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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 undertaki...

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, a...

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 th...

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 l...

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...

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 ho...

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...

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...

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 ...

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. Continued Development of Web-Base...

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 b...

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 ye...

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 ...

1. It is old. If your website hasn't been updated in a few years, chances are, you need one. The copyright at the bottom of the webpage should be the same as the present year. If you’re website is really, really old, then it may not even work in some of the newer browsers.   2. Your website is cluttered. Your site, especially your homepage, should ...

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. ...

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 de...

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 tha...

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 pro...

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 ...

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 ...

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 Pag...

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.  Fi...

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 ...

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 m...

All organizations need to position themselves and convince customers that they are the informational resources in their particular niche. The best way to achieve that goal is by creating engaging targeted content for your audience.  Content marketing is any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of content in order to acquire custo...

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 a...

Every business needs to store and share information among its employees and with customers. Customized web applications are essential for improving customer interactions and the management of data and communications among individuals. Below are some important reasons to develop customized web applications for your business. 1. Fulfill your unique...

As we are well aware, Facebook is everywhere. Almost everywhere you go, there are references to it. Nearly every website you click on has a button saying, “Like Us On Facebook!”. Most importantly, chances are that if you’re an inbound marketer, you’ve probably jumped on the Facebook bandwagon as well. Millions upon millions of businesses use Facebo...

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 ...

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 p...

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 ...

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...

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 articl...

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 o...

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...

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-ef...

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...

Inbound Marketing: Social Media All Grown Up With nearly two billion users world wide, the social media network is not just for teens and those with avid social lives. Clever inbound marketers have picked up on this gold mine of potential customers, and are using social networks like Facebook and Twitter to their advantage. In 2007, Facebook boas...

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 m...

On my way into work this morning I was listening to C-Span's morning call in show.  This mornings topic was about where people get their news.  Gauging the state of the country on the 30 or so call ins is obviously unscientific and anecdotal at best.  Of course there were the usual suspects, Fox News, NPR, CNN, even Al Jazeera came up multiple time...

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 Req...

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 i...

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 user...

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...

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 programmin...

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 t...

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 busines...

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 yo...

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 9...

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) collaborat...

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 contr...

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 Depa...

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 thei...

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 becomi...

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 ...

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 aro...

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 nee...

A manager, an engineer, and a web programmer are riding in a car. They come to a hill and their brakes fail. After careening down the hill and finally coming to a stop they get out to decide what to do.  The manager says “We need to have a meeting to form a committee to see what we should do next!”  The engineer says, “No way! Give me a pocket ...

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 pref...

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, includin...