Five Elements of A Professionally Designed Website

Do you want to know what a professionally designed website looks like? Here are five elements that you would find in a website that has been designed by skilled web designers.

If you want to get ahead of your competitors, your business would need to invest on a professional web design. A well designed website will not only boost your online presence but will also help your customers find out the information that they require in a quick and easy manner. It’s time you put those free website templates aside and invest in professional website design. Here are 6 elements that are a must-have in a professional website.

1. Keep your target audience in mind

Who is your target audience? What do they want to find from your website? What are the products/services that you can showcase on your website to meet their expectation? Design your website in such a way that meets the exact requirements of your target market. For example, if you want to target a young audience, you can experiment with colors and the use of Flash. On the other hand if your site is about software products, it would be best to offer clear and concise information that is easy to find.

2. Employ easy-to-use navigation

Customers, when they land on your website want to find what they are looking for in a few clicks. You can keep the attention of your customers by keeping the navigation of your website easy and simple. Using drop-down menus is a great way to make information easily accessible. Include an “About Us” page and “Contact” page, so that customers can find out about your company or get in touch with you. If you are an e-commerce store, make sure that your “buy” buttons are large and clearly visible. You will also need to chalk out a seamless Shopping Cart and Checkout Process.

3. Maintain consistency

Remember to be consistent in your web design, as this is the mark of a professional website. Consistency in your website can not only build up your brand, but can also offer a consistent message to your customers. You can maintain consistency, by choosing the same colors across the site. Graphics or photographs too should always be put in the same place and adhere to a similar style. Ensure that all your graphics support the central theme of your site. You must also ensure that you use the same font across all the pages on your website. With consistency across your site, your visitors will not have to adjust to something new, every time they click on a page. Continue reading

5 Tips on Outsourcing Mobile App Development

Does your company have a great app idea, but do not have the time to actually develop it? The best thing to do in this situation is to outsource app development to a professional company. 

Through outsourcing, you can get your app into the market at a faster pace, while spending the least amount of time, effort and money.

While outsourcing does have its benefits, there would be some issues and challenges on the way. At the onset, the biggest challenge would be to find the right outsourcing partner. You can identify an ideal partner by looking for a company that takes the effort to really understand your ideas. Once you have finalized on who to partner with, you can use the following five tips that can guarantee you seamless mobile app development services.

1. Ensure that your requirements are understood

Give the outsourcing company enough time to understand your requirements. Next, ask them to give you a quote. Once that is done, do not make the mistake of rushing into development. Ask the vendor to breakdown your app project into detailed specifications, which should be documented along with wireframes, so that app development becomes easier.

2. Chose “agile” over “waterfall”

The more “agile” the app development, the more it would cost you. It is important to discuss the overall cost with the service provider and have absolute clarity on what you expect from them. Make sure that you start the development only when you are sure about all the details.

3. Ask for deadline breakdowns

You can get better clarity on your project, once your development company provides you with a detailed deadline breakdown. Ask for a breakdown right at the onset of the project. This will ensure that the entire team is involved in the app development. It will also help you set out your expectations before the app development begins. Continue reading

Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies

Use these top 10 internet marketing strategies to attract more people to your website, increase your number of customers and even enhance the branding of your products, services and company.

Internet marketing is the term used for marketing your services and products online. An effective internet marketing plan includes strategies that can help you effectively sell your products/service online. These strategies can include search engine submission, search engine optimization, online promotions, persuasive copywriting, blogs, email marketing, website design strategies and reciprocal linking to name a few.

Online marketers of today are constantly coming up with new internet marketing strategies that can get more traffic to their website and make more sales. If you are new to the whole concept of internet marketing, you can make a start by focussing on web design and search engine optimization, as for most business websites, a large chunk of traffic still comes from online directories and search engines.

If you have just decided to come up with an online marketing strategy, then the following top ten list can help you get started with an effective internet marketing plan.

  1. At the onset, start out with a simple web promotion plan. Also make sure that your websites follows an effective web design and web development strategy
  2. Practice hard at good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques and get your site ranked right at the top of leading search engines
  3. Read up on Email Marketing and find out how to effectively use it
  4. Get ahead of the crowd and become a leader of your marketing niche through reseller, affiliate or associate programs
  5. Request for an in-depth web site analysis from an experienced internet marketing consultant
  6. Steadily build up a responsive opt-in email list
  7. Regularly publish new and interesting articles and try to get listed in the latest news stories
  8. Make sure to write and publish press releases online
  9. If possible, organize giveaways and contests for your customers, via your website
  10. Respond to your emails quickly and effectively by investing on email auto responders or email support services

Continue reading

6 Must-Have Services for your E-Commerce Store

Are you a busy ecommerce retailer trying to complete with numerous online stores? If yes, then what you need are efficient, quick and affordable services that can get you ahead of the crowd.

Through outsourcing, you can get access to a team of skilled data entry experts who will maintain and update your products on an on-going basis. With ecommerce product data entry, catalog conversion, catalog indexing, catalog building, data mining, order processing and image editing out of your hands, you will finally be able to turn your online business into a successful retail business venture.

Here are 6 must-have services for your e-commerce store.

1. Catalog conversion

The easiest way to attract new customers to your store is to add new products. This can now be achieved through catalog conversion services. Since catalog experts are trained professionals, they will be able to develop a catalog, irrespective of the products/services that you sell. A cataog service provider in India will also optimize your product images, add descriptive information for each item and index the product, so that it can be easily found by the customer.

2. Catalog building and indexing

Even if your store has a great catalog, it would be difficult to find any of your products, if indexing is not done. Catalog building and indexing services can set this right, by providing you with a functional database, that makes searching extremely easy for your customers. Catalog professionals in India can apply the right product codes, write effective descriptions and tag appropriate images. When your products are organized by category, sub-category and specialized codes, your customers will find the exact product that they want, without having to hunt for it.

3. Product data entry

If your products do not have the latest information or if they are not appropriately optimized, you can lose out to your competitors. Outsourcing can give you access to trained product data entry professionals who will update product descriptions, pricing, stock information, current listings and categories to name a few.

4. Data mining

Since customers can now easily obtain pricing details and product information from different sources, it is important to invest in data mining. Your outsourcing service provider can efficiently monitor competitive sites to get insights on changing pricing dynamics. Even image files, product description and other such support information can be mined from the websites of suppliers and competitors. You can even avail data mining services from PDF files, e-books and spreadsheets. Continue reading

Try Out the New Call Center Staffing Calculator!

Have you always wished to know how much an outsourced project would cost, before you even decided on outsourcing? Now you can, with Outsource2india’s handy Call Center Outsourcing Cost Calculator that is quick, easy-to-use and absolutely FREE.

For over a decade and half, we at Outsource2india, have been providing a wide range of reliable and affordable customer support services to leading organizations around the world. One of the most common questions that most customers ask us is “What is the budget and number of call center agents that I require to support my desired service level?

To address this question, we have developed a novel Call Center Staffing Calculator that is free, easy-to-use and provides the customer with an immediate answer to these business critical questions:

  • How many call center agents will I require to adequately support my call center expansion requirements?
  • What will be the cost for my desired service level?

How to use the Call Center Resource and Budget planning calculator?

To find out the required number of call center agents and the total cost incurred per week, all you have to do is enter in the type of your project, the service type, the target country, the call count, the average handling type and your shift coverage preferences. Once you enter in your details, you will just need to click on the “Calculate” button to find out the answer immediately.

Here is a quick guide on how you fill in your details:

1. Project Type: Select the type of project that you wish to outsource, from the drop-down. You can make your choice from Inbound Calling, One-time Outbound Calling, Ongoing Outbound Calling or Email/Chat Support.

2. Service Type: In this drop-down, you can select a service for which you require staffing requirements. The services will vary based on the project type that you have selected. For Example, Order Taking will fall under Inbound Calling, while Lead Generation will fall under Outbound Calling.

3. Target Country: You can use this drop down to select the specific country ( USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany etc) where you plan to expand your business with our call center services. Continue reading