In situations like this, most people would look at their marketing strategy, SEO or their content. What most people forget is that the website’s actual design might be the culprit. Your efforts can be hurt by bad site design. To avoid this, we put together nine common web mistakes for you to nip it in the bud and finally get the results you were hoping to achieve.

Your Website is Hard to Navigate

Primarily, guests are going to use your site menu to navigate where they need to go. For this reason, making it easy to understand and usable is going to be beneficial for you. If you look at WordPress, you will see how the site makes it easy to navigate for viewers. Check your site and see how easy it is to navigate. A rule of thumb is, the easier, the better.

Bad Content

You may have all the bells and whistles as well as all the trendy new developments in web design, but if there is not much substance, guests will immediately go somewhere else. Most people need value above everything else so if something looks very shiny but don’t have the information they are looking for, they will attempt to search it somewhere else. Instead, focus on the content and make sure that it provides the value that people need. Good content is king. In fact, even if you need minor tweaks on your site, viewers will tend to be a lot more forgiving if the content you provide them is exactly what they need.

Your Website Looks Outdated

New trends on the web are constant and keeping your site looking fresh and up to date will garner more viewership. Pay attention to new developments, particularly if you are a tech company or are selling gadgets. No one is going to want to deal with a technology website that looks like it is still in the nineties.

Responsive Design Doesn’t Exist

If your website is not available to view on a mobile gadget or a different format other than on a desktop, you might as well close your business. More and more viewers view sites from their phone, and if this is something you simply did not spend time doing for your site, your efforts would be futile. Instead, make sure that your site has a responsive design for those who do not surf the web on a desktop computer. This way, you can cross this one off the list as your culprit and focus on other stuff instead.

Bad Call to Action

The call to action is the focal point of all websites. In fact, the goal and purpose of your site is to move viewers forward. When your call to action is hard to find, or when it is nowhere to be seen, this will cause viewers to become confused. Instead, prominently display calls to action. Remember, this is not the time to play hide and seek. Make it easy for every guest on your website to say yes. The more obstacles that stand in the way of your viewers and your goal, the less likely they will hit the YES button.  Rather, making it easy for your viewers to click YES will make a tremendous difference in terms of website success.

Uninterrupted, Large Text Blocks

Quick scanning is the norm today and when you have one large text block on your screen, without paragraph breaks in between; this will turn viewers off immediately. Remember, a website is not a page of a novel and viewers find it easier to scan information if this is broken down into chunks rather than presented with no paragraph breaks as one giant piece of text. Using different colors, font sizes and fonts will make a huge difference in becoming more appealing to the viewers. When you include subheadings, this divides your text into smaller chunks, making it easier for the viewers to sift through all the information they need.

Clutter and Inconsistency

When it comes to web design, less is more. A good site design’s objective is to provide content hierarchy, focus, and guidance. Pages cluttered with too much stuff will cause the viewer to put too much effort trying to find the correct link or may cause confusion about where they want to go.

Your Websites Loads Slowly

One major factor that contributes to viewers leaving your page quickly is when it loads slowly. Slower response times to page loading increases page abandonment, for obvious reasons. People are simply not going to wait to find out what time of day your entire page fully loads.

Your Site Makes A Bad First Impression

When it comes to web design, first impressions are everything. You know the saying that you never have another chance to make a great first impression? Well, the same can be said for websites. Guests tend to decide at lightning speed whether your site is worth their time or not. Thus, making a clear, positive first impression is something you want to do. Everyone that visits your site should want to stay there.

Avoiding these nine common web design mistakes will help your site turn one-time site visitors to frequent ones. Remember that in the ever constant world of changing trends, keeping yourself on top of things and doing periodic revamps of your website to tweak it to make it more attractive and easier to use will enable you to reap the rewards of your efforts. After all, with so many people online these days, things can only look up from here.

Does your website need a makeover? A refresh might be the thing you need to push your visitors to customers, call us today 480-970-4688

Photo by Julian O’hayon on Unsplash

Mobilize Your Forces!

Google gets over 100 billion searches a month. 50% of those searches come from mobile devices. This doesn’t include searches made on devices with screens larger than 6 inches such as tablets.

Any business that is serious about digital marketing and growing leads, must understand by now that their content has to be visible on mobile devices. You are likely using one right now to read this! There is no longer a question of “should we?” create a site that is optimized for mobile users, but rather “how should we?”

One for all and all for one!

It is very important to have your website work smoothly when displayed on user’s devices. There are a multitude of sizes and aspect ratios of mobile devices. There are different browsers that process your content in their own ways. Having your website be “one size fits all” viewed in a consistent way across all channels, is a challenge.

If your site isn’t user friendly and visitors have to struggle to get to the information they need, they will bounce right off your site faster than a new version of anything by Microsoft needs a patch!

There are two basic ways to make your website work on mobile devices:

• Responsive website – Layout and code your website to provide an optimal viewing experience for the user. Properly designed it will offer ease of reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling working across a wide range of devices – from desktop to mobile phones.

• Mobile website – Build a distinct website using a unique URL separate from your main site that is developed specifically for a fast user-friendly experience for the smaller screens of mobile devices.

A mobile site and a responsive website will both optimize your site to work on smaller screens. Both will provide simpler navigation and faster load times.

Here we will discuss the differences between the two – responsive websites and mobile-dedicated sites and discuss why it may be better to use a responsive website.

Mobile-Dedicated Sites

Mobile sites are designed specifically for mobile devices. They are built totally separate from the main site and have a unique URL (domain name), e.g. m.primeview.com. Basically, it is a copy of your main site – minus features that the developers decide won’t work well on mobile or only a small subset of the full-site.

For example, very large pictures or large file downloads may be left out. Intricate spreadsheets, comparison tables, and visualizations such as infographics that are difficult to rescale on small mobile screens may be left out. What works best is decided based on the experience of the developers and the goals of the content.

Improved Responsive Technology

However, as mobile development technology improves, sophisticated websites may be seen fully on mobile devices. A well-designed site may contain the same content and functionality as the desktop version, but the content and features are rearranged for mobile.

A mobile website (if developed properly) can detect which type of device is being used for viewing and provide the best experience based on the capabilities of the device.

Responsive Websites

Responsive sites are designed from the beginning to display properly on the multitude of devices with different screens. In responsive design, the server sends the same content to every device, but includes information that tells the mobile device how to display the pages on its screen.

The content adjusts automatically to the orientation (landscape or portrait) and the available screen size. The well-designed responsive website will automatically resize, hide, shrink, enlarge, or move the content to make it look good and make it easy to use, regardless of the devices screen.

For example, if some of your content is presented on the desktop version in three columns, the device will display it in one or two columns. If you have a horizontal navigation bar that can’t fit on the screen, the mobile device will display an icon that when clicked – shows a vertical version of the navigation.

Advantages of Responsive Design

A Single Domain

While a mobile site needs a different domain, responsive design allows you to have only one domain, the only thing that is different is the code on the back-end.

• Improved SEO – When there is a separate mobile domain, users searching for your main domain on a mobile device will be redirected to the mobile site, automatically. This can hurt traffic to your main domain.

Responsive web design helps SEO efforts by having all your visitors directed to a single site, no matter what device they are using. Another improvement, managing one SEO campaign is easier than managing two.

• Less Work – Having two websites to maintain, a desktop and a mobile website, makes twice as much work. If there are updates or changes that need to be made, then webmasters have to make changes on the desktop version and the mobile site.

• One website costs less than two – Having one site that addresses the needs of all devices is less costly when compared to having two separate websites.

Works on current and future devices

Mobile dedicated sites are coded to work on existing phones, tablets and browsers, based on known devices particular format. Each known device type must have lines of code included in the sites development that deliver the content correctly to match screen size and orientation, and the capabilities of the device, which the server can detect.

Furthermore, different browsers will display a websites content in their own way, another layer of programming that needs to be considered.

While a mobile site can require updating to accommodate next generation devices, a responsive website will work on future devices – without any changes to the websites coding.

Choosing Responsive or Mobile-Dedicated

The best solution needs to take into account the user experience you want, your industry, and your budget. Every business should consider responsive design as an option as it saves time and resources while offering a great user experience.

Check out these links to learn more about responsive websites!

Responsive Web design: What is it, why you should invest in it?
Link to: https://www.primeview.com/blog/responsive-web-design-invest/

Why Mobile-friendly Websites Spell SEO Success
Link to: https://www.primeview.com/blog/mobile-friendly-websites-spell-seo-success/

References:
https://www.primeview.com/blog/2015-seo-news-roundups-and-insights/
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/mobile-vs-responsive/
https://pixabay.com/en/guy-phone-smartphone-wink-1424911/
https://www.primeview.com/blog/responsive-web-design-invest/
http://www.clickseed.com/responsive-design-vs-separate-mobile-site-vs-dynamic-serving/
http://codeboxr.com/blogs/top-5-advantages-of-responsive-web-page-design/

Img c/o pixabay

As professional web developers of one of Arizona’s Leading Web Design Agencies, we make sure our outputs are very reliable when it comes to aspects such as speed, responsiveness, and total performance. We know how these are important components of a great website and being under Primeview’s roof, we seek only the best.

The team is sharing different tools that we use, so you can see for yourself if your website passes the web standards and are very well optimized like ours. Here’s a list of our Top 5 useful tools for checking web performance.

Web Page Test

Developed by AOL, an open source tool supported by Google itself as part of its efforts to make the web faster. This tool is, according to AOL, run for the benefit of the performance community with several companies and individuals providing the testing infrastructure around the globe.

Basically how this tool works is simple, to test your website, you paste your website URL in the form at the beginning of the process and run the test. After getting the results, the data will be shown in different formats. At the top of the results page, you’ll see whether you pass the aspects of a well optimized website in the form of First Byte Time, Keep-alive Enabled, Compress Transfer, Compress Images, Cache static content, and Effective use of CDN, if the grade is from A-B, you’re good to go, if not, there must be some more optimization to do.

PageSpeed Insights

As for Google, PageSpeed Insights measures the performance of a page for mobile devices and desktop devices. It fetches the URL twice, once with a mobile user-agent, and once with a desktop-user agent. This is a great tool to see if your website is performing well, it ranges from 0-100 points, 85 above indicates a great performance. One more perk of using this tool is it tells you points on where your site needs improvement so you’ll know where to work with.

GTmetrix

This tool is another speed tester for your site, it gives you insight on how well your site loads and provides actionable recommendations on how to optimize it. GTmetrix lets you analyze your website and grade it according to its performance and gives you helpful suggestions to boost your site. It also provides a wide range of features to help you make your site faster, or as they say, “Take advantage of all the features GTmetrix has to offer and make your site the fastest it can be!”

Mobile Website Speed Testing

In comparison with PageSpeed Insights, this tool test your site’s performance from desktop to mobile, letting you know your users’ experience and gives you helpful points to work on in your website. This tool is also developed by Google that gives you a material interface that is very easy to navigate and read through, it makes analysis easier, one of the big difference of this tool is the ability to send the results directly to your email to save time and have a personal copy of the report.

Resizer

It’s better to know if your site is visually appealing on every device, especially nowadays when people browse through their phones and less frequently on their desktops. This tool lets you view your website in different viewports in desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. You can now evaluate your website’s usability in devices and see how readable it is to your users. Another helpful and effective tool developed by Google for free use.

Back then, website design was much simpler because the internet was only accessible through desktop and laptops with standard dimensions. However, as technology evolved, business owners need to stay updated and have their developers design a more fluid and interactive website because most of today’s phones, laptops, and tablets come with full connectivity options for surfing the web. That being said, consumers now can access the internet – and any website – while on the go.

Since that is the case, your website should not just be regularly updated, but stays current and fluid. In order for your business presence to be appreciated across different devices, your website needs to be mobile-responsive.

Mobile internet is becoming a way of life

Accessing the internet on mobile is becoming a way of life for most people. In the United States alone, the number of smartphone users has ballooned. According to statistics, 68 percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone, while 45% of the population has a tablet. Meanwhile, in age brackets, most people who are always on the go always have a smartphone in their pockets, at least 86 percent for ages 18-29, while 83 percent of those in the 30-49 also own a smartphone.

This means that in order for your business to target as wide an audience as possible, it is necessary to make your website a mobile-responsive one.

Mobile-responsive = good online presence

What is a mobile-responsive website? This means that your website is mobile-friendly and able to automatically adapt to any hardware or device. For example, in previous years, website developers only need to build webpages on standard dimensions, since most desktops and laptops have regular display sizes. However, since today’s crowd can surf the internet using their mobile devices, this means that your business website should automatically scale to fit other screens like those of smartphones and tablets.

Aside from scaling, a mobile-friendly website also tones down on some of the content to suit small-screened devices, keeping in mind that directly scaling down the pages will only result in users trying to scroll incessantly when browsing the website.

In addition, most search engines take into account how responsive a website is, be it viewed on desktops or mobile devices. Google has already made changes to its algorithm, such that business webpages without mobile-friendly versions are being pushed further down into the search engine result page. This means that in order for the website to maintain a lead and “first-page” presence in searches, a mobile-responsive design is imperative and should be prioritized.

Consistency is key

Both the desktop and mobile versions of the website should offer the same access to your clients. However, the design for the mobile version should be different from the desktop one; some would say that it needs to have a minimalistic theme as much as possible. Everything should be within reach with just a few clicks, since web surfers tend to close down browsers and websites if they either take too long to load, or if they have to scroll through numerous pages just to find the information they need.

However, even with minimal pages, tabs, or buttons, the mobile version of your business website should serve the same complete information, and offer the same user experience, as your proper, desktop website.

Make your website mobile-friendly

There are crucial factors and elements that you can take into consideration when thinking of a mobile-responsive website. While these components seem practical, you still need the services of website professionals to help you tread through these essentials and give your business a positive online presence.

• Content should be precise yet concise. Gone are the days when webpages are made only made-up of long-form content. Short but impressive descriptions will work for the on-the-go crowds, but long reads can still work on mobile if it’s laid out in an appropriate format.

• Go for a clean and minimal look. One feature that website professionals can help you with is the overall design and layout of your website. Content should be responsive and can be opened as quick as possible, without navigating too deep into the web pages.

• Use images. The right layout and combination of words and images deliver an impact for a mobile-friendly website. Images themselves contain the main content of your pages.

• Check for auto-scaling. Sometimes, website developers just tend to convert the website to a “mobile-responsive” one by scaling the dimensions of the pages to fit smaller screens. However, since most desktop monitors are too wide for manual scaling, some details on the mobile version become lost. Professional website developers, however, will advise you – and test for themselves – auto scaling your website, so that your web pages load in their entirety whether it be viewed on large-screen desktop monitors or smaller displays like smartphones and tablets.

• Make use of true analytics. Although there are third-party analytics that can give you feedback on your websites, most website developers and Internet specialist have their own suite of analytics tools that will dig deeper into your website, and provide you with real-time and comprehensive data. Such information will then give you complete overview of your business, which is essential in marketing and business planning.

• Test your mobile website regularly. One key advantage of getting skilled, professional services in website development and Internet marketing is that they can regularly check and monitor your website. Part of their services is to test your website on schedules, and after changes and updates on the content. They can then readily provide you with feedback on the best ways to improve client engagement. Established professionals, meanwhile, provide you with a complete suite of services in both website development and Internet marketing to make sure that your website is truly a mobile-responsive one and will provide a good online presence for your business.

●    Over-Optimizing a Website With Keywords
●    Not Publishing Enough Content
●    Website Has Duplicate Content
●    Using Unnatural Link Building Techniques
●    Not Creating a Social Media Account for the Business

As discussed in our previous post, it is highly necessary to steer clear from any of the aforementioned practices because they do more harm than good. An outstanding SEO campaign does not include any of these practices, and business owners who are using these “strategies” are only asking for a Google penalty, which means a lower ranking and a bad reputation.

If you are an entrepreneur with a company website, it would be wise to take note of the following SEO mistakes and ensure that these are not utilized by you or the SEO company you have enlisted to optimize your website.

6. Ignoring Local Search Trends – If there is one thing every business owner should pay attention to on top of basic white hat techniques for their SEO campaign, it is to keep up-to-date on local search trends. Small, independent business owners would be able to reach out to their target market residing within their area if they are ranking locally.As much as 30 percent of Google searches are focused on a specific location, so if your businesses operates within Scottsdale, then it would make sense to rank for geotargeted keywords with Scottsdale as the location, instead of a broader area such as Arizona, unless of course your business serves the whole state. Many business owners tend to focus on state or national search results, which are extremely competitive, when they can get more profit by focusing on local SEO.

7. Not Taking the Time to Seek Customer Reviews – One of the best ways to secure your ranking and reputation online is through business reviews made by clients. As the owner of your business, you need to find ways to encourage your customers to create reviews.Google+ pages and other local listing sites offer a way for clients to share their thoughts and opinions on a certain product or service, or the company in general, so take time to capitalize on that.

8. Not Utilizing Competitive Analysis Tools – The best way to keep track of your website’s status and performance is by performing a competitive analysis. You can also take time to pull out competitor backlinks to compareresults. Study the top five competitors in your industry and see which keywords they are targeting and what kinds of backlinks you need to help your website rank for them.

9. Overlooking the Importance of Image Titles – There are still a significant number of business owners that have not yet realized the importance of images and the impact they have on your website. File names and alt text for each image should be relevant to the page content. Use keywords that you have assigned to the page and include the location in both the file name and alt text.

10. Not Optimizing Site Navigation – People expect your website to be easily navigated and search engines reward it. If you do not have a clear hierarchy on your website; how will Google know what is most important on your site? If users can’t find out what services you offer, they are going to leave and look elsewhere. This is going to increase your bounce rate, lower conversions, and let Google know your site is not the best result when people quickly return to the search results and visit another site.

11. No Contact Information on Your Webpages – Many websites only have contact information on the contact page. If you want people to call or message you, make it easy for them. Including your local address and phone number on each page of your site will help with lead generation and provide better local rankings. Remember to have your NAP data appear the same as it does in local directories and citations.

12. Your Website is Not Mobile-Ready – This is 2014 and there is no reason to not be mobile ready. Over 50 percent of searches are done from mobile devices. If your site is not compatible, you can kiss traffic and rankings goodbye. If you are on a tight budget, you can switch to a CMS like WordPress and make use of a cheap mobile-ready template.

13. Not Making Use of Videos – There are several search terms that trigger videos above fold. Simply upload your video to YouTube and include your keyword in the title. Build some links to the video page and voila, express ticket to the front page of Google. You may also get traffic from YouTube directly since it is the second largest search engine. Here is an example of videos appearing for localized terms that did not trigger local results. If local results were triggered, you would see videos in the first-third or fifth result or lower.

Managing a website, along with a business, is time-consuming. With the added responsibility of keeping up with changes in the SEO industry, it’s difficult for business owners to have a clear idea of what to do when it comes to implementing an SEO campaign. It’s easy to understand why business owners commit these mistakes, considering the amount of bad information floating around the Internet. Hopefully this article sheds some light on what things not to do, as well as what tactics will be beneficial.

Three Pillars of SEO – Any successful online business that is on top of search engine results pages (SERPs) would tell you that a strong, definitive SEO strategy that is focused on three key components, which are (1) links, (2) content, and (3) social media. These three are so interlaced that the success of one is not as monumental as when the other two elements are properly utilized as well. Content should be catering to the needs of its target audience and tailored to gaining high ranking on SERPs, while social media further extends a business’ reach, and quality links show how trustworthy your website is.

Content Marketing is Here to Stay – Content would still be king in the coming months, if we were to judge what Google algorithms were zoning in on over the past year. Companies need to focus on sharing their stories with the world and create content that is interesting and that the audience can relate to. Those who already invested in content marketing are now expecting a higher return-on-investment (ROI) as the strategy continues to play a significant role in enhancing a business’ online reputation.

Going Mobile is a Must, Not an Option – The Hummingbird update from Google just made it a definite challenge for companies without a mobile marketing plan to achieve higher rankings. This means a website that has a marketing plan that incorporates both a mobile content strategy and a web design that is responsive to mobile devices of various platforms. The business perspective should shift from just targeting online users in general, to a more specific target market—smartphone and tablet users.

Build Your Brand – In SEO, it is very important to continuously build your brand to countless consumers searching the web for products and services on a daily basis. One noteworthy example is Google Authorship, which allows people and companies to create author profiles that recognizes any published content by the author and helps improve rankings in search engine results.

Web Design – In the realm of website design, 2014 could more or less prove to be a continuation of all the new trends that became popular last year. Look out for the following strategies and try to incorporate them into your overall site’s overall design.

Fonts with Personality – Websites with interesting fonts, those that can stand on their own, without the help of images or colorful themes. They are far from the standard fonts that come with operating systems. Web designers nowadays are looking for new ways to add more personality to a site design and fonts are one of the best ways to express a certain look or feel. A font that manages to reflect both a professional and vibrant appearance can go a long way than a plain, dull typography.

Mobile Responsive Design – A website that is accessible to both desktop computers and mobile devices are sure winners when it comes to visibility than those that are not capable of catering to mobile smartphones and tablet users. More and more designers are working hard to keep websites viewable on different types of mobile devices. The focus though is on the idea that more people who are using their smartphones and tablets to use the internet, so the user experience has to be tailored to a smooth mobile device experience. Try to incorporate the following on your mobile responsive site:

• Integration with social media
• Email subscription request before entering the site
• Long scrolling feature
• Fast loading time

Simpler is Way Better – Simple color schemes are dominating the web design scene for quite some time now and there is no stopping its popularity this year. A website with one or two carefully chosen colors are your best bet. Why? Because using a simpler color scheme allow you to focus the attention of your clients to the most important aspect of your site, which is the content. Your videos, images, and texts will take the spotlight and the colors on your website will allow that to happen.

Dropping the sidebar – While it is not advisable for e-commerce websites and other parts of a website. Dropping the sidebar works well on e-magazine or blogging sites, and there are quite a good number that are experimenting with this style, as it gives an added visual impact, not to mention contributes to a better reading experience. The distractions are take out and visitors will be more compelled to read the article on that page.

In 2012, the average user downloaded 80 apps per device. This is eight times more than when there were only 10 apps downloaded for every one device in 2008.

With those numbers it’s quite a feat to get your app downloaded, but what can be even harder is getting users to use your app more than once. Marketers and developers need to plan and execute marketing efforts to keep users engaged after your app is downloaded to their device.

Why Users Delete Mobile Apps

Because the data doesn’t lie, most of your users either aren’t using your app or uninstalling it altogether. Research by Mobilewalla revealed that users eventually delete 90 percent of all downloaded apps. Make one wrong move that angers or frustrates users – and chances are your app will be deleted.

Mobile App Types of Problems Encountered

The survey by Compuware also sheds light on the most common reasons why users might delete mobile apps or give them bad reviews. The number one cause: freezes. Sixty-two percent of the people who were surveyed said they would delete an app if it froze up.

Another survey from uSamp revealed that 71 percent of users said they would delete an app that crashed, 59 percent for slow responsiveness, 55 percent for heavy battery usage, and 53 percent for too many ads. That’s a lot of pressure for developers and marketers!

This tells us a couple of things:

Mobile customers are intolerant and fickle. (You know you are). If your app isn’t a knockout on first impression, it’s probably going to be deleted or will be forgotten on their smartphones.

You’re potentially losing thousands or millions of dollars in revenue. That’s no joke.

Profit in the app world is a numbers game dictated largely by your app users. Whether your app business model is pay to play, in-app purchases, advertising, or freemium; theoretically, the amount you can generate from an app is highly dependent on the number of users you have.

Why Users Abandon Your App

Here are top reasons why users abandon your app:

Complex or bad registration process: Users won’t keep an app if the registration process is complicated. Mobile users want to start using their new apps quickly. If logging in isn’t a fluid experience, you may have users leave your app for good. Greet new users with useful welcome messages or an intuitive tour.

It’s another “me too” app: It’s difficult to stand out in a crowd of a million. (Literally a million apps just in the iOS app store). Search “to-do list” on any app store and you’ll find pages of apps that offer “the best” solution to managing your to-do list. Finding the best combination of channel, creative, and timing for your marketing campaigns to reach your target audience – and stand out from competitors – is critical to make sure your app gets repeat use.

Lots of bugs and errors: Mobile users have a very low tolerance for unstable apps and nothing can turn them away faster than crashes and buggy interfaces. That’s why 71 percent of users will delete an app after it crashes. If your app happens to have bugs when it’s released, be sure you have the resources to handle support questions or you may receive a lot of poor reviews in app stores.

It’s important to remember that the factors above aren’t the only reasons customers will delete an app after one use. Every app is different. The problems in your app’s first time user experience might not always be apparent from just looking at these three issues.

Don’t Leave Money on the Table

To figure out how to prevent users from deleting your app, you need to understand why they’re leaving in the first place. If your users are abandoning your app after only one use, whatever is turning them away is probably not very deep into your app experience.

The launch and registration of your mobile app is the first opportunity to impress new users of your app. By seeing how your first time users navigate through your app and where and when they leave, you’ll be able to identify the exact feature and/or screen that caused them to drop off – and fix it.

Monitor valuable metrics, such as tutorial completion, time spent on each screen, quitting the app, back tracking between screens and more. For example, if users are closing out of your app after connecting their Facebook account to create a new account, it may mean there’s a bug that’s causing your app to crash or it could be that users are reluctant to share their social network information on their first visit. You may need to offer email registration as an additional option.

The mobile app landscape is only going to get bigger and more competitive. As more apps enter the market, you’re going to need every advantage you can get to stay ahead of your competitors.

An app that can run across multiple platforms? It’s every business owner’s dream—one app that can work flawlessly all mobile platforms and connect to users of various mobile devices. Thanks to the developers of the cross-platform framework, entrepreneurs like you can take advantage of a great opportunity to simultaneously save on their marketing expenses and reach out to more potential customers through a cross-platform mobile app.

Imagine being presented with an app that can work on any device, regardless of the operating system that runs it. The proliferation of smartphones and tablets won’t be much of a concern to business owners anymore, as they have an option to invest on one app that can do what several native apps offer to do.

The problem of developers before is that they have to decide which one or two platforms to target and create an app for, because creating apps for all platforms is much too expensive and time-consuming. A cross-platform framework will now be able to solve that, providing a single solution for multiple marketing requirements.

Some of the more popular cross-platform or hybrid apps include VLC Player, Mozilla Firefox, DropBox, TeamViewer, and Thunderbird.

How Cross-Platform Mobile Development Came into the Picture?

Although there were already smartphones and apps before the iPhone as seen in Windows CE back in 1996, many people consider the start of the smartphone era when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007.

At first, Apple was adamant on keeping third party native apps from being installed but with the introduction of the Apple Store in 2008 came the opportunity for third party developers to create native apps. It did have certain limitations though as development needed a Mac, Xcode, and other requirements. The finished app also had to be examined and tested by Apple before being published.

Since the iPhone’s dominance at this point was very solid, mobile developers only had to target a single device and one platform, along with a series of OS versions.

This scenario changed when the Google launched their first Android device in 2008, where a multitude of devices were launched in quick succession since the G1. There are now more or less a hundred device running on Android and made by around 30 manufacturers worldwide.

The appeal of Android device, accounting for more than half of smartphone sales in the world, is its affordability and compatibility with so many devices. The devices differ to the iPhone in so many aspects such as resolution, screen size, features, processor speed, and memory.

Somewhere along this line began the challenge of creating and developing an app that is able to run smoothly on most, if not all, devices. It’s an idea that has come across the minds of many but its ultimate solution remains ever elusive, remaining as attractive as ever to developers, businessmen, and consumers alike.

Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Solutions

Cross-Platform Compiler

This option basically means Is capable of creating a program for a platform other than the one on which the compiler is running. It produces an object code for another operating system and are used to generate software applications that can run on other operating systems with a new architecture. A good example would be to use Appcelerator to cross-compile Android apps to iPhone. Xamarin, on the other hand, has a compiler that can target both the Android (MonoDroid) and the iOS (MonoTouch).

HTML 5 Web Apps

HTML 5 allows code running in web browsers to provide a smooth client-side experience, with features such as:

Local storage

Geolocation

Audio and video

Ability to work offline working

Improved graphics

The creation and development of the HTML5 has significantly blurred the lines between an app and a website. A good illustration is how the Amazon Kindle’s app is on iOS. They had to go with a pure HTML5 app because of the changes made in the Apple App Store but still managed to allowed users to download content for future use.

HTML5 Hybrid Apps

Another viable solution is using a combination of HTML5, JavasScript, and other web technologies, while also using a native-code wrapper, to develop an app. The result is getting the benefits of both HTML5 and native apps.

App users can now exceed the 5MB limit, while photos from their local devices can be uploaded. Some platforms can even allow background services to be run, along with other advantages.

Weighing the Pros and Cons

There are several noteworthy advantages that these technologies bring, including the following:

It reduces the amount of time it takes to market a brand by selling the apps to as many mobile device users as possible because of its capacity to run across different platforms.

The fact that it will be easier to maintain a single app than multiple apps running in various operating systems.

The chance to provide users with an app that has a uniform look and feel regardless of the device or operating system on which it is running.

Main setbacks other than not being able to support all platforms yet, depends on what a translator or driver can handle. Some hybrid apps may be able to access either local storage, Bluetooth, or WiFi, as some of these features it may not be available on all phones. There’s also a chance that on some phones, hybrid apps may also suffer performance wise, since the app’s code may not be well optimized for a particular phone.

Is the Native Apps’ Reign Coming to an End?

There are still apps that cannot be built using cross-platform technologies, including high-performance games and some low-level utilities, but this is a very small percentage. A good majority of apps already exhibit cross-platform features.

The Lowdown

Before making a big decision of shifting from a native app to one that has cross-platform compatibility, carefully consider what option will give you the best results and which will make all the time and your effort worth your while.

Will it be best for you to set up multiple development environments, or will you be more amenable to re-developing your app in multiple languages? Just keep in mind that the cross-platform framework is already one step ahead of many app development technologies you can use for your business.

The need to go mobile is becoming more and more urgent for many businesses looking to gain any form of advantage over a sea of competitors offering similar products and services. The key is to extend your reach to as many potential customers as possible. With over a billion smartphone users in the world, gaining a foothold in mobile marketing will surely enhance web visibility and amplify sales.

Creating an app or mobile website for your business will give your company that much needed boost in your marketing campaign. Choosing one from the other needs some careful consideration and a clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each option. From mobile website design to custom mobile application development, these marketing services provide a good opportunity to increase a business’ return on investment (ROI).

A Closer Look at Mobile Apps and Websites

In order to determine which among the two would be better suited for your business, it’s crucial to understand the purpose for which they are built as well as their key differences. For starters, both apps can be accessed using handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets. Some are designed to run on a specific platform, while some have cross-platform compatibility.

Mobile websites are, in many ways, similar to traditional websites. They also consist of HTML pages that are browser-based and are linked together or accessed through the Internet. One distinguishing characteristic that makes mobile websites different is that they are designed for touch-screen interface and smaller display.

Users also have access features that exclusive to mobile devices, such as click to call, location-based mapping, and more.

Apps, on the other hand, are self-contained programs that are downloaded and installed on a smartphone or tablet, rather than being accessed within a browser. Each mobile platform has a portal where users can search for apps and download it on their devices, such as Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Blackberry App World.

These mobile apps may pull necessary content and data from the Internet just like a website or download them alongside installation files to enable offline access.

Determining the Right One for Your Business

There is really no specific formula to a successful mobile marketing success. The most appropriate choice ultimately depends on company objectives. You may need to ask yourself what it is you plan to achieve or what market you are trying to penetrate. A reputable mobile app development company can present you with a list of viable options that would help you make an informed decision.

Why Should You Choose A Mobile Website?

As a business owner, it is very important to take into consideration how an app or website is able to accommodate the basic concerns of your customers and determining which between the two can better satisfy the needs of your clients. An outstanding mobile website development company will be able to properly address various client concerns with ease.

• Accessibility – One basic concern of a customer is accessibility. A mobile website can be instantly available through a browser or a mobile device, provided that there is internet access. Apps on the other need to be downloaded and installed before they can be used. This can pose as a potential barrier between initial engagement and the actual conversion of users into customers. Many consumers are eager to get information that they don’t have the time to wait for an app to be installed.
• Compatibility – Unless your mobile app is specifically designed for cross-platform compatibility, mobile websites are more reliable in terms of compatibility when compared to native apps because smartphone and tablet users using a range of platforms can easily browse them.
• Upgradability – Mobile websites are upgraded instantaneously, as compared to a mobile app, which requires notification and permission from users. App updates also have to be downloaded per device, which means a person with two smartphones and one tablet with subscriptions to one particular app has to download the update once per device, which can be too time-consuming especially for those with a tight schedule.
• Shareability – Mobile websites can be easily shared by publishers and users alike in various forms, from social media, email, or in print. Apps, on the other hand, cannot be shared and accessed in an instant.
• Shelf Life – Users have the option to delete apps when they don’t find it useful. Even ones that are interesting enough will only last for a couple of weeks, if not days. Mobile-friendly sites, on the other hand, can be available whenever users need to revisit them.
• Cost-Effectiveness – Mobile websites are easier to create and design, not to mention cheaper than a mobile application development project especially in the long run, in terms of tech support and sustainability.

Why Should You Choose a Mobile App?

• Interactive – Mobile apps take customer experience to the next level, you can have an exciting game created in your company’s name or an informative and engaging app that lets your customers learn about your products and services.
• Personalization – Imagination is the only limit to what you can do with an app in terms of personalization. You can even allow your users to have a certain level of authority when it comes to tweaking the app.
• Complex Calculations and Report – Companies in banking and investment can create apps that allow quick and easy manipulation of data, perform complex calculations, and reports.
• Access Without Connectivity – Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of an app is that it can still be designed to be accessible without an internet connection, which can prove to be useful when users need to perform certain functions when there is no connection around.

The Lowdown

The app versus web question is a very legitimate question for many business owners wanting to scale new heights in terms of ROI as well as those who want to penetrate the growing market of mobile device users. Choosing between the two options can be quite challenging because both offer multiple advantages to both the user and the owner.

Nevertheless, you can make your decision based on the following statement, which pretty much sums up the discussion. If you have chosen to go mobile primarily because of marketing goals, with an aim to dominate your competitors online, then a mobile website is the logical choice. On the other hand, if you’re more focused on interactive engagement with app users or to create an application that works similarly to a computer program, then an app is the better choice.