Sunday, April 14, 2019

Leverage App Store Optimization to Increase Your Reach [And Downloads]

Mobile is the “craze” in everything digital these days.
The reason?
A very obvious one; mobile internet usage has overwhelmed and exceeded that of desktop.
But it’s not just web browsing where mobile is having a strong impact. Mobile devices are also redefining the software industry, with mobile apps becoming the new portals for businesses to reach audiences and customers worldwide.
So, is your mobile app serving your business the way it should be?
Maybe yes or maybe not.
Regardless, like everything else out there, we believe it can perform better—much better. If it’s doing well, it can do great. And if it’s doing okay, it can do better.
The logic?
The mobile app market is extensively crowded. If you just count the number of apps on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, the two biggest app stores out there, there are more than 4.1 million apps competing for the top spots. Where is your app ranked among the competition? Is it easily discoverable by your customers? There is room for improvement, right?



So how do you do that? How do you increase your mobile app’s visibility, and in turn its reach and downloads?
Three words: “App Store Optimization”

App Store Optimization – An Important Key to the Success of Your Business App

App store optimization, or ASO, is a set of techniques focused on increasing the ranking of your mobile app in the app stores.
It’s very much like search engine optimization, where mobile apps are your webpages (products to be optimized) and the app stores are your search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo). If your app is optimized for the app store, it gets ranked higher on the app store search results pages, which increases your app’s visibility, drives more customers to your app page and boosts downloads for your mobile app.
What goes into app store optimization?
There are three components that make up ASO:
· Keyword usage
· Total number of downloads
· Reviews and ratings

With keyword usage, your goal should be to use relevant keywords in the title, subtitle, description and promotional text of your app. If your app is on iOS App Store, you can also include the keywords in the keyword field—a feature available only on the iOS store. 

Data reveals that using keywords in the title of an app produces the greatest impact in terms of ASO.



As for total number of downloads and reviews and ratings, there isn’t anything you can do to directly influence these parameters. However, by making sure that your app is easy to use, bug free, and serves the needs of the customers in a convenient way, you can score good points in each of these categories and indirectly influence the results.

Reach Out to EX2 Outcoding for Help

If you have an app that needs optimizing, or if you’re interested in developing an app-store-optimized app for your U.S business, get in touch with EX2 Outcoding to outsource your app optimization or development needs.


Tuesday, April 2, 2019

How a Great Website Can Enhance Your SEO Efforts

Web design plays a monumental role in every successful SEO strategy. Great web design goes beyond aesthetics; while visual appeal is important, it’s equally important to ensure that you optimize your website’s design to improve your search engine rankings.
Trendy web design is temporary; your branding and visibility on the internet, however, will leave a lasting impression on your visitors. Let’s explore how a great website can enhance your SEO efforts.

Website Functionality and Navigation

The first thing that a visitor notices on your website is its design. If your website is easy to use and allows them to navigate freely, they’re likely to stay on it longer. Furthermore, if you understand their needs and communicate with effective CTAs, users will remember your website, bookmark it, and visit it again.
Contrarily, a poorly designed website has an adverse impact on your online presence and your website ranking in SERPs. Therefore, it’s critical to address the functionality of your website and ensure that users can easily navigate and find relevant content with ease.

Consistency

Differentiating your brand from the competition is absolutely critical to succeed in the online marketplace. The design of your website should reflect your brand’s vision and represent its values. This can be achieved by ensuring consistency; make it familiar and identifiable.
Consistency will also boost the credibility of your website, which is vital for your SERP ranking. This can be achieved by placing your content strategically and ensuring uniformity among different pages. Moreover, you should keep your website clutter-free and avoid filing pages with excessive content.
A minimalistic, modern looking website with enough white space will complement your SEO endeavors and can help you improve your online visibility. 

Social media integration

According to statistics, there are around 3.397 billion active social media users on the internet. Search engines take your social media presence into consideration and make your page more accessible to users.
Maintaining an effective social media presence can greatly benefit your SEO efforts. Social media platforms enable users to find and share online content with a simple click of a button. You can add shareable links and create a solid social media presence to boost your SEO.




Switch to HTTPS

The majority, if not all, of Google’s first page search results employ the HTTPS protocol. A website that has a digital SSL certificate comes across as more authentic and credible, which helps in improving web presence.
According to the Google security blog, 81 of the top 100 sites on the web use HTTPS by default. This further shows the importance of HTTPs for your website’s online presence. Moreover, implementing HTTPS is cheaper and easier than ever, and improves the performance of your website.
Hence, if you haven’t already switched to HTTPS, make it a priority to adopt HTTPS encryption and make your website safer while improving its SEO rankings.

Content is King

Of course, your SEO efforts will remain incomplete without high-quality content. Focus on having credible, plagiarism-free content which is relevant to your business niche. This will help you to engage with visitors and enable you to reach more people.
Being recognized as a credible source and a specialist in a particular niche is critical when it comes to search rankings. Once you build authority, credibility, and reputation of your brand, you’ll notice a huge boost in your web traffic, provided that you also follow other SEO best practices.

Conclusion

A website that is complex and hard to navigate is unlikely to appeal to visitors. Make sure to create an easy, simple to use website with modern design, easy navigation, and intuitive site structure to enhance your SEO efforts.
EX2 Outcoding is an IT software outsourcing company that provides quality web development services and other software outsourcing services to businesses wanting to optimize their software’s functionality. For more information, contact them on +1 800 974 7219 ext. 202 or visit their website.