Reasons Why Node.js is the Best Framework to Build an eCommerce Marketplace

Developing an eCommerce store from scratch is a tough task. A whole team of programmers, database managers, designers, testing engineers, and SEOs work together to shape an overall web store with competitive features.

Different developers choose different tech stacks to do the job. We have seen developers using the LAMP stack for a long time now. However, these days, Node js eCommerce development is on great hype. It is enticing developers towards the MEAN/MERN stack for building an array of eCommerce solutions on it.

Why node js eCommerce framework has been a sublime for eCommerce development these days? One reason for this massive acceptance of node js is the quick server-side development. Node js promises a more versatile, faster, secure, and scalable architecture when compared to the other counterparts in the market.

In this article, we will uncover many such node js advantages and find out how it differs from its biggest competitor –PHP. We will also deliberate some additional benefits of the MEAN stack and comprehend why node js has been adopted by some of the biggest businesses in the market.

Node Js in a nutshell

Node js platform was built on Google’s Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. It can deliver some lightning fast and massively scalable web applications. Being an open-source cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment, Node js is easy to adopt and can develop multifaceted web applications.

Till now, over 81,405 websites on the internet are powered by node js. Around 18.4% of the total are business websites and nearly 5.77 % are the web stores. (source). Node js e-commerce platform powers some of the biggest eCommerce websites on the internet:

Microsoft store
PayPal
Netflix
GoDaddy
Uber
eBay
E-Bay
GroupOn
Walmart

LAMP Vs MEAN/MERN: Why Node js is better than PHP?

PHP has been a center of attraction for worldwide developers from a very long time. Both Node js and PHP act as server-side programming languages. It has been a long timeline for PHP though. It was introduced 23 years ago, back in 1995. However, node js is still a new kid in the block, released lately in 2009.

Developers have used PHP both as a script and a programming language. In a long journey of 23 years, PHP has evolved from an HTML embedding script to an autonomous programming language. Almost every web service and popular API is compatible with PHP’s stack.

However, when it eCommerce development comes in the picture, the newly introduced node js eCommerce framework proves as more versatile, speedier, and scalable than a PHP framework. Here is a detailed comparison to clear your doubts –

· Node js is better for content within the codes

PHP can accommodate general content in the codes. You just need to open a PHP tag and you can add content from another website. However, you cannot expect every website admin to be well versed with the codes. A non-coder admin user can simply mess up the calibration and make the website’s code inconceivable even for the skilled developers.

Node js gives a more simple way to do that. Here, you can segregate the source codes from the general and logical layers like a general text. This makes the UI lucid for the non-coders. Even if you don’t know to code, you don’t have to beat around the bush to apprehend a node js site’s back-end. You can understand the architecture with separate folders and module built through the MVC (Model View Controller) architecture.

· Node Js has a contemporary code base

Being a very old programming language PHP codes can be found everywhere on the internet. It bases a decent number of eCommerce platforms and CMSs. PHP is literally everywhere, but it does not equip solutions with modern standards.

The code base is not competent to accommodate contemporary requirements as per the new scenario. Most of the PHP based eCommerce platforms are still using the codes at least two decades old. No doubt, updates are released from time to time, but these are just the feature updates; not the codebase update. Just it adds the new codes on the old code base.

Contrastingly, the code base of node js is new, cutting-edge, and offer contemporary tools for the new generation of developers. Node js is not getting old, at least for 10-15 years more.

· Node Js implements complex logic easily

One thing I can admit is PHP is easier to learn than node js. It is simple. However, simplicity in development is not what required when you build a complex project like an eCommerce marketplace.

You can expect a node js eCommerce platform or website to be simpler but not the development process. We should not measure the strength of technology on the virtue of coding simplicity but on the efficiency of implementing complex logic more easily.

Indeed, Node js syntax is slightly complex. However, you are not limited when it comes to handling challenging requirements with unmatched ease. It works superlatively with JavaScript, JQuery, HTML5, where PHP starts slowing down the pages with some heavy JavaScript on them. You can create complex objects and functions with simpler tactics than PHP.

· Node Js with NoSQL is faster than MySQL

PHP uses relational database systems such as MySQL, PostgreSQL and MariaDB. These systems are great for traditional SQL based technologies like Microsoft and Oracle. However, it cripples when set to work without SQL. NoSQL databases are nearly impossible with PHP.

On the other hand, Node js is compatible with both the SQL and NoSQL (Not Only SQL) databases such as MongoDB and Couch DB. It can also execute the queries from graph-based database systems like Neo4j.

Let’s not forget the seamless compatibility with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). Using JSON the node js applications can work even without SQL. You can execute the queries without switching between different database syntaxes for front-end and back-end entities. It uses the same syntax on the server side, database and as well as the web browser side scripting.

Being a non-relational database, NoSQL approach is extremely faster and processes the requests with lightning fast speed.

· Node Js is more stable with synchronous coding

Apart from some selectable APIs, PHP is mostly synchronous programming language. Hence, it compiles the codes in sequences. It waits for the current line of code to execute first before compiling the subsequent lines in a program. This sequential compiling does not only slow down the whole process but also crashes a whole program if it detects an error or deadlock happens in the current line.

Contrastingly, node js follows an asynchronous code compilation to run a program. The JavaScript engine compiles the entire program in one go, without waiting for the individual lines to run in a sequence. Hence, it generates the output programmed for the lines below the function, irrespective of the lines before that has an error or deadlock situation. As a result, a node js program is extremely faster and suitable for complex implementations like a node js eCommerce platform. Here is an example of doing it.

You can use the promise proxy value to call asynchronous processes like resolve or reject. After that, you can call the then function via promise code and take the two asynchronous functions as the parameters. Now, you can run the first function if it meets the condition. Otherwise, you can call the second function reject if the condition fails. For example, you can write a promise creation code like below:

var myPromise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject){

request.get(options, function(err, resp, body) {

            if (err) {

                reject(err);

            } else {

                resolve(JSON.parse(body));

            }

        })

    })

}

· Bid farewell to syntax switches

While building your eCommerce site with PHP, you would require to switch continuously between the front, back, and database syntaxes. For example, PHP MVC model demand SQL syntax for the database, altered PHP syntaxes for View and Controller, and Linux for server-side programming and commands.

However, if you are using the node js eCommerce framework, the MVC architecture uses the same JavaScript syntax on server-side, browser-side, and database. You do not have to switch between the languages and syntaxes while building the front or back end of your node js eCommerce site.

· Saves your time with functional inheritance

PHP uses Prototypal inheritance, which is fast and flexible. However, node js also lets you utilize the functional inheritance for a simpler and trap-free system. PHP’s prototypical inheritance is undoubtedly faster, but not easily implementable in the actual execution. You have to call both the super constructor and the inherit function to implement it. Doing so makes your program more prone to errors as you cannot pass a method as a callback parameter without wrapping it in a function.

In many of the situations, the functional inheritance with node js is easier to implement when binding the methods to their instances. In short, functional inheritance with node js gives a better performance benchmark and helps you avoid redundant methods calls.

· Node Js is resourceful and lightweight with NPM

Node Package Manager (nmp) helps a node js project in two aspects:

NPS gives access to an online repository of open-source Node.js projects
It allows a command-line interface to fetch resources from the repository that are required for package installation, version control, update management, and dependency regulation.

In short, NPS in node js lets a developer re-use the code from online repository. Not just that, it also lets the developers download the code updates made to the particular code being already used from the repository.

For example, NPM lest you install the vows testing framework from git repository and handles the eyes dependency automatically with no extra coding:

git clone https://github.com/cloudhead/vows.git

cd vows

npm install

You just have to create a new node js project using npm init and it will automatically create a new package.json. Now you can add as much metadata and save other collaborators from the extra work in the project.

$ mkdir my-new-project

$ cd my-new-project

$ npm init

· Handles errors more responsibly

E-commerce development is a highly risky job. Even a slight mistake can make your business lose millions. Be it a PHP site of node js eCommerce framework, keeping the code up and running is of utmost importance.

Node js offers a competent method to write asynchronous programs and manage error and exceptions like none. The .catch() handler in node JS lets you catch all the errors and deal with them using exceptions handling.

Even if you cannot catch some exceptions manually, the node js can be coded to avoid this mess by triggering uncaughtException event on the process object. For example, a simple code looks like this-

process.on(‘uncaughtException’, (err) => {

    logger.log(‘whoops! There was an uncaught error’, err);

    // do a shutdown,

    // close database.

    process.exit(1);

});

Node js gives an array of other ways to handle the uncaught errors and exceptions and keep your eCommerce site from crashing.

Takeaways

Node.js is supported by a massive community of skillful developers. Its open-source architecture lets you access some outstanding modules and repository to update your code base. For example, you can use Socket.io to establish constant communication between the client and the server. Using it, you can program the server to send real-time updates at the client side. There is no end to the exciting features of the node js frameworks. I don’t say PHP is not efficient, but node js gives some better hands for eCommerce projects of mammoth scale.

20 Movies Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

Entrepreneurship is one a boom in the era of Startups and business ventures. If you have an idea, go for it. The perseverance does pay off in the long run. All you need is a change in perspective and a strong wish for what you want to achieve. And a great way to get into that desired mindset appears with a motivational movie! Movies are a great way to learn from others in an easy to understand manner.

You can obtain some powerful insights from these 20 entertaining films either if you are planning to start a new business venture or at a race of existing entrepreneur. Most of them are the true stories of the greatest minds world has ever seen. So, if you have missed watching these inspirations, grab your phone, open Netflix or anything you have, get inspired to do take the industry by storm.

The Pursuit of happyness: Never Ever Give Up!

This film is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who is an American businessman, investor, author as well as philanthropist. The struggle from homelessness to Wall Street legend has been depicted in this movie. This true story traces the fleeting ups and frightening down of a father with adherence to keeping never give up dreams regardless of what obstacles come in the way.

Wall Street: Every dream has its price! Are you ready?

A young and impatient stockbroker who can do just about anything it takes to succeed with a little trading by admiring a ruthless and greedy corporate raider and a Wall Street shark, who takes the youth under his wing. With full of ambition, he does whatever he can to make his way to the top. He finds himself at the zenith of business, however, everything becomes morally reprehensible. This movie gives a perfect example that giving up principles in life for money comes with a high price.

Nightcrawler: Anyone can become anything

This movie is for people with great vision. The flawless acting of Jake Gyllenhaal’s will keep you engaged throughout the movie. This depicts about struggles of a guy who is looking for a job but can’t find one. However, he finds an ocean of opportunity after witnessing a crime and decides to become a crime journalist. This movie emphasizes persuasion and drive. It will teach how positive attributes can make you limitless just with a little focus on and steady improvements.

The Godfather: A timeless masterpiece

An iconic movie that has had more parodies spinning off its storyline. The script is quite phenomenal and breathtaking. The symbolism and meaning in every scene are countless. It is a story about the growth of a small family business in New York to the largest organized crime family. The father and son were the brains behind the family. It gives an insight into what it takes to become one of the significant family businesses in the country.

The Social Network: The biggest risk is not taking any risk

This movie is based on the eventual success story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. It emphasizes how true entrepreneurs face challenges. Zuckerberg begins from a dorm room to give a global social network and a revolution in communication. This movie teaches important lessons to be resilient and flexible in life to change direction when needed. It shows the hall of fame, success and then how it leads to both personal and legal complications.

Pirates of Silicon Valley: Talent and Sweat matters at the end

This is a biographical, documentary-style film about two tech-giants (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates) in the globe. The enormous competitions between the two powerful persons to raise their own companies (Apple and Microsoft) with the fluctuating love-hate relationship in the world of technology. This is an inspirational tale with quite a few useful pointers for entrepreneurs.

Moneyball: Old Way Vs New Way

This is a true story based on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Bean. He proves the conventional wisdom of baseball is wrong by using computer-generated analysis and recruits players to build a powerhouse team. Although faced with the budget, Bean prepares to challenge the old tradition of playing basketball by recruiting bargain-bin players with a game-winning potential. His use of overall career statistics has revolutionized the basketball game.

The Intern: Equal opportunity knows no age

It is very challenging to start a job after retirement, but a 70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered the retirement as an opportunity to become a senior intern at an online fashion site. Being an intern, he becomes part of the company as a sincere employee followed by a young, tireless, dynamic, and workaholic founder Jules Ostin. His charm, wisdom, and sense of humor help him to develop a strong bond and friendship among all of the employees. He continues to be a source of support and inspiration for every employee in the organization.

Joy: Trust your inner voice

This is a story of a four-generation family, centered on one girl who completely revolutionized the mop industry and how the invention of the self-wringing mop turned her into a millionaire. The girl founds her own dynasty and becomes a true boss of family and enterprise. She achieves success by ignoring the betrayal and treachery with the scars of love. This is a must-watch movie for anyone who finds themselves as weak in the market.

The Corporation: Open your eyes, Learn the stuff

This film takes a good, long look at what happens when you take a business and model it to be legally an individual or a corporation. This is an eye-opening film about evil corporations and also what we can do to stop them from taking over everything that we know. This documentary shows the unsettling information and unusual details that came from the 14th Amendment, under constitutional law that corporations are seen as individuals. The filmmaker trying to find out what type of person would a corporation be.

Office Space: Humbleness is needed to build a better tomorrow

This movie is a perfect blend of modern office space with disrespectful, clueless management, monotonous work culture, and the mind-numbing routine of the entrepreneur. This is a story about how one man leads the existential office workplace into an unexcited place following his own path. A man who consistently starts to slack off and do things his own way, however, his careless nature starts to lead him stealing from the company in a much bigger way than he expected. This movie carries a powerful message about the importance of wearing the right amount of flair at all times.

Wolf of Wall Street: There is no nobility in poverty.

This movie depicts the rise of a wealthy stockbroker Jordan Belfort living the ultimate life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. It’s an inspirational film how persistently Jordan Belfort puts a specific mission in his company to create an empire of business and how business cultures are created in fast-growth companies with negligible corruption.

Forrest Gump: Lifetime story

This story is about a simple man with a moderate level of IQ and good intentions, who accidentally becomes a successful man from living his life the best way. He leads anything in his life. He wins medals fighting for Vietnam Army, starts a ping-pong craze and becomes a professional ping-pong player, takes up running, owns a famous shrimping company, donates to people and meets the president several times, and inspires people with his optimism. This clearly states that it is not necessary to be a super genius to make something work, you just have to try.

The Aviator: Dream it! Build it!

An epic biographical drama film depicting about the Billionaire and Aviation Tycoon Howard Hughes’ career. The attention to detail and perfection strived him as a great personality. He faced many obstacles from competitors with malicious rumors, but nothing stopped him to achieve the goal. He happens to be a risk taker spending several fortunes in designing and promoting new aircraft despite having mental illness and germaphobia.

Risky Business: Make your move by anyway

This is again a good story about a Chicago teenager Joel Goodsen, overwhelmed with his dad’s Porsche to start a trip for fun when his parents leave on an unauthorized vacation for a few days. Suddenly he starts to realize a lot of money is needed for which he raised in a very creative way. It’s never as easy as he was expecting but interestingly managed to come up with some fast cash. Joel turns the house into a brothel to raise more money after meeting enthusiastic friends of him.

Catch Me If You Can: A master of deception

This is another true tale about a young guy who pretends to be another person for entertainment and fraud as an airline pilot, doctor, lawyer, and later as a history professor during his stint as fraudulent cheque casher. He worked as a brilliant forger in which he got the first real claim to fame. This is amazing how he managed to achieve in a tougher environment without taking the stress. He was one of the best at what he did though it’s legal or not.

Steve Jobs: Epicenter of Success

This movie tells details about a relatively determined, persistent personality, the founder of Apple Steve Jobs. Both the success and failures along with his struggle to keep Apple a leading organization with the innovation of technology has depicted in this movie. The story unfolds the launch of different iconic products with his passion and ingenuity by overcoming internal conflict inside his company. A must see movie for entrepreneurs.

Shawshank Redemption: Hope is a walking dream

This is one of the greatest films of all time because of its undeniable greatness.

It’s the story of a man who is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison with the worst possible conditions for false imprisonment for the murder of his cheating wife and lover. During the brutality of prison life, he experiences a bad situation, however, he adapts it and manages to make the best from it while helping the warden, etc during his prison through perseverance.

Glengarry Glen Ross: Embrace the highs and lows of life

This is a perfect story about what happens behind the world of sales. The movie gives an accurate time-capsule when business values money, and sales, above all else. This gives a lesson in how not to run a sales department and how to manage during high-pressure sales with all its highs and lows.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Best, Worst, and Capitalize

This is the story about two con men in good and bad times. They unsuccessfully attempt to work together in a town which is not big enough for both of them on the Mediterranean coast. Therefore, they decide to take part in a bet and the loser leaves the town and the winner to look after the business after winning the bet. This bet brings out the worst and best parts in both of them with an interesting twist.

Now you got to know about a few inspirational movies that you should definitely watch as an entrepreneur! Perhaps one day we can find about your success as a successful entrepreneur.

Introducing StreamTunes – SoundCloud Clone Script

It was back in 2005; they introduced Pandora to music lovers. The ability to listen to the music without filling the phone storage enticed smartphone users. Soon music streaming became a standard way, and people adopted this trend with complete acceptance. Pandora became a success story in the modern music industry.

Gradually, this shift from traditional music browsing gave rise to the online community of music lovers with SoundCloud’s music streaming and storage service. SoundCloud deviated from the regular way. Instead of asking users to listen to the uploaded music from the platform, it allowed users to upload their own music and listen to it anytime from anywhere.

Now, in 2019, music streaming has become a standard way to browse songs. SoundCloud is the fourth highest used app for audio streaming services. 34.2% of the total US market share to be exact.

Introducing StreamTunes- Our own SoundCloud clone script

In the league of video streaming services, Instarama, under its brand, StreamHash, announces its first audio streaming script- StreamTunes. A SoundCloud clone script capable of creating SoundCloud-like business in a few hours.

StreamTunes is a ready-made framework to start your own music streaming service if you are planning in lines with the very popular SoundCloud service. It’s a fully customizable white-labeled solution coming with a complete package of WebRTC and mobile apps to kick start your own online music portal.

How does StreamTunes work?

StreamTunes is dedicated music streaming app builder. It offers multiple ways to generate active as well as passive income for the business owners.

Using StreamTunes SoundCloud clone, you can create a repository of music files and share to stream them from anywhere on any device. It gives a platform similar to YouTube video sharing community. Users can upload their audio files and share with other users on the platform.

Whom does StreamTunes cater to?

Sell your own music

The script is best suited to music artists who want to start their own music streaming services and give exposure to their creations. With a highly active community, linked with the social media platforms, they can achieve the best coverage for their music.

Sell other’s music

Even if you are not a music artist, you can use the script to create a music platform for other artists. You can let them create and share their music while you will earn from the Ad revenue as YouTube earns. Moreover, you can also add a premium subscription package, where users will pay to browse the music for the subscription period.

Tech Stack of StreamTunes

We have used the best tech stack to develop a turnkey solution for the music streaming business. Here is a glimpse of the fundamentals-

Features of StreamTunes

Here is a highlight of some cutting edge features of the SoundCloud App-

Seamless Audio Streaming: Nonstop audio streaming with no latency via the popular jPlayer audio streaming engine.
User Subscription: Subscription based membership model for revenue generation.
Banner Promotion: Banner-Ads promotion for passive income generation through content promotion.
Dynamic Admin Panel: Dynamic Admin Panel to manage the platform across all channels via central location.
SEO Friendly: SEO in StreamTunes to get you more quality traffic/visitors through organic search.
Stripe Payment Gateway: Integrated Stripe payment gateway for on-site transactions.
Native Mobile App: A native Android and iOS apps for scaled popularity across all the platforms.
Audio download: Make your tracks available offline for seamless streaming without internet.
Artists and Album Tagging: Tag Artist and Albums to for precise indexing, accurate search results, and tidy tracks organization.
Add to Favorites and Queue: Create a custom queue with your favorite track in the list in a particular order.
Social Sharing: Social media APIs for social login and social sharing of songs/playlist with friends.
Push Notifications: API for push notification service to support push alerts for different activities.

Sell on your own website/app now

Create your own music streaming platform and sell the way you want. Knowingly, having your own platform will give you a 100% share of revenue generated, and offer you the control on the monetization methods. Despite which channel you pick, your followers will dependably realize where to discover your music and recent manifestations.

No middle-men
No commission to pay
No cut to pay from the revenue
100% Royalty
100% access to the fans’ data for outreach
100% ownership of your own brand

SoundCloud clone -StreamTunes is your best bet

SoundCloud is one of the most popular music streaming apps. With this clone script, you can adopt an identical business model to start your own music streaming business. Try out our demo and experience the software before buying it. Test each of the features and tell us if you need any extra paid customization to it. We have got everything covered for you within your requirements and budget.

All Hands Meeting Highlights [March 2019]

Many Backgrounds, One Report:

We believe that different perspectives in the workplace can lead to better business ideas. With the needs and interests of the global community, we’re constantly working to create a more trusting and collaborative environment at Instarama. We have seen extensive participation of all team members with enthusiasm, feedback, integrity, and accountability to make the gathering more prosperous.

Marketing and Sales Accomplishments:

Adent:

The positive vibes continue to anticipate success in the sales and marketing numbers in Adent in the welcome season of spring.
Adent experienced a massive improvement in the overall total users which has increased by 13.87%, total new user by 13.16%, total sessions by 12.80%.
It has achieved an immense growth rate of208.83% in social with several sign-ups and inquiries, which of course, is a noticeable figure.
The Referral has increased by 24.89% and organic traffic by 6.86%.
The sales department saw significant achievements in terms of sales for the base as well as customized products.

Shopygen:

The efforts for social media marketing, the referral, and organic traffic performed well for the Shopygen.
As the toughest product, Shopygen managed to sell base products well in the market.
Moreover, the sales department got a decent improvement, while the majority of the sales were from customizations.

StreamHash:

StreamHash saw groundbreaking marketing along with the upcoming new customizations.
StreamHash received a minor decline in traffic in terms of organic and direct, however, we managed to grow notably in terms of social media and Quora traffic.
In terms of sales, StreamHash has managed to sell both base products and customizations on many of them.

Pushmaze:

Pushmaze has led the board as the referral traffic increased by 66%, Quora by 31%, organic traffic by 31%.
The top contributors for the significant traffic were organic sources, direct traffic accompanied by social media platforms.

PinLearn:

PinLearn also saw a significant steer as both organic visitors improved by 9.28% and Quora traffic by 19.67% despite the shortest month.
An immense growth has been coined in terms of the new user registration as compared with the last two months.
PinLearn has also managed to provide an addendum to its strategic plan to increase traffic rates geographically.

Feedback and Improvements:

We are getting future customers ready by taking the feedbacks and reviews positively. The team always have the vibe of rethinking along with the ability to explore for showing better performance with the ongoing development of projects. The feedback of every customer truly helped us to shape small improvements in multiple aspects. The entire team is also working with passion and dynamism on the feasibility studies to make some great difference to our products in the future.

Customizations and upcoming Products:

We deploy new enhancements regularly. This allows us to find out the issues, react quickly to problems, and helps to immediately work on different innovative products. The product upgrades and customizations for StreamView iOS App’s – Swift conversion, TubeNow 4.0 website, and Android would be able to release by the end of the coming month. Version 2.0 of Pushmaze, TubeNow- is going through customization with the inclusion of many added features.

Targets:

We aim for continuous product enhancements and to increase quality traffics for all of our products.
The team is working flawlessly to increase the traffic and to maintain a minimal bounce rate in all projects.
We plan to amplify the presence of social media customers to engage more with the products.
Moreover, the next month data will definitely show some quick revive.

Star Performer of the Month: Vinay

Vinay has worked dedicatedly with enthusiasm and spirits to reach new heights in the department of content development with his new strategic tactics. He worked collaboratively with all the teams to deliver the content on time. The individual efforts and contribution towards all the projects were very crucial for the organization. His sole efforts and unparalleled dedication are definitely to be appreciated. Congrats Vinay!!! You deserve the recognition.

Brands and Products of Instarama – An Overview

Who are we?

Instarama is a global turnkey business solution provider helping businesses of all spheres to set up, promote, and run their operations with greater ease. We understand the advancements of trends in technology, and hence deploy cutting-edge tools to our products that can give your business an easy edge over your peers.

We also understand that not all entrepreneurs are coders and nothing can limit them from implementing and seeing their business ideas grow to peaks. Keeping this in mind, we deployed some trending techs to develop solutions that allow entrepreneurs to set up an online business without coding.

With our turnkey products, integral online business setups like video streaming, eCommerce, e-learning and modern marketing tools are no more a quest for entrepreneurs and organizations. Since 2012, Instarama has provided turnkey solutions to over 1,500 organizations, helping them utilize the best of technology that is available today.

Brands and Products of Instarama

StreamHash

With StreamHash, we offer ready-made and customizable tools that help you to up online video streaming businesses across multiple revenue channels. Notably, these solutions offer the platforms to start a live video streaming business (like Facebook Live), video-on-demand service (like Netflix), or a combined service (like YouTube).

Solutions by StreamHash:

1.StreamView – Netflix Clone Script:

Did you wonder how Netflix manages a complex web of videos and that earned millions? For them, it was a long process and must have costed fortunes. Thanks to StreamView, getting a similar application for your own business is now highly affordable and instant.

Whom does it cater?

StreamView is a Netflix’s clone script that offers ready-made solutions for starting your own video streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. If you wish to start such a streaming platform and earn through the subscription charges paid by your users, StreamView provides all essential features that can make it happen.

Here is a glimpse of what you get with StreamView:

Multiple monetization channels: Subscription, Pay-Per-View, and Banner Ads.
Multiple Video uploads channels: YouTube/Website link, Amazon S3 Bucket, and direct upload.
PayPal payment gateway for secure online transactions.
Video resolution conversion for faster uploads
Native Android app for your mobile users.

2. StreamTube – YouTube Clone Script:

In 2016, when Google bought YouTube for US $1.65 billion, they must have been certain about the impact it was going to make, and today, YouTube shares a dominant share of the video streaming market. StreamTube is a clone script that can offer similar efficiency, features, and scalability if you wish to start your own service like YouTube.

Whom does it cater?

This YouTube clone script is an answer for all your desires for an Ad-based video library business. To let you start a video streaming business, the platform offers all the accessibility options to create a channel, subscribe to a channel, upload videos, watch videos uploaded by a channel etc. In addition, the platform also offers an Android App for your smartphone users.

Here is an overview of what it can do:

Features for users:

Create channels
Manage uploaded videos with in-built SEO features
Like or Dislike videos
Comment on videos
Flag other users and their activities

Standing out features for Platform admins:

Earn by displaying banner Ads and embedded video advertisements like YouTube
Receive and make Payments through PayPal payment gateway

3. StreamNow- Your Live streaming companion:

Advancements in internet technology and the easy availability of computer hardware have made live streaming affordable for ordinary users. As the demand for live videos are continuously increasing among marketers, businesses are producing live videos in huge amounts. Due to these high levels of interest towards live videos from the audience as well as businesses, it is the best time for you to invest in a live streaming business. You can set up a platform that helps businesses reach their potential audience, as all the public live streaming services like Facebook Live and Periscope have their own limitations of data privacy and relevant audience engagement.

Whom does it cater?

Do you want to start your own live streaming platform like YouTube Live, Twitch.TV, or Facebook Live?

Turnkey solutions from StreamNow make it easily feasible by catering to all the needs and requirements of professional live streaming software. You can use this ready-made script to enjoy an uncompromised array of features offering the best user experience and easy revenue generation.

Here are some of the standing-out features of StreamNow:

Perform instant live streaming without frame-drop.
Peer to peer chat system for real-time communication.
Pay-Per-View model for Revenue generation.
PayPal payment gateway for secure online transactions.
Native Android app for a seamless mobile experience.
Dynamic admin panel to manage streaming and videos.

4. TubeNow – YouTube clone with Live Streaming:

The modern-day video libraries have become multi-functional in nature. For example, YouTube is not just a video-on-demand library but also a great live streaming platform. If you have a vision of starting an easy-accessible platform like YouTube with live streaming features, there is no better solution like TubeNow.

Whom does it cater?

TubeNow can serve both as Video-on-demand and Live streaming platform. It is a perfect blend with all the features of StreamNow and StreamTube, and if you are looking to build a platform for a wide audience base with multiple revenue models, try TubeNow today!

PushMaze:

Did you know that push notifications could escalate the open rates of your campaigns by 56%? As 50% of prospects willingly opt-in to receive push messages, you can use push notifications to make your marketing strategy a great success. PushMaze makes it easy for you to instantly start your marketing campaigns with affordable, highly customizable and efficient push notification tools.

Why should you choose PushMaze?

To save Huge monthly subscription costs: You must be paying through your nose to send push notifications to your prospects. Since push message services charge per-notification, the cost will increase significantly, as you grow your consumer base.

Push notification service cost for 10000 notifications from popular brands like Pushcrew and Aimtell are $105 and $200 respectively. However, PushMaze with FCM will cost you $0 for the same. How?

PushMaze is a self-hosted web and mobile push notifications service that lets you send push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), which is a cross-platform message delivery solution that enables you to deliver messages without any charges.
PushMaze allows you to reach out to your users with web push notifications for just a one-time cost.

Scheduled Push Notifications: You can schedule notifications delivery at a specific time.

JS and REST APIs: Versatile JS and REST APIs allow easy customization by giving complete access over all your data.

Self-hosted: PushMaze is self-hosted, it does not charge on a pay-per-message basis.

Segmentation: Allows categorization of the subscribers on different demographics like geolocation, time zone, and interests.

Limited Time Notifications: You can send self-expiring push notifications for time-sensitive notifications like Flash sale or limited time offers.

Shopygen:

With Shopygen, we offer multiple turnkey solutions in different categories and revenue models, to help you to successfully establish a marketplace business. Be it a product marketplace, service marketplace, a mobile app based marketplace, or a grocery marketplace, Shopygen has multiple products that cater the best for your choice of marketplace business.

Turnkey solutions by Shopygen:

Genstore – A Node.Js packed eCommerce software:

Genstore is an open-source Node.js multi-vendor marketplace platform with great customizability and loads of features. With similar technologies as used by giants like Google, Facebook, and IBM, Genstore is built on MEAN stack (MongoDB, ExpressJs, AngularJs, and Node.Js), to offer higher scalability and robustness, in addition to quality code and comprehensive documentation.

Whom does it cater?

If you are an inventory based eCommerce store owner, you can use this software to migrate towards the multi-vendor marketplace model.
If you are an entrepreneur who is looking to start an eCommerce site, Genstore is your best possible solution with future-proof tech and customization options.

Monetization Channel:

The platform provides multiple modes for revenue generation to the marketplace owner such as

Commission-per-sale
Seller subscription
Prime delivery options
Banner Ads.

Standing out features of Genstore:

Integration with Facebook Messenger Bot to assist your customers with product search, order placement, tracking, or product inquiries.
Robust Admin Panel for user management, account management, content management, order management, and product upload.
Unique Seller Dashboard for vendors to manage their product listing, orders, seller profile, and shipping status.
Dispute management system to handle disputes between customers and sellers, like in PayPal’s buyers-protection system.
Native Android & iOS App for extending your reach to smartphone users.
Multiple payment gateways to deliver a hassle-free shopping experience.
Social login to allow easy user account registrations without the need for filling long forms

2. Mobigen- Mobile Shopping Cart Solution:

There is no match to the kind of engagement and personalized shopping experience that mobile apps can provide. With mobiles apps going popular, it would be a great idea to get into the m-commerce business. Mobigen is a next-generation solution providing a ready-made platform for you to start a mobile-based online shopping business.

Whom does it cater?

The solution caters best to all those entrepreneurs who want to start an app-based multi-vendor eCommerce store, leveraging the needs and requirements of mobile shoppers. Mobigen is an Intelligent Mobile eCommerce solution that provides a hassle-free shopping experience with multiple methods of revenue generation.

Monetization channels:

Commission-per-sale
Seller subscription
Featured/Banner Ads

Standing out features of Mobigen:

Single app for seller/customer: a Single app with different interfaces for sellers and customers.
Easy product upload: Simplest user interface to list a product instantly within few clicks.
Ratings & Reviews: Allow your customers to give reviews and ratings on the products.
PayPal payment gateway: Provide a secure payment experience to the app users.
User/Seller chat: Assist your customers in real-time.
SMS Notifications: Send SMS notifications to your users.
Dispute Management: In-built dispute management system to settle grievances between sellers and customers.

Gentack & Gentask – Task Rabbit and Thumbtack Clone Script

Gentack and Gentask are the clone scripts of two very popular service marketplaces – Task Rabbit and Thumbtack respectively. These marketplaces act as a connecting medium between service seekers and skilled service providers. Such marketplaces are in high demand and comparatively easier to launch since you are not required stock-up any physical products, or care about their delivery.

Whom do they cater?

The scripts will grant a head start into the two-sided marketplace business by connecting the people who need services with a network of pre-approved professionals who can provide the listed services. If you are looking to start your service marketplace with a lead-based model, where there is free registration for clients and providers, and the later pay to the platform owner on a per-client basis, you can go for Gentack. On the other hand, if you are looking for a business model where the client pays a certain amount to the platform owner if he/she gets their work done, Gentask is a great fit for you.

Monetization channel:

Commission-per-service from the service providers (Gentack) and clients (Gentask)
Banner ads of the service providers

Standing-out features of Gentack and Gentask:

Real-Time Tracking: If a client requests a service (like house needs) from the service provider, he/she can track the latter’s real-time location.
Recommendation Algorithm. You can recommend the services that are popular in the locality through geolocation and can suggest them the most reliable service providers based on their ratings.
Native Mobile apps: Get separate applications for users and the service providers on both Android and iOS platforms.
Bidding Algorithm: The clients can post their service requirements on the marketplace and let them choose the best deal among the bids of various service providers.
Reviews & Ratings: Allows users to rate and review the services offered by different providers.
Facebook AI Messenger BOT: Integrated Facebook messenger BOT to support your users 24×7.
Social Logins: Easy sign-up options for your users by letting them link their profiles with social media accounts.
Switch to Online or Offline status depending on the availability: Service providers can update their availability status for undertaking new tasks, helping clients to get their tasks delivered in high priority.
Digital wallet options: Allow users to make payments using a dedicated E-Wallet, something like Uber e-money.

Gencart- Instacart Clone Script:

Undoubtedly, the need for online grocery marketplaces is continuously increasing and Instacart is one such leader in the category. If you already have a decent network of grocery vendors in your locality, you can make some good profits by just facilitating the delivery of the products.

Whom does it cater?

Gencart is a clone script of one of the most popular online grocery marketplace- Instacart. It helps you to establish a communication channel between the grocery vendors and consumers in your locality. With its great product delivery management and specialized features, Gencart can help you instantly launch a marketplace business in this specialized category.

Monetization Channel:

Seller subscription
Commission-per-sale

Standing out Features of Gencart:

Fully Responsive & Robust Admin panel: Flawless control and monitoring of different activities through a dynamic and responsive admin panel.
Location-based Algorithm: List only the products that are available in a particular geo-location.
Delivery management: Assigning the delivery of products to staff those are in the nearest accessible location can help you promise a quicker delivery to your consumers.
Discount Coupons: Improve your sales by providing discount coupons to the customers.
Live tracking: Allow customers to track the real-time location of their expected delivery.
Report Analytics: Extract and analyze detailed report on every transaction and activity in the marketplace.

Pinlearn:

Pinlearn is an e-learning authoring tool, which helps you to instantly create e-learning marketplaces like Udemy and Coursera without the need for coding and development. As the developers have already managed the coding complexities, you can enjoy its graphical UI to customize your e-learning platform as per your requirements.

Whom does it cater?

Pinlearn provides an easy way to start a readymade EdTech platform without spending months in coding it from scratch, maintenance, and development. This authoring software is best suited for two types of entrepreneurs:

who want to start an e-learning platform and invite learners and tutors to use it.
You are a tutor who wants to start his/her own platform rather than paying to other e-learning platforms.

Monetization Channel:

Pinlearn’s Smart School software provides multiple monetization channels to ensure an effective ROI:

Subscription
Featured listing
Commission-per-sale
Banner Ads

Standing out Features:

Mobile App: Mobile apps for Android and iOS to give the flexibility and ease of use to your mobile users.
Tutor dashboard and analytics: Admin can track analytics about the courses, learning, and teaching progress.
Multiple payment gateways: Users can easily make and receive payments through multiple payment gateway options on the platform like PayPal.
Extensive Course Management: Limitless features for creating a course, uploading a course material, creating text and video lectures, updating course summary, and submitting a review.
Coupon Management for discounts: Admins can create coupon codes and let the tutors offer discounts to the learners.
Upload courses in multiple formats: The software allows course-upload in multiple formats like PDF, audio, and video.

Adent:

With Adent’s range of turnkey solutions, we extended our reach to a less-explored yet profitable arena of online business–Online Adult Industry. The adult industry is incredibly huge, and it carries numerous opportunities for making significant profits from the same. After years of research, we were able to deduce out every single business opportunity in this industry. As a result, we came up with ready-to-use solutions for setting up successful adult businesses in different categories and with different revenue models.

1. xStreamer – Video Streaming & Tube Script:

xStreamer is a fully responsive video streaming solution with colossal features similar to Pornhub, xHamster and Youporn. This highly customizable and powerful platform can handle even the heavy website traffic like butter, and provide the best user experience. With multiple monetization channels, dynamic admin panel, community plugins, and other innovative technologies, this platform is all you need for launching a highly profitable adult video streaming website.

Monetization Methods:

Pre-roll and post-roll video Ads
In-video text advertisement
Banner ads system
Premium membership system for Porn Studios
Premium membership system for users

2. xAggregate- Adult Search, Import & Embed Tube Script:

xAggregate is an open-source script that lets you create tube sites like Tubegalore and GiantTube. This adult search portal can bring-in major website traffic and passive income to the entrepreneurs. It comes loaded with thousands of adult videos, giving you a jumpstart in bringing-in instant and massive website traffic per month. With its intuitive administration panel, you can add contents from more than 24 porn tube sites.

Monetization methods:

With all that website traffic pitching in, you will have multiple channels for earning through-

Banner Ad rotations.
Affiliate monetization– send traffic to adult sites that pay for click traffic.
Redirecting traffic to your own paid site.

3. xMember – Adult CMS, Membership and Video Streaming Script:

xMember is a fully customizable video CMS to start a highly-profitable and scalable adult membership site like Brazzers, NaughtyAmerica and RealityKings. Its dynamic admin panel offers easy control over wide range of tasks like advanced membership management, video streaming control, payment gateways and many more. The platform is easily manageable by non-coders, and comes loaded with built-in SEO features. Be it a publishing company or an individual performer, the platform is best suited for everyone.

Monetization Methods:

Different membership levels & pricing.
Selling physical products via eCommerce store.
Selling Digital products like a subscription for private Snapchat and Instagram accounts.

Monetization methods- Custom modules:

You can add some more monetization methods by asking us for custom modules like-

Tipping feature for individual performers on the site
Pay-Per-text chat with Models
Pay-per-minute phone calls with models
Pay-per-minute live webcam private shows with models.

xModel – Paid Membership CMS with Live Webcam Streaming:

xModel is an ultimate CMS for starting a paid membership adult site. Best-suited for individual porn stars, cam girls and internet models, the platform offers instant access to high-quality live streaming with member subscription and other monetization channels. Loaded with an ability to sell tokens, membership tiers, physical products, and videos, xModel is a highly stable, secure and scalable platform.

Monetization methods:

Paid membership subscription options
eCommerce store integration
Live webcam streaming with a virtual token system

xGallery™ – Adult Image Hosting Script:

xGallery is an Adult image hosting script that was built specifically for sharing adult images and photo galleries. You can run a highly profitable adult photo hosting service using this script. The responsive interface provides an unmatched mobile viewing experience and many other abilities like adding comments and tags to the images.

Monetization Methods:

Banner Ads
Affiliate system to let your users earn by bringing-in traffic to their images
An anti-fraud system to prevent monetization through fake visits to the images.

xCams – Adult Live Cams Script:

xCams is a flawless solution for creating a high rewarding live streaming site without coding. It is best suited for the entrepreneurs who want to run the sites like LiveJasime, MyFreeCams and Chaturbate. Created by top coders and adult industry veterans, xCams is an extremely secure, fast and scalable platform that anyone can utilize to start a high traffic live streaming site.

Monetization methods:

Private 1-on-1 chat-sessions with per-minute billing.
Group chat sessions with per-minute billing.
Peek shows on 1-on-1 sessions (voyeur chat) with per-minute billing.
Option to tip models.
Option to sell photos and videos.
Option to sell digital subscriptions on platforms like Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram.

xPins- Adult Photo Sharing Script:

xPins provides a great platform for starting your own adult photo sharing website like Sex.com. Using the script, you can create your own adult version of Pinterest, and earn through multiple monetization features it has to offer. Moreover, xPins is also a perfect tool for directing website traffic to other adult sites and making some passive income.

Monetization methods:

Affiliate system for letting you earn by guiding website traffic to other sites.
Banner Ad system
Sponsored Ads system to highlight sponsored images on top of the homepage.
Affiliate API Integration to match products with corresponding images.

xMarketplace – Adult Toy Shopping Cart Script:

xMarketplace is a simple and personalized solution for starting your own marketplace and start selling adult toys and merchandise on the go. The built-in dropshipping API makes it possible to load more than 70,000+ products on your eCommerce site. Anyone with basic skills to manage the WordPress CMS can create a very profitable online adult store by utilizing this script. Simply, you do not need to be a tech wizard to create your own eCommerce site.

Monetization methods:

Dropshipping products support
Banner advertisements
Amazon affiliate integration
Subscription system integration
Supports affiliate programs

xScorts – Adult Escort Agency Script:

With xScorts script, you will be provided with all that you need to run a successful escort site. The simple UI and ready-to-use script can take your escort site live within a few minutes of installation. It is a fully customizable, open source and a flexible script that comes bundled with features for easy monetization.

Monetization methods:

The subscription model for users to unlock Premium Content.
The subscription model for Escorts to get their profile featured.
Fee collection- Users pay to the site owner for booking an escort.

xChat – Your Own Custom Sexting App for Sex Chat Business

With xChat, you can start your own sexting app that brings-in unbelievable user experience and passive income. In addition to the exclusive sexting features, the app comes loaded with every basic feature of an efficient chatting app like WhatsApp. Being an open source code script, it lets you customize your app in all the possible ways. There are two types of accounts on xChat: User and Model. You can set token packages that users will buy to chat with their favorite models.

Monetization methods:

Token system: The user will need to buy and spend tokens to chat with their favorite models. The more they talk the more token they spend.
Commission percentage: You can control the percentage taken on every token spent by the users.

xTalk – Launch Your Phone Sex Talk Site in Minutes:

xTalk is a cutting-edge ready-made software that comes bundled with modern marketing tactics for passive income generation. Tech industry veterans, who grew rich on similar platforms, designed the script with their expertise. You just need to install the script to jump-start your own phone-sex-chat site with multiple payment systems and revenue channels. Like all the Instarama products, this script is clean, customizable, scalable and open-source code too.

Monetization methods:

Token system: Users will buy and spend tokens to talk with their favorite models. You will earn from the percentage commission charged from models on per-token spent by the users.

To sum up

In short, Instarama has your back. Any domain you wish to venture in, we can help you convert your idea into a real-world business startup. Be it a video streaming service, an eCommerce startup, a marketing tool, a food delivery application, an Uber-like on-demand taxi service, or an adult industry startup, Instarama’s team is equipped with the work-force, technologies, software solutions, and marketing professionals for everything you would require to setup your business. No matter how silly it sounds to you, feel free to discuss your business idea with your experts. Optimistically, we can polish your raw idea and suggest all sort of software and technology solutions required to convert yours into a profitable business startup.

You can choose an appropriate Instarama product from our brands based on your business idea:

Solutions for eCommerce startups
Solutions for eLearning startups
Solutions for video streaming startups
Solutions for Adult business startups
A Push marketing tool for startups

All Hands Meeting Highlights [February 2019]

Every manager is obligated to held regular staff meetings. While some treat these meetings as just obligations, we at Instarama utilize this moment to analyze our progress, share thoughts, plan for next, and celebrate the accomplishments.

We held a similar meeting on 7^th February 2019, which was full of participation, feedbacks, and celebrations for the accomplishments of our hard-working team. With full transparency, integrity, honesty and accountability, everyone gave their best to make this gathering successful.

Marketing and Sales Accomplishments

Gradually we have been now able to stabilize the traffic on Adent. The overall growth in all sources indicated that prospects are liking the product and searching about it. It was a massive improvement of 29.29% in the overall traffic, which also includes organic improvement by 21%, direct by 38%, and a massive boost of 325% in the social media referrals. The sign-ups have increased exponentially, and we have been getting inquiries through WhatsApp as well. Even affiliate partners are doing their jobs swiftly. Comparing the sales accomplishments, we saw a different trend this month. While there were more than expected sales for the base product, the customization requirements were slightly lower than the usual. Presumably, the recent version updates and new features are the reasons as most of the features are now inbuilt in the base products.

January was a mix for StreamHash. Where we could improve the organic and direct traffic to a colossal level, the paid search traffic was dropped by slight numbers. Thankfully, about 48% boost in the organic traffic, and a 22% increase in the direct numbers were enough to cover up for the lost stats in paid searches. We also felt a need to boost up our social media strategies for the StreamHash product. Considering the sales, it was satisfactory. Though it was not as good as the previous month, we learned there is a need to boost our social media referrals to attain those numbers. Finally, we a more strategic approach, we planned to improve our efforts to cross the barriers in the current month and after that.

We could see a divergent behavior by the ShopyGen project. Unlike StreamHash month, we could see a considerable boost in the organic, direct, and social media traffic of ShopyGen. Sadly, the Quora and Referral traffics were dropped by 4% and 30%. We learned that it requires a more aggressive strategy to draw quality traffic from assets like Quora and discussion forums. Though overall traffic was boosted by 27%, we still need to boost the paid traffic as eCommerce is way competitive than other domains. Opposite to Adent, ShopyGen received a good number of customization requests, which added to our targets despite getting average sales for the base products. I think, the coming month would be a great time for ShopyGen base products. The boosted traffic will eventually pay-out.

As per the infant products PushMaze and PinLearn are concerned, they are slowly stabilizing. PushMaze, in one hand improved by over 40% in organic, and 52% in direct traffic, PinLearn received a similar exposure as well. The website traffic for PinLearn was at its best in the past 6 months. I think the content marketing strategies are pay-out and more people are getting exposed to the product. With a strategy to boost the content marketing to the further levels, we could finally rest the marketing discussion keeping content as our major focus this month.

Feedback and improvements

As per the feedbacks of our QA team, we are in process of improving the following products and services this month-

-Demo of all the products

-xMarketplace script

-Genstore Android App

Hopefully, by the end of this month, we would be able to roll out the improvements in all the above products and services.

Customizations and upcoming products

With hard work and dedication of our development team, we were able to release the upgrades of StreamHash products. StreamView 4.0 (Android), StreamView 3.1(Website), StreamNow 4.0 (iOS), and Stable version of Android App for StreamTunes are all set for the release. With all these, the customizations for StreamView are also going on for multiple clients. Optimistically, by the next month, we will also release the upgraded versions of the above products with StreamTunes Android upgrade, and website version stable release.

Targets

We are targeting on releasing the major version upgrades for most of the ShopyGen products, which includes all three website, Android, and iOS solutions. Hopefully, the long awaited LMS for PinLearn will also be released by the end of Feb. Moreover, few customizations are also going on for PushMaze, which we will analyze and consider adding to the base products if found being demanded by most of the clients.

Not just the version upgrades, but we are also focusing on rigorous testing of all the products once again. We have queued most of Adent and ShopyGen products for regular QA improvements. The upcoming month is going to be big in terms of new products release and version upgrades.

Star Performer of the Month – Srividya

Star performer of the month is not just a title we give each month to one of our best employees. Instead, it is a recognition of the smart work, time-management, team-coordination and dedication one puts in his/her daily tasks. We consider a great number of things to evaluate our best of the best employees. Weighing all the factors, it was difficult to settle on a single name though. In fact, there were multiple contenders who equally deserved the title.

Srividya was a great contender for this recognition. She is one of those employees who have won this title multiple times. Srividya won the title unopposed. It’s all because of her highly professional approach towards her daily tasks, where see not only managed her own work but also helped others to complete their tasks on time. As a good team leader, she has been an inspiration for the teammates. And let’s not forget the bonding she has with the team. Congrats Srividya! You are a perfect candidate for this title.

A Memorable Trip to Sakleshpur

What could a company do for team building in a newly formed team? Conceivably, a party with dance and good food would do the job. However, we did not want just to do the job; we wanted to make it memorable and full of fun. To commence the journey with our newly formed team, Instarama organized its first weekend trip to the Jungles of Sakleshpur. A place around 235 KMs from Bangalore on road. A hill-station covered in absolute calmness and protected in the mountain ranges of Western Ghats, in the state of Karnataka.

Day 1

Starting the journey on 15th September morning at 5:00 from the office, the vehicle full of enthusiastic travellers halted at the famous food joint at Banashankari for breakfast. After having a zesty South Indian breakfast and a cup of steaming coffee, we stretched out and again boarded the vehicle to complete rest of the journey.

Ibn Battuta rightly said once-“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, and then turns you into a storyteller.” Enjoying the pleasant sites and vast maize farms on the way, we covered about 190 KMs without any fatigue. Thanks to the comfortable recliners in the A.C. vehicle, we could take some power naps, making up for the sleepless night that most of us spent a day before the journey in excitement.

Then we entered the hills of Western Ghats to experience a road journey like never before. It was just the beginning of the adventure. The zigzag roads made sure we do not miss an inch of the wonderful surroundings around us. Fascinated by the enchanted hills and glorious scenery, we entered the forests of Sakleshpur.

As we set out in the forest, heading up to the road to the resort, we sat motionless in our seats, absorbing the scenic beauty that mother earth has to offer us. The mildly brisk air coming on our face through the windows made us feel like there is no pollution in the world.

Suddenly, Raj, who was sitting next to me, proclaimed –“We should buy a land here, make a small cottage, and never leave this place”. I saw it coming and a deep sense of agreement to Raj’s statement on everyone’s face. Sooner, everyone recalled that it is just for the next one day, and we will be back to our cubicles in Bangalore a day after.

Hush! I could see their faces of disappointment. Cursing their life and asking to themselves, “Why I do not belong here? Why I cannot stay in this wilderness forever?

Nevertheless, everyone came out of his or her fascination as we headed deep inside the forest. Flanked by coffee plants from both sides, with clusters of bright red and green berries ready for harvest, we were holding, as we proceed slowly through the narrow path on a big vehicle. The road wounded its way up and down on the hilly terrain, and with paths joining from all directions, we disembark the vehicle a few hundred meters before the resort.

As we walked and reached our destination after covering a path that seemed interesting, we were welcomed by a beautiful waterfall, right in front of the resort.

We reached the destination at about 13:00 hours and what stood in front of us was a spectacular venue where we were about to spend a whole night- Mystic Falls resort. Hungry after the long journey, we were served with superb vegetarian and Non-vegetarian dishes for the lunch.

Then it was a time to buckle up and jump into the natural pond made by the waterfall. While some of us opted to take a walk around and find out interesting places in the resort, few of us chose to take a jump in the water through that rope hanging on a huge tree.

Time for Team Building Activities

After straying around for a while, it was the time for some team building activities like a game of Cricket, Football, Kabaddi, Mud volleyball, and many other to lighten up the mood. What actually made us test our skills was the Kabaddi match between the two teams. Everyone tried to put in their best, while some of us were exhausted from four consecutive cricket matches that we played before jumping around in the kabaddi match. Everyone played their best and applied the finest possible tricks to get the opposite team down. However, the best team still won the match and was applauded by everyone.

A joyful Evening

The evening was all set to amaze us, and it was just the start of what we are going to experience in the night covered in the wilderness of Sakleshpur. On request, the resort management took no time to arrange a nice music system with huge speakers for our suddenly planned and self-operated DJ night. The stage was all set; the dim lights were augmenting the mood and we all got our dancing shoes ready to rock the floor. With all the new and popular tracks being played through the cell phones of everyone one after another, everyone put their best foot forward.

In the meantime, we were also being served with delicious snacks, which were fuelling the spirit of excitement and making our sulks go up in the sky. Dead tired from the activities, the dinner was served with the bonfire, and it was the time to turn off the music and enjoy the calm night. Because everyone had to sleep on time for waking up on time to experience what next day was coming with.

A night in the wilderness

It was half past the night and everything just muted. I could hear the nonstop chirpings of the insects, and peacocks breaking the silence as they cooed. The darkness covered the whole forest like a curtain, wrapping everything. The silence was so unprecedented and unnatural for people like us who live in a tier-one city. It was remote and there was no mobile network or television. The only way to connect was to go to the person and talk to him or her personally, not through a WhatsApp message. The quality could have come only after being this far from the urbanity. Cracking entered the smoke of calmness and pushed all of us towards a peaceful sleep.

Day 2

Gradually, the darkness faded away, though the whiffs of chilly air hanged to freshen us up. One after the other, the surroundings revealed themselves as they peaked out from the inky blackness. In front stood the coffee plantations stretched out for miles on a hilly terrain, scattered with tall trees. As we freshened up, the breakfast was getting ready. After having our breakfast, as planned, we checked out from the resort at 11:00 hours and headed to Manjarabad fort, which was 17 KMs from there. Before that, we took some photographs with the team.

The Manjarabad Fort

Bidding farewell to the seductive aroma of coffee plantations and a deep forest, we started our journey to the next stop- The Manjarabad fort. We reached the fort after a small journey of 40 minutes through the hilly terrain and then the state highway. The fort is one of the main attractions on the highway out of the town. It is a magnificent example of medieval Indian civil engineering. A star-shaped structure located on the top of a hillock. Covering a path full of stairs, we headed up to the fort from the main road. The sight of the landscape from the corners of the star-shaped architecture is indeed worth the climb, letting you see a peaceful scenic beauty stretched across an unbroken greenery for several kilometers around the fort.

After enjoying the beauty and taking some selfies, we left the place after an hour to board our vehicle and continuing the journey back home. We halted at ‘Sri Krishna Bhavan Veg Restaurant’ for lunch and continued the road journey. Dropping people at their home locations in Bangalore, we reached the office at 7:30 p.m. Then came the Monday- we were back to our cubicles. It was quite visible on our faces, as we were barely able to walk. However, what we experienced on the trip is going to stay in our hearts forever.

Sakleshpur a place less explored

The Sakleshpur trip was a memorable outing for each one of us. We could take a weekend break and see the richest of flora and fauna in its natural surroundings. According to an article in economic times, “Among the three major coffee-growing regions of Karnataka, Sakleshpur is less known and relatively less commercialized for tourists than Kodagu and Chikmagalur. Consequently, it is pristine and real.”

We agree with the quoted line, and indeed believe that its less commercialization has made to it retain the natural beauty. This fact makes the place so wild, remote, amazing, and calm. We could not explore all of its corners due to lack of time but hope to explore it soon in the near future again. This place truly deserves a trip again.

All Hands Meeting Highlights January 2019

Picking out some-time from the tight schedule and meeting with the whole workforce is expensive and risky. It challenges your leadership skills to encourage everyone and making them believe each of them are valuable for the company. An all hands meeting is not just a formal gathering but an array of all other things for overall development of the employees and their contribution towards the brand.

With the first meeting of a brand New Year, we could see the enthusiasm on each of the faces. This was a time when we analyse our efforts for the past year and take lessons for a New Year waiting ahead bearing gifts in its hands. Yes! It was an awesome year and taught us the things we were meant to learn.

Marketing and Sales Accomplishments

The year of 2018 passed with some good news. Adent, the star performer of the month, averaged in marketing (because of the festive season), but it excelled in terms of sales figures. Despite Google update snatched a few of our ranking keywords, our team took no time to revive them by the end of the month. Thanks to our sales team they could convert most of the traffic we got this month. Besides the US being on the top, this month we saw huge traffic leap from UK, which is a good sign that our efforts are finally making their way.

StreamHash followed a similar path and experienced a noticeable drop in all the traffic sources. We knew of the event (festive season), that’s why, ran some paid-Ad campaigns, which worked great. It saw most of the drops in social traffic. About 40% to be exact. However, we hope this month’s data would have something impressive as the working season resumes again. Knowing the scenario, we focussed mainly on converting the existing leads and finishing up with the existing customization projects. We finally delivered most of the ongoing projects and got paid. Hence, giving us quite a charming sales figure despite the holiday season.

ShopyGen, one of the toughest products to be ranked up, performed well. We could improve the organic traffic by 2% and got some impressive leads from the referral sources. Overall, we saw a minor drop in the wholesome traffic, but it also improved the bounce rates as we could curb it by 1%, giving out 40-50 sign-ups in just one month. In sales, we could achieve much more than the targeted figures. Thanks to the customization project, which we finally worked on. The sales figures were at their best in last 6 months for the ShopyGen project.

Pushmaze was one of the best performers in terms of marketing. It seems, the holiday season had no bad effects on the traffic. Except for the Quora referrals, all other sources saw a rise in the traffic by an average of 20-30%. In fact, Pushmaze was only product to get a huge leap in the social media traffic this month. Ultimately, the marketing efforts paid, and we could achieve some handsome sales figure for one of our lowest-priced product-Pushmaze.

As per PinLearn is concerned, January was one of the best times for this EdTech product. The overall traffic was at its best, compared to the last three months. Direct traffic increased by 27.66%, the overall bounce rate reduced by 0.5%, and US maintained its top position in terms of direct and organic traffic. Considering the holiday season, the decrease in traffic from social media and referrals did not dishearten us. Hopefully upcoming month has some good stats in its trunk, as the team is working hard to revive the traffic as the holiday season takes a pause until the next year.

Customizations and upcoming products

Besides an array of customization requests in projects like Adent, ShopyGen and StreamHash, the team is also working on many upcoming products and services. Hopefully, by the end of this month, we will launch some new products under all three brands. StreamView 4.0 is on its way to the QA phase. PinLearn would receive a major upgrade soon with integrated LMS, Varsity clone, and additional customization services for online training solutions.

Star performer of the month-Nitin

With no doubt, the polling went all in favour of ‘Nitin’ for his excellent performnace with Adent sales. He showed an outstanding behavior under pressure and brought applaudab-le sales to the Adent project. With his hard work and dedication, we were able to convert a holiday season into a high grossing period for the business. He acted as bridged that helped the company connect with its new and existing customers as we served them better. Congratulation Nitin for this remarkable achievement. You deserved this appreciation and recognition.

Instarama’s all Hands Meeting – (December 2018)

As we continue to realize our customary all-hands meetings, the session for December was a grand success. It had the additional enthusiasm of the Christmas month plus the positive vibes of already anticipated success in sales and marketing numbers.

The special column- Performer of the Month

As usual, it was a tough decision to find the best among the bests. Everyone was at their 200% the preceding month, and thanks to all of them that we could achieve some good numbers in sales. This month, we took a different approach to find the winner. We skipped the performance in numbers and went for the innovative approaches to do their daily jobs. We analyzed how they took initiatives and went out of the traditional approaches to perform their daily tasks. So here are the nominees for this month –

Raj: Representing the best of the initiatives Raj was a perfect candidate for this list. His dedication and untraditional efforts to excel ShopyGen’s marketing campaigns were indeed worthy of reward and recognition.
Sharmila: She has been a consistent performer and has always been making to this list. Her efforts and dedication to Pushmaze’s marketing and SEO could give us some great leaps in term of organic traffic and brand awareness. Taking all the responsibilities of the project, she was one of the bests among the bests.
Tanmay: Tanmay has been working with us for a long time and has been taking care of multiple projects. However, this month, we are happy to introduce him to this list for his unmatched contribution to take our Adent project to heights.

Winner:

After evaluating the sorted candidates on their dedication, punctuality, and ownership of the projects, Tanmay came out to be the best performer of the month. His individual efforts and contributions to not only his own projects but also to all other tasks are curial for the organization. He has been actively involved in performing tasks with utmost dedication and has been assisting all other employees in their day to day tasks. Congrats Tanmay! You deserve this recognition and title.

Marketing and Sales Accomplishments

Adent received a 26% increase in organic traffic, making it 53% of the overall website traffic. The website received most of its traffic from the USA, which is a major market for the project. Considering the holiday season, the sales team played a great role in converting a great deal of organic traffic into final sales. The sales figure for each of the products were quite satisfying.

On a similar track, our efforts for social media marketing paid-off and we could get a major share of traffic from social media platforms. Likewise, the referral and organic traffic too performed well a 3% and 7% increase respectively. In terms of sales, it was an impressive month for StreamHash as we could sell both base products and customizations on many of them. Some custom requirements were quite innovative, which we think should add in the regular base products as well. Hopefully, we will be able to do so quite near in the future.

ShopyGen, the eCommerce solution, which is one of the toughest products in terms of competition. It performed way decent than our expectations. We had already received some good traffic from the US. However, this month saw a significant increase in traffic from Europe as well. The sales of base products showed a decent improvement, while the majority of the sales were from customizations. This is a good sign as people are coming up with some innovative eCommerce startup ideas.

Pushmaze saw some great achievements in terms of website traffic generation. Organic visitors were improved by 4%, direct website visitors increased, spam traffic decreased by 3%, social traffic leaped by 11%. The top suppliers to the website traffic were organic and social media platforms. As per PinLearn is concerned, the traffic from the USA saw a good improvement. In fact, the overall bounce rates were also decreased. Organic visitors were improved by 15%, Quora traffic improved by 400%, Referral channel saw 22% improvement. The paid Ads also kicked well. The high leap in social traffic is a good sign considering the 12 % decline in the same during the previous month.

Instarama’s all Hands Meeting – (November 2018)

Focusing on the purpose of steering, not just another monthly meetup, but also a way to build team bonding and appreciate everyone’s efforts, we started realizing all hands meetings a few months ago. Proving a wise move, the event helped us capitalizing the moments to let everyone come up with the ideas and contribute to the organizations’ growth on a wide scale. The workforce took no time to adopt this new trend and participated with the unmatched enthusiasm.

The November’s All Hand Meeting was a great success. The smartly tuned presentations, well-prepared goals, comprehensive comparisons with the preceding month’s statistics, gave us a vibrant picture of where we are heading and what else is to be done.

Best Performer for the Month

It was never this tough. We already had the bests among us. However, the title added a spice to the contest, as we started observing everyone giving his or her best to claim the title. After a close combat and analyzing the employees on the toughest conducts, we could sort two of the best Instarama warriors who made to the list-

Srividya Sigamani: Demonstrating as the best among the bests, she made to the list because of her exceedingly dedicated approach to take StreamHash to the elevations. StreamHash was one of the top grossing products for the month. It was not possible without a well-planned marketing, which Srividya enthusiastically carried on. Moreover, everyone at Instarama mutually agrees to her professional, punctual, and dedicated attitude.

Nitin: The best performing products of Instarama- Adent and Shopygen could only do that with a combined effort of the sales and marketing team. Taking all the responsibilities of the sales department, Nitin is no less deserving than anyone at the organization is. He has been making to the list for the past three consecutive months. It is an achievement in itself alone.

Winner:

After evaluating the sorted candidates on the grounds like work dedication, punctuality, professionalism and achievements in the allotted targets, we settled on Srividya as the best performer of the month. Her individual efforts in managing the marketing of StreamHash indisputably deserve to be valued and no one disagreed to the merit she had achieved with her responsibilities. Congrats Srividya! You are the perfect candidate for this title this month.

Marketing and Sales Accomplishments

Receiving a groundbreaking stat, Adent saw a 50% increase in the sign-ups, followed by a 20% rise in the traffic from organic sources and pushing the overall traffic to increase by 10% in total. Positively, we saw a considerable decrease in the bounce rates from Organic, Direct, and Quora traffic as well. With top traffic originating from the USA, Adent experienced a profuse growth in the sales figures. Top grossing products included xCams, xStreamer, and xScorts.

Following the same path, StreamHash and ShopyGen too came up with some impressive stats in terms of sales and marketing. StreamHash received 45% growth in the traffic from the organic sources, which was accompanied by the remarkable 39% increase in the direct traffic. Likewise, ShopyGen grew by 19% in terms of organic traffic, followed by a 7% boost in the direct and 19% push to the Quora traffic. In terms of sales, both ShopyGen and StreamHash were impressive and we could record some unprecedented figures here. Credit goes to the customization requirements, where we added some new features to the base products as per the clients’ requirements.

Pushmaze led the board in terms of marketing achievements, where we could boost the total traffic by over 10%. Top contributors to this impressive stat were organic sources, direct traffic, and referral sources. In fact, Pushmaze was one of the products to receive a remarkable growth in term of social media traffic and referrals.

Next, follows the PinLearn, which saw some minor decline in the overall traffic. However, sooner, we were relaxed by the stats proving the product is growing in terms of organic and direct traffic, and the bounce rates are declining too.

Targets

The targets were clear. We need some groundbreaking ideas to improve social media referrals for all the products. Moreover, despite a gradual decrease, spam traffic is still disturbing. We agreed on some rigorous approaches to cope with the spam. Optimistically, the next month data will show some quick results.

We are aiming at repeat sales by offering loyalty discounts. Moreover, the customization requirements are still our priority as they help us to embrace some restructured features for our base products. The positive engagement from Australia is encouraging, and we are hoping to get some big deals from there too. The team is conducting research on Australian standards; buoyantly we have most of the requirements already fulfilled.

Additionally, to boost up the content marketing efforts, we agreed on many aspects to be introduced in the marketing tactics. Strategies like case study publications, more how-to articles, affiliate campaigns, were few of the elements we agreed on targeting this month. We also settled on some new and trending keywords for content marketing.

Product Upgrades

Our developers are always working on something new. Be it product customization or upgrade to an existing product, we prefer staying ahead of the market. Hence, product upgrades and customizations remain two major topics for discussion in all our all-hands meetings.

Version 2 of the Genstore from Shopygen is still is development, optimistically, we would be able to release the same by the end of the month with one new product launch called UberX. StreamHash is going through major customizations with the inclusion of features like Screen Sharing, Video Archive, iPad app, and Android TV App. The multi-lingual support for all the products is also on our list.

Feedback and improvements

Taking a cue from clients’ feedback and many of the repeat queries, we have made a list of the features in demand. The team is enthusiastically working on the feasibility studies, to determine if they can make some great difference to our products. In the coming months, several new features are going to be added to the products. Moreover, the in-house team too came up with many ideas to improve our sales, marketing, product features, and internal operations. Confidently, we would be able to implement if not all then most of them in the immediate future.