Mobile app usage

Employees who work for any business usually have a mobile phone or provided with one, the age group which is most active using mobile apps are 18-34 year olds. Smartphone users in the USA spend more time using mobile apps than using the web on a computer, according to (Kim.C.S.,et al,2016). There are many aspects in which people are more likely to use a mobile app: People look at product reviews to see if the app is worth downloading, whether the app is cost effective or free, does the app have the right information, is it useful and easy to use.

This shows which apps are used the most, within 18 -34 age group

(businessofapps, 2018)

Here are some of the categories in which people use mobile apps

(businessofapps,2018)

Frequency of  Usage of Mobile apps

Women averaged 4.8 hrs a day using apps, while men averaged 3.2 hrs a day using their apps but the app which received the highest average usage is social media apps, provided by (Linnhoff.S.,et al, 2017). University students use mobile apps, the factors which determine why they use them: Their attitude towards the app, whether the app is familiar to another app they have used before, whether they are addicted, commitment of finances, speed of the app, screen resolution, friends & family using the app, whether the app had great advertisement, communication, gaming, navigation, music and educational purpose, stated by (Carter.S.,et al,2016). Customers use apps with a multitude of uses this can be to look for local information, entertainment use, security issues, searching the web, to research products and services and to make purchases. When apps are incorporated into a business sense, managers are very keen in developing a mobile app as it enhances the branding of the business and gives it more of an identity, according to (Schmitz.C.,et al, 2016). Mobile apps are becoming more frequently used and more apps are being created year on year. The advantages of using web based mobile app builders is that the graphic user interface will help with the immediate integration of text – based content, videos, questionnaires and other multimedia features, stated by (Zhang.M.,et al, 2014).

To find out more information of mobile app usage, Click here

       Excellent platforms for making mobile apps

• Appery.io
• Mobile Roadie
• TheAppBuilder
• Good Barber
• Appy Pie
• AppMachine
• GameSalad
• BiznessApps
• AppMakr
• ShoutEm

For more information on the mobile app platforms, Click here

        Costs of mobile apps

• Simple & Table-based apps would normally cost between £1,000 – £7,000
• Database – based apps and Dynamic apps cost between £5,000 – £30,000
• While Gaming apps: casual games cost $50,000,Social games cost $100,000 -$300,000
• Cross – platform games cost up to $300,000 and games with complex graphics cost up to $2,000,000.

Mobile App Development , Cost and Time

(appsterhq,2018)

To find out more information on pricing of mobile apps, Visit Here

Duration of making a mobile app

Depending on the size of the mobile app but usually apps take around 4 – 6 months to produce, according to (savvyapps, 2018). Apps such as Instagram and Uber roughly take around 4.5 to 5.5 months to develop. While medium sized apps like Whatsapp or QuizUp take around 4.6 months and user friendly app such as Tinder and Periscope take around 3.8 to 4.1 months to make, stated by (appsterhq,2018). For more complex mobile apps developers are spending 6- 8 months producing an app, stated by (readwrite, 2013).

Below is a Infographic showing how long it takes to produce an IOS or Android Mobile app

(Kinvey, 2013)

For further information on the duration and stages of mobile app development , Click here

Ways of increasing more downloads to an App

There are various different ways of encouraging more downloads to an app, some of the areas to address will be to: optimize the app visually,  build a social community, use of social media install ads, post on social media sites like Facebook and Linkedin groups, offer incentives, post regularly, Increase reviews by using a review plugin, have customers rate your app, use review platforms, post on forums, make blog posts, track important metrics and create user acquisition campaigns, stated by (appsamurai, 2016).

What type of ads increase app downloads

(thinkwithgoogle,2015)

For more information on increasing downloads to your app, Click Here

This video will give you tips on getting more installs on your app

Bibliography

Android Developers (2015) 10 tips to get more installs [online], Video recording, Youtube, Available at, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRzJ_2wlZ18> [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Appsamurai (2016) How To Increase Your Android Game App’s Downloads [online], Available at,

< https://appsamurai.com/how-to-increase-your-android-game-apps-downloads/> [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Appsterhq (2018) How Long Does it Take to Develop a Mobile App? [online], Available at,

< https://www.appsterhq.com/blog/how-long-takes-to-build-a-mobile-app/> [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Businessofapps (2018) App Download and Usage Statistics 2017 [online], Available at, <http://www.businessofapps.com/data/app-statistics/>  [Accessed on 25^th of March 2018].

Carter.S.,et al (2016) “Mobile apps usage by Malaysian business undergraduates and postgraduates: Implications for consumer behaviour theory and marketing practice”, Internet Research, Vol.26, Issue: 3, pp.733 -757.

Kim.C.S.,et al (2016) “Antecedents of mobile app usage among Smartphone users”, Journal of Marketing Communications, Vol.22, Issue: 6, pp. 653 -670.

Kinvey (2013) How Long Does it Take to Build a Mobile App? [online], Available at,

< https://www.kinvey.com/how-long-to-build-an-app-infographic/> [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Linnhoff.S., et al (2017) “An examination of mobile app usage and the user’s life satisfaction”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol.25, Issue:7, pp.581 -617.

Mashable (2013) 10 Excellent Platforms for Building Mobile Apps [online], Available at, <https://mashable.com/2013/12/03/build-mobile-apps/#Nl97lxBUqPq3> [Accessed on 25^th of March 2018].

Rowinski. Dan (2013) How Long does it take to build a native mobile app? [online], Available at,

< http://readwrite.com/2013/01/09/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-native-mobile-app-infographic/>  [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Savvyapps (2018) How Long Does it Take to Make an App? [online], Available at,

< https://savvyapps.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-an-app> [Accessed on 25^th of March 2018].

Schmitz.C., et al (2016) “Mobile  App Usage and its Implications  for Service  Management – Empirical Findings  from German Public Transport”, Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, Vol.224, pp. 230 -237.

Statista (2017) Statistics and Studies from more then 22, 500 sources [online], Available at, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/271496/global-market-share-held-by-smartphone-vendors-since-4th-quarter-2009/> [Accessed on 25th of March 2018].

Stylelab (2016) How Much does it Cost to Develop a Mobile Game? [online], Available at, < https://r-stylelab.com/company/blog/mobile-technologies/how-much-does-mobile-game-development-cost> [Accessed on 25^th of March 2018].

ThinkwithGoogle (2015) Mobile app marketing insights: How consumers really find and use your apps [online], Available at, < https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/mobile-app-marketing-insights/> [Accessed on 26^th of March 2018].

Zhang.M., et al (2014) “Application of Low – Cost Methodologies for Mobile Phone App Development”, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Vol.2, Issue: 4, pp. 1-7.

The use of smartphones is increasing at a rapid rate. In 2013 there were almost as many mobile subscriptions as people on the planet, stated by (Knowles.A., et al, 2016). This shows that more and more people are going to be using mobile devices in the future.

(orangemantra, 2017)

How to make a mobile app

(grroups,2016)

1.) Create an effective mobile app strategy which details the initiatives for your mobile app

2.) Have the right features for your app, for example using push notifications, ability to zoom in on products, view more than one product at a time and having a simple but effective checkout.

3.) By having a native app this enables better performance, speed and functionality compared to web based applications.

4.) By using Facebook and Twitter to try and attract and connect with potential customers by having a detailed description of the app, also a video showing how it works.

5.) The app itself needs to use the latest technology, regularly maintained and updated to keep customers interested and coming back to use the app.

6.) Make the app easy to use, easy to navigate and search for products and simple to use will make using the app a user friendly experience.

7.) By having a customer support section in the app, where customers can put comments and feedback to the app.

8.) Don’t make the app too large and set unreachable targets as this will not only cost you more money but also time will be wasted.

9.) The content of the app should be useful and interesting to the customers, therefore time should be spent creating the correct content

10.) When the app is successful, there is the opportunity to make the app larger with more content, products and services.

Click here for further information on creating a mobile app

Benefits of a mobile app

(slideshare, 2015)

A mobile app provides a quicker alternative than mobile web browsing, as it takes time for the user to enter the URL of a web page and wait for it to load, compared with an app which takes seconds to load.  Creating a mobile app will provide more value to your customers, build a stronger brand, able to connect with better customers and boost profits. Other benefits of having a mobile app is to inform users of new products and offers, allows the business to stand out from the competition, reach out to younger demographics and sync users email and social media accounts, according to (buildfire, 2017).By having a mobile app strengthens the brand image of a business and helps build loyalty to existing customers.  An app increases customer engagement and makes it easier to connect and interact with customers, this improves a business’s processes and accessibility, stated by (Vividus, 2017).  A mobile app not only provides products and services to a business but can increase communication between clients, students, employees and also allows students to be connected to the course materials and resources. For example Anadolu University produced a mobile app in which it was downloaded on 91,756 devices, 43,356 on Android and 48,400 on IOS, according to (Ekin.E., et al, 2015). A company called Rayyan have developed a mobile app which has a unique feature which has the ability of using their app offline, according to (Ouzzani.M., et al, 2016).

For further information on the benefits of a mobile app, Click here

Risks and reasons not to make a mobile app

(proofpoint, 2015)

Many apps store data in a way that data leakage could easily occur without special tools, techniques or vulnerabilities, stated by (Chemerkin .S.Yu., et al, 2016). Some of the security risks when creating a mobile app are: Improper platform usage, Insecure data storage, Insecure communication, Insecure authentication, Insufficient cryptography, Insecure authorization, client code quality, code tampering, reverse engineering and Extraneous functionality, mentioned by (owasp, 2016).  Other risks could include: Weak server side controls, Lack of binary protections, Insufficient transport layer protection, Client side injection, Security decisions via untrusted inputs and Improper session handling, according to (newgenapps, 2017).  Although having an app for your business may seem a good idea, it can also create problems. For example Mcalister’ s deli chain had a problem where customers would place their orders in the shops which was often clogged by patrons who had previously ordered meals ahead of time using the Mcalister app, stated by (wsj, 2017). If your business is unsure of making a mobile app, some of the reasons which could stop the process, could include: unable to make updates to your app easily and quickly, thinking that this app will be the last you ever make and not having the right resources to make the app successful, stated by (entrepreneur, 2017).

Click here for further information on the risks of mobile apps

Here is a video explaining how to create a mobile app

References

Buildfire (2017) ‘4 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Having a Mobile App’ [online], Available at,

<https://buildfire.com/ways-business-benefit-having-mobile-app/> [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Chemerkin.S.Yu., et al (2016) “(IN-) privacy in mobile apps. Customer opportunities”, Scientific and Technical Journal of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, Vol. 16, Issue: 1, pp. 90-95

Ekin.E., et al, (2015) “Mobile Applications at a Mega University: Anadolu University Campus App”, Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, Vol.10, Issue: 1, pp. 13-21

Entrepreneur (2017) ‘6 Reasons Why You Should Launch a Mobile App for Your Business –and 3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t ‘ [online], Available at,

< https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/292551>  [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Grroups (2016) ‘Best Mobile App Development Companies in South Africa’ [online], Available at,

<http://www.grroups.com/blog/best-mobile-app-development-companies-in-south-africa>  [Accessed on 16^th of February, 2018]

Knowles.A., et al, (2016) “Creating a Mobile  App to Teach Ethical Social Media Practices”, Social Work Education, Vol. 35, Issue: 3, pp.245 – 259

Mobile Mass Appeal (2015) ‘ How to Make an App- Secrets Top Developers Use to Gain Millions’ [online], Video recording, Youtube, Available at,

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEK8Hpontiw&feature=youtu.be> [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Newgenapps (2017)’ 10 Biggest Risks to Mobile Apps Security’ [online], Available at, <https://www.newgenapps.com/blog/10-biggest-risks-to-mobile-apps-security> [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Orangemantra (2017) ‘Mobile App Categories That Are Making It Big In 2017’ [online], Available at,

<https://www.orangemantra.com/blog/mobile-app-categories-making-big-2017/> [Accessed on 16^th of February, 2018]

Ouzzani.M., et al (2016) “Rayyan – a web and mobile app for systematic reviews”, BioMed Central, London, Vol. 5, pp. 210

Owasp (2016) ‘Mobile Top 10 2016-Top 10’ [online], Available at, <https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Mobile_Top_10_2016-Top_10 > [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Proofpoint (2015) ‘Is Nothing Sacred? Risky Mobile Apps Steal Data and Spy On Users’ [online], Available at,< https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/Risky-Mobile-Apps-Steal-Data> [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Slideshare (2015) ‘Mobile application development  company imobdev’ [online], Available at,

<https://www.slideshare.net/devpatel125/mobile-application-development-company-imobdev > [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

The balance (2017) ’10 Tips for Creating a Successful Mobile Retail App’ [online], Available at,

<https://www.thebalance.com/creating-a-successful-mobile-retail-app-4119866> [Accessed on 16^th of February, 2018]

Vividus (2017) ‘Benefits of Mobile Apps’ [online], Available at, <https://vividus.com.au/insights/benefits-of-mobile-apps/#comments> [Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

Wsj (2017) ‘Mobile –Ordering Apps Create Problems for Restaurants’ [online], Available at,

<https://www.wsj.com/articles/mobile-ordering-apps-create-problems-for-restaurants-1508119500 >

[Accessed on 17^th of February, 2018]

SEO stands for search engine optimization, the purpose of this is to track and monitor the amount of traffic a website gets from its users. While using SEO this ensures that a website is friendly to search engines which in turn help generates organic search traffic, creating more awareness to customer’s online and encouraging greater profits, according to (Samson.S, 2015).

Google, Bing and Yahoo are big search engines people use to gather information and data on their competitors, so they can decide what strategies they can use to compete with their rivals.  Visibility is an important factor when searchers use the search engine, searchers are looking for sites which are: good quality, relevant, trusted and rank highly in the search, stated by (Enge.E, et al, 2015).

Example of how SEO works in Bing Search Engine

(useofseo, 2012)

By looking at the Bing search engine the main key areas which come up in the results are: Horizontal navigation, Search query box, Results information, Query refinement suggestions, Vertical navigation, PPC advertising, Natural/organic/algorithmic results and Shopping search results.

Benefits of SEO in an online business

• SEO enhances a business’s Visibility and Increases Brand Awareness.
• Increases a business’s credibility, ranking and reputation online.
• Increases traffic to the business website.
• Promotes advertising for the business as it enables the business to market to customers when they are browsing for products and services on the website.
• As SEO generates traffic, it will be useful to use a tool like Google analytics or Brandwatch analytics to analyze the data and to see how the customers search, how they browse, language used to search for products, which technology they use, their location and the frequency of when they are active, stated by (firstviewonlinemarketing, 2018).

Risks of SEO in an online business

• It will take time using SEO to get good results and it will take a long time to achieve return of investment from the business website.
• It could be costly in a competitive niche market as there needs to be costs of hiring external professionals to help build organic links and promoting SEO marketing activities such as SEO campaigns which attract backlinks and produce content which interests customers, stated by (digitalmarketingphilippines, 2017).
• There is no guarantee for results even if the business is on first page ranking on a search engine, most customers will just look at the first page of results.
• There is no control of how much traffic will be generated and the type of traffic generated by using SEO.
• Google updates can cause new changes which can penalize digital marketer’s efforts when producing an SEO campaign over the years.

To find out more about benefits and risks of SEO, Click Here

SEO tips to boost your online website

Keywords

 Google Alerts and Mention can be used to research and use the correct keywords customers use to help find products in company websites and the keywords they use in search engines which will be useful in determining what keywords to use in a website.

Page titles and Description

By having a unique page title which describes the pages content, which helps the user understand what the products and services the business is selling.

Permanent link structure

When making URLS make them simple and easy to understand in search engines and the business website itself, using hyphens can break up the words in the URL and also try not to make the URL too long.

Breadcrumb

Make sure to include a set of links at the top of the website this will help with navigation of pages and make links clearer.

Example of a Breadcrumb

(reliablesoft,2018)

Internal linking

 By using links in the website to direct users to other useful related links where users can find more information on the topic.

Text Formatting

 By using the correct style of font, size of font, making important words bold making it stand out to the user also using tags can make headings stand out.

 404 Page

 If the user tries to find a page which does not exist or a link which is broken the user should be directed to a page showing the user it can’t be found.

Example of a 404 Page

(reliablesoft,2018)

Image optimization

Using images on the website is a useful tool as it shows what the products look like and how they work.

Page Speed

By having a good page speed will optimize the speed of the website, making it easier to look at more than one product quickly.

Link Building from other websites

 If the website has good content it will naturally attract links from other websites.

Make the website Mobile friendly

By having the website accessible from other devices allows more users to access the website.

User sitemap

This is a list of the posts and pages of your website, which makes it easier to organise.

Having great content and fresh content  

By having relevant and up to date content will attract users to the website , will encourage electronic  word of mouth and keep users coming back to the website.

External links

Checking external links on the website is important as you don’t want users to be redirected to spam websites or inappropriate sites.

Analytics and tools

By using tools like Brandwatch analytics,  Google analytics and Google trends the business is able to track their competitors  ranking and see which products are going to be trending in the future.

To get more information of tips of SEO, Click here.

A video link explaining  SEO

(Youtube,2011)

References

Brandwatch (2018) Brandwatch company website [online], Available at,

< https://www.brandwatch.com/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Digitalmarketingphilippines (2017) The Pros and Cons of Using SEO for Your Business [online], Available at, < http://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-using-seo-for-your-business/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Enge. E, Spencer. S.M. , Stricchiola.C.J. (2015) The art of SEO: mastering search engine optimization. Third edition. Beijing: O’Reilley.

Firstviewmarketingonline (2018) Why SEO is Important for Business [online], Available at,

< https://firstviewonlinemarketing.com/why-seo-is-important-for-businesses/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Googletrends (2018) Google Trends website [online], Available at, < https://trends.google.com/trends/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Lifewire (2017) Google Alerts: What They Are, How To Make One [online], Available at,

< https://www.lifewire.com/google-alerts-3481816> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Mention (2018) Scour the web, social media, and more for powerful market insights [online], Available at, < https://mention.com/en/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Moz (2015) The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics [online], Available at,

< https://moz.com/blog/absolute-beginners-guide-to-google-analytics> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Reliablesoft (2018) SEO Tips for Beginners -15 Ways to Google Boost Tour Web Site [online], Available at, < https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-tips-for-beginners-15-ways-to-google-boost-your-web-site/> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Samson.S  (2015) SEO 101: Search Engine Optimization, Learn the Basics of Google SEO in one day. Committee of Publishers and Associations.

Searchengineland (2018) What Is SEO/Search Engine Optimization? [online] , Video recording, Youtube, Available at, < https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo> [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].

Useofseo (2012) Understanding Search Engine Results [online], Available at,

< http://useofseo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/understanding-search-engine-results.html>  [Accessed on 20^th of December 2017].