Google Wallet: Google’s new wonder mobile payment service !

It’s really tedious standing in long queues for making payments for your shopping and go through filling online payment details for your online shopping. However, Google has stepped up to take up this challenge and find a solution and end all woes connected to it!!! Sounds almost impossible? However, that’s a fact. Google has launched an android mobile app named “Google wallet”, a virtual wallet, which will replace your wallet with its mobile payment service. It’s a new way to make electronic payment to vendors where you have shopped. 

Google wallet is an app from Google which converts your mobile into a wallet. With Google wallet you can pay, save and get discount coupons and offers from Google. You can use Google wallet service through your phone to make payment through near field communication (NFC) at shopping stores which are offering paypass payment service. Google wallet gives an amazing shopping experience to its users.

Working of Google Wallet

Google wallet is working on a new wireless technology called NFC by which you can communicate between two devices. Initially, Google offers you to make payments only with Citi MasterCard and Google prepaid card. It will work the same way as your existing credit and debit card. Instead of swiping a credit card, you can make a payment just by touching the two devices or place them next to the pay pass terminal; it will automatically sync with your mobile phone and make payment with credit or debit card details saved in your mobile. It’s necessary that your mobile screen is not locked and Google wallet app is open at the time of payment.

Google wallet is an android app which works in sync with your Smartphone device. Its saves all your credit/ debit cards details within your Smartphone device. Google wallet hooks up your Google offers. Hence, when you shop and want to use your offer coupons and reward points, all you have to do is just tap your mobile phone at paypass terminal, it will mechanically use your coupon codes and award points to you.

An online shopping experience with Google wallet is much easier. For online shopping, all you need to create is an account on Google and within it all your credit/ debit card details are to be stored. During payment process, when you click on “pay button”, it will ask you to login in your account. And lo and behold! It’s done. It automatically obtains your stored credit/debit card information and makes the necessary payment.

In the recently available android phones not all device supports Google wallet, only Galaxy Nexus S the mobile phone from Google supports Google wallet. 

Currently, Google wallet payment service is available only in the United States. Many mercantile vendors like Subway, American Eagle Outfitters, the container shop, Macy’s, etc. in US are now offering Google wallet payment system to their customers.

Why should one need Google wallet?

In recent times ,everyone possess a  mobile and carry it along with them wherever they go .It’s so cool to go out without the hassle of carrying a credit card and  cash, when you have this facility to carry in it on your mobile device. With Google wallet you can go out n do shopping with your phone, you don’t have to worry about your payment cards. You can also store your boarding pass, movie ticket and keys into Google wallet.

Google wallet is the fastest way to perform an online and offline transaction. You don’t need to go through by filling your credit card details for your transaction. And this service is totally free, Google doesn’t charge for using this service on your phone.

When you use Google wallet, Special offers and discounts are automatically redeemed with your payment. Hence you can walk in and shop without the hassle of remembering to carry gift vouchers and offer coupons with you all the time.

But, what about security and privacy?

Google wallet is operational on mobile phones hence the question that arises is how safe is it? It’s good to know that, Google wallet is totally secured from all threats. Google wallet is password protected by 4 digit Google wallet PIN. If any unauthorized access is done over the phone it will not permit any usage because they have made it a compulsion to enter the wallet PIN while making any payment. 

Users are apprehensive about what happens when their phone is lost or stolen? It’s nothing to worry about. If your phone is lost or stolen then you can disable your account online. And by resetting your credit card details from your account you are totally protect from any illegal access. However, for more protection, you will have to inform your bank about “stopping service” for that credit/ debit card.

Google stores all your credit/ debit card details in an encrypted format on their server. So it’s totally safe while making an online payment as all your information is in an encrypted format. Google has created a chip named “Secure Elements” which provides advanced security to stored data.

As most of the transaction is done through our account most users think that Google keeps the records of transaction or purchase with it.  But that’s not true at all. All your transactions have only details about the transaction amount, location and date. So, rest assured all your transaction details are private to you only. And also Google doesn’t share user’s details with any merchant and hence nobody can access your information directly. Truly a wonder concept by Google!!!

Understanding The Basic Difference Between UI and UX

While dealing with any client, the first thing we end up doing is we discuss about the software design. However, there seems to be a lot of confusion between what is included in UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) design. And what’s the impact of both on the system. User experience is the influence that an application has on a user by way of his experience. While user interface is all about how the user interfaces with the application. Let’s know about it in detail.

User Interface (UI)

User interface is a way by which the user controls and communicates with the software application. User interface is basically designed either for software or hardware. On a computer, a user interface has two devices keyboard and mouse. 

User interface generates trust amongst the users. It is a set of commands or a menu that is designed in an application with the help of which humans interact with a program. User interface is the main part of the program and it decides how the user will relate with application or software. 

There are mainly three types of user interface which is widely used,

1. Command Driven: In Command Driven interface, user enters commands. For using command driven interface, user must have knowledge about programming instruction or codes. Command driven interface is used for system administration task.

2. Menu Driven: In Menu driven interface, user selects a command from different menu displayed on the screen. It is more helpful to user because users don’t have to remember the commands or instruction codes.

3. Graphical User Interface (GUI): GUI uses different windows, icons. User selects commands by clicking on the icons, windows. Input is given by the keyboard and mouse and accurate output is displayed on the monitor.

A well designed interface will be very user friendly and will enhance faster work. This will attract several non- technical people to use your application or software and in addition it will add to the professional look and create an impactful application. But if your interface is not well designed then users won’t be comfortable working on it and may decide to call it quits. Sometimes user interface requires some additional software to install to run programs.

User Experience (UX)

User experience is about what users feel about your product and service. When a user visits your website, User experience is the most important factor that will determine if the user will stay put on your website and be a potential buyer. Hence, the web site should be designed in such a way that the users are able to locate important information without wasting much time searching for it and only required fields need to be introduced while they are filling the form on your website.

User experience is based on an individual and depends completely on his or her knowledge of the website. It does not remain the same for long and needs constant updation with time. Several people misinterpret user experience. It is very essential because this helps in long term sustenance of an organization. Currently, various companies are providing quality based user experience as it’s the call of the hour and enhance the reputation of the organization thereby increasing business. Good user experience distinguishes your company from those of your competitor. User experience design is different for different websites. Users have very high expectations and if the website is very complicated to use, then the users would not feel comfortable and hence it’s necessary to create a web site which is simple and gives a faster experience.

Importance Of Infogrpahics To Stay Ahead In Business Competition

There are numerous ways to extend your business information to the public worldwide. It’s important how you are representing your content and connecting with them. Millions of business people represent their content by posting them directly as text on different sites; some depict their content with the help of videos and some use various other innovations. However, in this competitive world to stand apart from others is very important. Infogrpahics is the best way to represent your content and information in a unique and an attractive way. 

Infographics are clear and simple graphical representation of data and information as an image format on your website or blog. Infogrpahics are used extensively in schools, business, and official purpose in form of a presentation to impart relevant information. It’s one of the easy ways to tackle and present complex information in a simple and easy way. Infographic is best for marketing business. You can easily spread word on your business with Info graphic by show casing your company’s products and services. 

Importance of Infographics

Information becomes more interesting: Infographic is not just a way to represent your data by way of charts and graphs but it’s a creative way to represent your design and information and alluring your customers who visit your web site. Use of lines, graphs, charts, differentiates infogrpahics from normal graphs design. Each Infographic is different from another. 

Different way to signify your initiative: Infographic is the best way to represent your initiative in a graphical way with effective use of color and design. But, it’s imperative how you represent your content to the users. People maybe attracted towards it because of its colors, design and interesting presentation. But if it doesn’t contain any useful information then the user will not take further interest to know much about it. Hence, ensure that your initiative has appropriate design, content and graphics to impress them.

Create people’s interest: people hate to read through too much information. They don’t want to waste their time behind interpreting extensive information. Too much information might confuse people and if they don’t find it useful they will avoid reading it. But, with the help of Infographic you can easily illustrate the content in graphical way which helps them to understand and grasp the info easily and this in turn will get more users. People can easily get drawn by this.

More effective: with Infographics, you can represent your information in unique way. All the information is organized in a way that it makes it easy to read and easily absorb. It’s more effective because people don’t like to read too much data and Infographic is indeed a delight.

Easy to remember: Generating a web site with the help of Infographics by means of effective color, graphs and design gives long lasting effect on user’s mind. It’s easy for them to remember it. Infographic gives them the same feeling as if they are watching an advertisement on television or looking at a banner. 

Easy to spread information: Clear data gives clear information. There are less chances of getting confused. With the help of Infographic, you can represent your data in an easy and clear way which is easy to understand. This can be useful to directly represent your expressions.

Get more attention: with effective graphic design you can easily grab the user’s attention. The users are generally more curious and take more time to understand the depiction of charts and graphs and hence they spend more time on your website or blog which will assist in converting your visitors into potential buyers. 

Easy to understand: infogrpahics are easy to understand. All the important things and data are included in one image. So you don’t have to use your brains to read and interpret the contents. 

Some Common Mistakes to avoid while designing Infographic

• Choosing a wrong color for your infogrpahics gives an awful look to it. Avoid using vibrant colors.
• Don’t copy Infographic idea’s from others. Create Infographic with your own fresh ideas. 
• Adding too much numeric data in small space will create a feeling of clutter and confusion. Hence avoid the use of too many numerics on your Info graphic.
• By representing an Infographic as a excel sheet. Infographic is only a representation of work and it’s not meant to display intricate details.
• Creating an Infographic which directly represent’s your company. Don’t directly represent your company with its services on Infographic.  
• Avoid using content from others website and from its main source. In case you are compelled then give a reference link.
• Avoid giving outdated information in infogrpahics. If your Infographics contains old information which is useless than it’s a total waste of time for the users.
• Avoid taking less interesting topics for Infographic. If you are creating Infographics which is very common in design, contents and presentation, then the user may not be interested in browsing the web site.
• Most important, avoid Grammatical errors while content writing. Your Infographics should be grammatically error free as these contents create a bad impression of your company.

Website Wireframe: A Valuable Tool To Create an Effective Website

Even before the commencement of a website design, creating a wireframe for your website is an essential step. Wireframe is an important tool for web development process. It is used to organize the elements and contents of the website. It displays your website’s basic view.

Now, the question that arises in our mind is what is wireframe and why is it used?

Wireframe is a simple visual representation of the elements and contents on your web page which helps you to understand how your web page should look like. It is used to represent the graphic structure of the website. You can create wireframe with different software tools available in market or by rough sketches, etc. Wireframe is not a fully designed structure of a website .It displays the location of the design elements on a website. 

Introduction of wireframe

Wireframe is the best way to start your website designing work. Basically wireframes are designed with gray color or with light color effect. Wireframe can be the bridge between the real website and your website thought design. Wireframe design consists of logical representation of logo, tagline and company name, Login box, content, navigation menu, buttons, sidebar widgets and other links. Wireframe permits web developers to talk on the website design related issues and test them before implementation. With wireframe you can also test your website navigation structure on how each web page is connected to the other. 

How wireframe is created?

Wireframe can be created in many ways; you can use simple paper and pen to draw the design. There are lots of tools and software available in the market like adobe Photoshop, illustrator, pencil project, cacoo, picodo, adobe fireworks, etc. which assists you to design your website layout.

It’s not important that by which tool or software you are creating a wireframe but the right design is the crucial. 

Things to avoid why designing wireframe

• Details in depth: Too many details on your wireframe design may confuse your client which in turn may work negatively for you. So it’s important to add the right and full information and in case you want an in depth detail at a later point it can be appended.
• Using design and color: wireframe is about the web layout and logical representation of elements on website. Avoid adding colors on your wireframe design as it may damage the look of the website. Adding graphics and color may affect your design idea.
• Use of white space: use appropriate white space so that your design doesn't look messy and cluttered. Wireframe design with appropriate white space gives the right idea about your design and makes it a delight to understand by the users.

Advantages of Wireframe

• With the use of Wireframe in your design, you can get a clear idea of each page with respect to information, design and other elements. 
• With a Wireframe design you get a comprehensible look of the website .Hence it will ease the understanding on how it appears to visitors and their reactions.
• Wireframe is easy to design; it saves money, time and effort because any changes that are required can be incorporated easily rather than going for Redesigning.
• With wireframe you can easily check which content is missing and its relevance on a website.
• Wireframes gives a real picture of the product to the client. A client will not be able to otherwise get the feel of the product and he may not be interested in it.
• With Wireframe, it’s easy for client to suggest any changes, improvements without any apprehensions.

No project is similar; however, trying to create something out of the blue will facilitate monetary profits at a later stage. Wire framing is crucial juncture of web development cycle. Website design will need constant changes until final approval of the client. However, using wireframe to implement changes will not damage the actual development of the website. You can sort out developmental related issues, even before commencing the actual developing process.

Create Effective Landing Page Design to Get Visitor’s Attention

Before starting any discussion let’s have a look on what is landing page Design?

• Web development point of View: From web development point of view, landing page is a web page like any website page which contains some basic website fundamentals like HTML, CSS, images, graphics, etc
• Company Point of View: From a company’s perspective, landing page is a web page that asks users for their details to sign up and purchase and use services provided by the company.
• Client’s Point of View: From client’s point of view, landing page is a simple page which is displayed when they click on some advertisement or any hyperlinks and gives them the details for what they are searching.

Landing page is a very essential part of any website which works as the display panel for your online business website. Basically landing page is used for online marketing. It’s a single page which appears when user clicks on PPC ads or any hyperlink. Not only a home page can be a landing page, any page of your website that displays your company’s services or products can be your website’s landing page. With the help of the landing page design, you can increase the number of targeted visitors for your website and convert them into leads. You can increase traffic for your website and get higher ranking in search result pages. Optimized website contains lots of landing pages; you can increase the chance to show up in search engines by adding loads of useful content with effective keywords. 

You can ask your customer to sign up for the use of company’s services, to perform online shopping, subscription registration and scores of other services. Landing page is your first prospect to allure a visitor so it must be attractive and eye catching. You may lose a customer if your landing page is not effective and not able to grab the interest of the customers.

There are various business competitors on the web so creating an effective and a unique Landing page from that of your competitor which builds faith amongst the user and help you increase your business. Here are some tips on how to make effective landing page design.

Set Your Website Goal

First of all, identify your company’s website goals. Goals are important to obtain success in business. Set an appropriate goal on how to promote your business? How to impress customers by your services? Your goal should relate to your company’s service, customers and the company brand. You may add several key activities like Email registration, request for an inquiry call, etc. to achieve the desired goal.

Create a Website With Excellent Page Layout

Page layout is all about the design elements which go into making a website. Create a page layout which is attractive and easy to convey your business message to the visitor. Place your company logo on the top left side of the page which attracts the user’s attention. Don’t set external links on your landing page. Place company privacy policy on landing page in an organized and uncluttered manner which gives them a secure feeling.

Use Proper Color Combination

Visitors’ get easily attracted to the website which has excellent color combination. Use appropriate color for your landing page design. If the landing page contains bright color toning as a background page, it easily attracts attention of the users. 

Logical Arrangement of Web Page Element

When users visit your web page they don’t scrutinize through the entire details of the web page. They take a glance at the details which are highlighted or emphasized and in those which they are interested. You can attract their attention by adding contrast color which highlight your content and navigate them to click on the link and Using high resolution images which takes less time to load. Ensure the images used should be attractive, appropriate and should provide details about your business. Use a proper typographic font which easily expresses the business information. 

Provide Clear and Crisp Information

Never confuse your customers. Give direct information to them. Be clear with what you want to say, it gives them a clear idea about the landing page. Avoid adding a lot of written clutter which confuses them and gives them a feeling of wasting their time.

Generate Trust Among Customer

Make sure that your landing page is secured. Your landing page design should contains some links like contact details, privacy police, about us, services terms, testimonials etc. which allows them  to contact you at any time and in numerous ways like chat, call, email. Your privacy policy should be to the point which is easy to understand for visitor. Give secure transaction facility through SSL for online transactions.

Customer Feedback and Testimonial

Don’t post fake testimonial. Provide feedback option to customer and  respond to them by providing a quick and easy solution. Your old customer’s feedback and testimonial can present a positive impact on new customers. It will help you build trust with the new customers.