'Net Features : wm-mobile

7 Key Principles for Mobile Commerce Success

Administrator — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:45:00 GMT

:: By Nathan Joynt, Volusion ::

There are currently 115 million smartphone users in the U.S. and an estimated 200 million users by 2017. According to Internet Retailer, in 2012 U.S. smartphone and tablet users spent over $24 billion in mobile commerce sales, accounting for 11% of total ecommerce sales. The digital age is advancing quickly, and with the boom of ever-increasing technology use and some promising statistics, online businesses can’t deny the fact that there is huge moneymaking potential in mobile business. Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is the browsing, buying and selling of products and services on mobile devices. If being able to shop from your home computer wasn’t easy enough, smartphones and tablets enable you to research and compare products in a physical storefront. Often this can lead to a direct sale online – often from a competitor of the storefront. If you are looking to maximize your online business through mobile, this post will give you some important factors to consider when developing your m-commerce strategy.

7 Key Principles to Maximize your M-Commerce Strategy

To keep your m-commerce strategy running effectively and help your online business grow, make sure you adopt these principles:

1. Do on-going research to determine what mobile devices are popular with your target market.

This is about understanding how you need to prioritize your mobile strategy to maximize ROI. Not every online market makes use of mobile devices. You may have a business where users actually find it more difficult to research and shop for your products through a smartphone. What does your current analytics data suggest? Also, what is your competition currently offering in terms of mobile presence? A story can be formed by performing gap and opportunity analysis. The more persistent you are with research and analysis, typically the better you will be able to focus on what’s most important.

2. Keep brand consistency across your web and mobile properties.

Make sure your ecommerce and m-commerce sites are consistent and congruent in terms of design, product offering, content flow and overall brand messaging. If you are in a position to take advantage of responsive design, do so. Your visitors will expect a consistent branding experience, whether they know it or not. This builds trust, whereas any inconsistency is a sure-fire way to lose sales.

3. Try to keep it simple at first and then add complexity.

As a colleague states, “web users are finicky; mobile users are finickier.” Mobile users typically expect their content to load quickly. You have to take extra care to ensure your mobile content can be consumed in multiple formats. This means making the pages more light weight: use clean code, be careful with large data features like videos and make sure to test all your site’s features so you know what needs to be sped up, taken down or added in.

4. Remember to include mobile in your online testing strategy.

Smart marketers understand how to increase ecommerce sales through practices like user testing, landing page testing and conversion rate optimization. Due to the fact that the user interface and user experience on mobile devices are different, it’s important to understand what your target market expects from your mobile site and include these considerations in your testing strategy.

5. Remember to QA your mobile site.

The concept seems simple enough, but it can be overlooked, especially as websites continue to grow and stakeholders forget to take into account the mobile experience. Does the design break at any point? Is the site cross-browser compatible? Does the checkout process work? Are you able to track everything appropriately in terms of analytics? Do the forms work? Does every link and do all calls-to-action perform as expected? It can be frustrating to try and purchase something through a mobile device and encounter a broken link. This will typically lead to a lost sale.

6. Keep reading more about mobile optimization.

Things move quickly in this area. In order to correctly optimize your mobile business make sure all your mobile data is in order, know what metrics are key to your success and know the specifics of what your customers are searching for most. Mobile optimization is a key factor when looking to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction. This leads to…

7. Leverage customer feedback.

It’s very important to have a customer feedback page, suggestion box, review section, etc. Most businesses have drastically increased their online sales by listening to customer feedback, so why not do the same for your m-commerce business? Utilize your Facebook and Twitter friends/followers to understand their likes/pain points. Send out a survey to your email list. What one customer wants, usually many more will want. If you tailor your mobile business to your customer feedback you will keep them satisfied and coming back for more.

eMarketer estimates that by 2017, approximately 25% of online retail transactions in the U.S. will take place on mobile devices. As technology is changing and rapidly increasing, so is the way consumers buy their products, which means you, as an online business owner, has to change as well. The potential for your business to grow through m-commerce is extremely promising and is up to you, with a little help from the experts, to make the most of your mobile business.

Nathan Joynt is a Marketing Manager for Volusion, a leading mobile and ecommerce software company. He specializes in SEO, user experience and content marketing. Follow him on Twitter @nathanjoynt.

3 Ways to Kick-Start Conversions

Administrator — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:15:00 GMT

:: By Amie Marse, Content Equals Money ::

Conversions are one of the top priorities of companies engaging in online business. Without a strong rate of conversions, companies are simply sinking money into a profitless division. With the right strategy, however, a company’s online presence can trigger substantial growth.

Mobile optimization is the key to getting conversions in 2013. Everywhere you look, someone is checking their smartphone for recommendations about which product to buy or which restaurant to try. Developing a strategy that targets mobile consumers allows your company to draw in a whole new demographic. Mobile-first businesses generally place an emphasis on acquiring new customers, a focus that many mainstream organizations lack, according to David Needle.

If you are unsure of how to improve your online marketing tactics, try integrating at least one of the following three strategies. In 2013, optimizing your mobile landing pages, updating your email marketing, and mastering the balance between short- and long-form content are three of the surest ways to gain conversions.

Creating an Optimized Landing Page

A landing page is the online form of a first impression. Your landing page needs to give viewers an immediate idea of what to expect from your products or services. Furthermore, an optimized landing page will engage consumers in a way that encourages conversions. Without careful optimization, your landing page may drive consumers away, especially in regard to mobile.

The top priority of a landing page optimized for mobile is accessibility. Every aspect of the landing page must be easily navigable by fingers on a touch screen, or the visitor will quickly return to the search engine to choose a different result. Avoid the use of elements that include flash or plug-ins, since they slow down mobile users.

Mastering the art of engaging headlines is a persuasive way to interest consumers and bring in conversions. Strong, informative headlines decrease the need for wordy descriptions underneath, which is beneficial for the necessity of speed. Mobile users want to visit pages that load immediately and present brief, to-the-point information.

In order to increase conversions, more and more businesses are utilizing variable sites that can rearrange themselves to target the viewer’s needs. Based on the visitor’s search criteria, your optimized landing page should present relevant information that makes it easy for the consumer to convert.

Innovative Email Marketing

Although many marketers seems to believe that email marketing has run its course and lost its relevance in the age of mobile, there is a strong contingency of experts that still encourage the use of email marketing. In fact, email marketing can be improved for mobile by incorporating many of the same strategies that apply to landing pages.

Mobile users usually check their email even more frequently than those using a computer, so be sure to send out emails that are optimized for mobile views. Like mobile landing pages, email marketing should be simple, accessible, and relevant. Remove graphics and images so that the text is prominent. Pare the content down to the most important information and include formatting techniques like bullet points and bolding to make your message easy to scan.

When developing the content for your email marketing, drop the sales pitch. We’ve all seen an endless stream of sales pitch emails piled into our inboxes. If consumers feel like you have nothing to offer besides a sales pitch, they will take their business to a more engaged company. Instead of a sales pitch, use your email to offer valuable content that sparks interest and encourages interaction. One way to optimize your content is to make use of targeted marketing.

In order to turn your emails into conversions, don’t forget to include plenty of clear links. Once you have claimed the reader’s attention, show them a way to respond through visiting your website or social media profile. Since you are avoiding an obvious sales pitch in your email, you have to find a creative way to build conversions. Giving the reader incentive to follow a link is the most dependable way to get him or her to a page that will present a sales pitch.

The Strengths of Short- and Long-Form Content

The most obvious reason for the popularity of short-form content is the growth of Twitter. As modern individuals try to condense every thought into 140 characters, long-form content has declined. Even blog posts have generally become shorter and more succinct to accommodate the desire for quick sources of information.

Long-form content hasn’t become irrelevant, however. Experts like Ev Williams are predicting a return to long-form content as we react to the overdose of short-form content. Long-form content provides a space for more meaningful and insightful commentary that develops and share ideas in a way that can’t be achieved in short-form content.

So how should your company use short- and long-form content to get conversions in 2013? The most effective strategy is to use both forms to complement each other. Use short-form content to create initial contact with consumers, whether through tweets, blogs, or Facebook posts. Once that contact is established, present long-form content that deepens the connection between your company and the consumer by instigating conversation that will generate conversions. A combination of short- and long-form content strategies will produce a more comprehensive marketing campaign that permeates your customers’ online lives.

About the Author

Amie Marse, is the founder and managing partner of Content Equals Money, a content writing service for agencies and Web-based clients.

Amplify Partner Communication with Mobile Apps

Allison Howen — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:30:00 GMT

Businesses typically launch mobile apps as a way to reach their customers who are on the go. It might be time, however, to consider also launching apps as a way to reach the variety of vendors that businesses work with on a daily basis.

This is where ChannelCandy comes in handy, which is a platform that allows businesses to launch branded mobile apps that enable them to communicate and engage with their business partners. The company works with companies to design, build and launch customized mobile apps that are available in iTunes and GooglePlay. In addition, the app’s content is launched as a mobile website in order to allow other mobile platforms, like Blackberry and Windows devices, to view the content as well.

ChannelCandy apps help businesses keep partners up-to-date with important information and notifications. In fact, these apps can be used to share a variety of rich media with partners, including videos, whitepapers, case studies and certification courses. That said, Co-Founder Jay McBain states that these apps are also effective at driving interactions between a brand and its partners.

“It’s not just a broadcasting tool, we are trying to drive two-way communication,” said McBain. “We do that through secure community groups, community walls, and we have a live chat module and messaging within the app where you can go back-and-fourth – a lot of different ways to interact.”

Plus, the app can be set up to include valuable partner tools, such as calculators, configurators, deal registration, quoting tools and more. McBain also explains that the apps can integrate with Salesforce and many other back-end platforms, so that employees, vendors and partners can all have access to these tools while on-the-go.

It is important to note that the ChannelEyes team (which is the company that powers ChannelCandy), builds the app with guidance from the client, and includes the client’s unique branding within the app, such as logos, colors and splash pages. Furthermore, the ChannelCandy technology was recently recognized as a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner, which is a title that popular brands like Instagram, DropBox and Flipboard have previously won.

“When you think about how businesses can get better working with their partners, that is really where we are focused,” said McBain.

Viralheat Users Get Fired Up for iPhone App Release

Allison Howen — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:04:00 GMT

The Viralheat platform has gone mobile.

The social media marketing suite provider just launched an iPhone app, which enables users to manage multiple Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts from their smartphones. The app can be leveraged to publish updates, as well as engage with audiences by commenting on posts, replying to updates and retweeting tweets. Plus, users have the ability to analyze follower data for their connected Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

“Viralheat already provides marketers with a unique, all-in-one platform for social media management,” said Vishal Sankhla, co-founder, Viralheat. “Our new iPhone app brings this simple, cost-effective platform, that includes social media management, engagement, publishing and analytics capabilities to the mobile world.”

The app also provides Viralheat users with on-the-go access to a variety of the platform’s most popular features and tools, including the Viralheat Stream, cross-channel publishing, analytics, the ability to create and save custom streams, schedule posts and engage with communities in real-time.

Click-to-Call from Mobile Display

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Performance marketing network Tradedoubler has partnered with mobile ad placement company Freespee and will use its technology platform and API to offer clickable phone numbers and analytics to its desktop and mobile display advertisers.

"For services with local offices, like insurance, education, finance, health, beauty, travel, telecom and other utilities, 70 percent of consumers want to talk to someone before opening their wallets," said Carl Holmquist, Freespee founder and CEO. "Especially when advertising on mobile phones, a call is the natural next step after seeing the ad -- and we make that call just one click away and totally trackable for conversion optimisation."

The rise in consumers mobile activity is obviously making click-to-call technology an important if not mandatory element in the digital advertising mix. Those networks and agencies that realize the immediacy benefit of the technology for users are signing on (as evidenced here by the TradeDoubler/Freespee partnership).

Google reports that mobile users are 6 percent to 8 percent more likely to click on ads that contain a phone number. And, even when mobile users click through to a mobile landing page instead of the phone number, Google's research found that 52 percent of those people go on to call the advertiser.

"The beauty of Freespee is we don't have to reinvent the wheel -- we can add clickable, trackable phone numbers to our desktop and mobile ad formats with just a couple of lines of code," said Rob Wilson, CEO of Tradedoubler, whose network includes 140,000 website publishers and 2,000 advertisers. "For a large segment of our advertisers this is incredibly valuable because these ads on average convert six times better than a traditional online or mobile display ad."

App Blooms With Two Toasters

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

If you're like a lot of other Mother's Day shoppers, your mom may have had to settle with a card or phone call. H.BLOOM, a gift delivery service, could help you make it up to her. The company recently launched its first customer-facing mobile app, which enables customers to send gifts (flowers, treats, etc.) with a few simple taps on their iPhones and in increments of their choosing (one time, weekly, monthly, etc.).

To bring this app to life, H.BLOOM enlisted Two Toasters, a mobile app development firm, to provide an intuitive, yet high-end gift-giving experience for delivery in select cities.

"H.Bloom is focused on delivering products and services that people love, and the new mobile app is a key element of our overall strategy of delivering the finest quality flowers and gifts to consumers and businesses," said Emily Dubner, Director of Consumer for H.Bloom.

Among the app's impressive features are:

Seamless Checkout - Two Toasters developed a "stacked six-step checkout process" to enable customers to change a specific part of their order, without having to backtrack through the ordering process.

*Calendar Functionality - This makes it easy for customers to see available days with delivery fees clearly displayed at the top. This eliminates user frustration and increases conversions, as delivery costs are a common reason for cart abandonment.

Sreamlined Design - Two Toasters purposely kept the design minimalistic, keeping the gift options screens minimal to not clutter the user experience.

To download the H.BLOOM app for iOS, click here. To learn more about Two Toasters, visit their website.

Small Biz Getting Mobile Sea Legs

Allison Howen — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:30:00 GMT

A new study from Constant Contact is shedding light on how many small business owners are leveraging mobile technology, in addition to how they are using it.

The report reveals that although 66 percent of small business owners claim to use mobile technology, only 34 percent have mobile-optimized websites. In fact, the top-two ways businesses are using mobile technology are for social media marketing (73 percent) and to conduct email marketing (71 percent). In addition, 44 percent use mobile technology to advertise through social platforms, while 18 percent run a mobile tablet-based payment point-of-sale system and another 18 percent use mobile apps to manage business operations like accounting.

“It’s encouraging that a majority of small businesses recognize that their customers are relying more than ever on their mobile devices to find information, look for deals and even to make purchases,” said Joel Hughes, senior vice president of strategy and corporate development at Constant Contact. “That said, small business owners are still getting their sea legs, so it’s not surprising that they’re leading with two areas where they have a solid track record of success with customer engagement: social media and email.”

Other noteworthy insights show that small business owners tend to prefer iOS mobile devices over Android, with 66 percent of respondents using an iPhone and only 39 percent using an Android device. Plus, iPad users outweighed Android tablet users, 49 percent to 15 percent. As for the most popular apps for managing business operations, 82 percent of respondents use a calendar/time management app, 74 percent use a customer communications app, 52 percent leverage GPS and mapping apps, 44 percent use accounting/invoice apps, while another 44 percent leverage industry news/information apps and 29 percent use a travel planning app.

That said, the most shocking data looks at why some small business owners are not leveraging mobile technology yet. Fifty-six percent of the respondents stated their customers haven’t expressed demand for mobile communications, while 47 percent said their customers haven’t requested mobile payment solutions. Furthermore, 36 percent of respondents reported interest in mobile solutions but don’t know enough about how to best use them and 33 percent said that they are interested in mobile solutions but haven’t had time to implement any yet. In addition, 31 percent said they don’t have a work/business-related smartphone and 28 percent claim mobile isn’t relevant to their industry/business.

“Generally speaking, small business owners have very little spare time on their hands, so learning how to use mobile technology for their business is not necessarily tops on their ‘to do’ list,” said Hughes. “We received some anecdotal survey responses that said ‘It costs too much’ and ‘I have no idea how this stuff works,’ representing the subset of small businesses that will forgo mobile opportunities until their customers start demanding mobile communications or payment solutions.”

Drupal Commerce Sites Go Mobile

Amberly Dressler — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:40:00 GMT

In the next few years, smartphone commerce is expected to represent 9 percent of all e-commerce sales, according to Forrester Research’s U.S. Mobile Retail Forecast, 2012-2017. The need to create a branded mobile shopping experience to reach this growing market is a concern for today – if not yesterday.

With this in mind, Commerce Guys, creators of Drupal Commerce, announced the launch of its Commerce Mobile, which is a native cross-platform mobile app that brings engaging online shopping experiences to consumers on any mobile device. The company touts the native app’s ability to integrate quickly and seamlessly with established Drupal Commerce websites, creating one unified backend to eliminate the need for redundant maintenance.

“The migration to mobile Web browsing and mobile shopping is an undeniable facet of modern e-commerce, and consumers increasingly expect a great experience across platforms,” said Mike O’Connor, Commerce Guys founder and president, North America. “With Commerce Mobile we bring all of the functionality of established Drupal Commerce stores to mobile shoppers with full, ongoing support to ensure engagement and flexible functionality is not sacrificed on mobile platforms.”

The way it works is that Commerce Mobile connects the app’s functionality with existing e-commerce sites. Content from the site automatically adapts to suit the screen of mobile shoppers’ phones or tablets. The new app also connects user accounts so a customer’s cart and order history is synchronized between the two channels.

Other features of Commerce Mobile include:

Product browsing through taxonomy catalog or faceted search
Product displays with full attribute support
Shopping cart management and simple wish list to synchronize shopping carts
Login/account management and viewed products and search history browsing
Front-page dashboard with image slider for promoting deals, content or products
Forum-based support for the app

Constant Contact Founder Builds New Biz, Mobile-Optimized Sites

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:31:00 GMT

As someone who has listened to and observed small businesses for more than 20 years – to the point of camping out in them – Randy Parker, who previously founded Constant Contact, is an authority on the needs of small (and very small) businesses.

And right now, there is a rapidly increasing need for mobile-optimized websites. So it’s no surprise that his new business, PagePart, targets this need and group. Parker’s experience taught him that the day-to-day operations of SBs can be so frantic, that an hour to think about website strategies is a luxury often not afforded to this segment. They want the most bangs for their bucks and 15 minutes to do it in.

PagePart can create a mobile-optimized website in less time than that. For the unfamiliar, PagePart is an all-in-one platform that gets VSB and SMs fully engaged on the mobile Web, as well as on their existing site and on social media.

This platform is a blend of “do it for me” and “do it yourself.” Web designers, development teams and consultants will find PagePart to be a structured platform, but with fully white-labeled, customizable options. These partners (as PagePart calls them) can create the website, and SBs can use the self-service dashboard to post promotions, view analytics, update social media or even change design elements. The partners will also have access to their own dashboard, where they can track all of their client’s data, which they can use to proactively contact their clients to become a strategic mobile advisor.

PagePart also empowers partners with selling tools. Since recruiting SBs directly can be a very expensive game, PagePart strategically works with partners to recruit SBs on the platform’s behalf. Selling tools include white labeled leave-behinds, statistics, studies and other material to get over the goal line.

“We’re all in the business and understand the importance of mobile, but sometimes convincing small businesses to take the extra step is tough,” said Parker.

PagePart hopes its Comparison Tool can help. It works by taking a SB’s existing site and comparing it to the site created with PagePart (think before and after diet advertisement). Like any compelling visual, the Comparison Tool can relay what “mobile optimized” really means.

For example, Parker recently had a conversation with a partner who brought in eight SBs who all said they had mobile-optimized websites. Seven out of eight sites were not mobile optimized. By educating clients about what that truly means with the myriad specific use cases available, partners (Web designers, development teams and consultants) are able to bring clients on board for themselves and PagePart.

PagePart is also doing its part in meeting SBs where they are. And in the company’s research, north of 70 percent of small businesses are on Facebook. SBs are actively engaged on their Facebook Pages, and in a structured way. So PagePart’s automatic site-builder can generate a mobile site based on information in partners’ clients’ existing Facebook Pages.

Here are examples of SBs using PagePart for custom mobile websites.

Learn more about the PagePart product, which is currently available with a six-month free trial, by clicking here.

Small Businesses Technology Trends in 2013

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:05:00 GMT

Digital marketing – websites, social media and online advertisements - is the way of the future and this outlook is not only limited to big business. Small businesses are significantly increasing their online investments, according to the 2013 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll.

In fact, 66 percent of small businesses plan to invest as much or more in digital marketing than they did last year. According to the poll, a vast majority of small businesses will also expand their online and digital presence through their company website and through email marketing in 2013.

Perhaps most notably, however, is that more than 80 percent of the 1,000 small businesses that were polled nationwide, will also use word-of-mouth marketing to increase awareness and visibility. And while word-of-mouth still runs supreme with this business segment,small businesses are not ignoring the shift that has taken place in consumer consumption habits thanks to mobile. Seventy-one percent are “somewhat” or “very likely” going to increase budgets for marketing via mobile devices.

“U.S. small businesses see incredible value and opportunity in digital marketing and are clearly increasing their presence as a way to gain access to new customers,” said Cathy Martine, AT&T Executive Vice President of Small Business Solutions. “With a variety of digital tools such as email, websites and social media, coupled with the ability to both deliver and access them from mobile devices, small businesses are building new connections without borders.”

The poll also addressed the use of social media among the 1,000 small businesses nationwide, the results include:

• As a way to remain competitive with easy and affordable ways to create awareness, 36 percent of small businesses polled say they use LinkedIn for various reasons, including engaging with others in their industry and extending awareness of their business. This represents a 16 percent increase over last year.

• While LinkedIn saw an increase, Facebook participation among small businesses polled decreased from 44 percent to 41 percent over the past year.

• Use of location-based social media also decreased. For example, Foursquare decreased from 9 percent to 6 percent year over year.

Mobile Shoppers Use Devices to Research Local Business

Michael Garrity — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:35:00 GMT

Two of the biggest mobile and local companies on the Web, xAd and Telmetrics, have once again teamed up to conduct their second annual Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study, which reveals that consumers are using their searching on their mobile devices earlier and more often for relevant information about local businesses, products and/or services.

Culled from an online survey of over 2000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and compiled by Nielson, this year’s Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study found that mobile is already starting to challenge and almost overtake desktop computers as a user’s primary media resource, as apparently 45 percent of users will turn to their mobile devices first, while 49 percent still use their PCs as their primary media resources.

Moreover, about 54 percent of respondents said they use “additional media sources” to aid in their purchasing decisions, while 46 percent said they exclusively used mobile devices as their primary research tools. Basically, the study found that about half of all mobile users rely on their devices at the beginning of the “research process,” and about one-third of them continue using it throughout the whole purchasing cycle.

However, for most mobile shoppers, local relevancy seems to be the biggest influencer in their purchase selections, as they cited things like location, local offers and promotions as their biggest reasons for making a purchase. About one-third of smartphone users and one-fourth of tablet users reference their devices to specifically find a local business’s contact information, such as a phone number, address or driving directions. In fact, about 60 percent expect businesses to be within walking or “local driving” distance for some reason.

But the good news for all online retailers is that mobile users across various categories showed a high percentage (60 percent for smartphone users and 53 percent for tablet users) of completed purchases related to their mobile activity. However, 53 percent of mobile users are actually making their purchases offline or in-store, although this is more common with smartphones than tablets.

In addition, the Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study found that most (57 percent) searchers go directly to a branded app or website, but that discovery methods vary more on tablet devices, and that nearly 60 percent of mobile users (and 80 percent of tablet users) said they actually use their devices at home, rather than on the go.

Tablet Wars: Microsoft Grabs 7.4% Of Tablet OS Market

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:20:00 GMT

Microsoft captured 7.4% of the global tablet OS market according to preliminary figures from Strategy Analytics' Global Tablet OS Market Share: Q1 2013 report, with three million Windows 8 tablets shipped in Q1 2013.

Microsoft’s share of the tablet operating system market is dwarfed by that of iOS and Android. Apple’s share in the first quarter was 48.2% and Android 43.4% according to Strategy Analytics.

Some analysts suggest that the only barrier to future growth for Microsoft’s tablet OS is the lack of applications. With a larger market share though, will Internet businesses, digital marketers, and app developers decide it is time to start developing apps for the Windows 8 experience?

10 iOS Apps for Internet Professionals

Allison Howen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:45:00 GMT

Mobile has changed everything – from the way we advertise and format emails to the way we design our websites and interact with colleagues when away from the office.

In fact, the biggest benefit of mobile may be that it connects us with our surroundings regardless of where we are located. This makes it easy for Internet professionals to stay connected with their colleagues, important data and even their business’s social profiles while on the go.

That said, Apple’s popular App Store contains hundreds of thousands of applications, which can make it very time consuming for business professionals to discover the best apps to keep them connected with their businesses. Luckily, Website Magazine has sifted through the App Store and has highlighted ten top apps for Internet professionals below:

Vine

Since its January release, Vine has taken the App Store by storm. In fact, this free video sharing tool is currently number one in the app store, and has been leveraged by everyone from retailers like Urban Outfitters to the White House. Businesses can use this app to spice up their Twitter feed and engage their followers with short video snippets.

Google Drive

Need an important file while away from your desktop? No problem. Just download the Google Drive app and sign up with the cloud service to receive 5GB of free storage. By doing this, you can save all of your important files to the cloud and access them from any device, any browser and anywhere. This free app allows users to edit and create Google documents and spreadsheets, share photos and view documents offline.

StratPad

StratPad helps business owners create plans and strategies for their enterprise’s success directly from their iPad. It provides tutorials and a toolkit to help users create business plans, map out their goals and produce data-filled graphs and reports. Reports can also be easily shared via StratPad, and the app even integrates with Yammer to allow teams to discuss reports together. The app comes in a free version as well as multiple paid versions that range from $9.99 to $54.99.

Zendesk

Zendesk’s updated iPad app includes new customer history features and a reporting dashboard, which helps keep companies aware of their performance from anywhere, at anytime. The reporting dashboard allows managers to monitor data and metrics with three different views: the leaderboard, ticket activity and first response. The leaderboard view gives users a quick glance at metrics like customer satisfaction, solved tickets and response time, while the ticket activity view provides details on the volume of tickets, efficiency and quality of agent responses. Conversely, the first response view contains an interactive dial that lets users discover how long it took to respond to customer inquiries across various time periods. The update also offers customer service history on a company or customer level, which allows service teams to gain insights on previous interactions so they can better address customers' individual needs.

Foursquare for Business

While Foursquare might not be the most popular social network, businesses should maintain a presence here in order to increase their visibility. And with the Foursquare for Business app, brands can increase their visibility while on the go. This app allows social media managers to create updates to be shared on Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, users can use this app to manage multiple business profiles, turn specials on and off, as well as monitor other important data like recent check-ins.

Adobe Eazel for Photoshop

If you’re a designer who wants to create art work while on the go, look no further than Adobe Eazel for Photoshop. This art app is a companion app to Adobe Photoshop CS5 software, and enables users to create works of arts with their fingertips. Moreover, artwork can be sent directly to Photoshop CS5, where they are re-rendered at a higher resolution and can be saved in any file format.

GoDaddy

Purchase domains from anywhere with the free Go Daddy app. Not only can this app be leveraged to buy and manage domains, but also to purchase hosting, Web Builder, SSL certificates and more. Additionally, users can access their Go Daddy email from within the app’s Mobile Workspace feature, as well as store and access files from the Online Storage file manager. And if those features don’t make this app an instant-download, then perhaps access to the company’s Internet-only commercials will.

Analytics Tiles App

Got analytics on the brain? If so, consider downloading the colorful Analytics Tiles App. This engaging app allows users to monitor and interact with performance data. The apps interface is customizable, as it allows users to add and remove reports (tiles) via drag and drop functionality. Tiles can further be customized with a variety of color options, and users can view additional details from a report by tapping on its tile. It is important to note that users must also have a Google Analytics account with at least one active website in order to use the app.

OfficeTime – Time & Expense Tracking

Track all of your hours and expenses from your iOS mobile device with the free OfficeTime app. This time tracker allows users to track time by project and category, track time with multiple hourly rates, run multiple timers and work offline. Moreover, users that upgrade to the paid version have the ability to export time data to Excel or Numbers and track an unlimited number of projects and categories.

Website Magazine

We couldn’t compile a list of the top iOS apps for Internet professionals without mentioning the Website Magazine app. This updated app (which is available for iOS and Android devices – including tablets), allows users to access the Website Magazine daily blog, read current and previous issues, as well as explore information within each topic channel.

Bonus: Not enough apps? Discover additional top mobile apps for Web workers here.

CRM for Sales: Tylr Mobile Connects the Inbox to Salesforce

Allison Howen — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:19:00 GMT

New technology from Tylr Mobile is helping connect salespeople’s inboxes with CRM data while on the go.

The technology, dubbed WorkinBox, is essentially an iOS app that connects to Salesforce. The mobile email solution allows salespeople to prioritize emails from customers and prospects, focus on important opportunities and access relevant customer information. Moreover, the technology allows users to turn messages into actionable tasks and update salesforce.com as they work. According to the Tylr Mobile blog, the first version of WorkinBox focuses on making sales professionals more productive and responsive to their customers.

“We help you focus on your priorities by organizing your inbox by account, opportunity or key contact,” the blog states. “We help you be responsive to your customers by giving you access to email templates, files and relevant CRM information. Create tasks from your email, remember what you commit to your customers and manage your activity list on the go. Spend your time selling, not doing data entry – WorkinBox helps you update your CRM as you work.”

It is also important to note that WorkinBox is built on a secure mobile work platform that is able to handle unique sales processes at different companies and is easy for IT to configure, deploy and manage. However, those interested in trying out WorkinBox won’t be able to download it in the app store yet, because the service is currently in beta and only being released in private deployments to pilot groups and companies leveraging the Salesforce platform. That said, those interested in trying WorkinBox, as well as have an iPhone and use Salesforce, can sign up to join the beta trial.

“The way we work on the go is broken – every mobile app is a silo, and email is the biggest silo of them all,” said Ryan Nichols, CEO & Co-Founder, Tylr Mobile. “Someone needs to bring all these silos together to help people get work done. That’s what we’re building here at Tylr Mobile.”

Mobile Platform Could Cause Bridezilla Shortage

Amberly Dressler — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:05:00 GMT

Planning a wedding is stressful, to say the least. Fortunately, today's busy brides can now tackle their prenuptial to-do lists within the David's Bridal My Event interactive platform, now available as a mobile experience, thanks to mobile and multi-channel technology provider, Usablenet.

This platform provides brides with a way to seamlessly and quickly plan for their “big day” and engage with their bridal party (and as any bride or bridesmaid can attest, is a feat in itself), all while on the go.

“Planning a wedding can be an extremely time intensive and often overwhelming task, especially today with so many disparate wedding websites, blogs, and applications,” said Johanna Runyon, Director of Digital Content at David's Bridal. “We set out to create a seamless mobile experience that allows busy brides to efficiently tackle all of their planning from anywhere, at any time.”

Many of the new mobile My Event features can be used as inspiration for other enterprises:

• My Event Sign-on: Allows brides to sign on via My Account to create a profile, create or view their event and participate in other events hosted by friends.

• Social: Brides can log in through Facebook and invite their friends/bridal party to ensure everyone is connected and informed of important dates and upcoming appointments in an exclusive, private environment.

• Newsfeed: The bridal party’s place for real-time updates and discussion of all wedding planning details, including the ability to upload new products and write a message to the wedding party.

• Interactive Shopping Lists: Brides can create shopping lists for themselves, their bridesmaids or others, and keep track of everyone’s purchases.

• Mood Boards: Brides can view a popular feature on desktop – the mood boards – and share on mobile.

• Customized Task Lists: Brides are constantly planning, shopping and sharing – all of which can be organized, shared and tracked through the task list.

• Budget Planner: Brides can stay connected to their budget plan and ensure milestone deadlines are met.

• Shopping: Brides can shop on the David’s Bridal site, its affiliates and other online stores all from one location.

“When building a mobile experience it is crucial to really understand what the customer wants in the mobile context. The modern bride is both mobile and social, and wants to share her experience. David’s Bridal recognized that its customers needed an experience that would allow them to plan, track and communicate the details of their ‘big day’ in the most seamless way, even from their mobile phone,” said Carin van Vuuren, CMO of Usablenet. “We’re delighted to partner with David’s Bridal to deliver this experience.”