The Evolving Role of Social Media in Ecommerce

30 Oct 2018 Uncategorized

The Growth Of The E-commerce Industry As A Result Of Social Media
With the growth of social media, the connectivity and communication that we experience have improved on a significant level. Social media platforms have become so popular that it has become the norm to be on at least one of them to stay in touch. Everyone who uses the internet either uses social media or gets some form of information from it, which is why it had become such a widespread medium. For industries and businesses, the potential for growth that they have witnessed as a result of this is phenomenal. Brands are now able to connect with people from all over the world and partake in global expansion without even leaving their home country. The opportunities in this regard are endless, which is why social media has come up as such a valuable opportunity in today’s society.

The E-commerce industry, in particular, is one that has greatly benefitted from the improvements to social media over the past few years. Because this industry was already functioning through the internet, the evolution of social media only supplemented these brands and companies. Here are some of the ways in which social media has helped the growth companies within the E-commerce industry

Larger Customer Base

One of the first ways in which the e-commerce industry saw an incredible boom was concerning their customers and their potential audiences. Before the dawn of social media, ordinary people would use the internet only for things like checking their email, finding information or to shop from an online store. Logging into the web just to keep up to date with your friends wasn’t exactly a norm, which is what sometimes limited the exposure that brands received. With social media, however, the amount of time that people spend on the internet increased significantly, and people were logging on just to check up on the happenings on these popular sites. As a result of increased internet usage, the number of people who found it convenient to shop online also started increasing. They began to build trust in virtual sources and started sheddings the opinions that were previously held about online shopping.

Globalized Expansion

One of the key reasons why social media sites were developed was with the intention of helping people connect, regardless of which part of the globe they lived in. People now had opportunities to form lasting connections regardless of geographic and linguistic barriers. Because of this, brands were also able to achieve the global expansion that would have otherwise been difficult. In the 1980s for example, if a store wanted to sell their clothing to people in another country, they would have to conduct manual market research, set up a store in a particular location and pay for the cost of transportation of goods. Smaller companies would find it a lot harder to reach those audiences, even if there was an incredible amount of potential in them. Today, those hurdles have been reduced. Online stores can have just one site from which people around the world can conveniently browse as they like. The cost of expanding to another country has significantly reduced, and globalized economies are now experiencing a steady rise.

Influencing Purchases

One of the biggest things that social media has brought forward for brands is the ability to influence customers and their buying patterns. Word of mouth can be a powerful tool, and when coming from someone who is well regarded in the community, brands can expect to see a sudden alteration in the products that people buy. ASOS is one shining example of this. The brand, which had been in operation since 2000 had been seeing a constant drop in their sales over time. The brand needed a few years to get back into the consumer market and decided to enlist the help of social media influencers. As soon as Instagram and Snapchat started to become more popular, the brand partnered up with a few notable fashion icons and social media starts to help them promote their clothing. The brand then started seeing an incredible boost in their sales. By partnering up with well-known influencers, the brand was able to get the attention of those who followed these accounts, thereby influencing their decisions to purchase from the brand.

Better Advertising

Good advertising has always been the best way in which a brand can reach better audiences, and with social media, the potential that brands have in this regard is enormous. One of the reasons for this is the targeted nature of ads on social media. In the past, brands would have to rely on billboard spaces and magazine prints to reach audiences. Even in these situations, the density of potential customers would be far less than what a brand would ideally want. With social media, brands were able to reach the exact people that they needed, and who would be potentially interested in buying their products. Social media advertising is also supplemented by the availability of apps and tools that make this entire process significantly easier. The presence that a brand has to the relevant market is also something that is incredibly beneficial for the overall sales that it experiences. Brands who are targeted to the right audiences can have a stronger presence to those who matter, thereby cementing their position within their particular category. This presence can also enable people to visit the site of the brand easily and engage in the products that it has to offer.

Overall, social media has proven to be an invaluable tool to brands across the world, enabling them to reach avenues that they couldn’t before.

Website Design & Development Strategy

25 Oct 2018 Uncategorized

Imagine web design as a human body. First, there are the bones, which represent the code – this gives it structure. Next the organs, which represent UX design, to ensure everything functions inside. Finally, we have UI design, which represents the cosmetics of the body – how it looks, senses, and reacts.

The web design and development process starts with UX. At Cyber Gear, user experience design is a human-first way of designing websites. It is the process of enhancing patient satisfaction and loyalty by improving the usability and the joyful experience provided in the interaction between the patient and the website.

This involves the following steps:
• User research
• Interaction design
• Site architecture
• Wireframing
• Scenarios
• Prototyping

UI involves translating the research, content, and layout into an attractive and responsive experience that guides users. According to Cyber Gear, the overall presentation, brand design, typography and visually guiding nature and design of the site will enhance this experience.

In this case it involves the careful selection and implementation of the following:
• Visual Design
• Colours
• Graphical User Interface
• Layouts
• Typography

Good UX and UI blend together seamlessly so that the website in its final form matches the user’s needs and delivers the expected results.

Why Should You Double-Check Your ISBN?

21 Oct 2018 Uncategorized

Are you trying to buy or rent a textbook for a college course? Maybe you want to sell a textbook you’ve finished using to get some spending money or money for other school supplies. In any of those scenarios, it’s important to double-check the ISBN on the book. Discover what an ISBN is and why it’s important to double-check them on your textbooks.

What is an ISBN?

An ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is given to every book as a way to identify it. It’s the equivalent of a fingerprint for a book. In short, no two books have the same ISBN. For many years, the ISBN consisted of ten numbers. But, since January of 2007, an ISBN has 13 numbers. So, counting the numbers in the ISBN of a book can tell you if it was published before January of 2007.

Where is the ISBN on a Book?

The ISBN of a textbook is located on the back cover near the bar code. Sometimes used textbooks have other stickers on them that have accumulated over the years. Peeling off the stickers and checking the actual back cover of the book will reveal the book’s true ISBN. If there’s no ISBN on the back cover of a book, the next place to check is the copyright page.

Reasons to Double-Check the ISBN on a Book

Ensure It’s the Right Edition of the Book

Some textbooks have several editions. Sometimes authors of textbooks update information and add material resulting in a new edition of the textbook. Or, a new author may be added to the list of authors after adding more material to the textbook. Looking at the ISBN tells you exactly what edition you have. You want to buy or rent the edition being used by the professor in your course. This can make a lot of difference because if you get an older edition of a textbook, you may not have all of the material you need to have success in the class.

Get an Accurate Price on the Book

Double-checking the ISBN on a book can help you determine what it’s worth when you try to sell it. The price is connected with the edition of the book along with other information about it. If you want to see if you can sell your textbooks at BooksRun, then simply enter the ISBN into the search bar. You’ll be able to find out if your textbook is being purchased by BooksRun or if you have one that’s not being bought back at this time.

Make Sure the Author and Title Match Up

Some textbooks have similar titles. If you are unsure of the author of a book and only remember part of a title, you can check the ISBN to get the title and author’s name connected with the book that bears that number. Titles and author names can get confusing, but the ISBN reveals definitive information about that written work.

Avoid the Hassle of Exchanging or Returning a Textbook

If you do mistakenly rent or buy a textbook without double-checking the ISBN, you may have to return it or exchange it for the book required by your professor. This can be a hassle, especially if you are shopping for all of your books at once for a full schedule of classes. Not surprisingly, you want to cross that task off your to-do list and move onto the next to prepare for your classes. Furthermore, if you realize you have the wrong textbook for a course after the course begins, you may get behind on your work because you don’t have the correct textbook.

Lastly, double-checking the ISBN of a textbook is a fail-safe way of getting the exact book you need for a class. Plus, if you’re planning on selling your textbooks, checking the ISBN can tell you what price to expect to get for the book. You may be planning on using the money you get from selling your textbooks to buy or rent next semester’s books. If so, then knowing the prices ahead of time can help you map out your textbook budget for upcoming classes.

Why Are The Blockchain Disruptions In The Financial Industry Good For Business?

9 Oct 2018 Uncategorized

Since the inception of the blockchain technology in 2009, many experts have predicted major disruptions in the financial industry. This is because the working of this technology, whereby an open and decentralized ledger is used that cuts out third parties in transactions, blockchain can go a long way in transforming the way financial services are offered.

In fact, blockchain was designed in a way that can eliminate the need for banks if they fail to adapt to this technology. But much as some of the disruptions might be damaging to the financial institutions, the general public and the business community is bound to benefit from them.

The infographic that was originally published on BitFortune.net, explains the transformations that blockchain will impose on the financial sector. Here are the most important points we got from it.

Wipe Out Monopoly Over Transactions

Cryptocurrencies will wash away the storage of value monopoly that financial institutions have enjoyed for a long time, since those who want to make transactions will have to just open up a digital wallet and either store or exchange digital coins with other users, without the need for banks or other financial institutions.

Speed Up Transactions

With the elimination of a central clearing authority, users can quickly make transactions using their crypto wallets. Whereas banks take 3-4 days to complete international money transfers successfully, blockchain payment networks, such as Ripple, can do this within two and half hours.

Moreover, if financial institutions embrace this technology and get rid of the middlemen, their transactions will also quicken..

Offer Improved Security And Transparency

As this technology is built around cryptography, it makes it difficult for anyone to tamper with records or even hack the system, even though cybercriminals are working hard to disapprove this. Hence, it’s a secure way of keeping records of all kinds.

Also, it is open to the general public, meaning that anybody can access the information stored on it if there is a need for this.

Change The Lending And Fundraising Mechanism

If banks adopt the use of the blockchain technology to save data about their clients and their transactions, they will easily attain their information when they need to make credit decisions regarding the worthiness of a client to take a loan.

Fundraising and charities will also benefit from this technology. Because the blockchain technology has a tamper-proof and transparent nature, donors and sponsors can always check the public ledger where their donation is recorded and see if it is being abused. By being able to track such information, individuals and organizations will be more willing to participate in humanitarian activities such as making donations.

Reduce Costs

By adopting the blockchain technology that’s tamper-proof, banks will end up substituting the existing central ledger for the digital ledger created by themselves which is more efficient and secure. In doing so, they will be able to cut costs by eliminating the need for third parties, such as central banks or SWIFT that they currently use during transactions.

Similarly, the use of smart contracts in trades will streamline settlements and titling of financial transactions that involve the exchange of goods and services by also stamping out middlemen and the need for proof documents from banks. Consequently, the transactional costs that banks charge clients will significantly reduce.

As you can see, some of the disruptions in the financial sector have already taken effect, and as the usage of the blockchain technology continues to scale, we shall witness more changes.

Importance of Link Building for Effective SEO

7 Oct 2018 Uncategorized

Google’s algorithms are complex and always evolving, but backlinks remain an important factor in how every search engine determines which sites rank for which keywords. The number of quality backlinks to a website is one of the most important factors that determine the organic ranking in Google.

There are some important factors to consider while establishing links from third-party sites.

  1. Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages. A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.

  1. Relevant Site

If both sites (your page and the site where you are placing the backlink) have the same keyword topics, the backlink is considered relevant and has a strong influence on the search engine ranking. While content is KING, context is QUEEN!

  1. Do-Follow Link

The term Do-follow link was introduced by Google in 2005 to reduce the search engine spam indexing and to improve the search engine results. Only Do-follow links pass link juice to the linked website and influence the target’s page rank.

  1. Anchor Text

Anchor text is the descriptive labeling of the hyperlink as it appears on the website. It is important that relevant keywords are used in the anchor text of the hyperlink because the search engines examine the anchor text to see how relevant it is to the content on the website.

  1. Permanent Link

A permalink or permanent link is a URL that is intended to remain unchanged for many years into the future, yielding a hyperlink that is less susceptible to link rot.

  1. SEO-Friendly URL

It is important to establish that your guest post is published with a SEO-friendly URL. A good structure can help the indexation process of your website and make it relevant in searches.

  1. Secure Site

The Google Algorithm gives weight to sites that are secure. For attaining high Google organic results it is imperative to post your articles on sites that have a secure hosting environment.

Link building is a long-term strategy designed to increase traffic to your site while improving your reputation. While building links can be a painfully long drawn process, it is a key ingredient of a successful SEO process.

GuestPosts.biz can offer you several publisher sites and blogs that publish guest posts with back-links for a nominal fee.

Google Insists On Having Secure Sites

1 Sep 2018 Uncategorized

If you do not have a ‘Secure’ server, Google will flag your site with a ‘Not Secure’ warning sign! It is therefore mandatory to ensure that you install a Secure Certificate and your site has an https:// address.

In the latest release of Chrome, when a user enters data on an HTTP page, Chrome will mark the page as “Not Secure” with a label in the address bar. This label will also be shown in Incognito Mode for all HTTP pages.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.

If you don’t have the SSL certificate, a secure connection cannot be established, that means, your company information will not be digitally connected to a cryptographic key.

Research shows that 97% users would never enter their information on a site that is declared unsecured.

The benefits of installing a Secure Certificate on your server are many:

  1. Encrypts Sensitive Information

The information you send on the Internet is passed from computer to computer to get to the destination server. Any computer in between you and the server can see your credit card numbers, usernames and passwords, and other sensitive information if it is not encrypted. When an SSL certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except for the server you are sending the information to.

  1. Builds Trust With Customers

With SSL certificates, your customers will see visuals like lock icon and green address bar that indicates well-trusted encryption is in use. This is especially vital for e-commerce websites while helping in enhancing brand value.

  1. Fast Download for Mobile Sites

SSL is required for Accelerated Mobile Pages. AMP is the technology that makes certain pages load almost instantaneously on mobile. So, when you search for something on your mobile device through Google, you might notice that some results have a lightning bolt icon next to it, which means your website is mobile friendly.

  1. Google Rankings and SEO

The Google Algorithm gives weight to sites that are secure. For attaining high Google organic results it is imperative to have a secure hosting environment.

The bottom line is privacy is important, and HTTPS ensures privacy.

How AI is revolutionizing e-commerce

26 Aug 2018 Uncategorized

Let us start from the very beginning. Artificial Intelligence has evolved over a period of time.

In the 1950’s AI started off as a program that could sense, reason, act and adapt.

In the 1980’s, came ‘Machine Learning’. Now computers began to learn without being programmed.

Come 2010, ‘Deep Learning’ allowed machines to mimic the way in which the human brain works.

The last stage of AI’s evolution, deep learning, is what makes AI invaluable for e-commerce. Machine learning that can not only analyze customer data but use that data to anticipate customer needs in order to create personalized experiences. Today, artificial intelligence provides personalized experiences for customers across devices and is revolutionizing both, conversations and content.

Using AI and Big Data, businesses can monitor their competitors’ product mix and marketing strategies. AI provides businesses the ability to adjust their own product-mix and pricing in real time with high accuracy – an impressive competitive advantage that provides complete visibility into what products are being offered in the market. The intelligent software puts retailers in a strong position to make specific assortment and planning decisions, and track the business impact of those actions.

E-commerce sites now have the ability to harvest products data from competition sites and find the best price for all SKUs. They can, therefore, offer a ‘Best Price Guarantee’ and improve sales turnover. The ability to harness data is enabling masses of big data to be utilized to form actionable customer segments and individual offers and incentives to increase sales and customer retention.

While the potential for AI in e-commerce is boundless, most e-commerce companies are focused on AI for online shopping. Here are some of the benefits of using AI in your e-commerce site:

  • Identify market size
  • Identify new products and strategies employed by the major market players
  • Analyze and dissect the brand ‘slice of the pie’
  • Enable shoppers to discover complementary products whether it is size, colour, shape, fabric or even brand.
  • Image search is an extremely powerful AI tool for enhancing shopping experience
  • Identify reasons why online shopping carts are abandoned
  • Offer recommendations based on customers past buying pattern
  • Chatbots are on the cutting edge of customer service
  • AI helps in planning inventory levels
  • Artificial intelligence has also improved the cybersecurity of the E-commerce websites
  • With the help of machine learning algorithms, advanced CRM can learn and improve over time
  • Analytics can reveal insights for new opportunities
  • Statistics and trends analysis are available 24/7 through an interactive dashboard

AI makes it possible for e-commerce retailers to analyze millions of interactions every day and ultimately target offers down to a single customer.

Cyber Gear is now offering an AI-based technology solution called sbot which can help e-commerce companies increase their efficiency and profitability.

4 PILLARS OF SBOT

  1. VOLUME

sbot can collect terabytes of data from a variety of sources, including web portals, social media, and information from in-house data.

  1. VELOCITY

Data streams in at an unprecedented speed and is dealt with in a timely manner. sbot deals with torrents of data in near-real time.

  1. VARIETY

Data comes in all types of formats – from structured, numeric data in traditional databases to unstructured text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data and financial transactions.

  1. VERACITY

We have achieved almost 99% accuracy of data based on our AI-based algorithm for cleaning data. sbot intelligently connects and correlates relationships, hierarchies, and multiple data linkages.

For a no obligation, demo visit https://www.cyber-gear.com/sbot

 

Artificial Intelligence in the Automobile Industry

24 Aug 2018 Uncategorized

Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize the automotive industry. Here we are not even talking about the impact AI is having on autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification, and shared mobility.

Using AI and Big Data in the automobiles sector creates numerous opportunities to reduce costs, improve operations, and generate new revenue streams. Further, the need to understand and analyze visual contents to gain meaningful insights is the real deal!

The ability to harness data is enabling masses of big data to be utilized to form actionable customer segments and individual offers and incentives to increase sales and customer retention. If one analyses the second-hand car market through data harvesting from say, top 10 car resale portals, the learnings are huge.

  • Size of the market is astounding
  • Identifying the latest developments, market shares, and strategies employed by the major market players
  • You can analyze and dissect the brand ‘slice of the pie’
  • Analytics can reveal insights for resale and new opportunities
  • Use data to up-sell new cars
  • Associated industries like motor insurance, auto-repair, banks and refinance companies can procure new business
  • Study data relating to the customer financial history and preferences
  • When data collected is used for sentiment analysis and market segmentation, vehicle marketing becomes more meaningful
  • Statistics and trends analysis are available 24/7 through an interactive dashboard

Cyber Gear is now offering an AI-based technology solution called sbot which can help automobile companies increase their efficiency and profitability.

4 PILLARS OF SBOT

  1. VOLUME

sbot can collect terabytes of data from a variety of sources, including web portals, social media, and information from in-house data.

  1. VELOCITY

Data streams in at an unprecedented speed and is dealt with in a timely manner. sbot deals with torrents of data in near-real time.

  1. VARIETY

Data comes in all types of formats – from structured, numeric data in traditional databases to unstructured text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data and financial transactions.

  1. VERACITY

We have achieved almost 99% accuracy of data based on our AI-based algorithm for cleaning data. sbot intelligently connects and correlates relationships, hierarchies, and multiple data linkages.

For a no obligation, demo visit https://www.cyber-gear.com/sbot

 

Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate Industry

19 Aug 2018 Uncategorized

Artificial Intelligence is about to hit the real estate industry, hard. It will be almost a knock out blow! Either you embrace it or it will get you.

The real question is whether you’re going to be able to ride the wave and take advantage of new technologies or whether you’re going to get left behind. It’s up to you.

The most successful real estate companies are likely to be the ones that accept this reality and will embrace AI and use it to revolutionize the way they do business which is now seen in the apartments for rent in Eatonville.

Salespeople will identify the client’s needs before they harvest real estate data from designated sources. They will also need to be able to convert what they learn into data that an algorithm can understand. Then AI will be used to find the ‘best fit’ for the client’s investment. The predictive analytics generated through AI based on trends analysis includes outliers that humans can miss. AI helps make smart decisions.

Here is the real deal. The web and AI and never sleep. That means you can use AI-based bots to provide 24/7 coverage to customers who visit your website. They can ‘chat’ with customers on your behalf and help you to make money even when you’re asleep, and the office is closed!

Further, real estate agencies can develop long-term relationships through AI-based CRM systems. AI can even predict whether people are likely to default on their loan or to fail a credit check. This allows real estate firms to function more profitably.

Cyber Gear is now offering an AI-based technology solution called sbot which can help real estate agencies increase their efficiency and profitability.

4 PILLARS OF SBOT

  1. VOLUME

sbot can collect terabytes of data from a variety of sources, including web portals, social media, and information from in-house data. Sbot has already harvested over 800,000 UAE properties data from the ‘Top 10’ regional portals.

  1. VELOCITY

Data streams in at an unprecedented speed and is dealt with in a timely manner. sbot deals with torrents of data in near-real time.

  1. VARIETY

Data comes in all types of formats – from structured, numeric data in traditional databases to unstructured text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data and financial transactions.

  1. VERACITY

We have achieved almost 99% accuracy of data based on our AI-based algorithm for cleaning data. sbot intelligently connects and correlates relationships, hierarchies and multiple data linkages.

For a no obligation, demo visit https://www.cyber-gear.com/sbot

 

Blizzard Mass Bans Players Exploiting Layering In Classic WoW

14 Aug 2018 News

Blizzard’s ban hammer is in full swing at the moment as they ban players exploiting the in-game layering mechanic. Layering is when ‘mini-servers’ or layers, are created within a server. For example, if you’re playing on the Faerlina server, you may actually be playing on Faerlina layer 1, layer 2, and so on. As a player, it isn’t immediately obvious what layer you are playing on, but you may notice that you’re in the same area as a friend, but you can’t see them. That’s because they are on a different layer.

Why Layering Was Introduced
During Vanilla wow, players experienced huge wait times trying to log into the game. When a player finally got into the game, they were then faced with significant amounts of lag as the thousands of other players surrounding them pushed the hardware and software limits to the max. Blizzard wanted to avoid this with the launch of Classic WoW, so they announced their solution, layering. The idea is that one layer would fill-up with players until it hit a predefined limit, and then a new layer would be generated. Any players logging in after this point will be placed on the new layer.

What Players Thought of Layering
Layering was controversial from the outset. Many avid Vanilla fans felt that layering would degrade the original Vanilla experience. Some players argued that it would detract from the feeling of a full and immersive community that Classic WoW is all about. A major discussion point was also the potential for this mechanic to exploited.

The Exploit
The exploit works like this:
● Player 1 farms a mob, boss, or mat on Layer 1.
● Then, Player 1 will ask someone on another layer, let’s say Layer 2, to invite them into a group. This will transfer Player 1 over to Player 2’s layer, in this case, Layer 2.
● Now Player 1 can farm the exact same item or mob all over again without having to wait for respawns or resets.
● Rinse and repeat. Player 1 can now hop to a different layer again, or back to their previous layer, and farm indefinitely.

Some players have been sinking vast amounts of energy into this exploit, farming for the best gear, or farming for items to sell on the Auction House. This exploit has been shifting huge amounts of Classic WoW Gold into the hands of the exploiters and massively disrupting the budding Classic WoW economy which was growing and developing in much healthier way in comparison to mainstream WoW, where value of WoW Gold is steadily declining and inflation is on the rise. The effect has been that some players have managed to get way ahead of other players, both in terms of the amount of WoWC Gold they have, and it terms of their gear progression and experience.

In response, Blizzard has come down hard on these players, issuing a range of bans. It looks as though some players have been handed one-month bans, some got 6-month bans, and the serious exploiters have been handed permanent bans.

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