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If You Want to Get Ahead, Get an App!
For most businesses in this internet age, the website is an integral part of their set up. Whether to sell their products, promote their services or just to let people know where they are, the website is a tool with many facets yet one of the most crucial of them, the app, is often overlooked.More people now use a smartphone to access the internet than a desktop PC or a laptop. But instead of simply calling up a search engine to access the internet, around 89% of a user’s time is spent on the internet through an app. This means that if a business doesn’t have an app, they are missing out on the massive customer base.
App Development
The world of the app shows no sign of stopping its endless development. App development companies in NYC, for example, have predicted that the biggest trend in apps in the near future are going to be ways to pay for purchases made in a shop using the mobile phone. Another area of growing importance is location-based services, which allows marketers to send messages to a mobile device based on their geographical location – so if you are in the west of London, the ads you will see will be for companies in the west of London.
Spending money on advertising through the mobile phone is another area set to grow dramatically. Users in the UK spend 19% of their time on a mobile device but only 4% of all advertising is aimed specifically at this market.
Getting An App
So what does this all mean for the average business? Simple – the biggest failing most businesses make today is not creating their own app and harnessing the power of the smartphone market. Estimates show that in the very near future, 25% of software budgets will be dedicated to the development, management and deployment of the company’s app, using the services of app development specialists like messapps.
Now you may have on staff one of those computer geniuses who can create a perfect app for the business as part of his normal daily job. But if you don’t, the best way to get the right app is to hire a professional. There are hundreds to choose from so how to do you know you have the right one?
Firstly, ask them for example of apps they have already created. This allows you to see what they have done, how it works and how your own needs could be tailored into their ideas. Discuss with them what type of app they can create – for the iPhone, for Android or one that can work across all platforms. The more platforms the app can work over, the greater reach it will have. Finally, look at what you want to achieve from the app. Is it designed to make money or to show what your business can do? Is it to sell a product or to promote a service? Are you going to give it away for free or make a small charge? Ultimately, a professional app designer will help you answer these questions.
No matter what you want to accomplish with your app, the biggest danger is that it fails. However if you don’t have an app, you will never find out if your idea will work or not and you will be missing out on all those potential smartphone customers.
