Shadab Khan Durrani

10 Awesome Plugins to Let You Share Your WordPress Posts on Social Media Automatically

by Shadab DurraniDecember 2, 2016March 20, 2018Wordpress1 Comment

So you have the best site or blog? Well, even if you do, it can still be hard to maintain a following and carry on attracting visitors if you don’t have social media presence. Content marketing is of prime importance for a successful website or blog. It may add a bit of cost and time to make relevant posts and sometimes you might just forget to update social media accounts. You need to make sure that you content is easily discovered and shared via social media which increases traffic and engagement.

Fortunately, there are many WordPress plugins that automatically shares your posts to social media as soon as you click publish. The plugins that we have gathered will simply automate and streamline the process for you along with providing you with some handy and useful features. Each of these plugins either have similar or varied functions.

You can decide for yourself which one is most workable for you. If you are someone who has a WordPress blog or website, then you should definite give one of these plugins a shot:

1. OnlyWire

OnlyWire is among the pioneering tools when it comes to automatic social sharing. It integrates with your site’s RSS feed and automatically converts the entries into social media posts. A free account allows you to share to four social media accounts using one RSS feed. In case you want to share up to 50 networks and 3 RSS feeds, then you can upgrade to a Premium account by paying $4.99 per month.

2. NextScripts Social Networks Auto Poster (SNAP)

This is a great multi-featured plugin that allows you to post to over 27 social networks. Along with Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, it also integrates with blogging platforms such as Livejournal and Tumblr. However, you need remember that social networks such as Google+ and Pinterest need an API Library setup which only works with the Pro version with a one-time payment.

One of the dominant features is conversion of categories and tags to hashtags when posting to Twitter. It also allows you to automatically import Facebook comments to WordPress comments and customize message formatting for each network.

3. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is basically an editorial calendar app that comes with a plugin for WordPress and allows you to schedule posts in a calendar view. You can hand le both blog and social media posts from one simple interfaces. The drag and drop feature allows you to reschedule a post easily. It makes social sharing and scheduling posts easy.

You can use this plugin for a multi-user WordPress site since it has a team feature. It allows the users to interact inside each blog post entry in the calendar. You can use it for free for 14 days and after it requires and upgrade with a solo plan that starts from $19. The free version contains all the basic functions but you can only integrate it with five different accounts whereas the paid version comes with support for extra social networks and extra team members.

4. Pinterest Automatic Pin WordPress Plugin

This WordPress Plugin is for you if you are someone who pin lots of images from their posts on Pinterest. As soon as you publish a post, all the images get automatically pinned to your Pinterest account.

It comes with one drawback. It has no free version but the paid version is just a one-time payment of $16. It allows you to pin from both thumbnails and featured images and pin unlimited images along with integrating with WooCommerce and delaying or scheduling pins.

5. Jetpack

Jetpack provides you with a suite of WordPress enhancement features such as revamped comment system and improved statistics. It is a standard post-to-post conversion but comes with an added advantage of immense accessibility and sensibility. One drawback is that it doesn’t work with Google+ or Pinterest as they are API service.

6. Revive Old Post

If you have been blogging or running a website for quite some time, then you probably have some content gat need no editing at all before presenting in front of a new audience. It sure takes up a lot of time to search through archives which is why Revive Old Post automates the process of sharing old post to different social network accounts. Now this plugin event integrates with LinkedIn along with Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. It works even if you have multiple social accounts.

It doesn’t allow you to edit posts that you send to your accounts but this plugin works well if you want your content to be visible with various social networks. With the Free version, you can only automate twitter accounts. It has three paid upgrades: Personal Upgrade, Business Upgrade and Marketer Package. You can choose according to your needs. It is money well spent.

7. WordPress to Buffer

In case you have Buffer account, this WordPress plugin is just perfect for you. It allows you to do your social sharing without letting you do it manually. WordPress to Buffer simply automates the process of pushing your new posts into Buffer. This plugin requires authentication to work along with a technical set up before it is good to function. The basic free version works with most social media networks like LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and Twitter but in case you want to publish it to Pinterest, you have to upgrade to paid Pro version.

8. MicroBlog Poster

MicroBlog Poster lets you connect multiple accounts from each kind of social media account including Tumblr, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Other networks it works with are Blogger, Plurk, Instapaper, Vkontakte and Delicious. Along with posting new content, it lets you post old content too. You can even schedule social media posts already published. For all this, you have to pay zero money.

9. HYPESocial Buffer

HYPESocial Buffer contains tons of features and integrates well with WordPress. It gives you the liberty of managing your website, blog and multiple social media accounts with just one single interface. Some of the additional features consist of automated URL shortening and custom scheduling.

It comes with 3 kinds of license that are paid. The ‘Personal’ license supports one website and for one year. Secondly, ‘small business’ license is good for two more websites. Finally, the ‘agency’ license works with unlimited sites.

10. HYDRAVid Syndicate

HYDRAVid Syndicate is web-based software that works with WordPress plugin and let you syndicate unlimited videos and posts on unlimited social media and video websites. Not only will you utilize HydraVid Syndicate to instantly and automatically post to an unlimited number of social sharing sites PLUS Instantly post to a guaranteed network of 250+ aged websites.

Tagged : auto / how to / plugin / share / syndication / wordpress

How to Get Your Lost YouTube Audience Back

by Shadab DurraniNovember 30, 2016YouTube1 Comment

Do you have a Facebook page with about 50 likes and your post just reaches 7 or 8 people? Or maybe you have a web series on a YouTube channel. On and off you keep updating your content. No matter how great your content is, you feel like it just isn’t reaching anybody. It sure is frustrating and discouraging when you work so hard, but it simply doesn’t reach your audience. Fortunately there are ways you can utilize to regain your old audience along with attracting newer ones.

Some simple yet Powerful Tweaks

Here are some ways to ensure you get your lost audience back and get new ones:

Remain consistent with quality

Just because you have a lot of content and superb content doesn’t mean you will have a bigger audience. It simply means you have the potential to have a bigger audience. Sometimes, people just want to create a lot of videos but don’t remain consistent with their quality. Remain consistent with your quality even if it means you can’t upload new videos very often.

Focus

If you have your own channel, it doesn’t mean you just fill up with various videos. Don’t just fill up your channel for the sake of filling it up. If you add travel videos, sketches, music videos and Vlogs, it means you simply don’t have a focus. Make yourself fall in some category. People will only subscribe to your channel if they know what they are going to get from you. They don’t like wasting their time on something they are not very clear about.

Thumbnails

If you want to make your videos stand out, thumbnail is a good idea. They are even good for the purpose of branding your channel. Let your videos have nice thumbnails and remain consistent with it.

Become visible

Visibility is a serious issue. If you want reach out to your lost audience or even newer audience, you need to work on serious audience building activities. So yes, you are active on your media and post things, but that is not enough. You need to make sure people see it. For that, you need to leave the comfort zone of your channel and engage with your potential viewers and gain their attention.

The best way to do that on YouTube is ‘comments’. Whenever you comment anywhere, it means it will have your channel’s name and channel avatar beside it. It is a good idea to write nice, encourage and constructive comments on videos of other people. This way you will be able to generate a lot of backlinks along with doing some good to others and making some new YouTube friends.

A step by step method

Here is how you can regain your lost YouTube audience and make get newer ones:

First of all, check out your list of subscribers and find out if any subscriber has videos similar to yours. If you do, then subscribe them
Now look out for other channels that make videos just like you do. You can utilize ‘The YouTube Channel Crawler’ to make it easier for you. It lets you look for English speaking channels on the basis of number of subscribers, category and other criteria. For instance, if you are looking for people who make videos in the same category you do and have 300 to 500 subscribers, you can easily subscribe to such channels
Subscribe to at least 50 such channels and keep following them for at least a week. Whenever you see them posting new videos, write a nice comment or simply give a thumps up to their videos.
In case anyone replies to your comment, you can converse with them. You can go one step ahead and also follow them on Facebook, Instagram or twitter. Make sure you use your fan account and not your personal account for this purpose. Engage with people.
If you notice people are not responding, then you can simply unsubscribe them after a week. Then subscribe to other channels.

What to expect and what to do next?

Usually what happens is 20% to 30% of these people subscribe you back. This means if you follow 50 people, you can gain 10 to 15 new subscribers. Make sure that you don’t stop interacting with them even after they have subscribed to your channel. You need to keep your subscribers engaged and maintain a relationship with them. This is how they will not only like your videos but also comment on them. And this is exactly how videos go viral.

You can take out 30 to 60 minutes daily to interact with your subscribers as well as potential subscribers. This may sound too much work initially, but within weeks, you will have many new subscribers on your channel. These are solid subscribers because they know you and you know them. Make efforts to know your subscribers and keep interacting with them.

And Guess What?

You can utilize the same technique with Facebook and Twitter. Apart from simply posting new content, you need to look for followers. Look out for fan pages on Facebook that post content like yours. Make sure that you don’t follow them with your profile. Do that with your PAGE. Comment and get engaged with their posts. Send witty replies to people who have already commented to get noticed. It is also worth it to boost a good Facebook post which enhances your reach out to people.

Twitter is the easiest in this regard. You can simply look out for profiles that are similar to yours. Simply check out their list of followers and begin following people who follow that particular profile. People following that profile are the ones who have interest in the kind of content you post. When they notice your content is just like their content, they might just follow you too.

All in all, it is not only important to post good content, but also engage with potential viewers. People enjoy receiving nice and witty comments. When you get to know your audience and interact with them, you tend to open lots of doors for you. That’s how you can reach out to your audience and stand out in the crowd.

Tagged : Audience / regain / subscribers / youtube

How to Index Your Apps on Google

by Shadab DurraniNovember 26, 2016November 28, 2016SEO / AppsLeave a Comment

Apple app store and Google Play Store keep on filling up more and more every single day. Did you know there are more than 3.1 million apps right now? So how do you increase the visibility of your apps among tons of apps out there? It is not an easy job to stand out of the crowd, no matter how flawless your app may be. It is no wonder that app store optimization has taken the app world by storm over the last few years. Ever heard of App Indexing? No, then you should. App indexing is a very LESS costly system that small businesses in particular can profit from. All you have to do is give it a bit of your time and effort to complete all the stages needed to reach your goal.

What is App indexing?

A little introduction wouldn’t hurt. So what does app indexing really do? When people enter a keyword related to your app with their mobile phones, Google can show your app on the top along with other websites in the list. This is what app indexing basically does. This service of Google makes users find your app in search results when using their mobile phones with an install button.

Clicking on this button will lead users to Google Play or App Store in case the user has not installed it or the Android/iOS app in case it is already installed. It doesn’t matter whether it is from Google Play Store or App store. It will allow you to increase your retention rate of registered user and increase your installs volume.

A Bit of its History

Let’s go back in history and get to know where App Indexing really came from. It was in October 2013 that Google app indexing was first launched, but it was available to only very few developers. It was not until June 2015 that it became open to all. Then Google went on to include support for iOS via Chrome in May 2015 and further announced support for app indexing within Safari in October 2015. However, it is compatible solely in devices with either iOS9 or above. Its final transformation took place this year when Google indexing became Firebase App indexing available for Android and iOS applications.

App indexing is an evolved version of traditional SEO as it has quiet some streaks of SEO. What you have to do is index the content of your apps in Google search so that the traffic gets distributed to your app. To make that possible, it was necessary earlier to have your web and app similar. However, that’s not the case anymore. Since the mid of November, native apps can be indexed even if they have no similarity with the web. Yet another wow factor is the ability to see an ‘App Streaming’ feature with your app contents. That means users can preview the app before making a decision to download it.

Benefits of App Indexing

The benefits of app indexing are huge. All it requires is some effort and time from your side in order to implant app indexing to your app. Here are six major benefits:

1) Improves your visibility on Google Search Mobile

If you have app-indexed your app, it will end up on the first page of search results and become easily discoverable to your users. Google displays your app description along with the app icon.

2) Improves advertising revenues

App Indexing and AdMob can go hand in hand to enhance the quality of targeted ads and increase your advertising revenue. If you have implemented app indexing strategy properly, you are bound to get better revenues. Usually, average app’s CPMs are more than web’s CPMs.

3) Increases browsing time

User experience is better in app compared to mobile web which translates into longer sessions.

4) Increases traffic of active users to the app

When app indexing causes users who have already installed the app return to your app, it actually means your brand has been reinforced. Your app usage has increased.

5) Increases CTR on Google search mobile results

What happens is when your user has installed your app and they attempt a search on google search, the result will be icon of the app. It is true that visual results only increase the chances of getting it clicked.

6) Increases amount of organic installs

If app indexing results in your user install the app, it only increases your installs and such cases result in high satisfaction. The install button for the app is displayed right beside the homepage search result giving the user the access to install your app.

How to Index Your iOS App On Google

1) App indexing service uses HTTP URL for iOS9. What does this mean? This means the developer has to follow some step in order to implement this support into his app. The developer needs to use UIApplicationDelegate protocol in order to open the right content of the app in cases user clicks a link that is displayed by Google in search results. In case you have already followed the steps to support universal links to your app, then you can skip this part. If not, then you have to add handling for universal links and make an app-to-site connection.

2) Now you need to form association between your app and the website. The Xcode requires apple-developer-associated domains entitlement for the purpose of listing every single domain associated with the app. Next, you have to make a file called apple-app-site associated for every single associated domain.

3) After completing the setup for app indexing, you can test and check if you have successfully completed the steps. You can easily preview the search result on iOS. However, remember you cannot test universal links in Xcode simulator. In that case, you need to tap a universal link in Safari on your mobile device.

4) Now it is time to improve your app’s ranking. For that you need to offer high quality content in your app. Make sure you follow all the guidelines from google to come up with a well-designed app and have a responsive website. Only then, go on to measure the performance of your app.

How to Index Your Android App On Google

1) App Indexing for androids make use of HTTP URLs in order to display your users the content of your app. If you want to give your users a great experience, then you need to focus on the content that your user is likely to search.

2) Secondly, connect your app with your website. To do this, you have two options. You can either use Digital Asset Links that needs at least How To Index Your Android App On Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow or you can use Search Console. Google announced that you can make use of this service even if you don’t have a website provided you have a great content inside your app. In case you don’t have website that you can associate with your but you want to utilize App Indexing, you can simply fill a form and make a request for App Indexing solely for the app. It is known as Indexing App-Only content.

3) Now add intents to your android app. All you have to do is open your app in Android Studio and go to AndroidManifest.xml in order to add the intent filter for HTTP URL. You need to create intent filters and logic in order to handle deep link intents. In case you are confused, you can check out the well explained tutorial from Google for a better understanding.

4) Now you can give your user good content considering his search. It will be handy for developers to skim through samples from Google.

5) Your app is now ready to be uploaded on Google Play Store.

6) As an added step, you can make a noindex.xml file so that you can choose some pages of your app that you don’t want to be displayed in search results. Make sure you add its reference to AndroidManifest.xml.

7) If you want your already visited app pages in search autocomplete list, you are required to add the App Indexing API to your app. This comes with some steps that an android developer can easily handle, but in case of any confusion there is a complete tutorial provided by Google.

8) Testing your procedures is very important. Check out the official page which consists of a variety of testing methods.

9) Analyzing your performance is also a crucial step. For this, search analytics serves as an extraordinary tool

10) The best part is that Google offers its assistance on every single step and lets all the developer know how to create high quality content by providing them with important guidelines.

Common mistakes to avoid when implementing app indexing

Do you want everything to come out well? Then make sure you set up app indexing properly. Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid at all costs:

As soon as the user reaches a content driven for app indexing strategy, make sure he has the freedom to step back without much hassle. Let things be easy for your users.

Make sure that the content you show in your app and the web should be either similar or identical. If they don’t go with each other, things can go awry. Remember you can fix it directly on the search console of your app.

The results page of Google’s autocomplete system displays a list containing titles about the content of apps. Do you want your app to appear in one of those titles? Then you need to make titles that are directly associated with the web content. If you don’t follow the guidelines properly, google may stop displaying your results in the autocomplete system.

Another thing you should be careful about is that if a user visits from app indexing, then that should take him directly to some content within your app. Make sure users don’t reach to an advertising message before they see your content.

Tagged : android / app / apple / Google / how to / index / ips / search / traffic

10 Proven Ways to Make Money on YouTube

by Shadab DurraniNovember 23, 2016November 24, 2016YouTubeLeave a Comment

Have you heard about regular people earning money on YouTube? Have you ever asked yourself, “Can I do this too?”. Earning a big amount from the internet probably doesn’t sound realistic, but you actually can start earning money quickly from YouTube, especially if you have the thing in you and you can entertain your viewers easily.

YouTube has a very large viewership and it increases every month. Many people are already making money there. YouTube adds one million new creators in its YouTube Partner Program alone and that’s huge. So now, put an end to thinking and start doing it. It’s easy to get started and before you know you will be ready to monetize.

There are a lot of ways to make money on YouTube, follow the guide below to know about them.

1. Use YouTube to get traffic to your website and blog

If you have a website or blog which gives you an income, you can increase it by having more traffic on your website. Many websites and blogs were hard-hit by Google’s Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird upgrades. If this happened to you too, you can use YouTube to not only regain the traffic, but also increase it. Get started using the Creator Playbook. Once you’re set up, consider re-posting some older content, as well as creating new content, whether writing your content or directing it, just post whatever you are doing.

Make sure that you link to your own website in the first line of your video descriptions, so you can give a direction to your YouTube traffic to where you want it to go.

2. Sell your own products and make money on YouTube

Did you know, that after Google, YouTube is the second in line for the largest search engine around the world? From a marketing point of view, one would not miss such a massive resource. One of the best money making technique is to use YouTube to sell your own physical products.

3. Sell others’ products as an affiliate marketer

“Affiliate marketing” means earning commission by promoting others peoples products. A lot of companies offer attractive wages to affiliate marketers who promote their products, including huge companies, like Amazon and eBay, as well as smaller companies.

All you need to do is to select the right product, make a video around it, and put the link in the description. You earn per sale of the product and usually the payout is pretty nice.

4. Create a Web TV series

YouTube lets you create your own Web TV shows. You can create a comedy series, a drama series, or whatever you want. Be aware that YouTube limits your show’s length to 15 minutes until you’ve become a partner.

If you are a good writer, or you can be a good director, try to manage a few more friends together and record your own TV shows.

5. Become a YouTube star

YouTube star can earn huge. BB for example, has almost a billion channel views. At $7 per thousand video views, the income soon mounts up. So, if you have got innovative ideas, or you are passionate about your work, make your YouTube channel! You never know, you might be the next YouTube star.

6. Monetize your videos

If you’ve made several videos, and spent time building subscribers to your YouTube channel, it’s time to join the YouTube Partner Program. All you need to do is enable your channel for monetization, and you’ll receive your share of the income from advertising on YouTube. Just as YouTube stars do, you’ll get paid for each thousand views on your videos.

7. Make tutorials

Tutorials are a very common way to earn money from YouTube. If you know how to do something, you can teach others by making videos of it and make money from your videos. Beauty, fashion, sports, cooking videos are insanely popular and people earn a lot from them.

8. Test your products

You can even do a market research on YouTube. If you have an idea you can make videos on it and post them on YouTube. You can soon discover whether your brilliant, innovative idea is likely to be profitable or not.

For example, if you’ve got an idea for a product, but don’t have the budget for it, create some videos before doing anything big. The views and comments on your videos will tell you whether your idea is feasible in its present form or not.Even if it’s not, you can still make it feasible by going through the comments and reviews given by your viewers.

9. Attract sponsorships

If you observe the most successful YouTubers, you’ll notice so many sponsorships and advertisements that they have in their videos.To get the sponsorships you have to get the attention of the viewers because once you have good viewers only then companies would want to have their products marketed in your videos.

The best thing about sponsorships is that you do not have to give YouTube anything out of it. Plus, you can negotiate whatever contracts you want based on impressions and the size of your audience.

10. Be a brand using YouTube

YouTube helps you to make you a brand. Whatever you’re doing, and whatever your job is, YouTube can help you to become known for things you are good at, and make money. Even if you have no idea on how you could make money on YouTube, get started creating videos about your interests. You may just find a crowd looking for stuff like yours.

That’s how you can really make money with YouTube.

Happy Earning!

Tagged : how to / Make Money on YouTube

10 Things You Should Look For When Purchasing a Smartphone

by Shadab DurraniNovember 20, 2016November 20, 2016FeaturedLeave a Comment

In this era in which smartphones are flooding the market each month and announcements like “the next big thing”, seems to be coming every day. Attracted by remarkable features, innovative designs and so many specifications, consumers have a lot to choose from, too much to choose from, in fact.

Buying a new smartphone is a big purchase decision. Your smartphone is your constant companion and your instant connection to the world. No matter what kind of a user you are, having web browser, instant messaging and dozens of applications at your fingertips is a must in the modern day life. Because your smartphone plays an important role in your everyday routine, choosing a new device isn’t a decision you should take lightly.

1. Choose an operating system

For most people, the deciding factor will be personal preference. Those looking for a simple interface and a security system will most likely go towards iOS phones, while those looking for more custom options and a lower cost prefer Android or Windows phones.

2. Determine your price range

The second though most important step is to determine your price range. iOS phones are typically more expensive than Android smartphones. Among the smartphone manufacturer companies, Apple and Samsung are typically among the most expensive, while HTC, LG and Motorola tend to produce cheaper smartphones.

3. Pick a screen size

What should be the right size? The ideal screen size ranges from 4.0 to 5.0 inches, because handsets in this range are easy to hold and maximizes functionality. One more reason of this range being ideal is because in this range handsets are neither too big nor too small.

Users who are mostly reading e-books, surfing on internet and watching movies are likely to prefer bigger screen sizes.

4. Pick a screen resolution and quality

The display is the first thing you see when you turn on the screen. As a result, manufacturers are not only concerned with the size of the screen, but with the quality of it as well.

Apart from considering the screen size, pay close attention to a smartphone’s resolution, brightness and viewing angles. Make sure that the smartphone you are purchasing has a panel that is bright enough for you to be able to read it outdoors in direct sunlight.

Having wide viewing angles are important too, because you will want to be able to share your screen with others and play games on it.

5. Choose between virtual or physical keyboard

It is important that you determine what kind of usage you will be doing on your smartphone. If you are a user that has to write intense emails and quick messages, then you should likely go towards a physical keyboard. If not, choose a virtual keyboard.

6. Consider Phone’s Battery life

You can have the fastest automobile in this world, but if it is out of gas, it’s not going anywhere. Likewise, poor battery entirely destroys the purpose of having a smartphone.

When buying a smartphone, make sure it has at least 3000 mAh battery and 15-18 hours of talk time. Smartphones with such specifications should last for a full day of use or close to it.

7. Consider the Camera Quality

Nowadays people are choosing smart phone cameras over digital cameras, and that is the reason why manufacturers are working so much on the camera.

You cannot determine the quality of a smartphone’s camera by just looking at its specifications. An effective way to find out the quality of a phone’s camera is by looking at test photos and videos.

8. Choose RAM and processing power

Each year, manufacturers add more and more processing cores into their phones. The more the processing power of a smartphone, the faster it will be. When purchasing a smartphone, try to go for the one having at least 2GB RAM and a high processing power.

9. Check the storage space

Pricing changes significantly between storage variants of some phones. However, this usually occurs with the devices that do not support external storage. Therefore, buying a phone with expandable storage is the best choice. Buying additional storage is relatively cheap.

Many phones offer 32 GB or more expandable storage.

10. Pick a carrier

Considering the right carrier is always very important. One preferred way to check which carrier is best in your area is by reading reviews of people or asking them personally.

Different carriers offer different payment plans and contract combinations to reduce the up-front cost of smartphones, go for the one you think will work best for you.

CAN YOU TRULY HAVE THE PERFECT SMARTPHONE?

With so many features to look for, almost any phone out there will fall short in at least one of them. The key is to choose a phone that has most features that you are interested in.

Tagged : Battery life / Camera Quality / carrier / how to / operating system / physical keyboard / processing / RAM / smartphone / storage space

How to Start Programming iOS Applications from Scratch

by Shadab DurraniNovember 15, 2016November 15, 2016FeaturedLeave a Comment

“Will I be able to become a programmer?”

“How can I build an application?”

“Can I start without having any experience?

These are some very common questions asked by beginners who want to learn how to code. Programming can be self-taught and no matter how inexperienced you are, you can still learn how to do it.

Programming isn’t that difficult as long as you have the desire to learn and have a consistent behavior.

My approach will be to slowly introduce you to the concepts as you need them, rather than to give you everything at once.

Today each iOS application has so much significance in individual life that users get used to them so easily and can never get out of it. But gone are the days when people were to make iOS applications in dark and dry environment. Today, anybody who considers himself “a man with ideas” with limited technical resources and abilities can build an application of his own. But HOW? This guide will take you through the entire process.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE?

Firstly, you should have a sketch. For instance, ask yourself some basic questions, such as these:

What will be the application about?
What information will each screen have?
What should be the size of objects on the screen?
What will be the primary action in the application?

Making an outline is a very effective way to add numerous creative and new ideas to your application as you go along.

GETTING STARTED

Apple provides a number of tools which makes it easy for the developers to build iOS application with no difficulty. Downloading the Software Development Kit or SDK from the app store gives you access to the main tools for developing your application. The download which only costs you a few dollars will give you access to Xcode, Interface Builder, Frameworks and tools for testing your application.

Xcode

Xcode is a software package, a set of interrelated programs that work together, used by developers to build iOS applications.

The best thing about Xcode is that it is not just a code editor but it has a lot more in it. It helps you to write a program, compile it, load it onto a device, sniffs out bugs from your code and ultimately submits it to the app store. When you will open Xcode, you will see a button at the center of the screen which says “Create a new Xcode project”. Click on that button.

In the column on the left hand side, you will see the OS X section, click on Application and select Command Line Tool.

Click “Next” on the following screen and fill in the fields Product name, organization name, company identifier, type, and tick mark the “Automatic Reference Counting” dialog box. And begin designing your app

Interface Builder

A good user interface can be the difference between a highly successful application and its failure. There must be a perfect balance of amazing looks and simple navigation in your user interface.

Interface Builder is an application which enables you to build an effective and balanced user interface visually. You can do that by simply dragging the built-in tab bars, buttons, labels and sliders onto the application’s interface.

If you are a new iOS developer, using Interface builder is highly recommended because it allows you to work on custom interface.

Frameworks

Framework is one of the most important piece of the puzzle. With a Framework you can easily create an application that will run on Mac iOS and OS X.

Apple provides numerous frameworks which allow new app developers to add and draw graphics on the screen, play audio and video, create user interfaces, take pictures, write networking code and display web pages and so on.

When you are done with the making of your application, it’s time for it to be tested.

Click “Simulator” and then “Debug” from the drop down list. Then press “Build and Run” to start the test.
Make sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod is plugged into a USB port while testing the application.
If your application crashes, first you need to Google the error message and check what it means and you have to check the memory usage at the same time. Debugging can get a bit frustrating, but don’t give and remember, the more applications you build, the better you get at it.

The iOS Developer Account

You will need an Apple Developer license to test your application on an iPhone, iPad or iPod. So, you need to sign up for a developer account, and once you are done, you can start distributing it to the app store.

Again, remember you are a beginner, so a lot of things are going to be very difficult at first. You just have to keep trying and not to lose hope and as you will gain more experience, things will get easier.

HAPPY CODING!

Tagged : Applications / how to / iOS / Programming / Scratch

Struggling with Video Marketing – Problem Solved With Custom YouTube Player

by Shadab DurraniNovember 9, 2016March 17, 2017SEOLeave a Comment

It’s no secret that YouTube is the biggest video channel. When it comes to marketers, the standard embedded video players do not have the key features you need for your landing pages, sales pages or even simply your blog posts. The successful trend of marketing through videos cannot be denied which makes videos important to get your marketing ship sailing in the sea of market out there.

What a marketer basically needs is a fertile ground where he can add suitable videos that serves the purpose of marketing and YouTube doesn’t come as a surprise. However, being a marketer don’t you want your videos to be flexible and unique to convince your target audience? This is exactly where Monkey Playr comes in to hold the reigns of your marketing videos and making everything simpler and easier by becoming the ultimate sales page builder for you.

Your Struggles and their Solutions

One of the problems that you probably have been facing is that whenever you require a specific section from a video, it takes a lot of time to cut the video down to your specific area. Secondly, many videos on Youtube come with a YouTube logo making it less unique to serve your purpose. Monkey Playr will solve all such problems but how? Read on.

You can easily and effectively embed YouTube videos to your blog or website and then add overlay advertisements, restrict the controls and pull users to watch your very own call to actions. The coolest part is that it has absolutely NO hosting fees which will save you hundreds and thousands you spend on video hosting each year. The tech smarts of Monkey Playr combined with YouTube will feed enough fodder to the cannons of your sales videos to shoot itself out in the market.

Monkey Playr solves all problems of internet marketers who might be making use of Vimeo, Wistia or other self-hosted solutions that come with a monthly fee to host your videos. This ultimate sales page builder can easily host on YouTube and simply within minutes restrict access to controls. You can even exercise control when it comes to blocking user’s ability to break out of frames or pause videos. Monkey Playr lets you do this with YouTube videos and that too without charging any extra fees or software costs.

Building a sales website has never been this hassle free as you also get the freedom of adjusting the width and height of YouTube video player, disabling full screen playback and player control, disabling any drop down or video information boxes, and setting your video player to full responsive mode. Squeeze page creation is yet another problem solved with Monkey Playr.

Key Features of Monkey Playr

Start & Stop Timer

This feature is going to help save loads of your time but how? It saves you all the worry of using some other software to cut your video to a specific section you require. Monkey custom YouTube player will let you do that in a matter of few clicks and allow you to set the start and stop time. Whether you want your audience to see the whole video or only a part of it is entirely up to you.

Autoplay Videos

You have a choice of allowing your videos to automatically play when your page loads. Your visitor doesn’t have to click on the start button when your page loads. This feature is a huge plus for opt-in pages and sales letter where you require conversion rates most. Let’s face it, a lot of us are too lazy to click a video because we don’t feel like watching it but if the video is already playing, we definitely retain a bit of info in our heads.

Unbranded Player

Many of us want to get rid of the YouTube branding on the video to make it unique. Monkey Playr gives you the option of Modest Branding that helps you rid your video of the YouTube logo. Besides, nobody needs to know you are using YouTube videos for your campaign. It will offer you an unbranded, clean and simple player making it look like you have a professional sales page that is making use of a professional video host.

Loop Your Videos

Now what is video looping? Monkey Playr allows you to loop the playback or any video or video playlist. You even have the option of disabling related videos. You can make use of this feature just in case you wanted a certain next video in a series to play automatically.

HTTPS & Forced HD

This feature makes sure that all your video look great which means they are not going to be poor quality videos even if the internet speed of your user is slow. This option comes in handy especially when you are making download pages and sales page in order to beef up your video quality.

Why you should buy Monkey Playr

Edit Players Centrally

Whether you have just one website or multiple sites, you can control your videos from a central dash board (Complete autonomy, isn’t it?).

For HTML and WordPress

It is easily usable on any website whether HTML or PHP sites and even WordPress. Shed away your worries regarding the environment. Simply focus on the kind of videos you need to get high conversion rate.

Nothing to Code or Install

Since it is a web based service (SaaS), there is absolutely no need of wasting time on installations.

Zero Video Hosting Fees

Monkey Playr doesn’t charge ANY hosting fees at all. Then why spend thousands of dollars on purchasing expensive copyrights?

Tagged : Autoplay Videos / Custom YouTube Player / Unbranded Player

High School Picture of Today’s Tech Geniuses

by Shadab DurraniNovember 2, 2016FeaturedLeave a Comment

Bill Gates – Co-founder Microsoft

David Filo – Co-founder and Chief Yahoo, Yahoo! Inc.

Elon Musk – CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, Chairman of SolarCity

Eric Schmidt – Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc.

Jack Dorsey – CEO of Square, Inc, Twitter

Jeff Bezos – Founder, Chairman & CEO of Amazon.com

Jerry Yang – Co-founding Yahoo! and Founding Partner, AME Cloud Ventures

Jonathan Ive – Design, Works at Apple

Larry Page – Co-founder of Google Inc., CEO of Alphabet Inc, PageRank

Marissa Mayer – President & CEO, Yahoo!

Mark Zuckerberg – Chairman and CEO of Facebook

Michael Dell – Founder, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies

Richard Branson – Founder of Virgin Group

Sergey Brin – Co-founder of Google, Directing of Google X

Steve Ballmer – Early Employee and Ex CEO of Microsoft

Steve Jobs – Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc and CEO of Pixar

Steve Wozniak – Co-Founder of Apple Inc.

Tim Cook – CEO of Apple Inc

Tagged : Elon Musk / Eric Schmidt / Jack Dorsey / Jeff Bezos / Jerry Yang / Jonathan Ive / Larry Page / Marissa Mayer / Mark Zuckerberg / Michael De / Richard Branson / Sergey Brin / Steve Ballmer / Steve Jobs / Steve Wozniak / Tim Cook

Amazon Echo – The latest revolution in gadgetry

by Shadab DurraniOctober 13, 2016October 13, 2016Featured / GadgetsLeave a Comment

Amazon Echo has come across as the new revolution in the realm of gadgetry and tech world. Now available in both UK and US, this amazing gadget can be obtained in several different forms depending on your budget and needs. The best way to understand Echo’s functions is to see what deeds it can actually perform. In order to fully utilize its capacities, there are certain commands aka ‘skills’ that you need to install on the Echo. After this, there are a number of activities that you can enjoy with your Amazon Echo.

1) What day is it?

Many a times there are several popular dates that are important with regard to some national celebration or event but we are unaware of it. Amazon Echo’s Alexa allows you to track what day is it and celebrate it.

2) Spelling check

The command ‘Alexa, launch Spelling Bee’ brings up the app which tests your spelling knowledge by giving you a few choices and letting you guess the right one. If you wish to save time, simply tell Alexa to spell the word out for you.

3) Order your favorite pizza

In my opinion, this is by far the best skill that Amazon Echo has to offer. Only available in the US for now, you can call up Domino’s and order the type of pizza that you ordered last time from this food chain.

4) Call an Uber

If Uber is available at your location, you can use Alexa-powered Echo to order an uber cab. It also allows you to choose and change your pick up location as well as find out where your taxi is at the moment.

5) Search about your traveling budget

If you are a travel enthusiast with an Amazon Echo in possession, there is a lot that you can do with it. By installing the Kayak skill on the gadget, you can ask Alexa about some location that you can visit in a specific amount of money. For instance, if you wish to see where you can go in 500 pounds, all you need to do is ask Alexa to inquire Kayak about where exactly can you visit in this amount.

6) Shopping from Amazon

This is again one of my most favorite skills that are available through Amazon Echo. It is capable of doing your shopping for you when you want it to. The only prerequisite for this to happen is for you to be an Amazon Prime member and that the item that you need to order should have been ordered by you at least once before.

Tagged : amazon / echo / Shopping / Spelling check / traveling / uber

Toyota Introduce Mini Robot for Lonely People

by Shadab DurraniOctober 9, 2016October 9, 2016FeaturedLeave a Comment

Japanese carmaker company Toyota has once again outdone itself by catering for the emotional needs of the general public. It has recently unveiled a mini robot whose purpose is to provide lonely people with companionship. This mini robot can fit into your pocket and has the ability to talk back. Named as Kirobo Mini, this robot can even serve as a substitute for a baby for childless women in Japan.

Available in Japan 2017 at a price of $400, this mini robot with a high-pitched voice is merely four inches tall. General Manager of the project, Fuminori Kataoka claims that Kirobo is a great companion for your car or home. According to him, this time Toyota has aimed to build a product that has an emotional value.

The Kirobo Mini is not an ordinary robot, It has Bluetooth, microphone and also has a camera. It can also connect to a smartphone which can be installed through a specific software application. It is equipped with voice recognition which means that when spoken to, it will turn its head towards the voice.

Prior to a nationwide launch, this mini robot is all set to be released in Tokyo. Upon inquiry, it was revealed that currently there are no possibilities of selling this robot outside Japan.

For Japanese, this robot is great news because more and more people today, especially the young singles and elderly are living alone and are in a dire need for somebody or something that they can conveniently communicate with.

Companion robots are not a new concept in Japan. Last year, Softbank Corp, a famous Japanese technology company launched something similar. So far 10,000 of these robots have been sold in Japan.

Companion robots are not only popular in Japan, but also gradually becoming famous in the United States. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched its own swiveling lamp version of a robot recently.

Tagged : Mini Robot / toyota