Basic Mobile Apps And Web Design

Digital monitoring, branding, and social media marketing are all things we can do from our smartphones. Those passionate about seeing their online brand develop can track social media updates from anywhere with an Internet connection. To take full advantage of the level of oversight available to digital marketers today, there are several social media apps you may wish to consider. Here’s a list of our favourite 6 social media apps for digital marketing anyone can download.

BeLive.tv

BeLive.tv specializes in live video creation, specifically targeting Facebook Video broadcasts. More consumers than ever are tapping into live video streaming online. As more brands jump onboard to promote themselves, BeLive.tv is a free app that can give you the advantage. Use branded frames, split-screen interview formats, and customize your live video Facebook broadcast.

 How important it is to retail, offline, and/or brick-and-mortar businesses to use mobile marketing is shown in the sales numbers. Those that have engaged in B2B mobile marketing have seen huge jumps in sales figures and sadly, those who have not yet come around are missing out on some major opportunities. Just think of all the business you might be missing. More than 90 percent of American consumers have a mobile device within three feet of them 24 hours a day. These are consumers you can tap into at any time, if you know how.

Mobile marketing is comprised of many different approaches. There’s social media, yes, which involves using channels to promote and gain new fans. This is not the be-all, end-all of mobile marketing though. Location-based promotional tactics, the promotion of apps and apps-related discounts, and time-sensitive deals are all strategies that can be used. As it pertains to the mobile marketing strategy you might use, the key is to provide value. There’s no such thing as an offline-only business anymore, especially in retail and brick-and-mortar. Learn to tap into mobile marketing to see huge returns and at a fraction of the cost you might pay for offline marketing.

Building mobile marketing involves considering the fact that a consumer might arrive to your brand at various points in the sales funnel. That means you may not have time to qualify them fully in the ways you would normally prefer. Thereby, content needs to be matched to each buying stage, maximizing the opportunity to gain sales. To this point, different content needs to be present across the different stages of the sales funnel, ensuring consumers are kept engaged in content. Wherever consumers are coming from, you need to be ready to accept them with open arms and have the information-based infrastructure in place to close that sale. When it comes to B2B marketing, this might be a how-to instructional video, a CEO video message, or even a financial report. Instead of using sales-y material, go for informational content and value.

 Throughout the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas this past January, numerous products and designed were released to the public for the first time from some of the world’s biggest brands in tech. As CES 2018 has now wrapped, we look back on some of the biggest highlights that are sure to amaze consumers long after they hit the general marketplace later this year.

LG’s ThinQ lineup

 As more brands hit the market with smart home accessories and smart speakers, the world’s biggest brands have been put on alert. The impressive ThinQ smart speaker from LG boasts an assistant that will deliver the weather, oversee other smart home devices, and comes with a range of accessories, including the ability to interface with other LG smart appliances and products. For example, the ThinQ smart refrigerator from LG can display recipes on its 29-inch touchscreen display.

 Less happy, lower life satisfaction, and weaker self-esteem are among the effects of climbing smartphone ownership among teenagers in North America. As approximately 73 percent of teenagers in the United States own smartphones – a percentage that continues to climb with each passing year – this is something that is in need of address.

 A recent study published by a team of psychologists at the University of Georgia and San Diego State University suggests that the declines in happiness and self-esteem recorded in American teenagers is directly linked to smartphone ownership. The study tracked a series of data sets based on 1.1 million teenagers, demonstrating a rise in unhappiness and low self-esteem since 2012. What is interesting about this study is that for the entire decade prior to 2012, teens were actually getting happier and seeing higher self-esteem. Something in the period surrounding 2012 appears to have changed that, with a significant shift in level of happiness noted.

 It’s no big secret that the world has embraced technology with open arms. By 2012, the smartphone revolution was in full force with 37 percent of teens owning one. By 2016, as stated, that number climbed to 73 percent. Throughout this time period, there have been multiple studies produced showing the negative effects of prolonged smartphone use, such as the conclusion that the longer a user spends engaged in online content and social media, the unhappier the teenager. The studies published have not all been negative either, with some showing how participating in social media can have a positive effect on a teen’s self-image.

Browsing top level domains, it’s not always clear the value that exists there for designers and developers. I mean, why switch from “.com”, “.org”, “.ca”, or “.net” – the reason being comes down to cost. 

Depending on the keywords being ranked for and a range of other factors, you may be paying a lot of money for a tag that can be easily switched out for something else. “.com” is already getting more expensive. Depending on the spelling, the length of the domain, and/or the creativity of it, you may be able to get away with a “.com” however supply is running low.

There are many other top level domains available for web designers and developers to choose from. Keep in mind that the biggest barrier to some of these domains is in explaining to clients that you don’t own a “.com” and that you have another tag. If you can get around this, we highly recommend checking out other top level domains to lower expenses and potentially increase the value of your site.

Text-based search has been served a power-packed punch from voice UI, which is predicted to become the future of how consumers locate and search information online. To this point, Microsoft’s Cortana alone accommodates over 100 million monthly users. It’s predicted that by 2020, 50 percent of all searches will be completed through voice UI. Admittedly this puts a significant spin into strategies relating to search engine optimization and specifically text-based SEO. Though you may not require a complete overhaul, there are big changes that any freelancer or agency wants to get in on today before these become prominent issues down the road. 

Long-tail keywords

Targeting long-tail keywords is the future. As consumers are more comfortable speaking detailed search than texting it, voice searches have been notably more specific. Through voice UI, expect consumers to include more extensive requests, meaning a site’s SEO will have to make room for these longer search terms. This can be seen as a positive for conversion rates however as the more detail included, the higher likelihood the consumer will be closer to making a purchase.

More conversational, less formal

Speaking in the language of the consumer is already an important point and it’s going to be even more so in the months ahead. Written texts need to be written in the same way that people speak. Remember, we talk differently than we write. In text, we may use less words and more specific terms to search. When using a voice UI to search, we may be more conversational. Creating content that naturally matches the tone of the intended target audience.

Cyber-attacks and hacking has made living in the contemporary age of tech never more frightening. As evidenced in the smartphone applications used by industrial warehouses and facilities across the world, things may have just gotten a little more dangerous. 

According to a report published by MIT earlier this month, from security holes found in popular smartphone applications used to control processes in industrial settings, it may be possible for a hacker to not only interfere with these processes but to blow up a factory.

As unbelievable as that may sound, it’s true. With the tech boom from the last twenty years, warehouses and industrial facilities have increasingly counted on mobile apps to monitor and manage machines. In turn, companies have increased efficiencies. It’s unfortunate that examining some of the industrial world’s most popular apps, including ones prominently used by corporations such as Siemens and Schneider Electric, there are massive security flaws left unaddressed. This MIT study found 147 security holes across 34 widely-used industrial facility apps.

As numbers from the 2017 Christmas season continue to pour in, we are seeing some impressive statistics as the mobile app industry continues to grow. According to recent report, 2017 holiday spending on apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions rose by 12.3 percent from last year. 

As we get deeper into 2018, mobile app developers are building new ways to connect with consumers. By this time next year, the mobile app world may see itself re-defined by these trends.

#1 – More Mobile Wallet use

Current estimates suggest there to be as many as 1.5 billion mobile wallets in the world. As this number grows in 2018, mobile app developers are looking to turn smartphones into the ultimate personal payment solution. Any brand that has not yet offered mobile payments to its customers may want to consider jumping on board before they get left behind the curb.

#2 – Is Better Mobile App Security Possible – the hope is Yes

Concerns regarding app security continue to permeate the industry. Apple and Google are among the brands who have committed to making their devices a safer, more secure place. Mobile app security should be among the highest priorities throughout code encryption all the way through to release. Test the security up and down and every which way to ensure everything is prepped accordingly.

Download rates don’t mean anything to an app if it does not have the active user count to back it up. To maximize mobile app engagement, one must focus on a series of strategies to retain the attention of the user. 

A highly engaged user is ideally what any mobile app developer wants, which is someone who checks into the app for a minimum of ten sessions per month. Though not every user will be “highly engaged”, anyone who checks in on average once every three months can be considered a user successfully retained. The unfortunate fact about mobile applications is that user abandonment is high. It’s estimated that 23 percent of users use an app only once and never return to their accounts. With high competition in the marketplace, increasing active user count needs to be a focal point of app development. Here’ are five techniques to get you started.

Strong, seamless on-boarding

The more difficult an app is to use, the less anyone will want to use it. Thereby, onboarding needs to be a simplified process with not too many steps. Studies have shown that onboarding has the potential to increase a user’s lifetime value by as much as 500 percent. To onboard successfully, you must make logins easy, never overload the user with too much information just on opening the app, and help guide the user through using any unfamiliar features.

Web design is not just about aesthetics. While looks count for a lot in design, functionality is just as key. A strong design will also convert visitors into customers and it impresses those who have clicked on it. If a design can’t accomplish these things, it’s not good for much.

How we value and define ‘good design’ varies per person. There are some who will value aesthetics and appearance above all else. Then, there are those who will invest more weight in how easy it is to use. A designer needs to appeal to every person’s definition of ‘good design’, satisfying expectations of appearance while delivering easy navigation.

To win a customer’s business, a design company needs to excel at all of the critical elements of what makes good design. Boiling it down to its basic element, design is about solving problems and in doing so, presenting the solution in most aesthetically pleasing presentation possible. Deciding on what colors to use, how the navigation will function, what typography is best, and ensuring that the message is clear are at the centre of a successful design approach.

The onset of a new year has meant looking ahead towards the web design trends we expect to define the next twelve months in the industry. 

No more Pop-Ups!

After years fighting against these little buggers, pop-ups may be on their last legs. Google recently announced that it would punish any site using pop-ups and/or interstitials via its search results.

With Google goes the industry and thus we can expect to see sites slowly do away with annoying content-blocking pop-up ads that do nothing for nobody. That said, not all will fade away. Any age verification or sign-in interstitials still have a role to play for some sites and can be expected to hang around.

One of the most secure accounts and the latest example in internet security companies attempting to fend off the determination of hackers comes in the form of Google’s Advanced Protection. 

Any user concerned with hackers breaking into their Google accounts need be recommended the Advanced Protection feature. Widely praised by many in the internet security industry, Advanced Protection demonstrates some of the smartest, most secure authentication anywhere in the world. That said, due to the high security standards maintained by Google, it’s not the easiest feature to operate. To many everyday consumers, it may present more of an inconvenience than a benefit.

To set up the Advanced Protection feature, a user will need to carry with them two tiny devices. To log into your Google account from a new device, these two tiny pieces are required. These are called security tokens which are designed to prove your identity – one going into your computer and the other into your smartphone. No one can log into your account anywhere without these two devices in their possession so short of robbing you, you’re secure!

Being mobile-responsive is a huge component that any WordPress website should be equipped with. Let’s say you want to take things a step even further than that and build a mobile app from your WordPress site, you’ve probably run into the fact that it’s not easy. Learning how to build an app from scratch is not only difficult for even experienced coders, it’s also expensive. 

For a fraction of what you would pay for a native app build, tap into high-end WordPress plugins that will do all the heavy lifting for you. Let’s be clear in stating that having an app for every WordPress site is not necessarily a must. If you believe an app would improve the customer experience though or if you wish to tap into some traffic you might be missing, it’s something worth considering.

So You Want to build an App from your WordPress site – Here’s what you Need to Do

To get going, a WordPress site needs to be mobile app ready. That means ensuring it has a responsive design. Looking into your site’s analytics to see what devices it is being viewed on is also a pretty good idea.

As 2017 has continued to change the way that digital does things, the year ahead will continue to capitalize on some of the world’s biggest trends in digital development.

Effortless Navigation

Expect navigation to become increasingly linear and sometimes driven by voice user interfaces as opposed to graphical user interfaces. As speech recognition technology continues to advance, the ways in which this interacts with existing systems will progress as well.

Reducing Visual Clutter

Minimalism reigns supreme in UX design this year. Remove irrelevant noise and prioritize the most relevant information. Content will increasingly be brought to the forefront and advertising messages will become clearer than it ever has been before in this arena.

The first digital pill that has the capability to track whether you’ve taken it or not has just been approved by the FDA. Designed with an ingestible digital tracking system, the antipsychotic medication Abilify My Cite was created with a sensor that’s ingestible and that sends info to a patch. That patch is then able to transmit the info to a mobile app, notifying whether or not someone has taken the drug.

 Abilify is a branded model of aripiprazole which is a drug typically used to treat bipolar disorders,   schizophrenia, and adult depression. Abilify is manufactured by the Japan-based Otsuka Pharmaceutical. The extremely small sensor embedded into the medication is manufactured by the company Proteus. The sensor used is no bigger than a speck of sand. The sensor only activates after it has been ingested, when it reaches stomach fluid. By activating the sensor, the time as well as the date is then recorded. The patient wears the patch mentioned earlier. As the data is received in the smartphone app, it becomes shareable with the patient’s family  or caregiver as appropriate.

 Though complicated, it marks an impressive step in the world of digital medicine. That said, it does not address non-adherence to medication schedules which is highly common in people suffering from many health conditions, including notably hypertension and high cholesterol. Abilify MyCite addresses a medication designated for mental health however and not physical.

 The FDA in its approval communicated in a statement its support of the development of technology in prescription drugs. The Food and Drug Administration has reiterated its commitment to working with tech companies in finding new ways in which patients may benefit.

A mobile-based app could be a new, effective way to monitor age-related muscular degeneration (AMD) or diabetic retinopathy, according to a new study. Presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), patients who used DigiSight’s Paxos Checkup app recorded similar benefits to those who had received traditional clinical checkups.

 This finding further supports the hypothesis that mobile applications hold a lot of potential in the medical field, including for those suffering from vision problems or vision-related illnesses. Despite the assumed benefits of these apps, few of them have been clinically tested. The testing that this app underwent focused on comparing a standard visual test conducted in a traditional check-up setting to a Checkup vision assessment administered by the app.

 The study consisted of monitoring 27 participants who were either suffering from AMD or diabetic retinopathy. They were monitored with Checkup at home, evaluated at baseline and with two monthly visits. In between office visits, participants were instructed to use Checkup for VA and Amsler testing a minimum of twice a week at home. Analyzing the results side by side, the test results of Checkup and the reference tests for AV and Amsler turned out all in agreement. Therefore it can be said with certainty that there was benefit to using the app which demonstrated excellent results similar to the clinical testing. The patient usability survey also showed a 100 percent successful home use rate.

Users of Snapchat may or may not be excited about the new feature, Snap Map that was recently released. This feature essentially allows users to keep tabs on each other along with their current location. Understandably, this is being considered by the public as both good and bad. On the positive side, it allows you to know exactly where your close friends are. On the negative side, it presents a privacy issue, not to mention a safety concern as well.

However, this new Snap Map feature is also proving to be very useful to the marketing industry since this new feature presents a new way to keep tabs on followers and target audiences. I guess you can say these marketers are now like the new big brother, as in they are always watching you!

People that are wanting to use Snapchat as a marketing tool can now boost their social media presence if used correctly. There are five simple pointers one can keep in mind to achieve this goal:

1) First and foremost, you must enable this mobile app feature in order to start using it. Depending on whether you’re using an android or an Apple device, there may be different ways to turn the location feature on. Usually each app will allow you to turn on the location feature individually.

Instagram has introduced ads to their story feature that fit perfectly between the other stories your followers view, and their short-lasting nature can either help or hurt the companies that use them. The first version of the feature only allowed users to expose their ad to the maximum number of people - a feature called Reach. Now, Instagram story ads offer conversions, traffic, video views, and mobile app installs as well.

Say goodbye to the days when you couldn’t attach your business website’s link to your story ads and say hello to the many things these ads now let you do. The users who view your ad can now be redirected to your company website through the call-to-action function, which they’re sure to click if they like what you’re offering. Because so many people take the time to watch Instagram stories, even below-average ads have a chance at creating site traffic. Having said that, better ads almost always get better results.

Apple has been copying the ideas of other tech companies for decades, but these ideas are often executed far better when redone by the tech giant. The enterprise has managed to make their versions of old gadgets commonalities through a great deal of innovation. For instance, the presence of wireless payments and fingerprint scanning for both identification and ecommerce have been prevalent in Japan for many years, but it was only when Apple integrated these tools into its iPhones that they became worldwide phenomena.

Despite the widespread experimentation with augmented reality by companies like Google and Microsoft, many businesses are creating their own versions of the live-footage-digital-image system, and Apple is no exception. In fact, the company may place first once again in the ongoing tech war with its iOS 11 ARKit, an augmented reality program that will be compatible with its new iPhone system. With the undeniable popularity of iPhones, augmented reality could be another old concept made new by Apple.

People who are accident-prone and  have dropped their cell phone in the toilet or pool will be happy to hear the latest in mobile news! It’s official: one or more of the upcoming iPhone models will be constructed to resist water damage and charge wirelessly, and this could put Apple even further ahead in the mobile device game.

No one likes it when their phone is dead and having to find an outlet on the go is pretty inconvenient! Plus, our phones always seem to run out of battery at the worse possible times. With their upcoming model however, this could soon all change for iPhone users. While Android has long embraced the wireless trend, it’s about time Apple warms up to this feature as well. People apparently heard of the wireless feature because of an accidental leak of a sketch of an iPhone that featured a large pad, in the same shape of a typical wireless antenna. 
These features will most likely be built into the iPhone 7s Plus and iPhone 8, as the previously released iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are already water and dust repellant to an extent. If owners of the models expose their phones to water on a regular basis, however, the devices could deteriorate faster, and the warranty doesn’t protect against water damage.

Former Google employee Max Hawkins had an admirable life from an outsider’s perspective. But he began to fall victim to the plague of mindless routine, and decided he needed a big change. That change came in the form of a randomizer app. We use apps countless times a day, everyday, so why not let one introduce a little adventure into your real-life experiences?

It all began with an app that used Uber to order a vehicle to a location determined by the algorithm. Max never knew where he was going with the app until he got there. This computer-selected “adventuring” soon began to choose random public Facebook events for Max to attend, and despite his concerns, no one found him to be out of place at those events, which ranged from acrobatic yoga to networking meet-ups, to pancake breakfasts.

Laptops are notorious for overheating, ever more so than desktops. But if your laptop is reaching ridiculous temperatures frequently or within a short period of time, there may be a problem.

Your laptop may be overheating due to dust buildup in and around its internal fan. Remove the casing and clean the computer’s cooling components as thoroughly as possible. If there was a lot of dust buildup, that dust was likely hindering the functions of your laptop’s parts.

Dust may not be an issue for your laptop, so instead, observe the environment in which your laptop is most often up and running. When any electronic device is kept in a hot or bright environment, it’s bound to catch that energy and heat up quickly. If you can, move it to a cooler area with more shade and start using it there if you see improvement.

Half of Canadians are okay with leaving behind the colourful banknotes and the loonies and toonies they’ve come to know, according to a recent survey. Two-thirds of those who answered wish to get rid of personal cheques, too.

Unlike other countries, Canada started using digital banking and electronic payments in the eighties, and after three decades of use, citizens have adjusted quite well. The country ranked third worldwide for frequency of cashless payments in 2013, though Sweden is now ahead of most others with its many restrictions on cash.

Because all payments that don’t involve cash are recorded, some people are worried about their privacy, but many understand that revealing a small portion of personal information to make a purchase easily is a fair exchange.

How devoted are you to your Netflix nights? Netflix is television central for many people, but even the most devoted TV and film fanatics may veer away from the service when it undergoes a price increase.

Australia has increased its Netflix monthly subscriptions for customers who create accounts on weekends, the time of the week that the service is used most often. Basic plans are now $9.99, Standard plans are now $13.99, and Premium plans are now $17.99. The plans have increased by one, two, and three AU dollars respectively.

The company plans to take note of how many people use Netflix after the fees are raised, hoping for little backlash and more understanding from their faithful followers. If all goes well, North America could be next.

During its one-year hiatus, Microsoft has been hard at work upping the ante with the design of its new phone. With a less than 1% market share and $7.6 billion loss from the Nokia, the company is working hard to gain back its previously lost jobs with its Windows 10 Mobile, which will be complete by July of this year.

Microsoft is optimistic that it will continue to make phones, but the new models won’t have the appearance consumers are expecting. The tech business is putting its time and effort into creating a phone equipped to manage and safe-keep files, a phone that could function like a desktop computer. This is certainly different, but perhaps customers will like the idea.