CWS Technology

Category: Development

How Useful E-commerce Website Is for Business?

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Before getting deep into the blog, let’s understand firstly the meaning of e-commerce. E-commerce is also known as Electronic Commerce in a layman’s language and it is the procedure of buying and selling else one can also say the trading of products online or through the internet.

Generally, e-commerce business runs through registering a suitable name of the business and making a website for the same and it runs on the various technologies i.e. mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems, and data collection systems.

If any of the organization or individual is planning to start their e-commerce business, then let us inform you that there is much best e-commerce website development company in USA who will provide you with a wide variety of ideas as per your budget. And nowadays e-commerce business has put positive as well as negative impact on people as it is much for the traders to reach people from all over the world in fewer expenses as compared to traditional method.

As well as an individual who wants to list their products on the e-commerce websites can do it without having a shop i.e. they can store their stock at their home or any warehouse and deliver the products online as per the customer’s requirements. While on the other hand companies who are well established in the market are finding difficulty in their sales as there are many competitors are entering in the market for the same products and making new and improved selling strategies. So, go over the internet and enter the phrase e-commerce website development company in USA for developing your e-commerce website.

Some of the examples of big companies who have entered the e-commerce market and raise the standards of the business and those companies are – Amazon, Flipkart, Blockbuster etc. And the negative impact that e-commerce business put on society is that there are many companies who are frauds as they sell anything in the name of particular quality and the product.

So, interested ones can go through the internet and search best ecommerce website development company in USA for starting their business and earn profits.

How to explore the best Web development Company?

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How to explore the best Web development Company?

Web designing and development is something that the businesses cannot ignore when it comes to the enhancement of their online presence in the market. No matter whether the company has established its foot in the web world or has a start-up business, the website development is required to keep the brand image of the company alive in the web world. For this, you can hire the best web development company in USA, India and other regions across the globe and let the developers handle the work of your website right from the designing and creating layouts to the development. 

Following are some of the important steps that you should adopt while exploring the most efficient web development company:

  • The reputation of the particular web development unit should be high in the global market.
    This can be checked online by reading the genuine feedback of the company and the past
    track record of providing the best web development services. Moreover, the client base of
    the web development companies should be huge.
  • The internet is the best source to get information about the most competent and top web
    Development Company in USA, India and other countries. For this, you need to make a
    thorough research online and find out the list of some well-acclaimed web development
    units in the world.
  • The contact details of the company are also mentioned on its web portal. You can simply get
    in touch with the management and inquire about the status of the company, team, kind of
    assistance it offers and the rates of the web development services.

It looks simple to search for the best web development company that carries the well-experienced
team of experts and provides world-class services but when you actually need it, you will definitely
find complications in it. Hence, it is always better to take the second opinion before handing over
the work of designing and developing your website to any unit or company. No other source is more
reliable than the internet provided you explore the same on genuine sites.

Why Your Retail Store Needs an E-Commerce Site?

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e-commerce development services

Tax, rent, electricity bills, utility bills, business rates and with never-ending to-do lists always keep you occupied and you always left with little, if any, time for your retail shop and to grow your business consistently. It makes sense for business owners to take their business to the online platform and to find ways for expanding their customer base. A business only grows when it reaches new customers and is capable of turning visitors into potential clients and communicates effectively with the existing ones.

We live in the digital era, where everything is available online, just a few clicks and you will get the information about anything. It has changed the way consumers shop these days, they know about your store without stepping into your retail shop. But, only if you have an E-commerce site, else they won’t even know that you exist. The fact is, if you want to stay in the competitive market, you need to invest in e-commerce development services to help you go beyond the restrictions of only catering to a physical location. You can outreach global clients, thereby, increasing sales of your products.

E-commerce provides opportunities for businesses to reach more consumers which are a feasible way to increase the revenue. If you are still skeptic or not convinced, then have a look at the following reasons as to why you need to consider having an e-commerce website for your retail shop:

Reach New Customers Through Your Site:

E-commerce websites help you grow your client base, adding more and more customers. People who have never been to your shop just because it’s too far or that they have better options, can now find and visit your store online. Through your service, you can retain most of the clients without having to run after them.

Know Of Your Website Traffic:

Most of the customers of a retail shop are from the region where it has been set-up and the probability of having consumers from another region is just next to impossible but if you have an e-commerce website then you will know where is your website visits coming from? Using Google Analytics you can easily check how many are the local visitors and how many are visitors outside of your area. If you are getting good website traffic, you can still cater them without having to open up a store but by an e-commerce website.

Understand The Consumer Behavior:

It happens most of the time that the consumers just visit a shop but end up buying nothing, the reasons could be anything. E-commerce development gives you the privilege of you finding out what can be done to retain them. You can gather data and have an insight into the problems. There are online tools and plugins which can be synced with your website and will notify you of how many customers viewed your products but abandoned it.

Have a Considerable Social Media Presence:

The internet is the best thing since sliced bread if you don’t have your presence on social media platforms, you are missing out on a lot. Most of the retail shop’s owners and mid enterprises have understood the importance of social media presence and a lot of retail shop owners are doing this. Giving your customers the privilege of buying items the very moment they have their eyes on them is what determines your sheer presence and is a factor that affects the revenue making you more popular.

Advertise More Effectively:

If you still engaged in obsolete methods of advertising like distributing pamphlets, leaflets, a small column in the newspaper etc. Then you need to rethink and modify your marketing stratagems. E-commerce development services have the opportunity to run advertisements that meet the perspective of customers directly. The good thing is that you can represent the ads the way you want. Apart from it, there are other ways to promote your products and advertise online promotions through email marketing, content marketing, social media forums etc. The crux is that with E-commerce websites, the advertising opportunities grow significantly.

Keep Track Of Consumer Data Insight:

Every time customers visit your website, they look for specific items and if they find it they will definitely purchase it. So, you can track their navigation through the site and can see what items are in demand and what products consumers are buying the most. This will eventually help you to improve your SEO and provide a better shopping experience to the customers and cross-sell effectively.

Fewer Overheads With E-Commerce Websites:

The financial cost to get started with an e-commerce website is relatively low as compared with retail shops as websites avoid many parameters like rent, utilities, floor staff etc. Albeit, e-commerce websites just require an initial investment but the profits are manifold and the costs associated are minimum.

More User-Friendly:

If you allow your customers to shop from anywhere, everywhere and when they want, it will be beneficial to your business. People like to enjoy things as per their comfort and shopping online gives them that. More and more people are turning online to get shopping done and the e-commerce site which takes care of their comfort and demands will garner more revenue. E-commerce websites actually help you drive more in-store traffic.

E-commerce development is imperative and is the best alternative to the retails shops. It integrates your operations with the customer’s demand helping you to grow your business exponentially.

PSD To WordPress Conversion – Get a Responsive and Interactive WordPress Site

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psd to wordpress conversion

Websites have become an integral part of business. Everyone knows the importance of websites and how crucial they are for consolidating your position in the online marketplace. That being said, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea to simply keep a website up and running and the problem aggravates when you have to choose one of the CMS available. Your struggle continues when you have no prior knowledge of programming language or belong to the non-technical sphere. But that should not stop you from putting up a business. 

With all those scenarios building up and defining all those limitations, you either hire freelancers or a web development company or convert your existing website i.e. PSD to WordPress.

Did someone say WordPress ?

Well, you must be thinking why WordPress? WordPress is free and open source platform plus it has thousands of plugins and even a layman can get familiar with it. Not going into much detail, it is indeed, the best CMS platform available as of now. Google it and you’ll know and you’d say “Why Not WordPress.”

Creating PSD files is often a challenge as one needs to code and it requires to have deep knowledge of HTML, PHP, CSS and JavaScript. But creating a custom website in WordPress is not that easy but with some time it can be mastered. Therefore, in the following part, we’ve unfolded some efficient steps to convert PSD To WordPress.

PSD To WordPress Conversion :- Is it that easy ?

Converting the Photoshop files of PSD to WordPress is a strenuous task in web development services. You can design a website using Photoshop and then convert all the PSD files to WordPress to create your own personalized WordPress website but there are certain things that you should keep in mind.

As there is a myriad of automated PSD to WordPress conversion tools available meaning that, you don’t need to have the understanding of the mentioned programming languages. Just convert all the PSD files and add respective WordPress plugins and tags and voila. Still, it looks simple but there is a systematic way of converting PSD to WordPress.

Let’s get started!!!!!!

STEP 1: – Slicing PSD

Before converting PSD to WordPress, you need to slice all the PSD files i.e. to cut and divide an image file into multiple design files. This step is crucial because a website is a mixture of multiple images in which each component has its own functionality.

You need to break all the files into pieces because the single image will be big in size and will take more time in loading. Moreover, you have to combine different behaviors with different segments of the image, therefore, slicing is a must.

You can use Adobe Photoshop for layering to slicing the PSD and save the resulting segments as separate image files. A point to be noted here that while slicing, you should be precise. You cannot make mistakes as one single pixel may make two pieces unfit for joining.

STEP 2: – Creating index.html and style.css

Now you have to create index.html and style.css and for that code the sliced images into HTML or XHTML format and style using it CSS. The main objective is to not hinder the functionality of web components but to enhance it. Just like we have folders in our desktops for adding files, we need the same web server by adding website files including HTML tags, scripts, pages, CSS etc. Therefore, you should have an index.html page in all the directories. CSS defines how HTML elements get displayed. It controls the layout of multiple web pages all at once.

STEP 3: – Modifying index.html based on WordPress theme

As we are converting PSD to WordPress, therefore, we need to modify index.html files according to the WordPress theme so that we could use the functionality of WordPress plugins and tools.

Your WordPress site requires proper heading, titles, footer file, sidebar file etc. But we have all the codes in one HTML file, therefore, we need to code index.html according to WordPress files. A WordPress theme consists of archive.php, Footer.php, Header.php, Index.php, Sidebar.php, Search.php, 404.php, Comments.php etc. And you need to break index.html into index.php, header.php and other relevant .php files.

STEP 4: – Adding WordPress Tags

WordPress has inbuilt features and on-the-go plugins that can be integrated for enhancing the functionality of the WordPress. You don’t have to write codes just simply use the inbuilt functionality and get started.

For a complete list of WordPress refer to the following links:
– WordPress/Template Tags: – The page contains a full list of all the WordPress tags. Every tag is explained in detail in a dedicated page for that tag.

– WordPress/Function Reference: – This page is a reference guide to all the functions.

Now you have a custom WordPress theme and have inserted all the PHP tags to create the desired functionality, you can activate it through the WordPress dashboard.

STEP 5: – Embedding Functionality

There you are.

You have the WordPress site and you can add other functionality or even modify them. You just have to install plugins or configure the existing ones through WordPress dashboard. The final step in developing your new WordPress theme is adding the functionality. Maybe you want a new page counter, more secure contact form or some social media functions or widgets. You don’t have to even write a single line of code, for example, let’s say you want a new slider or a new style of a drop down menu, then you don’t have to go through the process of learning programming languages and then embed it.

Your Website Is Annoying Users : Do You Know That ?

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Your site annoying user

One of the aspects of your site is not to annoy users. So why is it that so many websites face rejection? The websites are full of elements still visitors refrain from clicking the button and bemoan over and over again.

Hardly you know that users are pressing the back button, shortly after visiting your website.

Bummer!!!!!!!

And you can’t figure out the problem of generating less web traffic (maybe none) or your traffic just isn’t converting into leads and queries. This could be that your site is annoying users, thus, you need to focus more on web development services to retaining your users.

Imagine there’s a new restaurant in your vicinity that you’d been dying to try out. You pull up your smartphone with good internet connection and search for their site to get the relevant details, but you struggle with its site and end up not getting the desired information you were looking for. Hence, you give up and instead choose another one.

That could be your website. It might be confusing and difficult to use. The reality is that most of the sites have the same appearance and offer the same functionality. It’s not easy to create a beautiful website as you have to keep certain things in your mind and to eliminate negative factors. As poor user experience results in poor conversion rates, high abandonment rates, poor organic search rankings etc.

It’s time to stop annoying users and to resolve all the issues that are obstructing your conversion rate.

Here are some of the offenders!!!!

Popups:
Yes, this tops the list. All most every website use Popups but bombarding users with Popups would prompt them to leave. The key here is to have patience. Don’t try to greet users with Popups, instead, wait for the right moment while users get familiar with your site. The sooner you show them, the sooner they will go. Don’t set the probability of rejection high in the first place.

It Takes Forever To Load:
With so much of options, they’re also making us impatient when it comes to waiting for the site to load. People expect websites to load within few seconds and abandon them if the time exceeds. To top it all, you have fierce competition and people will abandon sites that load slower than the competitor’s websites.

Even a delay of one second can decrease user satisfaction. So, test your site’s speed and check where you stand. Slow loading time affects conversion rates. Moreover, sometimes the problem could be with the mobile service providers impacting brand perception but your site will be at loss. Therefore, you have to optimize your site’s performance irrespective of the circumstances. Other factors that impact site’s speed are file size, image size, videos, codes etc.

Don’t make users wait as they might be having a good broadband connection but due to slow pages, they’re likely to leave.

Not optimized for mobile, Not good for them:
You can relate to the example mentioned above. While browsing a website on mobile devices, if you find it difficult in navigating through the site or have to put in extra efforts to reading, then you’d leave. Forced to scroll side-to-side and have to zoom in zoom out are some painful examples of bad user experience.

Recently, Google announced that a new mobile-friendly algorithm has been introduced to rank sites on the basis of their performance on mobile devices and it would improve the web browsing experience for mobile users. So if your site isn’t mobile-optimized, then you will lose out significantly in the organic search rankings and that’s why you’re missing out on all the traffic.

Navigating Is Dreadful:
Another reason could be that navigating through your site is dreadful i.e users are not able to find what they are looking for as everything is unorganized. They have no idea where to look for and where to click.

You are probably losing them simply because you didn’t provide any direction on your website. Include titles, headlines, product description that clearly explain users how to take the next steps. In simple words, Navigation should be smooth, intuitive and straightforward. It is the essential aspect of your site and could mean the difference between bounce rate and website conversion rate.

Blah-Blah Text:
Information is good as long as it is succinct and precise. Too much of content would not result in any function. People generally skim through the lines, though, look for more actionable content, such as hyperlinks, product descriptions, features etc.

Your site is not a novel, therefore, don’t bombard users with irrelevant content. The matter becomes worse when they access your site through mobile devices and too much text can definitely make them hit the back button.

For instance, you must have observed that the introductory paragraph is usually too long, so users skip it. Instead, you can keep it concise and easy to digest so as to increase usability. Use fewer words but use them effectively.

The bottom line is that you can’t take usability for granted. Ensure that your website is well-organized that makes the most sense for the visitors. So why not having a profound website that works for your business. Make the necessary changes as it’s never too late.

Common Mistakes In Mobile App Marketing That You Should Never Make

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While nobody can deny that Mobile has altered the landscape of communication, what we are now witnessing is the growth in the mobile app development market. Mobile overtook desktops as people’s preferred device to access the internet. Mobile internet is growing at the expense of all other media as the majority of the internet usage is through mobile devices.

Mobile apps continue to achieve major milestones illustrating their popularity and with this new avenue, it has opened new opportunities for retailers, publishers, marketers etc.

Developing a mobile app is the not the only step, perhaps, it’s the first step towards success and as a developer, you need to think from user’s perspective as what makes them click the “download” button. You need to make your presence felt in the niche market so that users can connect with you. Leave no space for mistakes and before the completion of the process ensure that you have marketing tactics ready in your arsenal so that you can shoot the moment your app is ready. However, deploying reliable mobile app marketing strategies gives you an edge over others making users to click the download button more often.

Since it has become a popular medium, there’s a thin line that you shouldn’t cross to avoid making mistakes that will prompt them to seek alternatives.

So here are some Don’ts in front of you that you should avoid at any cost.

Apps are not the simplified version of websites:

Apps are not mini versions of websites. Though, they are the smaller version of websites enabling the exact features and functionality but navigating through a mobile app is completely different as compared to desktops. Both of them offer different navigation experience, therefore, should be treated differently.

You cannot emulate all the functionality of a website in an app as the screen size shrinks and so, do the input feed and any disturbance in user experience will make users quickly discard the app. What you can do is to first, analyze which functionality you need to focus on and how you can present the mobile version without missing out on anything.

For instance, you can have a look at Facebook. The Facebook website uses column layout for displaying content in the center and advertisements in sidebars on the left/right while on the other hand, the Facebook mobile app displays only the main content providing users with a streamlined view.

First App Development followed by marketing strategies:

Developers often think two steps ahead of time, though, sometimes it could lead to unfavourable results. The aim of mobile app marketing is to let customers know your services so that it could sell itself and even before commencing the development cycle, they start thinking of how to cash in their efforts. That’s where you need to pause, instead of dreaming of impressive download figures focus on mobile app development.

Just develop a great app back it up with an effective marketing strategy it’s as simple as that. This is imperative to ensure the long-term sustainability of your business.

Downloads are Good but retention is better:

The download figures can be impressive but that figure doesn’t solely determine your app’s success, retention does. For a real and long term sustainable profit, you need to work towards better retention i.e. keeping users who have used your app once. The lifetime value of users is one of the important metrics to evaluate performance and profitability. Keep users engaged and provide them with reasons to keep coming back. You can implement user engagement resources such as subscriptions, push notifications, in-app purchases etc. and retain your user base.

Neglecting ASO(App Store Optimization) :

Don’t make it hard for people to finding your app as there are other applications in the App store. Just like we have SEO(Search Engine Optimization) for making websites visible on search engines, we have ASO(App Store Optimization). You need to optimize your app to make it discoverable. Have right keywords, title description in your app page and have high search volume.

There are some tools like SearchMan, MobileDevHQ, Appnique for improving ASO so that users will easily find your app in the App store.

Just a reminder that ASO varies from platform to platform(iOS or Android) so ensure that you tailor to the specific ASO of the different platforms.

No, I don’t need Feedback:

You have to communicate with the audience to understand their needs as well to know where you can improve. Feedback and reviews let users share their experiences and through feedback, their voice can be heard. Let customers communicate to you through perspective, feedback, queries and views as this will ensure that your time and effort is well invested.

After all, retailers who address their customer’s concerns and issues continue to enjoy a better customer base and better retention.

Create a powerful mobile app and then put in your app marketing efforts, this way you add value not to your business but to users also. Put all the metrics in the right place and let your app connects you with millions of users.
There are some pitfalls that you should avoid at any cost. Invest in research and analysis and spend some time to drive your mobile app marketing strategies.

Why is Design the main Factor in the Web or Mobile App Development ?

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“If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business” – Bill Gates

With this famous quote, Bill Gates emphasized the importance of having a strong online presence. The logic is simple, you need to have a website in today’s fast moving world of business startups. There are distinct ways of doing business. Some people do it for the first time (entrepreneurs) or people in a new role in a bigger organization, irrespective of the position people hold they think differently but, nonetheless, focus on points that could lead to more productivity and efficiency in the business environment.

The Internet has become more than just something which provides information but is all about trade. First, it was web development that came into the picture later to be followed by mobile app development. Considering these facts, we can take this as a starting point for something new.

You’re just a few clicks away in getting involved in online transactions. Established businesses know everything through experience and look for the new ways to making the process smoother and faster, on the other hand, entrepreneurs are also not behind. But, hardly we know what captures the user mind. Is it features? Functionality? Response time? Etc. They are the crux of any website/app and come later in the picture. So, what comes in the initial stage is the design. If it’s appealing enough, then visitors will definitely connect with you.

Is Design Really Important ?

User experience is indeed the only aspect that’s crucial to both users and developers. The moment you suffer in the concerned area, your business suffers. In the niche market, where performance and quality always come at the top before everything, hence, creating a smooth user experience is a key to success.

The fact is that users have many options to choose from while you’ve got only one shot. Either you can make it or break it. But let’s just focus on how you can capture that one moment and accomplish the business objectives. Your success is defined by what users think and feels about your site.

Try this simple test – Search Google for any product and click on the first couple of links. Compare their outlooks and appearance and check if you get the relevant information/product. Was it easy to navigate through the site? Was the design appealing? Why did you disregard other options?

The answer is simple, the first thing that captured your attention was its design. After all, design is the very first thing users see before other functionality. Therefore, having a good design is one of the most valuable factors for businesses, not just to enhance the site’s appearance but to build credibility. Users look to connect with companies digitally now more than ever, so establishing an online presence is an excellent way for brands to do so.

Importance of Design

Design provides companies with several key benefits and here are some of them:

  • Navigation: The design is important because it defines how quickly and often users can find what they are looking for. If it’s frustrating and complex, then the visitor will leave without any second thought. A good design leads to a better navigation, unlocking new opportunities and helping you with the conversion rate taking you one step closer to accomplishing your goals.
  • Icon/Logo: The logo of your company or icon of your mobile app that you utilize frequently and often in print materials or on the website is important to leaving a positive impression on users so that users are able to recognize your brand. For instance, the moment you hear the word “Facebook” what comes to your mind is its logo. Visual communications help users to communicate and associate with your brand.
  • An Edge Over Others: Another reason is fierce competition. There is a myriad of websites and mobile applications in the market. You’ll only get noticed when the design is capable of drawing more attention. Unless you’re Facebook or Twitter, having the next big idea at your disposal is a prerequisite. Developers are now focusing on improving or redesigning existing design just to create the first impression.
  • First Impression Is The Last Impression: Your mobile/website should stand out apart. Though, through core functionality you can provide users with reliable services. What an app or website looks like is the first aspect users notice about it. Before downloading or browsing it, they’d certainly test it to see its functionality but the design is what attracts them in the very first place. That initial visual impression affects the entire user experience and is likely to determine the ultimate success of your business.
  • Visual Spark: Design gives a visual touch to your site making it more appealing, something that catches eyes instantly. The internet is a visual medium and it’s important to use this medium in getting your message spread out. You can add animations, graphics, gif etc.
  • Organizing: Get this fact that you have only seconds to make an impression and if you don’t succeed, then visitors will leave. Everything needs to be perfectly placed with titles to headings to the ending of the part. Maintain consistency throughout the site so that visitors easily find what they are looking for. It should be apparent what is the main content on a page and what is secondary and what follows next in a sequential manner. Everything on the site/app needs to have a purpose.

The design will make visitors decide whether they want to stay or leave. It’s crucial to put the best foot forward and everything else will fall in the right place. Through websites/apps, you present yourself in a much better way and reach a broader audience creating a lasting connection. In the end, it’s users that got to choose.

It’s obvious there’s more to website/apps than the design like features, coding standards but those things will only make sense when visitors get attracted to the site/app in the very first place.

Take a few minutes to review your site and consider if the design is doing what it is intended for.

If you have any query concerning web development or mobile app development, get in touch with us.