Website Owner’s Guide to Google’s 21st April Mobile Friendly Algorithm Update

Google launched a major update on April 21st which was about extending the use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal throughout mobile search results. This change will affect worldwide mobile search results in all languages, and Google says it will have a “significant” impact.

To be precise, this update involves 2 things.

1. It basically separates Google search results for Mobile and Desktop where in Mobile search results, mobile friendly websites get significant advawill be ranked higher.
2. This is not as significant as 1st one but it is better to know that from now on, in google search results you will occasionally see content from installed app on your device.

As you can see out of the 2 updates launched, the one with mass impact is about considering mobile friendliness as a ranking signal. Let’s talk more about the important one then.

Will This Affect You?

Possibly Yes. The first thing to do is to use Google’s tool to determine whether you’re mobile friendly or not. It’s easy to use and gives you a quick “Yes” or “No” as to whether your page will pass the check.

Keep in mind is that this tool checks one page only. (Not a site-wide check) You may have several pages on your site that are responsive and mobile-friendly while the rest are not. If your design isn’t mobile responsive site-wide, I would suggest checking each of the most important pages on the site to make sure they pass.

The second thing to consider is how much of your website traffic today is coming via mobile? If this percentage is small (i.e. under 10%) and you’re not yet mobile ready, don’t fret too much. While you may see a significant change in the mobile search results, this should only affect rankings for searches on mobile – desktop results and rankings will likely remain unaffected. (For now). As Mobile local search is going to surpass PC in 2015, sooner is better to go mobile friendly in terms of getting organic search website traffic and better user experience for mobile visitors.

What Can I Do?

If your site did NOT pass the test, you have a few options:

1. Implement A Responsive Theme

Google has already stated that they prefer responsive web design and feel it’s the best option for users. Before exploring this option you should know that this option is suitable for you if you are using any Open source CMS or ecommerce platforms. For custom build websites the other options stated below makes more sense. If you are using any open source CMS platform like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla,  Check out the responsive CMS themes from Themeforest and in case of ecommerce websites check out few ecommerce responsive templates.

Advantages: Google/User preferred, applied across entire site, updated look/feel

Disadvantages: Time consuming, frontloaded work/costs, may lose conversions

2. Have A Designer/Developer Redesign Your Site

If switching themes is just not possible, you can look to hire a designer + developer to switch your current design into one that’s responsive. You’ll end up with a site that looks much like the one you have now with only a few tweaks/changes.

Advantages: Long term solution, Can continue to use current design, no conversion loss

Disadvantages: Most expensive, time consuming, may miss certain pages

3. Create A Mobile Site On A Subdomain

Rather than switching themes or hiring a designer/developer to redesign your current site into one that’s responsive, you can instead opt to create a mobile-specific site on a subdomain. You’ll have the advantage of leaving your current theme alone completely and still providing for a good user experience for those on mobile. i.e. m.YOURSITE.com. In this option too, you will need to hire the designer and developer to build a mobile friendly website from existing website.

Advantages: Can customize for mobile users, cheaper than a full redesign

Disadvantages: Costs and hassle of updating mobile and desktop sites, adjustments required with browser changes

4. Fix Issues That Are Keeping You From Passing The Test

We came across few clients whose  site was built on a responsive theme, but customizations done on theme to build the website restricts from passing the mobile friendly test. In such cases, we merely followed the quality standards and theme documentations to maintain the responsiveness of theme along with the customizations required.

Advantages: Quick/easy fix, least expensive

Disadvantages: Can’t always tell where the issues are, doesn’t always give surety to pass the test

Things To Keep In Mind

1. You should really be building mobile-friendly sites for your users, anyway.

We’ve crossed the tipping point – the majority of digital media consumption now comes through mobile. This may have hit you differently and at different times depending on your niche, but it’s clear where we’re headed. As more and more of your customers are looking for your website or business on their smartphone, it just makes good business sense to give them what they want.

2. This is not a penalty. It may feel that way, though, if you find yourself slipping down the page in mobile search results. The good news here is that because you haven’t been penalized or deindexed, you’re in a much better position to fix the problem and gain back your lost mobile traffic.

Conclusion:

It is quite evident that google’s mobile friendly update is going to affect some way or the other to the mass of website owners. Individually you can evaluate the impact and options shared above to deal with it. Even if google has not presented this, mobile friendly digital presence is anyway instrumental for providing uninterrupted user experience for larger chunk of users who are using mobile and as stated above that chunk is close to 50% now and growing on daily basis. If you already have mobile friendly digital presence, While choosing the right option for you to go mobile friendly, it would be best to go for a solution that is long term in nature.

How to Choose The Best Company for Outsourcing Your PHP Based Projects

PHP web programming is the best option to develop rapid and functional web applications and services. Numerous small and large scale IT companies are offering PHP web development services.

There are many qualities that should be present in an ideal PHP development company; however finding out all of them in one company is not an easy job. So let us see some of the qualities that make a company an ideal choice for PHP projects outsourcing.

Portfolio

The portfolio of work of a company shows the way it works. So you must check the portfolio of the companies before choosing one. See the types of projects done by them in the past.

It will show their domain expertise and their abilities. Make sure that they have done projects on the technologies that suit your project requirements. It will be nice if you could find projects similar to your project.

Website

While searching for a company to outsource your PHP based projects, first of all check out the website of the company. Check out the functionality, navigation, graphics, contents and SEO of the site.

If they own a good, professional and unique website of their own, then they could be efficient enough to work for you. If they do not care about their own website, how can they deliver the best services to you?

Development Methodology

Generally all the companies work on a project development cycle for developing websites and applications for their clients. Ask them about different project development methodologies they follow and compare them with the other methodologies popularly followed. The documentation is an unavoidable part of the development cycle so it is very important to know which documents are required and where you can help them.

Get Details About The Company

There are many questions related to your project requirements that you must ask the company. Check out for how long has the company existed, how many members are there in the development team, are they efficient enough to complete your project effectively. Check all their certifications and get reviews about the company from its past clients.

Technical support

Just getting your project completed is not all. What if you face a problem after getting the website or app complete? So make sure you choose a company that offers round the year technical support and maintenance services as well. Hence whenever there is a complex technical issue, quick services will be available with you to restore your website.

Once you are content that the PHP development company is perfect as per all the above parameters, you do not need to go anywhere else. You can outsource all your PHP based projects to it

AUTHOR:-

We are Technology solution provider who can serve you with Web and Mobile App development. We are expert in PHP Software Development, Ecommerce Solutions, Drupal Development, Symfony Development, Agile Solutions, iPhone and Android App development.

www.stepin-solutions.com
hello@stepinsolutions.in
+91-79-27774404

Hiring Professionals – Successful Concept from Offshore Centers

Nevertheless it’s far much better approach for the outsourcing companies hiring team or individual software developer to get release from the heavy work loads of their existing IT projects or if they are into any other business and required for the IT services. It is really beneficial as it saves the money if you have some small portion to complete or to integrate some extra in the existing project.

Offshore companies are staffed with talented professionals; you can get professionals for all programming languages prevailing in the IT market. Outsourcing firms can easily get PHP and all open source languages specialists, they are available to work only for outsourcing firms, and just you have to choose from them which ever suits for your business.

Advantages are countless of hiring special IT professional for your business, as you can contact him according to yNews of outsourcing the IT projects not so doddering for the online business market and now another adjoining advantage of hiring the individual developer or IT professional sounds interesting.

Scanning the internet with word “hiring” comes out with thousands of advertisements results on your screen. You can easily access the more information by just sending an email to the advertiser; you will be able to get all the details for proceeding forward.

our set schedule of timing and it helps you make it complete in the time. Hired dedicated developer works only for your project and delivers his/her total concentration on your project.

Whole Dedicated team of professionals sounds great for the bigger projects, saves lots of time and extra expenses for the busy organizations. It seems much better idea then putting up extra unit for the extension of work also saving of over heads of business such as building, staff, infrastructure etc.

Any time Technical support specially for you, conversation with the single person helps to maintain mutual understanding that ultimately helps to get productive results for your project.

Timely completion of the project is most attractive element of the concept that is foremost requirement of any outsourcing firm.

Over all its great working with the professionals from different culture which adds more productive experience for your business as well as social & cultural development between two different communities.

AUTHOR

We are Technology solution provider who can serve you with Web and Mobile App development. We are expert in PHP Software Development, Ecommerce Solutions, Drupal Development, Symfony Development, Agile Solutions, iPhone and Android App development.

www.stepin-solutions.com
hello@stepinsolutions.in
+91-79-27774404

Ecommerce Trends to Follow in 2013

The online world keeps changing nearly every day. When we talk about online, it could be anything including education, entertainment or eCommerce solution. Among all these, the eCommerce world is the ever-changing one. So here we will see, the predictions for the popular eCommerce trends for this year.

Localization

Online retailers are now going for local e-commerce websites. Going local does not refer only to offer the website in various languages, instead it refers to a entirely localized user experience. Therefore, the users will see more online stores based on localized design aesthetics including the use of local color tastes, local languages, local offers and of course local products and services.

We may also see more intelligent algorithms that could predict which products or services may attract a person on the basis of advanced segmentation and user profile.

Enhanced Online Security

These days, more and more consumers are switching to online payment systems like PayPal and debit or credit card transaction. As the number of online buyers will increase, the number of online financial transactions will also increase eventua lly. So the online retailers will garner more trust and reliability in their stores, by using one-page payment methods.

The retailers may also introduce new safer payment modes or just improve the existing ones. It is also assumed that there will be an increase in the number of online stores offering discount coupons to increase sales. These stores will also be adding online payment as an option for buying the merchandise.

Interactive product display

All the products cannot be judged by mere images. Sometimes these images could leave the customer confused. So in the coming days, product demonstration videos will offer a clear description of the product, to the confused customers.

Website content to rule

High quality and exclusive content will be the ruling factor in most of the eCommerce websites. In 2013, vendors will spend more time and effort for implementing exclusive content into their business strategies, with a focus on quality instead of quantity. As per experts, vendors will find scalable ways to produce quality content that can fuel their marketing strategies.

This year, the online store owners will be hiring skilled teams to develop high quality, SEO friendly content that could offer a better user experience. Some may even outsource their content related requirements to other companies.

Focus on mobile

These days most of the people use mobile devices for nearly every task, even when it is about online shopping. This is the reason for the popularity of the responsive web design. So the retailers will focus on designing websites that would fit the smaller screen size as well. Also the online merchants will create better and customized mobile apps .

All these trends pose a positive impact for both the retailers and customers. The retailers will gain more profits while the customers will get the ease of shopping.

If you are planning to launch an ecommerce website, you must explore Magento for ecommrce website development . You can find more details about Magento development  on one of our blog.

AUTHOR:-

We are Technology solution provider who can serve you with Web and Mobile App development. We are expert in PHP Software Development, Magento Website Development, Mobile App Development Company, Android App Development Company, iPhone App Development Services, Drupal Development Services, Ecommerce Solutions, Drupal Development Company, iPhone and Android App development.

www.stepin-solutions.com
hello@stepinsolutions.in
+91-79-27774404

Hire Dedicated Developers

HIRE US ON MONTHLY/WEEKLY BASIS

If you are a independent software vendor, digital agency or technical consultant looking to set up your own team of web / mobile developers or designers for your regular or clients’ projects then you are at the right place and right time. With stepin solutions you will have a liberty to choose suitable experienced developers. We have made sure that we have experienced team member for web development, iPhone and android development, designers and quality analysts. We, at stepin solutions will be open to suggest you meaningful solution and processes that will be instrumental for your business success. Whether you require continuous up-gradation of your product, want to setup product and continuous development, seeking offshore developers for regular maintenance or migrations of your enterprise applications – our hire dedicated developer service proves to be a solution to all your needs.

We understand that, it’s more difficult for you, the decided hiring models, because requirement requires different types of functionality and hiring models. We give you the flexible hiring models suiting your needs on Monthly/Weekly or Hourly basis for website and application development.

Here are a few more services that are available to you for Hire a Dedicated Developer Model:

• Hire Mobile App Developers.
• Hire iPhone App Developers.
• Hire Android App Developers.
• Hire API Developers.

Why Hire Dedicated Resources From Stepin Solutions?

• Flexible Hiring Models.
• Supreme Code Quality.
• Highly-Skilled and certified resources.
• Track team’s performance with Project Management Tools like Basecamp etc.
• Total involvement and control on your team.
• 24/7 Technical Support.
• 100% Confidentiality Assured.

To get your project completed on time. Hire us on hourly, part time and full time basis. If you are confused about which model suits best to your requirements, do contact us.

WE OFFER OUR HIRE DEDICATED DEVELOPERS SERVICES

We create with passion & use creativity to persuade

Hire PHP Developers.

We offer Monthly/Hourly dedicated PHP developers for Web development companies, Marketing agencies and individuals who need a team to support their business.

Hire Drupal Developers.

Our dedicated Drupal developers have extensive skills for delivering excellent results working on Drupal template integration, Drupal CMS development, Drupal module development, Drupal eCommerce and Content Management System design.

Hire Symfony Developers.

When it comes to symfony development, no one does it better than our developers. Our team of Symfony developers deliver highly specialized and dynamic Symfony projects.

Ecommerce Development

WE BUILD ECOMMERCE BUSINESSES

Several types of Ecommerce website and application are continually affective trend and prospects for business over the internet, including e-banking, online shopping, publishing, retailing and services.

Typically, ecommerce applications refers to the wide variety of shopping cart programs that are available, as well as other software that incorporates payment options as plug-ins or as part of an entire site application. Shopping carts may add only the shopping cart itself to a website that is built with a software that was not designed especially for ecommerce and has no particular ecommerce features in its basic setup. Alternatively, it may actually be built onto an online store that includes a product catalog, search function, checkout, stock control, shipping, and the means to accept payment in a variety of ways.

We offer custom ecommerce application development that ensures security and give you the power to manage products, categories and vendor, shipping options, state sales tax, and provide business-critical reports on your website. Our company focus on how to best utilize technology to create efficiencies and increase profitability. Each ecommerce application is custom built to your business needs, and implemented to meet your business model.

We are a highly experienced team of ecommerce developer and testing professionals. We consider Magento as a preferred ecommerce platform but at the same time developing custom ecommerce solutions or use any other platform of your choice. Because of our strong ecommerce team we can capable to deliver complex to simple ecommerce solutions. We can create ecommerce website or store for you that will exceed your expectation. We deliver unique, fresh, powerful and robust E-commerce development.

WE PROVIDED E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS :

• Secured administrations area.
• Support unlimited products and categories.
• Manage(Add/Edit/Remove) categories,products,manufacturers,customers and reviews.
• Customers directly contact via email or newsletters.
• Invoices and packaging lists from the order screen.

If you have a more specific Ecommerce requirement then contact us. We can create anything you might need. We have a team of expert Ecommerce developers who can make any idea a reality. Whether you’re looking to integrate with an existing system or have a custom feature developed – we can certainly help.

WE OFFER OUR E-COMMERCE SERVICES

We create with passion & use creativity to persuade

Magento ecommerce development

We are industry expert to deliver “out of the box” Magento E- commerce web store with great features and lot of customisation to get highest ROI.

OsCommerce development

We offer affordable osCommerce development services that can be tailored to your enterprise`s unique needs and budget requirements.

Web Development

WE DELIVERS SOLUTIONS FOR COMPLEX NEED

Complex project we delivered in a simple solution – creating powerful custom web development capable of heavy lifting. If you think, your business is unique and your website should be as well. We will work with you to define your unique needs and create a site that accomplishes your objectives. We can help you to build website successful, customized web-enable solutions, for any purpose and with minimum risk, using agile development techniques.

 

Advantages for Custom Web Development :

• Structured Framework and Architectural Pattern Development.
• Multi-browser compatibility.
• User friendly Interfaces
• Your business and vision related development

Our website development process is tailor to suit your needs, will create a series of mock up to share with our client and revise them as inputs requires. Often times, the demand for custom development is centered in the needs to automate an internal or external process. We develop creative idea to step up and grow up your business successful.

We will also provide you the information you need to make an educated decision about which technology & framework is best for your project needs at the cost you can afford.

You can see the custom web development in our previous work. We built with stunning user interface that have helped our clients manage their business efficiently. We bring the same experience when we work on your project and can promise you that you will be amazed by what you will get for your time & money.

We use our custom PHP MVC framework programming which is design and developed using best programming practices. We already have implemented our MVC framework to large scale projects and it is not well tested. lightweight and scalable framework for any project. We also don’t mind using other framework such as Symfony Development, Zend, Yii, CakePHP or any other one of your choice.

 

WE OFFER OUR WEB DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

We create with passion & use creativity to persuade

PHP Web Development

We have a professional team of qualified PHP Programmers, who help PHP Application Development Clients across the globe.

Symfony Development

Symfony development is our forte when it comes to developing complicated web applications requiring scalability, extensibility and ease of maintenance.

Enterprise Application

Stepin Solutions development team is familiar with industry practices to ensure that your application is build to the level of scalability that your organisation needs.

Saas Application

We have expertise in SAAS applications. We add SAAS to your enterprise in such a way that it causes fundamental shift in the IT department`s role.

Database Application

We design each data management application for fast, efficient performance in different environments and for specific uses.

iBeacon App Development

We develop smart and beautiful mobile applications compatible with iBeacons technologies, and we deliver Beacon solutions across the globe.

API Development

We build robust websites and applications using owned and third-party APIs.

10 Advantages of Offshoring Software Development That Other Successful Companies Don’t Want You To Know About!

Discover the Secret of Saving Thousands of Dollars Each Month While Increasing Your Web and Mobile App Development Productivity

Here’s the ultimate ‘Offshoring Discovery’:

If you think about it Google hasn’t even reached its twentieth birthday, yet it is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. How is it that some companies seem to have accelerated growth and others have come out of nowhere to become leaders in a really short period of time. How do they do it?

Answer: Leveraging Time and Talent

They are not stuck in the old traditional (comfortable) ways of doing things. In fact some would say they are rule breakers or industry transformers. But, the one thing they all have in common is a Global workforce. They have figured out how to leverage highly skilled and talented people from around the world.

They take advantage of the world economy and provide great jobs in countries where the cost of doing business is much lower. They have figured out how to leverage the time zone differences to extend their days and get things done faster.

You can do the same for your department and your company. All you need to do is leverage the advantages of offshoring.

Top Ten Offshoring Advantages And How To Make The Most Of Them

Advantage #1 – No Real Estate

Where is the person going to sit? The cost associated with that desk space is a big consideration in the leading corporate cities around the world. The price per square foot in any major city in the world is a big factor in the overall cost of providing for an onshore employee –desk, chair, computer, etc. On top of that there is the time needed to find the space, negotiate the lease, and build out the space. Plus you need to be comfortable taking on the long term commitment. All are things that can slow you down.

When you setup an offshore development office you are not paying the high rents associated with onshore offices.  Nor are you taking on a multi-year commitment.

Advantage #2 – Highly Talented People

For many companies a limiting factor affecting growth is the ability to find smart, highly skilled employees. There are smart people born everywhere, and many pursue a University Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. The cool thing about computers is the language they understand transcends spoken language. Computer languages have a much smaller lexicon therefore allowing many people to understand and decode what is being done.

Advantage #3 – Different Time Zones

What began as a disadvantage, smart companies like Google have parlayed into a strategic approach that speeds development by creating a 24 hour development cycle.

Having developers work both onshore and offshore allows development to continue when one group finishes their day. Development speeds up as the project is handed off from one team to the next. Some additional management time and co-ordination between teams is required but the result is staggering. What would take 3 days to develop using a resource in a single time zone can now be completed in a day with round the clock development.

Advantage #4 – No HR Headaches

Have you ever wished that you could just have a conversation with someone about the type of people you are looking for, and they immediately got it. They then went off and wrote the job posting, prescreened all the candidates for you and then just brought you the list of candidates for you to choose from. That’s what happens when you work with an organization that manages the all of these details for you. An additional bonus is that you don’t need to get approvals for various job sites, salary levels, etc.

You establish your budget for your offshore team and then you’ll get just one invoice, which is a pure expense to the business. No need to manage payroll, or benefits.

If someone doesn’t work out it is then easy to release someone from the team with no HR issues.

Advantage #5 – Easy to Manage

Everyone wonders about managing people half way around the world, the key is to have your overseas staff working for one organization that takes care of all the basics like checking to see if everyone arrived on time and put in their full days work. What you need is while you are sleeping, someone else is watching over the team for you and creating for you the basic reports.

You get to focus on the tasks they are working on, the challenges they need help with you don’t need to deal with the petty little stuff.

Advantage #6 – Responsiveness & Scalability

As your needs change it is easy to change your workforce. When you need more people or you need to shrink your workforce you can just pick up the phone or send an email and say I need more or less. You are not managing space, infrastructure or employee termination processes.

You can also easily swap out someone that is not working out for you because the relationship is with the Offshoring Company you are working with. The relationship they have with you is larger than that one person.

Advantage #7 – Security, Control and Confidential Information

Having security, control and protecting confidential information is easier today. With today’s technology it is easy to setup a VPN or virtual private network access or VDI virtual desktop access to your current infrastructure. This gives you full control over the access to your systems. You can even install monitoring software that lets you check-in on people from time to time and see what they are doing with or without notifying them.

Advantage #8 – No Hidden Costs

When you have a dedicated team of developers offshore that is provided to you through one provider you pay just one price per month: there is no hidden costs.

When you hire for a project, you often run in to additional costs because of natural evolution of change as the code moves through the normal testing and release schedule of alpha, beta, release candidate, live.

This process creates a natural conflict between the offshore development company and yourself due to the management of scope creep. Scope creep is eliminated when you use a software dedicated team.

Advantage #9 – Culture

When you outsource a development team (rather than a project team) you can indoctrinate them in your corporate culture – Wear the logo – etc. They become your employees, they know your standards and understand what it is that you are trying to accomplish. This naturally leads to a better outcome. You know this to be true. Your best developers are the ones that have bought into the company goals and culture. It is no different when you move development offshore.

Advantage #10 – Continuity – Same Resource – No Retraining

When you hire an offshore development team they are your team dedicated to you. As the scope of the project changes it is no different than how you manage your home team. As new projects arrive, you assign them to your team. These are the people you are comfortable with and you have developed trust in.

When you work on a project basis when the project ends the team is disbanded and moved to other projects. You may or may not be able to have the same people.

Take the next step…

Get any and all of your questions answered about offshoring at Stepin Solutions, simply email at hello@stepinsolutions.in to schedule time to get any remaining questions you have about offshoring answered. We have an experienced web and mobile development team. And if you need a dedicated developers we will reach out to you to achieve your dream by providing a full stack development team.

API Programming : Backbone of Mobile App Development

Do you think mobile app development needs API support for flexible, light weight and robust application development? If you don`t have any idea about it then you are at the right place to be aware about the truth and hidden scenes.

APIs, or “Application Programming Interfaces”, have revolutionized the way that we use web and mobile applications by allowing computer programs to talk to each other. Because of this revolution, software development and innovation has periodically sped-up over the last 10 years and apps get integrated and communicated in an amazing new ways.

What is an API?

We use our PCs, laptops, mobile phones and tablets very day to communicate with our friends, family and colleagues. But how do computer programs communicate with each other?

Application Programming Interfaces(APIs) are the hidden backbone of our modern world which allow software programs to communicate with one another. Although most of us don’t know it, behind the scenes of every mobile app and website we use is a mesh of computers “talking” to each other through a series of APIs. As you see in figure, every mobile and digital watch make use of APIs to run their native applications by making a request to web server for getting app relevant data. And web server will send a response of that request via API response. So it makes each mobile app works smoothly without getting heavy. Today, the “API economy” is quickly changing how the world interacts. Everything from photo sharing, to online shopping, to hire a cab is happening through APIs. Because of APIs, technical innovation is happening at a faster pace than ever. If you already write software, you are probably familiar with APIs. But the rest of you may be wondering: what exactly are APIs and why are they so important?

APIs: A Software Backbone

Michael Bock has said in its blog that at the most basic level, an API is a set of rules that dictate how one application communicates with another. APIs aren’t that new either; as written in “What APIs are and Why they`re Important”, APIs were just a way of building applications for a desktop operating system like Microsoft Windows. But in the age of the internet, they have the power to plug applications into, well, almost anything. They’ve already transformed websites like Google and Facebook and Twitter into services that talk to a world of other applications, across PCs as well as mobile phones. But that’s small potatoes. They’re also breathing new life into old-world operations, including mobile carriers and even auto makers.

On the Web, APIs make it possible for big services like Google Maps or Facebook to let other apps “piggyback” on their offerings. Think about the way Yelp, for instance, displays nearby restaurants on a Google Map in its app, or the way some video games now let players chat, post high scores and invite friends to play via Facebook, right there in the middle of a game.

APIs do all this by “exposing” some of a program’s internal functions to the outside world in a limited fashion. That makes it possible for applications to share data and take actions on one another’s behalf without requiring developers to share all of their software’s code. Sharing code at that scale would be massively inefficient in addition to posing major security threats. APIs allow for this type of integration without sharing the actual code that makes the software run. APIs are useful even for open-source software (where the code is freely and publicly available): most developers don’t have the time or patience to look through thousands of lines of code just to use one piece of functionality. Instead, that functionality can be offered through an API.

Without APIs, applications would be incredibly disconnected and therefore confusing. APIs allow applications to talk to each other and for more innovative and consistent applications to get built. Imagine, for example, if Google Maps didn’t offer an API: every mobile application and website on the internet would have to figure out how to implement their own mapping system from scratch, an incredibly difficult task. APIs can also be useful internally for a company in addition to sharing resources across companies. Instead of having to duplicate code for each of other apps, they can share data via one API. APIs simplify much of the complexity of software development by limiting outside access to a specific subset of functionality — usually data exchange. Because of this, new software can often be built in weeks instead of months or years.

Why APIs are so important?

These days, APIs are especially important because they dictate how developers can create new apps that tap into big Web services—social networks like Facebook or Pinterest, for instance, or utilities like Google Maps or Dropbox. The developer of a game app, for instance, can use the Dropbox API to let users store their saved games in the Dropbox cloud instead of working out some other cloud-storage option from scratch.

In one sense, then, APIs are great time savers. They also offer user convenience in many cases; Facebook users undoubtedly appreciate the ability to sign into many apps and Web sites using their Facebook ID—a feature that relies upon Facebook APIs to work.

When you search for nearby restaurants in the Yelp app for Android, for instance, it will plot their locations on Google Maps instead of creating its own maps. Via the Google Maps API, the Yelp app passes the information it wants plotted—restaurant addresses, say, along with the Yelp star rating and more—to an internal Google Maps function that then returns a Map object with restaurant pins in it at the proper locations. Which Yelp can then display inside its app. (On iOS, Yelp taps Apple’s Maps API for the same purpose.)

We see APIs like this all the time. Elsewhere on page you may see the icons to share anything on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn or Youtube. These are just links that call on the APIs associated with each of those services to allow users to Tweet or post about the thing you want to share without leaving the site itself. Mobile devices like iOS and Android phones and tablets have many  built-in APIs. For example, Apple recently announced a new API called “HealthKit” as part of iOS 8 that allows developers to access a user’s health data from a a central place.

An API is a Promise

A major issue with APIs is that they aren’t necessarily permanent. Just because a company is making an API available now doesn’t necessarily mean it will be available tomorrow. Twitter infamously limited third-party access to its API at the end of 2012. This had the effect of killing all alternative Twitter clients and forcing users to use Twitter’s official apps and website, where Twitter can show users ads as it pleases. This was done under the guise of providing a more cohesive user experience, but for many developers who relied on the Twitter API, it meant shutting down their business because of Twitter’s decision.

Other examples of this API abandonment are common. Startups that provide an API often shut down or get acquired, and Google is notorious for closing down services that people rely on like Google Reader (that allowed people to aggregate all the news services they read into one place). Since web APIs are still in their infancy, there is still a lot to learn. One of the things API providers should understand is that an API is a promise: once other people are relying on it, it is crucial maintain it and keep it active.

APIs and Innovation

The good news is that for the most part, APIs encourage innovation and don’t stifle it. Without APIs, communication between apps would be stifled, software developers would continuously be re-writing software that performed the same functionality, and generally innovation would slow. APIs have allowed for more trivial things like sharing photos with friends, but also for the potential to re-imagine government. As the world moves further and further into the technical revolution, APIs will have an even bigger role powering the apps and websites we use every day.

Power your mobile apps with APIs

We have an experience API developers in our team. If you want to hire a trusted API developer to develop APIs for your mobile apps , we will gladly assist you to reach to your dream! We provide a full-stack development teamto create a valuable product. Just drop us an email at hello@stepinsolutions.in

Billing Dilemma: What is better for client? Fixed cost or hourly rate?

Many years of my experience in web and mobile development, including complex and often risky quoting processes I was involved in during my career at Stepin Solutions, has left me with the same dilemmas: how to accurately quote web projects? What time buffers should I assume? What risks to consider?…

The final quote sent to the client is based on the time estimate and aforementioned factors. I’m sure the same patterns are applied by the most of worldwide web agencies which struggle with clients requesting fixed-bid assignments.

What are the client-side results of fixed-price approach?

Quotes sent in by potential project managers are probably not free of overestimating. Let’s face the truth – in most of the cases it is the project managers who is more aware about the real costs and potential risks of a project.

Of course, years of experience in managing software projects allow to estimate resource needs more accurately, however even with the help of Nostradamus we are not able to predict every possible situation. And I’m positive there are more situations like this than characters in this article! Even solid track-record and extensive experience in custom web application development does not make it much easier to predict problems with various website components or with integrating the software with an external APIs.

Medium- and low-budget developments created with a help of open-source solutions such as Symfony or Drupalor Magento can be delivered within accurately prepared estimates and without major issues. On the other hand, custom development can create complications and getting into more and more specific requirements brings unwanted project growth. And then, we either start to try and force-fit the project in the budget or debate on whether the requirements meet preset project scope or not. Instead of working on the real project development, we waste days or even weeks talking about it, negotiating and clarifying the specification.

What if the projects were charged by only actual time spent by the agency and their developers? What if we could forget the full specification and manage the project on the go? Impossible? Well, there is a way that make it easier – the Agile approach and charging projects by man hour costs.

The software is being developed iteratively (in so called ‘Sprints‘), and the goal of each iteration is the delivery of a product (e.g. a particular, predetermined set of software features). Each sprint is followed by testing and compatibility verified against business requirements. Successively, features or even the whole project can be redone or pivoted.

Let’s try and answer the question: Why hourly rates are a better solution to charge projects than fixed pricing?

1. Gathering requirements
   Starting a project with creating a full specification means the crucial decisions are being made in the very beginning. Well, the question is whether we know enough about the nature of project at the moment. Changing requirements later can be difficult, not to mention how costly it can get.
   Using Agile, we start working having only the business requirements and key features. The features are being adjusted after their core is created and when we have the essential information. Changes in the project are just a natural part of it in Agile approach.
2. Financial risk
   I suppose we can all agree that words “precise” and “long-term” assessment stay in opposite. During an estimation process we are forced to introduce project risk factors. Charging hourly rate eliminate potential risks because we cover only the real time spent to achieve particular tasks and goals.
3. Common priorities
   In fixed-priced projects the priorities of both sides, although common, can lead to a situation where the contractor wants to complete the project as effectively as possible in order to maximize its profit (which is dependent on spent man hours). On the other hand, the client desires a product of the best quality and the time frame is not of his concern, since it doesn’t drive any extra cost. What’s the solution to that? Decide on working with the best contractor and charge the project by the time.
4. Meeting expectations
   In the waterfall model, acceptances are made by stages, therefore it’s harder to track progress. Any changes made can mean throwing out parts of work already done. In the Agile model you can review the work results more often (sprints usually take weeks, rather than months), so we can track our expectations on the go.
5. The project can be started earlier
   In Agile approach we don’t focus on creating complex and full specification from the start. There are only particular business requirements and incremental work – from the general key features to the details. Everything is more clear, the documentation is rather simple and comprehensible as it covers only the particular iteration.
6. Tracking progress and verifying requirements
   In fixed-price approach the project is verified by the client after certain stage is fully complete. In fact, we don’t have a possibility to verify the requirements as they go. In Agile model we track progress constantly, we are well informed and have full transparency in terms of requirements, especially those financial.
7. Changes in the projectCharging hourly rates allow us to change priorities at all times. Agile gives us full control – we can pause what we do at the time and simply change direction. Constant tracking of the outcome enables us to improve the project on the go – sometimes the best ideas come up in the middle of the work. Agile makes them real without the necessity to renegotiating, meetings, quoting and futile documentation.
8. In the end, it’s… cheaper
   That’s right! As I mentioned before, when charging fixed rate, the agency must calculate any risks and problems, what can lead to overcharging. Charging hourly rate is actually cost-effective, because the client pays only for the real work done.
9. The time we don’t track
   Discussion whether a particular piece of the spec means this or that is a waste of time. Have you ever calculate time spent on discussions and negotiating? Not to mention planning every little detail of the project before starting it.

OK – I believe I’ve done my best to convince you to charge projects hourly, using Agile methods. I’m sure that during the next initial negotiations it’s very likely to hear following question:

“Agile is great, the sprints are awesome, that’s it – let’s do it! But first I need to hear how much it’s going to cost?”

 There’s no way to charge by fixed price in Agile – it just doesn’t work like that. I’m aware, though, that cost must be somehow estimated, so it’s always helpful to conduct couple of workshops and specify business requirements (having a list of user stories and wireframes help a lot to determine estimates). With a help of workshops and tech-planning and project analysis it allows us to estimate the number of sprints (cycles) required to deliver the outcome by a particular team and pre-calculate the cost. We can also give a range to the client based on how many cycles a project of similar nature normally takes.

Mind that nobody can promise the estimates which match the final budget. There’s no way to predict any modifications or the elements that would need further discussions. Full transparency and control is crucial to approach the project holistically, especially from the financial perspective.

Sound good, doesn’t it? Well, another doubts can arise – what if…

“If I pay for each man hour, how I can be sure that they won’t tweak the hour count?”

A diligent analysis of the potential project manager is crucial. A product of the highest quality that fully meet client’s expectations can only be made by a team we fully trust and the team than can have proven track-record.

What to consider when choosing an agile development agency?

The size and the experience. If the agency runs for years and its portfolio shines with robust projects, delivered for trusted brands and employs top experts of particular competencies, it’s sure a way to go with. It’s always a good idea to reach out and get to know the tools the particular agency uses to track progress.

And if you’re searching for coding and programming partner, Stepin Solutions is the one which can be the best fit for your project.

So, Now what? If you will work with an experienced team like us whom you trust and ycan be a part of our development process, the success is sure. Agile approach following hourly rate is likely to deliver much better outcome than the fixed price projects.

At last we would like to thanks merixstudio for publishing this topic as its very important to clear this dilemma before starting a project and when clients are unaware about the risks involved with fixed costs. As we found merixstudio`s artical very useful for our readers we have published it on our site.