5 Tips To Make Your Magento Store Absolutely Mobile Ready

Mobile phones have no sooner became the more preferred medium for online shopping. Shoppers are deliberately ditching desktops and laptops and taking up smartphones to buy things because they are extra convenient. So, with the mobile shopping revolution rapidly setting in, it has become imperative for eCommerce to get their stores optimised for mobile views.

However, while a considerable number of online shoppers are seen to buy things online, a much greater number than that have complained about pages to be too small to access in mobile screens. This calls for immediate action by every retailer to make their store mobile-responsive irrespective of the platform used to build them. Luckily, if your store is built with Magento, things are quite easy as many expert Magento developers have prompted effective practices to make site mobile ready. Catch up here some of them.

Update your store with the latest version

Magento Commerce aims to provide ‘seamless shopping everywhere’. It comes with Mobile First Commerce, which helps in optimising the store for smaller mobile screens. Thus, if your website is running in some old version, the first thing to do is update it to the latest version of Magento Commerce. Mobile-first commerce assures everything at once, from a mobile-friendly checkout to responsive themes and optimise UX/UI.

Work on the loading speed

If your store does not load fast on desktops, it would be even slower in the mobile screens. A part of the design will not appear or clicking any elements on the page won’t work. If more of your customers are accessing from mobiles, then before you lose a great sales optimise the load time with caching plugin, optimising the images and videos.

Provide simplified payments

The reason more people shop through mobiles is the convenience. The convenience is to pay with a tap with PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay or other eWallet integrations. So, mobile eCommerce optimisation involves checkout optimisation too. While MagentoCommunity simplifies that mobile payments with digital wallets integrations, join solemnly the Magento Community Initiative to get access to applications like HiConversion that help in checkout optimisation.

Cut-down third-party advertisements

If your Magento site is flooded with too many pop-up ads, floating tabs for offers, deals etc., it may annoy the users more who view the site on mobiles. It is thus better you reduce or drop the ads and instead channel the ads or deals to customers through their emails.

Replace the heavy content

While a good amount of high-quality content gives you an upper hand in SEO and also looks good in the bigger screens, it can bog down the site when opened in smaller mobile screens. Half of the content can cut-off from the display screen. For mobile optimisation, you need to reduce the content and organise them into smaller fragmented sections. Enough of white spaces is too an important element to enhance mobile readability.

Mobile eCommerce optimisation is no doubt made the easiest with Magento platform. So, sweat no more with your non-optimised website making a substantial loss of sales but turn to a skilled Magento experts team who can make your store great for mobile traffic.

How to Create a Successful Mobile Application

In the present mobile world, for any small business an application is important. However, a bad mobile application is no superior to having no application at all. It’s difficult to shake off the bad brand impression you will get for your app not created in a way that draws in clients.

To make a fruitful mobile application you have to follow a methodical way to deal with application development. We have explained 6 steps to make a fruitful mobile app development to enable you to out in this procedure.

Here are some steps to create an effective mobile app:

  1. An awesome imagination leads an incredible app:- Before you begin planning an application, you truly need an imaginative thought that will connect with the group of audience. As there are a few mobile applications officially accessible for mobile clients, thinking of a special niche is critical. It’s important that upcoming mobile application is vital, propels on another application, and resolves a specific issue. It is prescribed to do some market surveying to find a remarkable niche. Ensure you realize what you will offer before you begin building up an application.
  2. Keep it clear:- With regards to mobile apps, the simplicity plays an imperative part. On the off chance that your recently launched application is pressed loaded with superfluous features, you are probably going to not get wanted success. The final result of this kind of task will be a mobile application which isn’t simple for crowd to use with a few neglected features. Toward the end, most clients who attempt it will uninstall it soon. A few reviews have likewise revealed that the less demanding an application, the more clients will like it and make it more fruitful. Along these lines, try to launch a negligible reasonable application with basic yet inventive features, and see the reaction of clients. Afterward, you might have the capacity to build up an updated second version of the application, potentially with some energizing features.
  3. Native apps offer superior performance:- Remembering the theme of speed and accommodation, realize that native application development produces the best results in such manner.
  4. Have an application marketing technique:- Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs don’t focus on marketing that is a standout amongst the most critical parts of mobile application development process. It is very suggested that you begin making strong marketing processes in cutting edge. Each effective digital product has a well thoroughly considered marketing plan that encourages them get new clients. The marketing methods can run from PR to supported messages via social media, to PPC and past.
  5. Make use of the advance technology:- The universe of mobile changes quickly, so ensure your application won’t depend on out of date tech. In case if your application is outdated this converts into offering a more terrible mobile shopping experience than contenders. Make a point to connect with experts in the field who will inform you on the most recent developments expected to make a retail application successful.
  6. Plan your ongoing or user engagement:- When you launch your application, and it’s accessible to install from the app stores, you need a plan set up for drawing in with your clients. Applications offer magnificent opportunities for organizations to draw in with their clients, however this exclusive works if you design ahead of time how you will do this. Consider how to utilize push notification and execute your in-application messages. These must be applicable to your clients and keep them on your app. Remember your geo-fence tools either. These let you send area based messages to your clients, yet another reason behind why mobile power rules!

These are some important steps which should be considered while building up an application. If you want more help in creating a mobile application for your business, then contact the mobile app development company.

What Is The Difference Between a Mobile Enhanced and a Mobile Friendly Website?

Back in February 2015 when Google first announced that their now famous ranking algorithm “mobilegeddon” would be rolled out on in April that same year there was a crazy scramble by website owners to bring code up to date and make sure their websites functioned correctly on multiple devices including mobile phones and tablets so as to avoid any Google penalties.

Now around 18 months on we look at how web design and development has transformed because of the increased smart phone and tablet use and what you should to expect from your mobile compliant website.

Responsive web design (RWD) is now industry standard and there should be no need to ask your designer whether your website will be mobile/tablet friendly or not and whilst there may still be a handle of unscrupulous amateur design agencies adding on extra money for the ‘privilege’ of having a responsive site most genuine designers simply see it as the way websites are designed nowadays.

There is however a very big difference between mobile friendly and mobile enhanced just like there is a big difference between having just a website and having a website that is search optimised and user friendly.

Many agencies will simply throw content into a responsive framework just to pass Google’s mobile friendly test and keep the client happy. I’ll be honest, I’ve seen some truly terrible so-called mobile friendly websites in the past 18 months, every one able to pass Google’s mobile friendly test yet doing little to enhanced a mobile users experience or bring in new business for the website owner.

A lot of the problem is with the high number of unskilled web design agencies using outdated frag and drop site building software or third party templates and simply not having the required coding skills to re-arrange and enhance the content for mobile users.

What works and looks good on a desktop will not necessarily work well and look good on a mobile phone due to the size and orientation of the screen. A good designer will view your new site on various devices and take into account your niche or type of business and will use the site as if they are a client or customer.

Do you want a client or customer to be able to call you simply by clicking a button? Then a clickable ‘call now’ button should be visible without scrolling as should your logo, business name and navigation menu. Is your text readable on a mobile? Having different font sizes and spacing on a mobile gives a much neater site and better user experience. Simple adjustments for the mobile phone user can make a big difference.

Mobile Oil Change Businesses Are Very Hard to Succeed In

There have been many people who have come and gone in the mobile oil change business. It always looks easy from the surface and is relatively inexpensive to start with minimum investment compared to most other businesses. But most mobile oil change operators rarely make it past the first year. In fact most do not make it past the first several months. One has to wonder why such a good idea ultimately ends in failure. Lets take a closer look.

First the profit generated from oil changes is not enough to sustain a healthy business. After you calculate the cost of goods from the total bill there is rarely is more than twenty five dollars net profit made from your typical oil change. And that figure does not include the gas used driving to the actual location. You have to be doing a lot of oil changes per day for you to make a decent profit to support your business and your personal expenses. Most quick lubes make even less due to their substantially higher overhead yet make up for it in large volume. Most successful fixed locations are doing 60 oil changes on a bad day. A mobile oil change company, with most of the time one or perhaps two people working it, does not have that luxury. The most your typical mobile oil change van can do is ten oil changes per day and after that the operator is exhausted. And even if a person could consistently do ten oil changes per day he still has to generate those oil changes from somewhere. They do not magically appear. Do you have a plan how to do that? Most start out thinking corporate campuses will provide tons of business especially if its marketed by the companies there. In reality that rarely works as advertised and you will be lucky if you get 10 customers in one year from a huge corporate campus. The end conclusion is that the net per oil change is just too low to make a viable business from it without a massive amount of volume.

Second, many mobile oil change operators are not very good salesmen. They are usually very honest people and ones who are very passionate about what they do and you gotta love that but I have found that most owners of mobile oil changes are terrible at the sales end. They are usually the type who try to charge way less than the going market rate and think they can tell a few people about their “awesome service” and wait by the phone. That never works. You have to go out and get them. You have to do a copious amount of cold calling. You have to talk to a lot of fleet managers and sale yourself first and then your service. Most in the mobile oil change business do not fully understand this or never really apply themselves to this side of business. Its probably the most important part not just in the mobile oil change business but any business for that matter. I will go out on a limb and say that if you are a great salesmen you will do well running a mobile oil change business or franchise. If you know about cars but not sales then I recommend working for a new or used car dealer for 2-3 months and get the experience. It will be tough and gruesome but that is the quickest way to get good a pure hard core sales without a lot of the “fluff.” Then open your mobile oil change company.

Third, the weather cannot be understated in limiting what mobile oil change operators can do. There are few states that have decent weather throughout the year. Half the states get really cold several months out of the years and the other half get really hot throughout 3/4 of the year. Both are equally discouraging. A fixed location can turn on the air or turn on the heat. Their operators work in a controlled environment. You do not have that luxury. You may have several fleets planned for one day and it can be pouring down rain that day. Have you thought about changing oil in 0 degrees. Your hands will not be able to grip that oil filter or wretch its as hard as a rock or you cannot feel them. Or changing hot 150 degree motor oil in 100 degree humid weather on a vehicle where it’s oil filter is in the middle of a hot engine manifold and you have to burn yourself to get to it? Do you clean it off and skip it or burn yourself to get to it? That will happen.

Having mentioned these three major hurdles, and there are more, I will say that it is not impossible. I have made a success of it. But I wish that someone would have been straightforward with me before me and my partner spent over $80,000 getting into the mobile oil change business. We were sold on a lot of unreal hopes and dreams from Jet Set Life Technologies about great wealth using a flawed model involving oil extreme. They set us up with a nice van and their product is good but their whole system is flawed from the bottom to the top. We found a way to make it work but sadly 90% of the mobile oil change business operators do not. The success rate is very small. Understand whats really involved and if you think you can grind it out and not make any money for 2-3 years, go for it.

Free Mobile Games – Is It a Boon or Bane?

Do you spend your free time playing games on your smartphone? Have you downloaded games in your phone? There are always two faces for a coin.

Mobile games are those that are played in your featured or smartphones. Starting with the basic snake games, these have evolved to be better with more realistic features. They are modified to show better graphics, with multiple player facilities (even from different places) and more. These games can be classified to premium and freemium. Premium games ask payment for downloading the app, while freemium ones are free to download but they ask for real cash to enter certain levels.

Mobile game players vary from bored old parents to enthusiastic teenagers to even small kids. They all have different options, like easy swipe games to the violent shooting ones. For old or middle-aged people there are games with lesser efforts like the easy finger swiping. There are location-based games, shooting games or even augmented reality games in the market for teenagers with a great adrenaline rush.

Location-based games have features that trace your location, connect it with the game and make your movement the main aspect of the game. In augmented reality games, your smartphone camera captures the images and through the screen, the game graphics help you to interact with your surrounding as well. These graphics are usually drawn and they move according to your movement.

Lovers of action packed movies and series can opt for shooting or war games, etc. There are many varieties of these in the stores, which are multiple players and allow you to interact and play with several players across the world. For growing children, there are many educational games that help them to improve their habits. Those games show the daily tasks they should follow or the daily habits they should acquire. There are games to improve their language as well.

Are these games on your smartphone worth wasting your time? Honestly, they are not. Most of them in the store are made just for profit and those freemium games often ask you to pay real money at crucial levels which leave you of no choice. Most of you spend your savings in these so-called free games, in a hurry to get to next level or to unlock the hardest one, etc.

Most of the games keep you addicted to them that while playing you just forget the time running by. There are many reports that show how a player gets addicted to these that they end up killing themselves or they get so hooked up in the phone that they meet with some sort of accidents.

Mobile Development Makes Your Phone Smarter

The cell phones have been effectively acknowledged as a gadget which is proficient to perform more than making voice calls. The number of pleasurable and appealing functionalities has gotten huge progressions the field of mobiles. With the help of mobile phones apart from making voice calls, you can also send text messages, click photos, chat with friends, make video calls, share links, exchange documents, send email, book your movie show and much more, as a matter of fact you can do almost everything with your phone. This achievement has been conceivable by commencing more current and better applications for the end-clients.

The main important change was brought by Apple by bringing in the iPhone in the mobile industry. It was a huge hit and made its own particular special market in the mobile world. From there on, it was no looking back in the field of cell phones and offered ascent to different gadgets, for example, Android, Blackberry based phones.

Considerably after accessibility of a long list of applications harmonious with one or more devices, the mobile industry is prepared with open arms to acknowledge new, inventive and attractive applications for their specific specialty. In such scenario, the mobile development service providers are putting forth mobile applications development services to add more usefulness to a hand-held device.

The mobile services have abridged the distance between individuals and have greatly improved the way of communication than some time recently. As mobiles have turned into an indispensable part of our everyday need, the across-the-board range of cell phones are coming in the mobile industry. Subsequently, the extent of presenting new applications has likewise grown. This has changed a usual cell phone into a Smartphone which is giving extreme contention to each other. A few of the commonest mobile applications are hotels, climate, new, travel, games, education and so forth.

The mobile development organizations hire a team of mobile developers who are competitive in bringing results from easy to intricate applications. They comprehend the business patterns and are ready to handle snags and difficulties to create a solution that can suffice the necessities of most of the clients.

In the event that you have a phenomenal concept to create a new application for a cell phone, you must engage the services of mobile application engineers to turn it into reality. They will think about the business, design a layout, develop a solution and eventually perform careful testing to guarantee the bugs-free solution for the future customers. You can either decide to introduce it in application stores or in other mobile programming distribution system. The clients can download the favored applications onto their mobile phone and can make the best utilization of the applications in their everyday life.

Mobile development professionals to alleviate all forms of intricacies have to ascertain proper testing on each and every platform. Some business organization increases development resource by laying down stability in native user-interaction with backend platform. In such situation, a mobile app can run as a web application interface in an effective manner.

How Can Mobile Games Influence One’s Life?

Children of now are more exposed to technology than we had been in our childhood. This is because science has made much advancement and it has been successful in reaching out to almost every person. One of the appreciable discoveries of the 20th century is the mobile phones. These have undergone massive changes since its discoveries. Now the mobiles are known as Smartphone. The screens of these phones are bigger. They provide a greater level of entertainment to the one who watches anything or plays games on it. Now in this age of frequent mobile use, one feels paralyzed if he or she is kept away from his or her phone.

You know right from your age to your children’s age the video games are all time favorites. But in your age, the video game version was mostly limited to the PCs. The later generation saw the rise of the play stations and X-box. Current your child has a mobile in their hand instead of these things. This is because phones and especially the touch screen phones offer a rich gaming experience like never before.

They are in a great way influencing the lives of the people. Most of the people that play games belong to the 10 to 25 age group. They remain so much engrossed with the games that they get to know little about the world around them. The games have also made them lonely and less interactive. They are more active virtually and less active socially. Most of them have affected their intercommunication abilities.

In spite of the darker sides of the mobile games, there are certain lighter sides also. The games are generally very much informative. Some companies even design games in such a way that the children can learn basic things from them. While playing the games they can be out of their depression. The ones who are shy to talk with others can do so in the virtual world and make many friends. Thus, it is true that the video games are not as helpful as the mobile games. They have a limit and one needs to maintain that in order to play the games. There are a wide variety of games for the mobile phones. So, the Smartphone users download as many games as they like and enjoy them.

Through this article, it is very much evident that the mobile games are very much effective. They influence the users in many ways but providing more advantages than disadvantages.

The Mobile App Revolution: Why You Should Be a Part of It

If you have a business, then you must be aware of the fact that mobile apps are bringing great changes in how people do their work, shop or connect. Applications are becoming the bridge between the customers, employees and the products or services. And the rise of smart phones has created a thriving market for the mobile apps and this has in fact helped businesses to increase their productivity by effectively mobilizing their resources and enhancing the user experiences. Though the process is gradual and iterative, mobility has brought in a huge change in the way businesses operate.

Here is why you should be a part of the mobile app revolution

Simplicity in the front end:

Having a mobile application for your business would result in giving easy access opportunities to your customers. It helps them to reach out to you any time of the day and even on the go. The easy front ends of enterprise apps are often attractive and intuitive so that people can enjoy while availing various services. Not only shopping, people can also play, watch movies, listen to music and do various other works without having much trouble. Mobile app brings with it the freshness that today’s business can no more afford to miss.

Keeps the users more engaged:

Building an app is easy, but creating something that can keep your customers engaged may be difficult. Mobiles have become an integral part of human life and so it is the best device through which you can keep your audiences engaged. It is by developing a mobile application that you can help employees become more productive and keep your customers hooked to your business. Offering personalized information or message is easy with such apps and this increases the chances of conversion.

Mobile centric business

If online business owners want to develop a revolutionary app, then they must adopt a mobile centric approach. They need to think of mobile first and if they can adopt a long term mobile centric vision, then they can easily develop applications that ensure great experiences and are also integral to all their applications. The trend of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environment has also changed the way business owners think today. If they want to be at par with the latest trends and technologies, then it is a must to develop a mobile app for the business.

Reach out to a wider market base:

For making a business successful, it is important to have a huge market base. And this is possible by developing a mobile application that can be accessed from any device and OS. The mobile app can easily be accessed even on the go and people can gather information about the products and services anytime and from anywhere. It also helps to target a huge market base as there is no geo limitations. People can easily access your app and get the desired information.

Mobile centric strategies are the ultimate future of all enterprises and it is very important that businesses realize the importance of leveraging mobile platforms that helps them to effectively address the varied challenges that includes integration, scalability, security while enhancing the user convenience.

How to Prepare Your Website for Google Mobile-First Indexing

With the lapse of time, Internet users on mobiles have gradually increased and today it has surpassed the number of users surfing the net through the desktops. Anticipating a further increase in mobile Internet users, Google has announced a significant change in its algorithm in the form of mobile-first indexing.

What is Mobile-First Indexing?

Until now, Google used to crawl your website and index it based on its desktop version. But now, it will index your website and rank it based on the content of your mobile site. This change of prioritizing mobile version of websites in the Google algorithm is termed as Mobile-First Indexing.

All websites essentially need to comply with the norms of this new algorithm, if they want to maintain their Google search engine ranking and get organic traffic to their website through Google. However, if your site is not optimized for this new algorithm, you are sure to get lesser traffic.

So, here are some tips you should follow to make sure your site is ready for Mobile-First Indexing:

Tip 1: Use a Responsive Design

Using a responsive website design is highly important for maintaining the ranking of your website. Responsive design means your site should adapt to the screen size of all types be it desktop, tablet or a mobile device. Websites with responsive design not only fit any screen size but they are highly accessible and fluid on all device types and thus help in retaining your target audience.

Tip 2: Ensure your site loads faster

No doubt, design of your site is highly important but apart from that the speed at which your site loads on different devices is also crucial to the success of any website. So, you need to ensure quick loading time of your site not just on desktops but even on mobile devices. Now-a-days, users expect pixel-perfect images along with split-second rendering time for most websites. It is only if your site is fast that it will have lower bounce rate and invite higher engagement time which is essential for its high ranking on search engines.

Tip 3: Display the same content

Although, Google hasn’t clarified much about its new algorithm yet but it has repeatedly said this: “Make sure you serve the same content across your mobile and desktop sites. That means articles, the same links, and the same features.” So, it is only in your best interest and in accordance with the Google algorithm to serve the same type of content that appropriately fits in your site as seen across all different types of gadgets.

It is advisable to follow the above tips to ensure that your website is ready for Google Mobile-First Indexing before Google implements its new algorithm.

How to Hire Mobile App Developers

Mobile apps have become a major part of our life. We use apps for almost everything we do from ordering food to calculate the total bill. Apps are the perfect thing to attract people, especially when you have a start-up. Mobile apps help build better connections with people and are considered more user friendly than other mediums. The main reason is because of the constant use of technology nowadays.

Mobile apps are the best way to connect with the customers and building it can be hard. You need them to attractive enough to catch the customer’s attention, it should have the right inputs, great content and the list goes on. There is also a possibility of the mobile app being a failure due to the developer not understanding the brief properly and looking at it in a different perspective, something which you weren’t thinking of. The budget is also an issue when it comes to mobile apps.

Being a competitive market, the best and the most experienced mobile app developers come at very high prices. Being a start-up there is not much money to invest in app development. Mobile apps do play a crucial role in enhancing business, but when it comes to startup you need people who will take less money and provide you with a great app.

To find the best app developer, there are some things which you need to keep in mind. Some common things which will help you to find a mobile app developer who fulfills your needs and is in your budget are as follows:

Check the Portfolio

The first thing you need to see is their portfolio. To find the best one is to take a look at their previous work and review them. Most sites allow putting their previous work. So to find an app developer who will fulfill your task you need to check their skill and thought process which you can do by reviewing their work.

Should be Skilled in all Platforms

A great app developer is someone who not only has the skills, but also the UI/UX skills to create an app. It is also important that the app developer should know for which system he develops apps, the iOS or the android system and he has the required skills. In case you’re interested in knowing more about App developer then read this info

Should be Experienced

The second thing you need to know is their experience. A person can develop a great app by years of experience in the industry. Try looking for a person who has minimum 5-6 years of experience while going through their portfolio. You should also check out their website and client reviews and their work. This will show the list of their work and give you the number of clients he/she has worked with and the experience they have.

Check the Payment Structure

Lastly, you should check the payment structure of the company or the developer which you are hiring. It is important to have a good payment structure otherwise it can be your loss so you have to be skeptical to choose the right app developer.

To sum it up with the above points kept in mind, you can choose a suitable app developer for your start-up.

Freelance Web Designer | WordPress Developer | Hong Kong