Over the years, web development has become a crucial and critical part of business allowing businesses to be connected to the consumers easily. It is the reason why many best website development companies in the USA have been able to stand out in the crowd.

The factors that have contributed towards helping organizations become the best website development companies in the USA are associated with their ability to develop sound designs on their websites. The objective of any best website development company in the USA is to attract and retain consumers for a long period. It is the reason why one will find most of the best website development companies in the USA constantly updating their websites to match the current algorithms on the web.

The given article will talk about the importance of data management and how Pre-Built Data Management Templates help businesses manage their daily needs. The section will also briefly explain the reasons behind using Pre-Built Data Management Templates and the associated benefits.

The Importance of Data in Business: Understanding Database Management

Data constitutes a very important part of businesses in gaming better perspective about consumers and their needs. Almost all of the e-commerce website development agencies across the globe, constitute the use of data to gain knowledge about the market and the consumer preference changes over a certain period.

Business data can become the foundation of any e-commerce website development agency, owing to its help in making sound business decisions. Business data mostly refers to collective information essentially associated with a company and its operations. This can be anything from analytical data along with statistical and formation, the feedback received from the consumers, the sales and revenue numbers, and other search associate information. Any e-commerce website development agency aims to analyze this data and make decisions based on the findings.

In most headless commerce solutions, the data contributes to helping make decisions through which operations can be more synthesized and structured leading to better results. It also helps headless commerce solutions collect information through which the parameters impacting changes in consumer mindset can be identified.

Database management in headless commerce solutions is associated with understanding how to manage this data efficiently to make the best use of it. In this case, it is important to understand that, for most e-commerce website development agencies, the data they receive remains unstructured. In such a situation, it becomes important for headless commerce solutions to properly arrange it so that effective analysis can be conducted. It is at this juncture that the concept of database management is required.

The objective of Database Management

The major objectives of database management can be outlined as given:

●     Constantly backup data regularly to avoid its loss.

●     Maintaining specific security rules and regulations to keep the data secure.

●     Helping multiple users to have access to the database without any challenges.

●     Establishing certain rules, permissions, and regulations to ensure that data protection standards are maintained along with its integrity.

●     Providing proper descriptions for every available data makes it easily recognizable and understandable.

Reasons Why Managing Database is Essential

For any headless commerce solutions, they must have proper data management skills. The reason is associated with ensuring that finding the correct data becomes easier and quick analysis can be conducted. Most of the best website development companies in the USA have consistent, stable, and structured data management systems, which allows them to efficiently analyze data. Moreover, each of these best website development companies in the USA also has specific technology assisting in data management.

Database Management System

In this section, we will highlight the major reasons why all e-commerce website development agencies, should have a data management system in place.

1. The presence of a centralized database management system for e-commerce website development agencies contributes towards improving collaboration between the team members. It also enhances the ability to maintain efficiency across the system and makes work both manageable and satisfying. Also, it provides easy access to all the members of the e-commerce website development agency.

2. The prevalence of a data management system in e-commerce website development agencies, ensures that all the data is stored in a single platform. In this way, it becomes easier for e-commerce or Shopify website development companies to make quick decisions by analyzing the data on the platform. It makes it possible for them to visualize the data and identify trends and patterns based on which decisions are taken.

3. The major challenge for any headless commerce solutions is the case of inconsistency present in the data set. This challenge can be easily removed by having an efficient database management system. The system contributes towards helping headless commerce solutions by identifying inconsistent data, absent data, or even duplicate data, thereby cleaning the data set and making it more efficient.

4. The prevalence of data management systems in headless commerce solutions also makes it easier to meet consumer requirements. Through CRM database management, it becomes easier for headless commerce solutions to keep track of consumer needs, analyze their interaction history, keep track of their contact information, and so on.

5. One of the major needs of every e-commerce website development agency is to organize the data effectively. The presence of structured data makes it easy for e-commerce website development agencies to analyze, compute, and provide conclusive findings. It helps in saving time and managing market expectations easily.

Why should we use Templates during Website Building

Building a website from scratch takes a lot of time and effort. Effective and efficient skills are required to be implemented in the design and building of the website as well as in terms of its technical aspects. The most effective method that can be utilized to save time is by utilizing existing templates to do the same. The templates and nothing but existing frameworks that already contain specific designs and technical elements pre-recorded on them. All that will be required by the e-commerce website development agency, is to paste the company requirements on the existing template, and Voila!

Many reasons can be listed as to why using templates for building websites by an e-commerce website development agency is considered an effective method. Let’s take a look at a few of those reasons.

1. Case of Efficiency and Saving Time: 

One of the first and probably the most important reasons why any e-commerce website development agency should utilize templates is because they help save time and improve efficiency. This is because each of these templates has specific features and functionalities already built within it. As a result, it significantly reduces the time taken to develop a website from scratch. Also, with the structure already developed, developers find it easy to streamline the existing design process and also have options for different aesthetics that can be used.

2. Being Cost-Effective: 

Building a website from scratch is a costly process, which can be easily avoided when using templates. When it comes to headless commerce solutions, using templates can provide advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness. This is because most of the designs are already custom-made and built within the template itself. 

As a result, all that will be required for headless commerce solutions is to select which design and features to add and prepare the website in no time. Also reduces the time to conduct coding and programming, which takes both time and effort, and increases the overall budget and building a website. With software already loaded in the templates, this process becomes easier to handle and upholds its cost-effectiveness. The best website development company in the USA uses these templates to develop a website as it helps save a lot of time and money.

3. Can be used by Amateurs: 

Developing a website is not only costly but also takes a lot of skills. As a result, for most amateurs, building a website is a difficult process. However, through the use of templates, this challenge is eliminated. Any new headless commerce solutions entering the market can easily build a website without any challenge using these pre-developed templates.

 Moreover, it is also important to mention the ease of usage associated with these templates. Through the drag-and-drop function, beginners can easily arrange elements and the content on the website without utilizing any coding process. Furthermore, the prevalence of pre-built sections reduces the need to develop certain website features from scratch.

What are Pre-Built Data Management Templates?

It is important to mention that there are several kinds of website templates available, each having its features and benefits. They include pre-designed templates, theme templates, and customized templates. Pre-designed templates can be best defined as website templates that have design layouts developed previously, along with color schemes and any other associated visual styles.

Most of these styles are developed by professionals and have been built directly into the system, making it easy to use by anyone. Using these pre-designed management templates reduces the hassles of developing a website from scratch. These are quick and easy to conduct and are also a cost-effective approach.

In recent times most e-commerce website development agencies have opted to use these templates because of convenience. Even the best website development companies in the USA also use these pre-designed templates to help them save time. The best part about these templates is that they can be used by anyone, be it by skilled or amateur developers. All the possible designs are already stored in these templates, which provide developers with a variety of options. All that is required for headless commerce solutions is to select a template that best matches the theme of the business and then customize it accordingly based on their requirements.

It is important to mention that when it comes to pre-built data management templates, one can find designs that can cater to the needs of every business or industry. These templates are versatile and, hence, have become very popular among developers.

Furthermore, just because they are pre-built templates, it does not mean that they are not crafted professionally. Each of these templates is built to perfection by skilled professionals in terms of design, optimization, functionalities, and coding. The designs and themes present enhance the visual appeal and have the ability to enhance user experience. The correct use of these templates can make any company the best website development company in the USA.

Here are a few specific features that make the pre-built templates a definite choice for developers these days:

●     Versatility and Flexibility, offering solutions to almost every niche of the industry.

●     Good responsiveness enhances the ability to meet style, design, size, and device needs easily.

●     Good lead times improve the browsing experience for the consumers, irrespective of the device being used.

●     Offers the function of intuitive navigation, simplifying browsing options for consumers.

●     Has a strong visual appeal in terms of design and colors.

Each of these reasons outlines why most businesses today opt for the use of pre-built data management templates when it comes to building a website.

Advantages of Pre-Built Data Management Templates

The prevalence of pre-built data management templates by headless commerce development is not only convenient but also helps in better data management practices. Aside from its ease of use and cost-effectiveness, it improves the appeal of the overall website and provides opportunities for small businesses to create a robust website interface. It is what the best website development company in the world uses these days.

To gain more perspective regarding why most best website development companies in the USA today are utilizing the use of pre-built data management templates, let’s take a look at the benefits it provides.

Benefits of Pre-Built Data Management Templates

1. Managing Return on Investment (ROI)

One of the first benefits that comes to mind when utilizing pre-built data management templates is that it helps improve the return on investment. This is because the ultimate goal for any headless commerce solution is to get the largest ROI in the minimum time possible. Using the pre-built data management templates, a lot of time is saved on developing the website from scratch, which is instead invested in hiring a specialist who can manage the company’s requirements. It becomes easier to spend more on extra technology that can help create a feasibility plan for the business to achieve greater and improve its growth potential.

2. Cost-Effective Approach

Most businesses face the recurring challenge of managing costs when it comes to conducting or developing a business. In such situations, most have to undertake cost-cutting measures that often turn out to be drastic and lead to problems for the company. 

However, this challenge can be avoided by e-commerce website development agencies through the use of pre-built data management templates. This is because a lot of the budget will be saved when using templates that are already designed with specific themes. All that will be required is to download the template by providing a very small amount of money and then using it to develop a company website. This also saves time and investment in hiring a third-party coordinator, and thus, saves money.

3. Implementation

Another major advantage that pre-built data management templates provide is that they are easy to implement. In this case, not much expertise or technical knowledge is required to develop a website. Even an amateur can easily select the required template and customize it to meet the needs of the company. There are no challenges in maintaining compatibility with the existing systems and as a result, provides a much wider berth to e-commerce website development agencies in its usage.

4. Saves time

Aside from costs, there is also the time-saving factor associated with the use of pre-built data management templates. This is because the money required to build a website from scratch gets eliminated, and in its place, one can get access to a completely developed template in a very minimal template. Furthermore, the need to acquire technical skills to manage coding while developing a website is also not needed, which again saves both time and money. All that is required are specific customizations to tailor the already developed templates to meet the core needs of the business.

5. The presence of detailed Guides

One of the major benefits of using a pre-built data management template by an e-commerce website development agency is that it comes with a detailed guide on how to use it. Unlike when developing a website from scratch, one needs to have several skills in terms of design and coding to develop a stellar website. However, the same is not true when using these templates.

Every aspect that is required for the development of an efficient website is already pre-built into the template itself. The knowledge on how to use the template to the best of its capabilities is provided in the detailed guide that comes with it. In this way, it becomes easier for even an amateur to develop a website with few issues by going through the guides and acquiring the required training.

Challenges associated with using Pre-Built Data Management Templates

It is also essential for any developer of an e-commerce website development agency to be aware of the challenges present when using Pre-Built Data Management Templates. The only way to become the best website development company in the USA is by being aware of both the pros and cons of implementing the use of Pre-Built Data Management Templates when developing a website.

The cons include:

●     There are security concerns associated with using these templates that need to be considered by headless commerce solutions.

●     The use of these templates comes with a lack of scalability, which might waste time and resources if there are often changes in requirements observed.

●     Challenges are also associated with the templates being either too complex to manage or too simple to be of any use, which needs to be considered with caution by headless commerce solutions.

Conclusion

Hence, to conclude, the use of pre-built data management templates comes with both its pros and cons. Each of them needs to be properly assessed and evaluated before being implemented to develop a website. In a competitive market environment where “Time is Money,” the use of pre-build templates helps headless commerce solutions to develop websites quickly.

However, to be the best website development company in the USA, one needs to have complete clarity and knowledge present regarding whether the use of these templates can help a business thrive. Hence, it is the benefits associated with these templates that are causing businesses to flock towards them and use them to develop quick, efficient, and engaging websites.

The post Why Businesses Opting for Pre-Built Data Management Templates appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

Customers are the lifeblood of our businesses.

They are the sole individuals who can make or break it for us in a rapidly competitive market. Selecting the correct CRM template helps us identify and add new leads quickly and accurately. It provides us with the correct tools to categorize products accurately, leading to better opportunities in a competitive product minefield.

The Role of Consumers 

Consumers today are smart. They have realized that they deserve the best, especially when they are ready to pay the price. As a result, all e-commerce web development services know that they must improve their service-provider capabilities for better results.

It becomes our responsibility as e-commerce web development services to provide personalized support to consumers at any time, be it day or night. When we as providers are ready to provide high-quality service to consumers, it not only contributes to creating a good reputation in the market but also allows for better sales revenue. For

But here’s the thing. Even after implementing all the necessary tools required for a successful CRM, companies still feel they are unable to generate the desired leads.

So, what are we doing wrong?

The problem is that we are choosing the wrong CRM template.

Selecting the correct CRM template is as crucial as learning how to operate it for any e-commerce web development services. One of the most common challenges associated with CRM is the lack of user adoption.Not correctly understanding the basic elements of CRM can lead to project failures, which can have a dire impact on your business’s success.

In the following article, we will discuss how to select the correct CRM template and what factors to consider when selecting one to ensure that your institution is prepared to handle it.

However, before we go further, let’s learn a bit about CRM and what it means for business.

What is CRM in Business?

Customer Relations Management (CRM) is a software technology that is utilized for managing valid company relationships in interactions. This management is done across both existing and potential consumers. The following software ensures that Ecommerce web development services companies are always connected to their consumers. This leads to better streamlining of existing processes, leading to increased profitability.

CRM enhances businesses’ communication networks, leading to better time management. It becomes responsible for connecting consumer data into sales leads and organizing them in a single place. It also allows businesses to manage hyva theme development services to meet the needs of online stores.

Be it a small business or large, CRM software provides individual support to colleagues, suppliers, and service users across the entire life cycle. It also enables the sales and marketing teams to have complete control and tracking of the business’s interaction journey with consumers. For this reason, finding the correct CRM solution template becomes important for e-commerce web development services.

Major Functions Performed By CRM Software

The CRM software is responsible for guiding the business by determining the best way to manage external interactions and relationships. The objective always remains the same: to drive the company’s success. It becomes responsible for managing and supporting sales, recruitment and training, marketing, business development, hiring processes, and so on.

The major functions associated with CRM vary from managing consumers’ contact information to identifying sales opportunities. They also include managing marketing campaigns for different products, outlining Record Service issues, and identifying major process changes.

There is also file and content sharing, sales forecasting, instant messaging between employees, and dashboard-based analytics. Each of these activities needs to be properly coded and then analyzed to make correct decisions across all categories.

As all the information is managed in a central system, it becomes easier for the company to have transparency regarding how the processes are being managed. The correct CRM solutions can contribute to e-commerce web development services to understand what products have been purchased, then purchased last, what was paid, and other such crucial information.

The influx of online shopping institutions has been increasing over the years. This means the demand for consumers to have a seamless experience is also increasing. It has been found that for most e-commerce web development services, one of the major challenges is the presence of sluggish e-commerce stores.

The immediate result is lost sales opportunities due to frustrated users and abandoned carts. This always increases the probability of new consumers not being attracted to these online stores. It is at this point that HYVA theme development services gain precedence in managing these snags. CRM allows for effectively managing all these challenges.

Selecting the Correct CRM Template

Now that we have a better idea of what CRM emails are and their various associated functions let’s get more clarity regarding how to select the correct CRM template.

Selecting the correct CRM is often considered to be an overwhelming process for most e-commerce web development services organizations, especially considering the fact that hundreds of CRM solutions are available in the market. However, during the decision-making process, you must understand the priority of the business rather than your own preferences.

It is only when you have complete clarity about the requirements of your business that you can select the correct vendors and manage product descriptions and all other technical jargon associated with it. One of the first steps that you can take is asking yourself a series of questions, like:

●      Who will be using the CRM in the company?

●      How many users will be requiring the use of a CRM system?

●      What is the size of the company’s budget?

●      What software will be connected to the CRM system?

Clarity on these questions will make it easy to determine which CRM template to implement to help provide the maximum results. Most e-commerce web development services companies make the mistake of not clarifying these questions beforehand, leading to unsuccessful results.

Understanding the requirements for Features and Functionalities of CRM

Selecting the correct CRM template becomes a difficult task when you have a lot of options to choose from. Most businesses require an average of 5 to 6 months to choose the correct CRM template; the number may increase in the case of big companies as they have many more functionalities.

So, you need to ask the right people the right questions so that you can get a basic understanding of what functions you require in a CRM. Choosing the correct temperature requires e-commerce web development services companies to take a close look at the business and outline the company vision and goals.

The best way to do it is ask the heart questions to your major stakeholders:

●      Your Executives

●      Your Staff Members, and

●      Your Consumers

1) Executives

Executives can provide better clarity on what systems can add strategic value to their existing business. The possible questions that you can ask them include:

●  What kind of operation processes and workflows can improve the current supply chain?

●      What kind of automation do you require for better success?

●      What are the current inefficient processes present in your company?

●      What is your idea about how to visualize the company data?

●      Do you need a custom-made CRM to meet your company needs?

2) Employees 

It is important for you to find the CRM template that can positively impact boosting productivity and efficiency for all employees. Here are a few questions that you can ask them to gain a better perspective about their needs.

●      What kind of resources do you need more?

●   What are your major problems when managing communication with the consumers and your departments?

●      What kind of activities provide you with the most challenges?

●      What are the major bottlenecks that you face that are affecting your workflow?

●      Which daily activities provide you with the best returns?

3) Customers

What better way to understand consumers than asking them questions directly and gaining their insight? Asking the correct questions can be easily done from the online reviews posted by them, through the custom of feedback forms, and through social media feeds. In this way, comprehensive ideas about the factors affecting consumers will be provided.

Steps to select the Correct CRM

Once the valuation is completed, you can better understand the major aspects e-commerce web development services companies need to look for in a CRM. The feedback received from the executives, consumers, and staff members improves your ability to outline the criteria required to select the correct CRM template.

Here are a few steps to consider when selecting the correct CRM template.

1) Understanding the Business Goals

The first step is always to address the specific requirements of the business so that existing operation problems can be solved. Along with the feedback received from the stakeholders, this should be followed up with tracking leads and monitoring monthly sales to understand the major points that will need to be addressed.

2) Listing the essential features you need in a CRM

It is important to create a feature list by considering factors like company goals, staff and executive feedback, and data security. Most custom E-commerce website development services understand the importance of data security and customer support. This is because having two-factor authentication and user permissions improves software security. Similarly, the presence of reliable customer support makes it easy to access across multiple channels.

3) Deciding on a suitable CRM type

It is important to have clarity on what kind of tools and features are required in your CRM. You need to identify what kind of CRM solutions you require, whether operational, collaborative or analytical. for most, Custom eCommerce website development services, this is an important step because it allows for companies to specify which actions the conduct more:

●      Automating business and sales processes

●      Get the data and analyze to deliver excellent services to consumers

●   Better management of marketing, sales and service teams to understand consumer needs.

4) Researching the Best CRM providers

Looking for the Best CRM provider that can meet your needs and budget is crucial in the CRM template selection process. In most cases, it has been found that e-commerce web development services companies fail to get better results from CRM because of a lack of research on CRM providers. It is, therefore, important to read more trade magazines and websites to gather more information about the CRM software that is popular in the industry. This will need to be followed by checking user reviews constantly to assess its viability in your company.

5) Learning about CRM pricing and Payment Processes

Another crucial part of selecting the correct CRM template for e-commerce web development services is understanding what pricing and subtraction options are available. In most cases it has been found that the CRM pricing models include the following:

●      Per-User Pricing

●      Flat-Fee Pricing

●      Tiered Pricing

●      Free Subscription

Each of these methods has its own benefits and subsequent challenges, which need to be properly researched before making any concrete decision about them.

Importance of CRM in the current Market

The importance of customer relationship management is associated with its ability to streamline marketing efforts, manage accounting and sales processes, and provide other customer-related services. In simple terms, CRM contributes to automating the important tasks for e-commerce web development services, leading to better management.

As a result, it becomes easier for ecommerce web development services to set targets for their sales. The increasing popularity of CRM has caused an increase in the world by its spending, which is expected to reach somewhere around USD 119.7 billion by the end of 2027. In the year 2022, the overall CRM usage has seen a whopping increase from 56 to 74%, which once again highlights its usefulness in the market. 

(Source: Statista, 2024)

Considering the increasing importance of CRM, most online companies today are offering custom ECommerce website development services to meet their varied needs. The prevalence of custom ECommerce website development services ensure the building of applications customized to consumers’ needs.

While CRM can contribute to providing a clear overview of consumers, having custom ECommerce website development services will make it all the more relevant. For example, companies using this technology will have a customized dashboard tailored to provide them with the required information.

This may include providing them an outline of the previous history of the consumers with the company, the status of the orders, identifying if there were any outstanding customer service issues and other such factors. The best part is that the presence of custom ECommerce website development services also allows your company to choose what extra features they would like. 

In simple terms, you are allowed to include information from their public social media activities, online forums, and so on. This allows you to gain a better perspective of the needs of the consumers and make better decisions regarding the business.

Managing CRM integrations and understanding Magento Stores and HYVA themes

We have already learned how to select the correct CRM template. However, it is also important to learn the correct way to integrate these templates, and this is what kind of templates are available for, say, Magento stores. Magento stores are a common E-Commerce platform used by creators to manage online shopping stores.

It is a self hosted platform that includes all the basic ECommerce features that a business might require to launch an online store. Most HYVA theme development services use this platform because it has better-driven product recommendations along with robust reporting features that make it easy to operate.

Selecting the correct integration process for your business is another crucial aspect that requires special attention. To better manage HYVA theme development services, E-Commerce website development services companies need to outline the business’s specific requirements, based on which the correct CRM integration method can be selected.

Integrating CRM in Magento and the Role of HYVA

There are generally two specific methods through which a CRM can be integrated in Magento. One method involves using third-party integration services, and the other involves using specific CRM extensions designed for Magento stores.

One of the reasons HYVA theme development services are considered an effective solution is their speed. This, coupled with lightweight coding, makes it easier for brands to rank on search engines. It also has specific features that enable it to better optimize the website content and metadata, leading to better SEO results. 

Hence, this proves that selecting the correct CRM template is crucial as it can help make the correct decision when managing custom ecommerce website development services. Furthermore, as HYVA theme development services are sure to become one of the most crucial processes in the coming years, it is important to ensure that a strong CRM software is present to manage all its complexities.

Conclusion

Hence, to conclude, choosing the correct CRM template leads in reducing the learning curve and instead focuses on increasing productivity. Having the correct CRM can also help accommodate customisation for custom eCommerce website development services, leading to better scalability and management. It also improves coding complexities and speed as established for HYVA theme development services, and improves growth prospects of the business. 

As a result selecting the correct CRM software template is a crucial decision that can have a significant impact on the success of your business. it becomes your responsibility to thereby assess your business needs, define your existing budget and then prioritizing the essential features so that the correct CRM solution can be implemented.

The post How to Choose Right CRM Templates for Your Business appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

According to a recent survey conducted by Zenhub, about 50% of developers spend less than 20 hours per week on actual software development.

As a developer, there are many things to juggle at once, and at times there are endless repetitive tasks that keep you busy and become the biggest challenge to your productivity or something that significantly contributes to your work. 

Sometimes it could be tracking things to do and your progress efficiently, which takes a toll on your daily workability. Or it could be poor collaboration or a confusing work environment that jeopardizes your productivity. 

So today I’m going to share some of the best developer productivity tools that help you work efficiently and make you more productive. Let’s have a closer look at each of these developer productivity tools listed here and how they help you.

We have divided these tools into the following categories –

• Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Tools
• AI Code Generation Tools
• Bug Tracking Tools
• Project Management Tools
• Time Management Tools
• Miscellaneous Productivity Tools
• Relaxation Tools

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Tools

The first category in our developer productivity tools is integrated development environment aka IDE. IDEs help developers work more productively by providing different functionalities such as source code editing, debugging, testing, etc. in one platform. Let’s take a look at them.

1. VS Code

Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code is an integrated development environment for Windows, Linux, and macOS. 

It provides features for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git. Using the free LiveShare extension, you can collaborate remotely with your colleagues, teachers, or classmates. 

In addition, you can edit and debug your code in real-time and use the chat and call features to ask questions and discuss ideas with others. You can use breakpoints, call stacks, and an interactive console to debug your running apps.

Key Features

• Command line
• Command palette
• Customization
• Zen mode
• Split view
• Change language mode
• Git integration

2. IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is an intelligent, context-aware IDE for developing applications in Java and other JVM languages such as Kotlin, Scala, and Groovy.

IntelliJ IDEA is designed from the ground up to deliver a seamless user experience. It gives you quick access to all of the features and integrated tools that are essential to your work, as well as a plethora of customization options. 

Everything can be fine-tuned to support your workflow: create shortcuts, install plugins, customize the interface, and more.

Key Features

• Developer ergonomics
• Standard and custom themes
• Deep code insight
• Intelligent code completion
• Project-wide refactoring
• Live templates
• Plugins

3. CodeStream

Beyond your bubble, it is critical to streamlining team workflows and activities to produce valuable work. Thankfully, there’s CodeStream for all your code-related discussions, which takes the effort and frustration out of code reviews. 

CodeStream supports every programming language and allows you to discuss code with your team without ever using a pull request. To resolve an issue, simply highlight a code block and type a comment. 

The tool also facilitates regular group problem-solving by allowing developers to discuss code directly in its environment, ultimately strengthening the quality of your code base.

Key Features

• One-click navigation
• Code editor
• At-mentions 
• Collaboration
• Chat (Messaging)
• Version control

4. Sublime Text

Every developer who wants to be productive should use a good code editor, and Sublime Text is one of the best in the market to get your hands on. It is a cross-platform code editor that supports a wide range of markup and programming languages.

Sublime Text allows you to quickly navigate through lines and files, make changes to multiple areas of your code at the same time, and switch between projects.

This code editor even has a distraction-free mode, so you don’t have to rely on willpower to stay focused while working. This mode displays your editor in full-screen mode, with all UI Chrome features disabled.

Key Features

• Quick navigation
• Command palette
• Simultaneous editing
• Project-specific preferences
• Extensive customizability
• Cross-platform availability 
• Python-based plugin API

AI Code Generation Tools

The next category in our developer productivity tools is AI-based code generators. These tools help you complete the code when you are writing them with the help of artificial intelligence. Let’s have a closer look at them.

1. GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is a new tool from GitHub. Copilot, known as an “AI pair programmer,” uses artificial intelligence to generate code in your editor. You can use it as an extension with Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs, and Neovim.

GitHub Copilot is more than just an autocomplete tool. It suggests lines and even entire functions. It allows developers to create tests, explore APIs, and solve problems faster without looking elsewhere for solutions.

Moreover, when you start using the GitHub Copilot plugin, the tool adapts to the way you write code.

Key Features

• Collaborative coding
• Code suggestions
• Codespaces
• Discussions
• Pull requests
• Public repositories
• Code search & code view

2. Tabnine

Tabnine, an AI code completion assistant, now provides developers with long snippet suggestions and focused line code completions directly in the Visual Studio Code or IntelliJ Idea IDEs.

Tabnine covers 11 programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, and Java, in line with its mission to automate the more mundane and repetitive parts of programming.

Tabnine predicts and suggests your next lines of code based on context and syntax. It helps you with whole-line code completions, full-function code completions, and natural language-to-code conversion.

Key Features

• Code completions & suggestions
• Code-native models 
• Automate repetitive coding
• Self-managed AI server
• Private & secured
• Advanced Reporting

3. dbForge SQL Complete

Speed up your SQL coding with intelligent completion, formatting, and refactoring with dbForge SQL Complete! It is a powerful SQL database development, management, and administration tool.

This add-in solution for Visual Studio and SSMS provides good autocomplete capabilities. You can write, enhance, and refactor your SQL code and increase productivity with unique features found in SQL Complete but not in SSMS and Visual Studio IntelliSense.

dbForge SQL Complete supports SQL Server 2022.

Key Features

• SQL autocompletion 
• SQL suggestion 
• T-SQL formatting 
• Code standardizing 
• Code refactoring 
• Productivity extension

Bug Tracking Tools

The next category in our development productivity tools is bug tracking. Bug tracking tool also known as issue tracking system helps developers track bugs and issues during the application development process. Let’s take a look at some of the popular bug-tracking tools.

1. Jira

Jira is a real-time project management tool that allows teams and project managers to plan, assign, track and review projects.

Jira was created to track bugs during the software development process. The software includes a bug-tracking template that makes it easy to track, record, and fix bugs.

Because all issues can be viewed in one place, determining which bug needs to be fixed first can be done with a single click. You also get excellent reporting capabilities, allowing you to gain actionable and detailed insights in real-time.

Jira is popular among software development teams for bug tracking and project management. However, it has quite a complex interface and is a bit costly. You can also consider various Jira alternatives such as SmartTask, Asana, ClickUp, etc.

Key Features

• Bug tracking
• Issue management
• Agile development
• Customization and templates
• Time tracking and reporting
• Roles and permissions

2. MantisBT

Mantis Bug Tracker, also known as MantisBT, is an open source issue tracker that facilitates project management and effective team collaboration.

It is built on PHP and has a user interface in 50 different languages. The tool allows you to customize the workflow for dealing with bugs and user roles efficiently.

This cross-platform bug-tracking system sends email notifications to your team about issues. You can specify the type and severity of issues that MantisBT should notify you about.

It tracks changes to issues so that you can easily track them down for analysis.

Key Features

• Bug tracking
• Progress tracking
• Tagging
• Product road mapping
• Project time tracking
• Role-based access control

Project Management Tools

As the name suggests, project management tools help developers keep track of ongoing development projects, to-do lists, important deadlines, and files. These tools also help devs to communicate with their team members, share files, and keep everyone on the same page. Let’s have a look at them.

1. SmartTask

Nothing is more aggravating than not knowing who is doing what and when. Add to that, people tend to forget things, especially when the task is not urgent. 

SmartTask is an excellent tool for tracking all your development projects and tasks, streamlining workflows, managing teams, and increasing team efficiency. 

SmartTask enables you to assign tasks to each team member, set deadlines, and communicate with one another, thereby avoiding long and clumsy email threads. The tool includes a plethora of useful features, including, project portfolios, workload view, time tracking, Gantt charts, custom fields, custom charts, and a CRM systems. 

Another note-worthy feature of SmartTask is its productivity scoring, which provides a visual representation of how productive you and your teammates are at completing tasks.

Key Features

• Multiple task management views – list, board, calendar, timeline
• Project portfolio management
• Resource management
• Task comments & mentions
• Video conferencing, voice calling, group chatting
• Automated check-ins 
• Productivity scoring
• Time tracking & estimation
• Analytics & reporting

2. Zenhub

Zenhub enables software development teams to plan their work, track project progress, automate agile processes, and measure their team’s productivity in one app. 

Zenhub integrates with the team’s codebase to prevent tool sprawl, keep devs focused, and update the project with data straight from the codebase, while still enabling non-technical team members to view project progress. 

With real-time roadmaps, teams can better predict their project completion dates in real-time, and with planning poker, they can quickly and asynchronously estimate agile story points.

Key Features

• Automated sprint planning 
• Workflow automation 
• Planning poker
• Agile reporting
• Real-time roadmaps
• Browser extension for GitHub

3. Asana

Asana is a project and task management tool that helps software development teams streamline their work as well as communication.

Asana is designed for workplaces of any size to analyze progress and address issues in a single location, eliminating the need for constant meetings, email updates, and memos. You can create lists or boards to host entire projects – these will detail all of the initiatives, meetings, and programs associated with said projects.

The tool is highly customizable, allowing users to divide projects into tasks and set clear goals for teams. Asana also integrates with hundreds of other business apps, such as Google Drive and Outlook.

Asana recently shifted its focus toward enterprise clients. However, if you are a startup or small business, you can consider different Asana alternatives such as SmartTask, Wrike, ClickUp, etc.

Key Features

• Project and task management
• Customizable dashboards
• Activity feeds
• Focus mode & individual task lists
• Subtasks assignment
• Prioritization
• Collaboration
• Custom calendar
• Notifications & reminders

4. Plaky

Plaky is a free project management tool that helps developers to organize their work, assign tasks, and track progress—with the flexibility and customization needed to support any type of project. 

Whether you’re a small agile team or a large dev studio, Plaky can adapt to your needs. It doesn’t limit the number of users who can join an organization in any way—so your workspaces can always scale to accommodate the growth of your development team.

The primary focus of Plaky is on task management and workflow optimization.

Key Features

• Task management 
• Bug & issue tracking 
• Product roadmap and backlog 
• Time management 
• Reporting

5. nTask

nTask is another task management and project management platform that allows developers to make sure that all of the tasks and processes that they have to perform as part of the software development process are tracked and managed.

Key Features

• Task management
• Project management
• Risk management
• Meeting management
• Team management

Time Management Tools

The next category in our developer productivity tools is time management. You can’t work productively if you don’t plan how you want to spend your time. These tools help developers plan, track, and manage time effectively.

1. DeskTime

DeskTime is an automatic time-tracking app that logs how much time you spend on your computer and what you do throughout the workday. 

It helps you see how productive you are, can prevent overworking and burnout, and functions as proof of work. With functions like project time and document title track, you can see how much time goes into certain tasks down to the second, which can help you bill your customers more accurately. 

You can efficiently manage your teams and projects, boosting your productivity and minimizing business losses at the same time.

Key Features

• Automatic time tracking
• Offline time tracking
• Productivity analysis
• Project tracking
• Shift scheduling
• Break-time reminders

2. TimeCamp

Logging work hours manually is a waste of resources in developers’ work, but using an automatic time tracker like TimeCamp solves that problem. 

TimeCamp works in the background and automatically fills timesheets with time entries and, if you choose, daily activities. It also provides time reports, the easiest way to analyze work performance and estimate project profitability. 

What’s more, with the billable hours and invoicing features, you can easily bill your customers and send them invoices based on the time registered for their project. Besides, the tool integrates directly with popular dev tools like Jira or Azure DevOps.

Key Features

• Automatic time tracking
• Time reporting
• Budgeting with estimates
• Invoicing and clients
• Billing rates
• Dev tools integrations

3. Clockify

When you’re working, you don’t want to have to deal with the hassle of clocking in and out of your work. You want to be able to focus on what you’re doing. 

With Clockify, you can do just that. Using this software, you can track your time, coding activities, and progress of the project throughout the week. This will help boost your productivity levels, improve your performance, sharpen your time management skills, and beat procrastination and distractions.

Key Features

• Time tracking
• Visual reports 
• Create projects and reports
• Task management
• Data exporting

4. WebWork

WebWork is a time tracking and productivity monitoring tool that aims to improve time management. It tracks your work time automatically and provides you with detailed reports. These include your tracked time, app and website usage, activity and productivity levels, and more.

As a result, you see how productive you are, what exactly you spend your time on, and what takes much time or even wastes your time. This way you can work towards improving your time management skills and see the improvement as well.

WebWork also takes care of your work-life balance. It has a feature that monitors your work process and opens regular pop-ups reminding you to dedicate time to the things you want to do more of and not to overwork.

Key Features:

• Time tracking
• Productivity monitoring
• Activity level tracking
• Work-life balance
• Reports
• Task Management

Miscellaneous Productivity Tools

I need to create this category because I have added a variety of productivity tools for goal tracking, distraction blocking, pair programming, communication, and much more. Let’s see them one by one.

1. Tuple

Nothing is worse than attempting to pair-program some code over a video call. Tuple is an integrated remote-pair programming app for macOS that allows for real-time collaboration.

It allows you to talk and code simultaneously without consuming your CPU. This application includes a handy screen annotation feature that lets programmers draw or highlight code on their partner’s screen to direct their attention.

Tuple also lets you use both a mouse and a keyboard. This means you won’t have to wait for your coding partner to finish before you can start. You get to code, and collaborate, at the same time.

Key Features

• Generic screen sharing
• Remote control
• Low CPU usage
• Crisp audio and video
• Collaboration
• Annotation and markup tools

2. F.lux

Programming can be hard on the eyes, so coding responsibly is essential for long productive periods. F.lux, as a tool designed to reduce eye strain while sleeping, contributes to resolving one aspect of this. 

Working across Windows, Linux, Mac, and iOS devices, it intelligently adapts your screen’s display color to complement different times of the day. You only need to tell it what kind of lighting you have and where you live, and it will handle the rest automatically. 

When it detects sunset, F.lux will make your display mimic your indoor lighting; when it detects sunrise, it will adjust your set-up to sunlight settings. Everything can be adjusted to fit your work schedule, including selecting colors that help you stay alert.

Key Features

• Blue light filter
• Color temperature modes
• Time scheduling
• Color control
• Simple installation
• Backlight brightness control
• Scheduling

3. AutoHotkey

AutoHotkey is a scripting language automation tool specially built for Windows. It is a free and open-source tool for creating scripts for various tasks such as macros, fillers, auto-clicking, and so on.

This automation tool allows you to create simple hotkeys with just a few lines of code. You can also define your hotkeys for the mouse and keyboard, as well as remap keys or buttons to your liking. The tool is simple to use for beginners because it includes easy-to-learn built-in commands.

Aside from supporting imperative, it has a flexible syntax that allows programmers to focus on the main task at hand rather than worrying about the minor details that frequently distract us.

Key Features

• Auto-scripting 
• Key remapping
• Flexible syntax
• Built-in commands

4. Slack

Good communication and team collaboration equal better productivity and efficiency. And when it comes to team communication, Slack is the first tool that comes to mind. 

You can create chat channels that serve as rooms for topic-based conversations. You can share and collaborate on project information with individual team members, form groups and sub-groups, and hold one-on-one discussions.

Slack also allows you to create time blocks in your hours and indicate to others when you are available to talk based on your current status, rather than dealing with multiple emails that come and go throughout the day.

Key features:

• Instant messaging
• Team and personal channels
• File sharing
• Video and audio calling
• Guest access
• Slack communities

5. Habitica

Unlike other dull and menial productivity apps, Habitica is a cross-platform tool that encourages you to stick to your goals using a gamified approach.

So, instead of checking boxes for your goals, you turn your project life into a game where you overcome the hurdles by completing tasks, getting motivated, and leveling up.

You can also invite friends to join you on quests, which creates accountability and allows you to win loot to spend on rewards.

Key Features

• Adventure and advancement
• Creating & deleting custom rewards
• Multiple task filters
• Group tasks
• Task reminders
• Common-Interest Groups and Challenges
• Shared quests 

6. Cold Turkey

Cold Turkey is a distraction-blocking tool that encourages developers to focus on the task at hand rather than wasting time on unimportant online activities.

The tool improves work efficiency and aids in the development of self-control practices in the user. After compiling a list of websites and desktop applications to block, you can specify a blocking schedule.

You can use Cold Turkey to block websites, domains, specific URLs, or the entire internet. For example, you could restrict access to social networking and video streaming websites during the workday. You can disable work-related apps as soon as the workday is over.

Cold Turkey also allows you to manually toggle blocking on and off.

Key Features

• Domain, URL, internet blocking
• App, file, and folder blocking
• Block scheduling
• Block locking using a timer
• Pomodoro timers
• Pause for a cause
• Analytics and Reporting

Relaxation Tools

The final category in our developer productivity tools is relaxation. Yes, you heard it right. The job of a developer is a bit stressful but music can heal any stress. That’s why I decided to add this category. Hope you’ll enjoy the next two tools.

musicForProgramming

musicForProgramming is a collection of mixes created with programming in mind to aid concentration and output. The playlists vary in length, and the majority are instrumental, which is great for boosting productivity and focusing on work.

The platform provides the appropriate level of cognitive load to occupy areas of your brain that would otherwise be free to wander and cause distraction.

Its interface is similar to that of a code editor; if you go to the page to change the track, you’ll be more likely to stay focused on your coding activities because you’ll be visually linked to this website with your work.

Key Features

• Code-editor-like interface
• Music for better focus
• Field Recordings
• Podcasts
• iTunes integration

Brain.fm

Brain.fm is a music streaming service that helps you work, read, relax, or sleep better. 

Brain.fm provides music for the brain that assists you in focusing, relaxing, and meditating by utilizing a combination of bimodal tones. It provides brain music that improves cognition within 10–15 minutes of use.

The AI engine generates an infinite amount of music with the rhythms required for audio brain entrainment. It includes a base level of white noise shushing, various bird tweets, and a quiet electronic drone, among other things. This service’s music is all original, and it’s only available for a limited time.

Key Features

• Provides relaxation music
• Automated music streaming
• Noise shushing

Wrapping up…

Being a productive developer entails more than simply concentrating on the code. It all comes down to finding the right tools and automating your software development processes.

And this list of developer productivity tools contains a mix of coding, collaboration, project management, personal management, and relaxation tools that can significantly help you boost your overall productivity.

So, identify the area in which you require assistance and select the tools that meet your needs.

That’s all. Now grab your coffee and get ready for a productive coding session…:) 

Author Bio

Shyamal Parikh

Shyamal Parikh is the Founder of SmartTask, an online work management/automation software that helps teams streamline their processes, whether sales, hiring, customer success, or projects. He actively shares strategies and techniques that improve a team’s productivity. 

Find more tips for increasing productivity as a developer:

• Free Open-Source CRM Software For Small Business
• AI-Generated Roles and Permissions to Flatlogic Generator
• Decline in Coding: Web App Developers Writing Code Drops to 36.02% in 2024 – [Research Results]
• Exploring the Future of AI Web App Generators
• AI Web App Generator to Make Apps in Minutes

The post 25 Best Developer Productivity Tools & Apps in 2023 appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

With physical products, an item is created then passed on to the marketing team, which then passes it on to the sales team. With software product marketing, the actual product is more complex. 

The problem lies in the disconnect between sales, marketing, and product teams. The creator may have a great product but not know what to do with it. Or the sales and marketing teams may have some great ideas but not know exactly what they are working with.

In this article, we will explore the best ways to bring your teams together as part of a successful software product marketing process. These include: knowing your product, finding your competitors, creating your marketing strategy, and measuring your success.

1. Know your product inside out

As the creator of your software product, you will know its features better than anyone else. But looking at it as your project is not the same as seeing it as a marketable product. You need to know its marketable features and user benefits, as well as any weaknesses to work on later down the line.

Sales enablement

It’s not only you who needs to be an expert. Anyone working with your software must know it inside out too. For example, if a marketing team is promoting a manufacturing proposal sample as a free software product, what do they need to know about it?

• Key features: How would it be useful for customers? What is it used for? Is it user-friendly?
• Hidden costs: If you are marketing something as free to customers, they won’t want to find hidden costs later on.
• How it relates to the rest of the company: How does this free product lead to paid-for products later? What will make the customer choose to pay for items in the future?

Sales enablement ensures that you can show the value of your software product to potential buyers. Your marketing team needs in-depth information for successful software product marketing. They need to know your software product’s functions, features, strengths, and unique selling points (USP).

Free to use image sourced from Pexels

2. Get to know your target audience

Before you begin any software product marketing, you need to know exactly who your target audience is. Market research is the best option to find this out. This can be quantitative research, collecting data, and analyzing numbers. It can also be qualitative research, observing and asking questions to find more in-depth information.

Market research

Your first port of call should be existing customers, as they are already familiar with your brand and products. You can then use this information to widen your research area. 

These are some types of market research you may find useful:

• Sales analytics: Looking back at past sales will give you your target audience from similar software products sold in the past. This will be useful when looking at how to market to your current target audience.
• Keyword searches: Keywords relating to your product will give you an idea of what your potential customers are currently looking for.
• Competitor analysis: Taking a look at your competitors’ customer base is essential to your market research. They are your competitors either because your products or your target audience are similar, so you can learn a lot from them.
• Focus groups: This is where a group of people discuss a product before it is launched. These are especially useful as you are not only getting feedback, you can listen to a whole discussion about your product. This usually brings up points you may not have thought of.
• Customer surveys: You could ask current customers to fill out surveys for feedback on current products and find out what they want (or expect) from your company in the future. You can also show them images or videos of new products and ask for opinions. 
• Free samples: These can be sent out in return for feedback on your product and how you are marketing it. You can ask for opinions on anything from how user-friendly it is to how it is presented.

Free to use image sourced from Pixabay

Your typical customer

The essential information you should know about your target audience includes the average age, gender, job sectors, income levels, and location. You should also look into things like their education and interests. This will create a picture of your ‘typical customer’.

Knowing who your typical customer is will guide decisions such as how to price your products. But one of the most important things you need to find out is where to find them. Your software product marketing strategy will focus on where to market your product, just as much as how.

A different type of consumer

Creating software products means that you are not always dealing with average customers. But you’re not just selling to businesses either. 

Interest in marketing to software developers is steadily rising. But marketing to developers can be difficult. They don’t want to be sold with gimmicks or pushed into buying. They want to be clear about what they are buying and see exactly why it would be useful to them.

For example, when looking at a digital signature Canada may not be the first place you think of. But in Canada, 95% of documents and transactions can be verified electronically, according to Canadian electronic signature law. Giving this small piece of information to developers means that they may decide to try your electronic signature software.

3. Get to know your competitors

No idea is unique, so your products will always have competitors. But you can use this to your advantage. These competitors can give you the information you need for a successful software product marketing campaign.

The first thing you need to do is identify your main competitors. They will either be selling similar products to your company or will have a similar target audience. Most of the time, it’s both. 

Once you have found your competitors, you should do a SWOT analysis. This will help you to highlight your strengths and weaknesses.

Free to use image sourced from Pixabay

4. Create a vision statement

When you are ready for your software product to be seen by the world, it’s time to create a vision statement. But before you start looking at software product marketing strategies you need to decide on your positioning within the market.

Positioning

• What does your software product do? What problem is it solving?
• Who is your software product for? Who is your target audience?
• What makes your software product different from others on the market? What are its strengths? Does it have a unique selling point (USP)?

With all this in mind, it’s not just about what your product does; it’s also about why you created it. What is your vision for it? Vision statements can be used in pitches, adverts, and on promotional material, so they need to be straightforward and captivating.

Think about what you want people to be saying about your product. You can then create a message – your vision statement – that will become the vision of the company or your specific software product.

Message

• Short, sharp, and to the point: This description isn’t in-depth. It can be a short phrase or a couple of sentences.
• Looking to the future: What do you hope to achieve with your software product?
• Pitching your product: You should be focusing on the benefits, not the individual features.
• Your tone: Does it match the tone of your company? Or for new software products, what tone do you want to create?

Famous vision statement examples

Microsoft: We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world.

Disney: To be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.

Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Free to use image sourced from Pexels

5. Create a pricing strategy

Before you create your software product marketing strategy, you need to think about pricing. How your product is priced will affect how you will market it. 

Pricing a software product is a little different from pricing other products. There is no physical product to touch. But software product marketing usually excels when the product’s features are successfully highlighted. 

You can choose to charge for each product individually. But this isn’t always the most effective way to price software products. 

Subscription services are very popular with businesses and consumers. This is usually a monthly fee to use a company’s products or have access to their software. Similarly, some companies offer a free software product with the option to upgrade to their monthly price plan.

For example, you can use a PandaDoc sponsorship contract template from the website for free. But to use other features customers must sign up for a monthly or annual plan.

When creating a pricing strategy these are three important things to look at:

• Levels of pricing: Pricing levels mean you can market your software product to a wider audience. Think of how you will market different levels to consumers.
• Value for money: Software product marketing needs to show consumers that the product is worth the price.
• Competitive: Can your product be found somewhere else for cheaper? If so, why should consumers choose your software product over others?

Upgrades vs. updates

Your product should be updated and upgraded as needed. But this brings up the issue of whether you choose to charge customers for these additions.

Software product update: This is a ‘software patch’ that makes the current product better. It usually covers minor upgrades and sorts out small problems with the software. 

Software product upgrade: This is a less frequent change to your software product that makes major additions and fixes. In some cases, it is essentially a whole new product.

For example, when you buy a game for a games console, you can set it to update automatically. These updates are completely free and usually just fix minor bugs in the game. But if you wanted to upgrade your game to the new edition, you would have to buy it.

These upgrades and updates can be used as material for software product marketing. Announcing minor updates after a product review shows consumers that you have their interests in mind and are keeping up with new technology. An upgrade of a popular product would be of interest to returning customers.

6. Develop a marketing strategy

According to a Statista survey (shown below), the most effective digital marketing techniques in 2020 were content marketing and automation. But before you start creating content, you need to create a complete software product marketing strategy. 

This will be based on your sales goals, your target market, and your vision statement. Your vision statement will be at the center of your marketing strategy as this is your overall aspiration for your product.

Image sourced from statista.com

Planning your strategy

This is the basic outline for your software product marketing strategy:

• Vision statement: Keep this in mind throughout the whole marketing process
• Target audience: Equally as important as the vision statement
• Objectives and KPIs: Set realistic targets with measurable KPIs
• Marketing channels: This includes who will be working on each channel. Try automation where you can, as this gives you time to focus on other tasks
• Creating content: This could be blog posts, social media posts, imagery, videos, landing pages, infographics, ebooks, etc
• Timeline: Your strategy needs a set plan with specific timeframes and dates 
• Launch date: If you have a planned date use this to work backwards
• Analytics: Decide how you are measuring your progress
• Ongoing planning for marketing: Marketing doesn’t stop once the product is launched; it is an ongoing process

Marketing channels

Many companies are looking to omnichannel marketing for success. Consumers are no longer sticking to one platform so you shouldn’t either. The main channels you will be working with are your website, blogs, social media, and emails.

Your website may be the place to purchase your product. But how are you going to lead consumers to it? Organic views from Google searches will only get you so far, so driving traffic from your other marketing channels is key.

Whether it’s your own blog or guest posts, interesting content will draw in potential consumers. Guest posting on blogs with a similar audience to yours is free and easy advertising for your software product. That said, avoid clickbait articles, and instead ensure you create information-based content. You can then subtly link back to your website and products.

There are so many social media channels nowadays that you need to pinpoint exactly where your target audience is. Don’t just choose the most popular channels. Use your research to find out exactly where your customers are, and look at what kind of content your competitors are posting.

With social media taking over, email marketing often gets overlooked. But if your target audience is using email, you should be too. Look at email marketing automation software such as Evalance to streamline your software product marketing process.

Screenshot of Evalanche’s dashboard

7. Measure your success

Before you launch your software product you need to decide how you will measure the success of your software product marketing campaign. If you created a marketing strategy you should already have an idea of your goals or objectives.

When creating measurable goals for your product you need to ask yourself three things: 

• Are they realistic? 
• Are they aspirational? 
• How will I measure them?

Realistic goals

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are realistic, measurable goals that support the overall vision of your product. Using KPIs will help your marketing team work together towards the same goal. They also allow you to see what is working and make adjustments when strategies are not working. An example of a KPI is: ‘Increase customer satisfaction rates by 5%’.

Aspirational goals

If you are hitting your targets too easily you may want to rethink them. Goals are created to make sure your software product reaches its potential. It won’t do this if they are not ambitious enough.

If you are struggling to create aspirational goals you may want to try using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). With this, you create a clear goal that can be achieved using measurable key results.

For example – Objective: ‘Increase click-throughs to website from social media’

Key Results:

• Post twice a day on social media with links to the website
• Write 2 guest posts including at least 1 link to the website
• Create a blog post using keywords relating to the product

Keep track of your goals

The progress of goals and objectives must be constantly monitored to ensure they are on track. This may include looking at sales figures, new customers, lead-to-sales ratios, or clicks on your channels.

It’s important to have transparency with data and analytics when working with a marketing team. This can be done using a template or dashboard for tracking KPIs or OKRs. 

If you and your team can see what is working and what isn’t, you can work together to tweak your strategy. It is also useful to keep data as research for future projects.

Free to use image sourced from Pixabay

Summing up

Now you have read our top seven tips, you are on track for a successful software product marketing campaign. Make sure you do your research before making any major decisions – in particular, you need to know your target audience and where to find them. Then once you have created your vision statement, you’re ready to go.

If you are not quite at the marketing stage with your software product, check out our guide on the software development process.

About author

Yauhen Zaremba – Director of Demand Generation

Yauhen is the Director of Demand Generation at PandaDoc, an all-in-one document workflow platform to streamline, create, and use ready-made templates including this PandaDoc residential lease rental agreement. He’s been a marketer for 10+ years, and for the last five years, he’s been entirely focused on the electronic signature, proposal, and document management markets. Yauhen has experience speaking at niche conferences where he enjoys sharing his expertise with other curious marketers. And in his spare time, he is an avid fisherman and takes nearly 20 fishing trips every year. 

Headshot: Image

The post 7 Top Tips for Successful Software Product Marketing appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

Recent studies have shown that deployment is an essential part of the development process, and can be a major source of frustration for developers. It’s important to understand the different options available and how to use them to ensure a smooth deployment process.

In this article, you’ll learn about the various tools and services that are available for React deployment. We’ll also discuss the different deployment strategies, and how to choose the best one for your application. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of the different options and how to use them to deploy your React App quickly and efficiently.

How to choose React or Web Hosting in 2023

Let’s take common considerations on what aspects to follow when choosing a hosting provider

Workflow

With the amount of configuration, monitoring, and upgrading that occurs over the course of a server’s lifespan, managing a production server may be a lot of effort. This parameter indicates how much real work you will have to do when hosting a web application. Many cloud services have made them successful by automating a lot of application deployment work.

However, this setting does not work in such a way that the more work is automated, the better. Sometimes you may need a lot of flexibility in deployment configuration settings to effectively deploy applications.

Accordingly, if you need to host a simple React or Vue application, then most likely you should choose systems with the greatest automation, and vice versa, if you have a more complex application, then we advise you to choose a solution with more complex customization options.

Application Type

Another factor to examine is the sorts of applications that are supported by hosting providers. Some services are only available in a limited number of languages. Furthermore, certain services are tailored to specific stacks (i.e JAM stack, MERN, LAMP). It’s important to deploy in a way that matches the look and feel of your app.

Security

We will not dwell on this aspect for too long, since it is clear that the more security options a hosting service provider has, the better.

Pricing

This is one of the most important parameters by which you can choose a hosting provider. The pricing of hosting providers often depends on performance and security features. Luckily, most solutions have a transparent pricing system with large explanatory tables, as well as free plans to try and deploy a simple application.

Performance

One of the most important parameters to consider when choosing your future hosting provider is that the user experience of your application’s customers will depend on it.

Application Architecture

Now let’s take a look at the type or architecture of the application you want to host with hosting providers. Depending on the type of application, you can also choose the service you will use to publish your program.

So let’s dig into the application types.

Frontend Only Application

These applications can be either pure static HTML/js or single-page applications written with React/Vue/Angular javascript frameworks. Static servers, which are essential services like Vercel and Netlify provide, or traditional hosts, where you upload files to some web server space that is statically served, are used to build these sites. These services link your deployment to your project’s Github, then run your project’s build command and deliver the output statically whenever you update GitHub.

Full-Stack Applications 

These are apps in which you develop a more complicated server (not static) that performs more extensive data processing and then leverages that data with a template engine (ejs, blade, erb, plush, pug) to generate static HTML that is then given to the client. This usually necessitates more sophisticated deployment services, which means either setting up your own server using a VPS from Digital Ocean, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or other cloud providers, or utilizing a service like Heroku, which automates many of the setup tasks.

Serverless

Serverless options take web development to the next level, removing the need for any backend applications. Instead, all of your APIs are designed as a series of on-demand cloud functions with URLs that your front end may use to contact them. Because you don’t need a persistent backend server, and because static hosting for the frontend is substantially cheaper, a serverless method may be quite cost-effective even at huge volumes. Cloud function platforms are available from AWS, Azure, and Google.

Best react hosting services

Flatlogic

We want to make a disclaimer right away that the article was written by Flatlogic employees, so the first way to host a web application will be related to this platform.

Flatlogic is a new way and one of the fastest options to make a React/Vue/Angular full-stack application and host it. The process of creating and hosting an application literally takes a few minutes. Flatlogic automatically generates a fully working application according to your database schema. The application can be made on the following technologies:

• Angular
• React
• Vue
• Next.js
• Nuxt
• Laravel
• Node.js
• PostgreSQL

Once you select a stack, look at the database schema, and Flatlogic will generate a fully working application for you, with CRUD operations ready and working, as well as an auto-generated REST API.

Using the platform, you can build almost any business application, starting from cms for a blog, and ending with an ERP system. It should also be noted that Flatlogic uses the power of the google cloud to host applications, so security and performance issues should not arise.

Pricing

As for hosting, it costs $9 per month, regardless of the type of application, whether it is a static application or a full-fledged web application with a database. The only limitation is that you will only be able to host Flatlogic applications built on the same platform.

Building static apps with starter kits is free and you can create an infinite number of them. Access to the tool for creating CRUD applications costs $199 for 3 months to one type of stack, while the number of applications can also be unlimited.

Let’s take a closer look at how to make and host an application using the Flatlogic platform.

Creating the CRUD application with Flatlogic

Prerequisites

Before creating a project with Flatlogic – you should create an account and confirm it.

Choosing the Tech Stack

After you logged into the platform – you should click the ‘+ Add application’ button. After you click this button, you need to set the name of your application and choose the stack: Frontend, Backend, and Database.

Choosing the Starter Template

In this step, you’re choosing the design of the web app. For now, we decided to concentrate on one template for all stacks – Material. This step basically shows you what your app will look like. Later Flatlogic is planning to add more design systems.

Schema Editor

In this part of creating the application, you will need to create the database schema of your future application using our UI tool. In this step, you determine which tables and columns will be in your database, as well as the relationships between them.

If you are not familiar with database design and it is difficult for you to understand what tables are, we have prepared several ready-made example schemas of real-world apps that you can build your app upon modification:

• E-commerce app;
• Time tracking app;
• Books store;
• Chat (messaging) app;
• Blog.

Final step

In the final step, you need to link your application to the GitHub account to push generated code to the newly created repository.

If you click on GitHub the ‘Login’ window opens next, where you need to enter login details for your GitHub account or sign in. Next, the ‘Choose a name for your repository’ window opens, where you have to choose a name for your repository and select privacy terms.

Deploying your created app

After all these steps your application will be created and automatically deployed for a preview.

You can also open the settings of one of your applications, which also has a Deploy button on the Review tab.

Afterward, this will open a window where you can review the step-by-step process of creating your application.

Docker is used to creating the right environment to deploy the backend and frontend, that is why it takes about 5 minutes. We also have a feature to notify you when your Live URL is ready by email.

You can also view the build logs if you click on View Log.

Conclusion

This is the basic process of creating and deploying full-stack applications. Additionally, you can customize the application made on the Flatlogic platform, all the changes will be automatically built and deployed to our platform.

Digital Ocean

The App Platform from DigitalOcean is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution that allows you to configure and deploy apps from a single source repository. DigitalOcean will build and deploy your app after you’ve configured it, providing you the benefit of a full web server and deployment pipeline with little effort. This may be a quick and effective method to launch your React applications, and you can utilize App Platform’s free tier if you’re using React to develop a site without a backend.

Pricing

• The price for the full stack application starts from $5 per month if you want to use App Platform by Digital Ocean. Hosting static applications is free for certain limits.
• Managed Kubernetes starts from $10;
• Droplets start from $5 per month.

Features

A distinctive feature of Digital Ocean are the following advantages and features:

• Very good community with many useful tutorials for developers. Digital Ocean invites experts to write guest tutorials, also buys popular sites and blogs on the topic of web application development, and then integrates the texts into its site.
• Marketplace with many applications that can be integrated into your application in one click.
• You can choose the capacity and number of virtual machines yourself. You can also select the regions in which these virtual machines will be located.
• Also, with Digital Ocean, you can easily host a static or dynamic web application using the App Platform product. Where you can connect your repository, and the platform will do all the CI/CD work for you. The platform also includes analytics, monitoring, and alerts.

We will look at how to host and deploy a React application using the free features of the Digital Ocean platform.

Deploying to Digital Ocean App Platform

Following this guide, you’ll deploy a React application to the DigitalOcean App Platform. You’ll link your GitHub repository to DigitalOcean, set up the project for building, and start working on your first project. Each modification will result in a new build and update once the project is online.

You’ll be able to deploy an application using continuous delivery on DigitalOcean by the conclusion of this stage.

To get started, log in to your DigitalOcean account and click Create, then Apps:

After that, you’ll be asked which type of app and how you wish to deploy it. In our scenario, we’ll use Github source code to deploy.

After that, you’ll be asked to link your GitHub repository. If you haven’t already done so, log in with your username and password and grant DigitalOcean permission to access your repositories:

Select the repository you’d want to connect on the GitHub permission page once you’ve linked your accounts. You’re using the digital-ocean-app repository in this example, but you may connect more repositories if you want:

After selecting the repository, you’ll be taken to the DigitalOcean interface. After selecting digital-ocean-app from the list of repositories, click Next. This will establish a direct connection between your App and the GitHub repository.

After you’ve chosen your repository, you’ll need to set up the DigitalOcean App. By selecting Germany in the Region section, the server will be hosted in Europe, and the deployment branch will be the main. Choose the area closest to your physical location for your app.

You’ll be verifying Auto Deploy code modifications in this lesson. Every time you update the code, your app will be rebuilt automatically.

To go to the Configure your app screen, press Next.

Select the sort of program you want to launch next. Select Static Site or Web Services from the Type dropdown option in the Type field because React will create static assets.

You may also use your own unique build script. However, you may use the usual npm run build command in this instance. If you have a separate build script for quality assurance (QA) or production, you may wish to construct a custom build script:

To go to the Finalize and Launch page, press Next.

You may choose your price plan here. Choose the free Starter tier, which is designed for static sites:

When you click the Launch Starter App button, DigitalOcean will begin developing your app.

The app will execute your repo’s npm ci and npm build scripts. This will download all of the dependencies and generate a build directory with all of your JavaScript, HTML files, and other assets built and minified. In your bundle, you could also include a custom script. JSON and change the Commands in your App Platform application’s Components tab.

The construction will take a few minutes to complete, but you will receive a success message and a link to your new site once it is complete. Your connection will be named differently and will have a unique name:

To access your project in the browser, press Live App. It will be identical to the project you tried locally, but it will be available online with a secure URL:

https://appointments-management-system-aou5o.ondigitalocean.app

Now that your project is set up, any changes you make to the connected repository will trigger a new build. If you make a modification to the main branch in this situation, DigitalOcean will execute a fresh deployment for you. There’s no need to log in; the modification will take effect as soon as you push it.

You generated a new DigitalOcean app on the App Platform in this phase. You linked your GitHub account to the app and set it up to build the main branch. After setting the app, you discovered that every time you make a change, the app will deploy a new build.

Render

Render is a cloud service provider that offers both static and dynamic site services. Your React App may be hosted in three easy steps.

Render comes with a free SSL certificate, a global CDN, a custom domain, and auto-deployment with Git integration.

Render offers a free static site hosting plan as well as competitive pricing for other services. Websites hosted at Render show excellent performance which is proven by many testing companies .

While hosting websites on Render is free, other services like databases, cron tasks, Docker containers, and render disks must be paid for.

The company positions itself as the main competitor to Heroku with a more convenient pricing model and advanced functionality. This is a direct message from their website: “We’ve built Render to help developers and businesses avoid the cost and inflexibility traps of legacy Platform-as-a-Service solutions like Heroku.”

Pricing

Almost all services in Render start from free plans. Hosting of static sites, web services, databases, and Redis starts from $0 per month. Cron jobs service starts from $1 per month. Then most of the services start from $7 to $10 per month.

Core Features

Great for static sites – Render is particularly popular for launching single page or static websites, in addition to a variety of other useful features it offers.

Effortless and practical – Render does not tack on any extra charges to its services. It claims to be 80% less expensive than other hosting options. Additionally, any configuration and command can be accessed with a single click, making the entire process speedier than the other platforms covered in this article. Many developers have switched to Render because of this feature.

Deploying with Render

Make sure your project is stored in a GitHub repository before moving on to setting up an account on Render.

Then, on the dashboard, select New Static Site.

If you’re using Render for the first time, you’ll need to connect your GitHub or GitLab account, or wherever your repository is kept.

Once connected, look for and pick your project repository. Following that, you must give your web service a distinct name.

If your application is bootstrapped with Create React App, Render will recognize this and fill the configuration accordingly.

After clicking Create Static Site, your project will be deployed.

That’s all – so in a few steps, you can host a free static or dynamic site on the Render platform. In our opinion, indeed the platform is one of the easiest to use in the market for hosting websites and web applications.

Vercel

Vercel is the new approach in web deployment services that aims to simplify team collaboration while developing React, Vue, Angular, and Next JS applications. Vercel supports importing source code from Github, Bitbucket, and Gitlab. Vercel also provides some starter templates to create a new App and deploy it. It Provides continuous deployment, Serverless functions, HTTPS, and more.

Core Features

In our opinion, the two most interesting features of Vercel are Preview of Pull Request as well as a large templates library for starting a static application. Preview of Pull Requests Allows You to Very Effectively Collaborate with the Team.

The other cool feature is edge functions that allow you to extend your sciatic application with a couple of lines of code without developing a proper backend and database. Ideal for the small apps that solve one small task.

Pricing

Hosting hobby sites will cost you for free. Commercial use of the Vercel platform starts from $20 per month per seat with 1TB of bandwidth.

Deploy React app with Vercel

​​To deploy your project with Vercel, create a new account.

The dashboard panel will show after a successful login. You can install Vercel from the terminal using either this dashboard or the Vercel CLI; we’ll go through both approaches in depth. 

Integrate the Vercel dashboard with GitHub or other services where your application is stored. Select Import Project from your panel. You’ll be asked to select the project you’d want to use. Select the React project, click Import, and then type in a name for the project. Click Continue after leaving it at its default setting. When prompted for the root directory, choose it and click Next.

The following step is crucial. If you use the Create React App to start your React project, Vercel will automatically recognize it and provide an appropriate configuration for you. Click Deploy using the default settings. We keep the setup as is so that Vercel understands how to deploy the website correctly based on the configuration.

If you didn’t use the Create React App to begin your React app, you’ll be prompted for the setup. Fill in all of the configuration fields using the sample configuration above, then click Deploy.

After pressing the Deploy button, your react application will be available publicly. You can also manage the configuration with the help of Vercel Dashboard. For a fee, you will find the features of Vercel Functions and analytics using your application.

Heroku

Heroku is a cloud application platform with a large developer community that has existed since its inception. It supports a variety of programming languages, including Node.js, Ruby, and others. Heroku offers a free SSL certificate, a custom domain, and Git integration.

Core Features

You can set up your code in a couple of clicks using the built-in integration with GitHub. Also, good features are built-in Redis support, as well as the promotion of analytics of using your application.

Pricing

Hobbies Projects can be serviced on Heroku for free. If you want more advanced features such as SSL, analytics, or memory selection, then you will have to pay $25 per month for one dyno.

Deploying using dashboard

You may deploy via Heroku’s dashboard. To get started, make sure your project is saved in a GitHub repository.

Go to your Heroku dashboard, pick New, and then Build a new app to create a new app.

You’ll be presented with a popup asking you to name your project. After you’ve entered your app’s name, click Create app.

Sync your GitHub repository when you’ve finished building an app. On your app’s dashboard, you’ll see something similar to this.

After you’ve successfully connected your GitHub account to Heroku, you may search for and deploy the project repository. From the list of repositories, choose your project.

You’ll have two options for deployment: manual or automated, which means Heroku will automatically publish the new website whenever you upload changes to GitHub. For the sake of this lesson, we’ll utilize manual deployment.

When the build process is complete, go to Manual Deploy and select Deploy Branch, and your application will be deployed.

If you summarize then Heroku gives ample opportunities to hosting web applications, but in turn, you will need some time to explore the platform. Also, some of the customers complain of not completely transparent pricing and a fairly high price for hosting applications.

Netlify

Netlify is one of the most popular hosting services for web applications and static sites. Service is often used to place JamStack applications. The main feature of the platform is the simplicity of its use, namely the fact that the hosting application is performed literally in a few minutes by joining your repository and setting the pair of parameters. React App can be deployed in 3 steps. It also provides a free automatic HTTPS.

Netlify offers serverless functions, Forms, Analytics, CLI, API, and more in addition to deployment. The majority of these functions are available for free, however, there are some restrictions. 

Pricing

In terms of pricing, the service is regarded as a low-cost React host because its Pro Plan is $19 per month and its Business Plan costs $99 per month.

If you haven’t previously done so, sign up for a Netlify account.

You may use either the Netlify Dashboard or the Netlify CLI to deploy your app.

Deploying using Netlify drag-and-drop or Github connection

Some of the coolest feathers from Netlify is the ability to simply connect the GitHub / Gitlab or Bitbucket quickly contemplating the application. You can also let’s see in more detail how to do it.

If you want to deploy React app, you need to drag and drop the build folder onto the Netlify Dashboard. Run npm run build or yarn build before deploying the latest build.

If everything was done correctly, you will need to see the next screen.

Later you can set up a custom domain, set up HTTPS, or add different plugins and functions to extend your app.

If you want your changes to be automatically settled, then we advise you to select the Github / Gitlab or Bitbucket attachment option.

Select the project repository you wish to use for deployment.

After you’ve chosen a project, the next step is to configure it, which Netlify will do for you if you use Create React App boilerplate to get started. Your app will be deployed after you click the Deploy site button.

If everything went successfully you can see your site live. In case of some Netlify errors, it provides an opportunity to watch build logs.

In conclusion, we can say that Netlify is one of the simplest services for the deployment of simple React Web applications. The platform allows you to simply start your project into a public disorder, as well as expand it with new functionality at the expense of Netlify Functions and plugins.

GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages is one of the most popular and efficient ways for beginners to build websites. GitHub Actions can be used to automate deployments, set up CI/CD, and much more, making it easier to handle than many of the other technologies covered in this lesson.

If we touch the react application, it can be placed on Github Pages directly from the repository. Next, we will look at the main features of Github Pages, as well as how to set up the project on Github Pages.

Core Features and Advantages

• Web, application, and software developers may use GitHub to access a range of services. The React app follows a simple protocol in which users download the app, create a repository, and utilize a command-line interface to distribute their pages.
• Cost. It is entirely free to use GitHub to publish a website. On the other hand, using packages for certain programming languages and customization tools may be more costly.
• Libraries that are open-source. Customers of GitHub have access to an open-source library that may help them create their websites or add features that make them more valuable. Additionally, due to GitHub’s popularity, customers may easily find customized solutions on the internet.

Deploying React app with Github pages

If you haven’t already, create a GitHub account and a repository for your application. When you create a new repository, you’ll obtain both the repository URL and the Git URL. Run the following command in the project root to set up the local directory as a Git repository, commit all the changes, and push it to the remote.

git init
git add .
git commit -m "initial commit"
git remote add origin (repository remote git url here)
git push -u origin master

If you will do all those commands, your project will be pushed to GitHub.

In your project’s package.json, add a homepage field, like this:

"homepage": "https://myusername.github.io/my-app"

myusername is your GitHub username and my-app is your repository’s name.

Next, install gh-pages in your project.

npm install --save gh-pages

In your package.json, add the following scripts:

"scripts": {
+   "predeploy": "npm run build",
+   "deploy": "gh-pages -d build",
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "build": "react-scripts build",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject"
}

predeploy and deploy are the only additions to the scripts. predeploy will automatically run before deploy and make sure the latest build of the application is deployed.

Run the following command to deploy the application:

npm run deploy

This script will establish a new branch in your project’s GitHub repository called gh-pages. You may need to set a source, which you can do in your repository’s settings under the GitHub Pages option. It should be set to the gh-pages branch.

That is basically all. You can check the result by clicking on this link: https://stepnov.github.io/blog/ – this is a simple react blog hosted with Github Pages. In conclusion, we wanted to say that this is maybe the freest simple way to host a basic static web page on the market.

Surge

Surge is another very popular servile for the deployment front of the EAN projects and static sites. The advantages of this service are Almost Zero Configuration and the ability to fully interact with the CLI service. It provides Free SSL, Custom Domain Configuration. Hosting in surge might require some CLI skills.

There are two sorts of plans available. The first is called ‘Surge’ and is completely free. It also provides app developers with infinite publishing options via basic SSL and custom domain. Surge Professional is the second plan, which costs $30 per month.

Core Features

• Surge is one of the easiest systems accessible for the cause, because of its simple command-line interface. The simplicity, on the other hand, comes at the expense of making goods and sites more complicated, dynamic, and configurable.
• Surge may be the fastest platform for deploying React apps. According to consumers, the entire procedure takes less than 5 minutes, which is far faster than similar Amazon items.
• Cloud-based – Like all of its rivals, it is a cloud-based platform. As a result, it provides its consumers with safe, quick, and constantly synchronized services.
• Surge is cost-effective since it provides customers with free plans, making it excellent for novices and small organizations. It’s also handy for people who want to try their hand at web building as a pastime.

Run the following command in the project root directory to deploy the most recent build of the project:

Run the build command

Install Surge CLI globally: 

npm install -g surge

Run surge inside the build folder.

cd build
surge

Follow the prompts. First, you’ll be asked for an email and password:

Welcome to surge! (surge.sh)
Login (or create surge account) by entering email & password.
      email: eugene.stepnov@gmail.com
      password:

Before filling in any other prompts, it’s a good idea to confirm your Surge account.

In the terminal, you’ll be asked to confirm your project directory. Hit Enter. You’ll see the domain of your project. Again, hit Enter. This will publish your application.

Conclusion

We reviewed the most popular methods of React Application Hosting. Our article had examples of both very simple products and complex solutions with a multitude of useful features and infrastructure setup capabilities.

Almost all products have a simple integration with Github and all take on the job with Ci / CD from the box.

In our opinion, if you want to save on the development and hosting of the web application, we immodestly recommend our Incrudition – Flatlogic.

For simple static sites, Netlify and Vercel are ideal.

If you want to publicly deploy a full-stack application, then do the Digital Ocean or Heroku.

The post 10+ Best Ways to Deploy React App appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

What you get by becoming a Flatlogic guest writer

• The opportunity to include 3 do follow backlinks
• Access to hundreds of thousands of our monthly visitors
• Association with a well-known established brand

We don’t accept links to gambling/dating/porn/crypto domains or affiliate links.

How it works

Step 1

Send us links to your previously published articles

Step 2

Get a task for a new post from our editors

Step 3

Write a post and send it to us for review

Step 4

Revise and edit your text (if needed)

Step 5

Wait for publishing

However, we have some rules

• The content may be based on research, facts, or experience
• When quoting others, you must cite the source
• We reserve the right to add affiliate links or advertising in or around a guest post
• > 2500 words
• Article titles and subtitles should be built according to the checklist. 
• Keywords must be used at least 15-20 times per article, including headings and subheadings
• An article must include at least 2 images (pictures, infographics, tables, photos, screenshots, etc.) 
• Every given subheading must be revealed. Changes in subheadings must be agreed with DM/SEO.
• You can place no more than 3 do-follow backlinks to your sources per article. *We don’t accept links to porn/dating/gambling/crypto sources and related links.
• Plagiarism checker – 1text.com (>90%)

Social Media Repost

1. You need to reshare your article on your social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) after it is submitted. Create a summary for a post on social networks, mention @flatlogic, and post it. Send us the screenshots of your post within 3 days of posting. If the post is not reposted on your social networks, it will be deleted.
2. Make sure to use as many available channels as possible to repost your article. If for any reason an article does not meet certain metrics (active time on page, number of users), Flatlogic reserves the right to remove it.

Article Title Checklist

• Keep titles about 55-60 characters long
• Use target keywords in titles
• Use words like HOW, WHY, WHAT, and WHERE – help people understand what they will find on the page
• Use words like BEST, TOP, ULTIMATE; GUIDE, REVIEW, TUTORIAL – to entice users to click 
• Write unique titles, no duplicates!

Article Structure

1. Intro is important

• Here you identify the core problem, the theme of the article. Then, clarify the solution to the problem which will be shown in the article. There must be a link between “the pain” and “our solution”.
• The intro must include at least 2 references to authoritative sources that confirm 1) the existence of the problem and 2) the rationale for our proposal to solve it. (links, quotes, research, numbers, etc. – reasons to believe)
• A brief overview of what the reader will find in the article (a good chance to insert keywords)
• Please do not write “In my opinion”. Better “According to research” + link to research.

*Please do not write “Some items…”. Better “15+ items”, “More than 22 items..”, “Less than 1,436,000 items…” and so on.

2. Table of contents

*Generated automatically

3. Article Body

• The essence of the problem and solutions are revealed
• Examples of successful solutions are given (from our case studies or other sources) – at least 2 (with links)
• The text has at least 2 links to our theme related blog posts 
• If it is a “20+ tools…” topic, then it has the following structure:
  • Learn in Chapter 4 “How to describe “20+ tools” topic in a blog post”
• If it’s a “Scientific Article”
  • The article must have a “digital value” – “5 methods…” “8 best solutions…” and so on ( H2 subheadings) 
  • Segmented into methods/types/etc.
  • Each method or solution is a separate chapter (H3 subheadings).

4. How to describe “20+ tools…” topic in blog post*:

*Blog post in this case is a list of different items (e.g. list of companies, tools, books, places, organizations, courses, etc.)

**ideally, it covers 3 obligatory points + 2-3 additional points 

<h2>Item Title</h2>

1. Item image <img> – obligatory

2. Item description – obligatory

Describe the item in 1-3 paragraphs.

____________

One of the options below is obligatory

Option 1

3.1.1 Item pros:

Describe the item’s pros in 2-4 sentences

3.1.2 Item cons:

Describe the item’s cons in 2-4 sentences

Option 2

3.2 Key features:

• Feature 1
• Feature 2
• Feature 3
• etc

__________

Additional 

*Single out the main points of the product/item you’re writing about 

• Price (e.g. for tools, books, etc)
• Website/source link
• Demo link 
• Size (e.g. for the company, organization, etc)
• Location (e.g. for the company, organization, etc)
• Language
• Author, etc 

5. Conclusion

• Sum up the idea of the article, make an overview of what was described 
• Add call-to-action for subscription/consultation / etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will I get paid for my writing?

A: We accept guest posts within the Flatlogic Guest Post Program on a non-commercial basis. In return for the contribution, you will get an author bio that includes links to your website and social media profiles and 3 do-follow links.

Q: What should I write about?

A: We write on different tech topics. Our editors will offer you 2-3 themes for your next guest post.

Q: Can I post my articles on my site or other sites?

A: You may post your articles only on your site after the content has been published on flatlogic.com for 31 days.

Q: Can I post a teaser or a link to my article on my site?

A: Yes, we encourage you to post a link to your guest post on your website or social media accounts as soon as it is live. As long as it is just an introduction and a link, there is no need to wait for 31 days after publication on flatlogic.com.

Q: If I submit a guest post, can I get a guarantee that it will be published?

A: We want to publish as many high-quality posts as we can, but we cannot guarantee that we will publish your guest post. We reserve the right to refuse publication of any submitted post that does not meet our guidelines or for any other reason. But if you follow our guidelines carefully, you greatly increase the probability that we will publish it.

Apply to the Flatlogic Guest Post Program via support@flatlogic.com Subject “Guest Post Program”

The post Submit a Guest Post appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

Challenge

Apartments in Israel are very expensive. Residents and students rent through Facebook groups. The number of these groups is enormous and the number of members there is higher than 1 million people. But can you imagine how hard it is to find a place to stay with all these groups… You can’t pick dates or any options for the search, all you can choose is a town. And you have to monitor several groups every day where there is irrelevant information or advertisement along with apartment posts you are looking for. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the property in the post will be as advertised.

Solution

The solution is to develop an Airbnb-like app for local needs. Since Airbnb hasn’t brought together hosts and guests in Israelis in the past and hosts have kept making posts in Facebook groups, ignoring an opportunity to make posts in mobile apps, a new solution must meet that local specificity. And here Subaba appears. 

Subaba is an app based on top of React Native Starter kit that compiles information about apartment offers from numerous groups. It allows monitoring all posts in one place and looking through them. 

Technically, it performs web scraping of Facebook, then structures information with AI, and displays the result to users with an opportunity to filter by date/countries or other apartment descriptions. 

Technology Stack

Backend: Python, Node.js, MongoDB

Frontend: React Native, React Admin

+ React Native Starter

Key features:

• Opportunity to create your sublet (in a couple of minutes with little necessary information).
• Option to find apartments by date and location (thanks to a special filter by date/city and a calendar page).
• Filter by dates, price, amenities.
• Advance filter by shared room or the entire apartment.
• Affordable prices (apartments, sublets, and rooms are 18% cheaper than one on AirBnB).
• Search through all sublets.
• Tracking liked apartments to compare them later.
• Social login via Facebook.
• An apartments list and apartment cards with high-quality photos and description.
• Among other features are online chat, swipe cards, minimalistic and clear design, high-speed thanks to code quality and absence of excessive dependencies in the code.

About Developers

The team consists of 2 people. One uses React Native, Node.js, another uses React Native, Python, Node.js. The app is officially released at Google and Apple stores, it is updated several times a month. The idea of an app is simple and reflected in the main statement on a website: “We parse Facebook so you don’t have to!” And this is not the endpoint for Subaba since developers have the intention to parse publicly available information from other sites about lodging in Israelis. The current version of an app is also not the last: developers want to expand functions in the future and the nearest update will include push notifications.  

Why Use a Template?

Because using a ready-made solution saves time, money, and nerves during the process of development (you can read more here). You can customize your template as heavily as you need with ready-to-use pages and elements and integrate it with almost any solution. The usefulness of templates is invaluable. The best way to understand it is to try. Templates weren’t something new for Subaba’s developers, they used them for admin panels in previous projects. 

The main selection criteria were template popularity on GitHub and the level of support. React Native Starter was the most popular starter kit among other kits and developed by the Flatlogic team (top web developer in Belarus and Lithuania). One of the developers didn’t know the React Native when he cloned the RNS repo, but since RNS is well documented and has a clear modular structure without excessive redundancies in the code it didn’t take a long time to customize it. In the end, the main difficulties were not in frontend but AI configurations. 

About React Native Starter

React Native Starter (RNS) is a powerful React Native template for building mobile apps. It allows developers to focus on key features of the app like AI configuration for Subaba. RNS is a functional starter kit with great and thoughtful design from UX/UI experts, qualified code, and a great variety of functions for your business needs. It was tested several times by the developers and has gained great popularity on GitHub with 1.1 k stars.

React Native Starter offers a lot of built-in components like sidebar, navigation, and form elements. One of the key advantages that helped Subaba’s developers is that RNS can be easily integrated with different content providers like WordPress, YouTube, and (in our case) Facebook. The code has minimum extra dependencies, built without Expo and with the UI-testing ready environment. Thanks to modular architecture and an entire intuitive programming framework you will get an easily customizable template, so even developers with pure experience in React Native technology can launch the app with necessary functionality in a short time. 

And Subaba has become a great example of the implementation of React Native Starter. It isn’t every day a good alternative to the Airbnb app appears. Yeah, Subaba is a local app and the volume of its transaction can’t be compared with the volume of the world-famous app, but still. Could you imagine that two developers without huge experience in React Native built an app that got ahead of AirBnB in some country? We couldn’t imagine it either. Just one good starter kit like React Native Starter and one good idea can bring unexpected results! 

So what is the future of Subaba?

Developers want to become a #1 rental center in Israelis. Facebook is not the only option to collect data from, they plan to collect info from other popular sites.

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The post How to Create React Native AirBnb-like App appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.