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Why you should never compromise with .com Domain Name Extensions?

Just like you need to choose your brand name after much thought and consideration, you also need to take into account various factors before choosing a domain name. While your brand name should have high recall value in the offline world, your domain name should have the same attributes in the online world. It is no wonder than that business owners face a big challenge before selecting their business domain name. Every business owner wants their brand name to be replicated in the domain name. But many a times they have to deviate from this rule. Why?

The biggest reason for such deviation is the unavailability of their choice of brand name (with .com extension). In such instances they have to add some filler words to find a domain name close to their brand name! That makes many observers curious: how powerful is .com domain extension? Is it so strong that business owners can shun their brand value? Well, this is the time when we would like to throw in some statistics:

  • More than 1.17 Billion people use Google to search for websites
  • Only 11% of all websites are visible (means 89% of them are never found in searches)
  • 75% of the visible websites have .com domain name extensions.

But why is Google so favourable to .com extensions?

The logic is very simple. While Google changes around its ranking logics to provide surfers with best search experience, they keep one thing constant. For them age of a website is a best way to judge its authenticity. So, for Google age is a very important criteria. Now, think about the .com domain name extensions. They were the default options for any website for a very, very long time. They came into existence long way back in 1985. So, Google rates a website, with .com extension, higher than ones coming with other alternatives!

.com domain extension website: Best hotel management college in Kolkata – IIHM Kolkata

The Challenge with finding .com Extensions

Today, the web masters are confronted with problem of a new kind. The high demand for .com domain extensions has led to the prominence of .com real estate moguls! Such businesses are entirely dedicated in collecting as many generic domain names as possible. They buy such domain names by paying $5 and then sell it for thousands of dollars. While the larger brands can afford to splurge such amounts and purchase their favourable domain names from these middle men, the startups and small businesses often have to settle for what they get!

But, here we would like to advise you to spend some extra money if necessary for the procurement of ideal domain name (with .com extension). It would assure a good online business future in the long term.

Where other extensions work?

There are multitudes of domain extensions available today. And frankly speaking, with clever business tactics these can work too. Suppose you are in the education domain, .edu extension is cater made for your business. Again, the .in extension would serve ideally if you are targeting local customers within India.

Visit Optra Host and choose a domain name of your choice, without paying exorbitant amounts!

Which is the best hosting type for e-Commerce stores?

It is easy to say that e-commerce store is a money minting machinery, in today’s business world. But than that would be undermining various factors that go into making any e-commerce store successful. Marketing activities, content, user experience and many more such factors turn an e-Commerce store into a successful venture! Digging deep into the dynamics of such websites, it can be quickly understood that web hosting decisions can make or break the dreams of a business owner in this domain. The impatient web surfers of the present era hate to wait. They want lightening fast loading times. So, before you choose a web hosting type for your business, we thought of presenting the merits and demerits of each web hosting type.

Shared Hosting

It is like staying in a shared room, where all the amenities are equal for everyone.

Though, shared hosting plans are the cheapest of the lot but they do not work for e-commerce stores. They offer slowest page loading times and that does not auger well for your business prospects. Website speed is very important for high turnovers. With slow loading time you not only lose out on many sales opportunities but offer poor user experience, opening gates for poor reviews. Speaking from the statistics: 79% of users who faced an issue never return back to the website. 44% of these people take their grievances one step forward and share their poor experience story with friends and family. Shared hosting also comes with security issues, where a breach in one website exposes the others as well. So, look beyond shared hosting.

VPS Hosting

Now, you have a room for yourself, you have special amenities for yourself too!

This is the most fitting hosting type for your business. With Virtual Private Servers in your control, there will be no performance issues for your website. Every activity at your website can be tracked and there would be a larger number of resources allocated to you solely, unlike shared hosting. Such hosting plans come with higher clocked CPUs, more RAM and larger disk spaces, which will aid you in putting up a robust e-commerce website on the web. Add to that some of the optional managed services, and you will have all you need to run a successful website.

Dedicated Hosting

It is like buying a villa with all the luxuries of life!

Of course there is no denying the fact that dedicated hosting is the highest performing hosting option, but they may not fit into your present scheme of things. First of all they have a much higher pricing than all the other hosting options, so it would definitely drill a hole into your profits. Secondly, dedicated plans are feasible options once you are hitting “tens of thousands of sales with high six figure visitor counts”. So, based on your current business scale you might not need this costly hosting plan.

Based on the analysis, VPS hosting is the best choice for your e-commerce website. It helps you cater good user experience and attract high sales. It is friendly on the pockets too. If you are looking for cost effective web hosting packages, do take a look at Optra Host’s offerings.

Why Mobile Web Hosting Speed Counts?

In this era of mobile apps, no one really cares for mobile website, right? You are wrong. Statistics suggest that mobile websites are making a big entry into the market. While the mobile owners really love apps, more than 50% of them treat their devices as the primary mode to make online searches! And that is where you can really tap into new customers. But the world of mobile web is a bit different to the desktop web, we have got so accustomed to. Here you have to play by a different set of rules.

Also check the speed of “Best hotel management colleges in Kolkata” – IIHM Kolkata.

Speed is the King

Yes, the number one criteria to win the hearts of customers through your mobile website is to offer them speed. Desktop website users can wait 5-7 seconds for a website to load before they move over. If you thought that was impatience, wait till you hear the turn-off time for mobile websites. Mobile users expect a website to open accurately in not more than 3 seconds! If the website does not show itself within these fleeting seconds, the user will try some other place. It is also very important to note that: more than 79% of mobile users do not shop at a website that has failed to load in the aforementioned time frame. This means a huge loss of revenue, right? Now, that is a huge problem, and we would like to help you overcome this obstacle through our experience.

Bells and Whistles count for little

As a web master you have every right to get really choosy about every corner of your web page. You want to impress visitors with streaming videos, animations, lots of content, many design innovations, and what not. But wait on. It is important to read the minds of mobile web visitors in this respect. No matter how innovative you get with the website, what counts for them is its loading time. What comes next might impress them, but if the web page does not load in time, they will move away! So, the number one rule to designing and developing a mobile web page is to make it lightweight and shun all the sophistication you have thought of. Give them crisp content, neat categories, nice images and most importantly information they seek from your website. You need to really think about the design from the user’s point of view.

Web Hosting is more important than ever

In this era of impatient surfers, it has become more important than ever before to choose the right web hosting services. The web host should offer quick loading times and absolutely negligible down times. Reputed web hosting companies use updated technologies to detect the mobile device and route users to the website at the speed of light. Some would even come with content adaptation, wherein the content gets auto adjusted to suit the browsing screen of the user.

If you really want to reap the benefits of all that mobile traffic coming towards your website than there is no point in experimenting with the web hosting services. At Optra Host we have hosted many successful mobile websites and understand the requisites. Come visit us to learn more.

What are the Business Gains of Oversees Hosting?

Technology has bridged the gap of many thousands of miles, with its huge power. Today, you can easily manage an online business sitting in Adelaide (Australia) while your remote web hosting server is situated in Kolkata (India). The world has become such a small place, leaving you with an array of options. The boons of technology have brought a whole new range of dilemma for the business owners. Some years prior businesses, in need of capable web hosting, knew they had to look around in the locality to know about a good service provider. But in the era of the global village that concept has changed. Today, you can opt for a web hosting partner situated in the opposite end of the globe. But, if you are a business owner, who is still finding it hard to understand whether – local or overseas hosting will suit you best, then here are some points that would be an interesting read for you.

  • Savings: So, you are a web master operating your business in UK, USA, Australia or any other part of the world. You want to cut down on the business operating costs, to improve the profits. This is the time to try out overseas hosting. Let us talk about Indian web hosting benefits in this respect. Make a quick search on Google regarding the exchange rates of Dollar vs Rupee, or Pound vs Rupee. You will find when you pay $1 to an Indian web hosting company, they are earning more than Rs. 60. So, automatically the rates of web hosting in these parts is bound to be much lower than mainland Europe, North America or Australia! This opens up all new avenues to make big savings without compromising on the quality of hosting.
  • Reliability: The web hosting scenario in India has undergone a sea change in the last few years. Today, Indian web hosting companies are dishing out their array of reliable hosting plans. With minimum down time and high speed connectivity, the Indian companies are really eliminating all needs for concern. Just because a server is situated on the opposite end of the globe, does not mean that the web host will take it easy. With 24X7 support and easy communication mediums (in case of emergencies), the Indian web hosting experience would be nothing different than the local one!
  • Legalities: There are many businesses who are finding a simple way to bypass their country specific cyber law. With overseas web hosting you can overcome various legal obstacles to your business. One such example lies with the adult oriented sites, which are banned in many nations. You can always choose an overseas host to take your business forward in such situations. There are many other cyber restrictions, country specific, that can be easily tackled with the help of overseas hosting.

Now, that you know about the benefits of overseas hosting you should be on the lookout for a reliable host. Optra Host is a web hosting service you can rely upon. What’s more, we have various hosting packages (with pocket friendly rates) to choose from.

4 Good Reasons to reconsider the design of Inner Pages

 

Don’t judge a book by its cover they say, same applies for the websites!

Inner pages of a website always come second in the picking order! While the web masters spend more than 70% of their time, efforts and energy in planning for their Home page, they put little thought into the inner pages. The common notion among the web masters is that: with the Home page done, all the other pages will automatically fall in place. But sadly, that is not always the instance. The inner pages of any successful website are as much beautiful, functional and visitor oriented as their Home page. In this era of intense business competition, the cardinal sin of overlooking the inner pages could prove costly for the aspirations of web masters. So, we bring some points which will allow you understand the importance of good inner pages.

  1. They are the landing pages: In the present era, where SEO experts are prodigiously trying to promote your products and services through their link back postings, your inner pages often become the landing pages. So, they should be seen as entry pages to your website, when a new visitor clicks on a link mentioned in an article or blog on another website. New visitors will only stick around and do business with you, if they see something impressive. Thus, the design and development of inner pages becomes so important.
  2. They keep the visitors glued: While your Home page gives the visitors a general understanding of what to expect from the website, it is your inner pages that carries the real business proposition. It keeps the visitors glued to the website through its content, design and offers. This means, every web master should rethink on the design and content for the inner pages.
  3. Their purposes are different: While some pages cater information about the company, others tell the visitors about services and products, there are others still which talk about the price plans. As the purpose of each inner page is so different from the other, so their layouts should reflect that as well. Under the urge of keeping all pages uniform, in look and feel, many web masters tend to deviate away from the purpose.
  4. They are best guides for first time visitors: Okay, so a first time visitor has stumbled upon the web designing page of your website, but what he would also like to use content writing services. Now, if your inner page does not lead him (through hyperlinks) to the content writing page, that too quickly, the prospect is lost! So, one of the important elements of inner pages are links to pertinent services and products. If you do not help your visitors reach their likeable products or services, they will not do business with you!

Just for an example, IIHM Kolkata is the “best hotel management college in Kolkata” – they also have website with different attractive inner pages.

You are of course well within your rights to treat the Home page as a piece of art, but let that art also be reflected in the inner pages. A careful planning and execution to the web development, design and content for inner pages will give you good ROI at the end of the day!

Features every Food Ordering App Developer should accommodate

There is an eternal love between human kind and good food! It is no wonder than that people always love to dine out at popular restaurants. But, a sharp trend shift is being witnessed in the food business over the last couple of years. People are showing more inclination to ordering food online, particularly through a robust mobile app. This new trend has been largely fuelled by the billing models of restaurants, who end up collecting many taxes and excesses (service taxes included) from their visitors. On the other hand, the food ordering apps help the users save their energy (of driving up to the food joint) as well as money (with their coupons and discount offers). Such apps present the best of both worlds, where the food lovers can order from the best restaurants around and that too at lower than normal prices!

Prevalence of many quality food ordering apps are proving catalysts to the overwhelming popularity of ordering food through mobile devices. When there is a trend, everyone wants to have a piece of its share. And thus, as a mobile app developer, you are more than likely to be working on one or multiple food ordering apps. The fist important thing to keep in mind is: a high benchmark has already been set in this industry, so the client would expect nothing but the best features in the end product. No need to get all tensed yet, we are here to discuss about the key features you need to build in the app.

  • Menu Screen: Let us start with the obvious, the menu feature! Food apps should infuse interest of their users right from the word go. So, showcase the specials of the day on the Home screen. When clicked upon, the user should be led to the menu screen to see all the requisite details and make choices. The menu page should contain attractive images as well titles and descriptions for each of the food items.
  • Neat Categories: Allow the users to filter their search, to cater a customised experience. If a person is looking out for Italian food he should not have to go through all the other offerings. There are endless variants of creating categories, choose the simplest way keeping in mind the end users.
  • Reviews and Ratings: In the old world, everyone would ask around for references to the best restaurants. Carrying the same notion, the reviews and ratings helps the users understand which restaurant would make their eating experience really great. Apart from this, the food partners (of your client) would always be happy to hear the end customer feedbacks. So, arrange for this in the app.
  • Coupons and Discounts: As mentioned before, the food ordering apps are growing in popularity due to their cost saving features. The coupons and discounts should have a section of their own, which can be easily accessed by the user. This could also reflect in payment screen, somewhere, to simplify the application of coupons.
  • Multiple Payment Methods: While there would be some, who would want to pay immediately through online payments. There would be others who want to get the food delivered first, before making the payment. So, have options for online payments or COD. Apart from this, there should be options to make payments through Credit or Debit Cards as well as PayTM, PayPal and their likes.
  • Order Tracking: Users are always tensed whether their order would reach on time, so give them the privilege of tracking their order in real time. This would encourage them to use your app again and again.

These are some of the bare minimums which every successful food ordering mobile app should have. At Keyline, we try to assure the best deliverables to clients with our mobile app development service.

Some Limitations of Unlimited Web Hosting

The word “unlimited” brings special joy on the face of any web master. Unlimited web hosting plans generally provide unlimited disk storage, data transfer capacity, as well as add-on domain names. They provide the web masters with an opportunity to host multiple websites at very affordable costs. This is the time, when most of you would go “wow”. But wait on before you shun the thoughts of opting for a dedicated web hosting plan, because there is much more yet to come.

Unlimited? Not Quite!

“Unlimited” as per the English language is something that has no end or limitations. But in the web hosting vocabulary, it does not quite have the same meaning. In reality there are always limitations to the unlimited! Look around, you will find that there are limitations to everything in this world. You can not expect unlimited bandwidth when there is a limited number of cables to transmit data, you cannot expect unlimited data storage in your computer as the RAM and CPU have their own capacity. So, unlimited hosting is only an industrial terms widely used in the web hosting industry.

Web Hosts are here to make money too!

Whichever web host it may be, each one is here to make some money. After all it is their business! To provide you good web hosting they need to purchase bandwidth pipes, computer servers, employ manpower, among other requisites. Thus, they cannot allow you to have everything at trivial costs. You can use unlimited hosting resources and host unlimited websites, as long as you are not overusing the plan!

Unlimited web hosting can then be likened to all-you-can-eat buffet. You can eat unlimited till you overeat! Each web host has a set of house rules and server limitations to control overuse by users. Such limitations could be in regards to RAM, inodes, CPU queries, number of MySQL databases, etc. Once the users get into the red zone, the web hosts would pull the plug or charge extra. This is how the web hosting services work.

Why opt for unlimited plans, then?

Well, first and foremost the unlimited plans are often much cost effective than other web hosting plans. Apart from their over-usage rules, they offer sufficient options for the web masters to be happy about. You can host many websites, store data, start new domains without spending anything, as long as you stay within the limits. Apart from this, the web masters have grown so habituated to the basic hosting features that they are now looking beyond. They are ready to spend some extra bucks, as long as the web hosts are reliable. So, the real worth of unlimited web hosting can only be enjoyed when you partner with a reliable host, such as Optra Host.

Two easy steps to choose the best unlimited web host

Now, the next question on your mind is about choosing the best unlimited plan from the best web host around. To attain this goal you have to follow these two simple steps:

  • Sign up for a trial hosting plan and check out the quality from the inside. If you do not like what is being offered, simply cancel the plan before the trial period ends.
  • Visit some forums for reviews or look through the client testimonials to understand the reputation of the web host. Such a practice allows you to test out your decision!

Optra Host can be your capable web hosting partner. We have a range of web hosting plans and services. Check it out yourself.

4 Features that can make your Real Estate app an instant hit!

Every business is utilising the power of Internet to proliferate their business and reach new markets. In such a scenario, all the leading real estate brands have come up with their own websites to sell properties and services. But, where the real estate sector in India is lagging behind is the adoption of mobile apps! Just like websites, mobile apps have also become pre-requisite for business success. While some of the real estate giants have identified this potential, the large majority of others are still relying on their websites to bring them fresh business prospects. Within the next couple of years, service searches on the mobile devices will outnumber the conventional computers or laptops. So, it is not a matter of whether, rather when! Now, what if we tell you, we would like to share some great real estate mobile app development concepts to get you started. Here they come…

Property Information

By having the property information feature in the app, you make sure that the real estate searchers can look for properties anytime and anywhere. You can list any number of properties, but always include filters in the app for an easy browsing experience. You should allow the viewers to filter by Price, Area, Property Type, Floor Plans, Dimensions, etc. You can also send out Notifications to the users whenever there is a new property available (as per their criteria). This will no doubt improve your business prospects significantly. You may even include the Virtual Tours feature, whereby the users can see a property without having to travel!

Property Investment Information

Property investment is a great way to build on your savings. As there is a lot of money involved in real estate investments, so the investors try to tread as cautiously as possible. This is where your app can help them by providing serious evaluations on a number of factors regarding the property they are browsing. If the users are able to see the property history, market value, pricing trends of the area, etc. within one or two clicks they will surely love your app. Add other factors such as real estate market trends, mortgage value etc. and you have provided the investor decisive information!

Repair Estimator

Not all properties are passed on in their prime conditions, and home buyers are often lured into buying used properties due to their lower rates. But once the new homeowners moves into the property, the hassles of multiple costly repairs follow. This unpleasant experience can be removed with the help of a feature providing repair estimates for used properties. The estimates are drawn after considering various key areas of the house and their respective repair rates prevailing in the locality. You may even go one step ahead and enable the users to book for such repair services using your app.

Locality Reviews

For the home buyers a great looking property is not the sole consideration. They want to own a property in a locality where the crime rates are low, amenities such as educational institutions, markets, etc. are close by and transportation facilities are readily available. They would also like to know about other hidden facets of the property. You could help them by adding a feature where the present and ex-residents of the area can post their comments. This would enable the home buyers to purchase a property in the best possible locality.

Real estate mobile app market remains largely untapped and there lies your scope to really make it big. If you are already thinking about developing a mobile app, let Keyline gift you the best end product.

Planning Essentials for e-Commerce Website

A survey by ASSOCHAM-Resurgent India predicts that the count of online purchasers will cross 100 million threshold by the end of this year. And if we talk about the next year, the study further predicts that there will be 65% increase in online transactions in 2018. Are these not enough indicators to make you think about having an efficient e-commerce store for yourself? So, you have the products, the business plan but have you thought about the e-commerce website development plan? In most instances, business owners become over reliant on the developers and designers to come up with a great plan and later the concept. So, here are some essentials that help you create an efficient website for your business.

 

Set Website Goals

Planning for the e-commerce website needs some research and decision making on your part. You have to go through your product offerings and understand your ideal customer base. You have to also understand the specific requirements (which your website will fulfill) for the identified customer base. Next, you should identify your business scope – do you want to provide information or serve as a seller? Once all these important aspects are clear, you can march ahead with the development and design process.

 

Content Structure

Content always remains as a backbone of the e-commerce stores. You have to evoke interest among the target customers with plenty of interesting information and leave some incentives for them to return back. Customers should be able to contact your business without too many clicks. Once the site is operational always aim at keeping the content fresh and updated. This will make people choose your website over others.

 

Website Framework

As a business owner you are in the best position to decide on the number of pages your website will have. You should also plan for the tabs, menus, sub-menus and inner pages. These will help you shorten the planning process involved before web development begins and quicken the execution work. In business every minute counts, and by planning it out you save a lot of time before the go-live.

 

Design Essentials

There are some basics which should be followed during the designing phase. First of all the website design should be simple, consistent and readable. Light backgrounds with easy fonts are a good way to achieve this. Too many colors and elements are not needed while designing e-commerce website. Even if the website is meant for teens, it should not get too funky!

 

Easy Navigation

Navigation should be a breeze for the visitors. They should not have to click two or three links to reach an important area of the website. There should be no dead ends while navigating through the website. The tabs and menus should be organized keeping in mind the browsing psychology of the end users.

 

Another important aspect of e-commerce website development is to partner with only an experienced third party service provider. Keyline has years of experience in developing and designing e-commerce websites.

 

 

Why Manufacturing Organizations should use ERP System?

Survey statistics suggest that more and more companies dealing with manufacturing of goods are using the ERP software to streamline their business process. In fact statistics suggest an overwhelming increase in adoption rates from 18% to 32% in the last few years. Organizing things in a manufacturing company can be a nightmare. The multi-location and multi-department structure of such organizations makes them very hard to manage. Thank god, there was the ERP software! The software includes Logistics management, inventory management, production planning, production monitoring among other features. But there are many more reasons why a growing number of organizations from the manufacturing niche are choosing to run their business, the ERP way!

 

Platform for Inter-departmental information sharing

Manufacturing firms have multiple departments such as Finance & accounting, planning & control, manufacturing operations, human resource allocation, marketing and sales, purchase & vendor management, quality control, distribution, plant maintenance, etc. For the organization to run smoothly, it is imperative that all the departments are integrated into a whole. ERP software does this job remarkably well. It helps in getting real time data from all the departments at a single place. It helps the organizations overcome the horrors of having specific systems for each of the departments. The software allows all the departments to work in tandem with each other.

 

Enhancing and Streamlining Processes

Like all organizations, the manufacturing businesses are setup with a goal for business growth. But shifting from one software to the other, when there are new additions and alterations in the company structure is not ideal. ERP software has ended this discomfort for the business owners. The software is easily scalable and causes minimum operational disruptions while being scaled up. Though there are some basic controls in the inherent software, new modules can always be added to the system depending on the needs.

 

Easy decision making with real time data

The “one organization, one software” policy which ERP brings to the table comes especially to the fore when there is an important business decision about to be taken. As all the details, reports, and other relevant data coming from different departments and locations are accumulated in a single database, it can be easily analyzed and many projections can be drawn out of it. With all the key statistics stacked at a single place, business administrators can get loads of valuable insights helping them take better business decisions.

 

Better Customer Management

As the software is used by multiple departments, so all the customer feedback, complains and suggestions can also be seen and analyzed using this software. Availability of key customer data helps businesses address the customer issues better and quicker. This would improve the organization’s image significantly in front of their end customers.

 

ERP software brings in a world of benefits for the business owners. If you want a robust management solution for your manufacturing business then try Keyline’s ERP & CRM service.