Digital Business Card Applications

It was only a matter of time that one of business most basic tool finally entered the digital technology age. Online websites and mobile applications are ushering a new era for the modern day business card that is no longer limited to a paper form that needs to be handed to an individual to circulate or forgotten in a junk drawer. These applications neatly organize your business cards into digital folder that can be accessed with a few taps on the screen.. Business owners and Entrepreneurs now have the tools to create their own business card without being subjected to the requirements of card design companies and the ability to share them with ease. These cards also have an edge over the modern day cards since they are interactive and allow you to connect with the company or individual with a click of the button.

Mobile business card applications fall into two categories: Those that let scan business cards into digital formats to access from an online rolodex, and those that let you create and share contact information in a professional format wirelessly.  After testing of several of the top application, only two stood header and shoulders above the rest in these categories. 

YCard-Card Reader

Ycard is the most accurate business card reader currently on the iTunes market. The company’s motto is “if your name card is not scanning in 100% accurate then it’s not just good enough” and after several comparisons it’s hard to dispute. Of all the card readers tested this was the only one that with near perfection was able detect and input every category.  The beauty of Ycard is actually in its simplicity, as it broken into five easy to navigate sections; the camera scanner, the rolodex, cards waiting to be uploaded, card exchange, and settings.

Seven different business cards with unique styles and designs were scanned in. YCard was able to detect and differentiate between names of the companies, individual’s names, landlines, faxes, emails, addresses, websites, and then inputted additional information and contacts into the notes section. YCard took the scanned information including the photo of the card and uploaded it into its cloud system and then into the application rolodex section. From there it allowed us to create sub groups or categories to add the new contacts. Another great feature is that the application gave us a choice to add them into their phone contacts or leave them in rolodex. Even without adding them into your personal contacts, from the rolodex the user can contact the business/individual and get map directions by tapping the information. Ycard easily allows you to input or upload your own information and to exchange it with other users.

Of course no application came be without some short comings and YCard has a few. The things that make YCard the best application on the market are also its biggest problems. Though its beauty is its simplicity, some users may find the layout a bit too bland compared to other card reader designs. With it’s close to 100% you swear there is someone on the other end inputting the information and that feels like the case. It can take anywhere from an hour to twenty fours for YCard to upload your contacts so it’s best to scan them in as soon as you can. Another issue with YCard is that it does not allow user to add their new contacts into their LinkedIn account and thatis due to the fact that YCard has a sister application called YConnect that appears to be a LinkedIn competitor.

If you can over look those few hiccups then YCard should be the card reader of choice for anyone looking for the best accuracy and easy to navigate application.

(YCard-Card Reader is available in the ITunes app store and soon to be released for Android)

MY FACECARD

 Is the standard that other digital custom business card applications will be emulating for years to come. My Facecard allows users to create unique digital cards that can be shared wirelessly with other users or emailed to non users.

Most contact sharing applications have done away with business card look to focus more on information and putting into the gadgets contact list. Many individuals still prefer the old fashion and creative business cards, and My Facecard has given users the power to easily create a top of the line card. One of the First things that set the card apart from all others is the interactive contact and social media icons. When a user first inputs their information they are given a chance to add their Google+, twitter, Facebook, tumblr, blogger, LinkedIn, and chain linked icon which they can assign to any other social media site or personal website. These interactive buttons as well as three other for email, sms, and call, appear on the card and can be repositioned to the users liking. My Facecard allows users to choose from a few background templates but it really doesn’t need to. What makes My Facecard a dream for users is the fact that you can custom the background with any design or photo you would like. Users are only limited by their imagination and Photoshop abilities when it comes to the two sided card. My Facecard allows for font customization with 30 colors to choose from, 10 different font styles, and changeable font size.

My Facecard allows users to share their cards with each other by wireless phone “bumping” that become stored in an applications rolodex. A user can then access the cards from the rolodex and tap the interactive icons to take them to the social media sites or contact the business/individual. If that wasn’t already impressive enough, if and user decides to update their card, the card will automatically update in the rolodex of users they have shared the card with.

If My Facecard had anything for users to complain about, it would that it doesn’t recognize Facebook like pages. That is a Facebook issue that many IOS applications are having trouble with. 

(Currently only available in the ITunes app store)

YCard and My Facecard apps are currently FREE 

-Sergio Esteban Bustamante (S.E.B.)

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Keywords: why you need them and how to use them

You would be surprised at how many business owners
fail to see the correlation  between keywords searched  in search engines online and how it can improve traffic to their business/website. Keywords are the driving force behind search engine results and how your audience, customers, or future employer will find you.

Here is an example of how keywords can link a future employee and a company. A young man, who we will call "Jon", submitted his résumé for a position with a large company.The company was underwhelmed with his résumé and Jon was informed that they would be passing on his résumé and continuing their search. Jon was of course disheartened by the news. He decided to go back to his résumé and LinkedIn profile to see which words he could change in an effort to help him stand out more in his respective field. Jon began searching for “keywords” commonly used in his field and then proceeded to edit his résumé and profile to include the new keywords. Imagine his surprise when a few days after the revision he received an offer for the same position in the same company who previously turned him down. His experience had not changed; the only change was the revision of keywords to his profile. It turns out; the company did a search on LinkedIn using words describing the skills and abilities needed for the position. The search engine brought up Jon’s newly revised profile as a fit for the “keywords” entered in the search.

Keywords do more than link future employee with employer. They help a business find their perspective client/consumer.  It is one of the easiest ways to obtain information on your perspective client. Keywords will help you predict shifts in markets, consumer motivation for buying and consumer niches found in every market.

If you are someone who is unsure of how keywords actually work, then this article is here to serve as an entry guide.

How keywords happen

In the picture above you will see a mock search engine site similar to Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The bold words in the link and link discription are the keywords. Both consumers and company websites use keywords for similar purposes; to find and to be found. For example, a search on Google's website for let's say, "iphone 3D cases" will yield 43,400,000 different results of company link descriptions. The results were directly triggered by the words inputted into the search engine and the descriptive words (keywords) the search engine found on a company’s website. 

How link rankings are determined 

Let’s go back up to the picture of the mock search engine. You will notice the link "Search Engine" is listed first while the link "Imagine files optimization for Search Engines & Site Visitors" is listed just below it. Even though both have the same keyword one is listed above another. This list order is a ranking system determined by "backlinks",links that lead back to your website, such as putting links on twitter or facebook. The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website. Some search engines will give more credit to websites that have a greater number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages. There are many tips and tricks out there to help you get higher positioning but that is another article for another time.

Best strategy for using keywords

There are numerous theories on the best strategies for using keywords. Some companies are inclined to choose keywords that generate the most results, while others prefer long tail marketing keywords; keywords that are less popular or describe something very specific.  As an example,If an individual types in “shoes” into a search engine they would get an endless results of links for all sorts of variety of shoes. If that individual were to type in "1992 dream team sneakers" they would generate much fewer results because they were looking very specific item. The theory behind long tail marketing is that people looking for very specific items are more likely to purchase that item, hire that service,or read that article .,Using keywords that yield fewer results could make it easier to standout from the top brands or companies that have a hold on the top rankings on some keywords. General consensus from analysts is to choose keywords that really capture what you are trying to showcase. I could go on and on about strategy implementation but once again it's another article for another time

Keyword helpers

So now that you know what a keyword is, let's focus on finding out the best keywords to suit your business, profile, or website. There are a lot of free and paid service sites that can help assist you to find which keywords generate the most searches,which ones get the least, and even  keywords your competitors use.Here are a list of sites:

Wordtracker

Google Tools

Google.com/insight/search/
Seobook.com
Raven tools
Market Samurai

Adding keyword description code to your site

Now that we know what keywords are and you've done your homework on which terms work best for you, let's add them to your website.Keyword descriptions can be added to your website through really simple HTML coding.When you edit your website in HTML 

find the following code by pressing CTRL+F and entering


 <b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>

Now copy the following code and paste it after the code above


 

<meta content='your website description' name='description'/>

<meta content='your website keywords' name='keywords'/>

<meta content='admin name' name='author'/>   

The codes listed above are what are known as meta description tags or meta tags for short. These tags are a brief and concise summary of your page's content.  Now begin to edit these codes: input the description that best describes your website where it reads 'your website description' and the keywords that you would associate with your site in 'your website keywords'.If you are writing an article remember that your keyword terms that the labels, tags, and categories also are considered keywords along with the content and title. Avoid using abbreviations and nicknames as they don't capture the keyword. Google will use the first 20 to 25 words in your meta description in it's search engine so put some thought into that as well.

That wraps up this crash course introduction on keywords. I will be posting more articles in the future dealing with keyword strategy. Feel free to add some more information that others may find useful below

-Sergio Esteban Bustamante (S.E.B.)

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