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3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

/ Insights      / 3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

3 Apps Stats That Will Focus Businesses On App Development

The smartphone has made mobile applications a vital retail, content and enterprise platform for entertainment, education and work.

This is transforming the way we interact with the world creating opportunities for businesses to find new ways to reach customers and make processes more efficient.

To highlight the value of mobile apps we unearthed three recent statistics from Adobe

1) Mobile users spend 90% of their time in apps compared to mobile web
This stat from Flurry shows that mobile users prefer apps to the mobile web. This is often because apps are designed specifically for mobile rather than websites, making them easier to navigate.

If users are on apps rather than the web then this may be what your business needs to hold the attention of its audience.

2) 26% of installed apps are only used once
Although mobile users may spend most of their times in apps, that does not mean that they will use your app. App developers are under pressure to make their apps engaging so that they will be used again and again. The key is giving the user a reason to use the app.

Of those who stop using an app, some said they would use it again if offered a discount (30%), whilst others said new or exclusive content could have the same effect (24%)

3) 51% of companies measure user engagement and return on investment
Nearly half or companies do not measure the engagement or ROI from an app, suggesting that there is a lack of a coherent strategy from many companies.

Knowing what you want to achieve and what success looks like a important part of an app development strategy. This statistic shows that many companies are unaware of whether their app is a success or what success would look like.
Before investing in an app businesses are more likely to see a positive impact on their business if they have a strategy in place and a way of measuring its success.

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

UK App Development Does Not Have To Be Too Expensive For Small Business

/ Insights      / Case Study – UK App Development Does Not Have To Be Too Expensive For Small Business

Case Study – UK App Development Does Not Have To Be Too Expensive For Small Business

App development can be a daunting task for small business owners, given the perceived complexity, cost and time frames that are associated with app development.

However, with the right app development company that understands the needs of the business and has the right development skills and structures an app can be an affordable and effective enterprise solution.

This can be a challenge as there are so many companies from across the world offering app development using different technologies and at highly variable price points.

The key is finding a developer that understands the needs of the business and can craft a digital solution that works for the business, rather than implementing an out of the box standard solution as that is what they are able to deliver.

Case Study – Vidazone

This month Aspiring Panda have been working with Vidazone an event Wi-Fi provider based in Peterborough to create a demonstration app for a business event in which they are exhibiting.

The challenge of this app was to develop it to strict timelines and in budget, whilst giving the functionality to allow it to be successfully published to the app store.

Our team worked with Vidazone to create a flow for the app, that was designed to demonstrate the power of event apps as part of the events marketing lifecycle.

After a short development cycle we were able to produce the app and it is now live on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. This will mean that 95%+ of the visitors to the exhibition will be able to download it directly during the exhibition.

We look forward to working with Vidazone to implement live versions of the app for event organisers across the UK and beyond in the coming weeks and months.

Quote from Vidazone Owner Chris Smith

“Vidazone have had an excellent experience developing our demonstration app with Aspiring Panda who have hit short deadlines and produced work of a high standard”

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology web Webdesign

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

/ Insights      / 5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

A website is a huge opportunity for small businesses to attract new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

We have put together a set of five quick tips that will help small business owners get the most from their website.

Tip 1 – Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

We have repeatedly spoken on this blog about the importance of your website by those using mobile devices.

This is especially critical for businesses that operate within a small local area as appearing in local mobile results means people can find you on the move when they may need your product/service urgently.

Tip 2 – Add A Blog

Google loves websites that have lots of fresh and relevant content, publishing a blog post once a fortnight will ensure that when Google looks at your site it can connect what you are saying to what your customers need.

Tip 3 – Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find

If people visit your website and want to find out more but cannot find a way to get in contact with you easily then they will leave and find a competitor.

We recommend you have your business phone number on every page.

Tip 4 – Make Your Site Visually Appealing

Images can help explain what you offer to customers and make your site more visually appealing. The more appealing your website to the eye the more likely people are to stay and assimilate the information on your page. This tip goes hand in hand with easy to use navigation so people can find what they need straight away.

Tip 5 – Promote Your Blog Posts More Than Once

Only promoting a good quality informative blog post is a wasted opportunity, use social media to repackage the content repeatedly to ensure

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

/ Insights      / Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Many of the small businesses we speak to about web design and digital marketing are looking for a simple one off solution or strategy that will last for set period that can then be refreshed.

This approach is designed to give the small business owner the opportunity to reap the benefits of digital marketing without having to invest time and money on a regular basis. With the need to balance budgets and focus on the core aspects of the business this is understandable.

Unfortunately, the rapid advances in technology and the way in which the titans of digital marketing such as Google and Facebook work mean that it is virtually impossible to fully futureproof your business.

These companies regularly change the metrics they use to determine the way they rank small businesses within their platforms.

This means that in order to maximise the value of your website and social media efforts, the way you market your business online must be reviewed regularly and evolve with changes.

The Value Of Content & Having An Active Website

These companies reward organisations that are regularly creating new content and adding it to their website and social media channels. This means that small businesses that succeed using digital marketing need to have a strategy that involves the regular creation and publication of content.

This is why at Aspiring Panda we encourage our customers to understand the concept of an active website. A site that is easily updateable and aspects that update regularly such as social media feeds and blogs.

We wrote a full blog about active and passive websites last year that explores the differences and why it is important.

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

/ Insights      / A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

A Smart Business Website Does Not Have To Cost The Earth

Creating a business website that suits the needs of your business can be daunting for small business owners. It is a decision that can frustrate even the most experienced business owners.

There is so much choice and the prices seem to range from pennies to tens of thousands of pounds with no one properly explaining the difference. This can make it really difficult for business owners to know what is the right fit for their business.

This conundrum led us to create our ‘Smart Website’ concept specifically designed to put a professionally developed web design within the reach of even the smallest business.

The concept is that we give business owners the features that they need in a simple way. This allows our customers to get the benefits of having a website built by experts, without the eye watering price tag.

This sites are mobile friendly, seo optimised and beautifully designed in a way that is customised to your business whilst remaining easy to maintain.

Smart Website Main Features

Be In Control – Our sites are designed to allow you to upload and update the content on your website at anytime from anywhere you can access the internet.

Use Your Own Colours – Our template is customisable to allow it to reflect the colour scheme of your brand

Integrate Galleries For Photos and Videos – Images and videos help customers picture and understand your goods and services. These can be easily integrated within your website

Integrate Social Media – Social media is a great way of gaining new customers, we allow visitors to your site to see your latest social posts and vice versa.

If you are unsure whether your business has the right web presence, or you are looking to create a new one and think a “Smart Website” is for you give us a call on 020 8861 0115

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

/ Insights      / 5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website For Your Customers

The easier your site is to use and find the information your customers need, the more likely you are to convert visitors into clients or customers.

A business website is a place where clients and customers can find and interact with your business.

So when we analyse a site for a business one of the main things we look at is if the existing site is easy for customers to use or whether it needs to be improved.

We have put together five things to check that can make it easier for your customers

Simple and Clear Navigation Menus

The menu at the top of the page is the first place your customers will go to try and find what they need from your site.

Poor design may lead customers to leave before they find what they need.

A simple and easy to use menu structure is a quick way to guide your users around your website.

Provide Contact Information and Opening Hours

Having as much information about your company and where you can be found builds trust and makes it easier for customers to get in contact.

Put Contact Information On Every Page

If you have a physical office or retail presence, then some of your customers may be looking for you online to find out when you are open and where to find you.

Putting this information on every page makes it easier for them to get in contact which will have a positive impact on your business.

Check Your Page Load Speed

A website that loads slowly discourages visitors from spending time on your site, keep potential customers happy by making sure your website loads as quickly as possible.

Check Your e-Commerce Works

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to buy something and the system is not working properly. Regularly check your process is working properly and is as pain-free as possible to maximise the conversions from the basket to sales.

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Why Your Website Is Just The Start Of Your Digital Marketing

/ Insights      / Why Your Website Is Just The Start Of Your Digital Marketing

Why Your Website Is Just The Start Of Your Digital Marketing

A website is often the first step that business owners will take to start promoting their business.

However, whether you are doing everything yourself or working with a digital agency the building of your website is just the first step to building an effective digital marketing presence.

Why You Just Cannot Build A Website & Stop

Once you have built your business website that appeals to your target audience and has clear calls to action it can be tempting to put thoughts about your website to one side and concentrate on other aspects of your business.

However, while a well-built website may attract some traffic it will not reach it’s potential unless you are using other methods to generate the profile, build trust and generate traffic to your company’s website.

Part of this process is creating an active website that has elements that are frequently updated as part of the overall marketing plan.

An Active Website

The concept of an active website is one that has dynamic content that is regularly updated; this could be blog posts, feeds for your social media or even live chat functionality.

Having an active website builds trust with your audience as well as well as increasing the likelihood that It will generate traffic.

Ways Of Driving Traffic To A Website

On top of the on page SEO supplemented by the active elements of the website such as a blog, there are some different ways of driving traffic to your website. Some of these are free such as organic social media traffic, whereas many require some level of marketing investment

These include:

  • Search engine advertising
  • Offline advertising
  • Email marketing
  • Organic social media
  • Social media advertising
  • Guest blogging

Which of these different methods you use to drive traffic to your website will depend on your budget and how each fits into your overall marketing strategy.

Whichever you choose it is important to implement these methods as part of a plan and do so consistently.

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Fun or Useful Apps Created By Our Team

/ Insights      / Fun or Useful Apps Created By Our Team

Fun or Useful Apps Created By Our Team

At Aspiring Panda, we build enterprise apps that empower business owners to take control of their business and its day to day processes.

We have also in the past as part of our development and passion developed a range of recreational apps to help solve problems or entertain the public. Some of these help just a few people whereas others have been downloaded tens of thousands of times.

Here are just a few that we have created, if you want to see some of our development work in action then here is a small sample of those available on the IOS App Store

Snapscare

This fun app was created to entertain users around Halloween and allow users to scare their friends who are part of the selfie generation.

The app captures the fun that can be saved for posterity.

See the app – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapscare/id915328975?mt=8

Funjabi Punjabi

This app was developed as a fun way for users to learn and develop their Punjabi language skills. The app is designed to help adults and children to practice speaking and reading Punjabi actively. It can also be used by Punjabi speakers to learn English.

See the app – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/funjabi-punjabi-lite/id972621583?mt=8

Festival Calendar

Designed to bring all the major holiday’s in one place, this app helps you keep on track of festivities around the world.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/festival-calendar-lite/id990902323?mt=8

MyMedimate

MyMedimate is a simple and innovative medical app that helps to organise and manage medicine for yourself or your loved ones, giving you peace of mind.

When anyone falls ill, it can be a stressful time for all concerned. MyMedimate helps to manage and remind you which medication to administer safely and at what time.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mymedimate/id878627239?mt=8

Snapshare

SnapShare allows you to capture and share your memories with your family and friends. Keep in touch with loved ones no matter where they are in the world.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapshare-lite/id409972682?mt=8

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Is Your Website Too Slow To Attract Customers?

/ Insights      / Is Your Website Too Slow To Attract Customers?

Is Your Website Too Slow To Attract Customers?

You may monitor whether your website is available on the web or unavailable (down) but few businesses follow the speed of access to their site.

The average internet user is impatient and easily distracted. If you manage to cut through the noise and get a member of your target audience to visit your website, then it is vital that your site is set up to hold their attention as long as it takes for them to make a buying decision.

A barrier to this can be the time it takes for your website to load.

40% of users abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load, meaning that if yours takes more than a second or so you are losing access to a potential customer.

Some typical constraints we come across that may have a negative effect on the speed to which you can access the internet are

  • An unsuitable hosting solution
  • Over-elaborate design or functionality
  • Bloated WordPress theme templates with functionality, not in use
  • Unused software plugins

If you are unsure of whether your site is fast or slow to load then, you can check this out at https://tools.pingdom.com/

If your site comes back and the response time is over 5 seconds, then it may be worth speaking to your web designer about ways to improve the load times.

If you are still unsure if this is a concern for your business, then consider the following statistics from Kiss Metrics

  • 73% of mobile internet users say that they’ve encountered a website that was too slow to load. »tweet«
  • 51% of mobile internet users say that they’ve encountered a website that crashed, froze, or received an error. »tweet«
  • 38% of mobile internet users say that they’ve encountered a website that wasn’t available. »tweet«
  • 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. »tweet«
  • 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.»tweet«

•   A 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. »tweet«

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Does Your Business Need An App?

/ Insights      / Does Your Business Need An App?

Does Your Business Need An App?

At Aspiring Panda we network with businesses locally and one of the first questions we get asked when we tell local business owners what we do is “does my business need an app?”

In our experience the answer is yes, however this is a difficult question to answer on the spot as without knowing more details about the company, it’s customers and it’s processes it is impossible to give accurate guidance on the value of an app.

Businesses can use apps in a number of different ways from a sales tool to an internal process tool that helps improve efficiency.

Understanding Your Business

So before answering this question we turn detective and ask questions about the business to find out what challenges it faces and how interactive software packaged within an app can be applied.

Questions will focus around the demographics and behaviours of customers including how they find the product or service the business provides and whether purchases are one off or repeat.

If customers buy or book regularly it could be that an app could increase loyalty or make it easier for regular customers to book at their convenience.

If you have a project based business or one operating business to business it may be that an app can help automate or manage processes. This could be by improving the tracking of projects, to apps that allow information to be recorded and stored centrally.

Finding the Right Fit For Your Business

Understanding the role that technology can play in your business and how it can increase sales and/or reduce costs and make processes more efficient is vital to deciding whether an app is right for your business.

If you are unsure of how to integrate technology within your business, or whether an app would be right for you, give the Aspiring Panda team a call.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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