Author Archives: Admin

1. Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Web Development Projects

   December 19, 2013 5:48 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Whosoever thought outsourcing didn’t matter when setting up an online business presence must be misinformed or sleeping under the rocks. No matter what others say about this strategy, it does and will always be smart to outsource web development works.

   Here at Big Outsource, we always have the chance to engage customers about their decisions to outsource. From a heap of benefits, we selected the ten top reasons small and big companies turn over to outsourced experts when it comes to their web development projects:

    

   

   Outsourcing liberates you to focus on core competencies

    
   When you are a small business, a lot of non-core functions surely will eat up time and energy away from your concentration on your moneymaking side of business.

   Running your venture means you’ll have to keep up with the pace of business and demands from customers. Organizations outsource their web project in order to focus on moneymakers and core strengths.
    
   

   Outsourcing saves money

    
   Running your own in-house team of web designers and web developers costs loads and loads of cash. Many small businesses decide it’s not worth to hire local web professionals who will just work for short-term and never keep onboard permanently.

   Finding a web development company that’s right for you can solve many of your talent related expenses, from health insurance and retirement plans.
    
   

   Outsourcing provides access to tools and innovation

    
   With competition for customers getting really stiff, the more innovative web developers in the Philippines keep up on the pace of the very latest in website development trends and innovation, including search engine optimization and social media integration.

   They know they need to offer something that’s above industry expectations and standards to keep their customers who’ll outsource web development works with them.
    
   

   Outsourcing fills in the talent gap

    
   Top-tier web development professionals are not only hard to come by, the very experienced and skilled are expensive, especially local talents. Many organizations would rather let their website projects be turned over to competitive and quality web developers in the Philippines at a cheaper price.
    
   

   Outsourcing gives assurance of support

    
   Once a project is complete, there’s often an assurance of support from the third party web development company. This aspect is often negotiated at the beginning or before a service agreement is signed and such carries a lot of benefits.

   Many organizations save a lot of time, money and headaches after getting a free support or negotiating for a discounted prices for future modifications.
    
   

   Outsourcing works on your time

    
   Outsourcing to web developers in the Philippines can be very convenient because they can make themselves available depending on the work shifts of customers. An outsourced web development company can adjust to time zones and preferred work hours of customers wherever they may be.
    
   

   Outsourcing eases long term liability

    
   The workforce is regarded as an asset, especially in the production or manufacturing of products or services in any company. But as high inflation or economic recession occur, this asset can quickly turn into a liability. Outsourcing to a web development company the web project is a viable solution to get the job done sans an internal team of web professionals. There is also no binding agreement to continually hire the web developers soon as the project is completed.
    
   

   Outsourcing allows expansion to new territories and markets

    
   Some companies typically pursue outsourcing arrangements with a web development company to reach wider market mileage. Some use outsourcing to test the waters in countries where they can expand their business in new directions or where bigger opportunities are waiting to be seized.
    
   

   Outsourcing cuts the long procedure and time of hiring

    
   Web developers in the Philippines tapped to complete a web design and development tasks can be real time saver in terms of hiring, which is often tedious and perplexing. When you outsource to a remote web development company in Manila, Cebu or Davao, it’s already understood that the partner supplier will be in charge of putting up a choice team of professional web developers. Meaning, while your outsourcer mind the hiring of web developers, you can just focus on your core competencies.
    
   

   Reduced Development Cost

    
   Companies outsource web development because of lower operational and labor costs. It is no longer the company’s problem but the web development company to search and find experienced and talented web professionals. These companies also are already equipped with the fastest and latest technologies in developing and testing website compatibility in major browsers.
    

   And Lots of Other Benefits

    
   The top ten benefits of outsourcing to a web developer your IT and web projects are really just among the common advantages cited by our customers to us. But beyond these perks, companies who outsource their online presence get to benefit from:
    
   1. More innovation
    
   2. Higher scalability
    
   3. Reduced time to market
    
   4. Catalyst for change
    
   But after knowing these benefits, outsourcing to web developers in the Philippines or companies in other low-cost countries also carries some risks. Working with an outsider means some of your internal systems or confidential information are exposed.

   It may also be that your agenda may be a little different or conflicting with what your partner web development company has. Your and your web development company may have different bottom lines, which can influence the delivery of service.
    

   Final Words

    
   The Philippines has emerged as one of the brightest lights in Asia, recently earning the spotlight from other major suppliers of talent like India, China and Russia. The many skilled manpower is one of the undeniable strengths of the Philippines in the world outsourcing stage.

   At Big Outsource, our satisfied customers have hired us to complete their web design and development projects because they do their math and discovered the benefits outweighs the hiring a web developer in their home countries.

   As our customers can testify, their brand’s bottom line has improved as well as long-term profit after deciding to outsource web development with us. Now, our customers are more flexible, leaner, smarter and even profitable than ever were in the past.
    

2. 10 Tips on How to Hire an Effective SEO Agency in the Philippines

   December 11, 2013 3:45 pm 1 Comment

   

   Optimizing brands for search engines can be very tough and costly because there are just too many websites and blogs competing for the same or similar keywords. While attempting to do it themselves can be pretty helpful initially, however it is by hiring an SEO expert where businesses can reap strong return on investment in the long run. One of the best options available is by outsourcing to offshore agencies like SEO Philippines based marketing agencies.

   When you outsource, you pick out a company to hire either locally or remotely to other companies based in other countries. An outsourcing firm which offers a range of services from search engine optimization (SEO) to other digital marketing works, will then perform the tasks in behalf of their clients.

   Outsourcing is said to be a very reliable and dependable business strategy that comes with tons of benefits, such as saving on cost, boosting productivity, and improving efficiency. There’s also a strong sign showing an uptrend in the sector. Apparently it seems, the growth in this industry is not bent on retiring anytime in the next couple of years. Following this, SEO companies are also growing in numbers.

   With many a great number of companies now considering outsourcing SEO – who can help them fulfill their business objectives – looking for the best ones can be very difficult and challenging. In fact, the selection of the best and right SEO company must pass through careful and meticulous scrutiny.

   Obviously there are pretty big advantages to hiring the right SEO agency. And among these business owners, a critical question concerns affordability and productivity. While international companies might typically appear better, outsourcing SEO in the Philippines can pretty offer some advantages.

    

   Benefits of Hiring the Right SEO Company

    

   Choosing the right SEO company can help get your company reach the top of the search page results for your keywords. It’s important to be visible right on the first page since most searchers do not usually go beyond the first page. Bigger traffic and more profits pour in once your preferred keywords are immediately seen in the first few pages of the search engine.

   In more ways than one, here are some particular benefits of finding your right SEO Philippines based agency. Especially with the right ones, they’ll of course, ensure that your business enjoys the following advantages:

    

   Targeted traffic

   When embarking on an SEO campaign, it should be pointed out that it’s going to end up useless when your target market is not reached. Even if you amass hundred visitors everyday if they are not your intended audience, how can you expect them to spend and purchase available products or services from your site?

    

   Well-Made Website

   The services commonly offered by SEO companies is setting up websites to be search engine friendly. These aspects are pretty much a major concern for SEO experts because search engines view web design layout and the aspects of usability.

    

   Cost Effective

   It’s a known fact that promoting your brand or business through advertising in mainstream radio or television channels can be pretty helpful but very very expensive. With the use of SEO best practices, you can reach more, perhaps in millions, and influence them to shop online using your website.

    

   Highly-Trained and Experienced SEO Experts

   Filipinos are among the most tech-savvy people in the world today and it’s no wonder that the Philippines has emerged as an IT outsourcing hub in recent years. That there are tons of highly-trained and specialized technologist in the country, including SEO experts, can be explained by the serious focus on teaching English and technology by local academic curriculum from elementary to college. When combined, these factors make outsourcing SEO in the Philippines quite a very compelling option.

    

   Using SEO Best Practices

   The best ones will be able to explain to you the techniques they adopt when implementing SEO tactics. The right ones shun black hat SEO techniques and focus on ethical search marketing practices. The expert SEO workers are not only qualified but they are fully trained to avoid the illegal practices of short cuts and spamming that may only yield temporary spikes in search results.

   But the end of illegal SEO practices are nothing but shame and penalties from Google. By outsourcing SEO in the Philippines, rest assured that the right ones will provide you with quality analytics, strategy and implementation.

    

   Tips When Hiring SEO Company in the Philippines

    

   After understanding what benefits SEO can give your business, the next step is learning the ropes of selecting and hiring the best SEO company:

   

    

    

   Avoid SEO company reviews. Such top lists will never give you the best partner in your SEO efforts so don’t rely on them unless the reviewer giving out the list is an authority and credible. Be wary of these elaborate marketing tactics because they are simply designed to make you trust a company overnight. Don’t worry, you can still use the top lists for your independent research.

    

   Learn about SEO practices. It’s important that you have an inkling about the practices of SEO, particularly the good and bad way to make your keywords rank. By learning some crucial information, you can then inquire and ask your prospective SEO companies about their approaches and how legible their techniques in yielding positive results. You can also attempt to ask for specifics of their services, so you are not caught by surprise when billing

    

    Know the sources of back links. As a customer, it’s your right to know where the back links that the SEO company provides you are coming from. These links your provider get for you should be those from reputable sources. Using farm links is one typical black hat SEO techniques that for love of instant success some run-of-the-mill SEO agencies are resorting to, but there’s a boomerang effect in the long run, dragging their clients’ reputation down due to penalties of Google. Keep in mind that it’s the quality over quantity that matters in back links.

    

   Keywords. Ask the service provider of the keywords they gun for and ask how they rank for those. The SEO company should be able to rank in their chosen keywords because that’s a pretty good benchmark to see if they’re doing their homework or good at delivery outsourced SEO services.

    

   Page rank of SEO agency. Around 4 or 5 is fine and if they’re lower than that, these agencies are not worth giving your attention and of course money. If even their company they can’t make to rank, how much more their client’s.

    

   Talk with company representative. After conducting your research of your chosen shot list, start talking with a company representative from each SEO company in your list. An intimate and face-to-face meeting can give you ample opportunities to assess the company, their background, their approaches and sources of back links. You can also inquire if their using SEO best practices to make keywords rank.

    

   Ask for reference. Once you visit the SEO agency or talk with them online, gather a list of references or a list of clients who are outsourcing SEO services to your shortlisted search marketing agencies. This is another method that you can use in assessing the reputation, performance, techniques of the SEO company and the results of the outsourced SEO services.

    

   Expertise in handling niche accounts. You might be a business that belong to a niche market and it’s important that you ask your prospective provider their experience in handling niche-related projects. The SEO company should be able to give you a confident answer about your inquiries.

    

   Tricky Guarantees. While you and your SEO provider should be able to discuss the keywords that you’re going to use, but quickly spot when your prospective SEO provider is over-promising. The best first step always include a healthy assessment of your situation and to never believe any promise of giving you the number one spot when it comes to SEO.

    

   Updates. Be very sure about how much your service provider knows about trends and updates in using SEO best practices. There is just too many relevant updates in search marketing and social media marketing that it’s becoming very challenging to cope. But outsourcing to an SEO company based in the Philippines can give you something that’s ahead of others.

    

   These ten are but few of the the hiring tips when looking for SEO Philippines based agencies. Apply what’s applicable to your search for the right outsourcing partner and be one of the most profitable in terms of sales and income from new leads that your optimized keywords achieve.

    

    

3. Top 10 Social Media Management Tools That Your Business Needs

   November 28, 2013 4:49 pm Leave a Comment

   

    

   These days, businesses are opening up their social media presence to seize the immense opportunities to expand their brand influence and engage customers.

   What emerges as the bigger challenge for marketers, however, is keeping their Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin accounts active.

   Good thing, there’s plenty of social media management tools that are available at your disposal and use to keep posts flowing.

    

   Social Media Marketing Explored

    

   It’s pretty obvious why entrepreneurs add social media marketing as part of their integrated marketing communication efforts. Not only it’s less costly to invest money into social media marketing than advertising, the added benefits include gaining more customers engaged in real-time and generating new leads.

   The actual work of social media marketing involve ensuring that your startup or enterprise is constantly looped in on relevant conversations and manage your conversations. There is also the aspects of setting a benchmark and analyzing the metrics of audience reach and conversion rates.

    

   Optimizing Social Media with these Tools

    

   After looking into what social media marketing gurus are using to manage their multiple accounts, we’ve only selected ten. Here they are:

    

   Buffer

   A very popular choice by social media managers, Buffer helps keep a consistent social media schedule all week long without ever having to micromanage the delivery times.

   Acting more like a virtual queue, Buffer lets social media managers fill your social networking presence pages with content. This tool also helps systematically post the content throughout the day. With Buffer, you can also analyze how your brand fare in engaging and reaching your audience through posts.

    

   HootSuite

   Among other more popular social media management tools around, Hootsuite is well-loved by brands with social networking presence. With this tool, collaboration among social media managers is a breeze when executing brand campaigns across social media.

   Hootsuite provides one web-based dashboard to to allow marketers to manage social media pages, track conversions and measure campaign outcomes in the web or mobile devices. Managers can avail of Hootsuite’s free, pro or enterprise options. The paid versions give more flexibility to the features offered.

    

   TweetDeck

   Here’s a social media management solution that comes with powerful filters to help you focus on what matters in your Twitter social media management tasks.

   Available for Chrome, Windows and Mac desktop browsers, TweetDeck’s other benefits for marketers include the ability to schedule tweets and receive notification alerts so you are abreast of you and your followers’ Twitter activities.

   TweetDeck was acquired by Twitter and had recently shut down its mobile apps in order to focus on the web and desktop platforms.

    

   SproutSocial

   Social businesses looking for a facility to manage and engage audiences through their social media presence can find some help with SproutSocial.

   Through a single stream inbox, you’ll sure never again miss a message, post content, and collaborate and schedule messages across your social media presence.

   SproutSocial also lets you perform social media monitoring. Through the analytics that it provide, SproutSocial helps managers visualize important metrics.

    

   CrowdBooster

   To help measure your brand’s social performance, here comes a handy social media management tool called CrowdBooster.

   Offering a variety of paid plans depending on the number of accounts that you manage, CrowdBooster gives marketers plenty of features to help review which content marketing efforts are working best and the ones that need improvement.

    

   ArgyleSocial

   Like CrowdBooster that helps discover the performance of your B2B marketing content on social media sites, but ArgyleSocial’s difference is that it quantifies the value of your content efforts in social media.

   ArgyleSocial has a feature that allows marketers to merge social data with sales and marketing figures.This valuation of content efforts helps in optimizing content in order to build stronger relationships with social media actions.

    

   SocialOomph

   A paid and free productivity social media management tool with a slew of helpful features useful in updating and scheduling tweets, tracking relevant keywords, viewing mentions and retweets.

   There are also a Direct Message (DM) inbox cleanup, auto-follow and auto-DM features for new followers. Plus, SocialOomph also has an option that lets you auto-follow any new follower of your brand on Twitter.

    

   SocialFlow

   With its full suite of features that lets you watch real-time conversations on social media, you can now predict the best times to publish and post content with the ability to translate revenue per customer.

   Big known corporations like Mashable and National Geographic (as of this writing) use this tool because it provides marketers with social signal data, which are helpful in keeping marketers informed with the best opportunities where and when to implement a paid Twitter and Facebook strategies.

    

   SocialBro

   When it comes to helping entrepreneurs better manage customer engagement in Twitter, SocialBro comes to the rescue. It’s a tool that social media managers can use to explore your community and identify key influencers.

   SocialBro also lets you determine when the best time to tweet by analyzing not only your followers’ timelines but that of your competitors as well.

   By knowing the best time to tweet your content, you seize the opportunity to reach the maximum amount of followers and benefit from more retweets and replies.

    

   SocialMention

   This tool, which is very helpful for organizations with unique brand or company names, gives you a list of all mentions of your name online, including how you are rated for the type of mention you obtain.

   For reputation management purposes, SocialMention is very helpful since it pulls from a vast array of resources.

    

   In Closing

    

   Social media marketing may appear as a brand new branch of marketing but the difference lies in the type of platform used, which is the social web. Social networking channels like Facebook, Twitter, Linked, Pinterest and Instagram have transformed the way businesses operate with tons of advantages and disadvantages.

   Engagement has become more real-time through social media. The challenge then is keeping abreast with real time conversation and messaging with customers and prospects. But the serious disadvantage is that your brand reputation can quickly turn into ruins when customer backlash are unaddressed.

   Whether you are a small or large enterprise, use these social media management tools to give you extra valuable time and resources to manage your other core processes. In addition, you don’t have to lose the best opportunities to reach out to your customers and respond when issues arise.

    

4. Software Development Ideas for the Innovative Mind

   November 20, 2013 3:32 pm 1 Comment

   

    

   In less than a decade or so, the tech spotlight has turned to mobile-specific innovations. What this pose for companies is not only competition but meeting user demands. The challenge grows deeper for business owners to develop even more innovative products that will replace their former best inventions.

   With software development being central to both web and mobile platforms, it is nonetheless, worthwhile to look for more ways to juice ideas that never run short in supply for the innovative minds.

    

   Bigger Demands Meet Innovative Ideas

   See if this equation looks familiar to you:

    

   

   Among tech-savvy entrepreneurs, technology professionals and software development companies, merging creativity and innovation really equates to success. In many respect yes, but before creativity and innovation can ever be applied, ideas must come first.

   The spotlight in mobile software development has not only transformed the mobile operating system landscape for iOS and Android-based operating systems. It also ushered deeper user engagement that brought along rising demand and more impatient customers to download or use mobile applications that suit their tastes and necessities.

   Users reception to the new Apple smartphone models, iPhone5C and iPhone5S, is our most recent example of how demanding people have become when it comes to what they perceive as lack of more innovation. Some even called Apple not innovating enough or no longer living up to the legacy of its visionary co-founder, the deceased Steven P. Jobs.

   Google’s Android, which enjoys a much widespread public appeal, is also not spared by users bashing and criticizing the downsides of its fragmented ecosystem. People want more innovation, clamoring for more more and more out-of-the-box software development breakthroughs and inventions.

   So what ideas and strategies must be carried out to become more innovative in software development?

    

   Ideas in Software Development that are Keys to Innovative Thinking

    

   In any manner that’s prescribed businesses to look at it, mapping a clear strategy is a must. This should also be foremost when generating software development ideas. Business growth and success will depend on both ideas and strategies that can respond to the challenges posed by the business climate, competition and user demands and expectations, and more of the likes.

   Here are important ideas to create robust and viable software development innovations today:

    

   Educating Geeks Beyond Coding
   	We know the geek archetypes: slave programmers who write all day writing codes in front of the computers. Their passion in application development is beyond compare. When you look at the source codes, you will marvel at their clean slates that are free of bugs and other impurities. However, there is much more to coding than all these. Some of these programmers are unaware of the business side of their works. Often, they forget that operating systems or applications are meant to be used by ordinary users and not fellow programmers. Hence, it is an important idea that programmers are taught about the importance of user persona first thing during the software development process. This way, they have the clearest idea to whom you are trying to market your mobile or web-based software or application. And when programmers are aware of buyer persona, the whole process of development can be carried out more smoothly than it ever was.

    

   Keep Software or Application Free and Easy
   	Releasing your application for the first time and convincing people to use it is never easy. Promoting and marketing to let people know of your innovation may look easier on the pages but undertaking the the whole process is completely different. If you intend to sell your product, it will help giving out free demos, trials and even web-seminars. Through these means, people get to use your product with little risks and obligations. While most may not immediately use your software, but what’s important at this stage is to gain exposure from being part of the discussion.

    

   Collect the feedbacks and inputs from trial testers
   	From the strongest to the weakest attributes of your new release. Get your entire software development group to fix and debug the problems and you should be thankful that you’ve received these honest feedback early on. Keep in mind that the whole process of software development starts with an innovative idea that can later on be meshed with strategic vision, design, expected user and buyer persona to the release of the product and marketing strategy. After gathering feedbacks and inputs, it’s now time to bring the whole software development team in to list down which feedbacks to address first and work on building other issues iteratively.

    

   Update, Release, Repeat
   	The so-called “perfect version” is arrived at incrementally. It is rare to achieve this the first time of your product release even how deeply committed or engaged each of your application development team members may be in writing and testing codes. With thousands of lines of codes, it is rare that all of you can easily spot every piece of bug hiding out there. But note that you should not left all these issues lingering for long, your team must quickly address, fix and release a new and improved version as soon as your team can. By paying attention to your software development limitations, you are doing not only your team a favor but your customers as well. With every release and update of versions, your customers get the point – you care and pay attention to their needs.

    

   Wrapping Up

    

   Software development is a challenging endeavor. For business owners, the goal is to make buyers try out and purchase the application. Coming up with a marketing strategy can help achieving this purpose.

   For the software programmers, however, their aim is to release bugs-free application. While wholly-impossible to release perfect software the first time, software developers are aware of their role to ensure that every feedbacks from users are useful in perfecting their output.

   It is in this regard that innovative ideas in software development can bring the necessary help for all concerned to release a product that meets quality standards. The makings of a truly revolutionary application or software start from all parties being aware and concern first and foremost of their users.

    

    

5. Why People Think Responsive Website Design is a Good Idea

   November 7, 2013 2:24 pm Leave a Comment

   

    

   Responsive website design was quite the hottest topic around the web community for over two years now. We’ve finally moved past the desktop era and reached the point where companies are realizing that the key to reaching full business growth can come from forging the whole marketing program around a more coherent, integrated whole of these various digital and mobile platforms.

   But it’s easier said than done! When you have a website that cannot render well in different devices, or a single version of your digital presence that looks messy on different devices, you know you’ve got a whole bunch of problems.

   Many digital marketing experts, web designers and entrepreneurs are convinced that the future belongs to companies who will adopt fast in the changing dynamics of marketing for consumers. Too unfortunate, however, that there are still many companies that are slow to adapt or invest resources into transforming their old and inflexible websites into a much useful responsive website design.

   Start considering responsive design for your website now. To learn a few things before planning and budgeting for outsourcing or hiring a reliable web company, this article will provide you with a brief backgrounder to catch up with the times.

    

   What is Responsive Website Design

   Before we define responsive design, let’s first give credit to where credit is due: Ethan Marcotte, the foremost creator of this web design trend. Often described as a piece of technological breakthrough, responsive design is also technically a set of techniques and ideas. See, it’s pretty confusing?

   In exact terms, what is responsive design? Or a better and more appropriate question to ask is what does responsive website design solve?

   To be precise, it’s the vastly-changing web browsers in different devices that offer quite a viewing trouble to anyone who expect to be able to browse the web on their tablet devices just as seamless as they browse the web on a desktop computer.

   Not long ago, the response from the web design community came in the form of websites with mobile versions. Least to say, it was pretty reasonable at that time to have a desktop version and a mobile version of a brand’s website until responsive website design enters the picture.

   In short and to cut a very long story, the world experienced a hyper-fast evolution of screen sizes and resolutions almost every day that it was no longer practical to come up with a different version of a website that targets each individual device anymore. Responsive website design soon came to address the challenges offered by modern technologies.

    

   Advantages of Responsive Design for Business

    

   1. Increase Audience Reach Among Tablet and Mobile Users.

   With the phenomenal rise of web applications on tablet and mobile devices, responsive website design came as a welcome relief. Users would not longer experience being re-directed to a device-specific site but with responsive design, only one site can be developed across devices.

   Companies looking to optimize their online content can also expect a lot of benefits from responsive design in view of the expected increase of tablet sales.

    

   2. Increase Sales and Conversion Rates.

   With responsive website design, the improved site experience of users will be vastly improved. This can be accounted to factors like the zero redirection process and the unified design that brings a consistent look and feel across different devices.

   Thus, consistent user experience – which creates familiarity of navigation and system use across devices that technically removes barriers that multiple sites present – will create positive impact on the conversion rates.

    

   3. Increase Search Engine Visibility.

   This is one benefit that small businesses with very limited budget will love. What responsive website design allows is the management of one site with a single set of hypertext links, which in effect reduces the time you’d likely spend maintaining your site.

   With more time, you get the chance to focus on link outreach based on a consolidated search engine optimization strategy.

   Remember that even Google have once indicated that it favors giving high local search rankings for sites that are mobile optimized. Additional benefit of responsive design include letting you build a unified analytics, web strategy, internet marketing and SEO efforts.

    

   4. Save Time and Cost on Mobile Development.

   It takes fewer time to develop a responsive website layout than it would consume developing an altogether stand-alone mobile site.

   In addition to the extra more time it takes to follow the traditional approach, creating your mobile site version will have to be subjected to multiple testing, which will obviously result for higher overhead cost for development, support and maintenance.

    

   5. Save Time and Cost on Site Management.

   Small businesses with very limited resources will have more time dedicated to their core competencies because maintaining and managing a single site will be far efficient than it would allow you to manage sites for desktop and mobile browsers.

   Attached with responsive website design and development, you will be delivered with a single administrative interface with layout and workflow tools that will let you manage content or site templates that are being used for different devices.

   So if you are still thinking of clinging to the old ways of developing and managing content for multiple websites, as well as multiple sets of analytics and strategies to develop and deploy, think about how much this will cost you in the long-term.

    

   Why Prioritize Responsive Web Design Now

   In sum, responsive website design is made possible by creating an optimized layout regardless of which device it finds itself being loaded in. It helps in simplifying and unifying sites across devices into one site. No more, no less.

   There is no denying that responsive web design dwells at a very infant stage. But it’s not fair to quickly judge that it’s just a fad, likely to fail soon. On the contrary responsive design puts you ahead of the trend for your business. The demand for media rich mobile internet and apps will continue to increase and the challenges that these open must be addressed.

   For the meantime, responsive website design is here to stay and for businesses to use to stay ahead of the competition and seize market share.

    

    

6. Unbelievable Strategic Sourcing Success Stories

   October 21, 2013 10:54 am Leave a Comment

   

    

   Strategic Sourcing has been around for a couple of decades, helping organizations in their purchasing and procurement smarts. Yet over and over there are those who complained that this is not at all necessary even with the presence of success stories to back up that this approach help in improving an organization’s bottomline.

   Using success stories, there are reasons to believe that sound strategy applied in sourcing can bring much-needed boost in productivity, efficiency and sustainable growth for any company. Building capabilities in purchasing and procurement practice will also be discussed to shed important light on issues that hound the practice of organizational strategic sourcing.

    

   First, Let’s Define Strategic Sourcing

   With so many definitions floating around in the market today about strategic sourcing, it is but helpful that we look into one definition that echoes the context of the present era and responds to what is basically a process in procurement.

   So without falling into the trap of giving business jargons or its theoretical underpinnings that only confound and confuse readers, we’ll first look what the popular definition of the word means: “a process involving the identification, evaluation, negotiation and implementation of optimal mix of resources of goods and services geared toward supporting an enterprise’s objectives.”

   But we have seen and observed so many changes in recent memory that a contemporary definition would reflect the context of contemporary business situations and environment. Here follows two suggested corollaries.

   First, that sourcing programmes and strategic sourcing, which are converging to mean the same thing together, should be able to embed all enterprise sourcing, even if this means including the management of large, multi-functional strategic and tactical projects.

   Second, that the enabler of strategic sourcing in this era should incorporate the adoption of eSourcing and other supply management technologies (if possible) like spend analysis, contract management and supplier performance management. The purpose is not altering but enhancing an organic sourcing strategy.

    

   Sample Strategic Sourcing Success Stories

   It’s classic strategic sourcing success story that IT services provider get lauded for helping public sector customers cut operational costs. It is a common scenario that customers would want their next procurement process to include buying the cheapest solution that matches their expectations.

   Sometimes, the client proposal is not the cheapest in the market but they get chosen because of the value proposition that differentiated the client from competitors. Proposals offered may be regulatory-compliant and low-cost bids, but they are often not selected because they often lack a key differentiator – incremental value. Following and observing convincing strategic sourcing guidelines influence a customer’s expected decision.

   Another success story that is popularly passed on is about this manufacturer of a simple, low-cost food ingredient. Strategic sourcing was the key why even how hard a key account customer wanted the manufacturer to drive the purchase prices down, the latter didn’t offer a discount as requested even when the customer could purchase the product from rivals who offer the product at a cheaper amount.

   And the manufacturer retains the account yet grew it significantly. The use of strategic sourcing saves the day for this manufacturer, enabling it to argue that reducing the price of its product would be tantamount to losing the value in other areas that could have undermine the business strategy for growth of its customer.

   Unbelievable success, isn’t it? These success stories in strategic sourcing may be fictitious or they may be real. But the bottomline is that that when real value is at stake, no matter how attractive or tempting some drastic measures may be offered, a measurable model or approach must be considered.

    

   How to Build Superior Capabilities for Strategic Sourcing

   What Jack Welch has once argued about purchasing strategy rings some important lessons for business owners to learn. What the legendary General Electric boss perceived back then about the purchasing function as a necessary evil in business, must be correct.

   Most causes of operational failures may be accounted to a company’s underinvestment in its purchasing team’s capabilities, leaving sourcing out of decision-making processes and giving focus instead on manufacturing and sales, which are the viewed as the only obvious drivers of revenues.

    

   Identification of Specific Capabilities

   To turn strategic sourcing a high-functioning strategic asset, a company must have a clear idea which specific capabilities can ensure the most value.

   To identify which capabilities have the greatest potential, conduct a bottom-up assessment of the company’s technical and leadership capabilities. Benchmarks must be used to measure success.

    

   Adoption of Real Work Principles

   Corporate trainings are said to be ineffective when undertaken by organization as part of their capabilities-building efforts.

   What researchers found to be effective is tying up adult-learning principles with real work and specific activities that an individual must complete because new skills are developed incrementally this way, and the impact to their day-to-day responsibilities is greater.

    

   Scale Up First, Institutionalize Next

   The next strategic sourcing step in capabilities-building involves scaling the new way of doing business across the organization. This is especially helpful if the company has a long-term vision to be sustainable in the long-term.

   Following this capability-building effort, next is creating a culture whereby strategic sourcing professionals are proud of the value they add to the company. They must also be confident of the leadership role they possess in finding and delivering new sources of value.

    

   Final Thoughts

   Finally, there must never be an iota of doubt when considering capabilities building efforts to achieve growth targets. There are convincing support that companies who invested in developing their purchasing capabilities have doubly improved the margins over those which have not.

   As capabilities can be means to achieve optimal results, the first step of identifying your organization’s capabilities must be followed by building the same around real work situations using adult-learning principles before institutionalizing them. Done right, organizations can create business improvements.

   All these, strategic sourcing success stories and capabilities-building approaches, have something wonderful to offer and learn from. The success stories are connected by the change of attitudes and views that organizations have over purchasing products and services that are driven more by value than price.

    

    

7. You Haven’t Seen This Complete Facts About Parallax Website Design on Buzzfeed

   October 18, 2013 3:03 pm Leave a Comment

   

   If you are following what’s in and out in the website design space, chances are you’ve already seen what web designers are getting gaga about these days. Move over Flash and Ajax, the newest darling is parallax website design.

   In recent years, parallax scrolling has gained avid champions among brand websites due to the visual effect and enhanced functionality it provides their portfolio pages, product presentations, and dynamic brand storytelling.

   While some experts are kind, some are vocal about their opinions against the use of parallax scrolling for web pages. After you’ve read this blog, sure enough, you already have an inkling about whether or not it is feasible to use parallax scrolling on your website when pondering about its merits and demerits.

    

   First, What Parallax Website Design Is

   Historically, the parallax method is nothing new. Before 1980s, parallax was the technique of choice used in creating the illusion of depth within 2D video games. Not until the rise of arcade games in 1980s that this technique’s popularity exploded. Zoom in today, parallax is used for web pages.

   Simply, parallax web design is a technique that gives an illusion of a moving webpage with creative screens. Here’s an illustration how parallax gives that impressive visual journey of sort: when you scroll within a website design page, you will see the background image (the page background) slowly moving than the foreground images (where page image content are placed).

   Vary the speed of your scrolling and the speed of the movement will also change. Just the same, there is a visceral and breathtaking experience that this gives the user.

   Often this type of web scrolling is effective in scenarios that involve visual galleries or linear storytelling. One good example is the Spotify home page, which displays layers upon layers of graphics that reveal themselves once visitors scroll down the page.

    

   How Parallax Web Design Works

   This parallax scrolling technique is done by compiling layers in order to allow multiple backgrounds and images to move at different perspectives and varying speeds. Depth and perspective are created as a result of the faux 3D effect achieved. To allow the images of the background and foreground to move along seamlessly, the layers has to fit together piece by piece.

   So, it may be the latest darling among web experts. But not so many people are learned how it works and what parallax website design can bring to their businesses. How good is it for your online marketing promotions? And by the way, how about SEO? See, there are issues yet left unanswered.

   To help you in your investigation, we’ll provide some of the advantages and disadvantages of using parallax web scrolling compiled from experts’ opinion. Mind that these are important lessons to learn before jumping on the parallax web design bandwagon.

    

   Potentials of Parallax Website

   1. For branded content, parallax design scrolling brings web pages that are both dynamic and interactive for users, hence a bait for sharing and pinning on social media channels by users.
   2. There is no longer a need for users to navigate through your site’s different pages or wait for each page to load because your content is already placed on one page.
   3. Gone are the days when designers have to rely on graphics and colors to entice users navigate around the website. Parallax website design changes all that and users can be led around the different direction of the site the designer wants.

   Pitfalls of Parallax Website

   1. With its graphics- and high resolution image-heavy set, parallax designs can take far longer to load; though usability-wise, however, it may also not function smoothly across all major browsers.
   2. The misuse of parallax website design can pose difficulty for users to navigate a site. Using this scrolling technique for content-heavy sites is discouraged because of the amount of scrolling it will entail users to perform, thus making reading difficult for readers.
   3. Since this is still regarded as a trend, parallax scrolling for websites may still not be mobile-ready at this moment. However with the right designer, some adjustments can be made to make your website look exactly the same on a mobile device as it does on your desktop computer.

   For SEO, How Does Parallax Design Work?

   The challenges that parallax scrolling for websites present for SEO are actually too important to be left unaddressed. When all of a website’s content are housed under one or single page, optimizing for keywords becomes difficult. As a result, it’s like all your eggs (targeted keywords) are placed under one next (one-page website), which is contrary to how optimization must be carried out. Thus, keyword dilution occur since targeted keywords are not spread over many pages. Even inbound links are affected since there is just your one-page website versus specific page content to create a more effective search engine optimization of your website.

   In the words of most experts blogging about parallax website design and SEO, it is difficult to arrive at an accurate measurement of engagement. Some claims pointed out that there has never been an A/B tests that supported claims engagement metrics are even possible with parallax scrolling for websites.

    

   Some Workarounds

   Some quarters argue that parallax website design should be avoided at all cost when your priority is organic search visibility. It’s also claimed the absence of Google’s webmaster guideline constraints any creative workarounds. Thus the declaration parallax website scrolling and SEO seems incompatible. But that’s the case until Posicionamiento Web ruled that out.

   Carla Dawson of the Argentina-based digital marketing agency has experimented with their website to prove that a full site SEO on a parallax website design is possible. We share below her three general guidelines to implement online optimization for parallax scrolling design:

   • Site architecture for SEO is a must.
   • Start applying parallax scrolling – which is a style of effects that can be applied to each URL – with SEO-friendly web architecture.
   • Make sure content is one of the layers so it becomes visible to the browser and to the user. Content may also be hidden from users to create an interactive effect where they must click to see more details. This effect is not ghosting or a practice to trick the search engines.

   Wrapping Up

   Parallax scrolling design may have its advocates and critics as a web design strategy that mixes depth and motion to achieve a visually-enticing experience for users. The battle between pundits about the ups and downs of parallax website scrolling frequently zero in the conflict between design and SEO.

   Depending on your goals financially or conversion, it remains an important point to ponder about search engine visibility. In Dawson’s proof of concept, she determines that it’s not impossible to create full-SEO site on a parallax website design. The combination of parallax scrolling and HTML is also another technique to explore.

   How about you, what’s your take in this issue? Have you used SEO into your parallax website design? Let us know how you did it.

    

    

8. 5 Critical Points in Choosing the Best Outsourcing Partner Company

   October 16, 2013 11:29 am Leave a Comment

   

   As well as the internal and external challenges, there are myriad pressures when you are just starting to run your business. Some may not admit the harsh impact of operating in a globalizing world where the dynamics shift and expand relentlessly. To some, the consequences include inability to do all business processes well at the expense of their core competencies. For both doing what they do best and meeting service level required by customers, outsourcing has become a boon for many smaller to larger-sized enterprises.

   But outsourcing is complex. From learning the ropes how to outsource, looking for the right solution and to finding the best one out of the multitude of solutions vendor courting your business are all daunting tasks. Hence, you will need to give your head and heart in your search for the right outsourcing company. The selection must be strategically fit with your present and future road to success that will benefit your customers as well.

   Here are some considerations or steps that you can take to ensure the right decision in your outsourcing company partner.

    

   1. Validity of Outsourcing Business Process Needs

   The first step is identifying whether or not it is outsourcing that you need. Quite tricky to some but if you are sure about the tasks and processes you need outsourced, you are in the right direction.

   After defining your needs – be it transcriptions, data encoding, payroll processing, and the likes – then what’s next for you is digging the specifics for each of the business functions that you want outsourced. It also helps to identify your goals or objectives for outsourcing.

   Upon starting talks with vendors, let them know how you want the business functions done, what you expect to see when the results are submitted, how much your budget and the amount you are willing pay, as well as turnover time and all other important details of your outsourcing agreement.

    

   2. Researching On Outsourcing Partners

   Following the first step is coming up with your list of functions to outsource. Having this step taken will help you cut the chase in finding for prospective outsourcing providers quickly and wasting valuable time of vendors who cannot offer what you need in the exact same way you need them.

   Then around this stage how to outsource, you should be able to pare down to four or five your vendor candidates. If you would like to be sure of your choice, request for demonstrations, and if possible, talk to existing client and ask for references. This is also the stage when you should already be speaking and asking questions directly to executives and not merely salespeople from the firm.

    

   3. Preparing an RFI

   Organize a special team who will conduct the evaluation of the outsourcing company and then let this team represent your company during negotiation. Once you have selected three or four solutions providers, prepare a plan for RFI or request for information.

   An RFI is a standard procedure that client firms request from the outsourcing company to gather basic and essential information. Critical information for the project development such as availability of technology and resources, cost estimation, project implementation challenges are what typically comprise an RFI document.

   The client company determines out of the RFI the feasibility of pursuing the outsourcing investment with the solutions provider. The client outsourcer must right away inform the outsourcing company if their data match the present and future needs of the client company to avoid wasting each other’s time and effort. Next step is …

    

   4. Developing the Request for Proposal

   Remember that the RFI must complement your RFP or request for proposal, which is a document that exhaustively list the details of your company objectives, profiles of providers, employee information, vendor approach and approaches to work, and their infrastructure to ensure the successful implementation of the outsourcing agreement.

   What you have in your RFI comprises the segments relative to solving the client partner’s needs. Only after your shortlisted outsourcing providers have submitted the RFP, you can begin you evaluation.

    

   5. Determining the Right Partner

   Closely and carefully evaluate the solutions providers who pre-selected for the outsourcing project. Now, with all important and essential information in your hands, make your decision. Choose the outsourcing company that comes closely compatible with your outsourcing objectives. Then sign a contract.

   As the client company, keep in mind that the success of your partnership with the right outsourcing company hinges on the successful implementation of your outsourcing project without problems. After the rigorous and long selection process, watch out for another cycle of hard work to make the agreement work for both you and your outsourcing company.

   The next step in our how to outsource list is for you is to follow through and ensure that the arrangement runs smoothly as planned. Communicate well with all the parties involved in ensuring the successful transition of such outsourcing arrangement.

   Internal staff may initially feel threatened by the participation of a third party so they must be well-informed that this is a decision that needs their support and cooperation for the integration to materialize successfully.

    

   Outsourcing in the Philippines

   The Philippines is an undeniable favorite outsourcing hotspot, taking the crown from former BPO darlings like India and China. Foreign investors and companies leverage the perks and infrastructures that support outsourcing in the Philippines. From small businesses to big established brands from the United States, Europe and Australia in almost all major industries, the Philippines is an obvious choice for the cheap labor and quality.

   The leaps and bounds of the business processing outsourcing sector in the country were made possible through the help of massive government support. Nonetheless, other inherent assets of the Philippines are contributing to the boom. US or Australian-based companies leverage outsourcing in the Philippines for its people primarily. The Philippines boast of a generally-English speaking population, Westernized culture, high regard for education, and Filipinos’ resilient, hardworking and passionate behavior.

    

   Conclusion

   There is no simple and short-cut rule how to outsource your business functions with a third party vendor. Reaping success out of your outsourcing journey does not depend on your investment budget. One critical factor is getting the right solutions provider to perform the tasks and work for you.

   Follow the steps mentioned above to help you find the right outsourcing company and follow through until the achievement of your outsourcing objectives. And by outsourcing in the Philippines and finding a suitable company there might offer you a lot more than you desired for.

    

    

9. Are You Marketing on Mobile? Mobile Website Design Checklist for 2014

   October 11, 2013 11:51 am Leave a Comment

   

    

   At most, it’s expected you’ve already read or heard what’s often cited as important qualities to include when developing your mobile web design for marketing your business. Speed and user-friendliness are answers that programmers casually give. No contest about that, except giving the best mobile web experience entails much more than that. Here to help you in your mobile web development journey is our step-by-step mobile website design checklist for 2014.

    

   Mobile Web Trends: Now and Tomorrow

   Not a few decades ago, no one’s complaining about browsing on their desktop before laptops arrived. Back in the old desktop web days, we also talk of similar requirements – speed, user-friendliness, usability, compelling content and more of the likes – that users need for the better web experience. Until the last couple of years when mobile computing arrived. Thanks to the revolutionary spell of the iPhone from Apple, which arguably started it all.

   Several iPhone and Android iterations later, many people embraced their smartphones and use it more frequently over their laptops or desktops more than ever. Albeit its petite screen, smartphones became the preferred gadget to browse the Internet, purchase new clothes or stocks, and watch cat or the latest Jimmy Kimmel prank videos. People were delighted by the then novelty of smartphones and what it can deliver anytime, anywhere on the go.

   Brands and companies soon notice the gradual shift of user preference in accessing the Internet. Today, we have web designs specifically set for the small screen of smartphones and tablet devices. By having their own mobile web design presence, businesses found a new way that will enable them connect with customers and drive revenues.

   But the early releases of mobile web designs while scrupulous at best, were failing to impress the more demanding and fickle-minded users. In the mobile age, consumers have become more demanding about what they get for. Users seem hard to please more and more and some even lament mobile web experience that does not align with the speed and optimal performances of their smartphone’s hardware.

   All these are hardly surprising, and what we can offer is making the mobile web design experience better. An informal talk to our programmers about what important steps in the creation of mobile site design reveal so much for us to ponder.

    

   Step 1: Deciding Mobile Web Design Approach to Use

   Before you arrive with a strategy, pay attention to understanding who your target audience. One way you can figure that out is by looking over the web statistics or analytics tool provided by Google. Gauge which of your audience activity are coming from smartphones, what devices they are using, what mobile operating system.

   After arriving at a benchmark, prepare your mobile web design development strategy. Are you more interested in designing a mobile-ready website, whose focus is on a minimal fixed layout design? Or, it is a fixed layout mobile web design you are gunning to design, whereby there’s one or more fixed dimension columns in pixels unit type?

   Mobile-ready websites are often argued not the most ideal in delivering the best mobile experience. However, this might be appealing to some users who want a full site experience. With fixed layout mobile website design, on the other hand, will appeal to users who prefer simpler and more effective mobile web browsing.

   Another mobile web technique is called adaptive web design. By using the multiple sets of fixed layout styles, you get a mobile website design that delivers more device-friendly views that minimizes wasted screen space. But there’s a downside with adaptive, developers will have to design and maintain more screen resolutions.

   Last, the responsive web design, which entails that development be focused on providing an optimal viewing experience. A responsive web design that’s done right can render your website well across all devices and it’s also easily up-gradable from Fluid Layouts. Its downsides range from being getting too tricky to develop for more complex websites and the accompanying higher design and maintenance cost.

    

   Step 2 – Ensuring Mobile Web Speed

   One critical consideration to provide optimal website experience for mobile use is speed. But how fast is fast? There is not a single way to send resources optimized for smartphone devices, we just learned after we talk to our programmers on what important steps to follow in the creation of mobile site design.

   Ensuring speed for mobile website design could mean making use of fewer resources, smaller resources, and closer to users. For the first two approaches entail consolidating or optimizing resources, namely script files, style sheets or CSS and images or sprites. Developers can also leverage CSS Media Queries for sending image resources optimally.

   There is another option that can be adopted in speeding up the mobile website design experience, this is opposed to the earlier approaches of serving up static content from the web servers, which not only consume higher bandwidth and performance from servers, they are also unnecessarily away from users, resulting in higher latencies leading to bad session experiences.

   Here is when taking the approach of closer to user a more appealing way to do it. This can be done by bringing static content to a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which may cost you few more bucks but there’s a huge gains relative to user experience.

    

   Step 3 – Convenience of Using Website

   With the so many challenges presented by developing and designing websites for mobile, there is one that continues to be endemic to this space – input. This makes it more urgent that mobile web design consider how users can conveniently move around their small screen, allowing for selected content to be selectable thorough a context-aware link.

    

   Step 4 – Website that Feels Tailored for Mobile

   Interaction design for mobile web should consider the context of mobile browsing, which is more touch-input dependent. Unlike in desktop browsing, mobile browsing has introduced us to how users move around their devices and hovering no longer stand a chance. So forget those difficult behaviors like tool tips, fly-out menus, drag and drop and right-clicks, and others. Keep in mind that mobile web design must be touch aware and leave behind designs that only weigh down the overall mobile web design experience.

    

   Final Thoughts

   After all that’s been said and done, the world will continue to see technology to get more and more sophisticated and advanced. Along the improvements in devices or hardware and software top ends, there will always be users who will use these devices and consume our services and products online.

   Optimizing and mobilizing your website may be a herculean task to begin with, but improvements can be taken incrementally to let you improve on your previous mobile web design for users. To help you get started, talk to our programmers who can guide you about what important steps to take in the creation of mobile site design.

    

   The Best Mobile Website Design Guide For 2014 from Big Outsource