Month: October 2022

A Beginners Guide to Website Maintenance 

Posted on by Kesavadas UK

Website Maintenance: an overview 

Well, the word ‘maintenance’ in the term ‘website maintenance’ indicates that the website needs to be maintained properly and the process involves checking the health and performance of the website. Security updates, new content, promoting traffic to the website, and ensuring the satisfaction of your website visitors are all part of web development and maintenance. Website maintenance services are an important factor responsible for customer maintenance and involvement, thereby increasing your SEO and Google rankings. On top of everything, the relevance lies in the question ‘How often do we need to check the website?’ The answer is – regularly. Routine check-ups are important to ensure the smooth functioning of your business and for customers to enjoy their customer experience. 

Why is website maintenance important? 

Websites are like open windows to your business as clients or search engines usually end up here looking for proof that explains the professionalism of your business. Professional businesses never fail to offer something valuable that interests the clients. Regular monitoring and maintenance enable your business to attract and retain clients, deliver relevant content, and achieve good SEO rankings. There are many factors that explain the relevance of website maintenance. Let us go through some of them: 

Business credibility  

Clients would always want to invest money in businesses they identify as trustworthy. Since your website is the bedrock that represents the presence of your business online, you wouldn’t want it to leave a dull impression. Instead, you prefer to make the best impression regarding your business through your website. It is calculated that 90% of the client’s interest in a business is based on the impression they obtain from the website. Clients can no longer trust your business if it is messed up, contains outmoded content, and is exploited with broken or expired links. Therefore, it is very important to maintain your website to make it look professional, reliable, and encouraging to customers.  

Customer experience  

There are certain things that annoy a customer who lands on a business website – a pop-up message that spams every 2 min, animations that block your readability, or fill up the screen. These obstacles can immediately encourage you to close the website and search find another one that actually lets you read the content. Let’s define this customer behavior as an end result of poor customer experience. Such situations can be avoided by a routine website maintenance check-up. Once a user faces a poor experience with a website, the chances are very likely for the same user to come back and visit the website again. Bounce rates will be higher for websites that ignore the UX (user experience), which may also lead to poor Google ranking as well. It is essential to keep in mind that clients visit websites that are user-friendly, responsive, and easy to navigate. A website that fails to meet the basic standards cannot offer the valuable sources a customer is looking for. 

Security 

Security concerns will always remain an area that should be given utmost importance. Attacks from hackers can be expected every 39 seconds and nearly half percent of them are aimed at small businesses. If your website maintenance is not done properly, your website becomes incredibly vulnerable to such attacks and endangers the security of sensitive information of your business and customers. Keeping your software up to date to ensure the safety of your website is indeed a big deal! 

SEO strategy  

As explained before, a website with poor UX can get higher bounce rates – which means Google will rank those sites as less relevant and will show the content only to a limited audience. Any technical or structural issue in your website can lead to a gradual loss of readers, which will definitely affect search engine optimization. This is why incorporating website maintenance into SEO strategy is very important. Updating web pages with new content, attractive and responsive design, and fewer technical issues are some of the reasons that will encourage customers to stay on your site for a longer time, indicating to Google that your site contains valuable and relevant content.  

Cost savings  

What happens when you ignore certain symptoms of health conditions for a long time? It may cost you your own life. Similarly, ignoring the health of a website can result in problems that may go wrong. one simple issue that remains unsolved for a long time can create troubles that may cost you a lot of money and your business. You may not want to ruin your entire business because of improper website maintenance. “Prevention is better than cure” – a well-maintained website is always preferable and better than fixing up the damaged one. It not only saves your budget and time but also brings customer satisfaction and increased rankings (that cannot be taken lightly). 

Web maintenance costs  

So far, we have covered the basic concept of website maintenance and what makes it relevant. Now it is time to discuss some of the common costs you may have to deal with in order to maintain your website. The amount may vary depending on the type of service you are following. Here are some of them: 

Hosting services  

There is a specific cost for hosting your website and it is applicable to every business owner who runs a website, no matter what type of website they host. Your website is allocated a space on the servers for visitors to access your site on the internet. This space is provided by a hosting provider and it costs an average monthly amount of $10 – $99 to host a website based on the hosting providers you select shared, dedicated, or managed) for your website. 

Domain renewal  

Another ongoing maintenance cost. Every website has an address that is identified as a domain name. For maintaining the same domain name as long as you run the website, you need to pay a sum which is the domain renewal cost. The cost is very low and affordable as it ranges from$10 – $20 per year. Though the amount is not too much, it is important to renew the domain name every year if you don’t want your domain name to be taken by anyone else.  

Content Management System (CMS)  

There are content management platforms that allow customers to create and manage websites without any coding. CMS systems make it easy to build websites without much hassle as it offers many themes, templates, and plugins to opt from. They are not overpriced and enable you to build and maintain your website on CMS platforms for costs ranging from $60 – $80 per year. WordPress, Shopify, and Wix are some of the content management platforms.  

Security  

General methods related to website security consist of spam prevention, runtime monitoring, and routine security scans. You can perform these tasks either by yourself (based on expertise) or can hire assistance from outside. There is this option to buy security plugins based on how your site is created. The cost of security plugins usually ranges from $50 – $100 per year. Buying an SSL certificate (protects sensitive data transferring) for your website is also another website security cost. The ‘HTTPS’ in the URL represents an SSL certificate and a website without an SSL certificate will always be vulnerable to cyber threats and hackers. For an SSL certificate, you may have to pay a yearly amount ranging from $10 – $1500 based on the website’s size. 

Content  

Filling your website with relevant and valuable content will attract clients and this is why the value of the website content is taken into account while evaluating the success of a business. Using a well-planned content strategy not only increases the traffic to your website but also helps your business and website stand out. You can use freelance writers or in-house writers to manage content on your website. Here the cost you incur will be the amount you are giving to the writers. For freelance writers, the amount is calculated per word or per hour on a basis. For in-house writers, you have to give a particular amount as a monthly salary. Additionally, you can do this work by yourself as well. Therefore, the cost for content strategy may range from $0 – $3000.  

The cost of website maintenance 

Personal Website, Portfolio, or Blog  

The cost for maintenance is usually low for personal websites like blogs and portfolios. Their price range starts from $5-$25 per month. 

Small Business Website  

The amount charged for website maintenance for small businesses is low, mostly affordable for owners. Mainly the costs come with marketing, content creation, design – strategies used to boost the business. The price ranges from $35 – $300 per month. 

E-Commerce Website or Online Store  

When it comes to e-commerce websites, the cost is comparatively high because there are certain other costs like charges for the web developer, code customization fee, and customer data management fee. As a whole, the cost involves $150-$2500 per month. 

Corporate Website  

It is obvious that the money will be huge in order to maintain a corporate-level business and the cost ranges from $200-$3500 per month. 

Common website maintenance plans  

There are 3 different plans which are mostly adopted by companies – hourly, monthly, and after-hour maintenance plans with different pricing: 

Hourly plan  

You can employ an hourly plan if you want to check your website occasionally. Here the amount is charged for an hour and it ranges from $50 – $125 an hour. This plan covers every service and testing in the monthly plan. 

Monthly plan   

If you want to keep your website up-to-date, secure, and responsive then a comprehensive monthly plan is the best choice. Monthly services include security check-ups, updating plugins, and site backups. The monthly plan costs $200 – $5000 a month. 

After-hour plan  

If you prefer to have a 24/7 service plan for website maintenance, there is no other option suitable than an after-hour plan. Here your website will get continuous support and assistance from web professionals.  

Options for website maintenance  

You don’t have to worry about the availability of options you have in website maintenance as there are many options from which you can choose one.  

DIY website maintenance  

As the name DIY suggests, ‘Do It Yourself’ is always better as you don’t have to rely on others, plus you can save the cost. The only condition is you have to invest a lot of time in web maintenance if you choose to do it by yourself. This is also the best choice for people handling personal portfolios as they don’t have much maintenance work to deal with. 

Hiring freelancers  

Hiring outside support is another option you have. You can hire freelancers who have expertise in different areas like content management, website development, or technical part. Though this option is cost-effective, it demands constant and regular communication between the freelancers as there should be a sync in the work they are doing.  

Hire a company  

There are companies that take care of website maintenance completely. Such companies can definitely reduce the workload and support the efficient functioning of the website. They monitor websites regularly, check for updates, perform security check-ups, etc. with the help of website development and maintenance experts they hire. This offers great relief from the tension because half of your work will be done for the day with companies managing website maintenance tasks. 

Wrap Up 

To ensure the success of your website, it is mandatory to do website maintenance at least once a month. While it is a fact that website maintenance is a continuous job, it should not torment you because it is very significant for your website’s success and ranking. Regular and consistent website content updation, software updation, and back-ups allow the smooth and successful functioning of your website. Though hiring a developer leads to another expense, it is a good choice when we take the success of the website into account. Before you hire a developer, never forget to ask for references and contact them to check if they have enough proficiency in website maintenance and programming. 

Ways to Increase App Download and Installs 

Posted on by Abhijith VM

Introduction 

What is the most difficult problem a developer may face after an app release? The one and only big problem many developers face after the release of their app is its reach. The number of downloads and installations are the two key components that determine the success of an application. Fewer downloads or installs can discourage the confidence the user had while developing the app. All you need is a little effort and the right knowledge to make your app noticeable to the masses. 

Ways to increase your app download 

Let’s take a look into some of the ways through which we can increase app downloads.  

Create an attractive app icon  

The design you choose plays a crucial role in attracting the masses to the app. As it grabs the attention of the people immediately, the design should be chosen wisely. It should be catchy, noticeable, and should represent the purpose of the app you have built. The App icon should be able to silently describe what it offers to the customers once they install it. It is best if you don’t make the icon look confusing, complex, or cluttered. Simplicity attracts the audience.  

Social media outreach 

It is important for mobile app developers to expand their presence on social media. You have to determine the angle from where you start building the personality of your app before you determine the social network you want to use. This indicates that your social media voice should sync with the personality of the app. This doesn’t mean that your social media should be filled with promotions and information related to the app. You can give responses to audiences’ comments in your app’s voice. This kind of relationship with the audience can improve your app’s downloads. Meanwhile, you should adhere to the terms of service of each and every social media platform you use. Here are some of the social media platforms that can draw the attention of the audience easily: 

  • Facebook 
  • Pinterest 
  • Twitter 
  • YouTube 

Encourage user reviews  

You may have noticed that apps with high positive reviews hit the downloads. This is one of the simplest ways to increase your app downloads. If you are able to draw positive feedback and reviews from the users of your app it will automatically increase the number of downloads your app gets. Such reviews are like testimonials that help to spread the word to potential customers, which in turn result in increased downloads. The only point is not to try ’buying’ positive reviews because if the app finds out the trick you used, your app will be suspended immediately. Fabricated reviews are worth nothing but organic reviews help you get an idea about what needs to be improved or fixed in the next update. You can get reviews through the following methods: 

  • You can send requests to different people who have actual influence over the public. For example, popular YouTubers and Critics of leading tech websites with a decent number of readers are great options. 
  • In press releases, you can make an invitation to give feedback. Some media outlets have staff who are assigned to write reviews. 
  • You can reward your users who write reviews. This might encourage others to follow the same.  
  • Redeemable points, coupon codes, and hidden surprises inside the app are also some other ways to get positive reviews.  

Sharpen your keywords  

Sometimes users can search for apps using keywords. For example, if they are looking for a fitness app, the keywords would be ‘fitness’, ‘exercise’, ‘body building’ etc. The point is you have to use the main or relevant keyword related to the app in its description and everywhere possible. Be assured that the keyword you choose is accurate, relevant, and credible as well. Do not stuff your app description with irrelevant keywords. 

Ways to increase app installations 

Let’s say that many have downloaded your application. Well, that’s great! But what is the point if they are not installing it after downloading it? Here, we are going to talk about the ways to increase app installations. Here are some of them: 

Give the users direct access to the app  

When website users try to install your app, you can ask them to type the mobile number to send the link. According to the reports, this feature has the biggest conversion rate to sign up than any other feature. This makes sense because the chances for the audience to share their personal contact number if they are not interested in installing the apps are very low. They share the number because they want to try the app and this is why text-me-the-app link clicks have an install rate of 42%. 

Smart banners  

This is one of the standard ways to promote apps (which are usually found in an app store) from a mobile website. This method usually works when a mobile site is opened on iOS devices. The consistency the app maintains in look and feel throughout the web will be identified and trusted by the user, which in turn prompts the user to click on the banner and download the app. It is displayed at the top of the webpage and can be closed by simply hitting the close button. 

Refer a friend  

The most commonly used method to increase installations. What works better than a referral from your friend or family? You can create a referral option in your app with a reward to the user for suggesting the app to their friends and family. This not only increases app installations but also provides a better customer experience, which can give you many positive reviews as well. Moreover, this is the cheapest way to increase users. 

Content sharing

Giving users the chance to share your app content with deep links is another way to increase installs. More sharing always results in a larger audience. Deep links can take the audience to the main page of the app where the user will be given choices – either to install it or to read it on the browser itself. This automatically increases the visibility of the app. 

Wrap Up 

You already know that increasing the reach, download rate, or install rate is definitely not an easy task to accomplish. But with these methods and practices, you can promote your app to a considerable level while increasing your app ranking in the app store. Consumers and their preferences are different, therefore what works for a general group of consumers may not work for your target audience. Before trying out these techniques and strategies, keep in mind the preferences of your target audience. 

Different Types of Chatbots – How to Choose the Right One 

Posted on by Saish Kakodkar

Introduction 

The growth of artificial intelligence has brought with it many new ideas of development. However, the rise of a chatbot cannot be denied. The integration of Artificial intelligence (AI) in chatbots is a great success and has many advantages. You may have noticed the presence of different types of chatbots in the market but are never the same in terms of functionality, interface, purpose, and more. It is true that the ultimate aim of every chatbot will be the same, that is – perform the same way as humans would do but without any rest. The difference lies in where it is used and what specific function it performs. For example, the chatbot you use on an eCommerce website would be totally different from the one you use for Banking.  Just as we differ in our personalities and abilities, the same goes for the looks and functions of chatbots. 

Types of Chatbots 

Since we know that chatbots function differently according to different business needs, we should also know the different types of chatbots used in various industries. Here are some of them: 

Menu/Button-based chatbot  

These are the standard type of chatbots currently available in the market. These chatbots are mostly dignified decision tree hierarchies given in the form of buttons to the users. With this chatbot, the user has to make a number of choices in order to find out the answers to these chatbots like the automated phone menu which we use every day. These chatbots are enough to answer frequently asked questions, which make up almost 80% of assisting/support questions; they are very rare in more advanced situations, especially where there is too much knowledge or too many variables that determine how users will get to certain answers with confidence. One thing to be noted is that these menu/button-based chatbots are the slowest when it comes to giving the expected value to the user.  

Linguistic/ Rule-based chatbot  

A linguistic chatbot can be the best choice for your business if you can foresee the types of queries your users may ask. Linguistic or rule-based chatbots use ‘if or then’ conditions to generate conversational streams. Defining the language requirements of your chatbot is the first thing to do, and then you can generate conditions to interpret and analyze words, their synonyms, and word order. If the conditions designed in your chatbot match the user’s query, then your bot can provide prompt and appropriate assistance to the customers in a minimum time. 

Anyhow, it is your responsibility to make sure that the arrangement and presentation of each query by the customer are defined in a way that is comprehendible for the chatbot. This is the reason behind the slow but incredible development of the linguistic model. 

Keyword recognition-based chatbots  

Keyword-based chatbots are capable of listening to whatever the user types and giving the response immediately.  These chatbots use custom language and Natural Language Processing (NLP)- an application of artificial intelligence – to decide how users should be given responses appropriately. These types of chatbots fail to meet the standard when you have to answer many similar questions. The NLP chatbots start to slip when they have to respond to many similar queries and when there are keyword repetitions in similar questions. 

Hybrid chatbots based on keyword recognition and menu/button are very popular in the market. These chatbots give customers the opportunity to directly ask their queries or use the chatbot’s menu buttons in case the keyword recognition functionality gives bad results or if the customer needs assistance to find a solution to their query. 

Hybrid model  

The advancements offered by the AI-based chatbots are adored by businesses but most of them cannot support these chatbots as they lack huge amounts of data and skillsets. Therefore, they chose the hybrid model, which delivers the functionalities of both worlds— the sophistication of AI-bots and the intelligibility of rule-based chatbots. 

Machine Learning chatbots  

You can easily identify how strong conversation context can be when integrated with AI and ML. They are also called conversational chatbots, which use Artificial Intelligence as well as Machine Learning (ML). These chatbots store and learn customer behavior to deliver enhanced services in the future. They are also smart enough to improve their performance without any external interventions. It gives customers the option to respond simply to questions the chatbot has already prepared based on the previous actions made by the customer. Thus, improving the customer experience to a greater level. 

Voice bots 

Businesses are now adopting voice-based chatbots to make conversational interfaces more local.  Voice bots are being used widely over the past few years especially with virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. The convenience and ease of use offered by voice-based chatbots cannot be replaced with any other technology. A voice bot delivers a tension-free experience directly to the customers and as you know speaking is much easier than typing. 

How to choose the right one? 

Before you decide to choose a chatbot for your business, think from the customer’s perspective, the service they value, and the service they receive. Does the context of the conversation significantly affect this value? If it doesn’t, the time and resources are not worth installing it.  

The target user base and the preferred user experience are two other things to be considered. Instead of asking questions directly to chatbots, there are users who prefer chatbots to help them with visual menu buttons. Users have every reason to check your chatbot thoroughly before you implement it completely. 

When it comes to choosing the right chatbot, choose the one that serves the value the customers expect. It may need some enterprise-level AI skills in certain situations, but otherwise, menu buttons are the best solution. 

Wrap Up 

There are many types of chatbots available in many variants for different businesses and enterprises. When businesses choose strategies for automation while saving resources, time, and effort, there will be an automatic hike in revenue and improved brand recognition. Once the chatbots take up the responsibility for time-consuming and repetitive tasks, they establish smoother connections with the users, add value, and provide a great customer experience. The results of such kind of automation are not limited to empowering the marketing experience but also delivering greater satisfaction on both sides. 

Product Development Cycle Explained

Posted on by Rubin Anto

What is Product Development Life Cycle?

The product development cycle is the process by which a product moves from the very beginning of its idea to its launch in the market and beyond and this life cycle includes several departments within an organization: product managers, QA testers, developers, designers, and many more.

Usually, the launch of a product is considered to be the last stage in the product development process but it does not end with the launch of the product. There is a lot of work that needs to be done even after your new product or feature reaches the market. Markets mature and the choice of your customer changes, as a result, new products evolve and develop to meet the changing needs of the customer. For this reason, there should be a thorough knowledge of the product development life cycle.  

There is no guarantee that your product passes all stages one by one, meets all expectations, and follows the suggested changes in the indicators. But the product life cycle helps in creating a sense of control during the whole process. When you dream about the future of your product it will cost you nothing to apply it. Indeed, it serves as a guard from the unexpected. In short, the product development life cycle involves a series of continuous stages through which a product goes through. 

Stages in Product Development Life Cycle  

As said earlier, the product development life cycle consists of a series of complex steps that allow you to choose your idea and keep track of the activities needed to make it something really valuable for your customers. This is important because clarity is something that every team needs to go forward smoothly and productively with their work. Here we are talking about a seven-stage cycle, the best way to give clarity is it points out the key achievements of your team and links them back to broader business goals. 

Plan  

This is the stage where your team does research and talks to customers. The main aim of this stage is to prove the presence of an actual problem in the market and explain the ways in which your product or feature addresses the problem and solves it.  

Build  

The stage in which your product plan is implemented. The motive behind this stage is to work on the various types of tasks needed for the quick and efficient creation of your new product. 

Test  

During this stage, your team will be able to finish most of the work associated with the building of your new product or feature. Gathering customer feedback on operational efficiency and detecting bugs before full market release are the two major goals in this stage. 

Launch  

Releasing the product among your customers is one of the most significant stages in the product development life cycle. Here the focus is on making the release experience as smooth as possible to maximize the initial engagement of customers. 

Analyze  

After the launch of the product, it is time to assess the impact of the product on customers, their experience with the product, and your business goals. This is also the stage that gives you the opportunity to identify gaps or areas you need to improve in the future.  

Iterate  

Once you have done evaluating the impact of your product and figuring out the ways to improve your product or feature, it is time to work on bringing changes to any product on the basis of the findings during analysis. Increasing the customer value with each repetition is the main goal. 

Support  

This stage goes through post-release analysis and repetitive stages. Once your product holds a stable place in the market, your team can keep going forward actively with new projects. 

Stages in Product Life Cycle  

Product Development Life Cycle Looks at the different stages of work needed to introduce a product or feature to the market, meanwhile, the Product Life Cycle looks at the development of different products after the launch. It also gives insights into driving financial factors such as demand and supply that give you an idea about the product value in the business. Below given is the four-stage product life cycle: 

Development

This phase takes care of everything that passes through the software product development life cycle. 

Growth

At this point, you see the demand and adoption rate for your product rising. 

Maturity

In this stage, demand for your product starts decreasing as your product starts holding a position in the market. 

Decline

The impact of your product minimizes when there is a development in customer expectations or when market conditions change. 

Wrap Up 

The product life cycle is a supportive conceptual framework with all its stages, features, achievements, and challenges. It is comforting and helps to understand the unknown. As a developer or a manufacturer, you can program it and relax. Though it is impossible to predict accurately the end result of your product or feature, you will have an idea about the way things should go under the right circumstances. You can also have your own marketing strategies planned for the maturity and discretionary stages, think about the risk factors involved in the development cycle and have a complimentary plan.