PostgreSQL, the powerful open-source relational DBMS, has been a mainstay in the database world for over three decades.
Known for its robustness, reliability, performances and feature-rich nature, in addition to a powerful and highly extensible engine that has given birth to a growing number of plugins, PostgreSQL has gained a loyal following among developers and organizations alike, for an ever-growing number of use case.

In the past couple years, amidst the increasing importance of “global-scale” P/IaaS like Vercel and Cloudflare, many MySQL or SQLite-based solutions like Planetscale, Turso, and Cloudflare D1 have been making waves with their serverless architecture, global redundancy promises, unlimited storage and easy scalability.

At the same time, PostgreSQL is undergoing a series of transformations that could redefine its role in the database landscape.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the exciting developments shaping the future of PostgreSQL, with a focus on the contributions of companies like Supabase, Neon, ParadeDB or AWS.

Separation of Compute and Storage

One of the most significant advancements coming to the PostgreSQL ecosystem lies in the separation of compute and storage. Companies like Neon, AWS, and recently Supabase are pioneering this approach, which brings major benefits:

• Horizontal Scalability: By decoupling storage from compute, PostgreSQL can scale horizontally pretty easily. Just add more compute nodes to allow the system to handle increased load without hitting performance walls.
• Cost-Effective Scaling: The separation allows for independent scaling of compute and storage resources based on specific workload requirements, optimizing costs.
• Seamless Replication and High Availability: The decoupled architecture simplifies replication and enables high availability setups.
• Branching and Improved Developer Experience: The storage layer can be easily forked and attached to new compute instances, facilitating branching and enhancing the development workflow.

For a deeper dive into the benefits and implications of this architecture, I recommend exploring this insightful blog post from David Gomes and the linked resources.

Neon is already offering a production-ready postgres serverless offering using this technology, all open source, jump to their hello-world post for an overview of their approach.

Pluggable Storage and Improved Table Engines

At the heart of every database lies its table engine.
In Postgres 12, a basic support for a “Pluggable Storage” was introduced, as a way to define different table engines for different tables in the same database.

This unlocks the potential to use a single PostgreSQL instance for various use cases, from OLAP and AI vector search to log search, without compromising performance or storage efficiency.

However the initial implementation had limitations, stalled and didn’t fully achieve its goals.

Some solutions like CitusData’s columnar storage leveraged this initial API but came with significant restrictions over core PostgreSQL features.

Enter Oriole.
Acquired by Supabase officially in April 2024, Oriole is designed as a drop-in replacement for the existing storage engine, bringing notable performance improvements and advanced features. It reduces I/O (enabling decoupled storage and compute), supports page-level data compression, and introduces index-organized tables.

create extension orioledb; -- enable the extension

create table posts (
  id int8 not null,
  title text not null,
  body text not null,
  primary key (id)
) using orioledb;    -- Specify the storage format

The Oriole team is actively driving contributions around Pluggable Storage, building upon the efforts initiated in PostgreSQL 12 to create a more integrated extension ecosystem, supporting many more advanced extensions and use cases on standard PostgreSQL instances.

A few words about us

Our project, Meteroid is a modern and open-source billing platform that focuses on business intelligence and actionable insights.

To allow self-hosting without requiring deploying our complete saas-focused infrastructure, including a Clickhouse cluster, we’ve been researching options to leverage Postgres more intensively for all our different use cases. We figured we would share some of our findings about the ecosystem through this blog post.

If you have a minute, please consider starring us on Github ! This would help us a lot

Extending PostgreSQL: OLAP, AI, Search, and Beyond

The PostgreSQL extension ecosystem has seen remarkable achievements lately. Two notable examples are:

• pgvector: This community-driven effort provides a vector data type and search functionality for high-dimensional vectors. Despite its relatively small codebase, pgvector rivals the performance of many specialized vector databases.

• ParadeDB: Implemented in Rust, this open-source PostgreSQL extension(s) delivers outstanding results in both OLAP (closing the gap with ClickHouse) and Search (outperforming Elasticsearch in some benchmarks) use cases.

With the new Pluggable Storage model, these extensions and many others could be easily added to any PostgreSQL instance, potentially even interacting with each other, unlocking powerful combinations and enabling PostgreSQL to handle a wide range of workloads efficiently.

And that’s just a taste !

Many other projects exist around the postgres community, to cover emerging use cases :

• electric-sql is building a sync layer between postgres and local/embeded SQLite database to build local-first apps, a paradigm shift toward dynamic and instant local apps

• AWS RDS team created Trusted Language Extensions (pg_tle), an initiative to make postgres extensions more accessible to users relying on a cloud managed database. This is a pretty huge step for the open-source/self-hosted community, as until then building on top of an extension could make the deployment a lot more complex.

A couple of resources to delve deeper

• Scaling Postgres, a youtube podcast from Creston Jamison with a lot of discussions and news curation across the postgres ecosystem

• pg is eating the db world from @fengruohang , an extensive blog post to understand the unique position of Postgres in the ecosystem

The Future may be both Unified and Distributed

As applications become increasingly global and complex, the need for a distributed, multi-purpose database is more pressing than ever.

The incredibly extensible core of Postgres, alongside the massive community and shared efforts from many players across the industry, has led to impressive advancements. From the separation of compute and storage to a new Pluggable Storage, and the growing number of highly powerful extensions across languages and domains, Postgres is poised as a strong contender for a global, holistic database solution, to meet the demands of modern software development.

The future of PostgreSQL may not just be about being a reliable and feature-rich database, but about becoming a catalyst for building applications that are fast, scalable, and adaptable to the ever-changing needs of businesses and users.

I hope you enjoyed this read ! If you found it helpful, don’t forget to give our repo a star! Your support means the world to us.

Star Meteroid

Cheers !

The post The elephant in the room: What future for PostgreSQL ? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

There are many SaaS products, but knowing that, how do you choose the best?

This article will look at the most successful SaaS companies, so you can decide if you want to invest in them for your business.

TL;DR

• A SaaS product delivers software remotely, reducing the need for local installation, maintenance, and updates.
• Cloud computing offers three main service models: SaaS for ready-to-use software, PaaS for application development frameworks, and IaaS for scalable virtualized computing resources.
• A SaaS product enhances business efficiency with cost-effectiveness, scalability, maintenance-free operation, accessibility from anywhere, easy integration, and inclusive product design.
• Software as a Service offers specialized tools for product growth, CRM, project management, ERP, collaboration, financial management, customer service, and marketing automation.
• Userpilot is a leading B2B product growth tool that excels at in-app engagement, product analytics, customer feedback collection, customer support, and integrations.
• HubSpot and Salesforce are both CRMs that offer customer analytics, survey tools, and extensive integrations.
• Mixpanel offers advanced user analytics, customizable reports, and an intuitive analytics dashboard.
• Slack helps to streamline internal communication with channels, direct messaging, and integration capabilities.
• Asana enhances team collaboration and productivity with task management, progress reports, and customer experience roadmaps.
• Airtable offers customizable views, rich field types, and templates for dynamic work organization and efficient project management.
• Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, and Omnisend are all email service providers that allow you to send email campaigns, automation, and detailed reports.
• Shopify enables product management, payment processing, and landing pages for seamless e-commerce operations and growth.
• Netflix offers personalized video recommendations, multiple profiles, and offline viewing for a high-quality streaming experience globally.
• Typeform offers interactive surveys, customization options, and logic jumps for engaging and versatile online interactions.
• Appcues enhances user onboarding, adoption, and retention with targeted walkthroughs, in-app messaging, and feature adoption tools.
• Canva offers several templates, a drag-and-drop editor, and an extensive asset library for professional-level graphic design with ease.
• Zendesk and Intercom offer customer support via in-app messaging, chatbots, and customer surveys.
• Quickbooks and Xero are accounting SaaS products that help you send invoices, track expenses, and process payroll.
• Microsoft offers enterprise solutions, productivity suites, and cloud services for both B2B and B2C sectors, emphasizing innovation and efficiency.
• Oracle ERP provides advanced financial and supply chain optimization, and human resources management for large enterprises in both B2B and B2C sectors.
• If you want to know more about how Userpilot can help you, book a demo now.

Try Userpilot and Take Your Product Success to the Next Level

Get a Demo

• 14 Day Trial
• No Credit Card Required

What is a software as a service product?

Software as a Service, or SaaS, is a method of software delivery in which applications are hosted remotely by a service provider and accessed by users over the internet. This model eliminates the need to install, maintain, or update the software locally, as the provider manages all these tasks.

SaaS products are designed for a broad audience, appealing to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets.

SaaS vs. PaaS vs. IaaS

In cloud computing, there are three main models for delivering services: traditional Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – each offering different levels of control and management.

Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS providers have ready-to-use software applications over the internet on a subscription basis. You don’t handle maintenance or updates. Examples include Netflix, Microsoft 365, and Salesforce.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): PaaS is an internet software that supplies a framework for developers to build and deploy applications without managing servers or networks. This is ideal for developers who focus on software creation. Notable PaaS providers include Google App Engine, Adobe Commerce, and Heroku.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): IaaS offers virtualized computing resources via the Internet. It’s suitable for businesses wanting control over their infrastructure and the ability to scale. Key examples are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, which provide scalable resources like virtual servers and storage.

What are the benefits of the SaaS model?

The Software as a Service (SaaS) business model is renowned for its efficiency and flexibility, offering numerous advantages for businesses of all sizes.

Below are the key benefits of adopting a SaaS approach for your business operations:

• Cost-effectiveness: A SaaS product eliminates the need for upfront hardware purchases, software licenses, and ongoing maintenance costs – reducing IT expenditures. Most SaaS companies offer a scalable pricing model that adjusts based on usage – ideal for managing budgets effectively.
• Scalability: SaaS companies are highly scalable, allowing you to easily modify the number of users or services as needed. This adaptability is essential for high-growth companies that require rapid scaling without significant initial IT investments.
• Maintenance-free: The SaaS company handles all maintenance and updates, freeing you from the related burdens and costs. This lets you focus more on core activities rather than software development.
• Accessibility: Accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, SaaS applications can be used no matter where you reside.
• Easy integration: Designed for seamless integration with other traditional software systems, SaaS applications help avoid compatibility issues – making adopting new technologies easier and streamlining business processes.
• Inclusive product design: Providers prioritize inclusive product design within the SaaS industry, ensuring their tools are accessible and usable for diverse users.

What are the drawbacks of SaaS software solutions?

While SaaS offers numerous benefits, like any technology, it also comes with its share of challenges. Below are some key drawbacks to consider when opting for SaaS tools in your business operations:

• Dependence on SaaS providers: Any downtime, bugs, or performance issues on the provider’s end can directly impact the availability and reliability of the application. Frequent issues can lead to significant disruptions in service.
• Data security concerns: Storing data in the cloud means that sensitive company information is managed by a third party, which can raise concerns about data security and privacy. You must verify that your SaaS provider complies with high-security standards, such as SOC 2 Type 2.
• Vendor lock-in: Switching from one SaaS provider to another can be complex, restrictive, and costly – leading to vendor lock-in. This makes it difficult to change platforms even if your needs evolve or you’re dissatisfied with the service.
• Limited customization: While SaaS tools generally offer some customization, they can’t match on-premise solutions with respect to customization. This limitation can significantly hinder you if you have unique processes, are in specialized industries, or have complex products.

Different types of SaaS products

Software as a Service (SaaS) encompasses various web-based software products, each designed to streamline specific aspects of business operations.

Below is an exploration of various types of SaaS products and how they can assist businesses in achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness.

• Product growth tools: These tools enhance product engagement, collect user feedback, and provide analytics to drive product improvements. By leveraging product growth tools, you can refine your offerings based on real-time insights and foster growth through informed decision-making.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: CRM systems help you manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. Effective use of CRM systems can enhance customer service, retention, and the sales process.
• Project management software: This type of software aids in planning, organizing, and managing resource tools and developing resource estimates. Comparing the roles of product and project managers can provide deeper insights into how this software fits within broader business operations.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System: ERP systems integrate various functions into one complete system to streamline processes and information across your organization. They are especially useful in enterprise environments.
• Collaboration and communication tools: These tools facilitate effective internal and external communications, ensuring that teams can work efficiently regardless of their physical locations.
• Financial management software: This software is crucial for tracking financial activities, managing budgets, and ensuring financial compliance and reporting.
• Customer service software: Essential for managing customer support and assistance, this software often includes features like ticketing systems and live chat. Incorporating self-service software elements can further enhance customer service’s efficiency and accessibility.
• Marketing automation tool: These tools automate repetitive tasks related to marketing, such as emails, social media, and other website actions. Automation helps scale marketing efforts and measure campaign effectiveness, which is critical for marketing teams focused on growth.

22 SaaS solutions to follow in 2024

Here are 22 SaaS companies that stand out for their innovative features, user-friendly design, and potential to drive significant growth across various industries.

1. Userpilot

Userpilot is a leading product growth tool specifically designed for B2B industries, focusing on enhancing user engagement and streamlining product management processes.

Some of Userpilot features are:

• In-app engagement: Userpilot excels in creating immersive onboarding experiences that educate and communicate with customers directly within the app.

• Product analytics: Userpilot’s comprehensive analytics allows you to track customer behavior through funnel analysis, path analysis, heatmaps, and dashboards – gaining deep insights into user interactions.

• Customer feedback: This feature allows you to trigger in-app surveys, analyze responses, and automate feedback collection, making it easier to gather and act on customer insights.

• Customer support: Userpilot offers an in-app resource center that can integrate with live chatbots, providing real-time support and improving user experience.

• Integrations with leading tools: Userpilot integrates with popular tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk, enabling enhanced functionality and connectivity across different software platforms.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM SaaS company designed for B2B and B2C industries. It offers a wide range of marketing, sales, and service software solutions to help businesses grow efficiently.

Some of Hubspot’s features are:

• Analytics: HubSpot provides robust analytics tools that help businesses track and analyze their marketing, sales, and customer service performance.
• Surveys: With HubSpot, companies can easily create, send, and analyze surveys to gather valuable customer feedback.
• Integrations: HubSpot boasts a vast ecosystem of integrations, including a Userpilot integration, allowing businesses to connect with other tools seamlessly.

3. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is an advanced analytics SaaS company designed for both B2B and B2C industries, focused on tracking user interactions to help businesses optimize their SaaS products and improve user engagement.

Some of Mixpanel’s features are:

• User analytics: Mixpanel offers in-depth user analytics that provides insights into how users interact with your applications.
• Reports: With customizable reports, Mixpanel enables you to visualize data and track trends over time.
• Analytics dashboard: Mixpanel’s analytics dashboard presents a comprehensive data view in an easily digestible format.

4. Slack

Slack is a widely recognized collaboration SaaS company that revolutionized internal communication for B2B and B2C industries, facilitating seamless interaction across teams and departments.

Some of Slack’s features are:

• Channels: Slack provides dedicated spaces for teams to discuss and manage projects, allowing for organized conversations grouped by topic, department, or any other category relevant to your business.
• Direct messaging: Users can send private messages to one another, enabling quick questions and discussions without overcrowding group channels.
• Integration capabilities: Slack integrates with many productivity tools and SaaS apps, enhancing its utility by linking with services like Google Drive, Trello, and Salesforce.

5. Asana

Asana is a project management SaaS company that aids B2B and B2C organizations in efficiently organizing, tracking, and managing their work and projects, enhancing team collaboration and productivity.

Some of Asana’s features are:

• Task management: Asana allows teams to create, assign, and prioritize tasks.
• Progress reports: With Asana, teams can generate detailed progress reports informing all stakeholders about a project’s status.
• Customer experience roadmaps: Asana supports the creation of comprehensive roadmaps.

6. Airtable

Airtable is a versatile SaaS company that combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the power of a database. It’s designed for B2B and B2C industries to organize work, track projects, and manage data dynamically.

Some of Airtable’s features are:

• Customizable views: Airtable offers various views like grid, calendar, kanban, and gallery.
• Rich field types: Users can utilize a wide range of field types, including checkboxes, dropdowns, dates, and links to records in other tables.
• Templates: A rich library provides a quick start for various projects, from content calendars to event planning.

7. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a leading marketing SaaS company specializing in email marketing solutions for both B2B and B2C industries. It helps businesses of all sizes manage their marketing campaigns efficiently.

Some of Mailchimp’s features are:

• Audience segmentation: Users can segment their audience based on behavior, preferences, or demographics to target emails more effectively.
• Automation: Automate email workflows to send triggered emails based on specific actions.
• Analytics and reports: Track the performance of email campaigns with detailed analytics and reports.

8. Shopify

Shopify is a comprehensive e-commerce SaaS company designed for both B2B and B2C industries. It enables businesses to set up online stores and sell products globally easily.

Some of Shopify’s features are:

• Product management: Manage products, inventory, and orders efficiently within the platform.
• Payment processing: Shopify integrates with multiple payment gateways, offering secure and versatile payment options for customers worldwide.
• Landing pages: Utilize Shopify’s tools to create effective landing pages that help convert visitors into customers.

9. Netflix

Netflix is a premier streaming B2C service known for its vast selection of films, television series, and documentaries.

Some of Netflix’s features are:

• Personalized recommendations: Utilizing advanced algorithms, Netflix provides personalized viewing recommendations based on user preferences and viewing history.
• Multiple profiles: Users can create multiple profiles under a single account, allowing different family members to have personalized viewing experiences.
• Offline viewing: Netflix allows users to download content to their devices, enabling offline viewing without internet connectivity.

10. Typeform

Typeform is a versatile tool for creating engaging online forms, surveys, and quizzes. It is a popular choice for both B2B and B2C industries looking to collect information and interact with users.

Some of Typeform’s features are:

• Interactive forms: Typeform’s unique design allows interactive and engaging surveys that improve completion rates and user satisfaction.
• Customization options: Users can customize their forms and surveys to match their brand style and preferences.
• Logic jumps: Typeform supports logic jumps that personalize the questions based on the user’s previous answers.

11. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a cloud SaaS company that excels in customer experience automation. It combines email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM for both B2B and B2C sectors.

Some of ActiveCampaign’s features are:

• Email marketing: ActiveCampaign provides advanced email marketing capabilities, allowing users to send targeted email campaigns that drive engagement and conversions.
• Marketing automation: Streamline your marketing processes and personalize customer interactions with ActiveCampaign’s powerful marketing automation tools.
• Segmentation and personalization: Segment contacts based on behavior and preferences and deliver personalized content that resonates with different audience segments.

12. Appcues

Appcues is a powerful platform designed to help SaaS companies improve user onboarding, adoption, and retention. It serves both B2B and B2C industries with intuitive in-app messaging and guidance.

Some of Appcues’s features are:

• User onboarding: Appcues enhances user onboarding experiences with targeted walkthroughs and onboarding flows for both mobile and web users.
• In-app messaging: Deliver targeted messages and announcements directly within your app to engage users immediately.
• Feature adoption: Drive feature adoption with interactive tooltips and guided tours highlighting new and underused features.

13. Salesforce

Salesforce is a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, providing tools for sales, customer service, marketing, and more to both B2B and B2C markets.

Some of Salesforce’s features are:

• Customization and scalability: Customize and scale your CRM solution to meet the unique demands of your business.
• Integrations: Numerous integrations, including native SaaS apps and third-party solutions like Userpilot, extend Salesforce’s capabilities.
• Analytics and reporting: Utilize powerful analytics and detailed reporting tools to gain insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and marketing effectiveness.

14. Canva

Canva is an intuitive graphic design platform that revolutionizes how individuals and businesses create visual content. It is accessible to B2B and B2C users so that they can craft professional-level designs easily.

Some of Canva’s key features are:

• Template library: Canva offers a vast library of templates ranging from presentations and social media graphics to print materials.
• Drag-and-drop editor: The user-friendly drag-and-drop interface makes it simple for anyone to create stunning graphics and documents.
• Extensive asset library: Access millions of images, fonts, icons, and illustrations to enhance any design project.

15. Zendesk

Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds software designed to improve customer relationships by providing seamless support and sales experiences across multiple channels for both B2B and B2C industries.

Some of Zendesk’s features are:

• Multi-channel support: Zendesk offers support across various channels, including email, phone, chat, and social media.
• Integrations: Enhance your Zendesk capabilities with many integrations that connect seamlessly to other business tools.
• Chatbots and knowledge bases: Utilize Zendesk’s capabilities to implement chatbots for automated responses or develop extensive knowledge bases for customer self-service.

16. QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a comprehensive accounting software solution designed primarily for small to medium-sized businesses. It facilitates streamlined finance management in both B2B and B2C sectors.

Some of QuickBooks’s features are:

• Invoicing: Easily create custom, professional invoices, track them, and manage payments online.
• Expense tracking: Keep a close eye on business expenses by categorizing and tracking them automatically.
• Payroll integration: Integrate payroll seamlessly into your accounting process.

17. Xero

Xero is a cloud-based accounting software tailored for small to medium-sized businesses, streamlining management processes across both B2B and B2C sectors.

Some of Xero’s features are:

• Real-time financial data: Access up-to-date financial information from any device.
• Automated bank feeds: Connect Xero to your bank account for automatic updates and reconciliation, simplifying the management of income and expenses.
• Online invoicing: Manage and track invoices to maintain cash flow with ease.

18. Microsoft

Microsoft is a global technology leader offering a wide array of software products and hardware for both B2B and B2C sectors. Its strong focus is on enterprise solutions.

Some of Microsoft’s features are:

• Enterprise solutions: Microsoft provides comprehensive enterprise solutions, including cloud computing, AI, digital transformation, and more.
• Office productivity suites: Microsoft Office remains the gold standard for productivity software, offering applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Cloud services: With Azure, Microsoft offers scalable services, providing businesses with computing power, database storage, and application services.

19. Oracle ERP

Oracle ERP is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning software that is designed to cater to both B2B and B2C sectors, especially large enterprises seeking robust and integrated management solutions.

Some of Oracle ERP’s features are:

• Fiscal management: Oracle ERP offers advanced financial capabilities that help businesses manage their finances efficiently.
• Supply chain management: Optimize and streamline your operations with tools designed for global supply chain processes.
• Human resources management: Oracle ERP’s human resources module helps you manage your workforce effectively. It includes tools for payroll, benefits, recruitment, and performance management.

20. Intercom

Intercom is a communication platform designed for businesses looking to enhance customer interaction through personalized, messenger-based experiences. It serves both the B2B and B2C sectors.

Some of Intercom’s features are:

• In-app messaging: Deliver targeted, personal messages directly to your app or website users.
• Live chat: Provide real-time support and sales assistance with Intercom’s live chat.
• Surveys: Gather customer feedback efficiently through targeted surveys that can be seamlessly integrated into the user experience.

21. Omnisend

Omnisend is an e-commerce marketing platform that specializes in automating marketing across multiple channels. It is tailored specifically for B2C industries looking to enhance their marketing efforts.

Some of Omnisend’s features are:

• Email marketing: Omnisend enables businesses to send personalized and targeted email campaigns.
• Automation: Streamline your marketing processes with powerful automation that allows you to set up triggered emails, segment your audience, and send timely communications.
• Multi-channel messaging: Reach your customers via SMS, email, push notifications, and more, all from one platform.

22. Brevo

Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is an email marketing and CRM suite designed for businesses of different sizes and customer bases.

Top features of Brevo:

• Email marketing: Brevo allows users to create and send professional-looking emails to their subscribers. It offers customizable templates, drag-and-drop editors, and A/B testing to streamline the process.
• Marketing automation: Brevo’s marketing automation tools help businesses create automated workflows based on customer behavior – allowing for targeted and personalized communication with customers.
• SMS marketing: With Brevo, businesses can send targeted SMS messages to their customers. This feature is useful for sending promotions, reminders, and other important messages directly to customers’ phones.

Conclusion

SaaS products are great for your business as they can streamline and automate many everyday tasks. And now you have 22 more that you might not have known before that can help you in your business process.

If you want to know more about Userpilot and how it can help your own SaaS product with collecting customer feedback, providing detailed analytics, and creating an onboarding experience, book a demo now!

Try Userpilot and Take Your Product Success to the Next Level

Get a Demo

• 14 Day Trial
• No Credit Card Required

The post What Are SaaS Products + 22 Successful SaaS Companies to Follow appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Have you used the Sanity content management system before?
Sanity is a powerful content management system (CMS) that allows developers to easily manage and organize content for their applications. In this article, we’ll explore how to integrate Sanity with an Expo app, enabling you to fetch existing data from Sanity.

Expo is an open-source framework and platform for building universal React applications, with a focus on mobile development. It allows developers to create high-quality iOS and Android apps using JavaScript and React Native

Let’s create a project that fetches data from Sanity in an Expo app. We’ll start by setting up a new Sanity project, defining schemas, deploying it, and then creating an Expo app to fetch and display the data.

Setting up Sanity:

Installing Sanity CLI:

Open your terminal or command prompt.

Run the following command to install the Sanity CLI globally:
npm install -g @sanity/cli
Initialize a new Sanity project:
Run the following command to initialize a new Sanity project:
sanity init
Follow the prompts to create a new project. You can choose the default options for most settings.

Define schemas:
In your Sanity project directory, navigate to the schemas directory.
Create a new file named post.js.
Define the schema for a blog post inside post.js:

// schemas/post.js

export default {
    name: 'post',
    title: 'Post',
    type: 'document',
    fields: [
      {
        name: 'title',
        title: 'Title',
        type: 'string',
      },
      {
        name: 'body',
        title: 'Body',
        type: 'text',
      },
    ],
  };

Deploy the Sanity project:
Once you’ve defined your schemas, deploy your Sanity project to make the schemas and data accessible via an API:
Follow the prompts to deploy your project.

sanity deploy
The above command is to be run inside the sanity folder that resulted from initializing sanity above with sanity init

Creating the Expo app

Initialize a new Expo app

In a separate directory, create a new Expo app:

expo init sanityExpoApp
Choose the blank template when prompted.

Install required packages:

Navigate into the newly created Expo app directory:
cd sanityExpoApp
Install the necessary packages for fetching data from Sanity:
npm install @sanity/client
Set up Sanity client:
Create a new file named sanityClient.js in the root of your Expo project directory.
Configure a Sanity client inside sanityClient.js:

// sanityClient.js

import sanityClient from '@sanity/client';

const client = sanityClient({
  projectId: 'your-project-id',
  dataset: 'your-dataset-name',
  useCdn: true, // Enable the Content Delivery Network (CDN) for faster responses
});

export default client;

Replace ‘your-project-id’ and ‘your-dataset-name’ with your actual Sanity project ID and dataset name.

Fetch data in the Expo app:
Open the App.js file in your Expo project directory.
Replace the existing code with the following code:

// App.js

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { View, Text } from 'react-native';
import client from './sanityClient';

const App = () => {
  const [posts, setPosts] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const fetchData = async () => {
      try {
        const result = await client.fetch('*[_type == "post"]');
        setPosts(result);
      } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error fetching data:', error);
      }
    };

    fetchData();
  }, []);

  return (
    
      Posts:
      {posts.map((post, index) => (
        
          {post.title}
          {post.body}
        
      ))}
    
  );
};

export default App;

Run the Expo app:
Run your Expo app using the following command:
expo start

The post Fetch data from Sanity content management system in an Expo app appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Miracle shares valuable insights on establishing your brand’s online identity and dominating the SERPs in this informative Whiteboard Friday.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hi, everyone, my name is Miracle Inameti-Archibong. I’m the head of SEO at John Lewis Finance. Welcome to “Whiteboard Friday.” Today I am going to be speaking to you about how to create your brand SEO strategy.

Why do you need a brand SEO strategy?

Now, why are we talking about brand SEO strategy? I mean, it’s 2023. Traditionally, SEOs have always been after generic keywords, and that’s not a bad strategy. I mean, that’s where the search volume is, isn’t it? However, if we’re all competing in the same crowded space, then it gets really tricky to gain visibility. We’ve all seen the SERP evolutions. I mean, since 2000, there’s been 233 major algorithm updates and it feels like Google and all search engines are constantly chasing the goalpost. And rather than running after them, why not get your customers to come directly to you? Now, I’m not saying don’t go after the generic space. Please do, but we need to diversify our audience. In case there’s an algorithm update, in case something changes, we have something to fall back on. Now, except you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of AI. And we’ve all seen how search engines are integrating AI into the SERPs.

And that means that visibility is going to get harder and harder, because with personalization, the data’s gonna get brought back, and it’s only the top brands that will most likely be included in that SERP. So we want to make sure that people are searching for us and they’re coming directly to our content. Another thing is the increase in competition. Have you ever done a search? I mean, I did a search for hope, like a poem about hope, and I got over four million results. And all of the page titles look very, very similar. And it became really, really difficult for me to distinguish between which one I wanted. And so at the end of the day, I just went for a brand, a newspaper brand that I knew. And that brand identification helped me to identify what I wanted to see. And that’s why we’re talking about brand SEO because we want to make sure that your brand stands out in the SERP and people can come to you.

How to start creating a brand SEO strategy

Now, how do we start with this strategy?

Become an entity

The first thing is to make sure that your brand is a recognized entity. Google your brand. Does it trigger a knowledge panel? How do you get your brand to trigger a knowledge panel? How do you get Google to understand that that name is a brand, this is the product we sell, and this is who we target? First things first is to make sure that you are using a consistent naming convention. Across all your brand assets, your social medias, your platforms, make sure. The amount of times I’ve seen websites migrate or change their name, and although instead of like changing the name of their social media platform, they just abandon that one or close it down and create a new platform or a new entity. What you need to do is to make sure that you’re being consistent across, you’re taking ownership of any old assets you want, and you’re pointing it in the right direction. Do you have a Wikipedia page?

I know they’re notoriously hard to get, but Google takes at least 70% of its content for the knowledge panel from there, so you want to make sure that you have one.

Establish relationships between entities

The next thing to do is to establish relationships between all of these identities. Now, when you search for, say, dresses, ’cause I’ve got a lovely dress on, when you search for dresses, what makes Google recommend, and maybe I search for Zara dresses, what makes Google recommend Forever 21 or H&M? What makes Google understand that all of these brands have a similar profile? So what you want to do is establish those links. There is a tool called TextRazor where you can take some of your content, put it in, and Google shows you some of the links and the associations that it’s making with that content.

So what you need to do is think about where you’re building links, where you’re getting citations, and make sure that you are targeting similar brands with competition that you want.

Utilize schema markup

Another thing to do is give a markup. Now, Google can crawl the web, they can understand content, but what you want to make sure you’re making your content super clear. You want to make sure you’re tagging up your organization schemas, your product, whatever you’re doing that just makes it easier for search engines to understand what your content is about.

Engage with your local audience

Again, if your content is local, make sure that you’re engaging with your local audience. Now, this is not just about starting off your GMB profile and feeling like, “No, I’m done.” This is about creating an engagement strategy.

So responding to reviews, creating a review collection strategy, making sure that you’re engaging with your audience so much that they want to like post about you, they want to take pictures and share with search engines. Because at this point, search engines value more what your consumers are saying about you than what you’re saying about yourself. So you want to make sure that you’re using all of the features, the post features, the promotion features, you’re keeping everything up-to-date, you’re answering questions, and you’re really engaging with that audience.

Dominate your brand’s SERP

Again, are you dominating your brand’s SERP?

Now, I did a search. Traditionally, everyone just thinks that if your brand name is in that search, in the keyword when someone searches, you will rank position one. But that’s wrong, as more brands are ignoring their brands and chasing after generic keywords. So I did a search for how to book a flight on Expedia. And surprise, surprise, Expedia, even though it’s a big brand, was not in position one.

Now, the site that was in position one is called Techboomer. They had a full article step-by-step guide, screenshots from Expedia’s website on how to book a flight. They also had a video as well to accompany that, and that was what was in position one and two. Now, I went to Expedia’s website and I tried to look for this content. I couldn’t find it. And to make matters worse, Expedia is bidding on that keyword. So they are paying for their own brand traffic when they could have just been targeting it right by content, using content.

Create a plan to maintain a positive brand reputation

Again, we talked about reviews when you’re part of local search. You want to make sure that you’re doing the same, even though you’re not in the local space. Where are people engaging with your content? What forms are people having chats about your brand, your products, whether you’re doing well? You want to make sure that you’re on there, you’re getting all of that feedback, and you’re targeting them with content that makes it easier for them to understand your product.

You want to make sure that if you’re on Trustpilot or whatever review tool you’re using, that you’re actively seeking to collect reviews and you’re responding as quickly as possible.

Build a top-of-funnel content strategy

Again, you want to build a top-of-the-funnel content strategy. Now, a lot of SEOs shy away from this because it’s really hard to measure, but if you’re really intentional on the purpose of this and you work with the right channel, so this is not just an SEO strategy. You have to work with brand, social media, the product team to bring this into life. And the key to this is establishing your brand’s online identity.

Now, you want to give your brand, you want to position your brand so that it has a distinctive, unique identity. For instance, what makes someone an Apple? What makes someone an Android? And those two users, “Well, I can never use the other product.” And that’s what you’re trying to do. Establish who your brand is for and who you’re targeting with your top-of-the-funnel content strategy. There’s something called social identity theory, which states that if you can do this for your brand, people get like a boost of self-confidence when they associate with a brand because they feel like that brand understands them. And they became your marketers. They recommend your brand to other people. They advocate for your brand in the world. And that’s what you want to do with your brand SEO strategy.

Now, I’ll finish on this note. If we are all targeting the same keywords, we are competing in a very, very crowded space. Your brand’s online identity is your beacon. So make them come to you.

Thank you.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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