Taxi!

Now that is one word that brings us back to the days we stood in the roadsides in scorching heat, drenching rain and cold winds, just the same; praying for a taxi to stop.

But that has changed over time; Uber revolutionized the taxi service. We have gone from waiting for a taxi, to a taxi waiting for us whenever needed.

Cabs have now become an integral part of our lives, thanks to taxi booking applications. And the different features that they provide the user with, makes it almost impossible for the consumers to fall back to the traditional ways of hailing a cab.

Although Uber has made our lives easier, when it comes to using these applications for booking a cab, there is a whole bunch of problems that still stand. Sometimes the cab takes too long to reach the pick-up destination, sometimes the driver cancels the booking for some reason and sometimes the driver isn’t the best person to travel with.

All these situations, combined with the stress of coping with the new updates that developers keep rolling out, surely make you wish that you had some control over things, wish that you had your own app that could overcome these problems at a much personal level.

However, to create an application that can fulfil the desires of the client, a clear vision is required at the client’s end. A self-aware client with proper communication is the dream of every company. If the client knows what they want, then half of the company’s work is done right there.

So, read ahead and educate yourself on how to create an app like Uber; to decide what you need, corroborate the work of the developer and to get your money’s worth.

A taxi-booking app generally stands upon three pillars.

· Passenger App

· Driver App

· Admin App

These three applications run simultaneously to provide the user with the application (Uber, Ola, Lyft, etc) that allows them to book the cab of their needs.

These mobile applications are coded and run on languages like Java, Kotlin, Swift, React Native, etc. The developer will code the three aforementioned applications according to the required features and interface.

Passenger App

As the name suggests this is the app that will interact with the user (who wishes to book a cab). The user interface of this application presents features like cab type, fare calculator, etc to the user. This is the application that gets used most as the number of passengers is far more than that of the cabs.

This is the application that generates revenue for the owners.

FEATURES

Sign up/ login: This feature allows the passengers to register on the application or log in (if already registered) to use the application for bookings. Email and/or social media login option can be used for this purpose. Without this feature, it will be impossible to sue the app.

Tracking: This feature allows the passenger to track the whereabouts of the taxi en route. This gives assurance to the passenger that the cab is on its way and the time left till it reaches to the pick-up spot.

Fare calculator: To calculate the cost of a ride from pickup location to the desired destination this feature is essential. It calculates the fare that is to be charged on the basis of distance, type of ride and the type of car. The fare calculated may differ at the time of booking when compared to booking the cab in advance for the same route, depending upon the traffic.

Payment: Payment of fare may be induced via app wallet (A wallet within the application), automatically via connected credit card, cash, etc. The passenger may receive the receipt of payment on their phone via text message or even via email. The payment can either be done at the end of the ride or at the start, as desired by the traveler.

This feature is where the main revenue is generated. Hence, a lot of thought should be put in making this feature seamless.

Rating and Review: This feature shall enable the user to rate and review the travel and the driver. The reviews help in improving the service and determining the performance of the drivers as well. The ratings may be referenced in deciding the commission of the drivers so as to facilitate a cost efficient business.

Booking history: The passengers may wish to keep a track of the rides taken by them over the time. Hence a feature that can store the details of all the transactions of the past might prove to be useful.

Driver App

This app is for the drivers that are connected with the network of the application. This application is only for the use of these drivers and isn’t even available to the general users. It works in sync with the passenger application as to inform the driver about the booking details in real time, so that the driver may adjust his schedule accordingly.

FEATURES

Register: This feature is more or less same as that in passenger app. It allows the drivers to register on the application with their profile. The profile may consist- the years of experience, driving license, their desired schedule for work (if any), etc., apart from basic requirements like name, age and phone number.

‌Booking: The driver may accept or deny the incoming booking as per the convenience on the basis of the customer location, destination or their previous history with the rider.

‌Confirmation: The safety of the passenger is of utmost importance and to ensure the highest degree of safety, a thorough research shall be conducted before selecting the drivers.

These drivers shall be verified by the administration on their skills, the status of any prior criminal records, driving license, taxi number, etc. Once a driver is cleared of all the requirements, they may receive the confirmation via text, call or on the app itself.

‌Navigation

To help the drivers with the shortest route to the destination, updates on the traffic ahead or to provide a route to a location they’ve never been to, navigation technology is needed. Google maps or Google places may be used for the purpose or you may use your own GPS technology. As per the requirements.

‌Reports: The drivers turn in their report on the cost incurred during the day, idle time spent, customer experience and other important matters for the administration.

‌Support: For any queries, the drivers may turn to this feature. They shall be allowed to get in contact with the administration when the situation calls for it.

Admin App

To manage all the processes and the drivers, a team is assembled. This team handles the availability of drivers, payments, queries of both passengers and drivers, analyze the reviews for a better experience and take required actions when the situation calls for it. This team is referred to as administration.

To manage everything from one place, admin panel is required. This is the third application that is required for the completion of your taxi-booking application.

This application allows the administration to manage both the passenger information and that of the drivers.

Following are the features that are generally used for admin panel.

‌Vehicle management: The admin panel allows the administration to manage the vehicles available for bookings and those that are engaged already.

‌Complaint management: The complaints admitted by the passengers and the drivers should be addressed as soon as possible. This feature filters out the complaints from both the parties for efficient conduct.

‌Tracking: The administration tracks the location of all the taxi(s) that are in contract with them. This helps to reduce idle time, unnecessary cost increment (for example, if the driver deliberately chooses the longer route when a shorter route is available, just to increase the cost) and to avoid any mishap with any customer.

Driver’s commission: Drivers get their payment in the form of commission; the rates of this commission are set by the administration on several grounds, one of them being the driver’s ratings.

Admin reports: To check the statistics regarding total trips in a particular period, these reports play a major role. This feature helps to plan for the future by providing the past reports.

All three of the applications run intermittently, so obviously some of the features are going to be interchanged between the applications. They are present in all three apps and serve the same purpose invariably.

After reading all the information, a few questions might be clouding your mind.

a) How much time will it take to complete all the processes?

b) How much is this going to cost me?

c) And who will code all these applications (if you do not know how)?

Do not fret, for we have all the answers for you, starting with the most important one.

Who will do the coding/developing the applications for you?

Here’s the answer, codenicely.in. We provide you with all that you need. Let us do the hard work for you so you may enjoy life without a worry in the world.

CodeNicely provides the platform for you to develop the apps you need without any hassle. Our team has the best people at work.

All you need to do is list what you require in your app and we will deliver.

Just like that!

No need to run to different places or people, when all you need is provided underneath one roof at economical prices and best results.

Coming to the next question- how much time will it take to complete all the processes?

Generally, the process takes between 4 to 6 months to complete, depending upon the complexities of the application.

CodeNicely works to deliver the finished product on the deadline, if not before. Although it’s always for the better if the developers are given significant amount of time to complete the task, we can deliver the product earlier than the standard period; but in that case the cost may differ from the original plan.

And the last question that drives your decisions the most: how much will it cost?

The cost of such an app depends on some factors listed below.

· Web development: Web development refers to creating a website for the application. Although there is a large number of people who operate over the mobile applications, there still remains a significant customer base that still prefer websites. Creating both will ensure a broader target audience than singular choice.

· ‌Back-end development: This is the interface that acts as the foundation of the app like Uber, Ola, etc and connects all the elements with one another. This is the platform with all the features that are chosen by the developer.

· ‌Native app development: The launching platform of the application such as Android/iOS determines the cost as well. Choosing one platform would cost less than choosing to launch on both although the market would be larger if both the platforms are utilised.

· ‌Design (The features that are chosen).

· Management

· Quality

Keeping all the above factors in mind, the general price that may emerge at the end might range anywhere from $100 to $100,000; depending upon the development hours put in by the developers.

CodeNicely is one of the industry’s leading web and app developers. They provide the best experience and meet the client’s expectations. Their experience in creating apps that stand tall on the requirements of the client is exemplary. Furthermore, at CodeNicely, consumer satisfaction is of utmost paramount, making them of the leading IT startups.

Visit us at codenicely and take a step forward in realizing your dream. Let your creativity bring out the best in you! And we’ll bring that to life.

We value your opinions and feedback so please comment below and express your thoughts. Because we strive to improve with every step and if you liked the article then do not forget to tap that clap 👏 button down below, to show your support.

Source: CodeNicely Blog

When was the last time you put your phone down for more than a few hours, deliberately?

Never, I assume.

We live in an era where our lives are run by technology, specifically our smart-phones. Everything you may need is available in a pocket-sized phone now.

Contact diary, calculator, and weather forecasting, even something as minuscule as a flashlight now comes embedded in most cell phones. But the chance of good entertainment beats all those reasons, to buy a smart-phone.

YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp and PubG are just a few examples of the applications that have become an imperative part of our lives. Ranging from entertainment and communication to gaming pleasures, our phones now hold the world in them, replacing even television.

One thing that is common in the aforementioned examples is that they all are applications. One can access them on smart-phones, tablets, desktops, laptops, etc, grabbing the attention and interest of different sections of customers.

The world of applications (Web and mobile) has seen a boost like no other and is arguably one of the most profitable business choices.

But before taking on any business opportunity, one must think about the expenses that they would have to bear in order to get things going. And since money is the second biggest motivation for humans (first being the person’s dreams) it won’t be wrong to say that it is among the major factors when taking a decision.

While there are people who want to create applications for personal pleasure and dream fulfilment, there are some who wish to earn from those applications and turn it into a business.

The most blatant example of the latter would be the widely used, taxi-booking applications like Uber and Ola. These applications are pulling a massive amount of profits and taking over the more traditional ways of hailing a cab or taxi.

There are a million apps out there and a million people who are dreaming to launch their own. But before deciding to invest in an application, one should know not only the amount of capital it will require but also the factors that will eventually constitute that cost.

People, who sort to companies for app development without the knowledge of the factors that they are paying for in the ultimate cost, often end up overpaying. Knowing where the company is putting efforts and for how long, while working on your application will help in conducting efficient funds management.

Before we discuss the quantum of money required for building (customizing) an application, let’s take a look at the factors that derive that cost.

Market Research

To create an application that can uphold its own in the market and thrive, it needs to deliver what people need and with minimum or no glitches. To ensure the same, the developers perform market research and analysis. The purpose of this research is to understand market demands, trends and the demographic that the application is created for.

Proper research demands time, focus and precise execution of the formulated plans, so as to deliver the correct required information. A number of people are needed to do this research which contributes to the cost.

Hence, companies which are research centric tend to charge more for market research than those who rely on their knowledge about the market and opt for a lighter research approach.

Human Resource

The number of people working on the development (creation/coding) of an application is directly proportionate to the cost of that application while it is inversely proportionate to the time taken for completion, of the app.

So if you are in a hurry and money is not that big a concern than ask for more people to work on the development of your app and if you do not wish to chuck off the extra bucks for a quicker result than hang back and let the developers take their time.

Also, there are two types of personnel that work on applications, In-house developers and offshore developers.

Indicated from the title, In-house developers are the developers who are employed within the company and work on site. While the offshore developersare the people who are hired specifically to work on a singular app; they can be seen as professionals who are lending their expertise for specific projects and are not regular employees of the company.

In-house developers tend to cost less than the offshore developers as they are working from within the office, are salaried and are not freelancers.

Hence, the human resource appointed on the development of an application is vital to the final cost of the application.

Features

An application is defined by its features. The number of features, their use, their performance and their uniqueness, it all contributes to building a successful application.

People often commit the mistake of lading their application with loads of features that do not necessarily make the application better, instead, in turn worsens the experience for the users.

There needs to be a fine balance between the basic features of the app and additional ones.

The objective is to attract people with features that are new and different than other applications in the competition while making sure that it does not waver the performance of the app.

The number of features and the complexities of designing and coding those features have a direct effect on the cost of an application. Therefore, choosing wisely is of utmost importance when it comes to features of an application.

Platform

The platform on which the application is to be launched makes a lot of difference in the cost of that application. While choosing among the leading platforms like iOS, AndroidOS and WindowsOS, can be overwhelming; the targeted audience must be kept in mind while making the choice.

The decision to launch the application on iOS alone will attract the consumers associated with Apple products only and although the cost will not be as much as launching on AndroidOS or WindowsOS, the market size will dwindle down in comparison to other platforms.

If the goal is to reach as many people as possible then you may go for a combination of two platforms or even launch the app on all the three platforms but keep in mind that the cost will rise accordingly.

Complexity

It is known that complex projects require more efforts and focus than the simplified ones. The level of complexity of an application contributes majorly to the cost of that application, due to the extra efforts put in by the developers in making the application.

Although there are numerous functions and features that can increase the complexity of an application, mentioned following are some the most popular features that are considered almost basic these days.

• Admin panel development: Having an admin panel helps to operate applications, manage user data, and view statistics, etc without much hassle and confusion. Generally, admin panels are quite rigid which may result in wavering performance. A flexible admin panel is more efficient but is quite hard to get a hold on. Whereas building your own customized admin panel can be very expensive and can further bump up the cost of the application.
• Third-Party integrations: Almost all applications need to integrate with third parties to provide different features now. For example, integrating with Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Hangouts, etc, for providing the option to share through different platforms and connecting with e-wallets like Paytm, PayPal, etc, for online payments. To facilitate seamless performance of these features, protocols are to be followed which further complicates the process of development.

The complexity of an application may result in an excellent finished app but at the same time might make the application difficult to use and too complex.

The developers and the client need to have a clear picture of the end result that is desired before they start programming.

Testing

Any application cannot be introduced in the market in its raw form. The final version of an app shall be free of any defects and glitches. To ensure that the application is flawless, a series of tests are to be performed on the said application, to check its performance.

These tests are performed by the non-technical members of the team, who are not working on app development, to get genuine user response and feedback.

Based on the results of the tests conducted, changes are to be made in the current version of the application. This cycle of testing and modifying keeps on going until the application is at its best and ready to be launched in the market.

The cost of testing followed by modifying the application is the cost that cannot be avoided since no app can be launched without testing first. The cost depends on the number of tests done and the modifications that had to be incorporated each time.

Native apps or Hybrid apps

Before deciding to launch the application in the market, the owner needs to decide whether the app is to be a Native app or a Hybrid app. This will decide the future of the app and the market that it will go on to capture as well.

A Native app is a smartphone application developed only for the operating systems, for example, AndroidOS, iOS, WindowsOS, etc. A native app works seamlessly on these systems as it is developed within the framework of the operating systems.

They can only be downloaded through the respective app stores of operating systems like play store, apple store, etc. Since native apps are available on operating systems only they play better with the inbuilt features of the device and download most of the user’s data upon installation of the app.

Hybrid apps are those which are developed to be launched on both, the website of the company and stores of operating systems. They are generally developed using HTML5 and JavaScript and load the data as the user goes through the application to create a more personalized experience for the user.

So, basically, Native apps are faster and they perform on only one platform whereas Hybrid apps can perform on multiple platforms and websites. But the cost of Hybrid apps, despite the ability to perform on multiple platforms, costs less than a native app.

Hence, the decision between a native and hybrid app can greatly affect the final cost of the application.

Time

Time spent on developing an application is the biggest cost factor out there. This is one cost that is negotiated (cost per hour) beforehand; the number of hours put in, by the developers, are counted and multiplied with per hour cost, upon the final payment.

An application with fewer features and complexities will take fewer hours to develop when compared to the application with a plethora of complex features.

Most companies charge a fee that varies between $20 and $250 per hour, depending upon the quality of work provided and the people working on the team.

Professionals charge higher than others but the work done is justifiable of the charge.

However, one has to admit that big development companies do incorporate their profit percentage in the cost which may breach the budget of some people.

One way out of the massive cost that is charged by these companies, is to approach startups.

Startups are more driven, eager to work, flexible and less costly. Most startups do a fairly good job since they are run by talented individuals looking for better opportunities. They cost a lot less than the big shot companies and provide the results that can compete with professionals.

Any human without a background in technology and programming might get overwhelmed by all the information stated above.

And to think that it is just the tip of the iceberg will also be justified.

There are a bunch of different other factors that will decide the cost of your application, subjective to each individual and the prevailing market situation at that moment.

So, how does one be assured of the result that they desire without increasing their blood pressure over the mammoth factors that are to be considered?

Contact CodeNicely.

We make sure that you get the product of your dreams without any worries or compromises. Our team is comprised of diverse, talented and passionate people with the goal to be better each passing day.

We do not rest until the work is done in an efficient and effective way. We recognize the importance of each passing second and aim to deliver before the deadline.

Unlike most of the corporate companies, we do not wish to rob you of your hard earned money in the name of service charge. Instead, we want you and the product to grow with us.

Visit us at CodeNicely and let’s have a chat.

     CodeNicely; where ideas are being moulded into reality.

Every startup out there wants to create a product that they firmly believe will be the next big thing in the market; the next Whatsapp or Instagram or Lyft and so on.

They work hard and put all that they have into making this product and they do not stop until it’s ready for launch in the market; and after all the effort and money that went into the product, most of them aren’t even able to recover the cost of production.

Why?

Because in the excitement of “creating the next best product” they forget to create a product that satisfies the need of their potential consumers.

They forget that no product can achieve any height of success if its targeted audience has no use of it. In the race of getting to the finish line, the product does not get enough time to develop properly, leading up to a disappointing performance in the market.

Brilliant products require time to grow up to their full potential. Uber, Amazon, Dropbox, Twitter! All these and many more successful businesses that dominate their respective markets were once delicate startups. Their owners nurtured them with time, effort, hard work, dedication and perseverance.

They all had their different ways to stand out in the crowd but there is one marketing strategy that all they adopted in the early years of their startups, which has become largely popular these days.

They all started with a Minimum Viable Product.

But what is a Minimum Viable Product?

Eric Ries, the man who made the term MVP popular through his sensational novel The Lean Startup, describes MVP as, “A Minimum Viable Product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort”

In layman’s language, “a Minimum Viable Product is the simplified version of a product with just enough features to catch the attention of the targeted consumers. Then build the product on the go based on the feedback received and launch the product when it is best suited for the consumers.”

After reading the above explanation, one may say that an MVP is nothing more than a minimalist version of a product created for the sole purpose of moulding it into the product required by the consumers.

But why is this approach becoming more popular now more than ever?

The younger generation no longer wants to play it safe by following the same old techniques and methods, they want to create their own path and they aren’t afraid to take risks. The sheer rapid increase in the number of startups in this last decade has proved that the young adults are more business-centric than ever.

They do not shy away from trying something new if it can provide them with better results, hence the adoption of this marketing strategy has picked up the pace.

So, let’s take a look at some attributes of the strategy which has revolutionized the industry.

Minimalist

A Minimum Viable Product is all about introducing the product in the market with just enough core features to make the product attractive to the audience. The point is to not crowd the user with features which do not enhance the performance of the product.

Remember people do not flock to a new and unknown product because of its countless features or attractive user interface; people prefer a product which provides a solution to their problems.

Hence, the focus should be on highlighting the core values of the product proposed to the consumers, in a manner that does not leave any space for confusion and chaos.

Cost efficient

Launching a Minimum Viable Product instead of the final product helps the young companies to minimize the cost of development and marketing. It saves the company from the trouble of going back again and again to fix the problems.

A Minimum Viable Product can be created without much cost. Furthermore, the nature of the product allows the creators to fix the problems in the creating process itself. This saves the product from negative reviews from the final consumers and the extravagant costs of modifying the product afterwards.

Builds Customer base

Launching the product in the initial stages of the development in the form of an MVP helps to capture a fair share of the market by the time the product is ready for the final launch.

The anticipation created by the MVP, fruits well, upon the release of the product. The relationship between the creators and consumers is bridged by a Minimum Viable Product from the beginning. This provides a more of a personalized experience for the users who adopt the product after its beta stages.

Allows product evolution

The main purpose of adopting the strategy of Minimum Viable Product is to build the product around the needs and wishes of the consumers. Hence, the intricate design of a Minimum Viable Product presents the developers with the insight of what works and what does not.

On the basis of the feedback received, the team decides what features to add/remove, where to allocate the resources to get maximum efficiency and what price to put on the product when completed.

Confident investors

Nobody wants to invest in a dying cause. Apart from dreams, money is the biggest motivation out there and investors do not bank on dreams for sure. They need concrete proof that the money they are about to hand over for some new product isn’t going to end up as a liability for them.

Opting for the launch of a Minimum Viable Product can satisfy the investors and even pique their interest in the product furthermore. But it depends solely upon the feedback received by the Minimum Viable Product.

If the feedback is positive and promising, the investors have reasons to believe in the product. Otherwise, they might pull back the funding if they do not find the product to be profitable.

By far, the article gave insight to the advantages of building a Minimum Viable Product and you have to say that they are quite impressive and persuasive as well. But don’t be running off to make your own Minimum Viable Product just yet.

Every coin has two sides to it and every side presents a totally different story to the viewers. Yes, the advantages of building a Minimum Viable Product are tempting, to say the least, but the disadvantages are equally concerning as well.

To master any strategy, one must keep in view the downfalls that are privy with its implementation. The company that is capable of avoiding these negative traits by taking careful and measured steps earns what it bargained for.

But the company which is able to turn these threats into possibilities dominates the market.

Therefore, knowledge about possible mistakes that may cost the whole project, is paramount; mentioned below are some of these situations that arise when going for a Minimum Viable Product.

Blurred Vision

When a company decides to create a product, they start with a vision and then follow it up with plans and execution. There is saying that ‘if you look up and see your goal, then you are on the right track’

But what if, in the hype of executing plans, the goal can no longer be seen?

Well, it ends in chaos.

The purpose of a Minimum Viable Product is to create a better version of the planned product; but often the process of MVP i.e. modifying the product on the basis of feedback, changes the product entirely.

The original vision of the product gets lost somewhere and the product that emerges out is far from the initial image. Hence, an MVP shall be used very carefully and an eye on the diversions be kept at all times.

Inappropriate market study

Not all the products need to be launched in the form of a Minimum Viable Product.

If the product is of the category that already has heaps of competition, who are providing solutions for consumers’ problems already, then opting for an MVP would not be much beneficial for the company.

Minimum Viable Product helps the companies to propose their product in a heavily influenced market and find their footing without spending a lot.The companies who wish to adapt to the MVP marketing strategy shall study the targeted market and be aware of their position in it.

Hence, a detailed analysis shall be conducted to support or negate the adoption of the strategy.

Not using feedback

Minimum Viable Product is all about acting on the feedback received; if the developers aren’t paying attention to the information collected from the users of the MVP, then the product will surely not turn out as expected. A great product can be produced by an integrated team putting in great efforts only.

Mediocre efforts result in mediocre products only.

The strategy of Minimum Viable Product can be an asset to the company only if it plays upon its strengths i.e. consumer interaction. If the consumers do not receive the changes they suggested, for a better experience, then they might not adapt to the final product.

Expertise

Creating a Minimum Viable Product is a tough task. It requires the right expertise and experience to create an MVP that serves the requirements of the company right.

An unbalanced MVP can end up increasing the work instead of reducing it. A Minimum Viable Product laden with heavy features can overwhelm the users, whereas, an MVP with not enough features can fail to grasp the attention of the potential users.

A striking balance between the core functions and additional features of the product will deliver results but that can only be achieved by a professional web developer with significant experience under their belt.

Lost competitive edge

In the midst of creating a miniature version of the final product and adding on features along the way (based on the feedback received), companies often forget that the product will be competing against the best.

They focus too much on consumer satisfaction and as a result, the final product is not able to survive in the market for long; for they lack that wow factor that sets them apart and arms the product with a competitive edge.

Minimum Viable Products shall be created, keeping the competition in mind. We live in a world where new technologies and products are hitting the market every passing minute. To compete with that kind of competition, a product shall have something that no other product has.

The competition is not only with the present, but with the past and future products as well.

As discussed, a professional, fit for web development can increase your chances of getting that competitive edge without wavering away from the goal.

Emerging startups are providing services that are challenging independent professionals and even doing a better job along the way.

They are just as talented and passionate and cost a whole lot less than an individual professional or an established company.

One of these emerging startups is CodeNicely, which is known for its impressive products and strong performances.

The team at CodeNicely headquarters comprises of experienced and talented individuals, who prioritize the client’s wishes above anything else.

• Web development
• Mobile Application development
• Creating digital products

Mentioned above are some of the many services provided by CodeNicely. The perks of hiring us for web development or to create a product, outweighs any other company out there.

A little trust can go a long way.

To know more about the services provided by CodeNicely or to contact us for projects and requests, please visit us @codenicely.in

If you thought the article was informative and engaging, please show us your support and tap that clap button down below! We value your opinions and feedback, so do not hesitate to drop a few words in the comment box.

Source: CodeNicely

“I have an idea!”

This is where everything starts, doesn’t it? But as the founder of Behance, Scott Belsky said, “It’s not about ideas; it’s about making ideas happen”.

In our attempts to transform what was just a dream into something tangible, we formulate plans and hope that all the pieces fall in their place but life is more complicated than that and often we fall short when it comes to executing the said plans.

Why?

Because of the lack of the right guidance, limited resources, poor decision making, etc, although the reasons vary with their subjects, the results are often underwhelming and far from the expected outcome. An entrepreneur who is wise enough to learn from past mistakes ensures a better future. On the contrary, businesses those are not able to adapt and learn often fall behind and are eventually forgotten.

But everyone struggles, everyone makes mistakes and there is no manual that can save you from them. Every project faces new and different difficulties; however, there are some situations that arise in front of every new entrepreneur, irrespective of the nature of the business, which often results in repetitive and premature blunders that can be avoided. But how can one avoid these mistakes if they are not aware of their existence in the first place, assuming that we only stumble upon one after we’ve already committed it?

And so the question that might be crawling its way into your conscious arises.

What exactly are these mistakes that startups shall avoid?

Although the number of these mistakes is debatable, following are the most primitive mistakes that shall be acknowledged by any entrepreneur with the dreams of a startup. Let’s see if you have been doing it right or not.

Surfing on the dreamboat

Be it the overzealous teens in school or the young graduates brimmed with entrepreneurial dreams or the tired employee who is wishing for a way out or the veteran looking to rediscover themselves; we all, at some point in our life, have thought about starting our own business.

Long discussions and future plans are made in the midst of excitement but unfortunately, these plans never see the light of the day. After the adrenaline washes away, so does the will to act upon those plans. They are shoved back in some corner of your mind and eventually forgotten.

Dreaming big is good but there is no point to them if you’re not determined enough to act on them. If you want to own a startup, the first thing to do is get off the couch and work.

Going solo

Starting a business is a herculean task as it is and trying to make it possible on your own can add to the weight. Granted that there is some skill in every person, no one in this world is capable of executing every task with absolute perfection without external help.

Yes, the concept and dream are yours but you do not have to do everything yourself. Having a team to work on the areas that you do not excel in will produce much better results than a solo effort. Furthermore, having a support system in the form of family and friends can go a long way.

Your journey is supposed to be beautiful and fun, what better way to enjoy it than with your loved ones.

Lack of planning

As complex as a business environment is, winging it at the last moment will, more often than not, get you in trouble and compromise the future of the business. Planning should be at the core of the business. It not only prepares the business for the expected future but also plays a vital role in the analysis of the present.

Plans that are formulated after studying the environment and the recent trends serve as the guiding force for the management. A good plan, if followed, prevents the business from having to bear unwanted expenses; it discourages too much idle time and saves the business from a hazardous and confused management.

Furthermore, smart leaders analyze the growth of their business by studying the divergences between plans on paper and their execution. Hence, in the absence of proper planning, a business cannot flourish.

Flight at first site

A startup is a constant work in progress. To achieve the level of finesse that is required to turn startups into well established businesses, every individual is needed to put their best foot forward and handle the curve-balls that are thrown their way.

Hurdles grace the path to success and it can be scary at times. Many flee at the first site of trouble; their inability to take control, lack of patience and failure to convert difficulties into opportunities renders the business handicapped.

The whole world is running from one problem or another; a human’s first reaction, when faced with an intense situation, is either flight or fight.

It is easy to leave things when they are not going your way but success only lies beyond so do not take the easy way out, don’t run for the woods at the first sight of trouble.

Take charge, lead, improve and fight till you get the best results.

Being a recluse

If you’re a frog of the well, then it is past time that you take a jump and explore this beautiful world! The world is excelling at a rapid speed, especially technology. If you do not step outside the office and see what is happening in the world then you might end up with a product that has already reached the market or even been outdated by the time.

You need to be aware of your surrounding opportunities and threats. A startup is the nurturing stage of any venture; it needs the light of new technology, technique and audience, beyond the walls of the lab.

Following the herd

If you want your product or service to be successful, then it needs to be different then the products already existing in the market!

Ask yourself, “Why should a consumer buy your product over their usual choices?”

This is where you need to stand apart from the crowd. Do something different than the rest, introduce something new and exciting, and lead the tide of change instead of being a sheep.

Unacquainted with Minimum Viable Product

In essence, Minimum Viable Product is a sample of the actual product, which is to be exposed to the consumers to collect feedback, create consumer base and to add or remove features to the sample after proper analysis.

This helps the business to grow at the rate faster than the normal routine rate. MVP presents the business with the opportunity to improve in real time and refine the product as the needs of the costumes. If used wisely, MVPs may prove to be the most useful weapon in your arsenal.

Being aware about the new up and coming methods and techniques shall be among the priorities of the management and if the team is not focusing on the advancements that are happening in the tech world, then maybe it’s time to take a step back and reanalyze and what better way to start it than gathering more knowledge on minimum viable products.

Poor Marketing

Marketing creates a buzz among the consumers; it makes them anticipated for the upcoming product. An intriguing advertisement will charm the audience into checking out the whole ad and even into buying the product. The advertisement need not be featured on television only; other platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc shall also be taken into consideration.

The more popular of a trend these days is marketing through influencers. Influencers are individuals who hold a strong social presence; they use the product, review it and recommend it to their followers.

Social networking holds more power today than it has ever held in the last two decades. A good social presence might boost up the sales like never before and a negative outlook can curb the consumers faster than an epidemic.

Positive or negative, it is crucial for a business to have a social presence; the world is living on the phone now, so the business must catch up as well.

Slacking after launch

The work is far from done once the product is launched in the market; continuous efforts are to be made in addressing consumer queries and complaints, in upgrading the product, for a better experience.

Just acquiring a consumer base isn’t enough, one shall be able to hold that base and increase it ever so smoothly. A consumer comes back if they are happy with the product and after-sales services as well. Hence, slacking in efforts after the launch shall be curbed at once.

Not outsourcing

Although over the years businesses have slowly recognized the importance of outsourcing, it still is not preferred by many people. Startups, while are just budding businesses, can benefit the most from outsourcing.

Outsourcing the non-core activities ensures that the most in-house efforts are focused on the core activities, all the while being assured of marvelous results vis-à-vis the outsourced process.

In the absence of outsourcing, when all the activities are managed by the business itself, often leads to uneven quality in terms of efforts put in and a mediocre level of outcome overall.

So after reading the article one might be a tad bit concerned about managing all these points without dropping the ball.

This is where CodeNicely comes in, we at codenicely make sure to provide with all that may require on the tech end.

Web development, Mobile application development, Blockchain, Artificial intelligence… You name it! We will make it happen.

Be it the app for sports enthusiasts –Racketlon or GimBooks- To easily produce invoices for any kind of business or PtsaFundraiser- To raise funds without any hassle. We at CodeNicely embrace and celebrate the individuality of each client and their wishes.

Visit CodeNicely to connect with us for the finest of the digital products and services. Also, if you enjoyed the article, then do share your feedback and don’t forget to hit that clap 👏 button on your way out to show your support.

Source: CodeNicely Blog

‘Sometimes you’ve got to run before you can walk’, as cool as it sounds, it helps rarely. In these times of quick assumptions with a habit of jumping to conclusions, It’s really crucial to know the nature of the business your’e getting yourselves into. What I mean is, before we enlighten you about what online business is. Let us first take a look at what “business” truly is.

It’s the common fact that, it’s based on a fair concept of selling products or providing services in exchange for each other or money. But that’s not all what business is, is it? It’s the art of understanding the demand of your product, talent in a certain market space, meeting & beating the standard, thus generating revenue. The past decade has been marked with the fastest technological growth in history of mankind with startups mushrooming everywhere and it goes without saying that the word business is not bound to a definition or two, infact it’s used to address the very essence of all economic activities in market.

I mean, just look at the history of newspapers, radio, television they proved to to be one of the greatest tools for aggrandizement of a business, whether it’s advertisement, awareness, creating strong goodwill or putting out a social message. Now the the internet is doing the same, only amplifying it further.

What do they all got in common??

The potential to reach to an audience so vast that a conventional business could never grasp on its own. It was only natural for the entrepreneurs of this era to bring out the elements of internet that would work for organisation’s benifit.

This brings me to the part for which you’re here for “Online Business”.

ONLINE STARTUPS

In simpler words, any business conducting its economic activities on internet can be refered as an online business. A web or a mobile application is something that every online business organization have, through which their customers explore & reach them. These apps are usually developed by a Digital product developing Company or an In-house tech team.

Online startups can differ in respect to the nature of their activities, few of the most common startups domain are :-

1. E-commerce -The common online vendorship
2. Service based online platforms
3. Aggregator platforms

1. E-commerce-the common online vendorship

This is a business framework which provides it’s customers a web or mobile application through which they can reach to them and experience their service or buy their products. They can either trade with their own manufactured products or they can rely on a third party for them. While shipping and dropping off the product can either be entrusted to a separate professional “Drop-Ship” Company (for cost saving and reducing risk purpose) or it can be handled In-house.

Examples :- Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, freshlane & any local business fulfilling the above requirements.

2. Service based Online platforms

Some business do not deal in physical products but rather provide their digital products or services through the internet. Let’s say you specialize in some particular skill set like website coding, graphic designing, or you’re a freelancer. Your clients can find and hire you through your web or mobile applications.

Example :- Facebook, CodeNicely, AccuLegal, Gimbooks etc.

With time some certain features of this platform evolved and created a market share for themselves. These are:

• Software as a service (or SaaS)

A method of providing applications as a service through the Internet. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you can simply access it via Internet, leaving the complex software and hardware management to the service provider.

• Platform as a Service (PaaS)

As the name suggests, these provide you computing platforms that usually includes operating system, programming language execution environment, etc.

3. Aggregator platforms

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that that these organizations are those middleman who present the customer with options of service providers to chooses from while also creating work opportunities for the service providers. Being a medium between customer who needs a service and service provider who needs a work opportunity, they earn their share of profit by charging commissions to those service providers who register themselves on their platform.

Examples :- Ola, Zomato, Trivago, Netflix, etc.

Now that you’re familiar with what online business is, you must have a question.

WHY an ONLINE BUSINESS? a million-dollar debate!

Think of your business as a roller coaster ride. It has its ups and downs and it often happens that when we come across an opportunity that might seem like a breakthrough at first but ends up being a total money drainer, and the most common reason majority of startups fail is their inablility to create scalability i.e. The ability of a startup to work efficiently and sustain their profitability as their sale increases, a problem whose chances are reduced by going online. Because then it does not have to deal with the traditional obstacles that most new startups face.

11 reasons why your startup should be online.

1. Immense freedom

Freedom is yet another perk of online startups that draws an entrepreneurs to them. The tools of online business are portable, technological evolution was the gift that let us use our computers on our palms. Next time you spot person with his laptop at a coffee shop, 80% chances are, they’d be working on their, if not a startup then their daily office work that wasn’t possible even a decade and half ago. Online business eliminated the grind of those 9 to 5 jobs that basically sucks the life out of an employee. But if not valued this freedom can be destructive too. An successful entrepreneur values his freedom and works accordingly.

2. New economy

A tsunami that internet is, has brought a whole new economy for the world. Generating countless business opportunities for vendors and manufacturers on internet. It started as a small technology becoming the largest example of omnipresence human kind has achieved yet.

3. Amazing scalability

Online business provides ideal conditions to achive immense scalability because unlike traditional startups they don’t face the burden of maintaining daily books and front shop counters or waste time in demonstrating their products or services resulting in better efficiency and increased profitability.

4. Low cost

Online business eliminates the huge money consuming factors of the business like an expensive office, long term lease commitments, virtual billing and banking, thus reducing the paperwork saving both time and money and with advantage of sharing crucial details of business on just fingertips throughout the organization resulting in reduction of operating cost and increased profit. By switching to online mode a business can save upto 5% of operating expenses, which can often turn into huge profit if invested somewhere else.

5. Perfect venue

The main purpose of a startup is to make a well known brand out of it’s name and internet is the place which has got the attention of almost whole world. With the presence of people of almost every age this is the best place to be,acting as market for every kind of product which makes it an incredible tool for entrepreneurs to reach their target customer.

6. Global presence of your brand

Best brand development is when your brand has its own presence in the market. It would be an understatement to say that internet is miraculous. With a 24/7 working capability and worldwide access for customers to your brand you have a perfect tool to strike a home run.

7. Complete and easily available information

Whenever you launch a new product letting your previous as well as new costumers know about it is, if not hectic, then time and money consuming without the internet. Not even a decade ago this process of informing the consumers about your product was a difficult job with a lot of money sucking schemes, but an online startup doesn’t face these problems and covers a larger number of consumers in its radar with relatively less expenses and allocating very less time.

8. Better customer support

Customer satisfaction is the key to success of every startup, online or not. Acquiring and keeping the customer’s interest in the organization is the most important goal of any startup. With internet, reacting and solving the problems of the customer has become more effective due to direct feedback and better engagement.

“The secret to success is customer’s satisfaction“

9. Startup’s image

In this world of rapidly changing technologies some involvement of internet in any business is crucial. There is no escaping it. If your business doesn’t even have a website, it’s not even taken seriously and it affects the image of the business.

10. Ability to do business 24/7

A normal offline business cannot work more than 8–9 hours a day with one batch of workers but in case of an online business, it can keep it’s web portals open for business worldwide and conduct business at any time of the day and any day of the week.

If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep,

you will work until you die.

— Warren Buffett

11. Future opportunities

The future of online business is brighter than any other sector, not because it’s time and money saving but because it “IS” the future market. A market where almost whole world is present and keeps coming back.

After reviewing all the reasons I provided you with I hope you can decide the right direction for your business. Make sure you keep in mind the nature of your business while analysing all the factors and how will they affect your business’s performance. And this concludes my dicussion of why you should choose an online business. I really hope it helped those who were in dilemma that whether they need to take their startup online or not and those who are planning to start an online business.

YOUR’E IN LUCK!!

By now you must have realised how crucial it is for your business to have a website or an mobile application, we at Codenicely.in can be your your life changing desicion. we develop and design web and mobile application for your startup. Do like us on facebook to stay connected and hit the clap icon on your way out if this was helpful to you, your feedback means a lot to us and helps us get better.

Source: CodeNicely Blog

Git has been everywhere, serving about 27 million users worldwide, including Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn, Apple; it has become the most widely used Version Control System. But more often than not we find ourselves more committed to blunders than to code, and sooner to this comes a realization that Git is hard and screwing up is easy. Finding ourselves tangled in the web of branches.

This is generally due to failing to properly understand the architecture of git or worse, not following an architecture at all. As the team of developers working on the same project increases, the complexity of branching increases making it difficult and often confusing to interpret what’s exactly happening.

In this blog, we will be sharing the architecture we use, here at CodeNicely. We don’t work with a large team, but projects go through the hands of many developers and without proper architecture, maintaining a record of changes would be almost impossible.

We use the GitFlow model designed and published by Vincent Driessen at nvie, which has turned out to be very successful for release management. It offers you with:

• Parallel development between team members
• Ease tracking of features
• Prepare for production releases
• To assist in quickly fixing live production problems.

What we will be doing here is to present a simple and quick explanation of the branching strategy, making it easier to understand. It will provide a set of guidelines for developers to follow while using a Version Control System, you are free to change it as per your need. Command-line integration is also available for this model. Wasting no time, let’s get started.
The model isn’t as complex as it appears to be on the first go.

MAJOR BRANCHES

Instead of using a single major branch we have two major branches, which are: master and develop

• We consider masterbeing the prime branch which reflects the production-ready state. It is basically a record of official release history.
• We consider developbeing the main branch which has the latest development code. It is an integration branch used by the developers of the team.

SUPPORTING BRANCHES

Apart from the main branches, we have a variety of supporting branches. These branches always have a limited lifespan and will be removed eventually. The subsidiary branches we use are:

• Feature branches
• Release branches
• Hotfix branches

Basically, they are just simple plain branches, with no technical specialty. The branch type will define how will we be using them. These branches have a specific purpose and have some rules regarding from where will they branch off and to which branch they will merge.

Feature Branch:

Branch off and merge back to the develop branch

The name speaks for itself, a feature branch is for adding a new feature to the project. The soul of the feature branch exists only as long as the feature is in development state, i.e eventually it will be merged back to the develop branch.

Say a developer Domesh, wants to start working on a new feature.

• He will pull the latest copy of the develop branch, work on a feature, commit his changes to the newly created feature branch.
• Once the feature is ready, he will merge it back to the develop branch.
• During this course of time, another developer may merge his feature branch to the develop as well.

The naming convention of this branch is generally feature/*.

Release Branch:

Branch off from the develop and then merge back to develop and master.

A release branch is initiated when the develop branch reflects the next new release i.e. production roll out. This branch comprises of minor bug fixes and the final touch up of the feature. Testers will test from this branch and any bugs can be reported here. Keep in mind that no major change or feature is added in this branch.

It is in the release branch that the upcoming release gets a new version number. A release branch is merged to both develop branch and the master branch. Adding a tag while merging to the master branch is preferred so that one can keep a track of all the major releases.

The naming convention of this branch is generally release-1.2/* , where 1.2 is the new version number.

Hotfix Branch:

Branch off from the master and then merge back to develop and master.

Hotfix branch is pretty much like the release branch, it is generally short-lived. A hotfix branch is created when you encounter a bug or an undesirable behavior in the production, in a situation which needs immediate action. Like release, hotfix is also merged in both master and develop. A hotfix can be tagged with 1.2.1 (one increased partition).

There might arise a situation where one needs to create a hotfix when the release is already initiated. In such a condition the hotfix will be merged into the release branch instead of the develop branch. Eventually, the result of the hotfix will be merged to the develop branch as well.

‘Branching model’ can work like a well-oiled machine for version control system management. It not only offers dedicated channels for hotfixes to production but also great release-based software workflow.

One more thing

Check out our website, Codenicely.in and like us on facebook to stay connected. Also, clapping lets us know that you have enjoyed reading this post and we always appreciate your comments. Lastly, GitFlow ~ It’s not that hard! Stay tuned in, there’s more to come.

Are your customers happy? Do you keep a check on your customer services? If NO then do this.

Every company works hard to implement their strategies right. They primarily focus on the ways to make their product easily available to the customers with attractive website, offers, packing's and most modern processing facilities for faster delivery and returns but if customer isn’t happy with the services then what is the point of developing the product?

Out of all major issues, customer service ranks among the top issues for organisations. Best product or service must be accompanied by a smart customer service strategy. Happy and satisfied customers are an asset to the company’s profile.

How customer service can be defined?

It refers to how a particular customer is served when he/she contacts the company regarding any kind of query or advice or problem. It is a complete cycle of different stages a customer undergoes, which begins as soon as he/she enters the company, participates in the business process through one or more transactions and extends even after that, if the customer raises some additional needs or issues after the final transaction is completed.

Why customer service is valuable?

A company must address customer issues with full sincerity and honesty. Managing, retaining and providing smooth experience to customers is a very exhaustive and expensive matter for any new startup or company. It requires huge amount of efforts to establish trust amongst the customers.It was found in a survey that- whenever a customer was asked to review about any company they start with — “Their customer service is very poor/bad/good/best” i.e customer service satisfaction is their first parameter for judgement.

Carefully examine the curated list of top 13 mistakes a company must avoid to become the front-lead in the game of business. These mistakes are -

1. Giving less importance to customer service
   For a company to excel and perform better consistency in providing excellent services is the key. Customer needs and problems need to kept at highest priority for improving the services, their emotions with a company’s service or product must be addressed well and they must feel appreciated for the same.
2. Failing to provide sufficient training to the customer service representatives
   Customer service is an art and one need to master it to impress the customers. Lack of communication skills, insufficient knowledge about the subject, lack of listening skills and bad approach to examine the situation reflects the improper training scenario in a representative which degrades the reputation of company.
3. Regularly putting customers on hold and make them wait
   Response time must be a priority for best customer service. Customers expect to have quick responses and better solution for their problem in the very first first attempt itself. If they are regularly placed on hold, they feel frustrated to contact the company again and again, so instead they prefer to switch off to some other competitor.
4. Giving customers the runaround
   Once the customer approaches customer service for any kind of query, they expect to a service representative to whom they speak will resolve their problem. But sadly, most of them are switched to some other person making them feel tired of speaking to multiple persons and explaining same thing over and over again. This lack of incompetence in the staff leads to unsatisfied customer. Companies must get over the concept of giving the runarounds to customers to maintain better relationship with their customers.
5. Lack of organization of customer complaints
   Customers often register their complaints in offline mode or through online portals. Customer care representatives must have the skills to record and manage all the complaints efficiently, they should not get displaced or destroyed. Improper management of customer records and lack of efficient systems for recording, processing and producing the desired output give bad experience to customers.
6. Being proactive instead of being active
   When one need to succeed as a small business owner, it really is extremely important to always accept the fact that — “the customer is always right”. Sometimes customer care representing indulge in an unwanted argument kind of situations but it is worth remembering that the effort and cost involved to gain one new customer is a lot more tedious than it does to maintain an existing one. If you try to win an argument but lose a steady customer, you are punishing yourself and your business with lost revenue and ensuring bad reviews too.
7. Bad Attitude towards customers
   Customers are very selective, they consider company behavior towards them as a very important criteria to stick to their product. If the attitude of customer care representative or the company is not empathetic or personal enough in terms of not being responsive to customer emotions, they may leave your services and find some other destination.Customer service employees must be very humble in their approach to understand the customer problem, must learn to use the words like -“THANK YOU” , ”WE ARE SORRY”, “PLEASE”,etc. customers feels pleasing and might grant a second try !
8. Mistaking the silence of customers for satisfaction
   Every customer has different interests and experiences with any product or services of any company.If they face any issues, they may file or raise a complaint but most of the customers remain silent they leave it due to which unfortunately many companies falsely believe that there’s nothing to worry about because they haven’t heard from a customer. Wrong! Chances are, customers don’t know how to reach you or don’t think it will make a difference.
9. Failing to keep promises
   Its a famous saying that- “Under promise and over deliver is a way to success”. A study by Bain & Company revealed that while 80% of companies believe they develop great service — only 1% of customers agree with that. Just for the sake of satisfying the customers, officials often make fake or short term promises which develop wrong picture in the minds of customers and they feel it’s better to switch the services.
10. Not collecting and acting on customer feedback
    Feedback is an essential medium to peep inside a customer’s mind and understand their interests. Feed backs collection, maintenance and useful utilization is the key where businesses fail.Timely collection of feedback and using them to improve their customer service and product is what expected by their customers.
11. Failing to answer the customer queries on social media
    Businesses are no way far from using social media as a super-power to attract their customers but sometimes they fail to be responsive and attentive regarding customer queries on their support platforms. Questions on social media handles get ignored lot of times, sometimes there is no representative to reply to all those queries piled up in their inboxes and once they start replying it becomes difficult to handle the flooding messages all day long which results in customers losing up their interests.
12. Sending automated copy-paste responses
    Customers face variety of issues which depends on lot of different factors.Company while resolving those issues often forget to keep this in mind. Since email is impersonal, some use predefined templates or scripts for each and every customer just in a copy paste manner none of which may apply to a particular customer, while some other businesses simply ignore customer complaints hoping the customer will simply forget the issue.
13. Inflexible customer service policy
    Customer service representatives and managers should be able to find different ways to adapt the system to new policies to build positive customer relationships which can encourage customer participation and regenerate the trust in them.It must find an opportunity in every customer interaction to build a relationship which can help the business to shine. Rules must bend as and when required just for the sake of customers !

We at CodeNicely are working hard to build a good and productive team which can give best software service support to our customers. We are committed to work for best and deliver the best ! Join us in our journey to create a better technical space for the startups :)

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If you have idea or want any product feel free to contact us ! Our official website is -https://www.codenicely.in/

Being a part of this highly turbulent IT industry have you ever given a thought about how the tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.are able to impact us so much with their valuable products and ideas?

Yes, they made it possible because they opened up some of their proprietary innovations to the open source community. Spreading the technology improves the experience for all users by creating efficiencies and making the entire global community more streamlined. It helps in making things simpler and more easy to access and improve. Perhaps you might have already heard and read about open source software but have you started?

If not, it's never too late to start and learn about open source software technologies and projects.

New trends and technologies are impacting our lives each and every second that’s shaping our future to an imaginable extent.The key player in this revolution is undoubtedly the open source technologies.

What is this Open Source?

Open source is developed by a group of individuals with a shared interest in the project, this community of users and programmers is key to the advancement of any open source project. Open source projects, products, or initiatives embrace and celebrate the principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, transparency and community-oriented development.

Internet is the biggest example of open source and how impactful it is in our lives today needs no explanation.

Google, taking a step ahead, in order to disseminate the importance of an open source software development introduced a renowned program known as GOOGLE SUMMER OF CODE which is focused to bridge the gap between young talented students across the globe and the open source organizations.

How it is creating impact?

The idea of open source stems from the technology community. From the earliest days of computers, programmers and engineers developed new technologies through collaboration. All of us knowingly and unknowingly use products such as any library, plugin, programming language or any platform among which most of them are open source.

I am a student, why should I become a part of Open Source Community?

Student life is the best time to pitch your skills and projects in front of global community like Open Source Community which can give you a hell lot of exposure on how to publish, collaborate and learn by providing a way to stretch yourself beyond your limits. It can help you understand the architecture of projects, new tools and libraries being used, the way to interact to many global contributors of that project, you may get a mentor over there to help you solve bugs and issues in your code and the opportunity to mark your presence by contributing to some of the really cool and innovative projects of tech companies by sitting at any corner of the world and you might end up with an opportunity to work in those companies either as an intern or employee. It’s just more than awesome!

How to get started with Open Source Community?

Contributing to an open source for the first time can make you feel stiff and a little overwhelming from inside as you may be a newbie or have been coding for a while but it’s never too late to start.

1.You can find lots of open source projects on GitHub.You just need to make an account and push your own project to make it open for collaboration or you can even start contributing to the projects which match up to your interests.

2.This link might be useful to get a brief overview about how GIT can be used for making contributions. It consists of tutorial series too-

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/contributing-to-open-source-getting-started-with-git

3. There is a site which aggregates projects that actively want help. They label those projects with things like “up-for-grabs”, “jump-in” or “help wanted.” Link for the site is-http://up-for-grabs.net

4.You can also go through the links mentioned below

a. https://github.com/explore — use this site by github to explore interesting projects to work on.

b. https://www.hackerearth.com/getstarted-opensource/

c. https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners — This is a curated list of projects helpful for beginners.

5. Read open-source community blogs, participate in hackathons, try to be an active problem solver in github discussions and take part in GSOC as they are primary source to encourage you towards global collaborative contributions.

There are lots of stuff on the Internet to help you jump into open source but all you have to do is crawl your fingers on the keyboard, find them and start contributing :)

The world is full of “codes” which guides us and shape the way we think and act to redefine our ideas into a more valuable and scalable contribution to the community. Open Source Community is to open to all whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional.

We at CodeNicely aim to develop an environment where you can connect and work collaboratively with wide range of talented people over the extremely flourishing open source community, which is the best way to embrace your skills because love for open source is incredible ! :)

A lot of business owners think that they aren’t working hard enough when in reality that’s not the problem. The truth is you can’t expect different results if you continue to do the same things again and again.
So, if you are willing to make a few quick and simple changes, here are 5 things you can do to bring in more sales.

Change your Website content and Headlines a little :

From your homepage to each of your sales pages, you need content that speaks directly to your prospects in a language that they understand. This is a main reason why you don’t get many conversions(converting someone from a prospect to a customer) even though you have traffic in your website.

This is the salesman in your absence and this salesman must get the attention of your prospects.

It may be as simple as changing a single word in your headline. You can get up to 100% increase in click through rate if you put this correctly.

Change your Call to Action button :

Your call to action is where you ask your prospect for the order or the sale. Sometimes just changing the words on the button will get your visitor to click on it and book a sale.

Other times changing the colour of the button itself will do the work specially if the colour of the button stands out from the colour of your website.

Your website works as a salesman and if you mess up the call to action, you’ll lose the sale.

It’s a good idea to change only one thing at a time, such as your headline or your call to action, so that you know what works well in which situation.

Add Legitimate Testimonials :

People are more likely to believe what others say about you, your company and your products or service than what you say.

The more testimonials you have, the more convincing it’ll be. Testimonials should be as specific as possible- telling the exact results someone got because of you or your product rather than a general testimonial.

It would be great if you include the person’s website address who is providing you the testimonial.

Have a referral program in place :

A referral program is a great way of rewarding your customers for referring your business to other potential customers.

Happy customers tend to spread the word if provided with some incentives. They just need some extra motivation.

It can be in form of some loyalty points or you can give them a gift card which they can use else where. This is also called as Affiliate Marketing.

Amazon has been doing this for years and this is an important factor which has contributed to its huge success.

Sell more to your existing customers than new customers :

“The real money to be made in any business isn’t in the initial sale. It’s in all the sales that come after the initial sale.”

Most of the entrepreneurs are too much focused on the first sale from the customer. Once it’s over, they move on to making a sale to another customer.

This is a mistake!

It took time and and money to acquire that first customer. Don’t let existing customers walk away when they are interested in your business and you are busy focusing on new customers.

It’s actually easier to sell to old customers than it is to someone new.

We at CodeNicely are determined to see you succeed. :)

Have you been wondering about starting a startup and thinking that it isn’t the right time. Well, let me tell you that the best time to start a software based startup is not tomorrow, not next week, and definitely not next year. It is this very second and let me explain why:

You have the power to make something out of nothing :

Right now, you may have some wild and crazy idea in your head and want to bring it into the world. It might also exist in some napkins, some wire frames, etc. but it can become a reality and there’s a great chance that it will change the world and have an impact on people. This wasn’t possible even 30 years ago.

2. A world of knowledge is out there :

Tiny amount of information used to exist when it came to startups and entrepreneurship. Seminars and business books were super expensive. But now, the experiences and startup stories of successful and/or failed entrepreneurs are available everywhere. The blueprint to starting a company and acquiring customers is all out there….for free.

3. Cloud computing and Web apps are cheap to create :

Ten years ago it used to cost a lot to get started with the hardware and software business. But today, we have open source frameworks/databases and cloud apps. Your time of development and testing is also reduced by free libraries like JQuery and Ruby on Rails. Everything you need is available for free and even if it isn’t, there are people you can talk to.

4. Getting press and media attention quickly is possible :

Getting press and media coverage was considered to be a great achievement and it used be so expensive to hire an overpriced PR firm. Now, a great product with a great storytelling can blow up the social media on internet overnight and get the attention of mainstream media and other tech entrepreneurs.

5. More number of customer acquisition channels :

Getting customers was and is the hardest thing for any startup. It takes a lot of money to acquire customers at scale but to get started, you can use many customer acquisition channels like inbound marketing, search engine marketing, direct sales, affiliate programs, etc. And the best thing about all these channels is that they cost very less amount of money or capital.

Bottom line : If you really believe that your idea can bring a change, then go for it because CodeNicely is always here to help you with all the software development you need. :)

Do read our article 5 Simple Marketing Techniques to Make More Money With Your Website.