Latest in technology & Innovation

Seasonal Marketing - Utilizing What Every Season Has to Offer

2020-06-29T04:07:00.002-07:00

Seasonal Offers - Are they worth promoting for??

Let’s take a look at statistics:
In 2016, U.S. and UK online retailers alike saw their traffic explode on Black Friday, with 220% more sessions than a normal day. With significant discounts, Black Friday sales totaled $3.34 billion spent online (a 21.6% increase year over year)
Cyber Monday sales in 2016 also smashed records, bringing in $3.25 billion and a 155% traffic boom to become the biggest day in the history of U.S. ecommerce
Shopify merchants saw 3+% more orders than usual over BFCM weekend in 2016, and at its peak, the Shopify platform processed a whopping $555,716 in transactions in a single minute
Additionally, research shows that more than 50% of holiday shoppers start researching gift ideas in October or earlier, so it’s important to plan ahead and start your holiday campaigns early

Promote the ‘Special Offers’ Online:

SEASONAL DEALS KNOW_HOW

Every season has something different to offer for a traveler – So. we definitely need to take advantage of these opportunities

Spring, summer, winter and fall are more than just seasons, they're opportunities for businesses to thrive.

With each season comes unique holidays, events and activities, which cause OTA’s to behave differently.

Good business knows that customers respond best to brands that reach out to them in a meaningful way. The trick comes in figuring out the winning combination of content, timing, and method of delivery that makes the engagement mean something. One of the most important factors in that equation is seasonality, or “the tendency of consumer expenditure on a good or services to vary in some pattern over the course of a year” (Ideas in Marketing, Kubacki 2013)

WHY PROMOTE SEASONAL DEALS??

The significance of these seasonal promotions is to attract attention to the business at an opportune time and increase revenue in an otherwise quiet period. In some cases, these seasons are critical to revenue because they represent a time when a substantial amount of sales takes place. Additionally, increasing interest at unique times of the year offers you various chances of converting one-time customers into loyal patrons. You can provide an experience that is memorable to consumers, boosting your brand and delivering quality results.

Long term Vs. Short term seasonal offers

Long term, as the name suggests is created for special promotions, offers & deals around an ongoing/ long-lasting seasonal event. Short term is best for one-off &/or fast-ending events that happen during a season.

Long term offer is all about building relationships & using subtle low risk campaigns to do so but a short-term marketing can afford to be more heavy handed and in customer’s face, as they have less time to engage people before losing novelty or relevance.

As the Seasons Turn, Turn, Turn: Seasonal Sales Strategies for Online Stores

Promote Your ‘Special Offers’ Online - A strategic approach can be to build out a calendar of observances that are relevant to your industry in advance. Regardless of what works best for you, adjusting your strategy accordingly is an important step in fostering long-term relationships with your loyal customer base.

Are you geared up for the seasonal treat??

Has COVID-19 changed the way you will travel?

2020-06-29T00:09:00.001-07:00

I remember going to my hometown on every holiday as it took only 4 hours by trains and 1 hr by air. Also, when you have a kid with you these does of transport become easy. But since the COVID epidemic, things have changed a lot. The common modes of transport like - air/ rail or cabs look bit challenging when going with a kid - who understand no hygiene norms and can touch anything making the trip difficult till it ends.

As the world faces this epidemic, most of the airlines and Govt. organizations have made hygienic as #1 factor for traveling. Diff. initiatives have been take to ensure safe journey for travels. But the question remains are travelers actually feeling safe while traveling?

There have been a lot of new trends adopted by airlines or hotels to help ensure safe travels:

IOT has been utilized to help us in these critical times. Use of robots at airports for thermal screening has been observed, seamless integration with reservations systems & camera vision. The physical contact has been reduced and online web check-in, self baggage drops / abrading passes, baggage info via SMS are the ‘new’ norms for today’s travel
Apps like Aarogya Setu have to be enabled by passengers to ensure they are safe while traveling. Also, the traditional methods seem gone with new measures being tested
Health checks are conducted, social distancing, PPE / hygienic kits are provided at boarding, in flight sanitation & sanitizers are here to stay.
Regular use of masks to prevent virus spread will be a continuous practice for a longer period
Blocking middle seats have been done by most of the USA airlines like Delta, American Airlines or United Airlines to maintain social distancing
Flexible booking option has also been introduces to entrust travelers in buying air tickets
Also, Hotels have added hygienic measures to ensure safety of travelers by providing cleanliness measures, sanitizers, thermal checks, additional room cleaning services etc.
Though the corrective measures have been taken but it looks that domestic travel will stay against international travel for a year or so
According to a U.S. Travel Association survey, people feel more comfortable traveling in personal vehicles & staying in vacation rentals than they do taking flights or cruises & staying in hotels.
These all considerations have also highly impacted the economies and business across the travelers industry - enhancing layoffs and lower budget availability with travelers

Hence, it will be also important to observe if people would like to travel and when in midst of lower salaries or economical budget constraints.

Travelers now prefer travel apps to web for search and booking

2018-06-26T03:53:00.004-07:00

What exactly do we mean when we say mobile?

Up until recently “mobile” really meant either mobile apps, found in places like the App Store, or mobile web, accessible via URLs. What we see now is that travelers are increasingly turning to the app experience, rather than mobile web, to search and book flights and accommodation.
A global study Travelport Digital carried out with 955 end travelers showed that 58% of people prefer apps to search for flights and 53% preferred apps to find accommodation. We found that consumers want a lightning-fast mobile experience, which they feel this is best delivered through apps. Travelers also value the additional functionality and features that the native platforms bring.
Travel brands that can match their app experience to consumer expectations will drive more bookings, add more ancillaries and create longer-term value. And those travel brands that don’t deliver will suffer through online cart-abandonment, as well a pummeling on social media and app store ratings.

Reasons travelers prefer apps versus web

The findings revealed that apps remain the ‘go to’ for traveler engagement. In many respects, native apps are the preferred channel over web due to their speed, additional functionality, and better overall UX.
Rather than showing signs of ‘app fatigue’ now seen in other industries, travel apps are continuing their growth in downloads and monthly active users. 82% of travelers we questioned said they will be downloading the same number or more travel apps than they did the previous year.

Downloading an app vs using mobile web

App functionality that travelers value

Due to the advantages of speed and UX, travelers download and use apps to search and book travel. 35% also like the immediacy of push notifications that keep them up to date, while almost a third of travelers use apps for promotions or discounts in travel.
For 24% of travelers, loyalty features, like automatic log-in, trip details, air miles, and account/payment details are important.

Travel activities preferred via apps and web

When it comes to check-in and boarding passes it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that apps are the favourite choice but things start to get interesting when you compare apps and web for travel search and booking. 58% of people prefer to use apps for searching for flights and 53% prefer apps to search accommodation, with a close run race for who wins out for booking.
Web, on the other hand, wins out being the preferred choice when it comes to car rental and destination bookings.

Push notifications offer a mix of opportunities to delight and monetize

Further insights revealed that the power of push notifications are not waning with travelers finding trip specific push notifications and promotional offers useful. Today, travel push notifications are mainly delivered via native apps and the mobile web does not offer that level of engagement with consumers.
In fact, mobile apps are increasingly being viewed as engagement platforms, given their ability to interact with consumers throughout the trip. These engagement points vary, from prompting them to book via a discounted offer to notifying them of delays or gate changes, sending contextual at-destination information and driving usage post-booking with loyalty updates.

Great UX = Great loyalty. Bad UX = Bad loyalty

Customers these days are extremely savvy. So it’s important to note that any old mobile experience won’t do — having a 1- or 2-star rated app is basically a death sentence for an app.
Travelers value UX highly: 85% say they would be more likely to book a trip with a brand that had a good user experience. Conversely, if they had a bad app experience, 69% would be unlikely to book with that brand again.

Travel brands investment in mobile makes sense

We wanted to see how travel brands we’re responding to the shift to mobile and apps, so we interviewed 55 senior travel industry professionals to gauge their plans for 2018.
90% of those we spoke to said they were investing in mobile this year and 60% of travel brands are looking to enhance or replace their app this year.

Travelers are spending more time and more money on apps. They have come to expect a fast, frictionless, helpful experience when they search and book their travel when they prepare to take off, when they’re in destination and when they return home.

More story here

Airport shopping app introduced to deliver shopping & food to passengers at their gates

2018-06-26T03:50:00.003-07:00

As the airport shopping gets more convenient with mobile payments, ‘AtYourGate’ (AtYourGate was the first innovation to come out of SAN’s Innovation Lab which is tasked with creating new ideas to enhance the passenger experience that can be implemented at the airport and beyond to other airports, malls, hotels and convention centers) and mobile ordering platform ‘Golo' have partnered to introduce a new airport shopping app that delivers shopping and food to passengers at their gates at San Diego International Airport (SAN).

The app aims to raise the bar on passenger satisfaction for both - airport consumers and retailers, by directly embracing new technologies that push the envelope.

As per Jean Francois, CEO of Golo, “Consumers and merchants today expect a frictionless and sophisticated retail experience when making purchases or selling using their mobile technology. They want to see the products accompanied by visually rich images, in a smooth app where searching is intuitive and there is a secure way to transact.”

2 live examples of such innovation include:

Airport Sherpa, that is a gate delivery service app, which is currently live at Baltimore Washington International Airport. The app keeps track of passengers’ flight schedule to ensure the goods get to the right gate even if there are flight changes, and includes a live order update feature to reassure buyers their goods are coming. (This ideation can be tested in Hackathon!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcPcLzKMHuU

Grab introduced convenient app-based airport shopping in 2015, with a consumer app as well as an open platform for airport and concessions integrations. It has grown to offer food and beverage pre-order and pick-up services at 24 airport locations in the US and UK. Grab recently signed an agreement with Air Canada to integrate Grab within the airline’s mobile app offering services from restaurant and retail partner concessionaires. Grab also partnered with LevelUp this February to boost mobile engagement in the US.

What Booking a 'Mistake Fare' Really Means | The risks and rewards of buying that really, really low-priced flight!!

2018-06-26T03:37:00.000-07:00

Flight pricing errors are a godsend for wanderlust’s with big dreams, but small wallets. It's like an opening that crinkly take-out bag, and realizing you got an extra set of fries with your order 😊 . Believe it or not, airline pricing mistakes happen all the time. Here are few of them:

* 2007: San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand return, business class – $1,500 USD instead of $15,000 USD. The cause? Human error resulted in a missed zero – oops.

* 2012: Myanmar to the US, return – $300 USD. How come? A mistake when converting the price between currencies.

* 2013: Various US cities to Hawaii, return – $7 USD. Why? A computer glitch that lasted 2 hours messed up the price.

But what rights do travelers like these who have booked a mistake fare actually have? In fact, what even is a "mistake fare"? Here's how to find these fares—and make sure you're not left in the lurch after booking.

Mistake Fares, Decoded

Error fares or airline price glitches, are a HUGELY reduced flight ticket due to a blunder. Various botch-ups can create a mistake like:

Human error: Laziness, fatigue, or a case of stubby fingers and a small keyboard can cause numbers to be omitted or added in error when entering a flight price, resulting in a seriously reduced ticket.
Currency conversion misfortunes: Calculating a rate from one currency to another poses a huge risk for miscalculations. A famous example is a $4,000 United Airlines ticket that was listed for just $79 – allegedly due to a mishap when converting the Danish Kroner to the British Pound.
Omitting fuel surcharges & fees: Fuel surcharges were first created in the 70's during the oil crisis to accommodate fluctuating prices. Annoyingly, they were kept ever since – supposedly partly to prevent frequent flyer programs from allowing people to book 100% free tickets using miles (you must always still pay these additional fees). Every now and then though, these charges may be dropped by mistake. Fuel surcharges make up a surprising percentage of an airline ticket, so if left out, it equates to big savings!

Statistically speaking, error fares are foreseeable. With the profusion of flights and traditional flight booking systems out there, mistakes will happen and they will be overlooked. It is far too time-consuming and costly for airlines to continually correct every single price conflict.

Things to know before you book

DOT used to make all airlines honor mistake fares, but that all changed in 2015, when a first-class ticket on an United Airlines flight to Denmark cost just $51 if you marked that you were in Denmark in your billing address. The error curtailed from a currency conversion mistake. Though DOT's policy is to keep airlines from jacking up flight prices after travelers had booked a ticket, the transportation agency ruled in this case not to enforce it, since the passengers who booked the flight had done so "in bad faith," lying about their address to book a lower fare. Because of this, since May 2015, airlines have been able to cancel tickets booked on error fares at will, as long as they can prove to the DOT that the ultra-low fare truly was a mistake, usually by comparing the prices between a standard fare and the error fare. Few of the airlines also provide an advisory message , to be sure of the price – for instance, American Airline’s contract states: "If we sell a fare in error, we have the right to cancel the ticket. This includes fare errors, computer errors, and third-party errors (human or computer). We make every effort to prevent, detect and correct errors as soon as possible. When we issue a mistaken fare, we'll void the ticket, give a full refund and notify you within: 72 hours after we learn of the mistaken fare [or] at least 24 hours before departure if you bought the ticket less than 72 hours before departure."

How can I find mistake fares?

The easiest way here is to stalk the experts. Secret Flying is arguably the best resource out there for worldwide flight pricing errors. Each day they scrape up current mistake fares (in mysterious ways), and are prompt with updating when tickets sell out or become defunct. Airfarewatchdog, or The Flight Deal to find these deals. The other option is to set up flight alerts on Google Flights or Hopper for a variety of routes you'd want to fly.

The gray area here is whether or not a low fare is a good deal (which the airline can't backpedal on) or a mistake (which they can). Though a fare may be low because of lack of demand or increased inventory, there is one way to know for sure the deal isn't a mistake fare.

What to Do If Your Ticket Gets Canceled

The DOT requires the airline to reimburse you for all of your non-refundable purchases, including, but not limited to, "hotel reservations, destination tour packages or activities, cancellation fees for non-refundable connecting air travel and visa or other international travel fees." Make sure to keep receipts on hand for any of the purchases you do make, as the airline will likely require proof of purchase. That said, reimbursement is such a hassle that it's worth it to wait to book those non-refundable charges until you have a booking reference or passenger number record to make those purchases.

Learn About Apple Watch

2015-06-08T05:30:00.003-07:00

A device you wear is vastly different from one you keep on a desk or carry in your pocket. It’s more than a tool. It’s a very personal expression. There are three distinctive collections to help a user find the watch that’s right for them.

Apple Watch: Features

More immediate, intimate ways to connect - You won’t just see and respond to messages, calls, and notifications easily and intuitively. You’ll actually feel them. With Apple Watch, every exchange is less about reading words on a screen. And more about making a genuine connection.

Stay closer to the people you care about - Now your inner circle is always nearby. Press the button next to the Digital Crown to access Friends, a place where you’ll see thumbnails of those you like to stay in touch with most. Tap one to send a message, make a call, or reach out in one of the new ways only Apple Watch makes possible.

Messages, calls, and mail tailored for your wrist - Apple Watch adds a new dimension to the way you communicate. In just a glance it shows you who’s contacting you. It even gets your attention the way another person would — by tapping you. There are subtle audio cues, too. The experience is discreet and nuanced, with different types of notifications having their own unique character.

Start an entirely new kind of conversation - You don’t even have to use words. The Digital Touch features on Apple Watch give you fun, spontaneous ways to connect with other Apple Watch wearers, wrist to wrist.

Made to measure all the ways you move - Apple Watch unites the capabilities of an all-day fitness tracker and a highly advanced sports watch in one device you can wear all the time. It can track a wider variety of activities because it’s able to collect more types of data. It uses an accelerometer to measure your total body movement. It has a custom sensor that can measure intensity by tracking your heart rate. And it uses the GPS and Wi‑Fi in your iPhone to track how far you’ve moved.

Activity App - The Activity app on Apple Watch provides a simple and powerful graphic of your daily activity, with three rings telling you everything you need to know. The Move ring shows how many calories you’ve burned. The Exercise ring shows how many minutes of brisk activity you’ve done. And the Stand ring shows how often you’ve stood up to take a break from sitting. The goal? Sit less, move more, and get some exercise by completing each ring every day.

Workout App - Whenever you’re doing a dedicated cardio workout, use the Workout app built into Apple Watch. It shows real-time stats such as time, distance, calories, and pace. It lets you set goals for each workout, encourages you to meet or beat those goals along the way, and gives you a summary of what you’ve achieved. And your workout is included in your Activity app measurements for the day.

Track your progress over time on iPhone - Apple Watch lets you see your daily activity at a glance. To see your progress and trends over longer periods of time, there’s Fitness - an Apple Watch companion app on your iPhone. You can view your activity history, workouts, and achievements by the day, the week, and the month. And it’s easy to zoom in on the details to see just how far you’ve come. There’s also a Health app on iPhone that allows you to share your activity and workout data with your favorite third-party health and fitness apps.

Your wallet. Without the wallet. - Apple Pay is a more convenient, secure way to pay using just your Apple Watch. Now you can buy coffee, groceries, and more right from your wrist. With a simple setup, you can use your credit and debit cards at hundreds of thousands of U.S. locations, with more to come.

Start on Apple Watch. Continue on iPhone - Apple Watch is perfect for quick interactions, but if you need to do something more involved, just pick up your iPhone. The message you were reading or app you were using on Apple Watch will be open and ready to go. Read new mail on Apple Watch, then respond on iPhone. See a sports score or news update on Apple Watch, and read more about it on iPhone.

iOS 8 BOOM

2015-06-08T05:18:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peek into iOS 8

Photos -

Search your photo library - Search all the photos and videos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Search by the date the photo was taken, location, or album name. Whether you’re at work, on the train, at a restaurant, or on vacation, finding a photo has never been simpler.
Smart composition tools - Even after you take your photo, Photos can automatically straighten horizons and provide the ideal crop.
Get smart suggestions - Just tap the search icon, and you’ll get choices based on what’s important to you. One more tap gives you immediate access to photos taken nearby, photos taken the same time last year, or your all-time favorite photos.
Smart adjustments - Modify the overall light in a photo with a single control. Behind the scenes, Photos intelligently adjusts exposure, brightness, contrast, and more — giving everyone, even the complete novice, great results.
Capture the moment. Then edit it in seconds. - Whatever your skill level, you’ll be able to create photo masterpieces right in the Photos app. Photos can make beautiful edits for you. Or you can take control and fine-tune every aspect of a photo yourself.
A new mode comes to Camera: Time-lapse videos - Capture the experience of the sun setting, a city street bustling, or a flower blooming with the new Time-lapse mode in Camera. The result is a video showing an accelerated sequence of the photos over time. Just set up your device to shoot what you want. Swipe to select Time-lapse mode, tap the Record button, and let Camera record as long as you choose.
Photo ﬁlters and editing tools - Make the photo stand out by applying one of the Apple‑designed filters.

Messages

Add your voice to the conversation - Messages in iOS 8 makes it easy to capture any sound — your voice, a song, or a big laugh — and make it part of the conversation. Simply touch and hold the new microphone button to record your message. Then swipe to send it.
Tap to see every attachment from a conversation - It’s simple to browse the photos and videos within a thread. You’ll see all the photos and videos going back to the very first exchange, without having to scroll through earlier messages.
Send a video quickly and easily - The new Messages app lets you share what you’re seeing almost as you’re seeing it. Quickly send a video of your brother’s first time paddleboarding. Or your dad joining the fire dancers at the luau. When you do, you’ve said so much more than “Having fun on our vacation.” And you’ve said it in seconds.
Share your location in the middle of the conversation - “Where are you?” Answer that question more clearly than ever with a map showing your location. You can also share your whereabouts with people you choose for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. And you can see people in the message thread on a map if they’ve shared their locations.
Take charge of group messages - Start a group conversation and give it a name like “Soccer Team” or “Road Trip.” Easily include who you want, drop who you don’t, and leave the conversation whenever you want. Or turn on Do Not Disturb and then read through the messages when you have time.
Send multiple photos and videos at once - In Messages, tap the camera icon to see the most recent photos in your Camera Roll. Select the ones you want to share and tap Send. It’s that easy. Want to send older photos? Tap Photo Library and select the shots you want.

Details make the experience

Interactive notiﬁcations let you stay focused while you stay in touch - Take action on texts, email, calendar invitations, reminders, and even messages from apps like Facebook right from their notification banners — without leaving the app you’re in. Now it’s easy to quickly reply to important messages and keep doing what you were doing.
New time-saving features arrive in Mail - From your inbox, swipe to mark an email as read or flag it for follow-up. You can also easily jump between a draft email and an email in your inbox to gather the information you need to compose your message. And now when Mail recognizes a reservation, flight confirmation, or phone number in an email, a notification appears. Just tap to add an event to your calendar or a phone number to your contacts.
Your favorite Safari features come to iPad - The Tab view you know and love in Safari on iPhone now appears on your iPad. You can see all your open web pages, with tabs from the same site grouped together. There’s also a new Sidebar that slides out to reveal your bookmarks, Reading List, and Shared Links. So you’ll enjoy a familiar browsing experience across all your devices.
A shortcut to who’s important - From any screen, press the Home button twice to see the multitasking interface. At the top, you’ll notice something new: the faces of people you’ve recently talked to and — if you swipe to the right — your favorite contacts as well. Just tap one to call, text, or start a FaceTime call.

iCloud Drive

“How are you?” now has a really accurate answer - Heart rate, calories burned, blood sugar, cholesterol - your health and fitness apps are great at collecting all that data. The new Health app puts that data in one place, accessible with a tap, giving you a clear and current overview of your health. You can also create an emergency card with important health information - for example, your blood type or allergies-that’s available right from your Lock screen.
Your health and ﬁtness apps will work even harder for you - With HealthKit, developers can make their apps even more useful by allowing them to access your health data, too. And you choose what you want shared. For example, you can allow the data from your blood pressure app to be automatically shared with your doctor. Or allow your nutrition app to tell your fitness apps how many calories you consume each day. When your health and fitness apps work together, they become more powerful. And you might, too.
You are in charge of your data - The Health app lets you keep all your health and fitness information in one place on your device and under your control. The information you generate about yourself is yours to use and share. You decide what information is placed in Health and which apps can access your data through the Health app. When your phone is locked with a passcode or Touch ID, all of your health and fitness data in the Health app is encrypted. You can back up data stored in the Health app to iCloud, where it is encrypted while in transit and at rest. Apps that access HealthKit are required to have a privacy policy, so be sure to review these policies before providing apps with access to your health and fitness data.

Apps to deal with Autism

2014-01-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Autism is quite common among children and the parents of such children find it quite difficult to engage themselves with their children. But with the era of mobile apps blooming, mobile apps for autism can help the special children to communicate their basic needs.

A large variety of intuitive apps, comprise of colorful images & sounds, which can hold the child’s attention long enough to learn & offer effective tools to build vocabulary.

APPS FOR PARENTS

The parents of special kids generally get worried for their kids, if they are out of their sight. Hence, they need a kind of app that

Tracks or records the activities of their children on a timely basis
Provides a daily record of the activities undertaken
Shows a graph/comparison report of other autism patients too; such that you can see the growth of your child with others
Shows the average statistics based on various factors
Includes a growth rate to analyze your child’s performance

APPS FOR LEARNING

There are various apps developed these days to ensure that the autistic child expresses himself and gets his needs fulfilled. In most of the cases, the child lacks verbal communication and such apps help them to explain themselves to others.

APPS FOR MONITORING

There are various apps developed to help parents locate their autistic children such that they do not face any trouble.

APPS FOR COLLABORATIONS / SOCIALIZATIONS

The families of people with special needs can collaborate and discuss various problems they are facing and get answers from the people having expertise in that area.

DISCUSSION BOARDS / ONLINE FORUMS APP

These kinds of apps help the parents of autistic children to come up and speak about any problem they are facing with their child and get answers from different parents, who have special kids too.

SOCIAL MEDIA APPS

There are various apps that allow your autistic child to share or raise his own creations in social media websites.

QA APPS

These kind of apps allows video modeling of social skills reinforced by post video Q&A sessions.

WRITING APPS

These apps help the children to learn how to write better in an efficient manner.

GOOGLE GLASS - LET THE WORLD SEE THROUGH IT!!

2013-10-17T22:43:00.002-07:00

Google Glass displays information in a smartphone like hands free format that easily connects with the Internet through regular language voice commands.

FEATURES

Feature	Description
Hands-free 1st person photos & videos	Takes photos & videos-hands free using the headset that inevitably records the footage, when a user simply says - "Ok Glass, record a video".
Google Search Results in your eyes directly	A user can solely ask Google Glass information about everything.
Easy and turn-by-turn Directions	Get instructions right in front of your face with the Google headsets that tell which route a user needs to take.
Voice Translations	It gets easy to tour in a new country & find any hotel or brasseries, as Google Glass can translate their language so that a user does not face any problem.
Voice Dictation & Gesture Control	Reply to any email or edit any message before sending via voice dictation or turning the screen and managing the device using eyes.
3rd Party app-Integration	As per NY Times, Evernote, Path and Skitch would be amalgamating with Google Glass. Hence it will comprise all information related to news, photos, and headlines and get delivered in the eyewear as a notification.
Virtual Reminders	Set a reminder using a visual feature with Google Glass - View an object and tell "Remind me to." and the headset will comrade that object with a photo of the allocated task.

Google Glass

GOOGLE GLASS WORKING MECHANISM

A Google Glass constitutes a CPU, GPS, speakers, microphone, battery etc. that is added to a small projector and a prism that transmits the light on the user's retina. Each of the components is placed inside a frame in a consistent manner. It requires a good mobile broadband signal, to make the device feel light as most of the administering is done in cloud (like it does with Apple’s Siri).

SCOPE OF GOOGLE GLASS IN HEALTHCARE

Meaningful Use for Hospitals - It is quite cumbrous for the hospitals units to dose bar code for every medicine, as they need to know who is the patient sitting in the room, his health problems and then his prescriptions. EMR should include an assistive technology that confirms that the right medication is available to the right patient at a given time. With help of a Google glass, it becomes easy for a nurse to recognize the patient via Wi-Fi geo location that also helps her to scroll through the medication picture and specify whether they were dispensed before.

Clinical Certification - Google Glass helps to present the multifarious clinical documentation with a real time video of the patient meeting, taken from the vantage point of the clinician's Google Glass. Every audio/visual prompt that the clinician sees and hears will be realistically documented.

Emergency Department Dashboards - Google glass assists the physicians working in a high pressure, fast paced environment to quickly access information, filter relevant information and make evidence-based conclusions using visual signals, vital signs, triage details, and treatment certification.

Alerts and Reminders - Google Glass presents those events and issues, which are most grave, requiring action today (alerts) and those issues that are generally good for the wellness of the patient (reminders). Having the benefit of alerts and reminders allows a clinician to get done with what is most important.

Judgment Support - A clinician can retort to a cardiac arrest using Google glass to regain the suitable choice support for the patient in question and visually sees a decision tree that incorporates ideal doses of medications, the EKG of the patient and vital signs.

SEGMENTS THAT CAN GAUGE GOOGLE GLASS

Business Industry - Business apps that are focused on interaction and association could leverage the Glass API to understand all kinds of efficiency augmenting use-cases and applications.

Education Industry - People use YouTube lessons to understand about new things, which has made it clear that education is not just restricted to the classrooms. With Google Glass, it would be possible to record tutorials in any domain like fixing a car engine or machinery parts, or in constrained areas where only the physician and its staff is permitted.

Health Monitor Interface - It is easy to track a user's undertaking with Glass' built-in GPS chip. It can combine external health tracking monitor or other healthcare apps and exhibit, track or log in a user's - pace, speed, heart rate & running period for any use - as in case if a user is running a marathon.

Video Conferencing Substitute - Most of the people today use Google Hangout in order to deal with any sessions or formal chats, but still a user has to sit in front of a laptop in order to use it. But with Google Glass, it is practical to conduct meetings flawlessly. This would be a better substitute for those corporations that have lots of meetings on a consistent basis and can spend a budget on virtual conference rooms.

Corporate Meetings – Google Glass is a great alternate for decision makers who are always on the move and wants a large audience to connect with. Group meetings can be done irrespective of where everyone is.

GOOGLE GLASS: BEST PRACTICES

Confirm that the glassware created is user-friendly by trying it on an actual device.

Do not use too many notifications that can annoy the users.

The user should be provided with suitable controls, such that they can interrelate with Google Glass as and when wanted & ignore it when they don’t want.

If a user slips a timeline item from the service, it should not worsen their experience.

Make sure that the result exhibited is pertinent and novel.

There should be a real time notification system that notifies glassware about certain events.

Avoid user shocking with sudden functionality.

Create well-formatted, reasonable and legible timeline cards, as it is the core way of users interacting with the content on Glass. The timeline cards can be designed in 3 ways: -

· Text - Text is the easiest form to create stunning and readable cards on Glass. A text can be used if the content that is being displayed contains mainly of text; or if a user wants to choose how to present the content to the user and if a user wants the content to remain stable & up to date.

· Glass HTML templates - This HTML markup is appropriate if a user needs to send organized content to a user's timeline or control over formatting. An HTML template is most viable if a user wants to show structured content such as lists or tables or wants a greater flexibility in designing the content.

· Displaying user customized HTML - If a user wants to use a template that is not just resumed to Glass HTML template, he can do so by creating his own tailored pattern, as it helps him to control how the content is rendered; no doubt, he needs to make sure that it has to be user-friendly.

If a user wants to attach photos/videos, he can do so , but the photos or videos will appear behind the text associated, only with the difference, that the text would disappear when a video is played.

Optimal Statistics: -

Send full screen images and video at a 16x9 aspect ratio.

Target a 640x360 pixel resolution.

Always identify both the height and width of an image. This averts placing reflows around an image as cards render. It also permits Glass to present a well-formatted error message if the image is not accessible.

Keep the period of video clips between 10 and 20 seconds. Glass is a device devised for rapid data consumption; so long videos are usually not suitable for users to ingest.

A user should bundle or paginate content on timeline cards to save space & group similar information. This feature works well with - a thread of emails or short messages, related articles added all at once, a list of key events and score updates for an ongoing sports game. But bundle would not be suitable for - all content from your service, many headlines sent to Glass over the course of a day and several pages of a long article.

The menu card devised should be: -

q If you specify an icon, use a 50x50 pixel image.

q Limit display names to a few words if possible.

q Use the default icon and display name for built-in menu items unless you are using the menu item for something very different.

Deliver a "Welcome" card to the Glass device after a user approves your Glassware. This lets your users know that setup was successful.

Deliver content as it happens, especially if you're generating an audio notification.

Sometimes it's beneficial to deliver content in digest form. If you're sending a digest, it's best to send it mutely.

Contacts appear in full screen, so use a 640 x 360 pixel icon.

Tag content that was created and shared with Glass so that receivers know the source of the content.

Add "Sent through Glass" when classification is not needed. This is often the case for emails.

Glass™ always has a trademark symbol the first time or the most protuberant time it appears in a creative.

Glass is always capitalized and is never plural or possessive.

Glass is never part of the name of your business, Glassware, other products. Instead, use "for Glass." If you use "for Glass" in conjunction with a logo, "for Glass" must be a smaller size than the rest of the logo.

You can use Glass as a descriptor, as long as it is followed by a proper, generic term.

Ensure you and your Glassware obey to the Terms of Service and Developer Policies documents.

Submit your Glassware for analysis by Google team.

Google team will email the user, feedback and next steps explicit to the Glassware.

Ensure your Glassware passes the Launch Checklist. Submitting Glassware that already passes the checklist accelerates the review process.

Screen aspect ratio -16x9

Screen resolution - 640 x 360 pixels

Share contact icon size - 640 x 360 pixels

Menu option icon size - 50 x 50 pixels

Supported media format - Container: MP4

Video: H.264 baseline and H.263 baseline

Audio: AAC and MP3

Google Glass: Limitations

The costs for the glasses are very extreme for an average consumer ($1500-$3000). In April 2012, Google confirmed that the glasses when available to the public will cost between $250-$600.

A Smartphone can drive apps, can be used for gaming reasons, have distinctive variations, huge variety of reasonable price and much more tractability than this Glass.

Those people who already have some concerns with their eyes and wear glasses in their daily routine cannot use Google Glass.

Google Glass cannot be used while driving, as the picture, video or data will be in front of the eyes of the user, which can disturb them.

Recording video on the headset for a longer time can drain its battery in half an hour.

The speaker, which transfers sound through the skull to permit for ambient noise, can be tough to hear in any situation other than a silent room.

Confidentiality issues are a big worry as a person sitting in a restaurant or park wearing Glass, can take anyone's photos or videos without that person's approval.

Glass informs of inward messages by making a “ding” sound through bone transmission, then pouring the notification directly into your right eye, which can be quite frustrating for a user & destroy Glass experience.

The basic frame for Glass is a thin, flexible titanium piece of metal upon which the plastic and nose-bridge parts are joined, which gets easily broken, especially in the comprised Glass pouch.

MOBILE INDUSTRY – CURRENT TREND

2013-09-20T02:25:00.001-07:00

CURRENT TRENDS IN MOBILITY

Ø By 2015 the tablet sales will out - number the desktop sales in North America

Ø Till May 2013, 100 billion apps were downloaded

Ø Today’s consumer prefers smaller portable devices. This behavior is instigating brands to define or redefine their mobile strategies at a much faster rate

Ø Enhanced business processes, increased productiveness and reduced expenses using mobile devices leads to significant ROI

Ø Productive output in less time

Ø Increases your visibility

Ø Increases your accessibility

Ø Generates Business – and repeat business

GOOGLE’S LATEST MOBILE SURVEY:

Ø 96% of mobile users said they encountered a website that is not mobile friendly

Ø 67% of mobile users said that if the site is mobile friendly they are more likely to purchase

Ø 48% of mobile users said even if they like a brand a non-mobile friendly site annoy them.

These stats definitely make the mobile strategy create a competitive advantage!!

MAIN POINTS TO CONSIDER

MOBILE APP STATS & ADVERTISING REVENUE

Mobile apps & mobile websites are not mandatory for any organization but if they don’t have mobile presence then huge amount of mobile traffic would be missing.

Growth in the use of smartphones & tablets leads user to access the information via these devices.

Ø 76% of customers think brands should include apps to make interaction and shopping easier.

Ø Smartphone OS-based phones will grow at more than a 30% compound annual growth rate for the next five years globally.

Ø Smartphone applications can actually make you money. Depending on what your business is – you can cross-sell, up-sell and simply sell your products via the App Store.

Ø Helps in collecting feedback and data about customer behavior.

Why not apply Mobility to the whole business?

Best Click-to-Call Tools

2013-09-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

CallME!

FEATURES

No Monthly fees and set-up cost
Functions across all the countries
100% hosted solution/SaaS
Easy to use API available for integration in your on-line apps
Full support for Google Analytics and Google Adwords conversion tracking

Snap Engage

FEATURES

Intelligent Integration
Look and Feel Customization
Awesome Support
Advanced Web Client
Chat from Skype, Google IM
Proactive Invitations
Fast
Unlimited Sites
Agent Picture
Simple Offline Form
Co-Browsing
Multi-Widgets
Expandable
Google Analytics Integration
Real Time Activity Monitoring
Easy Chat Transfers
Flexible Assignment Rule
Call Me Requests
International
Facebook Fan Page Chat
Knowledge Database
No Ugly Pop-Up
Secure
Persistent Chat
Shortcut Messages
Javascript Variables
Hours of Operation

Skype Click to Call

Skype Click to Call is a simple browser add-on that enhances the functionality of Skype, the popular VoIP application. This neat, small yet very handy add-on will automatically detect phone numbers in the web pages you are visiting, highlight these numbers and let you call them using Skype in a very easy and convenient manner: directly from the browser, without having to copy them from there, open Skype and then paste them in its main window.

Very simple, neat and intuitive.
Works with Firefox, Google Chrome and IE.
The option to highlight phone numbers can be toggled between on and off.

Telintel

Easy implementation in any web site.
TelinTel's click-to-call will get you more website leads. Using this simple tool immediately puts you in voice contact with people interested in your products.
Click-to-Call provides information that toll free numbers do not. Like the prospects name, city and state, the webpage from which they requested the call, and if they've called before.
Cheaper than 1800 number service.
It is equivalent to a global worldwide toll free number.
Global coverage: You could reach costumers from other countries since your are paying for the long distance call. TelinTel international rates are very competitive.

A Peek Through into Streaming Apps

2013-09-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

The streaming apps have become a latest fad now. Most of the young generation has these streaming apps installed for – faster download facilities, affordable cost and easy application management.

Let’s go through a list of popular streaming apps: -

Google TV Remote

Google TV Remote

Google TV app works on almost all Android & iPhone devices. You can also send videos and web pages to the TV, and even use your own voice to search for content by connecting your Android device to the same network as your Google TV.

Size - 2.9M

Installs - 500,000 - 1,000,000

Requirements - Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

The Google TV Remote application works on most Android and iPhone devices and has the basic features that you'll recognize from your Google TV controller, including:

Channel Up and Channel Down

Page Up and Page Down

Play, Pause and Stop

Rewind and Fast Forward

Mute and Recall

Use the volume buttons on your phone to control TV volume

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

VOICE SEARCH

Say a word or phrase and select 'Search' if you'd like to conduct a search in the Search Box. Select 'Send' if you'd like to send the word or phrase to the text box on the screen or select 'Cancel' if you'd like to exit out of Voice search.

YOUTUBE

If you're watching a video on YouTube or any other webpage on your mobile phone, you can select 'Menu,' 'Share,' and then 'Share this video' via Google TV Remote to watch the video on your TV screen instead.

POINTER MODE

Click the arrow at the top right-hand of the screen to enable Pointer Mode. In Pointer Mode, you can control the mouse pointer and use gestures to scroll and zoom in on webpages.

ESC

While watching TV, the Esc button will bring up more information about what you're currently watching or exit out of a window (Guide, DVR). The Esc button can also be used to exit out of an application.

BACK ARROW

Takes you back to your previous window

APPLE TV AIRPLAY MEDIA PLAYER

Apple TV

Size - 1.3M

Installs - 100,000 - 500,000

Requirements - Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires Android 2.1 and up

You can download Apple TV Airplay Media Player for free and enjoy watching & sharing millions of videos, images & songs anywhere. You can simply search the content from external sources and watch it on Apple TV or your mobile devices.

The Apple TV includes the following basic features:-

Video Search

Add to Favorites

View and Manage History

Watch on Apple TV

Create and Manage Music Playlists

Continuous Video and Music Play

Upload Videos and Photos

Access to your DLNA Home Media Servers

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

BROWSE

You can search for your favorite music, photos, videos etc. from multiple resources, including your Android devices and share them via emails, twitter and Facebook

CONTENT

You can watch any kind of content including - video podcasts, YouTube videos, shoutcast internet radio, flickr, picasa, local media servers, FB videos and photos etc.

NOW PLAYING

It displays the information about the content you are watching and you can manage the controls (previous, pause, play, next, volume) yourself.

COMPARISON ANALYSIS

GOOGLE TV VS APPLE TV

	AppleTV	Google TV
OS	iOS	Android
Video Content	ITunes, Netflix, YouTube	Netflix, Amazon VoD, YouTube, NBA Game Time, Blip.tv, VEVO
Non-video Content	Flickr	Pandora, Napster
Web Browser	X	Y
Flash	X	Y
Content Recording	X	Y
Apps	Not at present	Y
Hardware	Small, sleek, black set-top box	Slightly larger, uglier set-top box
Processor	1GHz Apple A4 Chip	1.2GHz Intel Atom Z515
RAM	256MB	4GB
Connectivity	802.11n Wi-Fi & Ethernet	802.11n Wi-Fi & Ethernet

FAN TV

FAN TV

Size - 43.1 MB

Installs - NA

Requirements - Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Fanhattan has announced the brand new Fan TV, a set-top box that promises to succeed in every way other platforms haven’t.

FEATURES

The remote is a simple panel with a touch-enabled top and no buttons

The interface can be operated via gestures and swipes

The device simplifies the setup by getting rid of IR blasters and cable boxes, which are necessary for the Google TV experience

Live On-demand TV and Cloud DVR

Classifies viewing Option - type of Show, Movie Genre, Actor etc.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

WATCHLIST

FAN TV lists all your "must see" movies at front and center of your devices and even gives notification when the content on your watchlist is available on your service.

FOLLOW WHAT’S TRENDING

FAN TV keeps you updated about new and latest in the entertainment field by posting the recommendations given by your friends and family.

REVIEWS, TRAILERS, CAST & CREW

Discover movies and TV with all the information you need to bring quality programming to your screen. Fan puts the power at your fingertips with trailers, cast and crew information.

XBOX SMART GLASS

XBOX SMART GLASS

Size - 18M

Installs - 1,000,000 - 5,000,000

Requirements - Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Xbox Smart Glass lets your phone work with your Xbox 360 console to bring rich, interactive experiences and unique content about what you’re watching or playing, right to the device that’s already in your hand. Interact with your favorite TV shows, movies, music, sports, and games, and bring remote control to a whole new level.

FEATURES

Navigate your Xbox 360 with swipe and tap

Use your phone’s keyboard to type to your Xbox 360

Browse the Internet on your Xbox 360 with full keyboard and zooming

Play, pause, fast-forward, rewind, and stop videos and music on your Xbox 360

Search the full Xbox catalog of music, video, and games

Enjoy rich, interactive experiences from select game and entertainment content creators

Track and compare your achievements with your Xbox friends

Change up your 3D avatar

Message your Xbox friends

Edit your Xbox profile

Requires an Xbox membership to sign in and is available for most Android 4.0+ smartphones, with WVGA screen resolution or higher

Automobile Industry High on using Mobile Apps

2013-09-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

According to consultant ABI Research in Oyster Bay, New York, "The no. of global users of automotive apps may rise to more than 28 million in 2015, from 1.4 million in 2010. Times Of India

Why is Automobile Industry using Mobile Apps frequently?

Today a car is not only a device used for transportation but a platform for innovative augmentations that increases driving experience. In this technological era, native apps are finding a prominent position with a customer as well as manufacturer. Most of the bigwigs in automobile sector like - GM, Ford, Rolls-Royce, Maruti, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai etc. are already on the mobile bandwagon to market their vehicles.

I feel that the use of mobile apps is so easy that even we would like to install these apps for our convenience in a busy and hectic life schedule. Below, I mention some points, which I feel have marked the importance of using mobile apps: -

Integrating smartphones with cars brings mobile Internet & info entertainment in the car environment

Custom mobile apps help users to engage with automotive content

The user finds himself more connected to the car that he owns (Brand specific apps make vehicles more accessible)

Some of the commonly used apps would be penned down below, though most of these apps are widely used in USA, but some of the apps have found their audience in India too..

NISSAN INDIA

FEATURES: -

· Smartphone App that helps a car owner to manage multiple vehicles altogether

Helps to maintain all the information at one place

· Offers various tools like - Mileage & Expense Calculators, Navigator, Traffic Signs Guidebook and a Reminder tool that sets up alert based on servicing, oil changes and all the basic activities that you do for the car maintenance

· Includes a TIP Section that posts regular updates on maintenance and driving along with the pictures to give you a fair idea about your car

· A user also gets to know about the latest offers and deals timely

FORD INDIA

FEATURES: -

Consistent voice activation technology that offers the users a quick and an easy reference guide to popular SYNC features

Play music, use your phones, hands-free, when you are driving

Includes a phrasebook that is a audio guide for all the voice commands that work SYNC, badges that the user receives after a successful completion of simulation exercise

Chevrolet

FEATURES: -

· Gives the users all the functional features of what a car owner would want

Find My Car feature allows a user to mark parking spot on map so as to not find any trouble in the malls' parking slots

Provides roadside assistance, helps to find a dealer and schedule services timely

· Access OnStar Remote Link to get information about car operations

· Offers manuals and current offers too

Maruti Suzuki

FEATURES: -

Analyze the reach and factors that engage the users in a fascinating manner

Leverage Maruti's association with cricket match, followed by IPL

Any user could get info from - m.cricketmaharathi.com

Applicable for iPhone, Android, Blackberry & Java

Hyundai

FEATURES: -

Allows remotely unlocking or locking the door, activating the horn lights & starting the vehicle

Allows to schedule the appointment for servicing

Access maintenance info & Blue Link Customer Care

Access to POI history and find your car anytime

So, what are you waiting for? Download the app either from iTunes or Googleplay

Why Do My Google Rankings Drop??

2013-08-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

Google Keyword Rank Drop

Last month, I had all the clients annoyed with me for their website's keywords showing a dip in their positions. How on earth can I explain them the protocols used by Google Guru!!

They even ask me wether these SEO or SMO activities really help, as whenever Google spins its magic wand, the rankings go down and we are left no where. I know it is difficult to explain them the algorithms used by Google and explain them the reasons for they website's low performance but then, they actually do not mind blaming me…for making such lame excuses.

So, today I thought to pen down the basic and common reasons that make the rankings of the website fluctuate. In order for us to retain their rankings, we should actually review the website in totality, every 15-days and make the necessary changes.

Identify & Analyze the Root Cause - Sometimes, you might have noticed that from a rank #1 for your particular keyword, you might have shifted to #30 or below. The basic reason to check here is whether your competitor is getting ahead of you or has the algorithmic update affected your rankings. For both these reasons, you need to check the quality back links coming to your website; what extra activities have been performed by the competitor in previous months, check your Webmaster's account and read any warning from Google.

HoneyMoon Effect - Sometimes Google boosts the website's ranking for a website that is 6 months old, in order to increase its popularity in search engines. But this ranking does not last forever and you get frustrated to find the keyword someday deteriorating from #1 to NA in the search results. This again accounts top low link popularity as it takes time for a new website to gain quality links to the website.

Content, Content & Only High-Quality Content - Google wants the users to find the best possible solution for their queries in one go. If you want to be at top positions, then you need to have the best content on the website, which looks interesting a educative to the user, along with interlinking within the website such that they can find further information about the product from the website. Make sure that the content is not at all copied and looks totally natural. Google does not only crawl the best pages, but also analyzes the quality of the page, along with how many users visited that page, calculates the bounce rate etc.

High Quality Backlinks - Get a good amount of back links to the website, no doubt directory submissions is somewhat lost these days but you need to have quality links in order to get a good ranking for your website.

Use Disavow links from Webmaster - In case you have recognized few low quality links in your website, you should then use disavow tool that makes sure that Google does not crawl those pages and cleans them up so that all the unnatural links pointing to your website get demolished.

Robots.txt Issue - Yu might be feeling as to why have I mentioned robots.txt issue here. Sometimes, you might be disallowing Google spiders from crawling every page of the website. So, recheck the robots.txt file such that it only blocks your private folders.

Broken Links - Sometimes, a high value page that comes up in rankings, when been clicked, states broken link. This is a huge loss to the website as the users who would be coming to the website, will simply move off on finding nothing. The best idea would be to check the website using Xenu or W3c Link Checker tool.

Canonical Issue - Most of the users feel that canonical is a very small issue but this can actually lower your rankings. This is a common problem with new websites which are viewable in versions for e.g. one like - xyz.com and other - www.xyz.com; so Google will treat both the sites as unique and index the website as 2 different websites.

If you take care of all these issues and rectify the already coming errors, you are sure to improve on the rankings. Further, Google has its share of Panda & Penguin update, and no one knows what parameters they actually set in to mark a website's presence online

Google Panda Update

How to Increase Ranking for Highly Competitive Keywords

2013-06-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

Ranking For Highly Competitive Keywords

I am presently handling a team of 10 people, yet I have various clients highly dissatisfied and eager to get their keywords ranked at #1 in a span of say 3-4months (sometimes 1 month!!! ALAS..). Getting rankings for long tail keyword and domain specific keyword is not challenging but if a client gives you single word keywords or highly competitive keywords, it sends a chill down your nerve because you actually need to plan your work out for such keywords. I am presently facing such issue so wanted to write this post to help people like me in achieving their goals and even getting suggestions or tips from other users.

One thing that I certainly feel is the website domain authority is an important factor that helps the website gain ranking easily in top positions. The main issue with the domestic clients that I have seen is that they do not know the basic purpose of SEO and SMO or PPC, but they generally feel that creating a website, then updating the meta tags on the same will drop them high inquiries, and they have loads of revenue generated for the same. What I fail to understand is that, how can they think the old and popular websites to just diminish away and they enjoy the best top rankings in search engines and get revenue generated for the same, without building the visibility or reputation online? This is actually a serious matter as SEO ,SMO or PPC are just not another way of MAKING MONEY!! You need to be tactful, strategical and plan out your daily activities in order to get the website meet its goal. Just creating a website and updating meta is not any way of generating leads to the website. Online Marketing is not an easy job. If you want to get ranking for competitive keywords , then you need to actually work upon it.

The starting point is - Website Development and Designing

How many times have you simply clicked on a website and closed it only after having a look at the homepage? I guess most of us do that and on an hourly basis. A website's look and feel is very important to help it gain an online reputation. It has to be developed diligently such that if it is a service provider site - it has to contain a Home Page, About Us, Services Offered, Contact Us and Inquiry Form (if any); if it is an eCommerce site - it has to contain the above details along with the hipping policy, Veri sign any other policy certifications, so that a user can RELY on it. Similarly, if it is a hospital website, it needs to have a proper about us information and details about each doctor and a proper appointment form.

A proper testing of the above factors is mandatory for a healthy functioning of a website. If a website is properly developed and designed but the contact us / feedback form is not working, then means a huge loss for that business. Hence the roles in any organizations need to be streamlined and explained to the employees and a proper process needs to be followed if you want actual leads for a business.

Keyword Targeting

After the website passes a QC analysis, the website is ready for the Optimization. But again, there are a few points that An SEO strategist needs to check -

The website design, the URL structure, the seo friendly navigation, the working of all the links, CONTENT RICH sections. Remember that a content plays a vital role in helping a website to gain the depth. Google's new algorithms are giving more importance to a website if it has supporting content to the services offered. Hence, it becomes important for every website to make sure that you need to have a proper detailed website in order to get visitors coming to the website that enhances the link juice to the website.

Then you start with the meta optimization techniques that would include - Title, description, keywords optimization, image optimization, header tags implementation, sitemap creation, robots file, ror file ( if the website has regular updates in news and announcements section) and alt tags etc.

The next step comprises of - directory submissions in - Dmoz, Google Listings, Botw, Yahoo directory etc.; bookmarking in good sites like - Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg - but this step is not just limited to submissions; you need to build up profile here, make connection, like the relevant bookmarks and share them so that they would also like to share and bookmark your link. Your activity is not done by simply posting a link - you have to be a genuine user who has liked something and shared with others!

The Article Submissions and Blog Submissions is another way of getting better links to the website. Make sure that the article is submitted in high quality websites like - E zine, Amazine, Isnare, Searchwarp, Articledashboard etc. Insert the links to your main websites but limit it to 1-2 max. An author bio should look professional and not a sales pitch.

Think before starting with any project and never target any website using simple sales pitch but work as a genuine user and see the wonders!!!

Then start off with SMO best practices - leverage Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, Twitter and throw some light on the services that you offer; participate in QA's ; post few updates ; build connections and use the profile in a similar way as we use ours.

Similarly, we should run a PPC Campaign too for a faster way of generating leads. It is not at all possible to get rankings for highly competitive keywords in 3-4 months time. You have to work hard for them and then you would be able to gain benefit from them. You have to be patient and let the website gain back-links, indexes, such that it makes the website a trusted one and you achieve rankings for the competitive keywords.

SEO/ SMO/ PPC is not any magic wand that will give you #1 position in search engines; but a timely work plan based on these areas will surely help you gain visitors to the website and increase overall traffic to the website. The sum of all these activities is sure to give a bounce to the website but yes you need to have PATIENCE.

Other additional activities that you need to work upon is - posting in online discussion boards like - Forums ,blog commenting in do-follow blog websites, sending out email newsletters and using links in your signatures, sending offers to your visitors and customers etc.. But some of the additional mentioned activities can be indulged only if you are ready to spend some extra bucks out of your pockets.

Rest do share your ideas and suggestions so that I too can get to learn new techniques:-)

What Is Lead Generation?? Lead Generation Marketing

2013-05-15T23:53:00.001-07:00

What is Lead Generation?

Many times I have been for interviews and the last thing that the interviewer asks me is how many leads have you got to the website. Now, this question looks quite confusing as every client has a different requirement and goal. Lead for some maybe getting more inquiries related to product they are working on, for some it may be overall traffic coming to the website and for others it can be a simple way of getting better positions for the keywords in search results.

Achieving results via lead generation sometimes converts into sale for the company. Hence, most of the people feel that a simple way of getting "business" is via lead generation, which is solely incorrect. A lead generation method is a simple strategy for gaining better results, not better sales(We have sales & marketing team for that !!).

Lead generation is not just a simple process of getting work done via submissions in various directories and bookmarking site but an idealistic approach towards knowing the existence of the product / brand online and then carrying a systematic activity plan for it. A program or a module may be best for one company but for another company, it may not be even well enough to drive traffic to the website, forget about the leads. Hence, it gets important for everyone to know the correct strategy that one needs to follow in order to get good results in serps.

You need to look out for more and more strategies and strategies that help you in achieving leads. The first main thing to start with is - Website + Keyword Analysis - Check out similar website, find what is better in them and what makes visitors going on those sites again and again... This is somewhat boring one, but you need to do it :-)

The second important part would be played by Search Engine Optimization, that includes Website Optimization including - meta tags creation, image optimization, robots.txt, sitemap - XML and html creation, ror file etc.

After this, you need to know how to check the status of the website or overall traffic and website performance that you gain post Search Engine Marketing activities. So, you need to set up a Google Analytics account and a webmaster account for the same.

Then you need to focus on submission part including - directories, bookmarking, articles, blogging, local listings, classifieds etc.

The second phase is for brand enhancement and people involvement that would occur via networking sites, forums and online discussion board, blog commenting etc. When you create a profile on the networking site, you need to be sure of the target audience, the aim for creating the profile, whether you want a profile or page to reach out to your audience.

The next step would be to opt for paid campaigns too. There is not much difficulty with PPC campaigns as everything is explained properly...You need to schedule the daily amount you would spend on Google ads and the revenue that you can generate henceforth from it.

Lead Generation Marketing

An online visibility would help you gain leads to some extent but giving you ads in media channels, newspaper, malls etc. would even give it an added edge against others. Remember you need to indulge in online as well as offline media to get the so called LEADS to the website. Big brands do not need that as they already have a reach of large number of audience but SMEs need that...

Lastly, indulge with your subscribers or visitors via surveys, feedback forms so that they are always in your touch and you too would know about their take on the products or services offered by your website.
It is not just the spamming ay to head forward for but to strategize your plan, techniques and then work in a systematic manner by building a trust with the visitors rather than just asking them to come and like your pge or website or link....

Online Lead Generation

Business to Business Marketing - Digital Marketing

2013-02-21T03:21:00.000-08:00

Today most of the companies want to have a social media presence and emerge as a key player in Digital Marketing field. But they fail to realize that only by building any Facebook page or creating a profile on Google+ is not sufficient.

To build an online reputation is not only difficult but also a challenging job. If a person does not like a certain product or services, the probability in an offline world is somewhat 20% of a person complaining to some other person and so on. But in case of an online medium, this probability mushrooms upto 70-80% as people can simply send out a tweet or update stating the reviews about the services or products offered in a fraction of minute. Hence, creating your profile and maintaining it online is somewhat challenging. SO, one needs to actually plan their activities accordingly so that they know the direction they are going on and follow a strategic plan and activities.

Before that, let's start with the meaning. Digital marketing is a means of marketing that involves using your mobile devices, Smartphone etc. for exchange of information, messages and updates. In this tech-savvy world, no individual can sleep without using mobile phones. Hence, digital marketing has evolved as a premier for most of the brands and organization. Every organization wants to leverage digital media or Internet Marketing to remain available 24*7 and interact with the people out there and build an online reputation.

Having your existence on digital media sites is just a beginning but maintaining that profile or building that profile is important. And the big question that arises here is - How??

Is not creating a page on FB enough or sending out emails to same groups sufficient or creating a profile on Twitter and posting on it more than enough????

The answer is - NO!!!!

1. The basic rule with starting a digital marketing campaign is - to evaluate your goals. Every social media tool has its own importance and usage. No every social media tool will benefit you & your organization. Hence, sit down, take a piece of paper and decide your goals. The goals entirely depend upon the type of organization, kind of eyeballs that you are targeting, showcasing your image or organization's image, geographic segmentation, total shares that you obtain, overall traffic coming to your website, total no. of leads generated.

2. Secondly, note the right audience that you want to focus at as the brand that you want to promote or highlight maybe specially designed to suit some age group. So, you need to properly evaluate your activities.

3. Thirdly, building a brand trust is very important as it makes easy for consumers and customers to follow you in whatever decisions you take and make & any announcement or news posted by you. Building a relation of trust is somewhat difficult even today.

4. Such has been the impact of digital marketing that most of the companies today are developing in-house social media tools to remain engaged with each other. A classic example is - Adobe's Marketing Cloud service that allows digital marketers to analyze a complete set of analytics, advertising, targeting & experiencing management solutions and a real-time dashboard that brings everything together.

Digital Marketing has become a need of an hour and will continue to be in the near future. The companies or organizations just simply need to understand that working in a systematic way and maintaining their profile online is required, that would help to turn data into insights.

Seo Video Optimization Tips

2012-12-19T00:04:00.000-08:00

Video Search Engine Optimization

A lot has been asked and said about video optimization. But do we really know what is actually video optimization and what are the correct ways of getting leads or product promotion via video optimization.
Let's then start with basic meaning of video optimization. Video Optimization is the optimization of video for

Video promoting channels like Youtube

Search engine optimization like Google video

Video Optimization can be used to promote a brand or a product as most of the users today look out for information driven practical videos which are easy to understand. Optimizing a video does not mean simply uploading a video that lacks informative content. Hence, when uploading a video or optimizing a video, following things need to be taken care of:-

Use relevant content - People generally love to see a strategical video that demostrates step by step procedure of what you want them to know about your brand

Follow basic SEO steps - Make sure that the video is optimized well so that it achieves high search engine rankings. Use appropriate keywords for the name of the video, title, keywords, URL and description

Upload video on video sharing channels - To gain additional links and visibility of your product, distribute or upload your video on these channels and even use distribution service (TubeMogul) to deploy your videos to various video sites

Create a video sitemap to ensure that the web crawlers index your video

Video Transcripts - Use transcripts for videos as it helps the user to read the content included in the video

Internal & External Linking - In order to gain better visibility of your video, allow link exchange with other videos, link videos via social media channels, uploading video on the company website and then linking it with various video sharing channels

Engage socially with other users - Comment and vote on other videos to build a rapport with them so that they too exchange views and comment on your video

Finally, you can provide option of embedding your video, allowing users to rate and vote for your video

You can even submit your video to RSS and receive a high quality user reviews through video marketing.

This is just the basic knowledge of how your videos can be optimized. Once you get acquainted with these basic steps, the final destination of achieving leads and getting high views for your video would no longer look like a problem.

How to Attract Visitors With Your Landing Page

2012-10-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is the most intriguing question when you need to design some landing page for a website as you are aware that its visibility will only add to traffic as well as help in gaining the visibility and traffic to your website. Now the question arises as to how can we design something unique that attracts visitors to a website.

Keep your design simple:- The design structure that you keep for your landing page should be simple enough so that a visitor coming to your website understand the navigation, what and how purpose of the landing page.Your call to action should be highlighted at top so that the potential customer knows where to get in.

User friendly Navigation :- Always make sure that the landing page you have created does not take more time to open up. This will surely distract user's attention and maybe he would not be interested in further visiting your website. The load time should be minimal so that user remains sticked to your website.

Search Site:- If a visitor comes to your website and is interested in some other products for that same category, he can search it via internal search option which should be designed on top or bottom of the landing page.

Use of Social Widgets:- People today are totally obsessed with online media channels and you need to fully showcase your presence on them. Add social media widgets like - facebook likes, google plus, twitter followers etc. to show them that you are present online and the world knows you.

Let customers speak about your product :- Include client testimonials, reviews, feedback etc. on the product page so that the visitor coming on your website feels trusted when he decides to buy the product from your site..(But boy,,, kindly make sure that the negative reviews of your product do not over power your product's performance)..

So, what are you waiting for??? Give a perfect and a simple design for your landing page and allow easy scrolling so that the visitor adds to the site's stickiness.;-))

Is Google Not Caching your website

2012-10-08T03:42:00.002-07:00

Yes.. I too was facing this typical situation when the website that I was working on was fully optimized and had most of the pages indexed by Google but I do not know why few of the pages returned an error page. I could not actually understand as to why Google had indexed few pages and left few of them. But after few months of observation I realized few important reasons:

Update Your Website Frequently :- If you have a website or a blog that is somewhat "dead" or has low quality content, then it needs to be really worked upon. But if you feel that you site has well designed structure with full content optimization, then you surely need to check your header that states your website's "modified since" status. Sometimes you actually forget to add it..

Good Quality Content :- The content on your website needs to be knowledgeable. If a visitor coming on your website feels that the content on the website has provided valuable information, then only website would be crawled and indexed by Google bots. In case the content present is not up to the mark, crawler will just ignore it and move off.:-((

If you are still maintaining a low profile of your website and no one is interested in your website, then crawler will ignore your website.

If still these tips do not work, then wait for sometime and check your webmaster report.. Caching takes time so we need to wait for the website to get indexed and crawled by Google.!!

I always knew looking back on the tears would make me laugh, but I never knew looking back on the laughs would make me cry.

2012-10-08T03:27:00.001-07:00

Today while doing office work (my mind was not into it actually), I thought of writing some general post. I do not know what made me go back and cherish my old golden memories.

But thinking about it, I thought that I need to frame that picture in my blog. ”Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart.”

My sweet twin sister and I never needed friends (though we were always good at making friends) as we were there always for each other and in case of any problem always talked to our beautiful mom about it..And she very easily would help us come out of any bad situation. Thank u ma for helping P & I realise the importance of being something in life, being independent and teaching us to respect ourselves.
When we were in college, we were a group of I guess 11 girls (sob sob).. which finally broke off during our last year.(It had to anyways!!!)...
Though there were 2 of them who were actually close to us and are still in contact..
But wait..how can I forget to pen something about my college days..though I did not like my batch mates as most of them had a hatred feeling towards us (God Knows Why!!).. But yes, if I talk about 4 of us..then it was all fun.. We used to walk all over to each other's place and then play some music.. learn its lyrics and sing aloud.. Not only this but we always experimented with some snacks that we prepared for that X-factor..

Then watch some funny movie(Typical Govinda movies) and laugh our heart out..
It was even funny when mumma used to scold us (for not studying) and both of us could not stop laughing which would obviously aggravate mom's anger but not for a long time period as she too would smile afterwards while seeing her cartoon daughters laugh unnecessarily..

I don't still understand what went through in our minds that the laughter used to become uncontrollable fission reaction..
anyways.. it still is a major problem with both of us ;-)...

Looking at that time and realizing its importance is something that would always remain in our talks and mind.. Thank you God for bringing such calm and healthy environment that has helped me to create warm memories of my past in my heart ;-))..

SEO Advantages of a micro-site

2011-09-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

A micro site is an individual web page which acts as an auxiliary supplement for a main website. A micro site has its own landing page and a domain name. A micro site includes educative information and can be linked into the main website. It is also used for promotion of any product present on a homepage. For e.g. a painting website may run a micro site that provides information about any upcoming exhibition.

Hence, it can be concluded from above that these micro sites are used for a temporary purpose or till the purpose is over.

When to use a micro site?

Product Launch
Event Promotion
Testing
Viral Marketing

What are the SEO benefits of a micro site?

A micro site is used to focus a particular set of audience. The basic benefit of using a micro site is that it is can become a great tool for promotion of a specific event. If a micro site ranks well, we can achieve good results and returns and sometimes it can simply disappear from our hands.

Another thing of a major concern is that it acts as a competition on your own website as the traffic coming on your website is moved to your micro site. Also, maintaining a micro site is a bit cumbersome.

On the other hand, a micro site focuses on a specific product or an item, so it easily gains an authority over that item resulting in high SERPs. You even get the benefit of inserting the keywords in the URL of the website.

Points to remember when you want to use micro site

Ask yourself about the purpose of a micro site. Do you want to promote the main website or rank niche terms or promote any specific product
Would you be able to handle and optimize the micro site?
Are you ready to compete with other web properties
Do you want to use it for any short term event or long term promotion

Free Press Release Sites

2010-12-04T01:34:00.000-08:00

URL

www.elecdir.com/submit_press_release

7 -electrical

press.abc-directory.com

news.thomasnet.com

www.techexpo.com

www.prleap.com

www.transworldnews.com

www.rfidsolutionsonline.com

www.freepressindex.com/

https://www.pressmediawire.com

www.beforeitsnews.com

www.michiganbusiness.us/submitpressrelease.php

www.industrialbuzz.com/cgi-local/rgs_login.cgi

www.softpressrelease.com

Web Wire - www.webwire.com/

www.pressreleasenetwork.com

www2.ljworld.com/

industrialpr.net/

www.manufacturingtalk.com/index.html

www.topseos.com/pressreleases/add-your-press-release

www.afreego.com

www.sbinformer.com

www.newsvine.com/

news.websitegear.com/submitpr.asp

www.usprwire.com

itilcommunity.com/index.php

powerhomebiz.com/BizNews/pressrelease.htm

www.fastpitchnetworking.com

www.dime-co.com

www.your-story.org/

www.fastpressreleaser.com/

www.press-network.com/

prbuzz.com/

www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi

www.pressreleasespider.com/default.aspx

www.anyrelease.com/

www.prbot.com/

www.mediasyndicate.com

Free and High Quality Directories available online

2010-12-04T01:30:00.000-08:00

URL and Page Rank

http://www.globalspec.com/
6
http://www.clush.com/
6
http://www.lexxe.com/
6
http://www.bizjournals.com/
5
http://information.com/
5
http://codeclassic.net/
5
http://www.submissionwebdirectory.com/
5
http://irsg.org/
5
http://www.wateriskey.org/
5
http://www.viany.org/
5
http://www.eduology.com/
4
http://www.abifind.com/
4
http://www.jadoyc.com/
4
http://directories.mesra.net/
4
http://www.poddys.com/
4
http://www.i-dio.com/index.php
4
http://www.urlz.net/
4
http://www.yoofindit.com/
4
http://www.the-search-site.com/
4
http://www.usalistingdirectory.com/
4
http://www.astanda.com/
4
http://jscrop.com/
4
http://www.scrubtheweb.com/
7
http://www.i12web.com/
5
http://airec.net/
5
http://www.websites4smallbusiness.net/
5
http://lubimgeroi.net/
5
http://www.turnpike.net/directory.html
5
http://www.somuch.com/
5
http://www.a1webdirectory.org/
4
http://www.dir2dir.net/
4
http://hyperkore.com/index.php
4
http://www.nforth.com/
4
http://www.anoox.com/
4
http://www.californiadir.com/
4
http://www.britainbusinessdirectory.com/
4
http://www.domaining.in/
4
http://www.synergy-directory.com/
4
http://www.cyberwebsearch.com/
4
http://linkroo.com/
4
http://www.abso-bloody-lutely.com/
4
http://www.ccwos.com
8
http://universitevetoplum.com/
6
http://www.bnlb.org
6
http://www.geniusfind.com/
6
http://www.induszone.com/
6
http://freewebsubmission.com/
6
http://jkbdf999.com/
5
http://nuoret.org/
5
http://rightwingeye.com/
5
http://www.concasida2010.org/
5
http://surfsafely.com/
5
http://www.plktldl.com/index.php
5
http://www.xfoksite.net
5
http://www.pegasusdirectory.com/
5
http://www.atgear.com
5
http://www.321free.com/index.php
5
http://directory.pr-club.net
5
http://www.marketingwebdirectory.com/
5
http://hydeparkbooks.com/
5
http://aiclu.com/
5
http://www.directory-free.com/
5
http://zicosur.org/
5
http://reo01.com/index.php
5
http://www.lassodevelopment.com/index.php
5
http://www.loopdir.com/
5
http://www.sabuco.org/
5
http://withmyba.com/
5
http://www.clickey.com/
5
http://www.kiwidir.com/
5
http://www.aiclu.com
5
http://www.cy-sd.com/
5
http://www.evresi.gr/data/index.php
5
http://clayne.com/
5
http://www.info-listings.com/
4
http://www.directorystorm.com/
4
http://www.usawebsitesdirectory.com/
4
http://devoteclub.com/
4
http://zjgzell.com/
4
http://generalwebdirectory.org/
4
http://www.yepnew.com/
4
http://www.cyprus-net.com/index.php
4
http://www.ribcast.com/
4
http://directory.7cd.us
4
http://eiksys.net/directory/
4
http://www.allsitecafe.com/submitter/submit.html
4
http://iearnsyria.org/
4
http://www.n1directory.com/
4
http://www.batfox.com/
4
http://www.freewd.org/
4
http://www.roask.com/
4
http://www.kk-club.com/
4
http://www.netwerker.com/
4
http://www.voltapublishing.com
4
http://2.0websites.com/
4
http://directory.tcch.org/
4
http://www.locators-online.org
4
http://www.codeamed.org/
4
http://www.cannuke.com/
4
http://www.submission4u.com/
4
http://www.3windex.net/
4
http://www.9sites.net/
4
http://www.arakne-links.com/
4
http://www.a-free-directory.info/
4
http://www.affiliatemarketinglinx.com/index.php
4
http://dndintellibiz.com/
4
http://www.iuiiw.com/
4
http://www.piyy.com/
4
http://www.linkaddurl.com/
4
http://www.gainweb.org/
4
http://www.a-p-e-x.org/
4
http://www.agaccess.com/
4
http://www.thalesdirectory.com/
4
http://search-info.com/
4
http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/webdirectory/index.php
4
http://contrachem.com/
4
http://www.anthonyparsons.com/
4
http://pxdaj.com/
4
http://www.ukinternetdirectory.net/
4
http://horseshoexp.com/
4
http://lanic.utexas.edu/
8
http://www.elecdir.com/
7
http://www.mojopages.com/
7
http://www.hotfrog.com/
6
http://www.polishworld.com/
6
http://www.boliviaweb.com/index.htm
6
http://internet800directory.com/
6
http://www.radwaste.org/index.html
6
http://www.lebweb.com/
6
http://www.robby.gr/
5
http://www.wepa.com/
5
http://www.mygreencorner.com/
5
http://searchwiz.com/
5
http://www.gateway-worldwide.com/
5
http://www.uocsa.net/
5
http://kacsca.com/
5
http://www.imadec.com/
5
http://mastermoz.com/
5
http://www.ussatranc.com/
5
http://www.onodirectory.com/
5
http://www.claymont.com/home/
5
http://www.uwillfind.com/
4
http://www.freeinternetwebdirectory.com
4
http://www.listasal.info
4
http://gcags2007.com/
4
http://www.grandirectorio.com/
4
http://www.directoryvault.com/index.php
4
http://www.best-net-sites.com/
4
http://www.shopperstop.org/index.html
4
http://www.nadrealizem.com/
4
http://rehes-project.org/
4
http://bjjqya.com/
4
http://www.dearbetty.com/
4
http://vzacc.org/
4
http://www.sladco.com
0
http://www.cwrp.net/
4
http://www.suggest-link.net/
4
http://www.aaenj.org/
4
http://www.sudanow.net/
4
http://www.directoriolibre.com/
4
http://www.zyas.com/
4
http://www.svguia.com/
4
http://www.theadminzone.com/directory/
4
http://www.kuzink.com/
4
http://columbuswebdirectory.com/
4
http://www.worthylinks.com/
4
http://directory.ttra2008.com/
4
http://www.listsitefree.com/
4
http://dir.megri.com/
4
http://www.alistsites.com/index.php
4
http://www.webworldindex.com/
4
http://www.ansearch.com/
7
http://www.alivedirectory.com/
5
http://www.zuberlinks.com/
5
http://www.directory.stanzoo.com/
3
http://sepfi.com/
5
http://www.businezzdirectory.biz/
0
http://www.automationengineeringinfo.com/
3
http://www.directoryworld.net/
6
http://www.romow.com/
5
http://www.sitereview.com.au/
4
http://www.syndirectory.com/
3
http://www.theredtree.com/
5
http://www.globallinknetworks.com/

http://www.nuoret.org
5
http://www.whgm168.com
5
http://www.smsjava.com
5
http://www.dmegs.com/
4

Please add to the list, if you know of more quality websites

Does URL Structure need to be optimized?

2010-08-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Optimization helps to provide the most relevant content to the search audience. High quality content and generation of effective inbound links are key factors, when measuring the SEO success rate.
If you are about to launch a new site or re-design an existing site, then defining an effectual URL structure is majorly important.
A well defined URL structure involves a lot of commitment and scheduling. The link structure, categorization, arrangement, positioning etc., all play a vital role in defining a basic URL.

Why do we need a structured URL
We all are aware of the fact that a URL affects search results. So, it is important to define it properly. A well organized URL improves search engine rankings and drives natural traffic to the targeted website.
Try to keep the URL simple and short i.e. let it be directly related to the content present on your site so that it is well understood by humans.

To-do steps for a well organized URL
Reduce the length of URL
Choosing a dynamic URL is a bad idea as they tend to get indexed slowly. So, always go for a static URL
Let the URL contain specific keywords
Prefer dashes than underscores as Google considers each hyphened word as a single word.
URLs are case sensitive. To avoid duplicity issues, make it clear for what kind of pattern you want for your targeted website.

Hence, keep in mind these basic steps and give your site the required visibility and enhance traffic.