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Some relationships reach a point wherein things start to slow down. Maybe one person becomes less responsive, and the other ends up not feeling safe or secure in the relationship anymore. When it reaches that point, sadly, sometimes it’s better to accept the situation and move on to better things.

This same situation can happen with your website hosting provider. If you feel like things aren’t where they’re supposed to be, maybe it’s time to get up and get moving. But what exactly are the signs you should look out for in order to say, “Yup, it’s time to move on”? Here are 5 simple reasons for you to consider:

At a Snail’s Pace

Slow speed means lost revenues. Think of all the visitors and potential customers you could have converted, but have bounced away because of your site’s slow speed. Ideally, your website should load within 2-3 seconds. Anything more than that could drive your users to leave your site. If that’s the case, then it’s time to change your hosting plan or provider. Google hates slow speed too! The company has been known to devalue slow loading sites.

Can’t Keep Up with Traffic Spikes

As your business grows, you want your hosting provider to grow with you as well. When there is a spike in traffic on your website, is your hosting provider able to expand your capacity automatically? A good hosting provider should be able to anticipate your site activities and recommend a plan that best suits your requirements to avoid unforeseen issues that could cost you additional expenses.

Frequent Downtime

No website should experience unexpected and repetitive downtime. While there are no hosting providers that can guarantee a 100% uptime, you should expect at least a 99.9% uptime. If you’re getting less than that, then it’s definitely time for a change.

Inadequate Security

The #1 question to ask is: What can your hosting provider do to keep your website safe? No website owner wants their site to get hacked – files missing, corrupted, and moved around – especially for companies that handle sensitive information. A great hosting provider should be able to offer you and your customers strict security measures and strategies.

Unresponsive Tech Support

As much as we try to avoid it, things can still go wrong at any time. And when it does, your hosting provider’s support team should be on top of everything. A support team is crucial for site owners who have limited experience in solving technical issues. Your web hosting’s support team should be able to help you solve any issue, be responsive to all your queries, and be able to properly monitor all activities related to your hosting plan, 24/7.

There are a lot of hosting providers whose services you can get for cheap. But sometimes, lowered prices means the quality of the service is compromised. Rather than opt for the cheapest service, consider partnering with a hosting provider that will address all your needs and protect your online assets.

iManila’s Hosting services guarantee a 99.98% uptime, and access to a highly-skilled and responsive technical support team to assist you with your web hosting concerns. If you need help choosing a hosting package, check out http://staging.imanila.ph/hosting/ or send us an email at info@imanila.ph.

Out of the total 7.6 billion people in the world, over 67% or 5.1 billion people have a mobile device. These devices have changed the way we interact, communicate, and perform daily tasks – some are apparent, while others are less so.

Today, more users are connecting to the Internet via their mobile phone than any other device. Out of the total global connections on all mobile devices, 57% of them are done through a smartphone. According to We Are Social, each smartphone has an average of 80 apps installed. Users are also 13 times more likely to use a native app versus their mobile web browser to access certain brands.

There are 3.8 million apps available on the Google Play Store, and over 2 million apps on Apple’s App Store. In  2017, there were over 175 million mobile apps downloaded worldwide.

In a world that has become increasingly dependent on mobile technology, more businesses are considering developing a mobile application. While apps offer convenience and ease to its users, it doesn’t come cheap. Even the most basic apps can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, how much does it cost to develop a mobile app? Here are some factors that can determine the cost of an app:

Who are the intended users?

Before investing in an app, get to know your target customers. What devices are they using? You can keep costs down by developing an app on only one platform – Android or iOS – if majority of your target users are only using a particular operating system. Developing apps for both platforms will entail more time and almost double the expense.

What is the main objective of the app?

Keep your app simple and focused. Once you get your app idea, chances are, you’re going to want to keep adding special (and sometimes unnecessary) functionalities, which could increase costs.

Want to build an app that keeps track of loyalty points? Check!

Has a catalog of rewards? Check!

Will allow you to order food? Wait, what?

Can turn your house lights on and off? Umm, just stop.

Some of the most popular apps today usually only focus on one main objective. If you want to have a successful app, start with your core focus and build additional features only when the need arises. Great apps generally only do one thing, but they do it well.

Does the app require big data collection, storage, and integration?

Mobile apps cannot store big chunks of information. The global average app size (not including games) is 23MB for iOS devices, and only 6MB for Android devices. Most apps need a separate database to house information that cannot be stored in the mobile app itself.

These include:

• List of Inventory for eCommerce or Booking Apps
• Shipment Database for Tracking Apps
• Account Information for Loyalty/Rewards/Banking/Social Apps

If you don’t have an existing database to connect to the app, you will also need to invest in a separate web system to store and process heavy data, which can also drive costs up.

How often does the app need to be updated?

Given how quick mobile companies upgrade their products and OS, new versions of apps must also be created to keep them relevant and compatible with devices. It’s good to consider this factor prior to developing an app given that each update will require additional testing and debugging.

To summarize, an app is a big investment, but it can also provide profitable returns to your business if you analyze your requirements properly. It is also good to account for how much you’re willing to spend on marketing your app to get the desired results from your investment. Developing an app is the first step, but getting your intended users to download and use the app is another story.

There’s a lot to think about, plan, and do when creating an app, but that’s why we’re here. Here at iManila, we aim to improve the lives of people through technology, and one way to do that is to make it easier for our clients to turn their ideas in reality.

If you’ve got an app idea ready for developing, give us a call at (02) 490 0000 or contact us by clicking here.