Customer experience and user experience are hot buzz words these days.

And there’s a good reason for it.

20 years ago there were fewer ways to interact with a business.

You might see an ad on TV or fly by a billboard on the interstate. If you wanted to buy from them you were probably making that purchase in person, talking to a representative of the company while you shopped around.

If not in person, you were purchasing over the phone. The success of a phone interaction depends entirely on verbal communication. But even those awkward phone calls meant that a live person was talking to a live customer in real-time.

How Customer Experience has Changed

But then, the internet came along and changed everything. It’s changed how we listen to music, get our news, and watch TV. It’s also changed the way we buy things.

We read millions of reviews. Research shows that 84% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase.

We see and hear how influencers use products. We can even use VR to “try” a couch in our living room. And when we’re ready to buy, we don’t even need to put on pants.

We’re familiar and comfortable buying basically everything online, from clothes and housewares to our actual houses.

That massive shift from an in-person world to an online one has required many businesses to rethink how they build a relationship with their customers.

How Much Do You Know About Your Customers?

So we see the differentiation and development of two types of buyer experience: customer and user. And while they both help businesses define and improve their relationship with customers, they are different and should be used differently.

Businesses need to understand how their products and processes impact and influence relationships with their customers.

Let’s talk about the 5 things you need to know about customer and user experience:

1. Customer Experience and User Experience are Different
2. What is Customer Experience?
3. What is User Experience?
4. How You Can Use Customer and User Experience to Improve Your Business?
5. What to do if Your Company Needs Help With Customer and User Experience

1. Customer Experience and User Experience are Different

What makes them different?

You might define them by saying the customer experience is the full journey through milestones that often include user experiences.

User experiences, on the other hand, are more focused.

A user’s experience might involve making a dog grooming appointment. However, customer experience encompasses your holistic experience with that business from finding them, to making an appointment, arriving at the actual appointment, picking up your dog, and making your next appointment.

That customer experience could span weeks while the user experience might only be a few minutes. The user experience could be considered a milestone in the customer experience journey.

So let’s break down the next thing you need to know: what are customer and user experience?

2. What is Customer Experience?

Customer experience is the holistic view a customer has of a business. How they feel after all of their interaction with the company. Let’s go back to the dog grooming example.

Sally’s New Groomer

Sally finds a dog grooming business by asking her neighborhood group on Facebook. Several people share their experience with the groomer and share the company’s website.

Sally visits the site and checks out their picture gallery, price list, and the About Us section. Sally can tell these people are passionate about taking care of dogs and they fit in her budget.

Sally wants to book online but…they don’t offer online bookings. So Sally calls the local number provided. She gets a voicemail and is a little annoyed but leaves a message anyway because of the positive reviews from Facebook.

The groomer calls Sally back and sets an appointment. On the day of the appointment, Sally arrives at the business address. It’s in a little house that’s been converted into a business.

Sally is surprised at how cute it looks and is pleasantly surprised by how nice it is inside. She’s quickly greeted by a smiling employee who’s expecting her. When she picks her dog up, Sally is really pleased with how good her pet looks.

Sally books a new appointment immediately.

How can we describe her customer experience?

A good way to answer that question is to ask: what would Sally tell someone who was looking for a groomer? The information she would share with that person would be her customer experience.

She might tell them how she heard about the business and that lots of people seem to love this groomer. She might also share that they don’t have a way to book online appointments and that she had to leave a voicemail (in 2020 no less).

But she’d likely end by saying the place is charming, the staff was friendly and her dog looked great and happy.

Despite some ups and downs, Sally had an overall positive customer experience and the groomer gained a new customer.

But let’s dive into that.

Sally would have preferred to book online instead of leaving a voicemail. If she’d found the website without the advice of her Facebook group, she might have given up on that groomer and found someone else.

That’s an important part of her experience. She was only willing to leave a voicemail and wait for a callback because she trusted the other customer recommendations.

The well respected consulting and research company, Forrester, has a great breakdown for what a great customer experience should include. If you want to break down the customer experience more strategically, this is a great approach.

Forrester says, “good customer experiences are three things from the perspective of the customer.They are useful (deliver value), usable (make it easy to find and engage with the value), and enjoyable (emotionally engaging so that people want to use them).”

What Could the Groomer Learn?

Sally had many milestones in her customer experience with the grooming company.

She started with testimonials from other customers. She moved on from there to their website. When she couldn’t make an appointment online, she called and interacted with their voicemail.

When she got a callback for an appointment, she spoke in-person with an employee of the company.

The day she dropped off her dog for its appointment, she visited the actual business in person and interacted again with the staff. The dog was so well-groomed and cared for that when she picked him up she immediately made a follow-up appointment.

If the grooming business had the opportunity to hear Sally’s full experience, they could learn a lot about how customers feel about their business.

That customer experience story tells them what they do well and where they have the opportunity.

Analyzing the Customer

What are a few key learnings from Sally’s experience for them? Let’s use the Forrester approach to analyze the customer experience.

1. Useful: She didn’t have strong feelings about the cost but she clearly liked the result because she booked another appointment immediately so they must have been useful.
2. Usable: But she struggled with the appointment process, and would have abandoned the process if not for the reviews of folks on Facebook. So usability was a challenge.
3. Enjoyable: And enjoyable was also a mixed bag for Sally because she didn’t enjoy the voicemail or callback experience.

What lessons can the groomer take-away from all this?

• They might find that by not offering a way to book appointments online they risk losing potential customers.
• They might learn how valuable word of mouth is on Facebook and develop a social media presence for their business.

3. What is User Experience?

Ok, so now that we understand better what Sally’s customer experience was, where were the user experience elements?

The user experience is a more focused examination of one element of a customer’s journey. Take, for example, Sally’s experience booking the appointment.

Sally wanted to book online but she had to call, leave a voicemail, and wait for a callback. So, if the groomer wanted to create a better user experience, they might consider creating an online booking system.

If the groomer wanted to modernize how they took appointments, a good place to start that process is by asking themselves a few questions:

1. Who is our customer?
2. What does our customer want?
3. Why do they want that?
4. Where does our current process fall short?
5. Can we offer that solution in a way that aligns with our brand?

The answers to those questions will guide the business in developing a better user experience. At this point, you might have realized that a solid understanding of the customer experience is the best way to answer these questions.

4. How to Use Customer and User Experience to Improve Your Business

If you aren’t constantly asking yourself, “Are we meeting our customer’s needs and expectations?” now’s the time to start.

The past few years have changed customer/business relationships in ways that were difficult to anticipate and challenging to address. There’s no reason to believe that tech and social changes won’t rapidly continue to impact those customer/business relationships in the future.

By understanding the holistic customer experience, a business can identify the user experience opportunities they may have.

Once those opportunities are identified, the company can further use what they know about what the customer does and doesn’t want by again turning to what they learned in the customer experience.

While Sally’s example is good for understanding what a customer and user experience are, there’s one more thing we haven’t talked about when using learnings from those.

Sally is one customer.

While the knowledge you get from one customer is likely a good representation for many more people, it’s still just one customer. Reliable and useful customer and user experience data should be collected for many people to really understand what a business does and doesn’t do well to serve its customers.

That brings us to the final thing you should know.

5. What to do if Your Company Needs Help With Customer and/or User Experience

By now you’re probably bought into the value of good customer and user experience data to help improve your business. But how do you do that?

The easy answer is to ask your customers. Be broad about who you consider a customer. If Sally had visited the website but never made an appointment you’d want to know why.

By asking both potential and purchasing customers what their experience was, you’ll learn how to provide a better experience overall.

But collecting data can be challenging. If you don’t already have the applications and processes in place to collect, organize, store, and analyze customer experience and user data, it’s probably time to investigate options for getting those in place.

Conclusion

From building solutions in-house with the help of IT teams on staff, to contracting that work out to knowledgeably and experienced tech firms, there are different ways to meet the need.

And there are benefits to both. While an in-house team might save you money in development, they’ll likely lack the knowledge and experience needed to do the job quickly and effectively.

Hiring a consultant who’s created customer and user experience solutions is often the fastest way to get that valuable information.

For smaller businesses without robust in-house IT teams, it’s often the most affordable option as well. Check out this article for tips on when and how to hire consultants for IT projects.

Once you have the data to understand the experience, you can start the process of creating solutions your customers will love.

Here at Atiba, we specialize in custom software development solutions, including customer and user experience data solutions. Our experts have plenty of experience in working with businesses of all sizes to find something that fits your needs and helps you accomplish your business goals. Reach out to us today for a free quote!

Everyone remembers the old iPhone commercial with the catchline “there’s an app for that”. The original commercial mentioned checking the snow on the mountains, where you parked your car, and how many calories your lunch had.

Apps have evolved greatly over the 10 years since that commercial ran and now most businesses are also diving into mobile app development. As a way to improve their brand and reach the greatest amount of customers, small to large businesses have developed their own app.

With over 175 billion apps being downloaded daily, it can be easy for your app to get lost in the shuffle. Let’s talk about what you need to have in mind when you go about developing your own app.

Make it An App

Wow, what a great tip right? You should be building your web app to be an app!

While that may seem like a simple (and ridiculous) thing to say, we mean that you should be making your app its own entity.

That means you should avoid making it just a simple reflection of your website or even worse, using your app as the mobile version of your site.

Not only have you wasted your time and money making an app, but you’re going to be disappointing the most important people in all of this: the users.

Why would users waste space on their devices and time downloading the app if it’s just a simple extension or reflection of your site? Spoiler alert: they won’t. And those that do will quickly be dragging your icon to the uninstall option.

Make it Simple

Have you ever visited a website and found navigating to a certain page to be almost impossible? Drop-down menus block your selection and the structure is just way too confusing.

When it comes to mobile app development, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Apps with too many features can overload a user and make using your app very confusing. In fact, according to this survey from Clever Tap, app confusion was the 5th ranked reason to uninstall.

Be Ready for Updates

Updates are one of those things that fall into the “annoying but necessary” bucket.

You can’t just push your app out and call it a day. You have to prepare for the future.

Mobile app updates can come in a variety of flavors. Maybe it’s patching a security issue. Maybe it’s offering a new feature. Or maybe, it’s a complete redesign. You should be monitoring your app constantly and making sure it’s adhering to standards and following all guidelines.

Updates also let your user base know that you’re listening to them and looking to make improvements. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that everything you did is perfect and wrapped up.

Utilize Proper Communication

In a 2017 survey, 1300 employees were asked about the role that miscommunication plays in their office environment. Around 80% agreed that miscommunication happened within their setting but less than half thought they were part of the miscommunication issue.

Hmm.

When it comes to developing your app, there are going to be different teams involved. The developer team needs to be in sync with the design team. Remember, you’re likely only going to get one shot with a successful release so making sure all issues are ironed out beforehand is vital.

Take Testing Seriously

When you’re going through the final processes of mobile app development, you’re going to eventually run into the testing phase. Not only do you want to smooth out any issues, but you have to make sure your app is ready for users.

A buggy app means users are going to uninstall and forget about your app. In fact, 37% of users said they’d immediately uninstall an app the moment they spot a major bug. It doesn’t matter if you send out an email blast detailing your new fixes and offering a mea culpa, users have already moved on.

You need to test out the UI/UX of your app as well, making sure it’s user-friendly and optimal.

Whether you’re rolling out A/B testing or going over it all with a fine-toothed comb, you need to make sure your app is up to snuff and ready for the open market.

Be Mindful of Size

The average person has around 80 apps on their phone. Some were pre-installed and others were downloaded later. All of those apps share one thing in common: they’re taking up precious space on a user’s phone. Even though plenty of devices can store up to 64GB, the average consumer isn’t overly liberal with their storage.

Second on the above survey for reasons users uninstall apps was limited storage. Don’t fall victim to a larger than life app!

Bloated apps are going to stick out like a sore thumb and tempt the user to uninstall, especially if they’re not making regular use out of the app.

What can you do to ensure your app isn’t the size of a small city?

• Compress any images
• Look to minify code
• Remove or reuse resources
• Look to minimize resource use from libraries

That way, you can make your app small, compact, and ready to go.

Pay Attention to Reviews

Even though it may not be a direct part of mobile app development, making sure you’re taking reviews into account is vital for the future success of your app.

While it may not be ready to hit Google’s Play Store or the Apple App Store, you should be seeking feedback from others in your organization. Ask them about functions, ease of use, user experience, and more. Take what they say into account as they’re most likely to give you honest feedback.

Even though they may not be mobile app experts, remember Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was once warned by a friend about the impending disaster of Netflix’s new business model.

Conclusion

When it comes to mobile app development, there’s a lot to consider. You want to make sure it not only runs well, but is free from bugs, and provides a positive experience for your users.

Here at Atiba, we have a team of mobile app experts waiting to help you develop your app.

No matter what problem you’re having or project you want to launch, we can help. As leading IT experts and consultants, we provide immediate response time and 24/7 support.

Reach out to us today!

JumpStart into Coding: Nashville Software School

By David Williams, Atiba Software Development Intern

Before I took the Nashville Software School’s JumpStart class, the most coding I had done was on my calculator in 9th grade. The course is a mere three weeks long and totals 33 hours of one’s time. It meets Saturdays from 9:00 am-2:00 pm, Monday and Wednesday’s from 6:00 pm-9:00 pm.

Who takes this class?

My JumpStart class had ten students, one teacher, and four TAs. My classmates ranged from bartenders trying to learn a more stable skill in the time of COVID, to marines returning from duty to me, a former teacher looking to switch career paths.

What does this class teach?

The class provides front end development in the languages of HTML, CSS, and JAVA. I had no idea what that meant either when I started. HTML is the language that tells computers what words are displayed on a website. CSS is the language that tells computers what those words should look like (font, borders, backgrounds, etc.).

And Java is the language that allows people to interact with a website. For example, Java enables people to click on items on your website. By the end of the three weeks, I was able to create my very own website from scratch.

 What is this class like?

The class has no homework, no out-of-class reading, and no grades. You get out of it whatever you put into it. It is structured perfectly for true beginners who just want to dip their toes into coding.

The teacher spends about 15 minutes going over a few commands and explains what the commands do and how to use them. Then the teacher takes about 15-30 minutes coding themselves and plays around with those commands.

For instance, one small section of a class was spent on the CSS commands for creating borders around the text. The teacher showed everyone how to make the border solid or dotted, how to increase its thickness, and how to put a background within that border.

After the demonstration, its time for the students to work. There is a 30 min individual mini-challenge. The challenge walks you through using the commands and makes you think about how you can apply it.

There are always TA’s available to help if you are confused. One mini-challenge for Java had the class create a button that displays text when you click on it. When about 75% of the class finishes the assignment, the teacher goes over the answer.

Other Points

Nashville Software School uses the group messaging app Slack. It provides every member of my group, the teacher and the TA’s included, a platform to chat. Slack was a great way to ask questions when not in class and is an even better way to network when the class is over. NSS is upfront about the importance of networking in finding a job, and Slack allows people to stay in touch without exchanging numbers.

Lastly, I should point out that the course emphasizes how to self-study afterward. NSS provides tools and websites to learn and practice after the three weeks are up. There are thousands of YouTube tutorials online, but part of this JumpStart course is to give you the vocabulary and the agency to watch those videos without feeling overwhelmed. It is well worth the $650 price tag.

If your business has a website, then you’ve probably stumbled across the term responsive web design or some variation of it. By no means is this a new buzzword or recent advancement (check out this article from 2011), but it can still be surprising how many websites fail to implement a proper responsive design.

Websites that aren’t responsive are not only being penalized by Google but are also losing customers on a daily basis. Not having a responsive website gives your visitors a bad experience and they’ll likely leave without viewing a single page.

Today, we’re going to cover why responsive design is more vital than ever and other things you can do to make sure you’re standing out.

The Basics of Responsive Web Design

The primary idea behind responsive web design is to have a website appropriately adjust for the device the visitor is using. Whether the website visitor is on a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop, the website should be able to respond appropriately.

However, not all phones, tablets, and computers are made equal so the responsive design must go a bit further than simply adapting to the device itself. Screen sizes can vary widely and what happens if a user decides to flip their phone in portrait mode? What happens when they zoom in and out?

Text, images, buttons, content, and more needs to be able to respond to the user’s actions in order to make the website visitors as positive and easy as possible. Everyone wants a clean and easy to use the website.

Besides grabbing the nearest phone or tablet, you can check what your website looks like on various devices from your own computer.

1. Press F12 (if on Chrome) to open up the developer tools

2. Select the following option in the developer tools menu

3. From there, you can check out what your site looks like on various devices, resolutions, and even in portrait mode.

It’s fairly simple to do and can give you a quick check on your site’s performance.

The ultimate goal is to make browsing a website as seamless and flexible as possible, no matter what device is in the hands of the users.

The Shift Towards Mobile Users

Mobile-Friendly vs. Responsive Design

From the outside, it’s easy to get these terms confused so let’s run over them quickly.

Mobile-friendly refers to a website having a mobile version for their website. Pretty much every website out there has a mobile-friendly version. You’d really have to crawl through the depths of the internet to find a website that isn’t mobile-friendly.

What makes responsive design unique is the ability of the website to adapt to the user’s actions and device. That means making sure it adapts to portrait view, various mobile devices, and zooming in and out.

Pictures should be optimized, buttons need to be easily clickable, and text needs to be readable. It’s not hard to make a site mobile-friendly but it can be a challenge to have the right responsive design. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your site is responsive just because it’s mobile-friendly.

Mobile-First Indexing

Finding someone without a smartphone is about as tough as it was finding someone with a smartphone 10+ years ago. They’re used for everything these days,  like looking up cute cat photos, laughing at memes, or checking the latest sports scores.

Check out this following graphic from Broadband Search:

That’s almost unbelievable, a 222% rise in mobile traffic over the last seven years!

Such a drastic shift to mobile search caught the attention of Google, who officially switched to mobile-first indexing back in July of 2019.

What exactly does this mean? Let’s hear what Google has to say:

“Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query.”

Basically, Google is going to be looking at your mobile site before they check out your desktop site.

Google uses their smartphone crawler tool to judge a website’s mobile usability and functionality. If you haven’t already, you can check your Google Search Console to see when your website officially switched to mobile-first indexing. If you don’t see any notice, it’s likely because the switch happened months ago and you unknowingly clicked by the message.

So, what happens if you don’t have a proper mobile website? The answer is both easy and bleak: you’re going to start slipping in the rankings.

Having your visibility drop could cost you valuable clicks which eventually leads to a loss of conversions and customers. All the work you put into boosting your rankings and local SEO could end up being for nothing. Ensuring you have proper responsive design means a mobile-friendly site which equals a better chance of moving up the rankings.

Mobile Usability

If you’re someone who regularly checks Google Search Console (which you should be doing anyway), then you might already be somewhat familiar with the Mobile Usability option on the sidebar.

The mobile usability tab will show you how Google views the mobile version of your website. It goes a bit further than simply double-checking that your site adheres to their mobile guidelines. For example, it will tell you which pages pass the test and which pages, if any, have errors on them.

This relatively new feature is incredibly handy when checking your website and ensuring it ticks all the right boxes. You might have to hand some things off to your web developer to ensure that these issues are taken care of and don’t harm your rankings with Google.

The Google 2021 Update

When it comes to world secrets, Google’s algorithm is up there along with the recipe for Coke and what really happens at Area 51. While Google employees will often host webinars to answer questions and dispel any myths, they never give away the whole pie.

We do know, however, when an update comes out. The results pages see high volatility for a few weeks before everything (somewhat) settles down. The most recent update was the May 4th update which saw high volatility in industries like travel and real estate.

Google is always nice enough to warn people about the updates, as they’ve done with the 2021 update that focuses on page experience. Page experience will now play a role in ranking.

What goes into “page experience”? Google has listed out a number of core vitals, which are:

• Mobile-friendly
• Safe and secure browsing
• Loading performance
• Interactivity
• Cumulative layout shift

But what does this have to do with responsive web design?

Sites that have responsive design load faster and are more likely to have minimal layout shifts.

Cumulative layout shift (CLS) is a new metric that ensures if the page is stable during loading. It seeks to find out if buttons, images, text, ads, and more move during loading. If you’ve ever tried to push a button on a website only to have it move at the last second, you’ve experienced a negative layout shift.

Proper responsive web design can ensure all those images, buttons, and more are stable during loading. Sometimes, fixing those issues can be difficult which is why having an experienced web developer is key for moments such as this.

Responsive Web Design Equals Positive User Experience

Another Google tool that you should be making use of is Google Analytics. There, you can find statistics on how people found your website, how long they stay on your website, and which pages they visit.

It can also tell you the bounce rate of your visitors, or the percentage of people who enter your site and leave after visiting just one page.

Having a high bounce rate isn’t always a bad thing. If you see an informative blog or content piece that has a high bounce rate, that may be normal. Visitors visit the page, get the information they want, and then leave. It’s not the worst thing in the world, nor does it have an effect on how Google sees your website.

If you’re running an eCommerce site, however, then having a high bounce rate could mean users aren’t browsing your store or checking out products.

It can be difficult to track exactly why users are bouncing off, but the poor user experience is often one of the leading causes.

Page load time, for example, has a direct effect on bounce rate according to a 2018 study by Pingdom.

A slow web page or page that has a lot of shifting content is going to frustrate users and they’ll leave before they read your blog, check out the store, or browse around.

It’s like owning a storefront and having the front door accidentally locked during opening hours, not displaying product prices, or being absent behind the register. Basic things that should be taken care of are already shooting you in the foot.

By ensuring your website uses responsive design, you’re providing a positive user experience to your visitors. They may not end up a conversion, but you’re giving yourself a better chance at success by following sound tactics.

Proper responsive web design is more than just picking the right theme for your website. You need experienced developers who can tackle any problem and make sure your website fulfills all the necessary requirements for not just Google, but your visitors as well.

If you’re looking at improving your web design, reach out to us today for a free project quote. We look forward to working with you.

It’s almost impossible to use the internet without using something that’s based on Google. The world’s most popular internet browser? Google Chrome. The world’s most used search engine? Google. The world’s most used navigation system? Google Maps. The world’s most popular email hosting service? Gmail. The world’s most beloved social network? Not Google Circle.

For many businesses and users, using Google is just a normal part of the everyday routine. But what if you are unhappy with the service or are worried about Google’s checkered history with privacy and user data? What are the best options?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Google and we’ve got plenty of experience helping people and businesses take full advantage of G Suite but we also know that people like options.

Fortunately, there are plenty of different options out there when it comes to finding a new email hosting service. We’re going to dive into some of the top options that don’t come from the tech-giants at Google.

Why Use Email Hosting?

We always like to lead off with a few questions before diving into some of the top choices, so let’s focus on why you should be using email hosting in the first place.

Email hosting is email that runs on a server and the requirements for opting into such a service only requires you to have your own domain name. Pretty easy.

Having your own service will allow you to manage your emails and accounts by using your own domain name. If you’ve ever seen a user@domainname.com, then that person is using some sort of email hosting.

The size of your business is going to dictate what kind of service you have. Larger businesses and eCommerce companies sometimes have their own email servers in order to ensure emails are sent out on time. But, you don’t have to be a large business to take advantage of all the benefits email hosting has to offer.

Email hosting often comes hand-in-hand with cloud hosting that makes it an ideal option for remote companies and storing vital information and documents.

Three Types of Email Hosting

There are three different types of email hosting that come with their own list of pros and cons.

Shared Web Hosting

The barebones of email hosting, this type of service is ideal for businesses that don’t have to send out bulk emails on a daily basis. Shared web hosting often comes with its own share of limitations, so if you’re a small business that isn’t overwhelmed with emails, this is the ideal choice for you. This is the cheapest option.

Self-Hosted

As mentioned above, these servers tend to be for larger corporations. They are custom made for your business, require a professional team to monitor them, but are incredibly reliable and can handle bulk emails with ease. Out of the services listed here, it is the most expensive.

Third-Party

The most popular type of email hosting, third-party options are what we’re going to discuss today. They are out-of-the-box ready, require little setup and training, and chances are you or your team members have used them before. The costs will depend on the size of your business, so expect to pay more than shared web hosting.

Now that we’ve covered the different types, let’s jump into some of the best email hosting options.

What Should You Be Looking For?

There are a few items on your checklist that you should look over before deciding on the right service for you.

• Security: Although everyone knows to be careful about which emails they open, you want to make sure your email hosting service has proper security to protect your account. Things like anti-spam and anti-virus are musts in today’s day and age.
• Storage size: You’d be surprised how quickly storage can run out. If you’re someone sending lots of emails and receiving plenty of attachments, you want to make sure the size of the email storage offered is enough for you. Going through on a monthly basis and deleting emails to free up space is a PAIN.
• Support: While email is usually pretty straightforward, that doesn’t mean you won’t run into some problems down the line. Make sure your service offers 24/7 support for you and your users.
• Custom domains: Even though it should be obvious, it needs to be on the list. Making sure your service supports custom domains is a must. How else are you going to look professional to clients?

Different Options of Email Hosting Options

Let’s just into some of the different options we have.

Yandex Mail

One of the cheapest options out there, Yandex is a Russian search engine that also doubles as an email hosting service. It’s recognized for its easy installation, flexibility, and speed.

Yandex comes with a number of other options for using this service, such as a calendar, messenger, cloud storage, issue monitoring, collaborative tools, and more. It is a bit limited on space per user (just 10 GB), but it does come with anti-virus and anti-spam protection as well as two-factor authentication.

Zoho Mail

Zoho was made with the office in mind and that’s pretty easy to tell from the beginning. While Zoho does offer a free plan, it is incredibly limited and probably won’t be able to handle your business needs. Depending on the plan you go with, you can get anywhere from 30-100 GB, support, and more.

The service also comes with some productivity tools that can help keep you focused and on-track.

Microsoft 365

Chances are you’re already familiar with what Microsoft has to offer when it comes to email hosting as Outlook has been around for ages. Not only will you get access to other Microsoft tools like Word, Excel, and more, but the email package it offers is more than capable.

Microsoft deserves credit for taking notes from some other popular email hosting services and making it less clunky and more user-friendly. It does come at a bit of a higher price than other services on the list but it’s well worth it for all the other tools that you get.

Amazon WorkMail

When it comes to cloud hosting, few places do it better than Amazon. If you’re already familiar with AWS (Amazon Web Services), then you’ll find WorkMail is easy to work with. It’s got tons of customization options that make it a top option for many businesses.

However, if you’re a small business with just a handful of employees, you’re better off looking elsewhere. It does have a bit of a learning curve and was built with larger businesses in mind. It comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect, like virus protection, emergency support, and more.

Rackspace

At first glance, Rackspace seems to be quite limited. But, it was made for businesses that are only looking for email hosting. It provides the most basic tools, such as email use, shared calendar, contacts, and instant messaging.

It offers various plans that come cheaper than other options but once again, it does not offer the multitude of features you might find with other services.

IceWarp

By far the best name on the list, what else does it do to deserve recognition?

IceWarp is here because of its ability to manage various accounts across multiple names. If you’re in a business where you’re having to provide clients with their email accounts on a regular basis, then IceWarp is a great choice. It also comes with its own tools for customization and editing various documents. It comes with up to 200GB of storage per user and offers 24/7 support.

Greatmail

Greatmail makes the list because of its simplicity and basic plan.

It’s almost about as barebones as you can get but comes with built-in protection, shared calendars and contacts, and finally 25GB in mailbox storage. If you’re a small to medium-sized business, you’re going to want to give Greatmail a look.

Choosing the Right One

At the end of the day, the right email hosting service will depend on your needs and the needs of your business. We offer email hosting assistance as part of our network services and are proud to be product and service agnostic.

Get in touch with us today for a free quote about your upcoming project. We look forward to helping you!

The workplace is changing. Water cooler talk is being replaced with messaging apps like Teams and Slack. Team meetings are being held on Zoom with fake backgrounds, barking dogs, and children running around.

The tools of business are becoming more flexible, remote, and user-friendly. Project management isn’t done on whiteboards and spreadsheets anymore. But it’s still complex and important work. Offices are using Microsoft 365 for well-executed project management in the new mobile and remote world of business.

Not new to the IT solutions game, Microsoft shows that it understands how people work and what they need, now and in the future. Time and time again, Microsoft has shown that it offers effective tools for businesses.

Microsoft 365 is packed with remote, secure, reliable, and collaborative work solutions that can be scaled and updated quickly. Its available packages include personal, non-profit, small to large businesses, and just anything in between. For users looking for a quick-to-launch, easy-to-use, and reliable tool for project management, Microsoft 365 is a great solution.

As an online subscription service, it’s affordable and fast to implement. We here at Atiba are huge fans of the 365 package and have been using it for years.

Besides our own personal endorsement, what else makes it great?

Let’s dive into some details about what it not only offers businesses but how it can change the project management game.

The New Office: From the Building to the Laptop

Let’s start by talking about how the workplace has changed.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a shift to remote work solutions. Work has moved away from project management based on in-person meetings, whiteboard timelines, and endless spreadsheets. Managing a team spread across numerous time zones can be tough which is why project managers need new solutions for collaboration, knowledge sharing, coordinating schedules, and reporting.

Despite the upheaval in workplace strategy, standards haven’t changed. One of the biggest challenges that project managers face is making sure the work productivity doesn’t decrease and workers are able to effectively communicate with one another.

We won’t lie to you, effective project management is hard. There is a laundry list of things to do, such as (deep breath) aligning and coordinating many moving parts along a productive and efficient route, towards a common goal, in a set amount of time, on an always too small budget (exhale).

It requires solid communication, effective collaboration, centralized resources, and a way to monitor, schedule, and report project status.

The widespread shift from working in one place to working in many places was empowered by web-based solutions. Fast, affordable internet now connects a workforce that’s spread across the globe. Tools like Office 365 leverage cloud-based and online platforms and allow remote workers in complex projects to work as an organized team.

Project Management with Cloud Solutions

It’s true that computers have become significantly more powerful, lighter, and over the years. We’ve seen enormous desktops with huge boxy monitors and millions of wires abandoned for sleek, lighter laptops. Desktops have also become faster and more powerful. Sometimes, it’s amazing to think about how we got along with our big clunkers.

Even with all those remarkable developments in hardware, there are still a number of limitations. All hardware has limits to storage, computing power, access, and security. The limits to those features can be expanded but there are trade-offs. The more you expand those limits, the less mobile and affordable your hardware becomes.

And the more painful it is to scale and replace the tech per user.

The good news is proper cloud and online solutions offer flexible and adaptable solutions to solve the problems remote and removed workers could encounter. Providers like Microsoft bring experience, familiarity, and reliability businesses can trust.

Cloud 365 vs. Cloud 9

Microsoft 365 offers cloud solutions on a subscription. With a core set of programs (think what you’d have in traditional Microsoft Office) and an app store to supplement any additional services you may need, it’s a robust solution for many types of users.

Apps and services in the Office 365 suite include:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Word
• PowerPoint
• Excel
• Skype
• SharePoint
• Yammer
• Planner
• Teams
• OneDrive

While all those programs are great, it’s the larger strategy of 365 that’s a real win for project management. Its flexibility and web-based design set it apart from other products.

Why’s that great for project management? Let’s run through some reasons.

1. It’s packed with tools. Project management requires timelines, reports, spreadsheets, presentations, documents of all sizes, and formats. Microsoft has a myriad of tools to meet the development needs of almost any project. In addition to the familiar Microsoft Office tools, Microsoft 365 also includes access to their app store with tons of options (free and paid) to help you get whatever your job is done.
2. It’s centralized. You don’t have to worry about your timeline, your spreadsheets, and your reports being separated in different tools. They’re all in the 365 platform.
3. It’s super accessible. From a coffee shop to your client’s office, as long as you have an internet connection, you can access your files. In addition, you can grant access to team members according to need. No need to email large files to lots of people. If someone needs to use a file, just grant them access. Don’t need them on that file anymore? Update your access group. Don’t have an internet connection right now? Choose the work offline option and update it when you connect again.
4. It’s sized just right. Upgrade when you need to. Because it’s cloud-based, you can buy as much or as little storage as you need. If your needs change, you can adjust your service.
5. It’s secure. Not only is the cloud service protected by firewalls and passwords, but it’s also backed up. So you don’t have to worry if your office burns down that you’ve lost your files, too. It’s protected from hackers and catastrophe.
6. It’s collaborative. There’s more than just being able to share files. Microsoft 365 also fosters collaboration by allowing users to create and update resources together, from interacting in real-time through chat to co-editing and authoring documents, to easily assigning tasks and managing timelines and milestones. Maybe you can’t be in the same room together, but Microsoft 365 can help you feel like you’re on the same team.
7. It’s familiar. Microsoft has been around for a long time. Most folks in the workforce have used some Microsoft products in their lifetime. Many people have used a lot of Microsoft products for a long time. So even if 365 is new to you or your team, the learning curve is better than most. Navigation, icons, terminology will all feel familiar. And if you need additional help, because Microsoft is SO widely used, there are tons of resources available to skill-up users.

Take My Money Microsoft 365!

OK, there are a lot of compelling reasons to purchase Microsoft 365. If you think that it’s the tool your business needs, let’s talk about becoming a 365-er.

First, let’s identify some questions you need to ask yourself:

1. How many subscriptions do you need?
2. Do you want to pay monthly or annually?
3. What applications from the app store should you add?
4. How do you migrate from existing platforms?
5. Do you have anyone in-house to help you make these decisions and get you set-up?

If any of these questions left you saying, “I’m not sure,” then you’re not alone. Many businesses who choose Microsoft 365 for all the flexibility and easy adoption still turn to professionals to help get them going and troubleshoot along the way.

If you’ve decided that Microsoft 365 is the solution there are tons of services that a good tech professional can assist with. You might consider hiring IT to help with services like:

• Emergency Support
• Database Application Design
• Office 365 Migration
• User Management
• Mobile Device Support
• Security Audits
• Technical Support (24/7)
• Configuration & Patching
• Real-time Troubleshooting
• CIO-to-go Services

Atiba has been an official Microsoft partner for over 20 years, and if you don’t have the required technical expertise on staff, we can help. With the proper configuration and support, Office 365 allows users to take a personalized office experience on the go, on a tablet, computer, or phone, increasing productivity.

The workplace is changing. Project management is changing. The tools we use are changing with it to meet the needs of users. Tools like Microsoft 365 are fantastic platforms for businesses to meet the new needs of their teams.

If you need help with your project management or similar tasks, reach out to us today for a free quote. We look forward to helping you!

Do you know the experience of driving a rental car? The seat is in a weird position, it’s too far back or too far forward. You can’t see anything out of the mirrors and the radio is set to some terrible music, or worse, talk radio. The AC is set way too high and is blasting right into your eyeballs.

You can’t even back out of a parking spot until you change almost every setting. There’s nothing functionally wrong with the car but it’s making you miserable. Custom software can feel the same way.

If you’ve had out-of-the-box software that needed tweaking and modifications here and there just to get the basic job done, you know the feeling. You miss your custom software car at home, with its perfect features and comfortability.

When you find that you spend more time and effort adapting a product than using it the way it was designed, maybe it’s time to look at custom software development solutions.

The backbone of most businesses these days is software. While there are plenty of readymade software solutions available, more and more businesses of all sizes are finding that custom software gives them more freedom and efficiency.

So when do you know that it’s time to toss the box and build your own software? Let’s jump into the main differences between these two types of software.

Custom Software vs. Out-of-The-Box Software

What’s out-of-the-box software? Think Microsoft Office tools like Word or Excel or project management software like Workfront.

Adobe is a big fish in the software pond, too. But it can also mean software services like WordPress, Magento, and Square. In short, there are plenty of software solutions ready to install and start using.

Sure, there are customization options but you’re not going to get the freedom and development options you would with custom software. For many, that’s OK.

Frankly, there are plenty of set software solutions for almost any application you would use from everyday administrative work, to point of sale (POS) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, to blog and eCommerce websites.

The one common thread for these types of software is that it’s designed to serve many of the needs of a large group of people. While you might have the ability to add preferences, it’s never really custom.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Affordability

There are reasons that readymade software is so popular. First and foremost, it’s super affordable. Since developers only need to make one product for many users, the return on investment vastly outweighs the cost of development.

Quick Setup

It’s also fast. Really fast. Not only does most software install with just a few clicks, but training also doesn’t take very long either. Even the most tech-challenged individuals know their way around basic Microsoft Office tools.

Easy Upkeep

In addition, most updates for these types of software are easy to install and usually free. Since it’s used by more than one company, testing is usually broad, generally reliable, and paid for by someone else. 

Those are pretty compelling benefits for buying off the shelf. It’s no surprise that so many companies choose such solutions for their software needs. However, there are limitations to these popular software options. Such limitations can create expensive and frustrating problems.

Cons

Designed for the General Audience

The Scrooges of Christmas will often say “no matter how you cut or ice it, it’s still a gingerbread cookie”.

The most obvious downside is that the software isn’t designed for you. It’s designed for the shared general needs of many people. So there will be processes you’ll never use, functions you’ll use frequently, and applications you’ll want but don’t have.

Limited Customization Options

The second downside is while most of these solutions do some customization options, it can be limited and sometimes difficult to do. Instead of the freedom that customization offers, you’re more likely to be given a number of various preferences to choose from.

Those looking to customize certain software often become frustrated by their lack of options.

Customizations Can be Difficult to Maintain

Another downside to customizing this type of software is that updates will be designed for the un-customized platform. That can lead to frustrating and time-consuming issues. It can also lead to you deciding that maybe custom software is the way to go.

If a pair of shoes can change your life, what can custom software do for your company?

Custom Software Benefits

Enough about other types of software, let’s talk about what custom software can do for you.

It’s easy to see the benefits of custom software. It’s the glass slipper of software and you’re Cinderella without the pumpkin carriage. Instead of being designed to meet some of the needs of lots of users, custom software development is just for you.

It can make you more efficient, more focused, and create a better customer experience for your users, both customers and employees alike. You can change it as your business needs change and it can grow with you.

The Two Different Types of Custom Software

Standalone

Standalone software is designed to serve a specific business need. Project management systems are a great example.

While there are almost countless project management software solutions available, they often require tremendous amounts of customization to suit the needs of a business. Building custom project management software is usually a better solution.

Integrated

This would allow existing products (either custom or out of the box) you already use to communicate with one another and work as a team. For example, if you use a chatbot, a CRM platform, and a POS (point of sale) system and you need certain information to be shared between them, a custom software solution is the perfect option for you.

How Can Custom Software Development Help You?

So you might be thinking custom software development can help my business. You’re probably dreaming of all the ways it can help productivity and improve customer experience. But first, let’s just into a few of the need-to-know things about custom software.

There’s a project management theory that does a great job breaking down what you need to consider when taking on a project as large as developing custom software.

To better illustrate this, let’s use the Project Management Triangle to discuss the most important factors of a custom software project.

Cost

For the same reason that out-of-the-box software is inexpensive, custom software can be expensive, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. A birthday cake with your name and favorite flavoring will always be more expensive than a generic store-bought one. Understanding where the development costs come from can help you mitigate and plan for the cost of development and maintenance.

The more you plan the better. Here’s what you should do when planning:

• Be detailed in the schematic you need
• Think about who it needs to help, how it needs to work, and what problem it’s fixing
• Organize and delegate projects to members early on

The more information you can gather, organize and utilize at the beginning of the process, the less likely you’ll be to change your scope of work during development.

Changing scope (or scope creep) is one of the fastest ways to blow any development budget. While changes during the development process are common,  we always like to think the fewer changes, the cheaper!

Time

This everyday software is often plug-and-play. Think about how quickly you can install QuickBooks or Microsoft Office. It’s already designed so you just have to go in, set your preferences, and you’re ready to get started.

Training can be fast, too. If the software is used widely in your industry already, chances are employees but old and new are familiar with the product. Even if they haven’t, there are probably plenty of training programs or online courses.

A custom software solution has to be created from the ground up. Development, testing, rollout, and training all require time. But like cost, there are ways to shorten timelines.

A skilled project manager can add significant value and save time by ensuring the large and complex process of custom software development is planned systematically and monitored for any disruption.

Have a detailed timeline with reasonable and recognizable milestones. Make responsibilities and ownership of each element clear and known to the team. And focus on solid communication between team members.

If (and when) you encounter a delay or a change to the timeline, make sure it’s clear where the change came from and what the new timeline (and cost) will be. Set new milestones if necessary.

Resources

Who’s building your custom software solution?

While you might have an in-house IT team already, developing custom software might be more than they’re able to take on. Maybe they don’t have the time to take on such a big project. Most in-house IT teams have full plates already. They might have the time, but do they have the necessary skills?

Carrying out a custom software project requires extensive knowledge and a specific skill set. Of the three major considerations, appropriate resources have the biggest impact to custom software. If you don’t have the right people building your software, it can set you back on two of life’s most valuable things: time and money.

When Do you Outsource?

Depending on your needs, you may find that the best solution is hiring qualified professionals to help with your custom software development. Remember, while you may encounter additional costs up-front from hiring a company to do the work, there might be big payoffs in time to develop and overall quality.

Using Custom Software Development

There’s a term in the project management world called “Technical Debt.” John Leo Weber wrote a great article on the topic. He defines Technical Debt as-

“The costs of having to go back and resolve problems that arise because of an earlier decision to take the easy route, instead of the best one. In a sense, that choice for an easy solution is incurring a debt to the project that will have to be paid later.”

It’s like buying shoes that don’t quite fit but are cheaper than the right size. They’ll work but you’ll have blisters for sure. Can you afford the right shoes now or blisters later?

There’s a big difference between making software work and having software that makes your work better. For many, custom software makes their business better. The investments in time, money, and resources can pay-off big time when you have the right solution for you and your customers.

Here at Atiba, we specialize in our custom software development services. Our experts have plenty of experience in working with businesses of all sizes to find something that fits your needs and helps you accomplish your business goals. Reach out to us today in order to get a free quote for your project.

When it comes to eCommerce, there are countless factors to consider but one of the most important is which platform will be best for your business. In order to have a successful business, you need to make sure you have the right B2B eCommerce platform.

Last year, global B2B eCommerce grew by almost 20% which represented over $10.3 trillion dollars in sales. That means there is a ton of potential for your business but also a ton of competition. You want to stick out to your B2B customers, but how do you do that? What platform gives you the best chance for eCommerce personalization?

But there are plenty of options out there when it comes to choosing the ideal platform, where do you even start? How can you make sure that you’re choosing the best path for your business? Switching platforms is both costly and difficult so when you make your decision, you’re going to want to stick with it.

Let’s run through some of the platforms that you should be checking out, as well as their pros and cons.

Magento

We’ve talked about how Magento can help grow your eCommerce business and it makes our list without even a second thought.

Magento is a fantastic open-source B2B eCommerce platform and can work for almost any kind of business out there. We love Magento because in the topsy-turvy world of eCommerce, it provides a sense of customization and easy startup that puts users at ease.

There are some great features, like a flexible shopping cart system, total control over your website’s look, and functional selling options.

Plus, Magento was designed with businesses in mind. While there is plenty of overlap in the Venn diagram of B2B and B2C, Magento’s features were definitely designed to handle a business’s needs. That is also one of its downsides, however.

In order to make proper use of Magento, you need to have an experienced coder with you and the bandwidth to be able to take advantage of all the features.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Incredibly flexible, unique options
• Made for businesses
• Scalable for big and small businesses alike

Cons:

• Needs experienced developers to take full advantage
• A dedicated server is needed to properly host
• Is a bit more expensive than others

Shopify

It’s almost impossible to talk about eCommerce without mentioning Shopify. In fact, the snowboard store turned eCommerce-giant has recently teamed up with Walmart in order to go toe-to-toe with Amazon.

If you’ve got a small business, you might be thinking you’re not a big enough fish for the likes of Shopify. Many people consider using Shopify for their eCommerce platform like people use WordPress for their blogging platform.

So what makes Shopify so great?

For one, it’s quite user-friendly and doesn’t require a lot of knowledge to set up. It’s got a low start-up cost and the interface won’t have you frustrated. There are also plenty of free themes you can take advantage of to give your site the best look possible.

Shopify’s simplicity is also one of its shortcomings. In making a user-friendly platform, you won’t find the extensive customization you might find with other platforms. Its content marketing features are also noticeably weak.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Simple to use
• Affordable pricing
• Plenty of free plugins, themes, and apps to improve your website

Cons:

• Customization can be limited and cumbersome at times
• Basic content marketing
• Lacks multi-language capabilities

WooCommerce

If you’re a WordPress fan and comfortable with that platform, then WooCommerce might be the right call for you. WordPress already powers around 30% of the entire internet (including us here at Atiba!) and is also responsible for about 40% of eCommerce sites around the world. So, if you’ve got WordPress experience, then you’ll be quite happy with what WooCommerce has to offer.

What makes WooCommerce as a solid B2B eCommerce platform?

When it comes to the list of pros, it shares a lot of similarities with what WordPress is already doing well. It is incredibly easy to use, launch, and there are countless themes and plugins to check out. There are also tons of performance and SEO tools that come built-in so you can make sure your eCommerce site is ready for the World Wide Web.

Plus, as your business grows and evolves it’s quite easy to expand your site as well. It’s quite scalable.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Seamless integration with WordPress
• 100’s of themes, plugins, and add-ons
• SEO and performance tools

Cons:

• Number of plugins can be overwhelming
• Developer knowledge is needed to take full advantage
• Limited customer support despite large community

Oracle NetSuite

Oracle isn’t a name that jumps at you when it comes to other B2B eCommerce platforms, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a look.

This cloud-based platform is ideal for businesses that have a storefront and various online stores. The multichannel capabilities are perfect for those looking to sell across different avenues and make the most of their business opportunities. It also has multi-country support if your business spans the globe.

NetSuite can be fully integrated with ERP and CRM technologies, making it easy to sync with other tools in order to save you both time and money when it comes to launching your site.

Unfortunately, NetSuite does have a steep learning curve when it comes to the initial stages. You will need an experienced developer or consultant to get you moving down the right track.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Global support for businesses that operate around the world
• Multi-channel selling
• Seamless integration with other technologies

Cons:

• Steady price increases over the last few years
• Limited support for some customers
• Limited customization options

OpenCart

Last on our list is another popular platform for the eCommerce world. OpenCart is a free and open-source software that comes with a number of powerful and useful tools to make the most of your online presence. OpenCart has been around for a while and they continue to make strides, most notably with their extension “OpenCart B2B marketplace”. This extension has made it much easier for B2B users.

OpenCart is also a multi-channel marketplace that will allow your business to access services across the web for easy and optimal wholesale selling. The platform is easy to update, extremely user-friendly and will help you set up a basic store even if you have little to no experience.

Of course, in order to take full advantage of the platform and all its features you’ll have to bring in an experienced developer or coder to help maximize your site’s opportunities. When it comes to payment and checkout, OpenCart has shown to be a bit limited as well.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use, ideal for beginners
• Simple metrics and reporting documents
• Built-in email templates make marketing easy

Cons:

• While not universal, is known to be a bit buggy
• Noticeably slower checkout process
• Limited long-term features

What’s the best B2B eCommerce Platform For You?

As with just about anything in the tech world, the answer is often those two frustrating words “it depends.”

It really does depend on the size of your business, the global scope, and how much control you want over your website. In order to determine which is the best for you, we recommend writing down a list of things that matter most to you for your eCommerce platform.

Your list should include things like:

• Speed
• Customization
• Security
• Setup ease
• Support
• Price
• Features
• And more

While we can’t put those in order for you, we can make a recommendation on our favorites. It’s no secret that we are big WordPress fans and as a part of that, big WooCommerce fans. We believe its functionality and ease make it a great option for eCommerce businesses.

If you’d rather not go the WordPress route, we suggest taking a look at Magento. It’s perfect for both big and small businesses and can go with your business if it continues to grow.

So if you’re looking to start your eCommerce website or just need help, reach out to our eCommerce team to help you get set up with all the tools you need. We look forward to helping you!

The COVID pandemic hit a number of industries hard. There were some industries, however, that were able to withstand the global upheaval. One of these was eCommerce.

For proof, we don’t have to look any further than Amazon. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos saw his net worth grow by $25 billion during the pandemic. They also hired around 75,000 workers in order to keep up with the demand.

Although the growth of a colossus enterprise such as Amazon isn’t exactly shocking, eCommerce growth tends to be a national trend. In fact, US eCommerce sales rose by 14.5% from the previous year. With so much attention in the industry, it’s only natural that interest in starting an eCommerce business has risen over the past year as well.

Check out this graph from Google Trends on “how to eCommerce” grew over the last 6 months.

So, what does that mean? It means a lot of people are trying to break into the eCommerce world and if you’re one of them, how do you stand out?

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is by using sound eCommerce website development. Web development can be tough but necessary to keep visitors coming back to your website and increase sales over time. Web development plays a huge role.

When it comes to building the perfect eCommerce site, what web development mistakes do you need to look out for? Check out six things you should be aware of.

Consuming too Much Bandwidth

In today’s environment, people expect things ASAP and that’s never been more true than someone visiting a webpage. In fact, studies show that if your site or a page doesn’t load in three seconds, the user will bounce right off.

The average website is filled with high-quality images, banners, push notifications, and more. But if those items aren’t properly optimized, then your website will look like it’s trying to wade through mashed potatoes.

What are the processes and items you should be optimizing? For starters, you should:

• Optimize all images, compress their file size so they load faster
• Minify JavaScript and CSS. Too much on a page is going to slow it down
• Lower the amount of HTTP requests

There are other things you can be doing, but it’s best to start off with those three. Not only will you have a fast-loading site, but you’ll also rank better in Google.

Speaking of ranking better in Google…

Underestimating the Importance of SEO

Get ready to see this little acronym everywhere when you start developing an eCommerce website. You might think that search engine optimization is all about on-page elements, such as content, title tags, meta descriptions, and more.

While those things are very important, there are plenty of other SEO aspects you should be concerned about.

On the web development side you have to ask yourself: is this site crawlable?

For a website to be crawlable, it needs to have a proper site structure, minimal redirects, proper canonical tags, no duplicate content, a sitemap, and much more. The easier you make it for Google to crawl your website, the more visibility you’re going to gain over time.

You can check how Google sees your website by making use of Google Search Console. It’s a free tool that can easily be connected to your site.

Ignoring Responsive Design

Whenever you hear someone talk about web development, you’re almost guaranteed to hear them talk about responsive design. These two are the new peanut butter and jelly.

These days, the three devices people browse the internet on are: computers, mobile phones, and tablets (and iPod touches for those who were locked in a time capsule in 2008).

That means your website must be able to adapt to the various screens that people are using to browse the web. When it comes to building responsive websites, there are a number of proper practices and methods for doing so. WordPress will let you know if their themes are responsive or not.

However, even though you may be choosing a theme or design that says it’s responsive, there might be some more work to do on the development side to make it so. Oftentimes a theme or layout will look responsive but menus or other sections may not display properly, frustrating any visitors.

Being Browser Specific

Even though over 60% of web users have Chrome set as their primary browser, that doesn’t mean you should make your site Chrome-specific. Everyone has their favorite browser, but some of your users might be in that small percentage of people who still use Internet Explorer. If your website isn’t working properly for them, why would they stick around or ever come back?

It would be overkill to test out your website on every browser with every major change, but you need to be doing periodic checks in order to make sure your website is functional with each browser.

CSS is often a culprit in robbing you of all-browser functionality, so make sure you feel confident in your abilities if you jump into complex tasks.

Implementing Poor Web Security

“Identity theft is not a joke, Jim!” is just one of the many great quotes that Dwight Schrute had from The Office. But Dwight does have a point.

eCommerce websites with poor security can damage relationships with customers and torpedo your business efforts. When it comes to security, we often run into two words: authentication and authorization. What’s the difference?

Authentication is verifying the identity of a user and confirming who they are whereas authorization is giving said user access to a website, system, etc. More often than not, inexperienced eCommerce web developers will grant authorization without authentication.

Yikes.

In order to best protect users on your site, you need to implement proper security measures by using proper authentication and authorization methods. While the two words may be different, they must come together as one.

Sloppy Navigation

Above we mentioned some sound practices for making sure your website is crawlable by Google. Now we need to talk about how to make it easy for users. User interface and user experience will often fall onto the web design side. But you can make it easy for your web design team by thinking about navigation during the development process.

Plus, a crawlable website is much easier to navigate.

That means making easy-to-read menus, using simple structures, plainly distinctive categories, and a handy search function. The last thing you want to do is have visitors come to your site and be confused or frustrated while trying to navigate to a product page. Don’t count on users “figuring it out”. With thousands of other websites begging for their attention, they’ll just leave.

When it comes to eCommerce web development, there are plenty of mistakes that can be made. Some of them may be too complicated for those not fluent in web development. Here at Atiba, we have web development experts on hand to help you with any doubts. Make sure and reach out when you’re ready to take your eCommerce website to the next level.