Points That A Website Developer Shouldn’t Miss Out

There is a long checklist which has to be followed as a website developer while developing a website like its functionality, internal linking, placements etc. Following the checklist is surely going to reduce the errors after delivering the website to the client. Below are some points which are essential points which should not be missed out. Website Inter Linking Every website is built up with specific idea and logic. This logic is very important and should be clear and simple enough for the easy flow of internal navigation from one web page to another. Every new topic within a specific subject on the website should have an individual subpage. Due to this, the flow of the user does not get distracted and which leads to increasing dwelling time on the website, as the user finds the relevant topic which he was looking for or interested in. Also, do not make more than 3 to 4 layers of subpage from the index page. Many internal linking within the pages may lead diversion of users as well as the crawlers. Continue reading

Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

We’ve realized the importance of social media marketing. It’s a great platform to share your ideas, be heard, and even market your products. But for business owners who need to focus on other aspects of your business front keeping in touch with the latest social media marketing tips can be quite challenging. CodePlateau brings you the best tips for social media marketing that can help propel your business to the next level.

Best Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

These tips will tell you how to use social media marketing to help grow your business from a starter to a leader.

1. Start With A Social Media Marketing Plan

Due to time constraints, focus on business aspects, small businesses usually lack the time for marketing which is one of the most important aspects. Small businesses, however, don’t have the resources to afford a premium social media agency that will do the work for them. So in order to succeed they need to start with a social media marketing plan. Spare just a few days or a few hours each day to decide what you will do for the coming month. It’s easy to pick out special holidays and events that are coming up and decide your social media calendar based on those. We usually like to plan out our social media marketing calendar a month in advance. You might not have to post every day, but frequent posting leads to better success in social media. We live in a world of low attention spans, when you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind.

2. Choose Social Media Platform Best For Your Business

This is in fact much harder than it appears. Normally when working as a Social Media Marketing Agency in Pune for our clients we like to start with all the popular social media marketing platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. If you have existing channels your social media audit will give you a better idea which platforms you need to focus on. Otherwise, you can try them all and see what sticks to the wall. It’s best to trickle down your accounts to just one or two. Make them your priority and be very active on those platforms while also periodically posting on others as well.

3. Familiarize Yourself With Your Audience

For businesses, and especially small businesses it’s really important that you get to know your audience. Your bottom line depends on them. Your audience segmentation will also give you a better perspective of the social platforms you need to target. The audience you want and the audience you get might be completely different. Ideally, a pub would prefer a much younger audience, ideally, between the ages of 21-26. However, if they’re getting a much older crowd ranging from 28-35 is it so bad? It comes down to the business decision at the end of the day.

4. Share Rich Media Content

Audiences especially the younger audience, don’t like looking at bland media copy. They want something to make them feel more connected to the post. Share images, gifs, and videos whenever you can. This will help keep the interaction between the communities quite strong. Remember that visual content always leads to higher engagement across the audience groups.

5. Quality vs Quantity Debate

If you have to post every day on your social media platforms (and you should) post something that worthwhile or not at all. Answer these questions for yourself and ask yourself if they post should be up online. i. Is the post entertaining? ii. Is it informative? iii. Is it likely to be shared?

Conclusion

Use these social media tips to move your growing business in the right direction. If you’re still finding it tough to get a fixed routine and need professional help setting up your social media marketing angle get in touch with CodePlateau. Not only does CodePlateau do quality work, but we’re an affordable social media marketing agency in Pune. Get in touch today.

SEO in 2019? The Importance of SEO next year

We’ve heard it a hundred times already, SEO is dead. Maybe in its conventional form, it died a long time ago, but if for a second you forget about the importance of SEO, you’re not only doing a disservice to yourself but your business as well. As the time goes by, we’ve seen the role of SEO shift prominently, but not how relevant it is to the online marketing game. Here are some of our thoughts on the importance of SEO in 2019.

Importance of SEO in 2019

Here are some reasons we think SEO will continue to rule the roost in digital marketing not just in 2019 but for the years to come.

1. Quality Is Still Important To Google

Of the many ways in which SEO has evolved since it’s inception is the concept of quality vs quantity. When SEO first began it was all about keyword density and getting the right message to the search engines. But times, they are a changing, and Google now prioritises the quality of content. It makes sense too, better content would mean more site visitors which would proper your ranking.

2. Focus On Long Form Content

While the focus of businesses was on writing long-form content for introductory guides, it has now been altered to cover every aspect of your SEO. Your content has to be as detailed and descriptive as it is helpful to the client. On an average, the content on each of your page should be more than 600 words minimum. The longer and more descriptive you can make the content, especially when it comes to blogs, the better it is for Google to rank your page. As long as you maintain the quality that is.

3. Focus has shifted to experiential browsing

Moving forward from 2018 into 2019 and beyond the focus will be on a more experience-centric web. New technologies are being released and adopted by the early adopters to provide their users with a better experience. A good example of that is the AMP browsing. Making the access to quality information faster and more reliable. Creating an experience the users can connect with is going to matter on a deeper level than just earning the revenue from the client.

4. Change in Indexation Patterns

While sitemaps we’re relevant to Google in the past (and they still might be), Google isn’t relying on them entirely to create an index for your website. Why are they doing this? For their customers – not you, but your site visitors who demand the best from Google at all times. If you take a look at your sitemap you will see a whole lot of fluctuation from the number of pages that get indexed from week to week. This is normal for now and might be in the future as well. Although we believe that going forward Google is going to adopt a more proactive approach towards which site pages to leave out from the indexation process so if you have any low-quality web pages you better get to work on fixing them quickly.

Conclusion – The Importance Of SEO

From what we’ve mentioned above it should be quite clear that SEO is going to be relevant for a long time to come. Methods of doing SEO might shift as they have in the years gone by. It can be tough for people without the relevant knowledge to keep in touch with the latest SEO trends.

If you would like your website traffic to increase and convert those site visitors into customers it’s best to hire a professional SEO agency in Pune who will be able to handle such requests. CodePlateau is one of the best SEO agencies in Pune with a host of experience working with both Indian and international clients. Their task oriented and eye for detail have helped them achieve great success for their client’s worldwide. If you’d like help with your website SEO, get in touch with us today.

 

The difference between mobile apps and responsive website and which one you need

While a mobile app is an ideal situation for your business, the time might not be right for you to build one. There is always a cheaper alternative, mobile website development. A mobile website is specifically a website your customers can access through their smartphones. How do you know the difference between the two and which one do you need? Let’s find out

Difference between mobile website development and mobile apps

Before we figure out what you need, a responsive mobile website or a mobile app you should understand the differences between the two.

Differences in development

Mobile websites are like your typical website except built for smaller devices. They use HTML coding to access the internet via the phone’s network. In fact, responsive web designing is getting even more popular with many businesses as it is a cheaper alternative to mobile applications.

Mobile Apps, on the other hand, are built from scratch. They’re not just the mobile version of your website. They’re downloaded, installed, and used directly from your smartphone. To download an application you need to visit a specific marketplace for your phone software provider. For instance, Apple has the AppStore, Google has the PlayStore. The now-defunct BlackBerry (which might be making a comeback), had the App World.

Costs Associated

Obviously, since mobile apps need to be coded from scratch the costs associated with them will be more than the costs associated with mobile website development. However, working with the right mobile app development company in Pune can help you with your problem. There are some affordable mobile app development companies in Pune that can help you when working with a shoestring budget. Having said that, mobile apps will always be more expensive to develop just based on the nature of the work involved.

Usability of Mobile Apps vs Mobile Responsive Sites

Since mobile websites are just the regular site optimized for smaller screens the usability is very limited in term of the features you want to build into the site. The mobile app, on the other hand, can be custom designed to provide exactly the kind of features that you’d want.

Which One Should You Pick?

If you have the budget for it the optimal solution to your problem is to build a separate mobile application. However, not all companies can do so, or even need to. When it comes to marketing your website, mobile responsive websites are much better. They have a much broader scope.

The advancement of technology is such that you are able to add mind-blowing features to your website which would not have been possible a few years ago. This directly translates to a much better experience for the user. You can build all the features into the website itself. It probably makes the need for the mobile application kind of redundant.

Mobile Applications do serve a purpose though, especially for businesses that rely on users taking specific actions. Since mobile apps are already installed on the user’s phone, they’re also very handy. The brand recognition with a popular app is much higher than with a mobile responsive website. Mobile apps provide much better usability than mobile websites in spite of them having improved their functionality.

Conclusion

The final decision, as they say, is up to the company. A good mobile app development company like CodePlateau will definitely be able to guide their customers in what meets their requirement. In case you need to figure out what you need for your company, give CodePlateau a call and well figure it out together. Get in touch today.

Need A Modern Web Design? Follow These Tips

Since you first completed work on your website you’ve pretty much left it alone. Your customers were coming in non-stop and you couldn’t be happier. Until now. Lately, with the competition blossoming you’ve had to step up your game as well and what better place to start than with your website. Your primary source of leads to generate new business. You want to go from stale and outdated, to new and fresh for your website. You want to get with the modern web design tips to completely overhaul your website and this list will help you do exactly that.

Best Modern Web Design Tips

1. Mix and Match Layout

Recent studies have shown that when online, customers are more prone to paying attention to your website when the layout is slightly off-track. Online shoppers and your website visitors are so used to seeing the same layout on every website that most of the time if you’re not doing something different, the site visitor has already tuned out half the website.

If your website layout forces them to pay attention by providing something interesting and inviting for their eyes you’ll be in a much better position to hold their attention. Your layout forms the cornerstone of the modern web design element of your website.

2. Custom Graphics and Icons

Welcome to the 21st century where everything needs to be snazzy and highly individualistic. Your website needs an identity and it’s your graphics and icons that lead the way in providing a sense of individuality to your website. How many websites have you seen lately that use the same tired icons to represent their business? Everyone has the same icons and graphics on their website which can actually work to your advantage.

By providing your customers with something different you’ll be way ahead of your competition when it comes to attracting new customers and keep your current customers happy.

3. Colours

Bright is best. We don’t mean your background, which in our opinion should remain white. We mean your header, footer, links and other elements on your website. Choose bright colours like light yellow, darker shades of pink, leaf green. All these are apparent favourites with the consumers online today.

4. Typography

Calibri and Cambria seem to be the official font of the internet. Almost 7/10 site probably use the same two fonts for their website when there are literally thousands of others to choose from. Why should you choose differently? Because people pay more attention to what they’re reading when they need to focus a bit harder to read the text. Our eyes have gotten so used to reading the Calibri and Cambria fonts that our minds tend to drift while we’re reading.

It’s a scientific fact that hard to read fonts promote better recall.

Choose your website font carefully. Especially if you’re providing in-depth, text-filled content which your users rely on. Using a different but pleasing typography will actually help your customer’s and they’ll keep coming back for more.

5. Transitioning Text and Animations

Another fascinating aspect of the modern web design methodology is to use exciting animations and transitions to captivate your audience. Video is one of the fastest growing formats of content delivery. You should link to some useful YouTube videos in your content, but the next best thing is to provide a healthy dose of animations and transitions to your website.

Conclusion

While it may seem easy, you’ll probably need professional assistance to guide you through revamping your website. That’s where CodePlateau comes in. CodePlateau is one of Pune’s best web design and development companies. Having worked for several large national and international clients, CodePlateau is in a perfect position to help transition your business into the new era. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help each other prosper. Remember, your consultation is on us.

Keyword Research Mistakes You Might Be Making

Keyword Research is a very underappreciated tool in the SEO’s arsenal. Most people assume that they would know right from the start what keywords they should target. I had the same impression too early on in my career. I hardly did any keyword research because I always assumed the keywords to be obvious. It’s only when I started taking keyword research seriously did I see my folly. Here are keyword research mistakes you too might be making.

Keyword Research Mistakes You’re Probably Making

1. Being Unrealistic

When you have your client breathing down your neck to show the results it becomes difficult to focus on the right objectives. You set the bar too high too soon and your client leaves feeling disappointed not reaching the targets you set for them. I’ve learnt this the hard way.

Now I’d rather focus on a few long tail keywords rather than try and capture the really difficult keywords that I’m not sure I can rank for. With more realistic targets I can focus on the quality of my content rather than trying to squeeze every last drop out of one really competitive keyword.

2. Look At Search Volumes For Exact Match Keywords

When performing research for your keywords you’re probably looking at the search volumes for the broad match keyword. While this may work for a while you won’t really know the effectiveness of the keywords you’re targetting unless you do a search volume for exact match keywords.

While eventually, the keyword you target will be worth targetting no doubt, however knowing the exact match volumes will help you set more realistic targets.

3. Ignoring Your Conversion Ratios

Let’s be honest, we’re not in business for our health. We want to make money. Targetting keyword for the sake of ranking isn’t enough. You need to be able to convert. Conversion is by far one of the most important factors you should consider when doing your keyword research.

For instance, e-commerce websites should focus on an action-oriented keyword for better positioning as well as better conversion rates. Looking at search volumes for enquiry related keywords to action-oriented keywords could dissuade you but remember that conversions are also a factor.

4. Using Out Of Context Keywords In Your Research

While performing your research, you might know exactly what you mean. How Google’s AI is going to interpret that is another matter altogether. Due to the nature of language, a word could have multiple meanings and multiple interpretations.

For one, storage could mean a shelf, cupboard, or a locker. What were you thinking about when you typed storage into the keyword research tool? Being specific when doing your research will help you narrow down your keywords and you can focus your energy on them.

5. Timely Keyword Audit

Another common error I see a lot of SEO’s doing is, they don’t do a keyword audit. A keyword that was once popular needn’t be so in a few months time. Keep a tab on your keyword because like everything else they rise and fall.

An audit can also help you find additional content ideas for blogs and your social media pages. Even better is being able to update your old content with new keywords and increase the number of keywords in the blog so as to rank it better.

Conclusion

Avoiding these basic keyword research mistakes will take you a long way towards ranking better on the popular search engines. Keyword research takes a lot of work and effort and it isn’t as easy as some people believe. If you would like your website to grow, use the right techniques to improve. If you’re struggling you can always get in touch with CodePlateau Technologies Pvt Ltd and use their excellent digital marketing team for your problems.

Five Common Mistakes That Designers Must Avoid

Graphic design, web design or any design requires a lot of groundwork, extensive research and a constant understanding of the client’s requirements. As a professional web design and web development company, we would like to document some common mistakes that designers make:

Hazy Idea of Client Requirements   

The root cause for the problems that follow later is clearly the lack of understanding. The client requires one design pattern. The designer adds his own core ideas to the design. The communication gap is more than evident in most cases.

Avoid project disruption by noting down client requirements specifically. In an email write down all the details of the discussion and get it confirmed with the client. That requirement document is now the reference point for all design related matters. You will be surprised at how smoothly things go after you clarify.

Font Choices

Font plays a critical role in web design. Often a bad font choice ruins all the good work. If you go for distinctly different fonts for the headings, subheadings, and text, even neat design can look chaotic. Ask yourself the following questions. Is the font legible and complimenting the UI and UX design? Is the font just the right size? Do your eyes strain when you read the font?

Counter Unrealistic Expectations

Certain clients can end up with unreasonable expectations for the project.  When you know that a particular requirement is not viable, convey that communication immediately. For example, if the client is expecting a huge volume of work within a ridiculous, limited timeframe, have further client discussions. Delivering high-quality design will require a reasonable amount of time. You need to clearly convey the deadline parameters for a smoother design project execution.

Don’t Blindly Follow Trends

To be aware of the latest design trends is one thing. But to apply a popular and trending design element to a project on a whim can be disastrous. Once a new trend takes over, the design can look quite outdated. What works for a different audience and sensibility, may not work with another set of users. Understanding your target audience is thus of paramount importance. Let your creativity speak for itself but within the framework of project requirements.

A Final Check

Spell check? Done! Don’t stop there. The client will also be looking at the design. So make sure you have a definitive checklist of the client requirements before you pass on the website copy to them. Have you worked out a consistent structure and spacing? What about white space? Is the right communication going out as intended? Working on a project for long hours can make you less objective at times. Get potential users to have a good look at the website and tell you what they like and don’t like. You will end up finding more problems from a user perspective.

These are some of the common mistakes that designers make. What are the other mistakes that you have observed designers make? Do share your thoughts as comments.

Expert UI Design Tips for a Great Mobile App

Creating easy-to-use mobile apps require a lot of planning and thought. UI design is at the heart of any mobile app’s success. How do you create an appealing mobile app while ensuring pro-utility features and efficient functionality? As a professional mobile app development company, we would like to share some UI design tips for creating a great mobile app:

Enhance Core App Objective

Find your app’s the prime objective. Pick out the most-used features. Constantly improve the features set around the prime mobile app objective. The mobile app designer’s efforts must focus on spontaneous user experience.

The “App as Diversion” Premise

The average mobile user is usually involved in another activity before they divert their attention to an app. It’s safe to assume that the mobile app user wants the app to respond at a great speed. Create your mobile app design around this “App as Diversion” premise.

Mix the New & the Familiar

Opting for too many new things can mar the mobile app UI design. Place buttons at familiar locations. Use colors to communicate the button usage. For example, using red color for the DELETE button is a simple but effective idea.

Make Navigation Purposeful

There is no point in making a great app feature if the user just can’t find it. Don’t make the user apply effort to find an app feature. The user should exactly know which section of the app are they in, and how do they return to the main page or exit the app. Don’t use complex navigation elements, where a simple solution is a better choice.

Minimalism & Other Elements

Minimalism doesn’t mean stripping your app of attractive design and functionality. To create a dull-looking app in the name of minimalism is a not so uncommon web designer practice. Minimalism in mobile app design is about removing what is unnecessary. Retain elements that make your users browse your app in less time.

Choosing the right text size & graphics size is a crucial and overlooked factor too in a mobile app. Another important element is making your app finger-friendly and thumb-friendly. The average app user must be able to use the app’s buttons with any of his fingers easily. A smartphone is usually handled with one hand. Consider gestures that are already used by any smartphone user.

These are some of the things you can think of before designing the UI for mobile apps. Please share your views on the article as comments below.

Does Your Website Need a Mobile Makeover?

When is the right time for your website to get a mobile makeover? As a professional web development company, here are some things we suggest you look for:

Responsive Website Design, What’s That?

For starters, a responsive website fits into any device used to access it. Smartphone users are set to touch 2.5 billion in 2019. Upgrading to responsive website design is no longer an option. Remember that your website markets your product or service 24/7. You will lose out on both loyal and new website visitors if you don’t upgrade.

“Mobile First” is a fast-growing and business-viable website design approach. Google already ranks responsive, mobile-friendly websites higher. This one factor should be enough reason for you to make the switch to responsive mobile-friendly website design.

Mobile Website Navigation Made Easy  

We have established that no website can do without a mobile makeover. Let’s consider the little but important details now. The smaller mobile screen size can cause major website navigability issues. Enhanced website design can help you counter this problem. Your mobile website would be better off with crisp, precise, prioritized content. Everything has to look accessible, organized and clean in a mobile website. A dynamic search text box, for example, is best used in a complex website mobile makeover.

Faster Customer Connect

Your website gets multiple hits every day. Why aren’t they converting into business then? It is highly probable that your website needs to be a mobile-friendly website to be visited by more people. Mobile search is used by most customers now, compared to using laptops or other devices.

Mobile customers are looking for an immediate response. Upgrading your website and optimizing it for conversions is more likely to generate a larger customer base.  The customer also forms an opinion of your website within the first ten seconds. That is where a well-designed and structured mobile website makes a difference.

Easy Website Maintenance

The mobile version of your website will always be easier to maintain. You need not update both the desktop and mobile version. A responsive website requires only one update. A mobile-friendly website is both present and future-ready. With the right approach, it is easier to engage the customer on a mobile device. The experience is more exclusive and personal here.

We have shared here only some of the many reasons as to why you must switch to a mobile-friendly website. Do let us know your views on the article.

How to Ensure Successful Web Design for a Target Audience

To create a truly amazing website design, knowing your target audience is half the battle won. You may impress a client with an attractive layout and graphics. But to exert a major influence on the website user, you need to understand them first. Here are the things you can do:

Highlight the Customer Problem You are Solving

How does your product or service make your customer’s life easier or better? What is the USP of your business? List down the points, create a shortlist and highlight them on your website content and design. The problem and the solution that you are offering must be among the first things your target audience must notice on your website.

Know More about your Customers and Competition

Make a list of your current audience. Find out what demographic (age, gender, profession, income) do they belong to, what are their characteristics and buying habits. Once you know your audience, refining the web design to suit their changing needs is a constant process.

If you new to the market, see how your competitors have used their web design to attract more target customers. How are they positioning and pricing their business? What are their customers talking about on social media? You may choose a different design approach, as a contrast to your competitors.

Set Up Web Design for Catchy Text

Many web design companies don’t realize that the web design must compliment the website content. You can’t have a furniture website have the design elements for women’s attire, right? Explore and shortlist specific audience-appealing words, phrases and punch lines. Use these words sparingly, but effectively. Allow the design to blend with the words adding emphasis to the intended communication.

Color, Layout, Fonts & Images

Most of you know that color psychology and correlation plays an important part in web design. The trick is to match colors with your target audience’s preferences. Beyond generally known color response theory, the more important thing is the effective use of the right color.

For example, see how women-centric websites use green, blue and purple (women’s favorite colors according to a survey) to a white background to convey friendliness and trust. See how Facebook uses blue for trust, while Dell uses green for conversion buttons like “View Details” or “Buy Online.”

As per our experience in working with clients, older audiences prefer a fixed-width layout, while a young audience looks for trendier, stylish design with a strong use of color. If required, take a survey of most preferred websites among your target audience for a deeper understanding.

How to choose fonts to fit your brand is one thing. Maintain consistency by using a style guide. The guide need not be complex. But define a clear set of font attributes that the target audience will like. This will make it easier for the web design team. They will know which fonts to try out and which to avoid.

Depending on your audience’s preferences, use either images or illustrations. The image shouldn’t merely be attractive, but add to a focused user experience. Don’t undermine navigation, functionality, icons and interface controls for accommodating images. It’s better to follow convention in functionality design than to confuse the target audience.

Conclusion

Update your target audience data every 6-12 months. This will help you deliver the best in audience-oriented web design on a consistent basis. Ensure successful web design for you and your clients by making use the information mentioned above.