A new research by Canalys revealed that global smartphone shipments overtook client PC sales. More people bought smartphones that ran on iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile OS than they bought personal computers in the form of desktops, laptops, netbooks and tablets.

This leads one to believe that Internet traffic will be driven by smartphone users and websites need to be mobile device optimized now, more than ever in the past.

Image Credit: http://www.advancedtele.com/

Until now, web designers concentrated on designing websites that were well-suited to open flawlessly on major browsers. With the increase in smartphone-driven Internet traffic, web designers need to make that webpages are compatible with different mobile devices that run on complex mobile operating systems. Thus, mobile development is cross-platform and cross-browser at the same time. With serious bandwidth, screen-size, platform and interface deficits, mobile devices present challenges that were unknown to web designers of yesteryears.

Here are 10 important aspects to keep in mind, while optimizing webpages for smartphones.

Precision of Content
Precision of content is an important feature a web designer must keep in mind while designing mobile-optimized websites. Reduced screen size and lower resolutions mean that each pixel is valuable and only relevant content must be optimized. Low priority content can be hidden or removed altogether. Images and videos must be optimized to suit a small screen and content must be very focussed. Horizontal scrolling must be avoided and as much as possible, vertical scrolling must be used.

Single Column Layouts
As the screen size is reduced, users would have to skewer their eyes in order to be able to read text comfortably. Even when the text can be maximized and increased in size with the help of zoom, users would not like it when content appears in two or more columns. Thus, it is very important that vertical scrolling and single column formats are adopted.

Interface and Navigation
An intuitive mobile website renders information in the least confusing manner and the lowest number of clicks and taps possible. Making sure that there is always a search box near the logo on the landing page allows users to type keywords and retrieve information intuitively.

Curtailing Text-entry

Image Credit: UXMag.com

Dropdown menus are always preferable to keying in text. Pre-fill options, automated input using GPS and suggestive options help in creating intuitive websites.

Parallel Versions of Mobile Websites
While most smartphones today have a good resolution above 480 x 800, there are older cellphones which have screen resolutions of 128 x 160 pixels. A mobile website that is designed for a larger resolution screen will never look tidy or synchronized on a screen with a smaller resolution. As a designer, one may have to design parallel versions of mobile websites for lower and mid-level resolution screens.

Touchscreen and Non-touchscreen Devices
With an increasing number of people using touchscreen-only devices, web designers might be tempted to design sites that are touch-optimized. Doing so would alienate users that still use certain models of smartphones by BlackBerry and other companies, which sometimes have QWERTY keypads and no touchscreens.

Location Tracking
Optimizing a website to track a user’s location can give valuable information to owners of the website. This information is usually used to help users discover things and people nearby that matter to them. It may also help in driving contextual content to a user’s screen.

Communication

It is important to make sure that communication takes place effectively and intuitively in fewer numbers of clicks and taps. Telephone numbers on the websites must be enabled to be dialled directly, and clicking on email addresses should direct the user to email applications within the smartphone.

Social Media

With the advent of social media, website designers should design sites in such a way that content can be shared across Twitter, Facebook, Google+ Tumblr, Reddit and other social bookmarking and networking sites.

Minimalism
A web designer must always try to keep information, content, media and even design to the bare minimum. When there is very little real estate available, space is very valuable and that is just the case in mobile websites.

As of December 2011, Android devices held 47.3% of market share, Apple’s iOS held 29.6% of market share, RIM’s BlackBerry OS a share of 16%, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has a market share of 4.7% and only 1.4% of smartphone users used a Symbian device. Web designers would however need to keep in mind that all of these operating systems are equally important and while designing a website, one must optimize sites for every major platform.

We, at Indus Net Technologies can help you optimize your website for smartphones or develop one from scratch. You can get in touch with one of our consultants at info@indusnet.co.in or http://www.indusnet.co.in/mobile/

Looking into the phenomenal growth of mobile browsing, businesses are shifting their focus to mobile web. Their overall web strategy is gradually leaning towards mobile web. However depending upon the business the mobile strategy will vary. For example a business related to selling products like Amazon or Ebay will have a different strategy then a business offering news to the readers. Whatever be the business, the bigger question while creating mobile strategy is whether to use open standards like HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build the Mobile site or build it as a native Mobile App for the device you are targeting. To start with both Mobile Web App and Native App have their pros and cons. So before you start building the application a thorough evaluation is essential.

Difference between Web Apps and Native Apps

Before we proceed, let’s understand what exactly is the difference between the 2 types.

Native Apps are applications specifically designed to run on a particular platform. The whole application is installed in the device and can be executed. They are usually dependent on mobile firmware as well as the Operating System. So an app designed for Android will work only on Android devices and not on an iPhone. It needs to be ported or adapted to iOS to be used in iPhone. These Native Apps are mostly obtained through a marketplace.

Web Apps are applications which are usually accessed through a web browser and the whole or part of it needs to be downloaded onto the device each time you access it. These are created using open web standard like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. These are usually platform independent. These web apps are loaded automatically in the mobile web browser through the use of sophisticated detection technology when the site is accessed through mobile.

The image below depicts how US smartphone users use Mobile App and Browser for various tasks.

Source: Yahoo! and Ipsos, "Mobile Modes: How to connect with mobile consumers" - Aug 1, 2011

Pros and Cons of Web Apps & Native Apps

Both Native and Web Apps have their pros and cons. A clear understanding of the benefits and demerit of each along with your mobile web strategy will help in choosing one over the other and if requires choosing the both.

Rich User Interface:
Native Apps seamlessly integrate into the device features and provide a rich user experience. They integrate with phone in such a way that gives the feel of built-in functionality of the device. The improvement is mobile web technology is helping the Web Apps to gradually go through a phenomenal change in user interface. But the Native Apps clearly win here.

Connectivity:
Native Apps can be used to some extent even if there is no data connectivity however Web App requires connection to Internet to function. Native App is winner.

Performance:
As Web Apps require HTML and JavaScript rendering they are comparatively slower as compared to similar Native Apps. Native App is winner.

Availability:
The Native Apps are distributed through a marketplace like Android Market or iPhone Apps Store. And these are available subject to Approval. Even if an App is approved now, in future that may be rejected based upon the terms. This dependency of Native App for distribution is a hindrance for Enterprise to go for a Native App for their business application. On the other hand the web app can be accessed from any device without such restrictions. Web App is winner.

Updates:
The updates to Native Apps happen through the market place where as the web app update is instant. The moment you make any changes in the web app users will be able to see the updated features instantly. Web App is winner.

Cost of development:
The most notable advantage of mobile web app is that you build it once and it will be available to all devices irrespective of the configuration and platform with few changes. Native Apps being platform dependent, considerable amount of money has to be spent to develop same App for different platform like Android, iOS, Windows 7 and Blackberry. Web App is a winner here.

Engagement and Branding:
Because of the stronger integration with the mobile platform Native Apps provide a better engagement. Also they help in creating a stronger branding for your business as there will be a dedicated icon of your brand on the mobile device which is used to launch the Native Application. Native App is a winner here.

For further elaborate learning on this Max Katz has created a table that shows various differences in various categories between Native App and mobile Web App.

Conclusion:
Thanks to HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery framework like jQuery Mobile and Sencha Touch the gap between a Native App and Mobile Web App is gradually reducing. With few exceptions most of the native apps could be written into Web Apps and can provide almost similar experience. Another form of the App called Hybrid App is also seen now a days which is a web app placed inside a native wrapper. According to Jeff Haydn the Native App and Mobile web are not mutually exclusive and need to co-exist for some time.

Feel free to contact us at info@indusnet.co.in for our advice. We will be more than happy to help without any bias, as we have both capabilities and only suggest the right fit to our clients. You can also visit our mobile section at http://www.indusnet.co.in/mobile/

In any business the most important success factor is the ability to reach out to the customers.

While time is changing, the way we do our business is also changing. The technology that has impacted the most to the way we conduct our business is “Internet”. So it is important for a business to have web presence both in mainstream as well as in mobile web. Because of the convenience and instant access the focus is gradually shifting to mobile web. Hence mobile presence is of greater importance. According to a research conducted by Microsoft till 2011, 4 billion mobile phone users were present and out of that 1.08 billion are smartphones. By the year 2014, the mobile internet usage will exceed that of Desktop internet usage.

Mobi Websites are an extended version of the mainstream websites, customized for a better user experience on devices with smaller viewing space. Looking at the popularity of Mobile web, ICANN gave nod to a mobile specific domain extension called .mobi in 2005.

How mobile sites help your business:

Having a mainstream as well as a mobile only site for your business definitely has it’s advantages. According to report provided by Compuware and Brand Anywhere and Luth Research if your site is not optimized for mobile experience you might lose as high as 61% visitors. Below are few advantages the mobi websites offer:

• Through mobile websites we can reach out to customers via one more medium.
• Reach to customers through mobile search
• Increase brand and business visibility
• Mobile sites help our products and services to be at our customer’s reach anytime and anywhere.
• With a mobile friendly site customers/ visitors will be glued to the site.
• Mobile sites will help in processing transaction in real-time.
• The mobile site can have a direct dial button to reach to support team directly.

Approach for building successful mobile websites

When you are sure that you need to have a mobi website for your business, you need to have a proper strategy in place. The first and foremost thing is to understand the business and customers and how they interact with the site. It is needed to talk to customers and do brainstorming among team members to come up with answers to few basic questions like:

• Why do they use your site on a mobile device?
• What features are they using?
• What features are crucial for them when mobile?
• What are some sources of frustration?
• What devices do they use to access the mobile Web?

Once done with the preliminary investigation, there are 2 options to get the mobi website done.

1) Either you do it on your own: For this you need to be knowledgeable enough to perform the task.

2) Or Outsource it from a Professional: When choosing a professional, you should give special attention to their approach in convincing you. Mobile websites have to be always well thought of and since the number of screens and the screen space will be limited, it is important the professional outfit hired for the job has a detailed approach.

Checklist for building Mobile websites:

While designing mobi websites, special care needs to be taken to present as much information on as little space as possible. The content needs to be precise and the navigation should be simple. There are certain best practices and technologies under Mobile Web Initiative(MWI) that needs to be followed for a mobile ready website. Also to check the mobile readiness of your mobi there is a free tool called MobiForge. Following points need to be taken care while designing a mobi website:

• Make the content crisp and concise. Do not feed users excessive data in one page as it will slow the loading as well as cost money.
• Simpler navigation
• Make the user interface finger friendly
• Better User Interface
• Accessibility through all mobile platform
• Optimized call to action for better conversion
• Mobile site redirect, to automatically redirect mobile users to mobile friendly site

Conclusion:

The distinguishing feature of mobile web is its ability to offer users access to information anytime, anywhere. When you plan to launch mobile site, It is not that you create it and forget. You need to take input from visitors and customers, use analytics to know how users interact with the site and use those data to provide a better mobile experience. Businesses that are able to design and implement a successful mobile web strategy will be able to see the benefit of this ever growing and challenging medium.

Are you prepared to take advantage of this new medium? If not, you might be losing a major chunk of your business to your competitors!

Shameless Self Promotion:

At Indus Net Technologies, we do consult and create mobile websites! So, if you have decided to outsource, feel free to connect with us at info@indusnet.co.in or visit http://www.indusnet.co.in/mobile/

Hello Friends,

In this festive season, Indus Net Technologies is bringing to you a gift that can keep you smiling for years to come.

I will like to introduce you to Mr. Outsource Gupta (we call him OG!). OG explores the world of outsourcing (people, offices, situations, and everything that you can think of!) and brings you some funny moments and thoughts to light up your day.

We will have a new comic strip featuring OG! every week. And we will try to get his exclusive experiences on Friday’s so that you can share a laugh on him over a pint of beer with your friends

Now it is over to OG!

This is updated weekly on our Outsource Gupta website @ http://www.outsourcegupta.com/ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OutsourceGupta/ and on Twitter @OutsourceGupta

Note added on 7/01/2011: I have deleted all the strips that was posted on this page, as now we have a dedicated site for Outsource Gupta. This is to ensure that the purpose of the blog is not diluted.

Do you want your site to rank in the first page of top search engines and lure the best traffic in the online domain? Well, a competent Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) process can increase the chance of your site to achieve the top ranking.

In simple terms, SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a process which improves the visibility of a site in various search engines through organic and paid search results. It is a major part of Internet Marketing and targets various searches related to image, video, audio or local searches. There are number of steps involved like site analysis, strategy framing, its implementation, result tracking and measurement. Optimization can be onsite as well as offsite. Onsite optimization includes the content editing with respect to the targeted keywords whereas the offsite involves link building and submission of the site to various directories of different search engines. The entire process can be overwhelming at times! To make life simpler, SEO activities can also be outsourced to a competent agency.

Keeping and maintaining track of the results is a bit time consuming and lengthy, but is necessary for framing the right strategies and sustaining your site rankings on a continuous phase. This measurement of the result is done through various tools such as Google analytics, Woorank tool or SiteReportCard tools. Lots of onsite, offsite and domain related parameters can be judged through them. Hence it takes lot of time for organizing such results. There are a number of SEO software tools that are available online and you have to make use of them accordingly. Some of the widely used tools are

• Ranking Checker
• Fiddler Web Debugging Tool
• SEO Analyzer
• SEO for Firefox
• XENU’s Link Sleuth,
• Keyword Density Tool
• Prominence Tool
• Google Ad-words tool

Starting from site monitoring, competitor analysis, keyword research, finding link partners to offering handy SEO advice, you can get an array of features from these SEO tools. In addition, these tools also help in deciphering the most popular pages that are being searched and visited, the Text to HTML ratio, the image detail, site w3c validation, site compliance to different browsers and many more. Certain off-site analysis of the back links can also be analysed, along with the site load time.

Based on your requirement, you have to make use of the features and benefits of the SEO software tools. The above mentioned tools can only serve a specific purpose at one time. Whereas if you are looking for a multi-dimensional tool that brings most of the things together and help you correlate things better, you need an integrated SEO software. We highly recommend AnalyticsSEO for this purpose.

Once you are able to get through, there will be no looking back. Your chances of getting the best traffic and excellent ranking will be enhanced. Let us know how did you get along!

By Santanu Mukherjee

Keyword Research is an important aspect of Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing. Keywords for your website should be chosen cleverly so that those terms define your site and at the same time are widely searched. Say you have a website on “online games”. Then “online games” seems the obvious keyword. It not only defines your site but has a huge search volume. However – though it seems apparent that this is the best keyword there can be few practical problems. For example:  it’s possible that many websites are trying to achieve a good rank using this particular keyword (this often happens with keyword that have large search volumes) and so the competition is increased. The higher the competition, the less chance your site has of achieving a good ranking. You need to be very careful when choosing keywords. This article will guide you on how to choose the right keywords for your website.

Brand Keywords (Brand epitomizes a company and helps build a strong sales base): Brand Keywords are usually a URL, a Company name, Company abbreviation etc. All these should be included in your keyword list as a matter of course. Brand keywords are vital in maintaining the reputation of your company. For example:  if you type “Samsung” into Google and get, instead of the company website, a dealer’s URL you’re not going to appreciate it very much, You won’t feel that the brand Samsung is particularly strong. In order for any company to keep the flag of its reputation flying as high as it should, its brand name or names should be taken into consideration while optimizing the search engine.

Already Ranking Keywords (use Google analytics to identify these): Say your website is already achieving a ranking through existing keywords. This means you are getting value from them already. Targeting new keywords and forgetting the terms that already rank is not a wise decision: that’s like throwing money away for no reason. While new key phrases must be researched and incorporated into your SEO drive, you should also devote some effort to these “already ranking keywords”. Maintain or improve their rank and your site will be that much more visible to potential customers.

Unique Product Name or Trademark Name: Let us consider a client who has launched a new venture. It will take some time for the venture to become popular. Initially, then, there may be no search volume for that particular term because the new service is not yet known to anybody. However – whilst optimizing the client’s website the new venture or the service must be considered in the list of keywords. Gradually, as the venture becomes popular, the improving rank will start paying the value.

Geo- Location perceptions (Search volumes for “produce” for US & India are different): Geographic Location is the next important thing to be considered. If you don’t understand where a client’s market is targeted then you can’t judge their culture. Hence, your choice of keyword may be wrong.  Geo-Location plays an important role in local searches.  If you’re dealing with a website for a restaurant, café or a departmental store, for example, then you should obviously consider their geographic location before you finalize the keywords you intend to use in their site.

Be aware, too, of search terms that have a high meaning or search volume in one geographic location but not in others, An example: the term “produce”, which means vegetable market in the USA, has a good search volume in America. There is almost no search volume for the term “produce” in India. You need to know that the keywords you choose have the right search volumes for the geographic location your website is targeting.

Services or Products (Get under the surface of the industry): Study the website in detail and try to find out what service or services the company offers. If necessary, speak to the client so you can get to know exactly what it is they do and sell. So, for example: if the product is “insurance”, then you have to understand whether the site owner is an insurance company or an insurance agent. If a company’s product or service is very niche then choosing a keyword or keywords is easy. There might not be many competitors but if the service is popular it should have a good search volume.

Competitors (Don’t re-invent the wheel): As I mentioned earlier, competition plays an important role in choosing the right keyword. If there is one apple and many people to eat, then obviously the probability of getting the apple for 1 person decreases. You can apply the same logic here. If many websites are targeting the same keyword then the probability of good rankings for any given website becomes smaller. This is why keywords that have a high search volume but a low competition are ideal targets.

Broad, Exact, or Phrase: A keyword may be categorized as “Broad”, “Exact” and “Phrase”. Let’s define these one by one.  Say you own a luxury hotel in Kolkata, which has an authentic continental restaurant.  Now: people coming to Kolkata and looking for Hotels may search with keywords like “Hotels in Kolkata” or Luxury Hotels in Kolkata”. These can be considered as “Exact” keywords.

Any variation from these exact terms may become either “Broad” or “Phrase” keywords. If someone searches with the term “luxury hotel in Kolkata with authentic continental restaurant”, the search becomes narrower and the probability of ranking for your hotel with this keyword becomes much higher.: because the searcher is looking not just for a luxury hotel in Kolkata, of which there are many; but for a luxury hotel in Kolkata that also has a continental restaurant. There are fewer luxury hotels in Kolkata with continental restaurants – but yours is one of them.

This falls into the “Broad” category. A “Phrase” is basically a broad keyword where the “Exact” keyword is in the right order. “Luxury hotels in Kolkata with authentic continental restaurant” is an example of a Phrase (it includes our Exact keyword string, “Luxury hotels in Kolkata”), while “Kolkata Hotels with authentic continental restaurant” is a Broad keyword. In the second example, you can see that there are terms like “Hotels “ and “Kolkata” – all of which are parts of the Exact keyword – but not in the exact order they appear in the selected keyword. We can always go for these variations to get better ranking and more authentic traffic whose conversion rate is higher.

Say someone is searching for hotels with continental restaurants: he wants to be sure there is a continental restaurant in the hotel he finds. So he chooses “hotels in Kolkata with continental restaurant” as his search term. If your website appears his chance of booking online is much higher because he is searching for something more specific. Someone who is just looking for a hotel to stay in and searching with a search term like “Hotels in Kolkata” is less likely to choose you because the search and keywords are not as directed.

Popularity:If your business is popular due to a specific product then that product must come into your keyword. Say your company is famous for making sports cars. You also manufacture other types of small cars for domestic use. Since you are known for “sports cars” then obviously that has to be one of your keywords. Go for some variations in “small domestic cars” and try to get extra rankings, too.

Search Volume:Search Volume plays an important role in choosing keywords. If you choose a keyword that doesn’t attract visitors then no amount of SEO and site ranking for that keyword will do you any good. If you get a keyword that doesn’t have a search volume ranked highly in search engines, nothing will happen – because no one searches for it. There will be practically no visitors coming via any of the search engines and all that SEO time and expense will have been wasted.

Company’s Representative names (Eat Apple but Thank Steve): Apple cash in on the brand name of Steve Jobs: because Mr Jobs is so famous in his own right, having his name as a keyword ensures that searches related to him bring up Apple.Using company representative names as keywords associates the person with the organization thus increasing the overall credibility of both the employee and the company. Protect keyword reputations and you’ll grow good rankings for both person and organization.

If you choose your keywords considering all these factors, you will be able to choose the terms for which your site should be optimized, so that it ranks high, gets more visitors and finally generates revenue through web

Indus Net Technologies is participating at Internet World 2009 to reach closer to UK based companies and offer its digital marketing and outsourcing services. This is their 3rd consecutive participation in the show.

Internet World is Europe’s longest running, best attended and biggest event for digital marketing and online business, attracting over 13,000 visitors and more than 300 exhibitors. Now in its 17th year, Internet World features its legendary, world renowned Education Programme, showcasing over 200 enlightening seminars and 20 revealing keynotes. It is being conducted at Earls Court, London from 28-30 April.

Indus Net Technologies will be showcasing its Web Programming and Digital Marketing competencies to the visitors. Abhishek Rungta, Founder and CEO, believes “What sets us apart from our competition is our exclusive focus on Internet strategy which is well complemented by a 11 yrs of experience and a well-trained team of about 350 professionals working from UK and India”.

Abhishek Rungta, Mukul Gupta (VP – Marketing & Operations / Head of Operations) and James Blakemore – Senior Business Managers, will be representing Indus Net Technologies during the show.

“Although James are based out from UK, we will also remain in the UK for a considerable time after the show to visit prospects, clients and other stakeholders” , added Mukul.

Indus Net Technologies is open for meeting invitation during its UK tour from companies thinking of reducing their costs by hiring a virtual team of professionals in India.  The company already has achieved a lot of success with this model and works with large Financial Companies in the UK as well as SMEs.

Indus Net Technologies can be contacted at Earls Court 2 and booth no E4004 during April 28 to 30, 2009 at Earls Court, London, UK. Call on 0208 144 4070.

For meeting request kindly contact  Mukul Gupta at 0208 144 4070 or drop an e-mail to info@indusnet.co.uk.

I made the last post about the mental state of your typical web prospect. Go read it first, if you haven’t already and then come back to this article.

If you want to make money from your website (either directly or indirectly), you must only assume that you are dealing with uninterested, zombie – even if they typed in your keywords.

Assume anything else and you will achieve less than what you have achieved, or may be nothing at all.

A typical television surfer has an attention span of approximately 7 seconds. That means, the advertiser has got less than 7 seconds to grab and hold the interest of the person sitting in front of the box, failing which, the channel is simply be changed at the flick of “the thing” or, the zombie keeps tuned off, even though he is looking at the television.

The job is easier on the web. You got 2 seconds more to sell. The addictive nature of web browsing leaves us with an attention span of nine seconds – the same as a goldfish.

That’s it fellas ! 9 Seconds.

How you use the first nine seconds is the make or break thing. In these nine seconds, you got to get the attention of the zombie and jolt it to normal a state of conscious attentiveness.

The first step of all salesmanship/marketing is to get people’s attention. Examples would include dressing yourself up as a penguin and jumping in front of the every passing prospect, using proper headlines, focusing on content you present above the first fold etc

It is any method, technique, trick or basically anything to get attention. You can’t do anything to sell people if you don’t have their attention.

Here is a step-by-step experiment:

1) Buy a stop watch
2) Ask a volunteer to sit in front of you and look at your website
3) Give him exactly 9 seconds
4) Ask him what he understands about your business.

Now, Don’t jump off the building with the result!

Now you need to keep modifying the website or the landing pages until all you want to your prospect to know and understand about your business, is communicated in less than 9 seconds.

Happy selling!

-Mukul Gupta

In my last post about keyword psychology, I used the word “your zombie prospect”, with tongue in the cheek.  But, why do I think your and mine prospects are zombies? Am I a zombie too? Are you one too? , let’s do a quick test:

Can you remember which car was parked beside you in the parking lot today? Who was standing outside the door when you entered the office? Heck, can you even remember the color of the shirt the guy sitting right next to you?

Zombie! Zombie! Zombie!

If you are like 95% people on the planet, then you cannot recall any of the above. We dwell most of our lives in the zombie state of unawareness.

This preserves out mind to focus only on the things that interests us at the cost of ignoring everything else.  For example, if you are looking to buy specific model of a car, you suddenly start seeing more of those cars on the streets. If you want to buy an apartment, you suddenly start seeing “For Sale” signs everywhere.

Those cards and signs have forever been there. You have just started to see them now.

Why am I telling this to you?

If you craft your marketing message, or build your website, that assumes that attentive, alert, intelligent people are going understand whatever you are trying to communicate and make a buying decision – It won’t happen!

In order to sell, you must first wake the zombie up!  Keep reading to learn the art of getting attention.

- Mukul Gupta