Why are Android apps growing exponentially in developing economy countries?
In recent times, particularly during the covid-19 pandemic enforced lockdown over in many countries, the significance of Smartphones and related apps in daily life has come to the foreground of public discourse. From schools, universities to government offices, a large traditionally non-ICT sector has become dependent on these to an unthinkable extent. Even without pandemic and these emergency scenarios, Smartphones have increasingly penetrated the urban and rural market. A study shows that Smartphone users have grown from 1.57 billion in 2014 to 2.53 billion in 2018. This increment can be attributed to availability of a variety of devices, cheap and affordable data prices as well as shorter replacement cycles. A large section of this growth is based on the markets in developing economies like China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Vietnam, South Korea, Bangladesh etc. This spurt in Smartphone usage in traditional ‘third-world’ has not gone unnoticed by big corporations around the world. Two OS have profited from much of the increase in sales i.e. Android and iOS. Among these two, Android has reached almost generalized popularity due to its innovative and dynamic features, affordable prices and ease of access. This popularity of android has developed a virtual ecosystem consisting of a large number of android apps with free or paid content easily available in Google play-store or other localized app stores. There has been an exponential increase in the number of android apps for a variety of purposes. For example, there are separate android apps for music listening as well as learning or even for making music. There are apps for fitness and health related issues, for tours and travel, for news and entertainment etc.
An average Smartphone/Android user spends most of his or her time on various apps rather than websites. Online Multiplayer Games with features of virtual or augmented reality experience has spread like a wildfire among the developed as well as developing countries. The prevalence of monetary transactions through mobile apps like Google Pay, paytm etc. has also made small and medium enterprises opt for app based services to reach a more mobile, sophisticated and widespread client-base. This has contributed to a large chunk of revenue for various companies along the app development and supply chain. This has stimulated employment growth in both directly related IT sector as well as other subsidiary sectors related to various apps like food or other items delivery i.e. Zomato, Flipkart etc. Various pundits predicted that the financial state of the mobile app economy will touch $188.9 billion in 2020. The largest chunk of this growth will be delivered undoubtedly by android apps and its continuing resilient market penetration in developing economies.
Why is SEO needed to expedite one’s business online?
Why is SEO needed to expedite one’s business online?
The rapid spread of Smartphones in the developed and developing world has changed the market topography. Increasingly, people are oriented towards more involvement with their smartphones for a multiplicity of reasons from food, clothing, real estate etc. In tandem with the growing digitization trend, Websites of enterprise has become a crucial driver for achievement of financial aims. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a process of marketing which particularly puts emphasis on increasing online visibility and presence of one’s enterprise in popular search engines such as Google. It tracks and monitors keywords, contents which are more able to engage with potential client base leading to higher number of conversions. SEO practically helps a business in coming up in the forefront of search results. It is seen in many surveys that consumers and users often don’t believe the paid ads that appear at the top of the search results. The largest chunk of the users visit the pages coming up as organic search results that appear beneath the paid ads section. SEO ensures that one’s enterprise can come up in the first few ranks of that organic search result. This leads many potential clients to visit that particular enterprise’s website providing them with detailed information about products and services rendered by the enterprise. This increase in traffic has a virtuous effect on the conversion generating revenue for the enterprise.
SEO is a long-term strategy; it takes time to yield results. But according to a leading study, it provides a higher conversion rate (14.6%) than average marketing strategy (1.7%). It is also not a once-set-then-forgotten strategy. It needs careful and continuous tracking and monitoring, finding out keywords as well as a continuous stream of relevant contents. Ultimately, content is the king in digital marketing. So, innovative and in-depth contents with right keywords are the key to better ranking in Google search results. With the Covid-19 pandemic forced lockdown, many medium to small businesses are also trying to build an online presence. SEO works efficiently in localized search results as consumers would call or visit a local business for a need within 24 hours of a web search. So, SEO can lead to greater results in small and medium enterprises also. It is also to be remembered that SEO doesn’t make other online or offline marketing campaigns obsolete. SEO compliments other online marketing strategies like email marketing, social media marketing, branding etc to give a multi-dimensional and effective strategy.
