not-com domain name

With so many businesses jumping on the web, the dot-com space is becoming increasingly crowded with long and confusing URLs. One way to carve out your own unique digital nook is to ditch the dot-com and go for a name that’s fun and more descriptive of what you actually do — ‘dot-style’ (.style), ‘dot-life’ (.life) or ‘dot-boutique’ (.boutique) are a few examples.

Two companies taking full advantage of creative, eye-catching domain name endings are TheWrap.life, a fashion brand, and Driftaway.coffee, a subscription-based service that delivers freshly roasted coffee right to your doorstep. Both New York City businesses found their domain names while looking for a way to be more memorable to customers.

Nnenna Stella, owner of TheWrap.life, told Internet Retailer in early 2016 that her customers take note of the quirky domain name that she picked when she redesigned her website last year.

Previously ShopWrapLife.com, she believes the new URL is much more concise and to the point. “My URL is more memorable, so I like when it gets noticed,” Stella told me. “If someone has a ‘not-com,’ I’m always more intrigued as to what they are creating.”

A concise yet descriptive domain name not only boosts your search engine marketing but is also a great way to tell the world who you are and what you do. In the ecommerce space, every little detail counts when it comes to setting your brand apart from your competitors.

Provide valuable content

Content marketing is the big buzzword of 2016 but it’s more than putting words on a page and calling it a “blog.” In order to reap the benefits of content marketing, your business needs to create valuable content that engages with your customer.

More than 80 percent of companies use some sort of content strategy but only 35 percent have an actual strategy in place to track their content efforts. For your ecommerce site, consider creating a blog that features your customers and the stories behind why they choose your brand over others. But before you start crafting a WordPress blog or start posting to your Medium account, take time to craft content that is actually worth reading. Your blog content should be highly targeted and incorporate some type of SEO strategy if you expect your content to drive results.

For example, Suyog Mody and Anu Menon, the co-founders of Driftaway.coffee, created their own “Coffeecademy,” a blog dedicated to all things coffee. Coffeecademy is hosted on their unique, branded URL and covers a variety of coffee-related topics for readers to use including the difference between the types of roasts and how to prepare your coffee at home.

“We knew that using the ‘dot-coffee’ website address would be much easier and much more straightforward in terms of telling people exactly what our brand is,” Mody said.

You don’t need to be the next Amazon or corporate giant to drive traffic to your ecommerce website; there are plenty of unique strategies to catch the eye of potential customers: opt for a unique and memorable domain name, strengthen your content marketing strategy and utilize social influencers to do the majority of your guerilla marketing.

Whatever strategy you choose, focus on differentiating yourself from your competitors and committing yourself fully to an action plan.

Where You Should Place Your Logo On Your Website, According To Science

Ever wondered how designers decide on the placement of a brand’s logo on the homepage of a website?

The logo usually serves as a way to help you find yourself back to the homepage in an instant after some navigation. It is often found in three places on a page: on the left, in the center, and on the right, although this is rare.
Creative Market has narrow down and focus on left-aligned logos vs centered logos and how this seemingly “small” change in placement can have a massive impact on the site’s user experience.
In a recent study, they concluded that centered logos hurt site navigation. The study author recommends that all logos on a site should lean left because we consistently read from left to right and traditionally, logos have always been positioned on the left-hand side of pages.
Here are the sites that nail it when it comes to good logo placement. For the full article, head over to
.
Toys R Us. This famous retailer of toys features a logo that’s very much left of center on the homepage and other pages.
Infiniti. Nissan’s luxury vehicle division places its logo way to the very left of the page, in a very striking fashion.
Walmart. Retail giant Walmart’s logo is comfortably placed on the left-hand side of the homepage.

5 Most Popular Frameworks for Mobile Development

Mobile app development is currently at its peak, with a lot of developers jumping on the bandwagon to cash in on this lucrative field. However, the major problem that developers face across streams, is the different programming languages and operating systems.

Depending on the operating system that is selected, the developer would then create the app using a corresponding language. At the end of this road, the developer or the company is left with is a copy of their app written in two or more different languages. This was the norm, until frameworks become an important part of development.

If a developer with knowledge of HTML, JavaScript and CSS, wants to create a mobile app for both Android and iOS, they can now do so by simply using one of the many different frameworks available online. All you need is to code your app using the languages you are comfortable with and the framework will render a hybrid version of your app that works across multiple platforms.

Creating a web app has never been easier with these amazing frameworks. So, if you are ready to bring your dream app to life, then here are 5 amazing and popular frameworks that you can use. If you want to learn all of these amazing frameworks, in theory and in practical, you can check out Eduonix’s upcoming Mobile Frameworks Course on Kickstarter.

1. Cordova/PhoneGap

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PhoneGap

Designed by Adobe, PhoneGap is a combination that not only allows developers to create their apps using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but also package the app, make it portable and release it to multiple app stores. It can also extend the features of HTML and JavaScript, to create apps with a Native look and feel.

Cordova provides a set of JavaScript APIs that allow the apps to use native functions such as Camera, Compass, Contacts, and Geolocation. And it supports multiple operating systems such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Web OS, Blackberry, etc.

Benefits of Cordova/Phone Gap: –

  • Fast: The strong and robust back-end ensures that the apps created are super fast and do not have any lang.
  • Cheap: Since, Cordova is open source, this means that you don’t have to pay any money to download and run the software.
  • Flexible: PhoneGap eliminates the need for multiple languages, allowing developers with even limited knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build some pretty amazing languages.
  • Cross-platform compatibility: PhoneGap is compatible with multiple operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows, etc.
  • Native Hardware: It allows access to native hardware components, which means that the apps run with a native look and feel.
  • Built-in Compiler: In addition to creating the apps, PhoneGap also comes with a built-in compiler, which takes the pain out of separate compiling.
  • Collaboration: Similar to GitHub, PhoneGap now allows developers to share their coding and get help from other other developers.

2. Ionic/Ionic 2

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Ionic

Ionic is one of the most popular hybrid frameworks that is currently on the market. Built using SASS, the framework is a great option to build high-performance interactive apps. It uses the JavaScript MVVM framework and AngularJS, which power the framework, making it faster and better than the other frameworks on the list.

The best part about Ionic is that it provides all the functionality that can be found in native mobile development SDKs, which means that when users build their apps on Ionic, they can access all the native functions of the device, including camera, contacts, etc. Additionally, by using Angular, Ionic provides custom components and methods for interacting with them.

Along with SDKs, Ionic also provides a powerful CLI, that not only creates a project with a simple command, but also allows developers to add Cordova plugins and addition packages that enable push notifications, generate app Icons and Splash screens, and build native binaries.

Benefits of Ionic/Ionic 2: –

  • Free: Ionic is an open source project under MIT and has been designed by a worldwide community.
  • Fully Cross-Platform: Ionic follows the write once, run anywhere philosophy, which means that apps written on Ionic can be run on multiple operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry.
  • Premier Native Plugins: Ionic offers over 120 native device features that can be used within your app.
  • Performance: Ionic places a special focus on performance, by leveraging hardware and requires no additional third party JS applications.
  • Native and web optimized: Emulates native app UI guidelines and uses native SDKs, combining the UI standards and device features of native apps together with the full power and flexibility of the open web.

3. jQuery Mobile

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jQuery Mobile

Building on the already popular extension to JavaScript, it was no surprise when jQuery was also included for mobile development. Owing to its simplicity, jQuery Mobile is a great mobile framework to create cross-platform apps for platforms such as regular desktop, smart phone, tablet, or an e-reader device like Nook or Kindle.

Built on top of solid jQueyr and jQuery UI foundation, jQuery Mobile is a great framework to develop apps, mobile and web, to run seamlessly with unique user experience across mobiles, tablets and desktops. Rather than focus on providing the native look, jQuery focuses on performance.

Benefits of jQuery Mobile: –

  • Cross-Platform and Cross-Device: With a focus on ‘write-less, do more’ mantra, jQuery is not only a great framework for creating apps on multiple operating systems, but also for multiple devices including smartphones, desktops, tablets, etc.
  • Easy to Learn: If you already know jQuery and JavaScript, you don’t have to learn any new syntax.
  • ThemeRoller: jQuery is designed as a theming framework, which allows developers to create customized themes for their apps.
  • Download Builder: jQuery’s download builder allows building a custom bundle that contains only the components that are needed. The builder also generates a custom JavaScript file and full and structure-only stylesheets for production use.
  • Layout Grid: jQuery’s layout grids make it easy to create client’s product page, result page, and other custom pages.

4. React Native

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React Native

React Native separates itself from the rest of the frameworks on the list by shifting its focus from creating hybrid apps to creating actual real native apps. React Native was designed on the heels of React, by Facebook and it stemmed from their Ads Manager app.

React Native comes with fast development cycles and declarative self-contained UI components, while retaining the speed and feel of native apps. The application logic is written and run in JavaScript, while the UI is fully native. This offers developers a chance to maintain the native look and feel of the app, without having to use traditional languages.

Benefits of React Native: –

  • Parallelize Work: Facebook’s Async display kit allows rendering off the main thread, which results in super smooth animations.
  • Declarative Style: The codes can now be written in a declarative format, which means the codes are now readable, flexible and not manipulative.
  • Sophisticated Gesture Handling: Reactive Native allows access to native gesture functionality, so it results in better gestures on the app.
  • Native Capabilities: Allows access to platform specific capabilities and components, including widgets.
  • Faster Iterations: React Native allows Hot Reloading and Live Reloading, reducing feedback loop and also offers over-the-air code updates to your app.
  • Cross-Platform: An app can be designed across multiple platforms, mainly iOS and Android.

5. Meteor

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Meteor

Meteor is an amazing open-source JavaScript web framework that is written using Node.JS. It simplifies the process of developing apps by allowing rapid prototyping and producing cross-platform code.

A full JavaScript, Meteor is made up of a collection of libraries and packages that are bound together, making it easier, flexible, faster and it requires it less codes. This also results in the codes being less buggy and of a higher quality.

Benefits of Meteor: –

  • Fast: Using JavaScript for front-end and back-end development, creating apps using Meteor is simple and easy. It also allows you to ship more with less code, reducing the lines of code required for building apps.
  • One Language Development: For JavaScript lovers, this a great advantage. No more multiple languages for front-end and back-end development.
  • Easy to Learn: If the developer already knows JavaScript, then they don’t have to learn anything new. However, if they don’t, then JavaScript is a pretty easy language to learn.
  • Real-time Applications: Real-time is built in Meteor’s core, which means developers get to produce real-time apps right out of the box.
  • Packages: Already built smart packages to simplify coding and make building faster, for items such as User accounts, Javascript libraries, Extras like Bootstrap or Stylus, and more.

These days building an app is no longer a long and tedious task that takes months of development and testing. Apps can be ready in as little as a few weeks and maybe days, if you are determined enough. Frameworks play a huge part in helping you build your apps in the easiest and the fastest manner, while allowing your apps to look and work like a professional one.

Today, there is no possible way for you to avoid using mobile frameworks and having these frameworks on hand are a great way to not only boost your knowledge and experience but also your paycheck.

Here’s a great way for you to master these amazing frameworks. Eduonix’s upcoming course will not only help you learn the theory behind each framework, but you will also get your hands on the actual development process by learning how to build 25 different apps from scratch. That’s not all, you get to keep all the apps and variations of the apps you build!

So, how can you get your hands on this course? Well, we still need your help to bring this course to life. All you need to is go to Eduonix’s Kickstarter Campaign Page and pledge your support. Your small support ensures that a lot of developers can learn how mobile development frameworks can change their careers.

by: Edoushaun

What is better for your product launch? An app or a website? Let’s look into factors to decide

We are living in the times where our daily lives are influenced by the technology. Not one or two but all the activities that we do throughout the day uses technology to get completed successfully. Think of commute, communication, office automation, cooking, cleaning or even exercise. There is a strong factor of ‘tech’ that is there in each of the things I just mentioned.

Since technology is resonating so closely with the things that we do every day, therefore, we also choose technology to launch or market any of the new offerings that we have. But when it comes to product launch, tech-preneurs around the world are facing one common problem, what to choose, a website or the mobile app for their product launch?

The quest is widely pulling in more people in it and is becoming one of the most frequently asked questions from people working in the aforementioned industries, who apparently have their own reasons to justify the answer. To guide entrepreneurs on choosing a more appropriate medium amongst website or a mobile app for their product launch, I have written this piece that is going to talk about certain important factors that will help you in deciding.

Know your product

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The first step towards your product launch is probably knowing the type of your product. There are products that naturally define their characteristics and requires less thought process than in launch of any other product. For e.g. if you are launching a directional app that navigate users on every step that they take, there lies absolutely no point of building a website for the given purpose. However, if your product holds relevance to both mobile apps and websites then it gets trickier.

In the happening of such an event, the responsibility lies with the business owner to decide what medium is going to best portray his interests in front of the customers. What is the best time of your product usage by the customers and will they prefer to use it while in front of the computer screen or on the go are some prerequisites that needs to be answered beforehand? Also, whether your product requires a working internet connection to run seamlessly or it can offer the same user experience when offline.

Rehearsals are important

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Product launch are basically rehearsals on a continuous basis. One product is due to be launched, its tested on its design, the user experiences it’s going to generate and so on and then you get the data regarding the customer feedback. Based on this feedback you bring it back into the development phase and re-iterate it and release.

Now imagine, you are launching your product for the first time and you choose to launch it on multiple platforms at the same time, how tedious it can be. The more platforms you chose to launch, the more effort it will require, thus, lessening your concentration from each of them.

A multi-platform launch is advised only when the product has achieved a prior market fit. The customer knows about the product and is excited to see ad check the upgrades you just made to it. The business owner also has a clear idea as to where these upgrades will take the company.

An eye on the costs

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More platforms all at once means more expenditure, both in terms of money and resources. No matter if your product is a masterpiece created completely in-house or is a result of outsourced development, you require specialized skillsets for each of the different platforms used. The more viable thing to do here is to thoroughly study your product and the profit possibilities that it can bring to you, prior its launch and see what works best in your favor.

Distribution

And last but definitely not the least challenge that a business owner faces at the time of product launch is the distribution, especially for a mobile application-only product launch is acquiring customers.

Why? Since mobile applications do not have a single place for discovery as websites have; the search engine. Therefore, in order to get featured on Apple or Google on their respective app stores, you need to have taken care of the distribution prior the launch.

For example, if you are planning to launch an application for eateries in your vicinity, try signing up at least 10 eateries in your area, so that when the app is launched and you start the publicity process, the new customers will get something meaningful after they join your mobile app. It’s similar to crowd funding but the idea doesn’t work properly here.

Conclusion

So, by carefully assessing each point mentioned above a sane business owner would know that there aren’t any set rules to decide for product launch platforms. They are to be decided based upon the product choice and customer preferences, and once a market fit is achieved, you can invest further and move on to explore more opportunities.

In order to cope with the issue, professional branding design agencies are there that help clients from all over in creating productive product launch and marketing strategies, so incase a business owner finds it real hard to devise a strategy by himself, we have shown them an easy way out.

You can consult with Digital Marketing Agency.

Visit Here: https://www.branex.ca

How to Ensure Your Website is Ideally Positioned For Your Target Market


How Important Is It To Develop A Good Website?

At the present where internet rules in most industries, businesses without website have high risk of being left behind by their competitors. This is why majority of the businesses today own a website to showcase their products and services not only locally but globally. However, it is not enough to simply have a business site; it should feature an incredible website design that can capture the attention of the people. In short, it should be good enough.

Proffesional website design is important for your business

Business owners should consider their website as a persistent communication channel with existing customers and prospects. One of the best things regarding owning a site is that an enormous volume of people can access it from almost anywhere as long as they have an Internet connection. Thus, it is critically significant to build a competent website.

Role Of A Website

In today’s times, lots of people stay online for longer hours in a day, thus a standard looking website will never be enough. Majority of customers make decisions whether to buy or not based on the usability and accessibility of the website and the overall online experience. Understanding better the role of the website can substantially benefit the business. A website should be regarded as an extension of the company’s sales staff, which must be presentable and loaded with information about your product or service, to attract prospects.

Importance Of A Good Website

It Reflects You As A Business Owner

If your business website looks lousy and less interesting, your potential clients will perceive you similar to those qualities. Meanwhile, if your site is professionally made and truly appealing, prospects will think your business has enough clients and considerable income to have a site developed for you. Your website is a reflection of who you are as an owner and your business.

With this notion, several businesses hire top-notch company offering web design in Singapore, not just to build website but to get it seen online and acquire traffic. A well developed site is seen to generate more quality leads compared to poorly-made ones.

Choose proper web design services in Singapore

It Helps In Search Engine Optimisation

There are approximately 650 million sites today and another 51 millions are added every year, thus you can expect tough competition for your product or service online. How can your business stand out from the rest of the competitors? It highly depends on how your site was built. A good website doesn’t only refer to having aesthetic design rather it should be properly optimised to stand out on major search engines. Landing on the first page of Google result is beneficial to your online conversions.

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be kept in mind when building a website considering that it can help the site achieve remarkable ranking on search engines. Several SEO services can be executed on the website, both one-time and long term; however, much of the SEO work is often carried out during the site development.

Singapore web design company with SEO service is better

The worst thing a business owner can do is invest in a mobile friendly website, but doesn’t have proper design elements that make it stand out visually and effectively on search engines. Hence, it is crucial to work with a web design company that can provide reliable result. When you own a well-built website, you can expect it to bring tons of benefits to the business in the long run.

Originally published at: Reliable SEO Company Blog

Advantages of Hybrid Mobile App Development

Ritesh Patil is the co-founder of Mobisoft Infotech

The mobile application industry is rapidly emerging in all viewpoints, i.e. platforms, technologies, devices, network models, features, etc. For new businesses, sometimes it is really hard to cop-up with all these emerging technologies. However, when it comes to mobile app development, the businesses can choose from these three different perspectives: Native mobile app, web app and hybrid mobile app. The difference between these three types of mobile applications are:

  1. Native App: It integrates with only one mobile operating system such as Android only app, iOS-only app, etc.
  2. Web App: Web apps are developed in HTML5 and these are very similar to a mobile app.
  3. Hybrid App: It is a combination of the above-mentioned applications.

The first and foremost approach of any business is to reach out to the end users. By considering a hybrid mobile application for your business’s mobile application development will help you in serving the products and services across all major platforms. And, as it is versatile in nature, hybrid mobile app development is highly opted by top mobile app developers.

What Is Hybrid Mobile Application?

By going with the definition, a hybrid mobile application is a combination of multiple techniques and technologies. It leverages both mobile web app and native app technologies. A hybrid app is a cross-platform mobile application and it offers a different approach for your business to serve a maximum number of customers.

There are several advantages of opting a hybrid mobile app development for your business. Let’s have a look at the benefits of hybrid mobile application development and how it is helpful in driving customers:

1) App Integration: Hybrid mobile application uses the internal programming system of the mobile device through a wrapper or overlay that helps the hybrid mobile app in syncing with other inbuilt applications such as camera, GPS, messaging, or any other feature. It helps your business to provide better services to your consumers.

2) User Experience: Hybrid mobile apps are majorly known for providing consistent user experience across multiple browsers and platforms. A website will appear with slight differences on multiple browsers and it is also similar with the mobile app. In order to create a long-term business relationship with your consumer, it is really necessary to offer a consistent user-experience to the consumer when switching from one mobile platform to another.

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The hybrid mobile app allows your consumer to experience the capabilities and functionalities of their mobile device. It offers a standard UX design to all its users across multiple platforms. It also helps in updating the mobile app, as a single update will fix the issues entirely on all platforms along with providing better user experience to the customers.

3) Cost Effective: Hybrid mobile application development is a cost-effective process when compared to native and web app development process. The hybrid mobile app development process uses a diverse set of libraries which is further coupled with tools. This helps in reducing the application’s development time. Once you developed the hybrid mobile app, you can submit it on any mobile app store for different platforms. It, apparently, saves your time and cost.

4) Maintenance: Hybrid mobile apps are easy to maintain. The developer just needs to choose right framework for the application development. Some of the majorly used app development frameworks are Ionic, KendoUI, JQuery, etc. Selecting the right app development framework can help you and your business in maintaining the quality of products and services being offered to the consumers. It offers easy maintenance and upgrades.

5) Offline Support: There must be several types of Internet users all across the world. Hence, the solution to this problem is hybrid mobile application development. The hybrid mobile app uses the device’s API and stores data offline. This will help in reducing the loading time of the mobile app again and again. In offline mode, the ap data cannot be updated. However, when the user uses the mobile app in offline mode, it allows the user to use the stored or previously loaded data while accessing the app in offline mode or with poor Internet connectivity. It can be considered as a major advantage of the hybrid mobile app.

6) Easy Scaling: Hybrid mobile apps are cross-platform applications. It is developed and designed to work with a variety of platforms and operating systems. When compared to native and mobile web applications, hybrid applications are much easier to scale and develop. Another reason behind easy scaling is that the framework and technology used to develop hybrid mobile app are also compatible with different platforms and mobile operating systems.

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Moreover, you can simply reuse the code across different platforms and the developers need not to rebuild the app from the scratch. Hybrid mobile app allows a user to take advantage of all the features and functionalities of the mobile app across all mobile operating systems, such as Android, iOS, Windows, etc.

7) More Resources: Hybrid mobile app development uses web technology which makes the utilization of app content easier. The resources and costs needed to develop a hybrid mobile app are easily accessible by any business. You need not to spend a huge amount of time and money for the development of a hybrid mobile app. As the cost of the web technologies available for developing a hybrid mobile app is comparatively lower than that of native applications.

8) Speed And Availability: It’s because of the technology and framework we have used in the hybrid mobile app development that makes it faster than native and mobile web applications. As you need not to reload the app data, again and again, it will be easy for the user to access the hybrid mobile app, even with poor Internet connectivity. Unless the app requires HD graphics and animations, there will be no other aspect that will make it slow.

While talking about availability, you can upload a hybrid mobile app on multiple mobile platforms such as on Google Play Store for Android, on App Store for iPhone or iOS, etc. As a business, you can easily offer quality services to your consumers with the help of a hybrid mobile app and can reach to end-users.

So, undeniably, hybrid mobile applications have much more advantages over the native app and mobile web app, where the cost, time and targeted platform are the most considerable factors. To enhance your business reach to the end users while offering quality products and services on-board, hybrid mobile app development is the best approach that benefits your business and consumers with its versatile nature.

Ritesh Patil

Does Your Website Pass the Mobile Test?

Kevin Cotch on Feb 16th, 2017     Mobile Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO

It is hard to argue that the adoption of mobile devices hasn’t exploded with popularity. Most searches are being performed on mobile devices, with more searches expected to continue on mobile.

Mobile is not only important for organic performance but for conversions from all types of traffic including email and paid channels.1 It is important to understand your mobile traffic to focus on the channels that convert the most on those devices. For some websites, mobile devices might bring in the majority of your traffic but the conversions might not be as high as desktop searches, because of less focus on the mobile experience.

Today, most websites are built with a responsive design to help make it mobile friendly, but that doesn’t mean marketers should stop there.1 Instead, marketers should optimize the entire mobile experience to enhance conversions and overall performance. To help you out, we built a list of actionable tips to make sure your site is mobile friendly from three categories: SEO for mobile devices, mobile content, and mobile conversions.

Mobile SEO Tactics

#1 – Choosing the right mobile website setup

When choosing your website setup, make sure you understand what mobile design you want. There are three main types of mobile sites including:

  • Responsive design
  • Dynamic site
  • Mobile only site (m.example.com)1

Google recommends using a responsive design for your website to help make sure it is mobile friendly, but any option works when done correctly.

TopRank Marketing tip: Analyze your audience to understand what the best option is for your site. Not all sites need to have a responsive design, considering a mobile only site can be tailored to your mobile audience easier in some cases.

 

#2 – Test your site for mobile friendliness

There are multiple ways to test if your site is mobile friendly including the Google Usability Test, Google Search Console report, and Chrome Developer tools. Use multiple tools to be sure that your mobile site is rendering correctly instead of assuming that your site is mobile friendly.

TopRank Marketing tip: Use the Chrome Developer Tools to get a better idea of how your website looks like on certain devices by selecting the “inspect” element. Then in the bottom left-hand corner, select the button that looks like a mobile device (see below).

The screenshot below shows the look on a mobile device. You can choose between a responsive site by pixel size or actual mobile phones by selecting the drop down at the top of the screen.

 

#3 – Optimize your metadata

Mobile SERPs (search engine results page) have less real estate for organic listings than desktop SERPs. It is important to understand the search landscape and SERP space available to market yourself over your competitors.

TopRank Marketing tip: Keep your title tags shorter and more concise to avoid your title tags being cut off in the SERP. It is best practice to keep your title tags under, at least, 70 characters for your title tags.

 

#4 – Optimize for mobile keywords

Have you ever conducted a search with a “near me” signifier attached to it? Near me searches are increasing and doubled in 2015 for all types of users, but especially for mobile users. Mobile keywords can also include more voice queries that people conduct with their phones.

TopRank Marketing tip: Make sure you conduct keyword research for mobile users and target mobile keywords. The search intent of a keyword query can vary based on the device people use so optimizing for all types of keywords will help increase your visibility.

 

#5 – Content for mobile devices

There are multiple types of content that should be considered when creating content for mobile users and your audience. Most marketers are already considering the type of content to write for their website on the attract, engage, convert model, but there sometimes is a lack of focus on mobile consumption habits. Mobile consumption habits can change depending on the industry, so it is important to consider how your audience interacts with your website.

TopRank Marketing tip: If you are are sending email campaigns, consider your audience’s mobile consumption habits. Most emails are consumed on mobile devices (see below). Create all your content that you are promoting via your email or social media channels to be mobile friendly.

 

 

#6 – Geotargeting on your mobile app

If you have a larger audience that uses your mobile app, you might want to consider geotargeting the users when they are close to a storefront, event, or at a specific location. Geotargeting is a great way to encourage action from your audience when they are located in the right areas at the right time.

TopRank Marketing tip: Consider using different imagery and messaging for users in different locations when they are using your app or website. Also, consider sending notifications to mobile app users to entice action when they are at a physical location.

 

Mobile Content Creation

#1 – Consider the content length and types

Consider the length and type of content you are creating for your audience, both on mobile and desktop. As we already covered, there typically is a difference in search intent for users on mobile devices compared to desktop computers. With that in mind, you need to be customer-focused and analyze where your audience is within the funnel for your content assets.

TopRank Marketing tip: Develop audience personas to understand the way your audience searches online. Personas can be a powerful tool when creating content for your website.

 

#2 – Make sure to communicate the value quickly

It is important to communicate your value clearly and quickly to mobile users. Often, banners sometimes push the value proportion below the fold, which may increase the amount of bounces on the page and confuse users where they are on your website.

TopRank Marketing tip: Reduce the amount of unnecessary space or elements on your mobile device to only include what is needed. Less is often more when you are dealing with the limited amount of space on a mobile device.

 

#3 – App optimization

Mobile websites are a must for your online strategy, but apps can provide even a better user experience. Not all companies need to develop and create a mobile app, but for the ones that do, you need to optimize those experiences. Apps should be tailored to solving the user’s problem or creating an unique experience.

TopRank Marketing tip: Optimize your app for the user experience to solve your audience’s problem. After you create your app, make sure you optimize your App store listing to increase your visibility on other channels.

 

#4 – QR codes

QR codes are another solid tactic to add to the dedicated mobile experience. When used correctly, you can push users directly to a location easily with QR codes on psychical flyers or other traditional marketing materials.

TopRank Marketing tip: Test using QR codes on physical marketing materials to push people to a section online with their mobile phones that offers an experience dedicated to them.

 

#5 – SMS messaging

SMS messaging is a way to help you get in front of more of your audience via messaging apps. SMS messaging can be a powerful tool to send notifications to your audience that opted in to encourage specific actions or enhance customer experience.

TopRank Marketing tip: Make your messages personal to help encourage action. Also, make sure to include a clear CTA within the message to see the most value out of your campaign.

 

Mobile Conversions

#1 – Manually audit your layout on your responsive design

Your site might not be mobile friendly even though it might have a responsive design. A responsive site is typically better than a non-mobile site but sometimes issues can still arise. Some issues we typically see are videos not formatted to the correct screen size, the layout pushes the content below the fold, or the font size is too small.

There could be a vast majority of other issues with a responsive design, so make sure you optimize the layout of each page type.

TopRank Marketing tip: Look at what screen size is being utilized the most on your website within Google Analytics. Navigate in your Google Analytics dashboard to go to Audience ? Mobile ? Overview ? Screen Size to quickly analyze what screen size to optimize for first.

 

#2 – Consider your thumb reach

Make sure you consider the thumb reach to encourage action on your mobile design. Making your users reach and work out their thumb can create friction and a low-quality user experience.

TopRank Marketing tip: Make your CTAs within a thumbs reach to improve conversions. Also, consider using sticky headers to help mobile users navigate quickly through your site.

 

#3 – Site speed

Site speed has become more important as a ranking factor for search engines, and rightly so. A fast loading site helps provide a solid user experience and can help increase the crawl rate of the site by search engines. All marketers should be focusing on site speed as a priority item. Below are some tools to test your site speed:

TopRank Marketing tip: Test your mobile site with multiple different tools to get a holistic view on site speed aspects. Prioritize the site speed items to get the most ROI from the work instead of optimizing for every site speed item.

 

#4 – Image optimization

Similarly to site speed, optimizing images will help site speed and user experience. A responsive site often uses the same image that is not probably sized for each device screen.

TopRank Marketing tip: Use different image sizes that can be used at different viewports to pull in images that are the correct size for the device.

 

#5 – Form Optimization

Congratulations! Someone has decided to start filling out a form on your site. That is a great goal to accomplish, but nothing is more disappointing than losing that user after they choose to abandon the form. Optimizing your forms for mobile users is a great way to increase conversions.

TopRank Marketing tip: Adjust the type of the keyboard for mobile users to use the right one for the form fields. For example, use the keyword field to show numbers for phone number fields and a different keyboard for email fields.

 

Your Optimized Mobile Experience

Above are some actionable tactics that you might want to optimize for your mobile website. There are even more areas and opportunities to optimize on your mobile website than listed above. If you’d like to find out if your website passes the mobile test, contact us today to receive a mobile optimization audit.