Get Ahead: Top 5 Essential APIs for Success

 
You might run a tech startup, but that doesn’t mean you must develop all your code in-house. In this roundup, we will prove to you why virtually every tech startup should be aware of Geo APIs, Messaging APIs, Web Tools APIs, Currency Data API, and Weather API. These APIs can introduce incredible business efficiencies to your startup automation processes that you may never have even considered before. You might know a car mechanic, but that doesn’t mean they manufacture and build nuts and bolts to make cars work. Bakers don’t usually go and mill the flour themselves. Why do some tech startup owners feel they should create every part of their SAAS (Software As A Service) offering when they could potentially encounter bugs and delay the launch of their service by several months? It is still possible to offer your customers a unique and original SAAS offering while integrating some external components and software services to get you started. APIs are beneficial for tech startups compared to creating code in-house because APIs allow you and your developers to immediately focus on the core competencies of your service offering rather than making every bit of code in-house.

1. APIs allow startups to focus on their core competencies rather than creating code in-house.
2. APIs are less expensive than creating code in-house. 
3. APIs are faster to develop than creating code in-house. 
4. APIs are easier to maintain than creating code in-house. 
5. APIs are more reliable than creating code in-house. 
6. APIs are more scalable than creating code in-house. 
7. APIs are more flexible than creating code in-house. 
8. APIs are more portable than creating code in-house. 
9. APIs are easier to integrate than creating code in-house. 
10. APIs are easier to share than creating code in-house. 

 
Even though it could be argued that writing all of the code in-house is the safest option in the long run, what you need to get your business up and running is dependable partners who can provide your tech startup with secure APIs and affordable and reliable service.
Are you not convinced? Check out these five service offerings from APILayer and see if they will help your tech startup get ahead while your developers focus on other core parts of your business.
 

APIs to power your tech startup 

Please don’t stop reading until you have checked out Zenserp and Zenscrape in our Web Tools APIs. If data and information power your startup tech, you’d be crazy not to check these out. Also, read to the end to realize how virtually every business can use a Weather API in some capacity.

• Geo APIs
• Messaging APIs 
• Web Tools APIs (Zenserp & Zenscrape)
• Currency Data API
• Weather API

Geo APIs

IPstack is a service that allows you to look up the location of an IP address. This can be useful for finding out a user’s geographical location or determining a server’s location.
Business use cases for IPstack would include, but not be limited to:

• To find a website visitor’s location: This can be used to customize the user experience on a website or target ads. 
• To find the location of a mobile app user: This can be used to customize the user experience on a mobile app or target ads. 
• To find the location of a server: This can be used to determine the best location for a server or to troubleshoot server issues.
• To find the location of an internet-connected device: This can be used to troubleshoot connectivity issues or to find the closest server to a device.
• To find the location of an email sender: This can be used to determine the originating location of an email or to prevent email fraud.

Messaging APIs

Email Verification API

The benefits of having a proper email verification API in place are many and varied. Perhaps most importantly, it ensures that your emails are actually reaching their intended recipients. This, in turn, helps to improve your overall deliverability rate. Additionally, it can help prevent mistyped email addresses from causing problems for users trying to confirm their accounts or reset their passwords. Ultimately, a good email validation API lets you stay in touch with your users more effectively and helps to ensure that your communications are as effective as possible.
 

Disposable Email Detection API

Are you thinking of creating a Software As A Service website? How many of your users are creating multiple accounts on it to access free limits? Are you wondering why your marketing emails aren’t converting to sales? Perhaps your user base isn’t as large as you think it is. Maybe you just have a few users with multiple disposable email addresses. As a serious business, you need to make sure that none of your users are using a disposable email address so that you can reach them. A disposable or a fake email looks like a real email address. It’s a throwaway address that only gets used once or twice and then never again. So no one will read the marketing emails you send to that address.
The Disposable Email Detection API is a fast and easy way to find out if an email address is disposable or not. It is updated every day and has the latest database. So instead of making your own service and trying to keep it up to date, just give ours a try.
Finally, by combining the Disposable Email Detection API with a Geolocation API such as IPstack, you will be able to restrict access to your SAAS website to unwanted user behaviors.
 

Web Tools APIs

Zenserp

Is your business reliant on up-to-date information and data? 
Imagine being able to automate your business data extraction processes by reading search results from Google Search, Trend Search, YouTube Search, Google Shopping Product Page, Google Image Reverse Search, Bing Search, Yandex Search, and DuckDuckGo Search. This is precisely what Zenserp API can provide for your business.  Integrate Zenserp API calls into your software scripts and pull well-defined data results from the top search engines.
 

Zenscrape

Take data extraction to another level
So now you know about Zenserp, consider Zenscrape, which can help you take your data extraction processes to an entirely new level.  If accessing the data from the mainstream search engine results isn’t enough for you, what about extracting data directly from websites without any special programming or hacking skills? Sounds too good to be true? Not sure if a website can be scraped? Try the URL you want to scrape in our demo landing page and find out. https://zenscrape.com/
There are many other reasons why you should use the advanced functionalities of Zenscrape.
Zenscrape allows you to specify your proxy location to display geo targeted content. This means that if a website returns different results depending on which country you access it from, you can scrape the data from that website as if you were accessing it from another country (e.g., if you are automating pricing extraction of updated prices and suspect that users from a different country are receiving lower price offers, you can build zenscrape API calls to monitor this in real-time).
Get your developers to check out the benefits of the huge IP pool, automatic proxy rotation, and high concurrency that Zenscrape offers in a simple-to-program API.
 

Currency Data APIs

Ten reasons why your startup would want to use a Currency Data API:

1. To track changes in currency exchange rates in real-time and make decisions accordingly 
2. To convert prices of goods and services for customers from different countries 
3. To send or receive payments in foreign currencies 
4. To calculate import/export duties and other taxes 
5. To invest in foreign currency markets 
6. To hedge against currency risk 
7. To price goods and services in multiple currencies 
8. To track competitor prices in foreign markets 
9. To evaluate international investment opportunities 
10. To monitor trends in global currency markets

 
The Currency Data API from APILayer is a simple REST API that provides real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 world currencies, delivering currency pairs in a universally usable JSON format that is compatible with any of your applications.

Weather APIs

Whether you are a tech startup or an ice cream seller, almost every business can benefit from weather analytics.
There are many reasons why data intelligence extracted from a Weather API could give your startup business the edge. Maybe you are a Software As A Service developer creating a data analytics program to help ice cream sellers boost their business.We will look at ten reasons below how a Weather API can give you the insights you need:

1. You can optimize your marketing campaigns – Weather data can optimize your marketing campaigns and target your audience more effectively. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could target your ads toward people who are likely looking for a cooling treat.

2. You can improve your customer service  – You can use weather data to improve your customer service. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could ensure that your staff is prepared with extra water and cool towels.
3. You can adjust your inventory – You can use weather data to adjust your inventory. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could ensure that you have enough ice cream in stock.

4. You can plan your events – You can use weather data to plan your events. For example, if you know it will be a hot day, you could plan an outdoor event.

5. You can choose the right location – You can use weather data to choose the right location for your business. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could choose a location near a body of water.

6. You can save money – You can use weather data to save money. For example, if you know that it will be a cool day, you could turn off the air conditioning in your office.

7. You can improve your product – You can use weather data to improve your product. For example, if you know it will be a hot day, you could make sure that your ice cream is extra creamy.

9. You can track trends – You can use weather data to track trends. For example, if you know it will be a hot day, you could track how many people are buying ice cream.
10. You can predict demand – You can use weather data to predict demand. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could predict that people will buy more ice cream.
11. You can make better decisions – You can use weather data to make better decisions. For example, if you know that it will be a hot day, you could decide to open your ice cream shop earlier.

 
Not convinced a weather API is relevant to your business? Here are some other possible user cases for tech businesses that should be using Weather APIs to optimize their service.

• Online retailers that offer same-day or next-day shipping
• Delivery companies that need to optimize their routes
• Startups that offer on-demand or short-term weather-related services
• Agricultural startups that need to track weather conditions for their crops
• Weather-based analytics startups
• Mobile app developers that want to add weather features to their apps
• Travel startups that need to track weather conditions at destinations
• Sports startups that need to track weather conditions for outdoor events
• Home improvement startups that need to track weather conditions for home maintenance and repairs
• Event planning startups that need to track weather conditions for outdoor events