What You Must Know About Progressive Web Apps

With the emergence of smartphones in the past decade, internet  traffic has seen a major shift. Smartphones command more than half the internet usage – meaning more people access the internet from their mobiles  than other devices. However, statistics also show us that this doesn’t necessarily translate to more engagements and conversions.

As any person conducting business online including those who making a foray into mobile apps would know, engagement and conversion rates are very important and without it, the purpose of developing mobile apps, be it android or iOS, becomes irrelevant.

In this blogpost, our developers at HireIndianProgrammers make a case for Progressive Web Apps and why both android and iOS developers must readily make a transition and incorporate it into their future mobile app development services.
 

What are Progressive Web Apps (PWA)?

Progressive Web Apps are fairly new to the internet scene and they can be best thought of as a bridge/ link between mobile web and mobile apps. You need to be aware of just 3 criteria with respect to PWA. First, you need to be running under HTTPS and secondly you would need a web app manifest, app shell and thirdly a service worker. All these in conjunction would enable you to develop what is called a Progressive Web App.

The best thing is you can virtually convert any website into a PWA using the above three criteria.

Here’s why companies providing mobile app development services must make a beeline for PWA:

Doesn’t depend on Connectivity – This means that you grant users the boon of accessing your business products offline too – a possible game-changer for businesses due to the addition of new customers located in remote areas.

Very Secure – Because they run under HTTPS, mobile developers and business people alike can be rest assured that PWA are generally more secure than mobile websites. What’s more? PWA are also much faster and battery efficient than conventional mobile apps.

Ease of Use – PWAs remove the need for app stores giving users the option to install and add them right to the home-screen, ultimately giving more control to the user. The high responsiveness of the PWA means that users will prefer them over mobile apps or sites any day, thereby leading to more conversion rates. No irritation, whatsoever.

One step ahead of Mobile Websites – Developing websites, both for the desktop and mobile to provide a seamless experience can prove to be a challenge. PWAs on the other hand have the capability to integrate with the user’s smartphone through push notifications. The existence of the app shell boosts the look significantly. They also provide app like interactions primarily navigations making it easy for the user.

Higher Engagements – Because they are far easier to share with the outside world – a one click process, Progressive Web Apps are sure to crank up the engagement for businesses.

 

Conclusion

All of the special features of Progressive Web Apps enable them to become much more desirable for mobile app development service companies to create ground breaking applications, thanks to its checking of several boxes – speed, security, convenience and so on.

Are you looking for any mobile app developers to develop exciting mobile applications? Look no further, you can now hire mobile app developers at HireIndianProgrammers and acquire our expert services without any messy contracts.

Top 7 Photoshop Alternatives

All of us in the web-design business would have at some point of time tried our hands in editing images and videos. Photoshop has been there in the market for many years. Though it is one of the best editing software products out there, many designers have refrained from using Photoshop owing to its expensive packages and a deep learning curve. But still, we might have lost out on developing good images in the search for alternatives. Our programmers at HireIndianProgrammers have experimented with several photo-editing software applications in different projects.

In this blogpost, we will take a look at some of the top alternatives to Photoshop worth trying out in the course of your web development projects.
 

PhotoLab

This software application, highly centered on photo editing, has won multiple awards over the years. PhotoLab is known for its high degree of precision and correction editing abilities. We would recommend it to people who are very serious about their images, including the tiniest details and aberrations, if any and want to always produce the best looking images for their website.

PhotoLab is available for both Mac and Windows for $ 145 one-time fee. We’d recommend it readily owing to its provision of class-leading features.
 

Figma

If you have a team of web-designers spread across different locations and want to bring everyone into the same project that involves, the Figma is the application for you. High on scope for innovativeness, this software application allows room for collaborative design.

Available for Windows, Mac, Linus at a $ 12 monthly subscription, one crucial advantage is that you can see the live input of your team right on your desktop.
 

Affinity Photo

Available at a one-time fee of $ 49.99 for both Windows and Mac, this is mainly geared towards the professionals and hard-core web-programmers, especially those who have experience with Photoshop itself. In fact, we would go as far as to say that Affinity Photo is an efficient version of Photoshop. It is performance oriented and much faster than Photoshop.
 

Krita

Krita could be said to be a direct alternative to Photoshop. This is because Krita’s UI is very similar to Photoshop with familiar set of tools. It is also touted as a digital programmer’s paradise, because of its support for designing on tablets. How cool and convenient is that? Now programmers could design on their tablets easily and improve their workflow.

What’s more? It is a professional and open source application having support for concept art, texture and matte, illustrations and comics.

 

SumoPaint

We know that some of you might not have used Photoshop till now. Fret not, for SumoPaint comes to your rescue. SumoPaint is especially very useful for beginners, those who are new to world of editing itself.

It is a free app, with UI resembling that of earlier versions of Photoshop and also has support across different operating system. Need a beginner ask more?
 

Pixlr X

Can’t afford to spend too much time in complex editing? Then this app is for you. Pixlr X is the next revamped version in the Pixlr series. Marketers, bloggers and programmers alike would find Pixlr X to be appealing because it has provision for editing within browser and even directly on the cloud like Dropbox.

Completely free, Pixlr has numerous features enjoying multiplatform support – something that is necessary for business people.
 

Photo-Paint

The most expensive alternative in this list, we recommend Photo-Paint for the complete professionals who want to do a lot more than just edit. Also, it is available only on Windows so people on Mac would have to switch to the former if they really want to use this premium alternative to Photoshop.

If you are running a business and want to make a transition into online market, you could hire dedicated programmers who would possess the requisite tech know-how to develop a full-fledged website from front-end to back-end.

We hope that this comprehensive list makes your task easier in choosing a good alternative for Photoshop.

For any queries, get in touch with our indianprogrammers here.

Growing Organically on Facebook

What does organic growth mean? It means that you grow your business from within, using your own resources and not acquiring the services of any external party. This has more benefits than you would think – the main being credibility.

Are you looking to market your business or product to a larger audience but short on funds to afford expensive marketing campaigns? Then this blogpost is for you, where we as, expert programmers at HireIndianProgrammers – a top Indian mobile app development company, seek to give you some tips to grow your business organically.

 

Content is always the king

Yes, it is true. Content when expressed in your own way will attract attention and translates into something more fruitful – engagements and signup conversions. So focus on content that talks about your product and demonstrate it in the best possible way. With the advent of smartphones, content consumption has evolved from leisurely reading to watching videos.

Therefore, design content with a mix of all forms – text, audio, video, animation, short presentations and so on. Diversifying your content will appeal to different consumers. More so, on facebook, where there are thousands of people, if you want your potential customers to notice you, you got to up the ante and post organic content. You could even hire a programmer from a web development company to develop your own website and integrate Facebook tools into it.

 

Connecting with your customers

As your posting frequency increases, there will be more engagement on your Facebook page. Engagement is like the intangible monetary unit that will reward you in later stages in your business venture. Engagement coupled with honest discussions in the forum will prove to be highly profitable. The effect is multiplied when you post content in video format. This is because a video contains more dynamic information and customers’ attention can be easily grabbed.

Make use of Facebook features like posting questions. This will invariably start a conversation and boost engagement levels around your business. In fact, having a dedicated person to deftly manage these conversations will augur well for the said product.

 

Groups and Events

Facebook groups are an effective way to reach out a mass instantly. You can harness the power of group – interest groups – in particular to share your content and ask people what they feel about your product. Similarly, you could also ask your employees to share their posts on your page.

Events are a great feature of Facebook as it allows a business to gather your customers, programmers, followers, employees and even other web development companies alike in one place for any kind of meeting. Apart from massively boosting your engagement, it also serves as a means to improve your brand equity, credibility and customer loyalty. You can use the events feature in Facebook to organise at least an annual meet-up.

 

Final Thoughts

The best advantages of any social media is that you are always somehow connected to your customers and therefore you will be in a position to gauge any changing trends including customer preferences. This will allow you to tweak your strategies as and when possible.

WordPress and October CMS – A Comparison

Recently, WordPress launched its React powered Gutenberg to provide a revamped content management system (CMS) experience. But this has gone too well with much of the users and has rather garnered a lukewarm response. Are you one of those people, looking to shift to another platform? Then this post might be for you.

So, in this blogpost we will look at the next best alternative – October CMS and also see how it stacks up with our beloved WordPress. If you are looking for any developer out there, you can now hire a WordPress developer at HireIndianProgrammers, who will make your transition into website development for your business a smooth process.

October CMS is a free, open source, relatively new and dynamic content generator that is based on the Laravel framework. Having a sizeable community, one key difference between WordPress developmentand October CMS is that while the former has basis on procedural programming the latter has basis on object oriented programming.

Both WordPress development and October CMS run on the LAMP stack i.e Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. You must also know that they both have the same language basis – HTML, CSS, Javascript.
 

Content Creation and Plugins

With the launch of Gutenberg, there are two new features for WordPress developers – Introduction of the usage of components over the earlier coding blobs of HTML and another feature known as the block. Blocks are supposedly introduced to provide a way to insert content into the site.

What does it entail for users?It ensures a simpler user experience. It is in stark contrast to the earlier version of WordPress that added content through shortcodes, buttons, menus etc; Installing many blocks isn’t a hassle either. What this essentially achieves is that it provides users with a modular approach. However, as with anything new, the learning curve for React is rather steep, thereby testing your patience.

For October CMS, knowing just HTML is enough to build sites. The pages are written using twig templates. With respect to design, it allows users to select the appropriate layout including header, footer, placeholders and so on. So customisation is a breeze. If at all, you are not satisfied with only HTML, you can always add PHP functions to produce a dynamic code.

While anyone can use a WordPress site, October CMS is rather developer-friendly.That means dedicated programmers may have no problems to use, but the layman like marketers may not find it helpful.

With regard to plugins, both platforms offer an advanced yet simplified mechanism that allows users to search, install new plugins and update existing plugins to their latest version. This can be achieved from the backend itself.

 

Documentation

We are all very much familiar with the documentation in WordPress. While in-site documentation doesn’t cover everything, there are several external sources and general sites such as CSS Tricks and online courses sealing with every WordPress topic under the sun.

On the other hand, the documentation provided by the founders of October CMS, though doesn’t enjoy widespread recognition, does the job pretty well for a new entrant. It’s more than enough for people looking to start coding. What’s more? The founders regularly add new content to the documentation. However, you must know that it is not 100% perfect and it is a work in progress.
 

Security

Due to its immense popularity, WordPress is riddled with large amount of negative externalities. Users therefore have to constantly update all of their plugins and related software to prevent any major hacks.

Meanwhile, October CMS being a fairly new entrant in this space and owing to its size, doesn’t have that problem. Moreover, during the wizard installation process itself, it allows users to input the CMS backend URL (changeable). This makes it almost impossible for hackers to attack.

 

Community Support

The sheer vastness of the community forums of WordPress programmers, both online and offline doesn’t need introduction. Not only in size, but also from a diversity point of view. It brings together people from different countries, backgrounds, professions – developers and users alike. So, it is very likely that whatever challenge you may be facing, there is always someone out there to help you out in these forums. In addition to that you could also make use of the WordCamps held in various cities to learn how to use the platform.

October CMS is not bad either, especially for one that recently came into picture. Though it doesn’t match the level of WordPress development support forums, it is steadily gaining popularity. Even the platform’s owners join the discussion forum from time to time. This is good news for those who are starting out, in need of tips and tricks. The only con is that these forums are more oriented towards the developer.

So what do you think would be a better choice for you? Both WordPress and October CMS have their own set of pros and cons. While WordPress is favourable for both the developer and the user, October CMS is geared towards developers.

However, your choice may differ according to the project or team or company. What are your requirements? Make a note of it and decide on THE CMS for you.

How to Scale Your Web Design Business?

Now that you have started your web-design business, we are sure that it must have been a reasonably good journey – acquiring new clients, new projects, delightful challenges, innovative solutions, keeping up with the deadlines, carrying the lessons learnt from prior projects into new ones and so on. But we all know the market is crowded and it definitely isn’t easy to take your business to the next level.

In this blogpost, we will look at how to go about scaling your business and most importantly stand out from the crowd.

Find your Core Domain

After having successfully completed a series of projects, you would be in a position to determine your area of interest and also which domain you are more comfortable working on. In this journey you might have earned great testimonials or you might have not bothered when any challenges came your way and you handled it brilliantly. It might be WordPress or PHP or even E-Commerce (OpenCart) etc;

Finding your core domain or niche will mean that you consider yourself an industry expert and will make you more attractive to prospective clients. Their search for the said domain in which you are an expert will end with you. For instance, at HireIndianProgrammers we have dedicated PHP developers and WordPress developers who are experts in the corresponding areas.

Superior Customer Service

In the world of business, be it any format, one of the tried and tested ways of indirectly scaling your business is to provide unparalleled customer service.

So, what qualifies as customer service in the Web Design business? Setting timelines and delivering projects within that, going the extra mile to keep your clients posted about the project status with quick-easy-tech solutions, accommodating client’s every requirement into the project as much as possible and so on. This will create a long lasting positive impression.

In fact, the more adept you are in providing customer service, this will help in your marketing efforts organically – courtesy of positive word of mouth or testimonials. In our opinion, this is far more powerful than the default marketing.

Design your Workflow around your Core Domain

Now that you have identified your area of expertise, it will be useful to develop and design a workflow for your niche web development process. This will inevitably bring efficiency into your future projects because of the readily available templates for different routine works associated with the core domain.

By focusing on your workflow, this will allow you to concentrate directly on the said project.In addition to this, you can also customise your back end operations – for starters you could provide a custom platform that reminds clients of your brand. For example, you can design a content collection or testimonial form with your business branding for your clients. There are several tools in the market including WordPress that provide plugins to help you with this.

 

Build and Organise your Team

This is a crucial stage in your journey to scale your business. Hiring the right programmers – be it WordPress or PHP or any other core domain –for your team is of utmost importance. This is because this will define the success of your future projects.

Also find innovative ways to stay connected at all times. Ensure that you are connected exclusive of outside clutter such as newsletters, social media notifications, automatic status reports etc; This will greatly enhance your team’s task management – share, communicate, set deadlines etc;Fret not, for there are several tools to cater to this need too.

Market your Business

Finally, after having achieved all the above, you can develop a marketing campaign. This will certainly bring in new clients from elsewhere. What are some of the ways to market your business?

  • Start a unique blog centred on your business with regular updates and articles
  • Highlight your successful projects and some testimonials from your past clients
  • Integrate all the above into a feasible social media profile

 

With this, we come to the end of this post. Hope you gained some insights on how to scale your web design business. It is important that you know that all the above will take time and you will begin to reap in benefits after a couple of projects. In fact, Scaling, like any other business effort is a constant activity. Patience is of the essence!

HireIndianProgrammers, started as a software development company, has a team of experienced programmers and developers with a repertoire of domain skills. You can now hire a PHP or WordPress developer for your web design projects.

Get in touch with us here.

More Resources about WordPress Blogs:

Things you need to know before selecting an E-Commerce Platform

The E-Commerce sector has been on the upswing in the recent years and there are no indications for this  to change. Having said that, if you are someone who is looking to make a foray into the crowded online business space, then there are some things that you must need sorting out before choosing an appropriate E-Commerce platform. This will ensure that you get a strong head-start and grow without any hiccups while saving costs.

In this blogpost, we will discuss some key factors that you need to consider, following which you will be able to make an informed decision in choosing from tons of options.
 

Host

The first and foremost thing you need to do is to be clear on the product and the market – i.e what product you are selling and whom you are selling to. For example, if you are selling just digital products, there is no worry of shipping, rather you can concentrate on e-mail marketing.

On this basis, you have to decide whether you want a self-hosted platform or hosted platform. Going the self-host way gives you more control but also you need to be sure if it has a high uptime rate. On the other hand, going the hosted platform way will take care of your every need.
 

Support System

This is something that you must not take lightly. Given that you are conducting business online, there are some things that might go out of your hand like – for instance – software and server crash. In these moments, it would greatly help if you have a strong customer care service from your side. So, look for platforms that provide customer service, how they provide, what they provide and so on. OpenCart provides free community or dedicated commercial support!
 

Pricing

The next factor you need to consider is the pricing. Every platform out there has a monthly fee. It goes without saying that the pricing will vary with the kind of host you opt for. In fact, it will be useful to make a list of features and categorise it as Must have (critical), Should Have (Important but not necessary), Could Have (Desirable but not necessary), Won’t Have (Least critical). Especially, if you’re starting out, don’t hesitate and end up compromising on essential features just for a platform at a cheaper price.

For example, the checkout area in any e-commerce website is a crucial area and most customers will look for payment options like PayPal. It would augur well for you to give preference to those platforms that offer this support. If your site doesn’t have the usual payment options, then the customer will likely move on to a different site. Lost sale, period!
 

Plugins

Make the most from your chosen E-Commerce platform that provides a variety of useful plugins that your business actually needs. For example, there are plugins in platforms like Shopify for specific aspects like Shipping, Accounting, tool to reward your customers to increase their loyalty and so on.
 

Mobile Friendly and SEO Ready

Most people are now purchasing on their smartphones. So, having a mobile friendly version of your e-commerce site will be an added advantage. In addition to that, consider search engine optimisation (SEO) for your business. This means enabling your customers to write reviews and adding blogs etc;

Having a platform that offers these services will prove to be highly beneficial, in the sense, it will not only increase your page rank but will also likely create engagement and guarantees your customer’s returning to your shop to purchase. Loyalty!
 

Other Things to Look Out For

Security is one major concern among customers. Ensure that the platform you choose has support for HTTPS for a safe and secure payment experience. Also check whether the said platform is Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant.

We know that you hope to make it big with your E-Commerce venture. That is why it doesn’t hurt to look for a platform that will scale along with you without charging exorbitant fees.

 

Depending on your preferences, you can now hire a Magento developer or hire an OpenCart developer at HireIndianProgrammers. They will work round the clock to ensure that you get the best e-commerce platform that you want as determined by you.

For more queries, feel free to contact us here.

Things to do prior to launching your mobile app

Smartphone usage has increased massively in the last decade such that people are more likely to achieve just about anything with the help of their mobiles. Therefore, having a mobile app for your business can be very rewarding if done the right way. But before heading out to develop one, it is important to take a moment and consider website optimisation.

HireIndianProgrammers being in the mobile app development services space in India for quite some time, our developers understand the significance of a flawless website experience. You must do everything you can to make your customers, old and new to stay for a longer time, leading to higher signup conversions. In this blogpost, we shall provide insights into how you can best fix to website before launching your mobile app.

We are going to look at improving two aspects that are integral for a user’s satisfaction while browsing through your site namely loading time (Speed) and ease of use (User Interface).

 

Image Compression

Having a lot of visuals can take a toll on the loading time of your site. Agreed, they are crucial for user engagement but surely not at the cost of sluggishness. Fret not, for there are a number of tools to handle image optimisation such as ImageFlow, Cloudinaryetc;

 

Keep your website simple

The last thing that users want is to search for simple things while going through your cluttered website. Keep it simple and easy on the eyes. Follow a lean structure – this can be achieved if you take a moment and analyse the typical in-website operations by your customers.

In addition to a standard homepage and categories, having a dedicated section of FAQs will prove to be beneficial.

 

Eliminate Bad Links

No one likes to click on a link and find themselves in a dead end. This is true even for redirected links too. Moreover, this will multiply the irritant factor in case of mobile devices. Using tools like Broken Link Checker will solve the same.

 

De-plugin

There are a wide range of plugins for a variety of purposes and while they are very useful, having too many of them running at the same time can take a hit on your website speed.

Decide on the essential plugins that is actually required. Try clubbing plugins with an all-in-one solution. Our android developers recommend to restrict it to within 10 depending on your host.

 

Design Content Meticulously

Yes, this is true and assumes much more significance if you want your mobile app to stand out. Clear out anything that seek to create distractions. Removing excess content and replacing them instead with short videos will reward you more. People tend to find it easier to watch a video than going through a large content.

 

All things Minified

Our iOS developers refer to the process of minification which removes the redundant data in your website without affecting the speed and user experience.

For instance, plugins like Autoptimise removes the unnecessary Javascript code, line breaks etc thereby effectively removing the website content. Also, it would serve you well to remove any unwanted special effects, sidebars and the like.

 

Compress your Text

If your website is one that relies heavily on text, then text compression can boost your website speed immensely. You can achieve this with multiple tools like Gzip or plugins like WP Rocket.

 

Pay Attention to Slider Images

This is a pretty common issue faced by most users while browsing. Sliders or banners with multiple images tend to bring down the speed by a notch. They readily present an image of sluggishness and turn off interested customers. So keep it to a minimum.

 

Revisit your Javascript

Large codes of javascript can considerably slow down your website, especially in mobiles. Codesplitting can be implemented using tools such as Parcel, which breaks the javascript bundles, achieving faster deliveries as and when the user needs it.

 

Do a test

All said and done, wouldn’t it be more satisfying if you had some tools for testing our website? This would enable you to see where you are going wrong and address the same.

Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is a popular tool that measures your page loading speed – both in the web and mobile. What’s more? It also gives suggestions on areas to improve.

With that, we come to the end of this post. You can now hire a programmer from our company (HireIndianProgrammers) for all your website conundrums.

For more queries, contact us here.

Top 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Comparison With Details

From restoring your website’s information in the case of a hacking attempt to helping you protect your data to save your website from a security breach and providing you some peace of mind as you expand your business, backups are essential to protect your site. There are many options that developers use for logging backups and restoring backups or files in the event of an attack on your security. But WordPress makes this process a lot simpler. 

For many of the online businesses out there, websites are crucial from the operational point of view. In this case, creating periodic backups is a foolproof way of safeguarding your website against any negative externalities such as malicious attacks. For securing and restoring backups, WordPress backup plugins are a sure way to back up any WordPress site.

In case you are using another CMS or have custom-coded your website, you can Hire Indian Programmers to get the things sorted. It will be affordable and the quality of work will be top-notch.

If you are not able to do it with the help of these plugins, and things seem overwhelming, then you need to hire a WordPress developer to get this done. But remember, backups are vital for a website’s safety and you consistently need to keep them updated.

In this blog post, we take a look at some of the best WordPress backup plugins that we have come to know about through a decade of experience. You can choose from among these top WordPress plugins, the one that suits you the most.

Let’s start.

7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins for Your Website

1. UpdraftPlus

Quite popular among people in the world of WordPress development is UpdraftPlus. It is a wonderful plugin that provides for creating backups of your WordPress site including backups for databases, plugins, and themes while storing it in the cloud. The retrieval process is also quite simple, directly from your admin panel.

One good thing that is sure to give you peace of mind is its provision of both scheduled and on-demand backups. There is also a premium version that allows users to migrate or clone websites in addition to priority support.

It will instantly transfer backup files onto Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, Rackspace, FTP, SFTP, email, along with other cloud storage providers.

Along with backing up all WordPress websites, UpdraftPlus also allows you to restore backups quickly via the WordPress administration panel.

Key Features:

  • Incremental backups; backups that may be scheduled or manually done
  • Cloning and migration
  • There are many add-ons available to enhance the functionality
  • Restore backups using your control panel
  • Secure storage options are available

Pros:

  • One-click restores automatically
  • Automated & Manual backups
  • Backups of the complete and partial
  • Cloud-based services can be integrated with

Cons:

  • Offsite storage is only available for an additional cost
  • There aren’t any backups that are real-time
  • Unreliable restores

Pricing: Free basic version. Premium plans start from $42/year.

2. BackupBuddy

This premium WordPress backup plugin has protected about half a million WordPress websites since 2010. BackupBuddy enables users to backup your entire website right from your dashboard. It also allows for automatic backups and quick retrieval of your files from a secure location.

But above all, one of the defining features of BackupBuddy is the incorporation of Stash Live storage. This feature incorporates real-time backup. This is especially a boon for WordPress developers maintaining a large, dynamic website, guaranteeing peace of mind.

Through BackupBuddy you can store your backups in cloud storage providers like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, Stash (their cloud service) and also send the backup via email to yourself.

The major benefit of the use of BackupBuddy is that it’s not a subscription-based service meaning there’s no monthly fee. The plugin is available on all websites listed in the plan you’ve chosen.

Key Features:

  • Real-time backup feature
  • Make backups of your content, which you then customize
  • Automatic backups that are scheduled for the future
  • Restoring process is easy
  • Offsite storage for backups that are secure as well as options to download

Pros:

  • Independent dashboard available
  • Backups of the complete and partial database
  • Multiple site support
  • One-click restores automatically

Cons:

  • There isn’t offsite storage
  • Backups are kept on the in-house server by default
  • There aren’t any backups that are real-time

Pricing: $80/year for an individual site license with 1GB Stash storage

3. BackWPUp

With BackWPUp, you can create complete backups of the entire website and store it on any cloud such as Amazon, Dropbox, and the like or even your own system. There is also a premium version. Going premium will enable you to store and retrieve your backups from Google drive as well. The premium includes certain features such as priority support and backup as per your specific needs.

It’s extremely simple to use and allows you to make automatic backups in line with the regularity of your website’s updates. BackWPup has an automated process for backup and restoration. This makes it a great choice for those who are beginners to the technology.

Key Features:

  • Synchronize files across remote backup locations like Google Drive and Dropbox
  • Premium personalized customer support
  • The backup file’s path to the backup is unique to your website based on the requirements of your site
  • Multiple locations per job
  • A specific app for restoration emergencies

Pros:

  • Cloud-based services can be integrated with
  • Backups of both complete and partial database
  • Auto-restore available
  • Extremely affordable for the long term

Cons:

  • There isn’t any off-site storage
  • The interface isn’t user-friendly
  • Manual backups

Pricing: Free basic version. The Pro version costs $69/year

4. VaultPress

VaultPress is a WordPress plugin that is now subsumed under Automattic’s JetPack. Some strong points of VaultPress are its option of multiple pricing plans, automated WordPress backup plugin on a real-time basis, scanning your website for potential threats, and fixing the same.

However, due to its association with JetPack, only if you have a JetPack subscription you will be able to use VaultPress. Also, the pricing is on the higher side for people who want access to a larger backup archive.

Even with the higher price, Jetpack backup is completely worth it due to the great reputation that is Automattic. This is why we spend more money for an immediate backup of new sites since we’d prefer to have the most secure level of security.

Key Features:

  • Mobile application which you can carry wherever you go
  • Secures your website from malware after scanning
  • Protection against attacks as well as malicious hacking
  • Automatically eliminates the spammy comments on your site
  • Monitoring downtime will notify you that your website is down as soon as it is detected

Pros:

  • Offsite storage
  • Backups that are reliable and effective
  • Reliable backups for WooCommerce websites
  • One-click auto restore

Cons:

  • Optimized elements may modify the look of the website

Pricing: Cost backup packages start with $4.77/year

5. Duplicator

True to its name, Duplicator promises to migrate its websites from one location to another with zero downtime and is a completely free WordPress backup plugin. In addition to the normal backup features (no automation), this plugin allows users to store it in zip format.

Storing in zip format will enable you to move it across platforms and access it offline with ease. It provides developers with the option of pulling down a live site to localhost for development.

Like the other popular WordPress Backup tools, Duplicator permits the user to plan backups and transfer backups to cloud storage, and also send emails that contain alerts.

Key Features:

  • Backups that are scheduled and instantaneous
  • Cloud storage is available for Amazon S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more
  • Select or remove certain files
  • Move your site effortlessly
  • Limit backups in order to avoid the storage space from maximizing.

Pros:

  • Automated backups that are scheduled to take place
  • Backups of the complete and partial
  • Get email notifications for any backup issues
  • Cloud services integration

Cons:

  • There isn’t any off-site storage
  • Manual restoration
  • Not for the beginner

Pricing: Free basic version. Duplicator Pro costs $69/year

6. WP Time Capsule

WP Time Capsule easily connects to cloud storage solutions. It is one of the simplest options on this list.

Contrary to other backup plugins we’ve come across, WP Time Capsule permits even the beginner user to use all of the features. After the plugin is installed and configured, it’s easy to proceed.

Key Features:

  • 1-click restore facility available
  • Automated backups are created when you make edits or changes to your data
  • Backups in real-time
  • Storage offsite, whichever site you prefer
  • Incremental backups do not load your site

Pros:

  • One-click restore available
  • Automated backups that are scheduled to happen
  • Backups calendar view
  • Cloud-based services can be integrated with

Cons:

  • Backups can take a lot of time
  • Restores aren’t quick and efficient
  • There isn’t any offsite storage

Pricing: 30-days free version. Paying plans start at $49/year

7. Blogvault

BlogVault gives regular updates for websites and stores the updates offsite for them to be accessible. If you have multiple sites, BlogVault has a multisite backup option. The process of recovering your website is also simple in the event that you require it. The plugin promises 70% faster speed for recovering.

You can test the changes and modifications made to your site with BlogVault’s staging tools, and transfer your site to a new host, domains, servers, or servers without difficulty. If you have online stores, BlogVault can also protect your customers’ orders with the WooCommerce backup integration.

Key Features:

  • Backups scheduled and automatic
  • Monitoring of uptime
  • WooCommerce backups with 365 days archives
  • Stage free with a single click to merge
  • Centralized and autonomous dashboard

Pros:

  • Effective and reliable WordPress backups
  • Real-time copies of WooCommerce websites
  • Alerts and monitoring
  • One-click restores automatically

Cons:

  • No partial backups

Pricing: The 7-day trial plan is available. Then it’ll start at $89/year

Conclusion:

Most of the WordPress backup plugins that we have mentioned above offer full WordPress file backup as well as full database backup features. That being said, you have to choose the right plugin in accordance with your business website requirements – size, type of payment, security features, ease of use, and so on. After deciding on the WordPress backup plugin, you have to remember just one more thing – ensure that you store your backups on third-party applications like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, etc.

Utilizing effective WordPress backup plugins could be one of the best ways to ensure your website remains safe as you sleep through the night. In the case that you lose everything on your website, such as your images, files, blogs guides, posts PDFs, guides, etc. It is essential to retrieve all of it within a few mouse clicks. This is the place where backup plugins can be found.

WordPress development is incomplete without the provision of crucial backups. Our WordPress developers at Hire Indian Programmers acknowledge this and implement solutions for the same in their different WordPress projects.

To know about us more, click here.

Read more WordPress related blogs: 

How to Build A Strong Relationship with Clients

So, having just started your business, you successfully bag an exciting project from a new client. Next, you proceed to work on it sincerely with an extraordinary dedication and deliver the said project on time. The client is thoroughly satisfied and you also end up happy. Does your working relationship end here? Absolutely not. Most people in the software business fail to realise the importance of maintaining a robust and continual relationship with their clients. We are not just talking about the occasional maintenance that you may have promised in your contract for a fixed period.

At HireIndianProgrammers, reliability is the order of the day. Our Clients keep coming back to us and hire our programmers and developers for this reason. We constantly do everything in our power to keep the relationship positive and continuous.

Why go to all lengths, you ask? To build loyalty amongst your clients. They will gain respect for you and most importantly, they will come to you for future projects without second thoughts. All of this will ultimately help in growing your brand equity.

What all must one do to build and sustain a solid relationship with her client? We see exactly that in this blogpost.
 

Don’t beat around the bush

If you are starting out new, this is one of the first things that you must follow, period. Why? If you beat around the bush, clients will quickly lose interest. Time is of the essence. Don’t talk too much technical or too much layman. Strike a balance between the two. Our developers at HireIndianProgrammers, irrespective of client expectations, fully understand them and quickly put to rest any lack of clarity from the client’s side.

If there is any issue in the project, explain to the client about the reasons/ what can be done, in a language she is able to visualise. Being concise in your work will take you places.
 

Honesty is universal and liked by all

We all are familiar with the saying – Honesty is the best policy – and it still holds true. Especially, when it comes to the workplace. A hint of lying sensed by your client will permanently tarnish your image. It will also hinder your future projects.

Imagine a negative testimonial from a very profitable client!
 

Keep them in the loop

Clients pay money for your services. So this is a complete obligation from your part. No excuses, whatsoever. Moreover, no client likes to be held in the dark. Initially, when you are just starting out, there may not be difficulties in keeping your clients informed.

But the more clients you get and the bigger the project gets, this can virtually become a nightmare for you, if you don’t prioritise your schedule and projects. Even if there have been some minor issues or missed deadlines, by all means, inform your clients about it. A continual ‘keeping them in the loop’ will give more brownie points for you.

 

Taking Initiative

Don’t be rigid in your work and just stick to the project given to you. This also depends on the client and nature of project. Often, taking initiative in your work, will rub your clients in positive ways. Initiatives can range from giving bold suggestions to hosting informative webinars that will ultimately benefit the client.

Moreover, by taking such initiatives, you will project a positive image in the client’s mind.

Finally, whether there is an ongoing project or not, ensure that you always stay connected with your clients by all means. This can be done by providing the usual maintenance and support or some kind of passive activity, like newsletters. All this will enable the client to remember you often. And, that is always good news!

Many of our clients have been with us for a long time owing to the services of our programmers at HireIndianProgrammers.

Feel free to contact us here, for any queries.

How Social Media can affect your Web Design Business?

The world of Marketing saw new avenues with the advent of social media in the early 2000s. It has become so omnipresent and can be considered as a necessary evil, for it can make or break or your business. A good social media presence can ensure that you get noticed by prospective clients.

HireIndianProgrammers is a leading player in the software development business having expertise in several domains like web design, mobile app development etc. Ever since we started this venture, we have bagged multiple projects from different businesses (clients) of varying sizes based out of the U.S thereby earning their goodwill gradually.

In this blogpost, we will look at some of the Dos and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing for your web design business.

Managing Your Social Media Activity Wisely

Using social media has both its pros and cons. Posting nothing will not bring you up in client searches and posting too much will create a perception that you are non-professional. Meticulously posting online is therefore required to create a good impression. You must strike the right balance. Astute web developers  keep their profiles always updated. That will give your client the message that you are active in your professional life. Also be true to yourself when it comes to posting about your projects.

Ensure that you give importance to quality rather than quantity while posting and engage in relevant conversation in social media such that it always revolves around your niche. That projects to your clients your passion and no-nonsense attitude.

 

Coming Up with The Right Content

Social Media is a like virtual ocean of a multitude of topics to discuss about. Make wise use of it and share those content that relates with your business or your field. At the same time, take effort to come up with your own posts. This will give a touch of originality to your posts. Simply copying and pasting content from one place to your social media front will damage your credibility.

Remember, content is always the king. Create content such that clients will be bound to get to know more about you. Also, if people come tapping on your posts, engage meaningfully and evolve it into a conversation. This must ultimately serve the purpose of promoting your business behind the keyboard typing. Refrain from obvious sales pitch posts.

A dedicated web designer will talk about her best  web design practices in a positive way!

Some Don’ts

As far as possible, stay away from sensitive topics like politics, religion or any violent content. Stick to your business and share content related to it. Clients want to see a professional and bringing your personal life/opinion will sort of undo that image.

Finally, no client likes a distrustful employee. Badmouthing about your past clients or bringing into public any negative past experiences or leaking any confidential information will certainly bring down your level of reliability.

Using Social Media the right way is of prime importance because whatever you post online will be scrutinised by clients as hard as the ones you publish on your own website. A good programmer would acknowledge that for one to get noticed by clients, she mustn’t try hard and follow a professional etiquette.

You can get started in your website development process by first checking out our team at HireIndianProgrammers, their credentials, area of expertise and previous work.

You can then proceed to hire a web developer from HireIndianProgrammers.

For more queries, contact us here.

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