Ever wonder where we IT folks get our secret cyber security news? Oh, it’s nowhere special. We just all meet up every couple weeks at Area51 and get our briefings straight from the men in black and their lizard people overlords running the Underground White House. All kidding aside, we simply stay on top of cyber security news by educating ourselves through reliable resources both on and offline.Where you search for information depends upon your industry, but these 4 websites can provide a fount of IT security knowledge to anyone, regardless of industry.Infragard.orgInfragard is a collaboration between the FBI and the private sector dedicated to sharing information and intelligence that can fortify businesses against cyberattacks. The membership is free and you can narrow the information you receive to your specific industry sector – from energy, finance, and healthcare to manufacturing, food services, and beyond.Once you register, you will also receive emails with great information sharing smart tips and breaking cyber security news. And as a member, you even can stay in the know about upcoming cybersecurity events that pertain to your industry and region. Definitely worth the registration.Databreaches.netDatabreaches.net is basically an online list of cautionary tales. As a watch dog for the latest cyber security news, you can expect updates from data breaches large and small. Want to learn about the scope of data breaches and the strategies used by cyber criminals? You get all of the details needed to help you learn from the lessons of big brands and your industry peers.Updates come several times daily and cover unfolding stories as they happen. This is just another reminder of how important an informed and ever-evolving IT security strategy is for any business.Security Bloggers NetworkWant to hear from IT experts about cyber security news, but tired of browsing website after website? The Security Bloggers Network acts as an aggregate and brings together resources from across the web. Everything from industry overviews to the latest cyber security trends and controversies are brought together in one spot.IT Security GuruIT Security Guru is a community of IT folks that provide critical information to the public and their members. They have a “scam of the week” update, keeping people aware of the latest ways that cyber criminals are capitalizing on IT vulnerabilities.Also, you don’t want to be on their top 10 list. They look at some of the biggest and most noteworthy stories from across the web and very few of them are flattering tales of IT security best practices.Finding Specific Cyber Security News SourcesI do not personally vouch for any specific blog or podcast. However, I do recommend that every business look around and find one cyber security blog that is specific to your industry. While it can be interesting to know what is going on in healthcare, if you are protecting a financial services firm, not all of the stories are going to be relevant. I suggest you read everything about your issues first. Of course, there is overall knowledge required, but being aware of specific attacks and threats to your firm is paramount.Worried about all this? Even small businesses get hacked. Being aware of all the latest cyber security news is only half of the equation.

Once the app is downloaded, you have little time to take a sigh of relief, and then again start focusing on making things easier for the them till their goal is achieved.

According to the AppsFlyer, an app marketing company, the global uninstall rate for apps after 30 days is 28%. Entertainment apps are most frequently deleted, whereas apps based on Finance is least frequently deleted. No matter which app category you belong to, your strategy should be to remain in the mobile phones of users for a long time, and not just sit around but to fulfill your purpose as well.

If we analyze the encounters of users with an app step by step, it can help us unveil the critical factors that influence mobile app audiences, so that we can work upon those and achieve our purpose. Here are the details:

Step1. Finding Your App in Appstore

For this, we have to first find out what exactly users type to search an app. Based on a research, it has been found that 47% app users on iOS confirmed that they found the app through the App Store’s search engine and 53% app users on Android confirmed the same.

What have been their search queries? Interestingly, as the per the data provided by the TUNE research, 86% of the top 100 keywords were brands.With little scope for non-branded categories, most of the keywords were either of games of utility apps. Common keywords in the non branded category are: games, free games, VPN, calculator, music, photo editor, and weather.

Leaving brands aside, if we analyze the user-type of a Non-branded category, we will get two types of users:

1. Users are informed, and they know what they are search

2. Users are exploring possibilities, have no precise information in mind.

If you are a mobile app development company, targeting non-branded users, then your efforts must be directed to creating apps that compel these two types of users. To do so, we have to analyze once they are on an app store, what keywords they use to search. Regina Leuwer, with expertise in marketing & communications, bring some light to the subject. She reached out Sebastian Knopp, creator of app store search intelligence tool appkeywords, who shared with her the data of unique trending search phrases. And according to that data, in 2017, there were around 2,455 unique search phrases trending in the US.

Now, if we study these data to get information, we will find that name of the app is critical to attract the attention of the users.

If your app belongs to non-branded category, then make sure your app name is similar to the common search queries but also unique in comparison with your competitors. So that when your app name is flashed, they click it on to it, finding it purposeful and compelling both.

Step 2. Installation

Remember your users are on mobile devices has limited resources, from battery to storage and RAM to Internet. Everything is limited. So better create an application that is easy to download or say get downloaded with 5 minutes. One critical advice here:

1. Keep the application file size small.

If you are a developer, use APK Analyser to find out which part of the application is consuming maximum space. You can also reduce classes.dex file and res folder that contains images, raw files, and XML.

Step 3. Onboarding

After the user has successfully downloaded your mobile application, don’t leave anything on assumptions. Guide them properly. This you can do through an onboarding process, where users can learn the key functionality and where to begin with the mobile app. Below are the 3 things you need to keep in your mind when creating an onboarding process for your users.

Short and Crisp: The entire guidance of features and functions should be completed within few seconds, with easy options loud and clear option to skip.

Precise Information: Don’t introduce them to the app. They already know what they have downloaded. The objective to inform about the key functions and features.

Allow Users to Skip: Let the tech-savvy users skip the intro. Your app is to meet their requirement and not to have a friendly session.

Step 4. Purpose and UI
Here, the stage is set for your app and it is the golden chance for you to impress your users. What is needed here is the collaboration between purpose and UI of the app. It totally depends on the problem-solving capability and ease of use of the mobile app. Interface design plays the critical role, allowing the users to access features of the apps easily and quickly to perform the task for what they have downloaded the app. When it comes to interface design, make sure that the design is interactive and task-oriented. Here are some factors that you must take care off while creating mobile app interface:

1. Usability: The Mobile phone is an epitome of convenience and if your users find it difficult to use your app, then there is no way there are going to make the space for it in their mobile phones. From screen size to the color of the app, there are many factors that are equally critical and need attention.

2. Intuitive: To create an intuitive User Interface, you have to read the mind of the users, and develop a model based on that. The next should be precise, clear and ‘obvious’ in an interface.

3. Availability: Key features should be hidden in the drop down menu or even if so, it should be obvious for the user to look into the drop-down. An intricate work of design and research is required to make essential features available for the customers and they don’t need to navigate here and there.

If you need more help with the user-interface and innovative ideas for a mobile app, write to me [email protected] and I promise to get back to you with interesting mobile app designs.