Author: sunvera

Cloud and on-premises computing may seem like two different worlds, but they’re actually much more alike than you might assume.

Most people choose to run their cloud services in a colocation facility, which is essentially an offsite data center that houses the servers for multiple companies. When you put your server hardware in such a facility, you benefit from the same advantages as any other data center. The facility offers its clients redundant power supplies and cooling systems, which protect against power outages and overheating equipment. While these aren’t things you need to worry about in your own office, they’re very important when it comes to running the cloud-based server that powers your business.

When you collocate at a professional data center, you also gain the ability to build your own redundant network within the facility. This is something that can’t be done at home or in many smaller companies.

The downside of colocation is the same as it would be if you built and hosted your own server room. When operating a dedicated network, you need staff that’s knowledgeable about Cisco networking equipment and cabling. While there are many IT technicians who know how to work with such gear, they aren’t always available when you have outages or other issues.

Cloud-based services don’t require any knowledge of IT equipment or a physical presence at a data center. Your cloud provider takes care of all those issues for you, so you can take advantage of the benefits offered by an on premises solution without actually owning any servers.

 

 

Cloud-Based or On-Premises Solutions: What to Consider

When choosing between cloud-based and on-premises computing, there are four considerations that will help you make your final decision.

 

Security

Cloud-based services offer an easy way to connect your business with customers and partners around the world, but they also pose a serious security risk if you don’t choose one of the top cloud providers. On-premises servers allow for much more control over information. They require less bandwidth to operate well, which helps you avoid the data traffic jams that can sometimes plague cloud services.

 

Data Storage Capacity

Cloud-based services are all about flexibility, so they don’t come with the same kind of limits on storage capacity that you get with an on-premises solution. The best cloud providers offer as much storage space and bandwidth as you need, and there are no concerns about running out of disk space.

 

Hardware Upgrades

On-premises servers can be updated whenever you have the time and money to invest, but cloud-based services typically don’t allow for hardware upgrades. When your business is ready for faster computers or more storage space, you’ll need to work with your provider to increase or replace your capacity.

 

Software Licensing

When you run a cloud-based service, you don’t need to purchase licenses for third-party software. It comes ready to go as part of the package deal offered by the service provider, so it saves a lot of time and money in the long run. If you run your own on-premises solution, however, you’ll need to purchase licenses for any program that you want to use in your business.

As you can see, both cloud-based and on-premises computing have their benefits and drawbacks. The best choice for your company will depend largely on the kind of work you do and where you do it.

If your company is already located in an office with a data center, for example, then colocation could be the best option. If, however, you have an IT staff that knows how to configure servers and update software, then on-premises solutions are probably more cost-effective than cloud-based services.

To learn more about how cloud computing can benefit your business, contact one of our sales representatives today. We’re happy to answer any questions you might have and help you find the right solution for your needs.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Cloud computing has been a boon to small and large companies alike since it allows them to lower costs, increase flexibility, and improve their business agility. However, cloud security concerns have emerged as one of the major obstacles in the path of wider adoption of public cloud services. From data privacy and isolation issues to risk mitigation and compliance challenges, enterprises are up against tough challenges when it comes to securing critical data in the cloud. Let us take a closer look at eight of the most important concerns that cloud users are battling with today and how to address them.

 

Data Isolation

One of the primary reasons for moving toward public clouds is that companies don’t have to invest capital on hardware anymore. However, outsourcing your applications to a shared environment can create serious privacy and security concerns. If multiple customers are using the same physical infrastructure, it becomes difficult to protect sensitive data from being accessed by others. Amazon recently ran into this problem when Amazon S3 storage servers owned by one customer ‘leaked’ information belonging to another user due to configuration errors.

 

Compliance

Compliance is another major issue for enterprises that are migrating their applications to public clouds. While service providers claim to offer flexible cloud environments, most of them cannot offer the levels of customization that some companies need in order to meet compliance requirements. For example, HIPAA rules have made it mandatory for healthcare organizations to use only certain types of encryption to protect patient information stored in the cloud.

 

Risk Mitigation

The increasing number of security breaches in the cloud has raised many eyebrows when it comes to moving critical applications and data off-premise. While service providers have improved their infrastructure security over the years, most enterprises cannot afford a breach that may cause them thousands or millions of dollars in losses. Furthermore, the lack of encryption features and other security measures at some public cloud providers makes it difficult for companies to move their entire IT infrastructure to third-party hosted servers.

 

Identity and Access Management

In a cloud environment, administrators have the right to create user accounts on behalf of other users. This allows them to share access credentials with third-party vendors or business partners without obtaining permission from account holders. Furthermore, enterprises also need to control how multi-tenant administrative privileges are used by service providers and end-users.

 

Tagging

One of the most effective ways to enforce compliance and security policies is to apply tags on data stored in cloud applications. This allows for quick discovery of sensitive information, which can be used by appropriate security teams for further investigation. However, tagging individual files stored in public clouds remains a challenge due to lack of extensive file management features.

 

Data Privacy

Enterprises are also concerned about the privacy of their data stored in public clouds. Security and compliance regulations restrict them from storing personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive data on third-party outsourced servers. Service providers claim to offer ‘secure’ cloud services, but most companies find it difficult to determine whether or not a particular cloud environment can meet their stringent data security requirements.

 

Data Protection

Data storage is not the only concern with some public cloud providers. Service disruptions are another major issue that companies face when they choose to host their infrastructure on third-party servers. According to a recent survey, IT executives believed service availability was one of their biggest worries related to cloud computing, and many of them were concerned about whether their data would be protected in the event of a service disruption.

 

Consumerization Of IT

The ‘consumerization of IT’ is another major cloud security challenge that enterprises are facing today. While employees have embraced mobile devices for business use, many companies are still struggling to maintain control over their data stored in these devices. As a result, security managers are forced to take extra measures to ensure that they can protect company data from being ‘lost’ on mobile devices.

While migrating their IT infrastructure to the cloud offers many benefits, security managers can no longer solely depend on perimeter-based firewalls and antivirus software to protect sensitive data from cybercriminals. Instead of just adding more security products or services that do not address real problems, companies need to focus on building a strong cybersecurity strategy that includes cloud security monitoring and incident response capabilities to ensure that their critical data does not fall into the wrong hands.

While there is no single solution that can address all cloud security issues, companies need to study existing compliance requirements and develop a clear road map before they move any applications or data off-premise. As more enterprises embrace public cloud infrastructures for critical business functions, security managers should brace themselves for a series of cloud-related cyberattacks that use advanced persistent threats to penetrate their computer networks and steal valuable information.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

If you’ve ever tried to drive traffic to your eCommerce store, then you know that it can be a challenge. You need high quality content and targeted keywords for SEO purposes as well as direct calls-to-action (CTAs) on those pages so people will buy from you. If you want to convert more web visitors into customers, you need to create eCommerce landing pages that are focused on specific products or services. Landing pages are designed to draw visitors in using compelling offers, headlines and images that spur them to take the desired action.

 

eCommerce Landing Pages

So what is a landing page? A landing page is any single web page that someone clicks on through an advertisement (e.g., Google Adwords) or email link. It’s called a landing page because the visitor ‘lands’ on it after clicking an ad (unless they type in the URL directly). Landing pages are usually designed to generate leads, capture sales or prompt people to sign up for something.

When done right, landing pages are powerful tools that can help you increase sales and convert more website visits into customers.

Why should you care?

Your landing page is your online shop window; it’s the first place people come to when they want to know about your product or service. If you don’t take advantage of this opportunity, you could be losing sales every day.

 

Best Practices in Designing High Quality eCommerce Landing Pages

A high quality landing page is the difference between success and failure. It’s not just what you do, but also what you don’t do that matters most. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• Your landing page should look like an ad. If your landing page looks nothing like your adverts, then why would customers click on them? Your landing page should look and feel like an extension of your marketing campaign. The tone and language should be consistent with what you have been using in your other ads, email blasts or on social media.
• Be sure the landing page matches the ad message. If you’re trying to sell a mobile device through an advertisement, for example, then it’s important that your landing page focuses on the same kind of device. If someone clicked on a tablet, for instance, it should be crystal clear that they’re going to land on a specific tablet model.
• Use the same message and design in all of your ads, email blasts, landing pages and social media.
• Your call to action (CTA) must be obvious. Imagine that you’re driving down the road trying to find a particular store or restaurant; your navigation system tells you to “turn right”. If you don’t know which side of the road to turn on, then it won’t do much good. It’s the same with your landing page; Your CTA should be very clear and obvious. Don’t make people think about whether they want to click on something or not.
• Your CTA should be visible. We can’t emphasize this enough. Make sure you place your CTA in the right location, usually the upper-right hand corner where people’s eyes move naturally. Don’t make them hunt for it. If you have more than one offer on your landing page, then repeat the CTA for each one so visitors have a clear path to take.
• Your CTA should have a sense of urgency. Sometimes people hesitate to buy or take action because they think they’ll lose the offer. In your CTA, add a specific time limit so visitors can’t wait too long before taking advantage of something special.

If you do not have the expertise in designing good landing pages, you may want to take a look at this list of eCommerce Web Design Companies.

The bottom line is that your landing pages are the most important component in your online marketing strategy. A high quality page will bring you more sales, leads and signups than anything else you could do. If you’re not getting results, then your landing page could be the problem.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

So, you have a shiny new high-quality app and it’s time to launch. But among the two most popular mobile operating systems for smartphones – Android or iOS – which one should you choose? What are the differences between them? How hard is it to develop on each of these platforms?

In this article we’ll explain what makes both ecosystems so different, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, list some of the pros and cons of developing for each one of them, and give you a clear answer to your question.

Let’s start with iOS.

 

iOS

iOS is Apple’s mobile operating system that powers all iPhones, iPods & iPads.

Apple has never publicly disclosed sales figures for the iPhone but it’s estimated that nearly 14 million were sold in the first three months of 2012. According to IDC, iPhones captured 19.5% of the market share in Q3 2012 , followed closely by Android with 18.8%. What these numbers tell us is that if you want your app to be seen by a large number of people worldwide, iOS is the best place to start.

Why? Because Apple has a great marketing team, leading technology and mind-blowing design skills. All their devices are beautifully crafted with cutting edge technology, which makes people want them even more. The result is that Apple users tend to be among the first adopters of new technologies: they’re always looking forward to new things, and they spend a lot of money on apps & in-app purchases. In simple words: if you launch your app on iOS first, it’s more likely to make some good money from the beginning even with a limited user base.

 

Android

When people talk about Android, the conversation usually revolves around its market share vs. Apple. Android has the largest market share worldwide but not in the US , where Apple’s iOS has a higher percentage of users.

Android’s biggest strength is its openness, which makes it really easy to develop on and distribute your apps within. But this comes with some limitations: because Google doesn’t control what goes inside their marketplace the apps are far less polished & bug-free than on iOS.

Another important point is that Google doesn’t have the same marketing force as Apple, which means that even if your app is featured in their store, it’s less likely to be seen by the masses.

 

Apps vs. Games

One thing you should always keep in mind when developing an app for either platform is whether you’re targeting apps or games. While there are certainly some exceptions, in general people who spend time playing games on their smartphone don’t have the same attention span for other types of apps.

Games usually get more downloads because people like to kill time by playing while they’re commuting or waiting in line at the supermarket.

Our advice is to always check the type of apps/games currently being developed by the top studios in each store before making a final decision. You can use this data to decide whether or not it’s worth investing more time & resources into one platform over the other.

Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s talk about some of the pros and cons of each operating system in detail.

 

iOS Pros

• Constant updates & bug fixes from Apple (understandable considering its closed eco-system)
• More polished apps
• More attractive & immersive user interface
• No fragmentation (less code to write)
• Higher chances of getting featured in the store (more exposure)

 

iOS Cons

• Longer app approval process
• Fewer devices to test on (although very different, they all use the same OS)
• The cost of developing for iOS is much higher than Android

 

Android Pros

• It’s an open source OS which means you can easily add features from other platforms to your app . One example would be using Adobe Air to enhance your app with Flash if it’s lacking features.
• Users can customize their devices (no need to jail break)
• Paid apps are not the only source of revenue (more opportunities for in-app purchases)

 

Android Cons

• Fragmentation (need to support many different versions & devices)
• Lower budget apps tend to have a lot of bugs
• Less polished apps
• Slower updates & bug fixes for older devices

It’s easy to see that if you’re looking for user experience & revenue, iOS is the safest bet. If you’re looking more into market share then Android is the way to go.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

A couple of years ago, voice search was just a distant dream. Now it is slowly gaining traction and slowly transforming retail. Many marketplaces are on the verge of seeing more mobile searches on home devices rather than traditional mobile search. Voice search is definitely here to stay, with 41% of adults using it at least once a day (DBS Interactive).

 

Challenges and Opportunities for Retailers and Customers

Voice search poses several challenges and opportunities for eCommerce business owners, marketers and SEO’s. Challenges include getting your website to rank in results, building content that is optimal for voice searches, and more.

Opportunities are abundant, with voice search driving more traffic to websites, higher conversion rates and increased sales. With voice search, Google Assistant will be able to respond with rich results which it expects to be images, videos, direct answers and much more.

A retailer would need to ensure that their website is mobile friendly, fast loading and easy to navigate. They also have to optimize their site for local search rankings.

 

Best Practices for Voice Search Success

• Make sure your site is mobile responsive! With voice search on the rise, there will be less traffic coming via traditional desktop searches so it is important to make sure your website looks great on all devices, especially home devices like Google Home. Start considering how you can optimize your site for voice search.
• Make sure your site is indexable! This means that you should have all the content on your website structured in a way that Google will be able to understand and properly crawl. For example, avoid using JavaScript or Flash. If they aren’t rendered by Google crawlers they won’t be picked up and indexed.
• Optimize for local search! Since the results from voice searches will likely be local, it is important that you optimize your site as such. Make sure your site is geo-targeted with keywords in city names and addresses, ensure you have a Google My Business page with accurate information and ensure your address shows up clearly on your website.

 

Marketing Your Site for Voice Search Success

There are already several ways marketers can improve their chances of earning good rankings with voice search. Marketers should focus on the following:

• Keep it simple! There is no space for long content or multiple questions and answers. Keep your content clear with simple language that anyone can understand.
• Address different types of questions! Since voice search is still in its early stages, no one can predict what sorts of questions it will be able to answer. Make sure your site provides answers to a wide range of commonly asked questions and keep content up to date with the latest trends.
• Use clickable links in your content! Provide clickable links in your content that will take the user to other relevant content. This is especially important if you are doing product descriptions, explain what users can expect to find on your site.

 

Applying Voice Search to Your eCommerce Store: Where to Start

There are several steps retailers should take before they start focusing on optimizing their eCommerce sites for voice search. However, retailers that start optimizing their site now stand the best chance of getting good rankings in both traditional desktop searches and voice searches.

A great way to get started is by auditing your current website, looking at ways to improve page speed, test different types of content and experiment with clickable links. Once you have made some improvements, start focusing on voice search.

eCommerce is evolving with the introduction of voice search. Marketers need to make sure their site is optimized for all devices, especially home devices like Google Home. Voice searches are likely to be local so it’s important that retailers optimize their sites accordingly. Retailers can start preparing now by auditing their current website and making improvements where needed, then focusing on optimizing their site for new types of searches.

Voice search is only going to become more popular over time and if you want to reap the benefits of this growing trend it is important to take steps now while it is still new. The future of retail looks like an exciting one with both opportunities and challenges ahead.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Dark mode design for mobile apps has become a hot topic recently. When Apple released iOS 10 in 2016, they offered an API called Dark Mode that developers could utilize to turn the app into dark mode. Not long after this release, Google followed suit with Android Oreo and their own version of Dark Mode – Night Theme. Even though these two platforms are still not consistent in their approach to dark mode, more apps have started using dark mode. Dark mode is a great design solution for apps that use predominantly black elements because it allows the user to save battery and eyesight by reducing the glare on the display screen at night.

In order for your mobile app to be compatible with Android Oreo and iOS 10 or higher, you will need to design a dark mode. The process for designing dark mode is complicated and filled with many pitfalls that can result in an unusable app if the designer isn’t careful. In this article we are going to go over everything you need to know about designing a dark mode from the perspective of a mobile UX/UI designer.

First off, the most important thing to know about dark mode is that it doesn’t necessarily mean turning your app black and white like the Twitter or Google+ apps. Dark modes are different depending on which platform you’re targeting, as well as how strictly you want follow their guidelines. The documentation for Android Oreo states that dark mode is defined as:

“An alternate theme that colors the user interface elements black (for dark background) or white (for light background), and in some cases grayscale.”

This means that you can use different variations of a dark color for UI elements and still be considered Android Oreo compliant. For iOS 10, Apple states that dark mode is defined as:

“A black or dark-gray interface.”

Apple is very strict about their guidelines and the only UI element you can use that isn’t a flat color in iOS 10 apps is an image with transparency. This means that any UI elements must be either black, white, or have some level of transparency in order to be placed on top of the dark background.

 

 

More on Design for Dark Mode

The design trend with dark modes is to have a black or very dark grey background and use lighter elements against it. This approach looks more visually appealing than white text on a black background, especially in apps where there are many light colored UI elements like Messenger, Instagram, and Gmail. With that being said, there are some apps that continue to use mostly white UI elements despite having a dark mode option.

This design inconsistency can make it difficult for users to know if an app has a black or dark grey background and can lead to frustrating user experiences when light UI elements blend into the background and become unreadable.

The best way to avoid this issue is to make sure your app has a flat, black background and then choose UI elements with contrasting colors. If you have a blue button in your interface, it should be either white or grey against the dark background. This concept applies to text as well — if your app has long bodies of text or lists that are very light colored, consider using a white or very light grey color for them so they are readable.

 

 

Designing Dark Mode – Tools to Use

There are a number of tools that you can use to create dark mode for your app depending on what platform(s) you are designing for. You can always design in Photoshop and then port the images to Android or iOS, but if you’re starting from scratch this process will take significantly longer.

The following is a list of tools that can be used to design dark mode in various situations:

 

Photoshop

Photoshop is by far the most useful tool for designing interfaces. It has robust color and layer options which allow you to create both iOS 10 and Android Oreo compliant dark modes. You can then export the design as a .psd file and upload it to Sketch or another vector tool for further development.

 

Sketch

If you have existing designs in Photoshop, you can open these files directly into Sketch so that they will retain their layers. You can then add new objects onto the background layer in Sketch and export them as a png file. Note that if you have images with transparency, these will not work in Sketch so it’s best to leave them in Photoshop until after you are done developing your app.

 

Android Studio

Android Studio is Google’s recommended IDE for Android development and has a built-in feature called Image Asset Studio that lets you easily create dark mode assets from existing images. You can also use Android Drawable Importer to import assets from Photoshop, although this process is more time consuming than using Image Asset Studio.

 

Xcode

If you’re already an iOS developer, Xcode is the most convenient tool to use. It has a dark mode feature that can be enabled from within the Interface Builder, and since its assets are vector-based it makes it easy to export them as .pngs for Sketch or Android Studio.

 

 

Process of Designing Dark Mode

The following are the steps you should follow when designing in dark mode:

• Create a new document in Photoshop or open existing PSDs
• Draw all UI elements on the background layer
• Change all lighter UI elements to their dark color variations (if applicable) and leave the darkest UI element
• Group objects that are related together so they can be easily moved as a single entity later on if needed.
• Change all text to darker colors (if applicable)
• If your app has a lot of black or white space, consider changing this to dark grey instead. It’s better to have some form of color in the empty spaces so users can easily discern between different UI elements.

 

 

Timeline to Design Dark Mode

As you can see, creating dark mode design assets takes a lot longer than developing the rest of the app. Before starting this process, you should have already developed your UI in light mode and then applied color schemes that will work well with dark mode (this is more important for iOS apps because Android Oreo has an automatic dark mode that only applies to the status bar and navigation bar).

After this, you should aim to have your first iteration of a dark mode design finished by Week 6 of your development timeline so that you can test it with users and get feedback. This will give you enough time to make any adjustments before the final development stage starts in Week 8 (as an example).

 

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, designing dark mode is a complex process that requires extensive planning and more time than standard app development. However, the preview images above show how much more compelling your app can look when you use color schemes that work with dark mode.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

The number of mobile device users has grown exponentially to the point that they now far exceed desktop users. If you’re not catering your website for these visitors, you are going to lose business and potential leads to your competitors. But how do you convert your website into a mobile app? Let’s have a look at why this should be done, and how to go about it.

 

 

Why You Should Convert Your Website Into An App

There are many benefits to converting your website into a mobile app, including:

• Not losing potential customers who use a mobile device
• Showing off your business to a larger potential customer base
• More customer engagement and brand awareness
• Higher search engine rankings

Although apps are often free, they also take time to develop. If you’re not a developer or don’t have a developer on your team, it might be better for you to outsource this work to a developing company (more on that later).

 

 

Why Mobile Apps Are Better Than Web Apps

Unless you have a compelling reason to use a hybrid app, an app should always be native. Native apps perform faster and provide the user with a more engaging experience than web apps.

Web apps make it difficult for users to share content, while native apps easily let them do this through social media, email or text messaging.

Native apps can easily be updated, while web apps require a whole new release cycle.

Lastly, web apps lack the potential for monetization through in-app purchases or subscriptions.

 

 

How To Convert Your Website Into A Mobile App

Converting your website into a mobile app can be done in different ways. The first thing you need to do is determine what this app will be able to do for you and your business.

Will it be a mobile version of your website, or an entirely new experience?

Depending on what needs to be done, the design process and implementation will vary greatly.

 

Designing The App

The best place to start is by planning the design of your new app. First, take a good look at your website and determine what elements you want to be included in the app. Is there any particular content that needs to be displayed? Will there need to be user login features or other features that require it?

Designing the app can be done through a process called wireframing. Wireframes are essentially rough drawings of the app’s layout, which will help determine where everything should go and how it should look once built.

 

Implementing The App

Once your wireframe is complete, you’ll need to decide what platform or platforms you want the app to be built for. For example, if your app is only going to be available on iOS devices, you’ll need to use a different programming language than if you want it to work natively on both iOS and Android.

Native apps are generally considered better because they appear more sleek and less buggy than web apps, but can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Web apps, on the other hand, can be easy and cheap to maintain but are generally considered less visually appealing than native apps.

If you decide that a web app is what you want, there are two main languages that can be used for this: HTML5 or Java. HTML5 will give you more mobile compatibility but is considered less powerful than Java, while the other is considered more robust but may not be compatible with all mobile devices.

Note that it’s important to also consider the costs. If you don’t have a budget for your app conversion project, it may be better to outsource this work so you can get the most bang for your buck and time.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Let’s say you have a great business idea and are looking for funding. The first thing investors will want to know is how big your market is, what kind of customers you’ll attract and which factors would make it easy for them to take their money out someday.

In some sense, the process of acquiring new mobile app users is no different.

As a mobile app marketer, you’ll need to create and implement an acquisition plan that shows how potential users will find your app, what kind of customers they are most likely to become and why it’s easy for them to use the app.

We will go over several tools you can use to monitor and improve your mobile app’s SEO, as well as other approaches and tips you can apply.

 

 

Why is Mobile App SEO Important?

Remember what we said about having a great business idea and wanting to get funding? The same principle applies for mobile app marketing. You are trying to sell both an idea as well as the product/service that goes with your app. In order to do that, you need to let potential customers know what your app is and how they can get it.

You may have a great product that solves a problem or facilitates some activity better than any other competitor out there, but if nobody knows about it, then you are not going to make any sales. This is true on the Web as well as in mobile apps.

The term “mobile app” can refer to many different things, including brand building and customer retention tools that don’t drive downloads but still help you grow your business. When we talk about “mobile SEO,” we are talking specifically about how search engine optimization works with mobile users who want to download new apps within the various app stores.

 

 

Mobile App SEO Tools

We have gathered a list of the top tools you should be using to optimize your mobile app for visibility.

 

Tool #1: Google Analytics

When it comes to mobile app SEO, Google Analytics is your best friend. It allows you to track how users discover and interact with your app, as well as where in the world they come from. The latter feature is especially important for understanding why some countries are much more profitable than others.

 

Tool #2: Search Console

The Google Search Console is a web-based platform from Google that you can use to track the number of people who find your app either via mobile search or through specific key words.

 

Tool #3: Google Play Developer Console

Google’s Play Developer Console lets you monitor daily, weekly, monthly and yearly download numbers. You’ll be able to see how new users find and download your app.

 

Tool #4: App Annie

App Annie is another useful tool that allows you to monitor downloads, keywords performance, rankings and reviews across the major app stores. You’ll know how many people are downloading your app and where they are coming from.

 

Tool #5: Sensor Tower

Sensor Tower lets you monitor search rankings in the major app stores. Sensor Tower also gives detailed insights into top countries, keywords and even links to related apps.

 

Tool #6: Mobile Action

The last tool we recommend is Mobile Action . It does have a few limitations since it requires integration but once you are up and running, you’ll be able to monitor multiple metrics, including downloads, reviews and ratings.

 

 

Tips to Improve Your Mobile App SEO

Mobile apps live and die by their ability to be found online. Once you have the tools in place, it’s time to implement a plan that will allow you to understand how your app is performing on search engines.

Here are some tips that can help improve your mobile app SEO:

 

1. Optimize for Conversions

There is a fine line between making your app easy to find and optimizing for conversions. Meaning, if you make the title too long or keyword-stuffed, Google might not list it at all. The trick is to optimize for both without doing either.

The best way to improve your mobile app SEO is by tailoring your keywords based on user intent. You need to know why people are doing the searches that they do. That way, you can be sure your app is listed in a search for the correct term.

 

2. App Title & Description

The first two impressions most users get of your mobile app comes from how it looks on search result pages (in this case, the results pages in the app stores) and the description/name of your app. Make sure both are optimized for conversions and not just mobile SEO.

 

3. App Icons & Screenshots

The app store page is like your home page when it comes to conversions. Users will look at screenshots, read descriptions and even click on the ratings before downloading your app. The trick here is to make sure you have a clear call to action for each screenshot and that your keywords are included where possible.

 

4. Optimize App Videos

Video is becoming more important for all mobile apps, primarily due to how users interact with their smart phones. Video can give people a sense of product quality and experience before they even download the app. Make sure you have optimized videos for conversions. The description is also important here so make sure you have optimized it for organic search.

 

5. Optimize the Blog and Website

Since most apps are more than a single-purpose product, traffic from other sources like social media, SEO and even referrals is vital to its success. Make sure your app is mentioned on your website/blog, preferably near the top of the page. Take advantage of cross-linking opportunities and annotations so that users can download your app directly from your website/blog.

 

6. Links & Citations

Citations are important in mobile SEO because search engines often use them to gather information about your product or service. Make sure you have a list of all the places you are mentioned online and submit your app to each. Even a mention in one review on an important website can have a big impact, especially if it’s an influential website or blog.

 

7. App Reviews & Ratings

App stores use reviews and ratings as a way to determine your mobile apps relevance for specific keywords. Make sure users are sharing their experiences and leaving reviews. Also, keep an eye on your competitors and what they are doing in regards to ratings and reviews.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Today more and more people have started to use streaming in their daily life. It’s not only because they can share something interesting with their friends at any time, but also it’s becoming a profession for some of them. However, it’s still difficult to create and manage a livestreaming app by yourself with so many features needing to be put into it.

 

Rise in Popularity of Livestreaming Apps

Livestreaming has been popular among the younger generation for a long time, but it is only recently that they have become widely available via smartphone apps. Even a few years ago, livestreaming required expensive broadcasting equipment and expertise. Nowadays though, all you need to do is download an application and you can start streaming from your smartphone.

Livestreaming apps are available for both Android and iPhone devices, giving users the ability to broadcast themselves in real-time to an audience of their choice. Popular live streaming apps like YouTube Live, UStream, Twitch, Stickam and Justin.TV have been around for a while now but it is only recently that more specialized apps have entered the market.

 

Basics of a Good Livecasting App

A good livecasting app must meet these basic requirements:

• A good user interface
• Being able to switch between the stream screen and the “home” section, which automatically resets every three minutes. This is because livestreaming apps are used for broadcasting, but also allows viewers to chat with each other, and this can be done from the home screen.
• Ability to stream with as little lag (or latency) as possible

Other features that are not essential, but would make the app better are:

• Video preview and video playback for past broadcasts
• Auto refreshing chat rooms
• Being able to restart a broadcast or save a broadcast to watch later
• Ability to share channels/links with other people using the app
• A livestreaming app must also be available on iOS and Android devices. This is because there are many livestreaming apps that are only available for one platform, while some apps do not have a stream screen so it makes it hard for users to use the app.
• It should be able to have multiple people streaming at once, and if possible, viewers should not be limited
• Have an easy way for users to connect their accounts with social media sites such as Instagram or Twitter for interacting with followers
• There should also be a feature where you can purchase coins to make donations to channels
• The app does not need the ability to manage chat rooms, but if they can do it then that’s a plus because users should be able to remove people from their chatroom for being rude or inappropriate and there should also be a way where they could see who has been removed from the chat room.
• The app should also have an option where you can share your channel/streams with other people from within the app, so that users don’t need to go out of the app in order to do this. This is especially helpful for new streamers who want as much exposure as possible when they first start streaming.

 

Hitbox – Mobile Streaming App

An example of a livecasting app that contains all of these features and has an interface that is easy to use for both beginners and experienced streamers would be Hitbox’s mobile streaming app.

Hitbox delivers a great mobile app experience because it allows users to switch between broadcasting and interacting with viewers. It also lets users save past broadcasts for watching later, and multiple people can livestream at once. Along with that, the mobile app enables live chat rooms which can be moderated by other community members to help maintain a clean and friendly environment for all of its users, as well as giving users the ability to manage who they want in their chat room. There is also a feature where users can pay to “boost” their stream, which can increase the number of viewers that are watching them.

The app is available on iOS and Android devices, which increases its convenience for many users who may not have access to only one platform.

 

Where to Start?

Now that you know more about how to create a user-friendly, high-quality livestreaming app, where do you go to get your app developed?

You have a couple of different options. Some people choose to hire freelance developers and others go for a reputable software development company. Whichever route you choose, you need to make sure that the developers have good reviews, as you will be investing a great deal of money in getting your new livestreaming app developed. Ask for some case studies on similar apps that your developers have worked with, and then decide whether they are a good fit for your project or not.

 

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development company, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.