TV and radio marketing are similar to shouting out at a larger group of people. However internet marketing is more like a personal conversation, and email is one of the great tools for internet marketing when used strategically.

Email can be used to track behaviors, such as who opened the email and who didn’t, which links/offers got clicked on and which ones didn’t.  Email can be used to segment out your audience, such as past purchasers, (since you attended session “A” at the last meeting you may be interested in the publication by the leader of the session). 

Remember though there is a lot of competition for eyes and time with email.  In fact more than 50% od all promotional emails get deleted before opening, and 50% of those that get opened are deleted within 2 seconds of opening. However, those that do not get deleted have been shown to result in 47% of the transactions that occur on that day of delivery (www.bizreport.com).  So, just like all marketing methods email is a numbers game, but with the right tools it is an effective and inexpensive way to reach your customers.

Contensive’s CMS is designed to help you deliver targeted emails and track results.  If you have questions or want to find out more about effective email give us call.

A little while back, we got an email from an client who just purchased some third party software and wanted to add it to their site.  They weren't sure how to do this so they emailed support and asked for help.  After looking at the functionality we discovered it was built to run on PHP, their site was built on ASP (if I've lost you, the programming specifics are not to germane to the story, so bear with me). 

The support technician was now faced with a dilemma, should they provide detailed instructions to the Content Manager knowing they might not be able to understand and follow them (because if they understood programming enough to add the functionality they wouldn't have purchased a PHP app in the first place) or send this over to sales to go through the process of writing up a quote for doing it for them, getting approval and then waiting for a slot to open on the schedule.

That's where the idea for SLA billing was born.  With an SLA in place that user could have simply emailed or called and asked that the app be added to their site and it would have been taken care of at a lower cost and faster than waiting for the bureaucratic process of creating approving and scheduling a task quote. We feel like we should be available to be your technology partners for your web site whether or not what you need is built by Contensive. An SLA offers you the flexibility to get these smaller jobs done more quickly and at a reduced rate, or simply to offer advice and guidance about what you should or shouldn't add to your site.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in check out this link to find out more.

I read a really interesting blog on Hubspot written by Rachel Sprung that talked about 7 companies who jumped on the viral craze at just the right time in order to get attention for their own videos as parodies of the current viral video. below is an excerpt and link to the post.  It's worth checking out if only for the videos.

"Remember what you thought when you first saw the Old Spice guy? When you heard the musical stylings of Carly Rae Jepsen in the emotional roller coaster "Call Me Maybe?" How about when you saw the inexplicably catchy "Gangnam Style" dance? These are some examples of virality (the marketing kind) at its best.

Thing is, viral marketing is not easy. There's just no way to know if that funny new video you're creating is going to get 1,000,000 views, or 10. So what can you do?

Newsjack virality, that's what you can do. In other words, you can take something that's already gone viral, and piggyback on its success by creating your own awesome spin on it. There are several companies out there who have done it -- and done it well. So we're going to highlight them in the blog post to help inspire you to jump on the next viral craze! Or, you know, so you can just relive funny viral trends. Whatever works."

Looks like Pintrest has peaked the interest of Facebook.  Facebook has announced that they will begin testing a new feature called "Collections". Facebook claims the new feature is unrelated to the popular pinning site, but it does sound like they are trying to push back at Pintrest.  Below is an excerpt from an article on TechCrunch.

Facebook has just begun testing “Collections” — a new feature it says is “unrelated” to Pinterest but could be a competitor. It allows retailers to add “Want” or “Collect” buttons to news feed posts about products. These save and share products to a “Wishlist” on user profiles that host a “Buy” button that can be clicked through to make purchases offsite.

Seven retail partners including Pottery Barn and Fab can now share Collections posts to their fans.

Collections could help retailers score viral click-throughs to their product pages by making things their fans are interested in more discoverable to friends. Facebook isn’t earning affiliate fees on Collections click throughs, but it could get brands to buy ads to get more fans.

To try out Collections, Like the Pottery Barn Page then visit this link to its first Collections post. You’ll then be able to add products to your Collections and see the product pages complete with Buy buttons.

Facebook told us this about the product:

I recently received an email from one of our content manager clients whom I would describe as a "Power User".  They are very in-tune with the Contensive ACMS tools and try to take full advantage of the system.  She wrote that she had recently seen a video demonstration on a portal product that had a "nifty" feature that she thought we may want to include in Contensive.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock with no Internet access, you’re probably well aware of the prevalence of mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, and Androids. In addition to the increased use of mobile devices, there’s also the change in behavior. More and more people are engaging across multiple access points.

Facebook revealed 600 million users now access Facebook from a mobile device. Furthermore, a significant portion of these mobile users don’t view the social network from both mobile and desktop. Many view it just from the desktop, but there is also a growing number that only view it from mobile (102 million users, or 10.68 %). Back in July, when Facebook revealed the 543 million mobile and the 955 million total numbers, mobile consisted of 56.86 percent of the company’s total members. That number has been steadily growing with each update.

So, if you’re still reading this then I’m sure you feel the pressure to go mobile. The first thing you should do is open up Google Analytics and look at the “Devices” report under “Mobile”. This will show you which mobile devices people are using to access your site. Take a look at how your website renders on these devices and decide if you need to make any changes. You want a website that users won’t need to pinch, tap, or squint in order to view.

Three Steps to Developing a Mobile Presence

1. Have A Clear Objective

Understand the how users will engage with your site on mobile, beyond readability.

Ask yourself if a mobile user would have different needs than someone accessing your site through a browser.

Think about proximity, location and ease-of-use. For example, a person attending your site for charity walk might want to have to have start times, or GPS layout for the course. Attendees to your annual meeting want to access their itinerary for workshops and sessions with alerts and locations as they are about to start.

2. Choose Your Mobile Option

Create a Mobile Site – Creating a mobile site means creating a completely separate website for mobile devices. The great thing about creating a separate mobile site is the user experience. Because the site is designed for specific dimensions, the content will be easy to view and interact with. The downside is the expense and work.

However, if you use Contensive, you can utilize mobile templates and a module called MobileView , to automatically render a mobile site, and allows you to select which pages to display on mobile devices and which pages to hide and you won’t have to duplicate content creation efforts.

Create a Mobile App – A mobile app that contains your website content can create even a better user experience then a mobile site. Users can access your content off-line, integrate location features, and receive push notifications for any updates. The downside of a mobile app is the cost and maintenance.

Create a Flexible Width Website – This is the easiest and cheapest approach to creating a responsive website. This website uses the flexible with approach, meaning that it automatically resizes itself in response to the device. The downside is you get what you pay for and more often than even with fluid sizing the content isn’t going to work or look right.

3. Test, Test, Test

You certainly want to test your mobile site before launch, but you also want to test after. The reason why is that you have very little information for how people will actually use your mobile website. Testing your mobile sites after they go live will help you improve it much faster.

Just saw a news blurb from Statista, that illustrates the meteoric rise of online advertising.  In the first 6 months of this year Google generated over 20 billion (that's billion with a "b") dollars in advertising revenue.  Compare that to just under 20 billion for the entire U.S. print media industry (that's all newspapers and magazines).  Some of the younger set might not remember but it wasn't but 10 years ago web sites were begging people buy banner ads and some advertising pundits were saying this internet thing will never catch on.  What an amazing time we live in.

The National Guard Educational Foundation, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the telling of the National Guard rich heritage and the continuing contributions of the National Guard of the United States. One of the main vehicles for this mission is the National Guard Museum in Downtown Washington DC. The NGEF relies solely on charitable contributions for its funding.

Facebook is rolling out a new app called Photo Sync that when users user enable the app, every photo they take on their mobile device gets automatically uploaded to their Facebook account. The photos are saved to a private folder that you can choose which photos to share and caption. But this makes uploading photos infinitely easier from a user's perspective. All of the new photos also allow Facebook to access and use them for data-mining purposes.

Facebook was already taking in 300 million photos a day, and that rate is about to dramatically increase. It’s now ushering users onto its background uploads feature Photo Sync with a big banner at the top of its mobile apps’ news feed. Just two taps and your last 20 photos plus every one you take in the future are auto-uploaded to a private album from which you can share and Facebook can mine metadata.

Below is an excerpt from Josh Constine's blog post about Photo Sync on Tech Crunch.

"The Roll out of Photo Synch that started yesterday is perhaps the biggest thing to happen to Facebook photos beyond friend tagging and manual mobile uploads. Friend tagging jump started Facebook’s growth with a jolt of narcissism over a half decade ago. If someone tagged you in a photo, you likely checked it out the second you got the notification, along with all the other photos in the album. Later it began offering photo sharing from mobile, but its biggest problem remained the arduous upload process...You’ll see the full force of Photo Sync if Facebook combines it with its facial recognition feature. Rather than tagging friends manually, Facebook will analyze your Photo Synced album for the mugs of friends, apply tags automatically, and all you’ll have to do is approve them.

In the meantime, Facebook is probably going to suck in some terms of service violations and other very private photos. Even if people know that no one else can see them, some might panic when they see photos of them drunk, sloppy, nude, or in otherwise compromising positions within the Facebook Chrome. Right now Facebook doesn’t do a great job of explaining how the feature works so it could cause some to be caught by surprise, freak out, and turn it off.

But that’s probably worth it to Facebook because of the immense amount of photo metadata Photo Sync will give it...the feature is essentially Facebook’s entrance into cloud storage. While you might not share all the photos you upload, Facebook can still pull out geolocation to help it figure out where you are now and what local business ads to show you.. Eventually, brand recognition like the ability to identify Nike shoes in your photos could aid ad targeting too."

You can read the full blog post by Josh Constine  here.

The word marketing is usually associated with profit generating tactics; however, inbound marketing is focused on organic growth and can and should be used by associations and non-profits. The goal is to attract people to your cause or organization based on the relevance of the information you are offering your desired audience, where as outbound marketing consists of communicating to a mass audience and hoping something sticks.

As the Internet and access points continues to expand, so too does the average consumer’s aversion to traditional marketing. With products such as satellite radio and DVR making offline efforts easier to ignore, consumers no longer have to tolerate "interruption" marketing tactics. Consumers now rely on the Internet to do their research on products and services; they actively seek out products and services that they need, rather than passively interact with products outbound marketing platforms point them to.

It is imperative to develop an inbound marketing process that will capitalize on these new trends in consumer behavior. An effective inbound marketing process will provide you with a cheaper, more efficient, and more compelling way to grow traffic, generate leads, convert leads and analyze data in a way that guarantees repeatable, continuous success.

Inbound marketing is made up of many pieces. To truly succeed online, businesses need to have a comprehensive strategy including all the pieces such as:

· Blogging

· Social media engagement

· Search engine optimization (SEO)

· Landing pages

· Email marketing

· Video marketing

· Strategic website design.

an effective marketing website should be generating leads on a consistent basis, and second,if a site does in fact generate leads, the rate at which leads are generated should be improving each month. With that said, a good website allows for almost total trackability, which means most campaigns are instantly measurable. This allows for easy replication of success and fast learning from mistakes.

At the Google I/O conference today, Google introduced a bunch of new products and product roll-outs including Google Maps, a new music service, updates to Google + and a new look and features for one of the most popular Google products Google Maps.  Below is an excerpt from an article by Nathan Oliveras-Giles for the Verge (you can read full article here).

Google Maps on the desktop has been rebuilt from the ground up, ushering in its most significant changes since its launch eight years ago. After spending some time with the new Maps, and with its lead designer, we’re struck by Google’s choice to do away with most of the user interface elements and let the map reach from edge to edge in your browser. A lone search box in the upper left gives you access to Maps’ features, as does clicking on elements within the map. Google has integrated Google Now’s card metaphor to present information from a newly built-in version of Google Earth, reviews from Zagat and Google+, Street View, and directions. And new user interface tweaks surface locations and transit routes before you even search for them.

The rebooted Google Maps user interface, which made its public debut at Google I/O today, is a total reimagining of one of Google’s most popular services. The changes are a bit shocking at first — the new Maps looks and works more like a native app than a traditional website. The tiled desktop maps of old have been replaced with cleaner, quicker-loading vector maps. As you type into the search box, predictions show up as they did before, but once you've settled on what you’re looking for, details appear in the Google Now-style information cards.

Rather than solely relying on you searching for a location, the map automatically highlights your work, home, frequently searched-for locations and new places you might be interested in, based on your search history and places your friends have given good reviews. “Larry calls this going from a demand to an assist,” Jonah Jones, Maps’ lead designer, said of CEO Larry Page.

Phoenix computers is a nonprofit organization based in Rockville Maryland that takes donated computer equipment and then tests, runs diagnostics and upgrades  on those computers.  The computers are then redistributed at low cost to low- income and disabled individuals and families as well as non- profit, educational, religion-based, and charitable organizations that work with low and moderate income families. 

Phoenix is an all-volunteer organization, and one of those volunteers, Jim Smith,  is a now retired client of ours who worked at Toll Brothers.  Jim called us up and asked if we could help him make their process more efficient. We of course said yes. 

Phoenix does not distribute directly to the public due to their licensing arrangements with Microsoft.  Instead potential clients are vetted by other non-profit organizations or government agencies which refer their clients to us to obtain a computer.

Jim wanted to set up an online registration for those organizations so they could log in and fill out the appropriate paperwork for the client.  When done the system would generate a PDF that that “buyer” then takes to Phoenix who can quickly scan the barcode on the PDF pull up the requested order and complete the transaction.

“Before we were doing everything by hand and the process was prone to errors including not correctly inputting the MS software license keys. Now we simply scan the PDF add any check the boxes for any additionals and the system generates a total and saves everything to the DB including the license information.” says Jim Smith. “This saves us a lot of time”.

It is estimated that every week more than 16 tons of  computer equipment is thrown into local landfills. By  donating equipment to Phoenix Computers for reuse instead  of throwing it in the trash, you or your business supports  green initiatives and at the same time help others in the  community. Because Phoenix Computers^sm is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donations may be tax-deductible.

Contensive Cares is a program that we started to help out community-based causes by providing low cost and in many cases no-cost web development and support services. If you would like more information about Contensive Cares email us at info@contensive.com.

If you would like more information about Phoenix Computers or to find out how you can donate your old equipment email PhoenixComputers.Questions@gmail.com, or visit their website www.phoenixcomputers.info.

Contensive is a leading provider of Website Form, Function and Process Development including services like; Website Design and Technology Modernization; Mobile Website and App Development; Online Application Development; Search Engine Optimization and Ongoing Content Maintenance for Businesses and Associations.

1. Affordability

Why continually pay large amounts of money for online advertising when, with some up front effort and cost, you can benefit from ranking at the top of organic listings for relevant search terms? Unlike with paid ads, your traffic does not suddenly drop drastically when you discontinue an advertising campaign. Of course you will need to put in some effort to maintain a top ranking, but once you get recognized by Google as a top website for certain search terms, you are likely to stay there for a long while.

2. Increased Visibility and Traffic

As you optimize your site for relevant search terms, you will see the number of impressions (people who view your site as a result of their searches) increase steadily. Google searches actually provide visitors who searched for the terms targeted by your website. These people are actually looking for your product, therefore bringing prospective clients directly to you.

3. Improved Brand Credibility

People searching for products and services on Google tend to feel that the highest ranked sites are the most reputable ones in the industry. As you move up in the Google rankings, more and more people will visit your site, which further builds your reputation and improves your rankings even more. On the other hand, many people find ads annoying, and they do not provide any credibility for the company placing the ad.

4. Quantifiable Results

With analytics and reporting tools you will be able to determine your position for various search terms, as well as website impressions and visits. You can also discover additional search terms people are using to find your website, which may lead to ideas for new products or services and additional opportunities for optimization.

5. Competitive Edge

There are over 250 million websites, and you need a way to make yours stand out from the competition. Implementing an SEO strategy is an essential step to ensure that you are ranked higher than your competitors for relevant search terms so that potential clients are more likely to visit your site first and hopefully convert into a sale before they even get the chance to visit a competitor’s website.

-Leslie Koenig

I was on the phone the other day with a client who works for a national trade association and they mentioned at the last board meeting that the “idea” of a mobile app came up. After a few questions it became very clear that the client didn't really know what they wanted or even necessarily why. They just knew based on the directives from the board they had a wheelbarrow full of dirt and were busy looking for a hole to fill.

My client is not that different from most people, who may understand from a user perspective what a mobile app is and probably uses them on a daily basis, but does not really understand from the development perspective that there are different types of mobile apps and how they differ. There are three basic types of mobile applications; native, web and hybrid.

A native app is an application that is built to run on a specific device such as Android or iPhone. These apps are usually downloaded from an online store like iTunes or Google Play. These kinds of applications are designed to run without the need for connectivity and can access the core features of the smart device that it is running on, think games and utilities like Angry Birds,calendars and contact lists. Native apps typically provide the most speed optimized experience, but since there is no connectivity they must be upgraded to remain relevant. Native apps also must overcome the “pain” obstacle. Since they have to be downloaded and installed the user must really want what you have to offer.

A web app is really nothing more than a website/page that is optimized to be viewed on a mobile device through a browser and must be accessed via the internet. Mobile apps have the advantage of immediacy, they don't have to be downloaded or installed; reach- they are available to all internet ready devices regardless of the operating system, and discoverability - search engines can find and index the content of the mobile app and make those results available to users looking for your type of information. Web apps are easily updated enhancing relevancy and lengthening their lifecycle, and easily shared via a link in a Tweet, Facebook post, email or text.

Hybrid apps are native apps that utilize the core features of the phone or device but connect to a server to deliver updated content or data. Hybrid apps still must be downloaded and installed but they need to connect to the internet to deliver or receive data from the user. Hybrid apps can cache content so they have the appearance of running offline but need to connect to the internet for the full experience. Hybrid apps are still built for specific devices but connect to the internet for relevancy, think-Twitter, Skype and Facebook apps.

There are pros and cons of developing mobile apps in each of these ecosystems and the decision about how to choose depends a lot on your business goals and audience.

If you or your organization has a wheelbarrow full of dirt and are trying to decide about your best path into the mobile space give us a call and our experienced mobile app developers can help you find your hole.

Dwayne McGowan

Last month Amazon released a free beta version of its new analytic and testing tools for mobile applications. With this tool, mobile developers can track the usage of applications as opposed to the number of times the application has been downloaded. It also allows for analysis of the different user experiences across iOS, Android, and Fire OS. 

Fire OS is the Android based platform that Amazon uses for its Kindle tablets. These analytics are different from that of Google’s system because Amazon tracks devices on a daily and monthly basis while Google tracks users. By tracking devices, a user who has more than one device can be tracked accurately. The most exciting part about this new analytics system is hands down the ability to test on multiple platforms at once. The a/b testing lets developers see how each app runs on multiple devices and operating systems. Amazon also allows for a/b versions of the application to be released, testing marketability. 

Google is by far the powerhouse in analytics, but Amazon has the advantage of focusing only on mobile applications, which could make them viable competition in the world of analytics.

As a marketer, you are probably constantly thinking of innovative and new ways to advertise your product or service. You probably spend hours trying to get into the mind of the “customer” and what it is they want. We’ve all seen the Progressive commercials where Flo is manning the imaginary Progressive retail store. Each ad displays a new story of a customer in the store, while Flo uses her superb selling skills to figure out the specific needs of the customer. Everyone always leaves happy and everyone loves Flo! Wouldn’t that be fantastic to have a chance to sit with your customers face to face and figure out exactly what they want? For most businesses today, that simply is not feasible. At least not in the physical sense. We can, however, be there for our customers virtually with some quick, easy guidelines.

1. SEO:Search engine optimization is the process of affecting the visibility of your website in a search engine’s natural (unpaid) reach.

We have some really great articles on SEO, here is the most recent from Contensive News: http://www.contensive.com/Top-5-Benefits-of-SEO

2. SEM: Search Engine Marketing is marketing via search engines. For example, pay per click advertising. (This is when you post an ad that relates to the users search engine query. Each time a user clicks your ad, an amount is charged to your business.)

Here is some information on SEM and how it differs from SEO: http://www.websearchsocial.com/seo-vs-sem-whats-the-difference-why-does-it-matter-and-how-the-heck-do-you-do-them-both/

3.Real-time Assistance: Twitter allows for real time social media posts. Smart marketers have realized that reading and responding to clients on Twitter can actually be faster than going through email or support.

Virgin Atlantic uses Twitter to assist its customers, even while they are 20,000 feet above the ground: http://mashable.com/2011/11/15/virgin-atlantic-flight-status-bot-twitter/

4. Blogging and Social Media: Blogging and social media currently encompass a large percentage of marketing. Facebook and Google+ are among several social media sites that offer another avenue of branching out to clients.

Check out my past blog on inbound marketing and social media: http://www.contensive.com/Inbound-Marketing-and-Social-Media

First let’s define each…

SEM: (Search Engine Marketing) the process of gaining traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. It is also called Pay Per Click and Cost Per Click marketing as that is how the ads are sold.

SEO: (Search Engine Optimization) the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engines organic search results.

I started out writing a blog on SEO VS. SEM. It seemed like a strong topic at the time, so I began reading articles and researching statistics. The more I read, the more I realized that the two are actually fairly complementary to each other.

Now that we know what each of these marketing strategies are, lets talk about how they work for you.

Search engine optimization is a slow and steady process. It can take several months for results to even show up in a search engine. Search engine marketing works pretty much immediately. Its not always cheap, but it will help you drive large amounts of traffic to your webpage very quickly.

With that being said. why not use SEM to boost your website traffic while waiting on your SEO campaign to show progress? It does not hurt to add a little SEM to your marketing campaign. Think of SEM as that quick shot of espresso you take while you wait for your cup of SEO coffee to kick in.

First appearing in 1999, “Hackathons”, also known as “Hack Days”, “Codefests” or “Hackfests”, are not only growing more popular, but becoming more useful. A hackathon is an event in which computer programmers, developers, graphic designers, interface designers, and project managers from different companies and businesses (or freelancers) collaborate together to develop software. These can be held for a number of reasons, most of them being educational, cultural and social purposes. Generally the goal is to create usable software.

In the past year, several 48 hour meetups were held to create apps, websites and programs designed to help migrants in several Latin American countries. It is very important to keep the specific group of people in mind while developing these apps. Programs should not be designed for the average American smartphone user but that of the average user of the specific country or group being addressed.

Just days ago, a hackathon was held in Miami, Florida for the communist country of Cuba. The government of Cuba, like China, Russia and North Korea, routinely blocks content and internet pages deemed unsuitable for its citizens. In addition to this, the average Cuban makes a monthly salary of about $20, making the limited access of information offered even more limited.This specific hackathon was designed to break down the communication barriers between Cuba and the rest of the world. Programs and applications were designed to help immigrants and citizens of Cuba that there is access to the rest of the world.

I just thought I would take a minute and share what is going on in the world around us. Bringing technology to countries with limited access to communication is an excellent way of assisting people in bettering their lifestyles. I also wanted to point out that we do have this access to global communication readily available to us. Why not take advantage of this? What can you do to take your business’ communication or technology to the next level? Is it through mobile optimization? Better organization or your social media? Just food for thought.

There are many components to an effective inbound marketing strategy. With SEO, blogging, social media, and even pay per click advertising, it can be a lot to get organized. Also, if not handled properly, it becomes very easy for any of these equally important components to fall through the cracks.

Instead of Inbound Marketing giving you that extra headache and making your life more complicated, why not make it easy on yourself? Its all about planning. There are several project management tools available that have proven to be highly effective. Contensive uses Intervals, which is an online project management program allowing you access from any location. As a project manager myself, I use Intervals multiple times per day, and do not know what I would do without it.

If your business does not have the budget for a project management program, Google Calendar is highly useful, easy to organize, you can share it with multiple co-workers and best of all, it is free! A tool like this is so helpful when everyone can look at and access the inbound marketing goals and deadlines. With a strategy laid out and organized on the table, inbound marketing can become an easily manageable system.

Hubspot is also a great online tool for inbound marketing organization. They offer many free and paid articles, videos and webinars. They even offer a blog posting calendar template to help organize your blog posting schedule.

Don’t let inbound marketing overwhelm you, organization is the key to success in many things. Instead, go easy on yourself, get organized, plan ahead and soon you will see your inbound marketing campaign as a well oiled marketing machine, and not a chaotic mess.

Studies show that mobile device use is increasing, a fact that affects advertisers since the platform and the methods used to deliver information to consumers are undergoing significant changes. A Global Web study showed that 80% of Internet users own a Smartphone as of 2015. According to a Monetate study, the conversion rate for Smartphones is around 4.70%, which is still below the 8.52% average conversion rate for desktops. However, the 102,062 millions app downloads (according to a Statistica study) and the fact that Smartphone users are spending more time using apps than browsing the web (according to a Nielsen study) show that mobile apps will soon become a must-have tool for advertisers. Here are three mobile app development trends you should be aware of in 2015.

1 - User Experience

Due to the huge number of apps available to Smartphone owners, user experience is one of the elements that will determine whether or not an app is popular. A good user experience includes an app that is easy and fun to use but Smartphone owners are also increasingly pre-occupied about their safety and who has access to their data. This growing concern for safety is directly tied to recent headlines about hacks and it is probable that advertisers will not be able to connect with mobile users unless they develop a safe app. User experience can also be improved by state of the art design such as parallax layouts or customization options.

2 - Cloud Integration And Other Smart Devices

The Internet of Things is a relatively new concept but tech experts agree on the fact that the Internet of Things is the future. The Internet of Things (or IoT) refers to the connectivity of objects around us. A good example would be the new Smart TVs that allow users to stream movies and TV shows from a Smartphone or laptop or the Smart thermostats that can be controlled thanks to mobile apps. The Internet of Things should become more prominent in 2015 as consumers develop an interest for connected household items and wearable tech. App developers will have to catch up by focusing on cloud integration and by creating apps that can efficiently communicate with other devices besides Smartphones.

3 - Enterprise Apps

The demand for enterprise apps is growing for a number of reasons. Advertisers are relying on apps to reach out to their audience and make the shopping process easier, but enterprises are also using apps to train new employees, collect and make analytics more accessible to their sales team or to promote collaboration between employees. More companies will invest in app development in 2015 and there should be a focus on features such as safe payments for consumers as well as advanced analytics and cloud integration for employees.

Contensive offers custom solutions such as mobile app development, online integration or responsive design. Contact us to find out more about the services offered and to learn more about trends in app development.

Software as a service development

Software As A Service gives companies great options for affordable software and IT infrastructure. Often though, companies are left with multiple apps, multiple sign-ins, multiple control panels and multiple headaches. Software As A Service should be easier to use than a perpetual license, and more functional, but often it just creates problems. Your IT development should include these following solutions for your software.

Integrated Control Panels

Every window or tab your browser has open increases the load on your processor. Computer processors slow down by keeping track of multiple processes, including overloaded web browsers, multiple applications running simultaneously and graphic processing between control interfaces. Many desktop computers can handle all of these well, just a little slower. Many tablets and smartphones get thoroughly overwhelmed by running too many processes at once.

Additionally, the mental processes of employees and other users get bogged down by multiple control interfaces. Keeping track of hotkeys, mouse/touch interfaces, and other unique issues for each application lowers efficiency each time a user has to switch between interfaces. Do customers have two different applications for making orders and tracking them? This increases the time it takes for a customer to learn your systems and get satisfactory answers to their questions.

One control panel for multiple resources can give your employees and other users the ability to efficiently handle their workload. Additionally, integrated control panels decrease data loss from switching information between programs either manually or via spreadsheets.

Password Management

Many SaaS programs are dedicated to each user. This means that if you are not signed into the program, the program does not work. For people using multiple accounts on multiple platforms (Facebook, Google+, your company CRM, Adobe suits and more), they must manage their passwords to save time and increase security. Creating one password the employee remembers opens your business up to hacking, but employees needing to reset their passwords every time they log in does not create efficient work habits. The right IT development can manage your password using secure master passwords which prevent cross-account hacking and give your employees ease of mind from only having to memorize one password.

Development as a Service

Because of the ease of cash flowing powerful software systems, companies are increasingly moving towards SaaS products. Because of the unique problems caused by SaaS products, companies are also learning the power of Development as a Service. In these instances, companies are relying more on 3rd Party specialists to customize and integrate web and mobile apps with their software solutions. This leaves in-house IT to focus on troubleshooting hardware and software and training other employees.

For information on how custom development can improve your SaaS, please contact us. 

In web development, design and programming merge more and more as mobile, internet delivery, and data technologies advance. While keeping in mind the continual blurring of traditional technology lines (programming, design, hardware, PC, big data, etc.), here are some development trends to watch in the coming years.

1. Continued Development of Web-Based Programming - One of Info World's hot topics for the year, technological advancements have made it practical to create fully functional apps to be delivered via a web-browser. This reduces OS specific programming costs, and the marketing issues faced with various app marketplaces.
2. Big Enterprise Goes Open - "Just one day after Big Data firm Pivotal Software Inc. revamped its business model and open sourced core technologies," Microsoft Azure announced an open source integration to be used on Linux. Microsoft follows Google's Android which is leading the way. Today, watch for innovative ways open source technologies are going to be integrated with enterprise systems.
3. Data Management - With the last holiday season's queuing issues, data speed in web development is once again a significant issue.
4. Simplified Designs - With mobile development increasingly using websites over apps, web based applications need to be simple and easy to use. Modern trends are to use less color, less images and longer pages to produce aesthetically pleasing, minimalist designs.
5. Agile Development - According to TechRadar, a trend continuing to grow in 2015 is agile development processes. In the past, software development teams spent intense amounts of time building the foundations of their programs, then they worked on the functional aspects. With so much open source or cheap programming frameworks available, programming and design teams are using agile to cheaply and efficiently produce programs.
6. Smart Production Will Slow - With high-turnover technological products already integrated in the mobile-web driven world, new "smart" products will slow as they are worked into long-lived product cycles, according to Web Designer Depot.
7. Increasing Screen Diversity - As companies are releasing watches, glasses, and more wearable technology, interfaces are getting increasingly complex. Web development will increasingly use Responsive Design to optimize across multiple platforms.
8. Single Page Applications - To reduce screen problems, to manage data, and to simplify the user experience, single page web applications will become more common.
9. Data Processing on the Front End - Web applications have traditionally done most of their processing via servers. As more content is delivered via browser based programs, responsive programming languages take away the heavy lifting from the server and rely on each user's processing capabilities. This presents businesses the opportunity to develop large systems without extensive server presences.
10. Images are Big - When Grace and Lace appeared on ABC's Shark Tank, none of the sharks could believe a company could have pulled in as much money as they did off socks, with minimal advertising. Until the owner said her photograph was one of the most shared pictures on Pinterest. One well-done image can make a company, and with high definition screens the standard for mobile technology, expect high quality images to continue to be a part of web design and development.
11. Continued Use of Games - Many apps have been using the functionality, feel, and reward/consequence aspects of the gaming universe, even when creating serious commercial software. With online gaming itself becoming a huge industry, organizations will continue to use the feel of games to increase marketing of their web programs.
12. Cloud Infrastructure - The cloud is not just changing the way we access data, it is changing the way we think about information and business processes. Web design and development will include increasingly more powerful apps as high speed fiber connections, cloud hosting services, and colocation providers bring big data closer to consumers. These data processes will change the way businesses access data: employees anywhere, management everywhere, and systems available for any constituent.

We offer web development, creative processes, app management and software engineering services using Agile processes. Please contact us for more information about keeping your web development current. 

 How to write User Stories for use in Agile Development

The era of shareholder capitalism is over. Market power has shifted to the customers, and consumers are now in charge. If businesses want to make money and survive, they can no longer shove products and services down the throats of buyers. In fact, they need to do more than simply satisfy their customers; they need to delight them.

Understanding the quality of the customer experience as opposed to counting up outputs, or ‘things delivered’, requires questions that get into the heads of consumers. Questions such as what is their current need, frustration, or experience looks at a product or service from a customer's view.

These insights can then be captured in the form of user stories. A user story is a simple narrative told from the perspective of someone who desires a new feature or experiences a problem. These short narratives give businesses access to what their customers think and feel, allowing companies to climb out of their self-centered profit hole, and into the minds of consumers. From this new perspective, businesses can begin to imagine what kind of product or service a customer wants, and most importantly, which kind will delight them.

Here Are 4 tips on how to employ User Stories in Agile Development

Starting Your Stories

Mike Cohn gives the basic form for the user story as such:

"As a (type of user), I want (some goal) so that (some reason)."

Notice the story is in first person. The effect this has on your team draws them into the mind of your clients and into their situation. By writing, “As a such-and-such, I want. . . ,” one instantly imagines what it is like to be that person.

Here are some concrete examples:

• As a parent, I want a better job, so that I can provide more for my family.
• As a business owner, I want employees that care about their work, so that we can offer better services to our customers.
• As a user of a blog, I want more features that improves my blog’s functionality, so that I can reach out and attract more readers.

Keep Your Stories Handwritten

User stories are often written down on index cards or sticky notes and showcased on walls or tables. Why this preference for handwritten notes over computers? Because information entered into a computer tends to become a fixed artifact, only accessible by one person at a time. However, the physical presence of handwritten notes sparks open conversations which enable software designers to explore new ways to delight their clients.

Remember, the story itself is less important than the discussion it facilitates. They serve as a starting point for new insights and inspirations that can make a product or service better.

Showcase Your Stories

The written story is not the final word, but the starting point for discussion. Displaying user stories tells everyone at a glance what has been completed, what is being worked on, and what remains to be done.The visibility and physical nature of handwritten notes channels the abstract requirements of software development into practical discussions towards what might delight and serve the customer.

Because we can touch them, hold the notes in our hands, the reality of a customer’s needs prompts real encouragement to solve the problem. Seeing the development and evolution of that discussion is like watching the skeleton of a problem flesh out into a new, exciting feature.

Measure Outcomes Not Outputs

Every individual within an organization must set the task of consistently delighting their customers. This requires the company’s overall work and progress to be measured in terms of client outcomes.

After any agile cycle, you and your team should ask yourselves if the work made the user story come true. Did it delight your customers? If yes, why so? If no, why not?

This focuses instead on measuring the quality of outcomes, rather than the number of outputs. While measurement has always been important, the issue is that companies measure the wrong things. The trouble with outputs is that they neglect these people-based results, or the outcomes with customers that really drive a business.

Shifting The Hierarchy Towards Community

However, any top-down communication or boss-subordinate relationship merely turns a user story into a vehicle for command, undermining the collaborative responsibility of every member within a company to delight their customers. Traditional management hierarchies only stifle user stories into a fixed abstract plan imposed upon a team.

Thus, individual managers must radically change their thoughts, attitudes, and behavior shifting hierarchical management to a more team-orientated approach. From there, the everyone within the company must place more emphasis on value on outcomes, rather than outputs.

The real transformation and benefits from user stories occurs when these customer narratives serve as the primary measure of progress, rather than tallying up the tasks completed. Organizations that strive to delight their customers must focus less on what they accomplish, and more on who they make happy, framing the latter around the former.

To learn more about the benefits of user stories and/or how to write and use them effectively when developing your web application, contact us today.

Taking a peek at the latest mobile app ideas in the tech world can be energizing -- the ideas that make you wish you had thought of that. It can be an effective pep talk.

Why?

Because we live in exciting times. In 2009, when Stanford University released online a free course on mobile app development, they saw one million downloads in seven weeks, according to their press release.

If the demand to create mobile apps was so high six years ago, it's no wonder that the tech world is now seeing jaw-dropping apps coming out in a relentless stream -- apps like the four below, hand-selected for your inspiration (and, yes, these are fun and lighthearted, but their brilliance will make you green with jealousy):

1. A Gaming App That Teaches Kids to Code

Codarica, a blossoming start-up, has found a way to teach kids to code -- according to their website:

"This iPad App allows children to build their first website with real HTML & CSS. Joining a magical journey through the world wide web, kids can test & hone their coding skills! Publish it when they are done!"

Their idea was so good that Disney's new (and widely admired) Startup-Accelerator Program selected Codarica for the 2014 accelerator program.

If we thought we live in exciting times, just wait until the next generation of coders grows up.

2. An App That Fixes...Potholes?

Although not the newest kid on the block, an app called Citizens Connect is still the leader in the world of civil government -- even six years after its launch. According to this article, the app has greatly improved that rough, unpaved intersection between citizens and city government:

Pioneering civic technologies is Boston, which has been touted as the first city to use a mobile app — Citizens Connect — to plug into its community. Launched in 2009, the app is designed similar to the city’s 311 hotline: Residents can report problems like potholes or graffiti by snapping a photo, tagging the location, and sending a report through the app. Users receive a tracking number and can monitor when the city fixes the issue.

Talk about government transparency: getting personal messages from the government alerting you to their progress in fixing a problem is, well, a concerned citizen's dream. If only someone could make an app to fix the potholes in Washington.

3. An App That Digitizes Household Chores (So Kids Want to Do Chores)

Chore Monster had a very simple idea: overlay the behavioral economics of video games -- the things that motivate players, like earning experience points, leveling up, and unlocking new game play features -- into the physical world -- namely, the kid's house.

10 years ago, when apps or touch-screen iPhones didn't exist, such a thing couldn't have been created -- at least not in the amazingly fun, easy way that Chore Monster did it. Their ChoreMonster app, which is used and synced between kid and parent, keeps track of their "experience points" that they gain as they do chores. And when they reach higher gaming levels -- set by the parents -- they "unlock" new features and prizes (i.e. the parent takes them out to ice cream, buys them something, let's them go to some fun event).

Frankly, we all wish we had that app when we were kids.

4. An App That Even Truckers Would Love

Our highly skilled team of engineers at Contensive are not shy to throw our hat into this ring. We've made some superb mobile apps too, and our LoadLog app is a perfect example.

The oil and gas fields of North Dakota is not exactly the place you'd expect to find the birth of a powerful, cutting edge app. It's not very Silicon Valley. And, if we're relying on stereotypes here, we wouldn't expect rough-neck truck drivers -- those tough, gritty types (both men and women) who spend their days (and nights) driving rural terrain in some of the roughest winter weather in the nation -- to be too concerned with the ideas of tech wizards who spend their days (and nights) in offices coding.

But, in this case, Contensive bridged that gap and came up with a highly innovative logistics app that has made the lives of these tireless truckers much easier. The LoadLog is a hybrid online application that relies on an SMS communication channel -- which is much more reliable in rural North Dakota than standard web communication -- that automates their load logistics and driver tickets and reduces the time-waste for the truckers who were constantly filling out paper tickets and expending energy to keep them all in order.

Truckers and coders make a good team after all.

And it is a dream come true for the dispatchers, who merely have to log into the application dashboard to see where every truck is located, and to see where the truck is in its workflow. They can issue new tickets to those truckers who are ready for another route and calculate average delivery times, which helps them set benchmarks for current times -- to name just a few of the many features we programmed into that powerful logistics app.

Let Us Help You Create Your Next Big Idea

If you're looking for mobile application development companies that are highly creative, responsive -- even to the smallest nuances of your product development and marketing plan (which, these days, are the same thing) -- contact us to find out what amazing things we can build for you.

Chances are your web redesign is not an in-house project. Too many variables go into a redesign for you to be sure it gets done just right. So to get the best possible result, you outsource the redesign to a web development company. But how can you be sure that you picked the right company for the project? By asking them these 7 questions before they begin.

What will it Cost?

The easiest question should also be your first. Web development companies vary wildly in costs, and many may not give you a clear response at first - citing too many variables as a reason. But getting a reliable quote is crucial, both to make sure it fits within your budget and to evaluate the honesty of the web developer.

What's the Timeline?

Similar to the first question, asking about a timeline can go a long way toward learning more about your potential web development partner. The more clear their projected timeline is, the more likely they are to stick to that timeline. But if it's a vague timeline with many qualifiers that could extend, you may want to seek out someone else.

Can You Design Responsively?

In 2015, responsive design is an absolute must for newly designed websites. The majority of internet usage now comes from mobile devices, which overtook desktop usage for the first time last year. That gap is only expected to grow in the near future. A responsively designed website, adjusting dynamically to the device and screen size used by your audience, is the only way to ensure quality user experience regardless of their device of choice.

But responsive design has benefits beyond user experience. Search engines like Google now take the mobile-friendliness of websites into account when ranking them in search results. All other things being equal, a responsive website will always rank higher than a non-responsive website on the same keyword. That's why your web development company should have the necessarily expertise to design your website responsively.

Agile or Waterfall?

We've covered the difference between agile and waterfall web development in a previous blog post. In short, it's the difference between a strict, methodical process and a more dynamic alternative that splits the design of your website into several "blocks" which get reviewed and improved continuously. In most cases, you'll want to go with a development company that offers agile development, in large part because of the next question:

Can We Review?

Naturally, you'll want some input into your new website. Traditional, "waterfall" development offers little opportunity to do so because by the time the website is in the testing stage, there may not be enough time to go back and make major changes. Instead, pick a web development company that's open to working with you instead of for you, taking your ideas and suggestions into account throughout the project.

What Actionables Will it Include?

Another essential part of your website are the calls to action on each page. A website can no longer be a static, idle marketing tool. It should offer visitors "next" steps, guiding them toward more content or a contact form. Ask your web development company what calls to action they'll build into your website, and how these calls to action will be managed on your end.

What Happens When It's Done?

Because your website should not be static, its development doesn't end with the finished product. Whether you want to make tweaks after the fact or change your calls to action and content, you need to know exactly how you can make those changes even after the contract with your web development company is finished. Will they continue to be available for these tweaks, or might they even train your staff on the backend of the website?

Getting satisfactory answers to each of these 7 questions ensures that you work with a web development company that's not just looking for some easy money, but is genuinely interested in getting you the best product necessary. Contact us today to see if we're the right fit for your website redesign project!

The value of mobile apps for businesses is apparent to many people. In the 8 years since IPhone first came out (7 since HTC released the first Android phone) businesses and consumers alike embraced the technology and design capabilities of the mobile app market. With Google Glasses and Apple Watch coming out, the mobile revolution is quickly becoming the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution. The IoT is the idea that all technological devices and many non-technological devices will be all plugged into the internet, creating connected diverse devices responsive to each individual's needs and wants. 

Adobe: There Goes the Neighborhood 

During the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit in Salt Lake City, Adobe announced that they are becoming more and more mobile, focusing on preparing for the IoT: 

With updates to Adobe Analytics and Mobile Core Services, marketers will now also be able to measure and analyze customer engagements ... across Internet of Things devices. Adoption of these devices is growing quickly, and marketers must take the leap into the IoT realm regardless of the risk, Adobe executives insisted. 

Adobe has long been an industry leader in delivering online and creative content for multiple industries including marketing. As with their Creative Cloud services, followed by Microsoft's Office 365, Adobe's jump to wearable and other non-traditional technologies is just the cusp of a wave of change. 

Wearable, Flexible, Universal 

As reported by Entrepreneur, the next big thing discussed at SXSW were smart fabrics. From gimmick related devices currently on the market most easily described as high-tech lingerie, businesses have more and more options to integrate their apps with everyday products. 

Wearable fabric type technologies will create a universal use for mobile apps in multiple industries and markets, but for now, they are still future. What is current is the trend of diverse screen sizes and information management installed in compatible devices. 

While clothes which read your body's temperature, blood pressure, and other medical necessities are future tech, watches, smartphones and glasses which do some or all of that are the technology of today. For businesses, responsive design is a necessary part of integrating your mobile apps, websites and browser-based software with the plethora of devices currently on the market. 

Responsive Design 

Responsive design is done in such a way that optimal interaction and interfaces are beneficial across a multitude of devices. Many individuals see the value of responsive design for websites, but do not consider how essential it is to mobile apps.

Access to your app can be done from many different screen sizes, including tablets, phones and watches. This ranges in size from full-screen immersion to small phone and watch use. 

The diversity of screens creates an opportunity for your business to interact with customers, build relationships, and manage information no matter your industry or target market. 

Stick to the Basics 

With so many new trends in technologies, what can your business commit to technology-wise? The good news for businesses is that technology may change, but people are still people. Your technology needs to be effective for creating relationships, managing community and suited to your industry and target markets. 

Information management is the essential, basic function of mobile apps. As discovered in the decade and a half since the dot-com bubble burst, information and relationships have to go hand-in-hand. Thus the information economy is also the social economy. Whether you are interested in avant-garde wearable technologies or just using the incredible economic power of smartphones and tablets, your basic question is still: what am I offering, and to whom? 

For many businesses, your community just needs simple interfaces to order, track, and receive marketing information about products and services. For this, your essential basics may be a browser-based responsive app: any device can access it, and it is up to your customers whether they want to try and use a smart-watch or glasses with your app. 

For other businesses, your industry is cutting edge, and your target market wants access to you immediately via watches, glasses and more advanced tech. For you, the basics are focusing responsive design for specific devices used by your target market. 

No matter your needs, mobile technology is becoming an increasingly integrated part of the global marketplace, and you need to plan to reach your customers where they are found: on mobile. To discover more about mobile apps and responsive web design, please contact us.

Responsive web design--

What's worse than Armageddon? Well, If you've listened to some marketers recently, the answer may just be "Mobilegeddon." That's the nickname the industry has given to Google's newest algorithm update, one that has the potential to be more wide-reaching than any of the search engine's algorithms since the introduction of PageRank.

To say it came out of nowhere would be an exaggeration. For months, Google has emphasized the importance of a mobile-friendly website, and for good reason. The search engine's stated goal is to show the most relevant and accessible content to its users. And because the majority of internet users now browse on a mobile device, it only made sense for Google to emphasize mobile-friendliness - for the same reason that ALT text became so important a few years ago, when not all browsers could display images.

Still, the news came as a shock. On February 26, Google announced that beginning on April 21, a new algorithm update would begin to penalize websites that weren't optimized for mobile devices in its search results. As the blog post put it,

This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices

The message is clear: If your website isn't optimized for mobile devices, then beginning on April 21, you will have a serious SEO problem. The only problem with the announcement was that Google didn't specify just how your website should be optimized. So allow us to help.

1) Responsive Web Design is a Must

Google did not explicitly mention responsive web design as the perfect way to make your site compliant with its new algorithm, but that's because they didn't have to. For a few months now, Google has been pounding the responsive design drum, rightfully emphasizing that a responsive website is the best and only way to make sure your site functions properly on all mobile devices. If your website is not responsive, you should probably make the update as soon as possible to be sure your SEO doesn't suffer.

2) Complying with Google Beyond Responsive Design

Of course, it doesn't stop there. While responsive design is essential for success, it is not a cure-all for your website and SEO needs. Accessibility matters beyond the basics; currently, the rumor is spreading among marketers that Mobilegeddon will include a way for Google to determine just how well and intuitively your navigation functions, meaning you should ensure that there are no hiccups or dead links within your navigation.

Chances are, Google's update will also heavily draw on its mobile guide to determine what sites are optimized for mobile devices. You can find these guidelines on Google's website, and the checklist includes a free mobile-friendly test as well as several tutorials to ensure you comply with Google before April 21. Which brings us to the final point:

3) Prepare for Mobilegeddon

In preparing for any of Google's algorithm updates, from Panda to Penguin and now Mobilegeddon, being proactive is key. The internet is littered with stories of businesses who failed to see what was coming, only to suffer severely in search results and sometimes never recover. On the other hand, knowing what to expect can be the key to ensure that once April 21 rolls around, your website won't be blindsided (and downgraded).

Reading through Google's Mobile Guide and checking your website for mobile optimization with the search engine's free tool is a great start. Another is to contact us. We specialize in responsive design, and would be happy to help you ensure that your website is ready for Mobilegeddon.

The term "product/market fit," in its most basic form, means that a product is in perfect sync with its customers. The product has been refined to perfection -- assuming you define "perfection" as giving your chosen market exactly what it wants.

"Product/market fit" might be the buzz word -- the golden goose egg -- of start-ups, but everyone big or small needs it.

In Ryan Holiday's book Growth Hacker Marketing, he write this: "The best marketing decision you can make is to have a product or business that fulfills a compelling need for a defined group of people -- no matter how much work it takes to create this."

No matter how much work -- that's the key.

The old ways of doing things, however, like the Waterfall Method, are becoming sluggish. Like a winded runner in a race, those models are falling behind. Today's Screen Age market moves with incredible speed and complexity, and the slow-footed, clumsy methods of traditional assembly line marketing and product development may not be as effective as they once were.

Companies need agility.

The Necessity of Agility in Today's Market

The decline of the old model of traditional marketing is not news. Although it's still a popular blog headline and book topic in 2015, the writing has been on the wall for years -- even among household name companies. According to a 2013 article, Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed said: "Marketing in its traditional sense no longer works in the competitive restaurant industry."

Creed admitted how social media was running laps around Taco Bell and how it can be a major challenge for slow-footed companies who still rely on the old models of public relations and marketing -- yet still expect total control over their message in an age of decentralized media. "If you are a control freak, you’re not going to like the future," said Creed.

The heart of the problem is not just learning to master social media. Agility is needed at the heart of where success happens: at that crucial intersection between product development and marketing. Companies can flow with greater effectiveness when they master what we call a "scrum," a "lightweight project management methodology" (which you can read about in our page that defines a "scrum").

Smarter, Faster, Stronger

What companies need is the ability to react quickly to changing markets. In web design, for example, having a malleable, lightweight project management methodology -- like what we at Contensive have innovated -- gives you the versatility to create and update powerful web design quickly without compromising the product. It's like a championship athlete who learns to change directions on a dime without compromising their power and speed.

Another example: in the game-changing field of Mobile App creation, adaptability and speed is a must. And sometimes companies don't realize how a powerfully designed mobile app -- one that is seamlessly integrated into their operations -- can revolutionize the way they do business and upgrade their quality of service to customers.

For example, with our mobile application LoadLog, a trucking company could communicate with its trucks through encoded SMS messages intercepted from the server and the registered mobile device. Someone might ask, "So what?"

When your company's server has to track trucks and communicate with them, and your trucks are running 24/7 through remote areas of North Dakota where standard web communication for mobile apps is spotty at best, you quickly realize how valuable an encoded SMS system -- which proved to be reliable even in remote locations -- could be. It was a game-changer for that company.

The Sky's the Limit

These are just two examples of how this new methodology can change companies into agile performers in the digital marketplace. Whether you're needing web design, web app development, mobile app technology, or multi-platform responsive design, Contensive understands how agility can refine your product and the service you provide until you're in perfect sync with your customers.

Whether it means making minor or major adjustments on your quest to product/market fit, contact us to see how we can make you more agile and powerful.

What is a product backlog in Agile development and how is it used

Have you ever wondered, "What is a product backlog in Agile development and how is it used?"

In answering that question, it helps first to understand the core benefit of the process: the Agile method gives you the ability to make fast and powerfully effective course corrections as you construct your product backlog.

Power and agility have always been a winning combination.

Athletes who combine power with light feet and quick correction capability are usually the ones who out run, outmaneuver, and outscore their opponents.

In aviation, the F-22 Raptor fighter jet has "supermaneuverability" -- the ability to turn on a dime, yet maintain incredible power and control, in ways that outperform normal aerodynamic technology.

These analogies illustrate how product backlog works when you're applying the principles of agile development.

It's all about speed, effectiveness, and maneuverability.

The Crucial Role of Product Backlog

Venture Beat makes this important observation about product backlog:

A backlog is where you define and prioritize the functional and non-functional requirements of the app. Each feature within the app must have requirements associated with it. If the development is left open-ended and lacks requirements, then you are more likely to get something you didn’t expect.

In other words, product backlog ensures that every little component knows what it's supposed to do (and not do).

Going back to the sports analogy, it's very similar to crafting a successful play in football: the 11 players on the field know exactly what their job is -- and what their job isn't. (You really wouldn't want a 350-lb lineman trying to run a passing route to catch a pass.)

How the Agile Scrum Revolutionizes the Backlog Process

As you map out all of the requirements for your app's features, the scope of the work can be intimidating.

That's where the "Scrum" team in Agile development comes in.

This method saves you the inflexible, tedious burden of having to document every requirement in your product backlog at the beginning of the process -- a very imposing, slow-going road over the mountain, especially at the start when you haven't built much momentum yet in your project.

How is this accomplished?

The major stages of developing product backlog -- mapping out the requirements for features and bugs, for example -- are no longer kept separate. You don't do each type of work one at a time in a linear path like an assembly line (also called the Waterfall method). Each type of work in a Scrum is combined, developed, and refined all together into "sprints." This allows incredible flexibility, speed, and quick correction capability.

Mike Cohn of Mountain Goat, one of the top trainers in the Scrum method, wrote this about product backlog in Agile development:

"Typically, a Scrum team and its product owner begin by writing down everything they can think of for agile backlog prioritization. This agile product backlog is almost always more than enough for a first sprint. The Scrum product backlog is then allowed to grow and change as more is learned about the product and its customers."

Other crucial stages, like listing all technical work or additional research that is needed, are also combined with the other stages. The team -- as they review their agile list of features, bugs, needed tech work, and research to-dos -- then decide together which items are the highest priority and which of those can be done in a single "sprint."

Greater Transparency and Collaboration

This sprint-by-sprint, all-stages-combined process allows insightful transparency for the customer. In fact, it gives the customer real-time collaborative opportunities throughout every stage of development. They no longer have to walk away and wait for the team to make their way down the assembly line of the Waterfall Method.

It also helps to have a wonderfully talented team of engineers, analysts and designers -- something that we're very proud (and grateful) to have at Contensive. To discover more about agile development, contact us and learn how our talented, hard-working team can help.

The Apple Watch has grabbed the most headlines so far, but the new Apple gadget represents just a small drop in a very large tech tidal wave heading our way. According to IDC.com, global wearable shipments will likely hit 112 million units by 2018.

What this means for mobile app companies can be summarized in one word: revolution.

And, just like it has been doing for everything else in the last 10 years, Apple is leading the way with the Apple Watch.

iGeeksBlog.com thinks the Apple Watch is a great idea because, among other things, it makes Apple's SIRI service immensely better, it's safer to carry (and harder to lose), and it means less time wasted on the phone. And mobile apps that design themselves around the Apple Watch's Star Trek-like SIRI voice interaction could go in some interesting directions.

But, as fantastic as the Apple Watch might be, it is only the beginning. Here are some other fascinating (and jaw-dropping) wearable gadgets that could transform design potential for mobile apps and, ultimately, change our world.

Feels Good to Look Good: Mobile Apps for "Smart" Clothing?

Companies are developing smart clothes. The most obvious application, physical fitness, is already well underway. Companies make smart shirts that measure your heart rate, breathing rate, steps taken, and other physical actions, and the shirt automatically sends it to a physical fitness app on your phone that compiles your fitness data.

MakoInvent observed the next step in smart clothes:

Apart from smartwatches, there are also wearables in the form of fashion...clothes such as Ralph Lauren’s Smart Polo Shirt. These devices are being tested for the possibility to assist field-based or remote working employees, through ‘bring your own wearable’ (BYOW).

Employee uniforms with smart technology embedded could produce a limitless array of possibilities, from on-the-job safety to job training and performance monitoring, for mobile apps -- especially, as MakoInvent noted, for employees who spend most of their time in the field or in remote locations.

Myo Armband (For Everyone Who Has Always Wanted to Be a Jedi)

If you're a Star Wars fan, how many times have you pretended -- either as a joke as an adult or in serious play as a kid -- to use the Force on something? Every person who has seen Star Wars has secretly wished they could move a giant vehicle with their little hand -- Yoda-style.

Thalmic Labs has brought that wish a step closer to fulfillment. Although no one will be moving giant spaceships into the air with a hand gesture -- at least not yet -- their new wearable gadget, the Myo Armband, can move just about everything else that is important in our digital worlds.

How?

They've designed an armband that tracks your muscle movement on your arm, hand, and fingers with incredible precision. The armband then translates your gestures into commands that can operate any Bluetooth-equipped computer or smart device. You can then control any device you already own just like Tony Starks controlled his Jarvis computer interface in the Iron Man movies.

So what's it like to use it?

Mashable.com writer Lance Ulanoff tried the Myo Armband and explained his experience:

In one instance...I controlled a Keynote presentation. I would wake Myo, wave my arm to the right or left to change slides and then, because Myo was set to sleep after two seconds, wake it up again to gesture to the next slide.

The more I did all this, the more adept I became at all kinds of gestures. One of my favorites was the demonstration where I turned on Myo, clenched my fist and then slowly turned my hand one way or the other to control the temperature of an on-screen thermostat.

Just like the arena of smart clothing, creating apps for mobile devices or computers that interact with Myo Armbands creates new frontiers -- and new challenges -- for mobile app companies.

And that's where we come in. Our highly dedicated, talented team of engineers loves challenges. If you have some wild ideas for mobile app creation -- whether or not it involves wearables -- contact us and see how we can help you make those dreams reality.

As mobile continues to outpace desktop in both online and offline usage, apps continue to become more essential for digital marketing. On its app, a company can go beyond displaying its products, as it can on its website; it can create interactive features, even games, to deepen the user experience.

Of course, developing an app is a major undertaking. Choosing the right system (iOS or Android) is only one of the many considerations essential to making the app a success. But there's an alternative that is only beginning to gather steam, but offers considerable advantages for businesses looking to enter the app market: the web app.

What is a Web App?

PC Mag defines a web app as

An application in which all or some parts of the software are downloaded from the Web each time it is run. It may refer to browser-based apps that run within the user's Web browser, or to "rich client" desktop apps that do not use a browser or to mobile apps that access the Web for additional information.

In other words, it's an application that doesn't require a download from an app store like Google Play or the Apple alternative. In most cases, the term refers to an app entirely based on a browser like Chrome or Firefox. Stored in its entirety online, this type of web app brings with it several significant advantages:

1) System Flexibility

If your company already uses a "traditional" mobile app in its marketing, you'll be familiar with the distinctions between Android and iOS app, not to mention the Windows alternative. Essentially, you'll have to create variants of your app for each system, which increases both the effort and cost of its development. On the other hand, a browser-based web app can run on every mobile and desktop operating system - making it much more flexible than its Android and iOS counterparts.

2) Saving Space

Of course, Android and iOS apps can also take up significant space on a user's device. In 2012, the average size of an app was over 20 megabytes, with games skewing larger, and that number has only grown since. Mobile users looking to make space on their limited hard drive increasingly delete apps they aren't frequently using, or thinking twice before installing new ones.

Web apps, on the other hand, take up much less space. Everything is stored online, meaning that as long as you have an internet connection, you can use the same features and access the same information while needing only a fraction of the space. As a result, your app is much less likely to be deleted from a user's device.

3) Cost Effectiveness

Of course, developing a web app is also more cost-effective than its space-eating counterparts. We already touched on the significant savings of not needing to develop it for multiple devices. But listing it on the app store itself costs money as well: listing an app on Apple's App Store currently costs $99.

That may not seem like a lot to some businesses, but duplicate that cost for all major app stores and it makes up a significant chunk of a small business's marketing budget. Web apps don't need to be listed on an app store; instead, they are freely available for anyone with a browser and freely available via a URL.

4) Need-Tailored

Finally, web apps can be tailored directly to the unique needs of your company and audience. Instead of being hampered by OS or cost restraints, a custom web app can focus fully on your desired audience, ensuring a perfect fit for their needs. Because that audience doesn't have to download the app, they can simply access it as soon as they think of or have a need for your company's services. That, in addition to their flexibility and cost-effectiveness, makes web apps so attractive in today's market place.

Intrigued? Then don't hesitate! Contact us to find out how you can get a custom web app to enhance your company's marketing efforts.

Sometimes, the terms make decisions easy. Would you rather develop your app or website with a process called "agile," or "fixed scope?" The answer should be clear, and that's before we've even begun to describe exactly what the two terms mean. So allow us to explain just that, before arguing just why agile development is a more transparent, cost-effective and ultimately beneficial app or website development process for your company.

Fixed Scope Development

Anytime you hear a programmer or software engineer mention fixed scope or fixed bid development, they're talking about the traditional approach to developing apps and websites. When approached by a customer, the development firm comes up with a very specific plan that includes several steps, from coming up with a strategy all the way to testing. A strict budget is attached to that plan, including a timeline for the various steps.

In other words, fixed scope development is about as linear as you could imagine. Each step takes place after the one before it, with little to no interaction between the various processes. Within the development firm, strict, standardized roles are assigned to the various steps. The customer may receive progress updates, but will in most cases not have input into the software until the final, feedback stage.

Agile Development

On the other hand, a definition of the term agile software development begins where you'd expect it to: with flexibility. According to Webopedia, the term stands for

an alternative to traditional project management where emphasis is placed on empowering people to collaborate and make team decisions in addition to continuous planning, continuous testing and continuous integration.

Flowing from this definition, the concept places importance on individuals and interactions over technical processes, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation and responding to change over sticking to a plan.

In other words, agile development is a more people-oriented, adaptive approach to developing software, apps and websites. That's why when compared to fixed scope development, there are several

Advantages of Agile Development.

As you may have inferred from the paragraphs above, flexibility makes agile development a desirable alternative to its fixed scope counterpart. Because planning, testing and integration are continuous instead of linear, the app or website can be adjusted at any point in the process. In fixed scope development, there may not be enough time for a major change once a problem or bug is discovered in the testing phase. The flexibility of agile development improves the final product considerably.

But flexibility isn't the only advantage of this process. Agile's emphasis on people over processes also leads to increased collaboration, both within the development company and with the customer. The team roles are not defined nearly as strictly as they are in fixed scope, as analysts and usability testers can freely interact with and offer feedback to planners and software engineers as the latter work on the project. In fact, AgileMethodology.org states that there are only three roles in the entirety of the process.

Of course, collaboration extends to the customer (you) as well. Because of its flexibility, agile development allows customers to offer continuous feedback, allowing to adjust the app or website throughout the process. We recognize that a major website overhaul or new app can be a significant project, both in terms of budget and price. That's why we want you to have as much input into the project as possible, allowing you to offer feedback and change direction as needed.

Because ultimately, agile development is about transparency. If you decide to go with an agile firm like us, you will gain much more insight into the development process than you would from our fixed scope counterparts. For more information on the process and how we can help your business, contact us.

Although Uber and AirBNB grab most of the headlines about new tech disrupting the transportation industries, there's much more happening in those industries behind the scenes. Apps are changing everything from maritime shipping to the trucking industry, and companies are taking advantage of new app technology to compete with the likes of Uber. It's a beautiful example of how free market competition creates higher quality products and more alternatives for consumers.

More Transportation Options for Riders

The Beck Taxi Mobile App, a company that caters to Canadians and competes with Uber, brokered a deal with PayPal and integrated a new in-app payment solution that will allow users to e-pay for their ride conveniently. They can now take their taxi without ever having to take out their wallet. This convenience gives Canadians an event stronger variety of transportation options, and it gives Uber stiffer competition north of the border.

Private companies aren't the only ones pushing back against Uber. Public transportation agencies, which have lost riders because their commutes takes much longer and are less efficient than app-driven on-demand transportation, are partnering with TransLoc to create an app that brings a similar on-demand possibility for public transportation.

FastCoExist.com explains how the new public transportation app, slated to be released for a few agencies later in 2015 or 2016, works:

Riders using TransLoc's app, currently a prototype, give it permission to follow their route as they ride. That data builds maps that agencies can use to make routes more efficient, and eventually offer on-demand services. Someone could, for example, someday use the app to request a bus, and the system could quickly crowdsource a route to pick up several riders with a small bus or van.

Some industries, however, have had a less constructive response to the intense competition from Uber. The taxi companies in the City of Boston, for example, are pursuing legal action to shut Uber down, claiming that Uber's drivers are operating illegally.

Uber's response to the taxi companies?

Build an app.

If that seems a little tactless, from Uber's point of view it's common sense: if the taxi companies are upset about Uber, why don't they improve the way they serve customers by creating their own mobile app technology?

Safer Shipping Lanes

It's easy to forget that many of the goods we depend on come from ships. ReCAAP has created a new mobile app for the shipping industry that makes their long journeys across thousands of miles of ocean much safer, as MarineInsight.com noted: "The ‘App’ enables the ReCAAP ISC to share the latest Incident Alert...with a wider readership from the shipping community and facilitate quick access to updated information."

In addition, users can use the app to quickly submit safety alerts to the nearest ReCAAP "Focal Point," which then disseminates the alert broadly to the entire shipping community. It's user-generated, crowd-sourced safety on the high seas.

Grizzled Truckers in North Dakota Oil Fields Geeking Out on Tech

The stereotype that people who love tech live in offices and make pilgrimages to TED conferences and SXSW needs to change. Other people love tech too -- like the leatherneck truck drivers who handle the demanding, sometimes dangerous trucking routes in the remote oil fields of North Dakota.

As a hard-working team of analysts, engineers, and designers, we were particularly proud of what we achieved with our LoadLog app that we built for a trucking company that ships supplies into the gas and oil fields of North Dakota.

Our app is a hybrid online application that uses an SMS communication channel. When you're dealing with midnight trucking runs through freezing winter conditions, you need something that gets information to the truckers reliably, and SMS is much more reliable in rural North Dakota than the usual web communication. The app automates the driver's load logistics and driver tickets, and this reduces the time-waste for the truckers who, before the app, were constantly filling out paper tickets.

And the app is a miracle for the dispatchers. They simply log into the application dashboard to see the location of every truck, and to also track the truck's progress in its workflow. They can also use the app to issue new tickets to those truckers in real-time and calculate average delivery times.

Frankly, it was a game-changer for the company, and it's a powerful enhancement for the trucking industry.

Let Us Help You Create Your Next Big Idea

If your business needs a mobile app to make as big a splash in your industry as these apps did in their industries, contact us to find out what amazing things we can build for you.

Like any other artisan work, it takes years to mature in the "art form" of user creation -- but these five tips will provide rock-solid principles that will point you in the right direction or, at the very least, provide some helpful reminders:

Tip #1: Go for Simplicity

You could make the case that novelists are the ultimate "user story" creators. If you've ever tried to write a novel -- a truly, reader-centric, riveting, fully operational story -- you know it takes a tremendous amount of planning and development, one sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter at a time.

But when it comes time to pitch that story to agents and editors, every novelist must have one indispensable skill: they must be able to sum up the story -- yes, the entire novel -- in one sentence. This magic sentence contains all of the ingredients: protagonist, the conflict that rises against the protagonist, and the goal that motivates the protagonist to overcome that conflict. It's all about who, what, and why.

In a certain sense, it's no different for user story creators. Until you're able to reduce your entire concept into its most elemental properties, you likely don't have a clear enough vision of the project.

All About Agile offers this tried and true formula that uses a one-sentence summary to establish the premise for your user story: "As a (user role), I want to (goal), so I can (reason)."

As the article author notes: "This [one-sentence summary of the premise] helps to ensure that the requirement is captured at a high level, is feature oriented and covers who, what and why."

Tip #2: Think As If You Were the Stakeholder, Not the Developer

We all develop bad habits, and even the best user story creators can nurture them without realizing it. One of the most problematic bad habits is viewing a user story from the developer's point of view and not the perspective of the user.

As AgileModeling observes: "User Stories should be valuable to the user (or owner) of the solution. They should be written in user language. They should be features, not tasks."

Tip #3: Don't Think of It as a Contract. Be Flexible.

If we approach user stories with rigid parameters, it could sabotage our ability to get the job done and get it done well. Every team member must establish an attitude of total flexibility and collaboration beforethey walk into the room to begin work on the user story.

As this article points out: "User Stories are not a contract. They are not detailed specifications. They are reminders of features for the team to discuss and collaborate to clarify the details near the time of development."

Tip #4: Rely on Teamwork When You Write Your User Story

Tip #3 segues nicely into #4. It's all about teamwork. If we slip into a put-this-into-the-assembly-line-and-walk-away mentality, we miss the point of agile development and user creation. Getting the product owner involved is the key.

As RomanPichler.com recommends:

A user story is not a specification, but a communication and collaboration tool. Stories should never be handed off to the development team. They should rather be part of a conversation: The product owner and the team should discuss the stories, or even better, write them together. This leverages the creativity and the knowledge of the team and usually results in better user stories.

Although human nature sometimes shrinks away from collaboration -- after all, we get a little nervous when too many cooks step into the kitchen -- we must remind ourselves that this "kitchen," the user story, thrives in a wide-open, flexible, collaborative environment.

For more information on how to write user stories for use in agile development, contact us and learn how our talented, hard-working team of agile experts can help.

There are many benefits to a custom web app, but a publisher must give it careful thought in order to realize the intended gains. The first thing to think about is the purpose of the app. One that's made to increase a company's visibility will necessarily be different from one that is meant to have paid access or support ads. Thought also needs to be given to the intended audience and what is likely to appeal to the people in that group.

Apps to Increase Visibility

These are almost always offered for free, but that doesn't mean that you should go too cheap with them. After all, if your free app is always crashing or only works on one browser, it will make your entire company look slipshod. A free app that is used to increase your branding needs to be highly polished and free of glitches. It will also need ongoing support and updates, though with free offerings, this aspect almost never goes on as long as it would with a paid version.

It's important to tailor the function of this sort of app to meet the needs and tastes of the desired audience. There's no point in releasing a viral game that will appeal to teenagers if your main business is supplying concrete to home builders! Instead, offer tools that will help your usual customers in their normal tasks. For that concrete company, a good app would be a calculator that helps builders find out how much concrete will be needed for whatever size of foundation they intend to put under their latest house. Other companies should offer tools that fit their own clientele in a similar way.

Of course, the function of the app is just one part of it. Its overall look and feel is also important. Go for a style that fits the personality and age group of your current customers in order to help draw more of the same to your business. Avoid the temptation to try to look "super cool" unless it actually fits your business - what one group of people thinks is awesome may strike another group as too immature.

Apps for Sale or Ads

The other main category of apps is meant to be sold or supported with advertising. With web apps, "sale" takes the form of selling access rather than literally selling instances of the programs. This means that support and updates must keep going on as long as enough people have a subscription. Popular apps of this sort can keep going for years.

Ad-supported web apps aren't nearly as common as they once were, but they still exist. Like paid-access ones, they also require ongoing support and debugging in order to keep people logging in. Ignoring an app once it has been fully debugged won't work because eventually, its capabilities and overall design will become dated.

There is a lot of latitude when it comes to the function and design of paid and ad-supported apps. Unlike ones meant to promote a business, they don't have to look "businesslike" in the corporate sense. Many online games take this form. That said, they do have to look polished, be free of glitches, and appeal to their intended audiences. Therefore, it's still important to make sure that they are professionally designed. You will also need to be sure that your intended audience will really be interested and that the market isn't already saturated with 10,000 variations of the exact same thing.

Contact us for specific ideas for an app that will meet your needs, whether those needs are related to corporate branding or the simple desire to have thousands of subscribers to your web app. We'll be glad to help you decide on all of the details and then build the app you desire!

As a software provider, how can you generate the most revenue and provide the best service to your customers? This is a question many software developers face and most of them consider SaaS or software as a service to be the best solution.

Software as a service development became popularized as online access to tools and resources grew and was preferred among customers. Being able to access software "in the cloud" allows customers to use their favorite software anywhere with an internet connection. With SaaS, software is ran using the web server's hardware and resources, which means customers don't have to worry about their computer's own ability. Gone are the days of having "minimum specification requirements" with software as a service because using the software is as easy as opening a website in your browser. There are no tasks completed on your computer's own hardware and most SaaS providers offer their customers storage space for saving files and projects in the cloud.

Why use Software as a Service Development?

• Monthly revenue from every customer
• Incentive to provide exceptional customer service
• Incentive to improve the software

Choosing to launch your software as a service means monthly revenue from every customer. When you charge a one-time fee like you would with traditional software, your revenue potential is limited. That customer is only worth the amount they paid for the software and your ability to provide customer service is hindered because of overhead costs. With SaaS, each customer has a much larger lifetime value and there is incentive to provide the very best customer service you can. Additionally, there is a major incentive to improve the software when you are receiving monthly revenue from your customers. You suddenly have a reason to hire a development team to integrate new features into the software. Every new addition could mean more customers and better revenue.

SaaS is the Future

Big brands are moving to software as a service and that is typically a sign that things are transitioning in a new direction. Google was one of the first big brands to fully support SaaS and provide access to Google Docs and other software on the web. They have shown how software as a service can be preferred by providing automatic saving to documents and other key features that make SaaS standout from traditional software. When you compare Google Docs to Microsoft Office, there are many promising aspects that make it a preferred choice. SaaS is the future and web programming is increasing in popularity.

How do Customers Feel About SaaS?

Most customers will greatly appreciate that your software is accessible through the web. Traditional software can be clunky and web-based tools are generally far more reliable. However, customers will expect a higher level of professionalism in the departments of customer service and software improvement. When a customer is expected to pay monthly for access to your software, they want full value from the service. Expect your customers to do their research and look for alternatives. If there is a competitor with better software and a one-time fee, you may lose customers. When choosing to use SaaS, you need to have the best software for the right price. During your initial launch, you may want to consider offering your software at a lower price to encourage subscribers.

Are SaaS Development Teams Expensive?

If you don't have programming experience, the only way to transition your business toward software as a service is to hire a development team. Fortunately, SaaS is typically less expensive than traditional software development. SaaS developers often specialize in programming languages like PHP, Python or Ruby. Python and Ruby are often preferred, as they are highly simplistic and allow SaaS developers to reuse code from previous projects, write things with less code and save enormous amounts of time. This ultimately lowers costs and makes SaaS development less expensive.

There are many reasons to consider software as a service development for powering your business. If you have questions on working with a developer and how SaaS could improve your business, please contact us.

Wanting an app is easy. In an increasingly mobile-dominated digital environment, it makes perfect sense to reach your potential customers through more ways than one, and a mobile app seems like a perfect solution. The more practical aspects of mobile app development, though, require more thought and planning. We'd love to help! If you want an app but don't know where to start, here are three things you should know before building your first mobile app.

1) Know Your Customers

Any effective marketing-related effort has to begin with your audience, and the process of developing a mobile app is no different. Before you even begin your app development process, you should know everything you can about your potential customers' behavior on mobile devices.

What is their preferred operating system? Would they really prefer an app over a more simple solution like a responsive website that adjusts its design based on their preference? How receptive would they be to the concept of native web apps or extensions that they can use without leaving their browser?

All of these are questions for which you should at least be able to make an educated guess on the answer. Getting that answer can involve surveys and even informal focus groups with your current customers, while you can glean some of the information (such as your customers' preferred mobile devices and operating systems) with a look at your analytics accounts.

2) Know Your Goal

Once you know what your customers want and need, it's time to figure out just what you want to accomplish with your app. This is, of course, intimately connected to the first question: knowing your customers will give you a better idea of what they expect from a mobile app.

But at the same time, pointing out the necessity of knowing your potential app's goal is worth its own point. Your app could function as a brand awareness-builder, a brand loyalty helper with an integrated reward system, or incorporate ecommerce capabilities.

Of course, there are many more possible directions for your app to go in, each of them requiring a different approach to get to the finished product. Establishing a singular goal and developing your app with that goal in mind will go a long way toward getting a polished and effective app that helps attract and retain customers.

3) Know Your Developer

Trust us when we say this: any app developer you work with will appreciate their clients coming in with answers to the first two points in this blog post. But at the same time, they'll be glad to help you figure out the direction of your app. Of course, that's where the similarities of app developers end.

As you may have noticed when you browsed through our website and past blog post, we are firm believers in the "agile" development process. That means breaking up a project such as your app into several different parts that can be developed at once, allowing for increased testing times and cost-effectiveness.

Of course, not every developer subscribes to this methodology. Others prefer a more traditional "waterfall" development process in which an app (or website) is developed in a more linear, step-by-step process. Understanding your developer's philosophy when it comes to app development is crucial to finding a partner that fits your needs.

If you're thinking about adding to your company's digital presence with a mobile app, you've made the first important step. Congratulations! Following the three above steps will help ensure that the rest of the process will go as smoothly as that initial decision. And if you need any additional help throughout your planning process, don't hesitate to contact us!

Fully responsive web design is no longer a luxury for your website. Google announced recently that it will punish websites that are not fully responsive. Not only this, but mobile commerce continues to increase. 2015 may be the year that mobile commerce as a whole overtakes other forms of digital commerce. This has already been the case for many years for many younger demographics.

You must make the switch into fully responsive web design today in order to build a lasting brand online. Here are three top tips that will help you make the transition or improve your scalability and marketability if you have already implemented it to some degree.

Natural Asset Scalability

The only responsive website design themes or templates that you should seriously consider using will include natural asset scalability. An asset is anything that a customer views as a separate piece of information on the screen. Pictures, text, buttons - all of these are separate assets, and all of these assets have the ability to scale naturally with the size of the screen that the customer uses.

Each asset with additional features on mouse holdover should retain those features regardless of size. For instance, navigation bar items with drop down menus must retain their menus regardless of the size of the screen. However, your web designer must make the menu fonts scale at the same rate as the original navigation bar asset to keep the website cohesive.

Sophisticated CSS designers may allow your assets to reorganize themselves if the screen gets so small that text cannot be seen. In some cases, assets that are less important may drop off the screen entirely if the user decides to reduce the display past a certain percentage.

Vertically Elongated Menus

For the most part, horizontal scrolling is panned in the world of responsive web design. People simply prefer vertical scrolling, and this includes menu scrolling.

If your laptop website has any menus that elongate along a horizontal path, they must repurpose themselves as a vertical menu. Many smart phones and tablets do not even allow for vertical scrolling past a certain point, meaning that your website may completely lose a menu item in a worst case scenario. Because the last item is most menus and along navigation bars is usually the conversion action or the sale button, you might imagine how this might negatively affect your business.

Hidden Toggle Menus

Between the choices of hidden toggle menus and on-screen toggle menus, hidden toggle menus seem to have won out. Hidden toggle menus became a trend in the iOS circles, especially those that used native Cocoa libraries for some incredible animations. The idea spread as more web designers found uses for the hidden toggle, and it has become such a normal part of the mainstream web design circuit that it is now the preferred type of menu animation.

There is one weakness to the hidden toggle menu: It relies heavily on Javascript. This may affect your decisions in the short-term, but over the long-term, Javascript will become a more integrated part of mobile design. If you are looking to create a site that will stand, then do not move away from the hidden toggle menu just because the majority of your users have mobile devices that are not yet ready for Javascript. Your web designer can create a fork that directs your customers to a Javascript free mirror if the device does not support the technology.

Please feel free to contact us when you need an online partner focused on time and cost efficiency. Our proprietary development process is based in agile scrum, a process that minimizes all time spent in bulky applications while maximizing value for your web design money.

Having an effective website can be a huge revenue booster for any small business. As the web becomes more ingrained in our daily lives, not having a website or having an outdated, ineffective website can have a negative impact on your business. There are a few traits of effective business websites that every business should try to replicate in their own designs, or when working with a business website development company. Try to keep these traits in mind when having a new website designed.

Clean and Readable

Although web design might seem like the appropriate time to get artsy and really try to impress your customers, resist that temptation. A clean and readable design is the most important traits of any effective business website. A good website should catch the eye of the visitor without sacrificing readability. It is critical that the information on the page is easily digested by your audience as it plays the most critical role in their decision to purchase your product.

Although "screen real estate" has always been a focus for web design companies, recent web design trends have shifted toward leaving more white space within the design. This helps to space out the design elements of the website and allow for easier reading and digestion of the information on the page.

Simple and Straight-Forward Navigation

Although your homepage might be the main draw to your website, all websites have several other critical pages that customers go to for information and to learn more about your product or service. Making it easy for them to navigate from one page to another is important for nudging them along toward making the purchasing decision. A good rule of thumb is to try to ensure that every page of your website is no more than 3 clicks away from the homepage.

Original, Informative Content

When your customers have questions about your product, service, or industry, you want them to come to you for their answer and not a competitor. Having high quality, informative original content on your website can be a huge draw for new customers. Many businesses opt to publish a weekly blog, with each post covering a different aspect of their industry each week. This helps to establish your business as an authority while helping to educate your customers. Try to publish original, informative content on a regular basis.

Brand Voice and Personality

Every business has its own unique voice and personality. It is important that your businesses' brand voice is accurately portrayed on your website as well. Don't be afraid to include pictures of your team, or go against the grain when comparing your own website to your competitors'. Try to convey the unique traits that your company has on your website.

Responsive Designs for Mobile Users

In 2014, mobile usage overtook desktop PC usage online. Around the same time, Google announced that they would be giving increased exposure to mobile-ready websites in their search engine. For these reasons, all businesses should have a mobile-ready website to cater to those users. Responsive technology has come to the forefront as the most popular mobile web design technology and is an excellent choice for any business. Responsive technology is ideal because it doesn't require separate web designs for separate users, it simply re-sizes your current website to fit well on mobile screens.

If you would like an effective website for your business, please do not hesitate to reach out an contact us today. We will examine your current web presence, identify where it could be improved and put together an initial action plan during your consultation. We love working closely with businesses to improve their revenue and help them reach a wider audience.

Content is engagement. To engage with a customer you draw them into an interesting ongoing relationship, a relationship which keeps them returning to your website on a regular basis. Without dynamic content, your website may be superficially interesting, but it only holds the customer's interest for a limited period of time. Content as engagement means that the customer wants to return to your site because they receive something of value every time that they do.

Whether you sell a physical product or a service, you have a lot of competition online. Ask yourself what distinguishes your site from the competition, and then ask yourself whether you will even have the opportunity to show your stuff to the potential customer or whether your site will never even be looked at. There are tools such as search engine optimization (SEO) and to be sure, being at the top of a web search is valuable and worth pursuing. However, it is not enough to be high in search engine rankings.

While potential customers will search for a product on the web if they have to, before they even take that step, they search their own recollections and experiences. If they can recall a vendor who has captured their imagination, they will never even do the generic web search, they will look for that resource that they already know. A successful content as engagement strategy means to become the resource that people already know rather than the result that people search for.

It's not enough that a potential customer has seen your site a single time. Compare this to driving by a billboard advertising a plumber a single time. You have seen the advertisement, but by the time that you need a plumber in a year or two years, you have also seen a million other things. Now consider driving past the same billboard every day on your way to work. You are constantly reminded of this plumber, and though you still may not need a plumber for the same year or two, when you do need one, you will be more likely to think of what you have been seeing every day as you drive past it.

The same idea holds true of websites. Just because someone browsed your site a single time a year ago does not mean that they will remember you when they need your services. As with the commuter, the web user is bombarded with an ever-increasing amount of information, and if nothing stands out about your site, there is no reason that the customer will think of you first.

Content as engagement means that the customer will voluntarily come back to your site before they need you. They will remember that you exist out of the thousands of your competitors. Essentially it is stockpiling goodwill against the day that the customer needs a vendor like you. When that day arrives for the customer, you want to be the thing that the customer knows rather than the thing that the customer searches for.

Content as engagement obviously must change, be current, and develop continually. No matter how impressive your site is or profound your original blog entries, if there is no change in content, there is nothing to make potential customers come back to visit again and again. This increases the chance that they will forget you before they need what you provide. With dynamic content, customers come back just to see what you have to say and what you think. You become one of their sources of information, and that keeps you in the forefront of the potential customer's mind.

For assistance developing your business social media presence, please contact us.

In a recent podcast, the State Department announced that was converting their network of overseas mission websites -- which host country information, visa applications and more -- to a responsive web design. Their plan is to make sure that everyone can access their 450 websites from any computing device from anywhere in the world.

As the State Department discovered, the mobile computing revolution changed how every business and organization conducts its business online. Everyone from your customers to your employees now do most of the computing and media consumption with some sort of mobile device. Indeed, according to the State’s own web metrics, about 30 percent of visitors to their sites come from mobile phones with another 7 percent using tablet.

However, a lot of people still use desktop computers. Some people even use both. One moment consuming your website on their desktop only to move to a mobile device in the next. If you want to keep these customers from going to your competitors, you have to make sure your website has a responsive web design. That is the only way you can ensure your customers see everything you offer them.

Unfortunately, not all response website site designs will work in all situations. The State Department discovered early on that they need a custom theme for their website as all commercial themes were too much for what they need.

Fortunately, we have you covered. If you find yourselves with your own growing mobile customer base, contact us immediately so we can help you develop the right responsive web design for your business.

The agile development process is designed for transparency with a focus on user needs and satisfaction. When it comes to writing meaningful user stories for use in agile development the idea is to maintain transparency and to open useful discussion about user needs and satisfaction. How is that accomplished? Through coherent user stories. Here's how to write them:

Establish the User, the Action and the Goal

Succinct stories are the goal. A story should fit on a post-it or an index card and should be supplemented with discussion. Each story has the user as the main actor. Within the story the user interacts with a product in the hope of achieving a goal.

You should start a user story with a title that explains who the actor is, what action the actor takes and what the actor hopes to achieve.

For example: A user wants to retrieve information from a database using their smartphone.

Tell the Story

In a few short lines tell what occurred when the actor tried to reach their goal. Be certain to detail the criteria using a given, when, then format.

For example: The user has a database app on their Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge. When the user opens the database to retrieve data, they receive an error message.

Share User Stories

Each member of the team might have a slightly different story. For instance, users with IoS operating systems might not have the same experience. Discussing the differences in stories helps the development team arrive at a solution so that at the end of the process every user story has the best ending.

To learn more about telling meaningful user stories within an agile development process, please contact us

System failures due to miscommunication between developers is a common problem that can endanger the success of application development projects. To combat this problem, something called Joint Application Development is used. JAD brings developers, users, and managers together in brainstorming sessions with the intention of improving the System Requirement Determination (SRD) phase of the Software Development Life-Cycle (SDLC), and elevating the standard of quality produced by software development projects.

While the introduction of JAD into the SRD process has resulted in substantial improvements in regards to obtaining consistent results compared to previous methods, it still suffers from the inadequacies associated with its freely interactive group structure. Studies have shown that as many as 57% of development projects end in failure because they did not accurately identify the needs of their intended users. The research paper in question proposes that JAD can be improved by introducing elements of Nominal Group Technique (NGT) – which is a series of protocols designed specifically to avoid the sorts of problems that are common to unstructured workshops session such as JAD.

The usage of Joint Application Development was intended to speed up the SRD phase of IT projects. In order to accomplish this, JAD utilizes input from clients in a group setting in an effort to develop solutions by identifying what they believe their businesses’ requirements are. Before the usage of JAD was introduced, the identification of these requirements was achieved using personal interviews with stakeholders. As time passed the inadequacies of this method became apparent, thus leading to the introduction of JAD, which focuses on a team oriented, consensus-based approach to developing IT solutions.

Nominal Group Technique is a method of conducting group meetings - such as JAD workshops - and was designed to allow each member at the meeting to contribute their input by preventing the more assertive group members from overpowering those who are less vocal, resulting in an increase in general group satisfaction in the final results of meeting sessions. NGT has proven to be particularly effective when tough decisions must be made, or controversial topics are tackled using the input from a large group of people. It can also mitigate the effects of some group members attempting to influence others. Meetings involving smaller groups of around 15 or fewer members can be conducted as a whole. Larger groups are more easily managed when organized into subgroups of six to eight people.

In order to demonstrate the potential benefits of marrying NGT techniques to JAD sessions, experiments were conducted in which 24 workshops were held where professionals, managers, and business students were brought together in a laboratory setting. The results of this experiment seem to indicate that introducing NGT elements into the JAD process can yield substantial improvements in the outcome of the software development projects. The results of experiment confirmed all of its creator’s hypotheses in regards to improvements in the recorded performance measurements; and while there were no significant benefits regarding efficiency, unresolved issues, and the number of unique features generated by the projects, there was also no measurable impediment to these attributes.

While the ultimate validity of this experiment in data collection is marred by the limited nature of simulated experiments, the promising nature of its results warrant further investigation into the effectiveness of its premise. If NGT has been proven to aid settings similar to JAD meetings, then there is no reason to doubt that it can improve actual JAD sessions in the real world.

If you'd like to learn more about how the application development techniques can improve the development of the applications you need, then please, feel free to contact us. We're waiting for you.

Why is reputation management important? The fact is that people believe bad online reviews. Not only that, but disgruntled customers are more likely to leave negative reviews than happy customers are to leave positive reviews.

It's not just the reviews that matter: Websites that are set up solely to damage the reputation of another business aren't uncommon. Two types of people are likely to do this: Your competitors and people who feel they've been treated wrongly by your staff.

When it comes to online reviews on sites such as Google, Facebook, Yelp and other directories, it is important not to get into any arguments. Your staff will just come across as unfriendly and rude. The trick is to take the conversation offline. Here's a good example of what to reply to a negative review: "We're sorry you had such an experience. We've contacted you to remedy the situation."

The main way to counter a bad online reputation is to build up a positive reputation. With online reviews, it means encouraging happy customers to leave 5-star reviews.

But that's not enough. Bad reviews from bloggers and independent websites can rank in the search engines when someone searches for your company. The only way to counter this is through a reputation management strategy that includes building positive reviews online on independent websites.

Don't wait for the bad reviews to come before doing reputation management! If you're not establishing a positive presence online and on social media, your company and your CEO are both prime targets for a negative campaign. Contact us for help.

In an online world rife with fake news, viral posts, and instantaneous reactions, reputation management is increasingly important. One bad Yelp review, embarrassing hashtag or unfortunate photo will find years of hard work undone in several days, if not hours. Although managing your reputation may be important for the overall health of your business, the major reason behind reputation management's importance lies in its ability to turn a negative experience into a positive one. Here's a tip and an example.

Be Proactive

No one sets out looking for a bad review. But, when an unhappy customer, a jealous competitor or a viral hashtag puts your business in the spotlight, it's important to issue a response. Whether it is to assuage the customer by offering free services and refunds, correcting an error or reinforcing your organization's principles, your response is important. Reputation management software systems monitor any online mention of your business, allowing you to respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

But, how should you respond?

Your response will be suited to the situation and to your brand. The major reason reputation management is important is the role it plays in showing potential customers what your business is all about. Here's an example:

Perhaps you heard the story about the dive bar in New York City that received a one-star Yelp review. The bar owners chided the reviewer, through a direct response, on her inability to choose a restaurant that met her preferences. She wanted a quiet spot for a beer with friends and decided to choose a dive bar. The owners pointed out that the review was unfair, not because of anything the bar did wrong, but because of the reviewer's unfounded expectations (read the full response here, it's worth it).

Take note of this response. Not everyone is going to like your brand or your business model. This is fine. You can't please everyone, nor should you aim to. But the Iron Horse in NYC spun this poor review into gold. By identifying their niche and staying true to their brand, they were able to garner international attention while reaching out to a larger audience of potential customers.

For more information on how you can achieve a positive business reputation, please contact us.

Becoming a more agile business is important in keeping your employees happy, and better enabling your brand for success. Chances are, you have business processes inside of your organization that can benefit from refinement, and automation. A custom web app may be the perfect solution in cleaning up some issues you've run into with your internal processes, in the past.

Many businesses in operation today have outdated internal systems that are used for very specific processing tasks. While it is good to have custom programs that help you achieve goals, and improve productivity, it is better to enable your employees to accomplish tasks, anywhere, at anytime. This type of liberation requires implementing web-based applications.

Web apps are secure, highly advanced, super fast, and can enable your business to become more cutting-edge in a highly competitive landscape. In the past, issues like bandwidth, processing speeds, and memory allocation, held businesses back from adopting web-based applications. Now, the technology available to everyone, is perfectly suited for meeting the needs of businesses, employees, and consumers alike.

Budget issues are mostly a concern of the past as well. Custom application development may be much more reasonably priced than you anticipate, and it is certainly more affordable than it was in days gone by.

Whatever your specific needs, a custom web app can add value to your business, and better serve everyone within your ecosystem. Contact us anytime to discuss how we can help your business achieve its goals. We're looking forward to exceeding your expectations.

User stories within the scrum framework, a variation of Agile software development, describe the items needed for the product development team's backlog or feature list. The team will refer to the user stories on the top of the backlog during the upcoming work-block of two-to-four weeks (called a sprint). Members of the scrum (a cross-functional development team) meet beforehand to write, submit and select user stories. Here are five tips on how to write user stories for use in Agile development.

• Pick a flexible method for writing user stories.

User stories appear on a spread sheet, consist of a collection of index cards or sticky notes, or are written down in other ways. Regardless of the form they take, user stories are key to producing the backlog features that will be addressed during a sprint. Choose a form that best suits the personality of your group.

• Keep the customer in mind.

One characteristic that describes a user story is that it is customer-focused. The scrum team's goal is to decide how to deliver those designated features at the top of the backlog in a way that best serves the customer's needs.

• Remember that it's a collaborative effort.

When team members come together in a scrum, they have already committed to collaborating, trusting one another's judgement, and holding each other accountable. These factors come into play even before the sprint begins, when the user stories are being selected. Like all aspects of the process, reviewing the user stories involves feedback, inspection and adaptation. For this reason, some scrum teams use index cards or sticky notes instead of a spread sheet. They then place the items on a table, wall or other surface where everyone reviews them.

• Prioritize.

Determine the order in which the user stories appear in the backlog. Whether you use numbers or the terms "high," "medium" or "low," as a group, you'll decide which items come first, second, etc.

• Keep it short.

Within the Agile framework, a user story is two-to-three sentences. Longer narratives are called epics, and include descriptions of multiple features that must be broken down into individual stories. Remember that each user story is small enough to consist of an item or function that, when completed, gets the team closer to "done."

We are though leaders in the software product development industry that use a collaborative, customer-focused framework for designing and developing the highest quality of software. To talk more about user stories, the Agile framework, or anything else, please contact us. 

Your business is growing, you're starting a new business, you're scaling a current company. These, among many other reasons, are why people seek out developers for web app creation. Some shops prefer to use frameworks such as Wordpress or others to build out web apps for their clients. Other shops prefer to build things from scratch. There's pros and cons to each approach that a perspective client should be aware of.

1. Time to build.

At first glance it seems to be a no brainer that a framework approach would yield a faster production process. However, in many cases, this isn't the case. Initial deployment of a framework may be faster, but changes and customization can take much longer in the medium and long term. That means if you want to make changes, add, or subtract from your web app you may face longer development times later on. For custom builds the development shop already knows the architecture of your web app so changes should be faster and simpler saving you money in the long term.

2. Scalability

It should seem that many existing frameworks would be very scalable to meet your demands because so many people use them. However, that so many people use them can actually greatly hinder their scalability. These frameworks are trying to be so many things to so many different people, resources are drawn to features and pieces of your web app you may not even be using. With a custom framework all the resources are optimized and dedicated only to the exact purpose that it was built for giving you a scalable and performance focused experience.

3. Customization

While frameworks can be highly customizable, there are limits to what they can do. This can be especially problematic if you have legacy infrastructure and you suddenly need to add new important features. With custom software it's inherently, well, custom. The developer that built it will have enough knowledge of it's exiting infrastructure that new customized options can be added on in a meaningful way rather than bolted on.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons to custom software versus a framework that need to be carefully considered cases by case. If you're looking for custom software say hi today!

Online appdevelopment doesn't have to be difficult. With this handy guide, you'll be on your way to creating your first app in no time.

First off, decide how you want to go about it. Do you want to take the time to learn and DIY your own app, and also face the pitfalls associated with getting your first work off the ground? Or would you prefer to leave it in the hands of professionals?

Next, are you planning on creating a website or mobile app? Do you want it to be accessed on the go by your market, or do you want it to be rooted in your website? Contensive offers both, so the choice is entirely based on what you want to accomplish.

Then think about what features you want to include. It's best to work with a balance between up to date technology and tried-and-true techniques. Too far to one side and you risk wasting time if a technology doesn't become wide spread. Too far to the other and you'll be viewed as outdated. Fortunately for you, our team of engineers, analysts and designers is always up to the task.

Finally, you must decide on a design and flow that you want to implement. How do you want the app to work? How do you want to guide your consumers or employees through the app? How do you want the user interface to appear? We can help you decide all of this if necessary.

We work with your team to figure out requirements and goals, to advise on what is realistic, and create a successful strategy -- all within the agreed-upon time and schedule.

Even at the end of the day, once the app is live, you're not alone. We continue to provide support and maintenance for the life cycle of the app. We stay on-hand as your business continues to grow to advise, plan, execute the continual evolution of your resources as needed.

To talk more about this, or anything else, please Contact Us.

Software as a service is taking the web by storm, and no one can blame you for considering whether or not you should take your business in that direction. However, before one line of code is written, there are some things you should consider carefully.

Your Business Direction Is Going To Change Drastically

In a traditional model, you are focused on getting that first purchase. Repeat purchases are valuable, but getting people to buy is your major focus. SaaS businesses are also focused on getting to people to buy, but the lower up-front cost makes onboarding new customers a bit easier. Instead, you need to dedicate more of your website towards retaining existing customers. A single month of service isn't going to generate the same amount of revenue that an up-front purchase does, so you need to keep people engaged and happy month after month.

Sometimes You Have To Say No

A Software as a Service product is most successful when it does one core thing really well. Additional features can be a selling point, but without that core, it will hard to keep people subscribed. Developing features while maintaining that high quality of service takes time and money, and not every customer will get the features they want. This can be mitigated by creating connections to complimentary services, or allowing customers to customize their experience through an API, but there will be times where you have to tell a customer that you won't be able to accommodate their request.

Is A SaaS Model Right For Your Product?

SaaS products are by their very nature standardized. If you put in the time during development, you can allow some level of customization, but it is far from the amount offered in a custom product. Many online services can be converted to this model, but not all. If your product needs heavy customization to be effective, a SaaS model is going to be difficult to execute. Before making the switch you need to think carefully about whether the switch makes sense for your product.

Software as a service is a solid business model for many online businesses, either as their primary or secondary source of revenue. If you think that this might be the next step for your business, contact us and rest assured it will get done right.

Is your business listed on online directories? If not, it's time to understand the importance of getting your business listed online and why your business listings are important.

There are all sorts of online directories. There are the big ones, such as Facebook, Yelp and Google Maps, and then there are the hundreds of smaller directories, including local directories, niche-related directories, GPS directories, and more.

You don't need us to tell you that printed white paper directories are a thing of the past. What you need to think about, however, is what that means for your business.

You need to get your business listed on every online directory possible. This is the only way that you will be able to reach a maximum audience.

You need to be listed on Google My Business, so that your local businesses will appear when people search for your type of store on Google. You need to be listed on Facebook so that people searching Facebook will find you. You need to get listed on GPS directories so that people in their car will find you. You need to get listed wherever people search for businesses.

Another reason why you need to be listed on as many directories as possible is because it is crucial for local SEO. For local SEO listings to be effective, you must get your business listed on as many directories as possible. These listings must be identical when it comes to the format of your business name, phone number, and address.

If you own a chain of local stores, you must get all of them listed online.

Of course, this is too much to handle by yourself. That's why you need a service that manages online listings, such as Factual, Acxiom, Infogroup and Neustar. These services can get your business listed on over 300 directories at once. For more information, please contact us.

An Essential Element for your Website

With a record number of Americans accessing the internet via a mobile device, it is crucial for any business to develop a website that is responsive, or in other words, mobile-friendly. According to Think with Google, "When a question or need arises, our phones are far and away our most trusted resource, with 96% of people using a smartphone to get things done."

Designing a site with a responsive web design intact is essential for optimizing a viewer's mobile experience, which over time, increases conversion rates. A responsive website allows webpages to adjust in response to the size of the device the viewer is using. Navigation becomes simplified, the webpage maintains a consistent flow, and webpages load faster. This ultimately leaves the viewer less frustrated. In fact, Google found that

"When your site or app is clumsy or slow, 29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn't satisfy their needs (that is, they can't find information or it's too slow). Of those who switch, 70% do so because of lagging load times. And 67% will switch if takes too many steps to purchase or get desired information."
By keeping it simple and leaving viewers with a positive experience, they are more likely to return.

Sites that are responsive are ideal for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). When a website is search engine friendly, it ensures that viewers will be able to find it. Additionally, Google prefers responsive design and uses mobile friendliness as a ranking criteria. If a website is not responsive, it will have negative SEO and decreased search engine rankings.
And lastly, since new devices for web browsing get released continuously, a responsive web design will always adjust to the proper screen size, making certain a site looks flawless and operates seamlessly.

If you're ready to make your website responsive, contact us and let our talented team of engineers, analysts and designers help you.

As a business, how likely is it that potential customers will come through your door?

The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store, your leasing office or your showroom so you can convert them to paying customers rather than just browsers online.

Further, nothing is more frustrating as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online listing shows incorrect information.

1. Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker

There are many things that people look for in listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or on a mobile device. The top piece of information that most people look for is the hours of operation, since their search is likely for a business that they frequent quite often.

In fact, in a study conducted by local data aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondent reporting that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that it is a feature that helps them to select a business.

Even if people are new to a business, it doesn't give people a good impression if the business hours are not listed and they don't know that it's only open from 11 a.m-6p.m. Tuesday-Saturday .Imagine that potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store, but shows up on Monday at 7 p.m. only to find it closed. That customer is likely going to do another search on a mobile phone to find a different store and spend their money there.

2. You can't spell NAP data (and score a citation) without an A(ddress)

While most people would assume that the number one reason people do a search online is for the address or location of a business, the address is actually behind hours of operation as the second most desired information. But, of course, the whole point of being in business is to make money doing what you love or selling what you love. And that happens by attracting foot traffic and increasing customer base.

It bears repeating that if a business address is incorrect on listing sites such as Google or Bing, then customers will not be crossing the threshold. A simple thing such as the wrong number on a street address, or even the wrong town, can mean that a customer cannot find you. The US Postal Service relies on a complex system of checks to verify and standardize addresses, and many of the search engines will default to the USPS for correct mailing addresses.

What this means for the average new business owner is that unless a business is in an established location, getting the correct address on their listing means that both the address from City Hall and the information on USPS must be consistent. If USPS doesn't recognize that address, then a business owner must contact them to verify their new address and get that information updated on USPS's online database.

3. Local searchers are mobile creatures

According to Localeze, mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of searches ending in a purchase, if a business has their listing details correct. Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can't find the store's business listing details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.

For ease of use for potential customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website that supports cellphone and tablet-specific versions.

4. Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression

At the same time, more than 60% of searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase. While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome, consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.

Any listing should be linked to the business's website and feature the exact same information, but more of it. While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business's practices before a customer ever crosses their threshold.

5. Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times

People who search for listings are doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets--and in each iteration, the methods of search have changed.

However, that has slowed over the last five years or so as web developers realize that they need to be smarter. Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.

According to Pew Research Center, In 2015, smartphone ownership in America was at 68%, with tablet and computer ownership at 45%. Statista says that almost half of American adults use their smartphones the most to search for local information online, the other half being split between computers (40%) and tablets (11%). According to Localeze, like the types of devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device. Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.

The most important part of those mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology, continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.

6. Local search results are trusted sources of information

Last but certainly not least is the fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as "used games Raleigh", are what people do the most since they put that trust in local business more than big box, big website stores.

Think about it, would you rather find a local store where you can get that latest purse in town right now? Or you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!

Those interactions are what lead people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to happy customers and business owners.

And it all starts with that correct listing in that customer's local search.
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