thebhwgroup.com

Interning at One of Austin’s Best Places to Work

Kati Chen — 2019-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

{% include full-blog-image.html src="best-places-to-work-austin-2019.png" alt="Best Places to Work Austin 2019 Logo" %} Over the years, The BHW Group has created a close-knit culture that engages our team. We’re delighted that for the fourth year in a row, The BHW Group has been selected as one of Austin Business Journal’s Best Places to Work. This award reflects our company’s steadfast commitment towards shaping the best workplace environment while creating innovative and powerful applications. As a summer intern at BHW, I have loved working here and getting to know the whole team. Through this blog post, I hope to provide my perspective on what it’s like interning at one of Austin’s best places to work. For most interns, the first week of an internship is usually a frantic catch-up game of putting names to faces and familiarizing oneself with company technology and processes. What are you supposed to wear? How often should you ask your manager a question? Is that 12-pack of Coke Zero in the fridge for general use? {% include full-blog-image.html src="axe-team-photo.jpeg" alt="BHW Team Photo - Axe Throwing" %} These were the questions running through my mind as I prepared for my first day. BHW has flexible working hours for its employees, so I didn’t have to suffer through the 8 a.m. morning traffic. Instead, I enjoyed some breakfast tacos before I showed up at the office. I was greeted by Paul and BHW’s CEO, Brett Burnett. They gave us a tour around the office before telling us the first priority of the day: ordering lunch. That’s the first big perk at BHW: free food. The company provides lunch and snacks, and our team jokes that new hires all gain “The BHW 15”. Each day, we choose meals from a variety of restaurants (today I had spicy pork noodles and dumplings, while my coworker had chicken tacos and wings). The kitchen is stocked with Clif Bars, pistachios, and way too many cans of V8. Don’t see something you like? No problem - we restock our snack supply every two weeks. As long as your choice is in stock online, you can order anything you want. As my fellow interns and I munched on snacks and looked around the office, we noticed a pile of pillows and blankets. People would use these “Cozy Corners” to curl up on the floor and work if they got tired of their desk. I resolved to dig my trampoline chair out of my closet and bring it the next day. After we filled out the paperwork, the other interns and I spent a while exploring the workspace’s Slack channels (#pet-pictures, #hip_hop_101, and #lightbulbtalk, to name a few). We talked about our backgrounds (Them: Computer Science, Me: Business and Liberal Arts) and discussed how excited we were to be here and meet everyone. {% include full-blog-image.html src="crawfish-team-photo.jpg" alt="BHW Team Photo - Crawfish Boil" %} The past months have truly proven that meeting everyone is the best part of the experience. Beyond the standing desks and whiteboard walls, what makes BHW such an amazing place to work is the people. It’s an old cliche, but I first realized its truth as I anticipated our first intern event: a bowling night. BHW was throwing the event to welcome the new intern class and the start of summer. I was no bowling aficionado, but I was looking forward to have fun with everyone outside of the office. We had the lanes booked until 10pm. Originally, I wondered if we would use up all that time, but as we began to bowl and talk, the time flew by. Every time I bowled (and there were more gutter balls than not), I came back to high-fives and cheers. Within a few minutes of meeting one of the developers, I was invited to go bouldering with some of the team over the weekend. Another developer talked about how we had to get stand-up comedy nights going again, now that the interns were here. I realized that the people at BHW were a true team - they relied on each other, inspired each other, and were genuinely interested in forming relationships with each other. Since coming here, I’ve been able to work with freedom on my projects, bond with the team, and enjoy all of BHW’s office perks. Everyone here is willing to lend a hand or an ear, and we are continuously working to improve our talents. The people here are not only passionate about what they do - they’re also passionate about the people around them. BHW has grown rapidly over the past years, and it is continuing to do so, but it has always remained a very special place to work. I feel lucky to be interning at one of Austin’s best places to work, and I’m more than excited for our next game night! {% include full-blog-image.html src="bptw-austin-2019-team.jpg" alt="Best Places to Work Austin 2019 Team Photo" %} If you’re interested in learning more or joining our team, head over to our careers page for more information. Cheers!

BHW Selected As The Top App Developer in Austin, Texas for 2018

Paul Francis — 2018-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

We are extremely proud to announce that we have been named the top app development agency in Austin for 2018 by Clutch. Clutch is a highly authoritative B2B ratings and review platform that includes over 7,000 firms from around the world. In granting this distinction to BHW, they evaluated and ranked over sixty different development companies in Austin. Their evaluation factors in each company’s reviews, market presence, and project portfolios. In addition to being selected as the top app development firm in Austin, we were also selected as one of the top Android app developers, iPhone app developers, user experience designers, and digital design agencies in Austin. BHW achieved these awards thanks to our thirteen year track record of delivering highly polished, profitable, and performant solutions. Our numerous multi-year and multi-project client relationships further affirms this great distinction. Our Clutch profile boasts thirteen five-star reviews. Here are some of the top comments left by our clients: "Agencies that I've worked with in the past oversold the quality of their services, but BHW consistently follows through on their promises."
-Project Manager, Agrarian Labs, LLC "The BHW Group's leadership and talented developers separate them from the competition. Our company is challenging and fast-paced, always pushing the limit of what can be achieved. Most vendors cannot maintain that pace."
-Lead Developer, Business Services Company "They're thought leaders and experts when it comes to the React Native space...BHW's work has dramatically improved the performance of our previous mobile app offering. App loading times [were improved by 75%] and [the new app] has brought engagement up from an average of three minutes to five minutes, while increasing page views from eight to about twelve per session"
-Co-Founder, Visit Widget LLC "I know it's not true, but BHW gave me the feeling that my project was the only one that they were working on. The team is professional and dedicated, and they were always available to discuss the project."
-Product Owner, QSR "The BHW Group takes on large projects and runs with them. All requests were completed within the agreed upon timeframes. They are always available if the internal staff has questions about the way something works. The end results are always excellent... I have never worked with a more reliable, trustworthy development partner."
-Application Development Manager, AANP "I’ve worked with about a dozen outside contractors and BHW has their act together and makes things easy."
-CTO, Docket Navigator In addition to this award, we were also recently ranked in the top 100 mobile app development companies in the world by The Manifest, a business news website and sister website of Clutch. We are very proud of these accomplishments, but also know our best work is still yet to be done. We are working hard to consistently grow and improve. If you are interested in learning more about BHW and our recent work, check out our projects page. If you are searching for a web app or mobile app development company for your next project, there is a pretty good chance BHW is the development agency you've been looking for! Contact us and see how BHW can help create your next big thing!

Best Places to Work Austin 2017

Paul Francis — 2017-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

{% include full-blog-image.html src="best-places-to-work-austin-2017.gif" alt="Best Places to Work Austin 2017 Logo" %} BHW is honored to have been selected as one of the best places to work in Austin for the second year in a row! We would like to thank our incredible team that makes BHW such a fantastic place to work. Each individual’s contributions to our welcoming office environment, laid back, but still passionate, culture, and general sense of community can’t be overstated. This is a fantastic honor and is something that we appreciate each day. The past few years have been an extremely exciting and rewarding time for us. We have more than doubled in size, continue to strengthen our already superbly talented team, and expand our technical and design capabilities. Throughout this evolution, we strive to maintain a fantastic work environment and company culture. Continuing to grow and build beautiful apps remains our focus, but we can’t lose what makes this a very special place to work. Thanks again to everyone at BHW for making this one of the best places to work in Austin. If BHW seems like a fantastic place to work, that’s because it is. If you are interested in joining our quickly growing team, learn more about BHW and our application process on our careers page.

Austin Mobile App Development Camp 2016

Paul Francis — 2016-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

{% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/mobile-app-development-team.jpg" alt="Austin Mobile App Development Camp - Team Photo" %} ##Austin Mobile App Development Camp - 2016 Wrap Up We recently completed our first Mobile App Development Summer Camp and it was a great success! We hosted about 20 Austin-area (and even a couple from Houston) students at our 2-day interactive camp. During the camp, 7th-9th graders were able to learn directly from professional mobile app developers and designers. We discussed the processes and tools we use when creating apps and each group left with a completed click-through model of their own app! For those that were unable to attend or would like to attend in the future, here is an overview of our camp (complete with app screenshots!). ##The Process ###App Ideas {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/ideas.JPG" alt="Mobile App Ideas" %} All great mobile apps begin as ideas. Each group of students spent some time talking about apps they enjoy using and how apps help them on a daily basis. We explored what makes certain apps successful and others forgettable. Each student was able to pitch their app idea to their group and after a short vote, one idea was selected by each team. ###Feature Brainstorming & Prioritization {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/features.JPG" alt="Mobile App Features" %} Even once an idea is agreed to, there are hundreds of decisions yet to be made. How do we best achieve our stated goal? Do we think our customers will want to use our app this way or some other way? During this phase, we wrote a long list of things our app could possibly do and why that feature is important. We then worked to consolidate and prioritize this list. It is important to know what all we would like our app to do in the future, but also what is achievable in an initial version. ###Wire Framing {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/mobile-app-wireframes.JPG" alt="Mobile App Wireframes" %} Once a feature list had been constructed, we worked to translate those goals to potential app screens. Teams used whiteboards to discuss possible screens and describe how they would all link together. During this process, we tried to frequently return to our problem statements and see if our users could easily perform the desired features in the proposed screens and workflows. This process involved thoughtful iteration and compromise. It is important to always return to your goals and priorities. They should dictate this process. ###Brand Design {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/mobile-app-design.JPG" alt="Mobile App Design" %} During the brand design process our teams thought about who they were and how they want to be perceived as well as who their users were and what would attract them. Some teams did demographic research on similar apps to understand what their potential customers look like. It can be extremely helpful to create a picture of a singular potential user. Then you can think about how that person or group of people would be most comfortable using your app. In the real world this could be improved with focus group testing, but for the camp we did the best we could. ###App Design {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/sketch.png" alt="Mobile App Sketch Design" %} The next step in our process was to take our wireframes and color them in with our brand design. Brand design should help identify fonts, colors, and language that can best communicate with your users. We used [Sketch](https://www.sketchapp.com/) to take our wireframes from whiteboards to laptops. Sketch is a fairly simple, but extremely powerful tool that we use to design our mobile apps. Students took turns designing individual screens in the app. ###Click-Through Prototypes {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/invision.png" alt="Mobile App Invision Prototype" %} Once our initial rendered designs were completed, we used a tool called [InVision](https://www.invisionapp.com/) to stitch these designs together to create a click-through model. Basically, we uploaded each screen as an image, then selected click areas on each screen, and set what screen should be viewed when that area is clicked. This allowed us to review your app (on our actual phones!) and see what it will be like to actually use. This is a great time to test your app out on a new group of potential users who you can ask to perform a few basic tasks and see if they are confused about your app’s navigation or workflow. ###Iteration {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-11-25-austin-mobile-app-development-camp-2016/mobile-app-review.JPG" alt="Mobile App Review" %} Mobile app development demands analysis, review, and iteration. During each step in our process, and particularly after our click-through prototypes were completed, we worked to improve our products. It is important to listen to your users, all team members, and to always revisit the problem you are trying to solve. The worst thing you can do in this process is be directionless and overreact to feedback. Understand and consider all available data and make an informed decision that you believe betters your app. Then do that at least a dozen more times! ###Demos At this point, our camp was nearing its end. But, we had one extremely important and fun step left! Our office was teeming with parents, siblings, BHW developers, and campers as we prepared for our app demos. Some students elected to do informal introductions and presentations of their work and others did Apple-style keynotes about their revolutionary product. Had there been VCs in attendance, we very likely could have had the beginnings of the latest Austin startup! ##The Results We were extremely impressed by our campers! The ideas, the hard work, and the resulting app prototypes were all fantastic! Here are some screenshots from the final apps: ###App Icons ###YOUniversity YOUniversity allows highschool students to find the best univeristy for them! Just answer a few questions and we will match you with your perfect college! ###Pokestats Want to dominate your friends in PokemonGo? Use Pokestats to find the optimal pokemon for each battle! ###Clever Closet Have trouble keeping track of what clothes are dirty and clean? Are you a dirty teenager? Never clean your room? Hate laundry? We have an app for you! ###Hacked Life Hacked Life lets you learn the latest tricks that make your life simple! Start saving time today! ##Wrapping Up! We had a great time hosting our Mobile App Development Summer Camp! We would like to thank all of our fantastic campers and our BHW team that helped host the event. We are already planning our 2017 camp. If you or your student would like to attend, keep an eye on the [camp page](https://thebhwgroup.com/summer-camp) We will be posting our sign up form for next year in April.

How To Find App Developers

Paul Francis — 2016-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Many, if not most, companies solicit outside help when building a web or mobile application. The problem is that there are numerous app development companies and app developers who could be hired for the job. How do you find the best app developers for your particular project? Unlike buying a new appliance, there is not a simple evaluation process to follow. You are buying an critical service, not an off the shelf product. {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/top_developers.png" alt="A SQL query used as an analogy of finding the best app developer for you!" %} I work at an Austin-based web & mobile app development company that has built over 350 applications. In this article, I am going to share with you the things I would consider when selecting the development company for my next project. Hopefully this “insider” perspective will help you make the best possible decision on your next project! ##Their Portfolio {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/portfolio-1x.jpg" srcset="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/portfolio-1x.jpg" srcset-retina="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/portfolio-2x.jpg" alt="Portfolio of web and mobile apps." %} Every established development company should have a [projects](https://thebhwgroup.com/projects) or case studies page. Find that page and spend some time digging through it. Here are some of the main things you should look for: ###Are there apps that are similar to what you are looking to build? If so, that is a great sign. Even if this company does not reuse code or even if the same developer does not work on your project, having this related experience can be invaluable. Experience on other apps will allow them to better estimate your project, make them more efficient, and they will likely have unique insight into potential problems you could face along the way. ###Download the listed apps and try them out for yourself. These are the apps this company is most proud of. Download the apps or go to the website and see how they work. Don’t fault them for the number of downloads the app has, unless this company also managed the marketing of that app, but do carefully review how the app looks, functions, and performs. ###Consider their customer/client list. Does this company work with startups? Are all companies listed fortune 500s? App development processes differ depending on who the app is being built for. Find app developers that understands how to work with a company that is your size and with your budget. ###Consider the types of apps listed. Does this company specialize in a certain type of app (maybe games, finance, etc.)? This is not really a problem or a preference, it is just important to know what sort of apps they have been building and what other companies have selected them. ##Team Size and Composition {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/team-composition.jpg" alt="US Olympic gymnast standing beside an Oplympic basketball player." caption="US Olympic gymnast Ragan Smith stands beside Olympic basketball player DeAndre Jordan." %} You want to understand how the company is structured. Some app development companies only have 1 developer, while others have 500. It is not just the overall size that matters, it is also their composition. Here are some common titles you might see listed on their [team page](https://thebhwgroup.com/team). If they don’t have a team page, go to their LinkedIn page and use that for this part of your research. To non-developers, developer titles can be unclear, so here are some common titles you might find: **Developer (alternatively full-stack developer)** - This individual is someone who can likely help with most parts of a development project. They don’t specialize in a particular part or aspect of development. **Front-end Developer** - This developer is someone who implements what the UI/UX designers create. They specialize in making the app look and feel great. **Back-end Developer** - This developer is someone who implements most of the logical portions of the application. They are responsible for making sure the right values are passed to the app, that the data the app uses is retrieved quickly, and for much of the security of the app. **Designer or UI/UX Designer** - This person will handle the design of your app. They will select colors, fonts, styles, and maybe even make your app icon. **Project Manager (Or other business-like titles)** - People in this role will oversee your project. They will likely be your main point of contact while working with the development company. Most companies will have some combination of these roles. Depending on their particular ratio, you can determine what sort of project this company is best aligned for. Having more front-end developers means they might work on simpler sites that don’t have a ton of functionality. Typically a brochure-like website or app. Having more back-end developers might indicate that they work on more complex (and often more B2B-type) applications. The ratio of Project Managers (PMs) to developers also lets you know who you will be interacting with and what services you will be paying for. The size of a project should dictate the ratio of the roles above, with smaller projects weighted more towards design and development (direct value) and larger projects having additional management. Ultimately you can use this information to better understand how the company is structured and what sort of projects they are best prepared for. ##Their Technology “Stack” {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/tech_stacks.png" alt="Various building blocks used as an analogy of technology stacks." %} Many app development companies will list specific technologies on their website. If they don’t make this clear, check out their career page to see what skills they require or find their blog and see what they are talking about. As a last resort, check out their developers’ Linked-in profiles, but keep in mind that many happily employed developers do not update their profiles. Once you have a list of technologies, here is what you should do: - Figure out if they use a single “Stack” for all projects or vary project-to-project. To do this, see if a company has competing technologies listed (i.e. AngularJS and React or Java, C#, node.js, Go, and php). If they don’t have competing technologies listed, they likely use the same stack on most projects. This means the company will likely be very adept at handling a certain type of project, if it fits their stack well. It also might mean that they are selling you on a stack, not because it is the best fit, but because it is the best fit for them. - Figure out how widely used their stack is. To do this, go to [StackOverflow’s tags page](http://stackoverflow.com/tags) and type in the technology. The number of questions found for that technology will indicate how widely it is used. As an example, C# has almost 1 million questions, whereas Scala has 50,000. Neither language is innately bad, but this does mean that fewer developers are using Scala. Scala might be a great fit for your project, but if fewer developers use it, it might mean that future development costs could be higher (due to the nature of supply and demand). It is also crucial to understand if a technology is emerging or more established. For example, React is a newer javascript framework written by Facebook and Instagram developers, with only has a moderate amount of discussion online, yet is an extremely well-regarded technology. - Figure out who else is using a similar stack. Developers love to talk about their technical decisions, both when projects succeed AND when they fail. Try to find postmortems or case studies from technology companies similar to yours. Find things written by both developers and other stake holders. It is not uncommon for companies to move between stacks at certain points in their development. Try to learn why they made these decisions and learn from their mistakes and successes. **Most importantly**, talk to a someone at the company you are interviewing about their recommended stack for your project. Learn why they recommend a particular approach and ask what other options they considered. Ask about other projects the company has completed using this approach. Developers frequently have passionate arguments over languages and technologies, but the truth is that fantastic software can be written using a litany of approaches. You just want to make sure your developer or development company can make a compelling argument for their chosen approach. ##Their Average Project Size Take another look at the company’s projects page. Try to determine how large each project is. Does this company specialize in very large and complex projects or do they focus on smaller websites and apps? The main thing you want to consider here is where would your project fall on their project-size spectrum. Do you want to be the largest project a company has ever done? Almost certainly not! The company could lack the necessary experience to handle a project of this size. This could lead to the app not functioning properly, the project going substantially over budget, being significantly behind schedule, or outright failing. You also don’t want to be the smallest project a company is working on. This is a quick way to become their lowest priority project or get their least experienced and capable developers assigned to your project. In an ideal world, I would like my project to be about the 70th percentile in terms of size and cost for my development company. This way, I can be confident that they can handle the project and ensure that my app gets the attention it deserves. ##Their History {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/history.png" alt="One possible history of a mobile app development company." %} A company’s history can tell you quite a bit about a them. Just like you would look up someone on Facebook (or another social network) before agreeing to a first-date (or perhaps swiping right on them), you should seek to learn as much about your potential partner as possible. Here are some things I would try to learn about a company before hiring them to build my app: - How long have they been in business? There is not really an ideal age for a technology company, but it can inform your decision. Less established businesses will have a higher risk of failing during or after the completion of your project. Almost all software requires some tuning over time and often the best matches are made for the long term. - How much turnover do they have? Ramping up a new developer on a project takes time and can be a risky process. Often apps will have 1 or 2 people who fully understand how a solution works. If a company has high turnover, it is possible that the 1 or 2 developers who fully understand your app will not be there a year (or even 6 months) from now. - How much repeat business do they have? Look again at the company’s project page. Do they have several apps written for the same company? Do their apps have a large number of patches over an extended period of time? If yes, you can infer that they have a moderate amount of repeat business. This is one of the biggest endorsements of a company you can find. ##Their Reviews {% include full-blog-image.html src="blogs/2016-08-23-how-to-find-app-developers/reviews.png" alt="Reviews of a mobile app development company." %} Much like when buying a new appliance or hiring movers, you will want to evaluate a company’s online reviews before hiring them. The main difficulty here is that most development agencies will have far fewer reviews than a Samsung TV. The other thing to keep in mind is that these companies will likely be soliciting reviews from successful projects. But still, it is good to know that they do have successful projects! Some of the main review sites used by app development companies are: Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Clutch. Based on your location, there might be some city-specific review sites to consider as well. ##Their Staff This is one of the most difficult, but also most important, parts of the evaluation process. Ultimately it is going to be the developers and designers working on your app that will have the largest impact on its success. Before beginning a project, I would want to have spoken to at least two people who will actually be working on my app. I would want to speak to the senior developer who will be overseeing the project and then hopefully a non-senior developer or designer who will be working on the project. I would also consider trying to learn a bit more about these individuals, either by reading blogs they have written or by checking out their Linkedin pages. Some senior developers might have even published articles in larger publications or spoken at developer conferences. These are not requirements, but the more information you can find, the better. ##Conclusion There is a lot that goes into finding an app developer. Experience, price, comfort, and a full understanding of your vision are all things that should inform who you hire for your project. I hope this article helped provide you with my “insider’s” take on how to find app developers! Additionally, as someone who works at a pretty awesome web and mobile development company, I hope you consider us in your search. If you follow the above advice and we meet your criteria, please consider [reaching out](https://thebhwgroup.com/contact)! We would love to hear about what you are looking to build!

Austin Best Places to Work 2016

Paul Francis — 2016-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

{% include full-blog-image.html src="2016_bptw.png" alt="2016 Austin Business Journal Best Places to Work List" %} The BHW Group is thrilled to announce that we have been selected as a 2016 Austin Business Journal’s Best Places to Work finalist. This nomination reflects our steadfast commitment to providing the best possible work environment and community. Employee happiness has been a core tenant at BHW since its founding 11 years ago. We built and continue to grow our company with this employee-first approach. We would like to thank our extraordinary team for all they do to make BHW a fantastic place to work. We love the camaraderie, honest sense of community, and fun environment we have at BHW. This award is something that each and every person at BHW helped accomplish. If BHW seems like a fantastic place to work, that’s because it is. If you are interested in joining our quickly growing team, learn more about BHW and our application process on our careers page.

10 Common Website Mistakes That Can Hurt Google Rankings

Paul Francis — 2015-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

Google algorithms change at seemingly lightning speed, and it can be tough to figure out how to stay ahead of the changes. Yet chasing the latest techniques is not always the best choice. Instead, take a moment to back up and understand the intent behind the algorithms. Google’s goal is to provide web searchers with the best, highest quality, most relevant answers to their queries. Keeping this in mind, it is easy to see that sticking with the basics can help Google rankings no matter what the next algorithm brings. Yet developing a website that follows the best practices for SEO (search engine optimization) can be challenging. Here are 10 common website mistakes that could be hurting your Google rankings. {% include full-blog-image.html src="Google_Analytics_Organic_Sessions.png" alt="Google Analytics per month organic hits increase" %} ##1. Duplicate Content To Google, duplicate content looks an awful lot like spam. It is a waste of resources and can be confusing to users. Get rid of any duplicate pages that you have, and focus on making each page as valuable, content rich, and tightly targeted to your selected keyword phrase as possible. ##2. Keyword Stuffing At one time, picking a few keywords and forcing them unnaturally into a wall of content was a valid strategy. Today, however, Google is more sophisticated. Keyword stuffing is hard for humans to read, provides little useful content, and is interpreted by Google as spam. Aim for authoritative, well-written content with your chosen keywords or phrases lightly sprinkled in a natural way. ##3. Inconsistent NAP Your business Name, Address, and Phone number are key pieces of information that let customers know how to find you. They also signal to Google that yours is a real, legitimate business. If your NAP varies, not only within your own website but across the internet, Google begins to suspect that yours might be a sham business. ##4. Poor Social Media Integration User engagement is a key to achieving and maintaining high Google rankings. People tend to engage more fully with websites that are fully integrated with social media. Make it easy to share content across multiple social media platforms, and you are likely to see a jump in your Google rankings. ##5. Low Quality Inbound Links Buying and selling links used to be a valid marketing strategy, but today, the quality of your incoming links matters. Links from trusted authorities give you a boost, while links from spammy sites could earn a penalty. If you cannot get rid of spammy links, you can Disavow them with Google. ##6. Dead Outbound Links Google wants to know that your site is well maintained. Links to 404 error pages, both within your own site and on other sites, show Google that you don’t care about the user experience. It is absolutely critical to maintain the site and get rid of dead links as soon as possible. ##7. Spammy or Thin Content To rank highly on Google, your content needs to be well-written and authoritative. If you are not a subject matter expert, try to find someone who is. You need at least 700 words of high quality content per page, and it must be tightly relevant to your chosen keyword or keyword phrase. ##8. Poorly Optimized Landing Pages Many people try to make their homepage into a generic landing page. But this is impossible, and can hurt your Google rankings. Each keyword or phrase needs its own landing page, and each landing page needs to follow all the best practices for SEO. ##9. Burying Content Below the Fold “The fold” is an old newspaper term for the spot where a newspaper is folded in half. When talking about a web page, it refers to the part of the page that is visible without scrolling down. Many people make the mistake of burying their most important content below the fold, which can hurt Google rankings by making it more likely for visitors to bounce off the page rather than scrolling down to read more. ##10. Overused H1 Tags H1 tags play a very specific role in telling Google what a web page is about. Using too many H1 tags can make your page look spammy. Be very careful and judicious in your use of these tags. With so many things to think about, building your own website can be challenging. A professional design and development team understands these and many more aspects of good SEO, and can optimize your site to perform well in Google rankings.

Do you need an expert in website design and development? With a team of specialists covering a wide range of skill sets and backgrounds, The BHW Group is prepared to bring your vision to life. Contact us today to discuss your ideas.

Top 5 Reasons Why Mobile Apps Fail

Paul Francis — 2015-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Mobile apps have become a priority in today’s always-connected world, and they provide a golden opportunity for small businesses to compete on a level playing field with the big boys. Yet customers have literally thousands of apps from which to choose, and it is easy for yours to get lost in the crowd. In addition, some apps are inherently broken, whether due to design flaws or unfocused ideas. To give your mobile app the best chances for success, make sure you avoid the top 5 reasons why they fail.

##1. Not Providing Mobile Web Optimization Mobile apps are a hot new trend, and many business owners jump into the market without a clear understanding of how they work within the larger context of digital sales and marketing. One of the biggest mistakes is creating an app too early. Customers expect apps to be not only engaging, but also useful. The best way to make your app useful is to develop a full mobile framework around it. Optimize your website for mobile devices. Make it easy to contact you, order products, or schedule appointments from a mobile device. Then, once all the bugs are ironed out and your site is working well across a variety of mobile devices, design your app to fit into that framework. Otherwise, you risk alienating users from the outset. ##2. Lack of Focus and Coherency This also happens when you jump into the mobile app market too quickly. Many business owners know that they want an app, but they have little or no idea what they want the app to actually do. This can lead to the tendency to go for flashy bells and whistles over real substance, and your app just becomes a confusing mix of cool elements rather than a coherent whole. Fight this issue by sitting down and drawing up an overall plan for your app. Decide what the message is, what you want your customers to do in the app, and how you will provide logical pathways. Then meet with your development team to create a full mockup before you begin. Remember, every element you choose should play an important role in supporting the main point of the mobile app, which should itself support your overall brand. ##3. Designing for Your Brand Instead of Your Customer At the opposite extreme, some business owners fall too deeply in love with their own brand. Like filling your website with a list of features rather than explaining how you can solve your customer’s problem, designing your app for your brand rather than your customer is a recipe for disaster. To combat this tendency, perform market research to drill down on exactly who your target customer is. Then figure out how that person thinks, makes buying decisions, and interacts with technology. Design your mobile app to meet that person’s needs. ##4. Basic Design and Development Errors Some mobile apps are doomed from the outset due to fundamental design and development flaws. The best way to protect your app is to hire a trustworthy mobile app team and form a partnership. You know your brand, while the development team knows the technology. Together, you can create a cohesive, tightly streamlined mobile app that conveys whatever your message is while following the best practices for app design. ##5. Missing Engagement and Marketing Opportunities In the crowded app stores, it is not enough to simply design and build an excellent mobile app. You also need to figure out how to promote it, and how to use it to engage with both current and potential customers. To market your app and find engagement, maintain an active presence both on the web and on a variety of social media channels. Respond to customer reviews both inside and outside of the app. Remember that a negative review gives you the opportunity to take in valuable feedback for improvement, and to turn around the opinion of the reviewer. It also shows potential customers that they are valued, and that their opinions are taken seriously. Also find a way to encourage customers to interact with each other. Depending on your brand, this might take the form of multi-player games, contests, forums, or something else entirely. Make it easy for early adopters to share your app with their friends and family, and create a reason for them to keep coming back.

Do you need an expert in mobile app development? With a team of specialists covering a wide range of skill sets and backgrounds, The BHW Group is prepared to bring your vision to life. Contact us today to discuss your ideas.

The Ultimate Business Intelligence Reporting Cheat Sheet

Paul Francis — 2015-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

Business Intelligence (BI) is a broad field that involves collecting, processing, and analyzing large amounts of data to make more informed, and ultimately, more profitable decisions. Business Intelligence reporting is the most crucial and most apparent part of BI. It is the process of viewing this vast amount of data in a way that can be easily understood and often enables viewers to ask various questions of the dataset without needing to be a developer or database administrator.

This Business Intelligence reporting cheat sheet will discuss basic terms that are needed to understand and explore the world of BI. It will also introduce several popular BI reporting tools and technologies. Follow along and take your first steps into the exciting and flourishing world of business intelligence.

Business Intelligence Terms

Ad Hoc Query (Ad Hoc Reporting) – Ad Hoc Queries are like spur of the moment questions asked of the dataset. If you have seen a reporting system where you can only change 1 filter (maybe a start & end date), it is likely not Ad Hoc. Instead Ad Hoc reporting tools allow users to filter on & display the data in almost any way desired. These reports are often one-off and exploratory, rather than the type of report ran every day or week.
Canned Reports – Canned reports are the type of reports that are run at a regular interval. They often have a few filter options, but basically answer the same question each time they are run. Examples of this would be a weekly sales report.
Cube – A cube (or “datacube”) is a way of storing multidimensional data. Traditional databases consist of tables made up of rows and columns, which effectively makes them 2-dimensional. Cubes are 3-dimensional and are often a better form of storage for real-world business data that is being considered for Business Intelligence reporting. These cubes are either made in real-time or are recreated at regular intervals.
Data Mining – Data mining is a process by which large datasets are explored. The goal of this process is often to find correlation and causation between various variables in a system. This is beneficial when attempting to better understand what makes a market, product, or company successful from an analytical perspective.
Data Warehouse – Data warehouses are the repository in which the dataset used for BI reporting is held. It is usually made up of cubes and tables.
Dimension – Dimensions are structures within cubes that represent elements in the system. They enable users to filter, group, and label the data they are analyzing.
Drill Down – Drilling down is the process used to further distinguish a data set. For example, if you are looking at a company-wide sales report for a week and you click on a single day, a new report breaking that day’s sales up by hours might appear. Going from a higher-level view to a lower-level view of a dataset is drilling down into the data.
ETL – ETL stands for “extract, transform, and load.” It is a process used in many datasets where data is pulled from various systems into a new data warehouse. It pulls down the new data, rearranges or alters the data to fit its new home, and then inserts it amongst the existing data.
KPI – KPI stands for key performance indicator. A KPI is something that plays a major factor in a company’s success. It is often found through data mining and Business Intelligence reporting efforts.
ODBC – Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard that is meant to make accessing database management systems system-agnostic. This means something written to ODBC standards should be portable to another system and require minimal changes to accommodate the new system.
OLAP – OLAP is yet another acronym. This one stands for online analytical processing. It is basically a technique used to perform business intelligence reporting with computers and computer applications that help display and analyze data.
Pivot – Pivoting is a technique used to quickly view data in a new way. It is often used in spreadsheet or database programs to summarize or combine large amounts of data.
SQL - SQL stands for standardized query language. It is the way programmers, DBAs, and technical users often interact with databases. Most database implementations support SQL querying of the stored data. Common SQL commands are things like Select, Insert, Update, Delete, and Order By.

Popular BI Development Tools

BIDS – Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) is a Microsoft product that takes Visual Studio (a development tool) and tweaks it to work directly with Microsoft SQL Server for Business Intelligence reporting purposes. It is one of the mostly widely used BI systems.
R - R is a scripting language used by the vast majority of statistical programmers. Most BI tools utilize code that is written in R. Often extending or altering a BI program’s functionality will require writing custom R code. R is one of the primary languages used for data mining.

Popular BI End-User (Front-end) Tools

There are hundreds of BI tools today. Deciding which is right for you comes down to price, functionality, form, and licensing requirements. Some of the most popular applications today are SAP Business Intelligence, Pentaho BI, Microstrategy, Qlikview, Microsoft Sharepoint, and Tableu.

Conclusion

If you are beginning your journey into the world of BI reporting, I would look to find a free demo version of one of the above applications and try it out for yourself. There are countless free and easily available datasets that are perfect for business intelligence reporting. One of the most important things to remember is that the tools can change frequently, but the concepts change slowly and are replaced infrequently. So, rather than mastering a single tool, I would definitely recommend mastering the field itself. Once you do that, learning a new tool is just a matter of relearning hotkeys, memorizing new menu options, and learning a few new terms.

7 Reasons to Outsource Software Development

Paul Francis — 2015-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

Given the vital role software plays in the success of modern companies, hiring the right software developers is critical. However, many companies have a hard time finding, attracting, training, and retaining skilled developers. Furthermore, the number of developers a company needs at any given time can vary greatly. For that reason, it makes sense for many companies to consider outsourcing their software development. This article will explore 7 reasons why you should consider hiring software development consultants. ##1. Maintain a modern & diverse skill set {% include full-blog-image.html src="old_computers.jpg" alt="Antique computer" %} When a company begins doing internal software development, they usually end up defining their software ecosystem for a decade or more. That first piece of software will act as an anchor for all future work. Subsequent software will reuse, extend, and in many ways be bound to that first application. This is not an innately bad thing. In fact, it is great that all these applications work together. Unfortunately, there is a definite downside in that your internal developers might not be expanding their skill sets. New and existing developers will become experts on how to develop your software, rather than becoming experts in software development itself. By no fault of their own, they will spend time figuring out how to do X with version 1 of technology Y, rather than seeing if there is another technology that can easily handle the problem. By working for more than one company, on many projects, using a diverse set of technologies, developers at consulting companies can often approach problems with a current and diverse skill set. This is especially useful when your company is expanding into a new software environment, such as making its first mobile app. ##2. Attract better developers {% include full-blog-image.html src="new_computer.jpg" alt="Modern & awesome computer" %} Many developers are aware of the situation described above. When I was in school, my goal (and the goal of many of my classmates) was to avoid working somewhere where my skills would atrophy. I knew that if I took such a position, I would have to invest substantial extra time in my abilities to stay relevant in the ever-changing field of software development. This is what attracted me to working for a software consulting company. Also, this is one reason why we are able to attract some of the top graduates from fantastic schools. Many of the best developers want to be constantly challenged and growing by working on different projects, using new technologies. Of course, if you are a cool software company (Google, Microsoft, some startup, etc.) you can get great talent. However, if you are in a more traditional industry and do not put in considerable effort, you will have an extremely difficult time finding and keeping the level of talent that consulting companies can attract and develop. ##3. Make fewer hiring mistakes {% include full-blog-image.html src="office-space-milton.png" alt="Milton from Office Space - bad employee" %} Attracting top developers can only get you so far. You have to be able to determine which developer applicants would actually perform well on the job. By hiring a consulting company, you are not only offloading development, you are also relying on their ability to evaluate and hire good developers. If you are not an expert in something, it is nearly impossible to determine how talented applicants in that field are. You might be able to tell if someone is a good fit personality wise, but knowing someone can get the job done is much, much more difficult. Speaking as a software developer, I can tell you how frequently someone with an impressive looking resume can’t actually code at a passable level. Even though we are developers and interview dozens of applicants a year, it can still be difficult to get a feel for how well someone would perform professionally. I know tons of companies that cycle through developers on a regular basis, simply because they are unable to properly evaluate applicants. Finding the right consulting company can help alleviate this issue. ##4. Pay for development as a service (utility-style pricing) {% include full-blog-image.html src="Outsourcing_graph.png" alt="Cost comparison of internal development vs. outsourcing" %} Most companies development needs surge and sink throughout time. Even over the lifespan of a project, an internal development team might go from working double shifts to leaving early one week to the next. This results in large amount waste in the form of unnecessary payroll. By working with a consulting company, you are able to pay for development the same way you pay for electricity or water. You only pay for what you use. ##5. Hire a company, not a single developer When hiring a new developer, you look for one who has the experience needed to fill the position. You might be looking for someone with 5 years of experience with .NET and 2 years experience doing Android development. Since this is a somewhat odd skill combination, you are severely limiting your applicant pool. Furthermore, you will likely end up paying above market value for this employee. By instead hiring a consulting company, you are effectively hiring 2 (or more) developers that work for you half-time. It does not make a difference to you that instead of paying one person for 40 hours of work, you are paying 2 people for 20 hours of work each. Moreover, it is very likely that you will be getting two developers who will perform better at their individual tasks than the one internal employee would on either. Good consulting companies can take this even a step further by providing multiple developers with different amounts of experience at different rates. This allows you to never overpay for a senior developer to perform a task that an entry-level developer could handle. This of course requires the consulting company to understand who can perform what tasks and what is ultimately most cost-effective for their clients. ##6. Remove day-to-day distractions {% include full-blog-image.html src="Distractions.png" alt="Developer Distractions" %} Many companies already have an internal developer or team of developers. However, that does not mean that they should not consider also working with a software development consulting company. In many ways, having a slight separation from the core company might be beneficial. Often internal development teams, particularly at smaller companies, end up getting pulled in many different directions. They are supporting existing applications, managing IT, and often helping with random odds and ends. These urgent and in-person issues can derail progress on new development. So, when the time comes to begin work on a new application, giving it to a group that is free from these distractions will help keep a project on schedule. This is even more important on projects that have a firm deadline. Few things increase programmer efficiency more than having a single task to focus on. For many developers coding is a mindset that takes time to enter and even longer to return after a distraction. Being pulled away to fix an email account might take 10 minutes, but it could easily slow the project down by 30. ##7. Play to your strengths

Charles Barkley (NBA hall of famer) playing golf

A great leader understands her or his strengths. They also know when there is someone else who can perform a task better. Most companies are founded and managed by people who know their domain. By hiring a software development consulting company, you are free to focus on what you do best and let the consulting company take care of the things you have less experience with. Just like the above point discussed how eliminating developer distractions increases productivity, offloading some of your own concerns can also increase your effectiveness. ##Conclusion It would be incorrect to say that all companies face the challenges presented above. But, I think it is fair to say the majority will face some or most of these at some point. It would also be entirely inaccurate to say the above benefits exist when working with any consulting company. I would simply argue that a software development consulting company has the capacity to provide these benefits. A great consulting company understands and provides these benefits to their clients. If you are searching for such a company, I would begin your search with The BHW Group. Contact us today and see how we can help in the areas described in this article and many more!