Unveiling The Top Software Engineering Trends of 2023
Introduction:
Welcome to the exciting realm of software engineering, where innovation and transformation are constant companions. As we step into 2023, it’s time to take a closer look at the top software engineering trends that are reshaping the industry and driving us toward a future filled with limitless possibilities. In this article, we will unveil the key trends that software engineers need to be aware of to stay ahead of the curve and thrive in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML):
Companies across industries are leveraging AI and ML to optimize performance and make data-driven decisions. For instance, in the e-commerce sector, companies like XYZ Retail have implemented AI-powered recommendation systems that analyze customer behavior and purchase history to deliver personalized product suggestions. This has resulted in a significant increase in conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
In the healthcare industry, hospitals such as ABC Medical Center are utilizing AI/ML algorithms to analyze medical records, diagnostic images, and patient data. These algorithms can assist doctors in diagnosing diseases, identifying treatment options, and predicting patient outcomes with a higher degree of accuracy. This not only improves patient care but also enhances operational efficiency and reduces healthcare costs.
- Cloud Computing and Serverless Architecture:
Cloud computing has revolutionized how companies manage their infrastructure and deliver services. For example, DEF Corporation, a financial services provider, has migrated its data and applications to the cloud. By doing so, they have achieved improved scalability, allowing them to handle peak loads during busy periods while only paying for the resources they use. This has resulted in cost savings and enhanced user experiences, as customers now have faster and more reliable access to financial services.
Additionally, the adoption of serverless architecture has empowered companies like GHI Software Solutions to focus on building applications without the burden of server management. By leveraging serverless platforms such as AWS Lambda, GHI can develop and deploy microservices quickly, resulting in faster time-to-market and reduced operational overhead.
- Internet of Things (IoT):
The IoT revolution is reshaping industries by connecting devices and enabling data exchange. In the manufacturing sector, JKL Manufacturing has implemented IoT sensors and analytics to monitor equipment performance, predict maintenance needs, and optimize production processes. By collecting real-time data from machines and applying predictive algorithms, JKL has significantly reduced downtime, increased operational efficiency, and improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
In the smart home market, MNO Home Automation has leveraged IoT devices to enhance user experiences. By connecting appliances, lighting systems, and security devices, homeowners can remotely control and automate their homes for convenience, energy efficiency, and improved security. This has resulted in increased customer satisfaction and reduced energy consumption.
- DevOps and Continuous Delivery:
DevOps practices, coupled with continuous delivery, enable companies to accelerate software development cycles, improve collaboration, and enhance product quality. For example, PQR Software Development Agency has adopted a DevOps culture, implementing automated build and deployment processes. This has reduced the time taken to release new features and fixes, resulting in faster time-to-market and improved customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, XYZ Online Retailer has embraced continuous delivery, allowing them to frequently update their e-commerce platform with new features and improvements. By leveraging automated testing and deployment pipelines, they have achieved higher software quality, reduced the risk of deployment failures, and gained a competitive edge in the market.
Conclusion:
The rapid advancements in software engineering trends are empowering companies to optimize performance, enhance user experiences, and drive business growth. By embracing these trends, companies can unlock new opportunities and gain a competitive edge in their respective industries.
While the examples provided above are hypothetical, they illustrate how companies can leverage these trends to their advantage. Real-world statistics and case studies further demonstrate the impact of these trends:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML):
- According to a survey by Deloitte, 63% of businesses have increased their investment in AI and ML technologies to improve efficiency and customer experiences.
- Salesforce reported that companies using AI-powered customer service solutions have experienced a 45% increase in customer satisfaction rates.
- Healthcare organizations that have implemented AI-driven diagnostics have seen a reduction in diagnostic errors by up to 50%, as stated by the American Medical Association.
- Cloud Computing and Serverless Architecture:
- The global public cloud services market is projected to grow by 23.1% in 2023, reaching a value of $623.3 billion, according to Gartner.
- A study by IBM found that companies adopting cloud computing witnessed a 2.5 times improvement in IT staff productivity and a 2.1 times increase in application deployment speed.
- Serverless computing can lead to cost savings of up to 70% compared to traditional server-based architectures, as reported by a study conducted by O’Reilly Media.
- Internet of Things (IoT):
- Statista predicts that the number of connected IoT devices will reach 75.44 billion worldwide by 2025.
- A study by McKinsey & Company estimates that IoT applications could have an economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion per year by 2025 across various sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, and retail.
- The adoption of IoT solutions has led to a 25% reduction in maintenance costs and a 35% increase in equipment uptime for industrial companies, as per a report by Accenture.
- DevOps and Continuous Delivery:
- The State of DevOps Report by Puppet found that high-performing organizations utilizing DevOps practices deploy code 46 times more frequently and have a change failure rate that is seven times lower than their peers.
- A survey conducted by DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) revealed that organizations with strong DevOps practices experience 50% higher market capitalization growth compared to their competitors.
- Companies implementing continuous delivery practices achieve 200 times more frequent deployments and significantly shorter lead times, as stated in the Accelerate State of DevOps Report.
By embracing these trends, companies can drive innovation, improve operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional user experiences. Software engineers who stay ahead of these trends and possess the necessary skills will find themselves in high demand, as they contribute to reshaping industries and paving the way for a technologically advanced future.
#SoftwareEngineeringTrends #AIandML #CloudComputing #IoT #DevOps #BusinessGrowth #Innovation
How to use tiktok to build your youtube followers
TikTok has exploded in popularity over the past few years, with over 2 billion downloads worldwide as of 2021. As a result, many creators have started using the platform as a way to promote their YouTube channel and build their follower base. In this article, we’ll go over some strategies you can use to leverage TikTok to grow your YouTube following.
- Cross-promote your channels: The first step to using TikTok to build your YouTube following is to make sure that you’re promoting your YouTube channel on TikTok. This can be as simple as including a link to your YouTube channel in your TikTok bio, or adding a call to action in your TikTok videos asking viewers to check out your YouTube content.
- Collaborate with TikTok creators: Collaborating with other TikTok creators is a great way to expose your YouTube channel to a new audience. Partner with creators who have a similar target audience to yours, and consider cross-promoting each other’s channels in your videos.
- Utilize relevant hashtags: Hashtags are a powerful tool on TikTok, and using relevant hashtags in your TikTok videos can help you get discovered by users who are interested in your content. Consider using hashtags that are related to your YouTube niche, or that are commonly used by other YouTube creators in your space.
- Use TikTok’s “For You” page: The “For You” page on TikTok shows a feed of recommended videos based on your interests, and it can be a great way to get discovered by new users. By creating high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience, you can increase the chances that your TikTok videos will be shown on the “For You” page.
- Engage with your TikTok audience: Building a community of loyal followers on TikTok is key to growing your YouTube following. Make an effort to engage with your TikTok followers by responding to comments, liking and commenting on their posts, and running giveaways or Q&A sessions.
- Utilize TikTok’s features: TikTok has a number of features that you can use to promote your YouTube channel and grow your following. For example, you can use the “Discover” tab to browse videos by category, or use the “Hashtag Challenge” feature to create a challenge related to your YouTube channel and invite other users to participate.
- Post consistently: Consistently posting new TikTok videos can help you build a loyal following on the platform. Consider setting a schedule for yourself so that you can consistently post new content for your followers.
By following these strategies, you can effectively use TikTok to build your YouTube following and grow your channel. Just remember to focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, and to engage with your TikTok followers to build a strong community.
How to use tiktok with 7 Best Strategies to grow ticktok account
To use TikTok, you will need to download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store on your mobile device. Once the app is installed, you can follow these steps to get started:
- Create an account: You can create an account using your phone number, email, or by connecting to your Facebook or Google account.
- Customize your profile: Edit your profile by adding a profile picture, bio, and links to your other social media accounts.
- Explore the app: TikTok has a number of features that you can explore, including the “For You” page, which shows a feed of recommended videos based on your interests, and the “Discover” tab, which allows you to browse videos by category. You can also search for specific users or hashtags using the search bar.
- Follow other users: You can find users to follow by browsing the app or by searching for specific users or hashtags. When you follow a user, their content will appear in your feed.
- Post your own content: To post your own content, tap the plus sign icon at the bottom of the screen. You can then choose to record a video, upload a video from your camera roll, or create a text or image post.
- Edit your videos: TikTok has a number of tools and effects that you can use to edit your videos, including filters, music, and text overlays.
- Interact with other users: You can interact with other users by liking and commenting on their posts, sharing their content with your followers, and participating in challenges and trends.
There are a few strategies you can use to grow your TikTok account:
- Create engaging content: To attract more followers, you need to post content that is interesting, entertaining, or informative. Experiment with different types of content, such as lip syncing, dancing, comedy sketches, tutorials, or vlogs, to see what resonates with your audience.
- Use relevant hashtags: Hashtags help your content get discovered by users who are searching for specific topics. Use relevant hashtags in your captions and in the comments of your posts to increase the chances that your content will be seen by a wider audience.
- Collaborate with other creators: Partnering with other creators can help expose your content to their followers and vice versa. Collaborating with creators who have a similar audience to yours can be especially effective.
- Engage with your audience: Building a community of loyal followers requires more than just posting content. Make an effort to engage with your followers by responding to comments, liking and commenting on their posts, and running giveaways or Q&A sessions.
- Utilize TikTok’s features: TikTok has a number of built-in features that can help you grow your account, such as the “For You” page and the “Discover” tab. By using these features, you can expose your content to a wider audience and potentially gain more followers.
- Be consistent: Posting new content regularly can help you build a loyal following. Consider setting a schedule for yourself so that you can consistently post new content for your followers.
- Utilize cross-promotion: Promote your TikTok account on your other social media platforms and vice versa to help grow your audience on each platform.
How Do SEO Work?
SEO Step 1: What is SEO?
Imagine that a search engine (Google) assigns 100 points to each website. If the website has five pages, each page gets 20 points. If it has 100 pages, each page gets one point.
When someone searches for a “keyword,” the search engine finds all the pages that match those keywords and sorts all the hits by score. The top ten pages are displayed on the first page.
The search engine then tracks a lot of other numbers – how many people clicked on which results, how much time they spent on that site, how many pages they viewed, how many – and what kind of – other sites link to that page, the type of content on the page, etc. The search engine is constantly adjusting the rating of each page.
Now think about these questions…
- Q1: What would happen to your 100 points if your site has five very good pages, but twenty pages without much value. How would a low average score per page affect the good pages?
- Q2: What would happen if ten pages on your site targeted the same search term. How could the search engine pick a page with so much competition from your own site?
- Q3: What if many of the pages on your site were duplicates – pages that link to the same content in one way or another – such as a blog post that contains the same excerpt and link in archives by tags or authors?
You get the point, right?
The quality of each page is more important than the quantity. Shallow content, duplication, broken pages and internal fights (for a single keyword) are not good.
“SEO is not a one-time project. It’s an ongoing process that delivers more the longer you do it.”
_ Sam Underwood
Just to be clear – search engines do not really start with a 100-point checkout for each site – but this line of thinking helps us improve a site quickly. So let us start with that.
The first step to improving your website’s search engine optimization is to properly assess the current situation.
There are many tools – most of them paid – that can check your website and give you suggestions. I want to share with you a simple method that you can use to find out what is working on your website and what is not.
Here is what I want you to do right now.
- Open Google Analytics and go to “Behavior – Website Content – All Pages.” You will see your top pages and their page views, etc.
- Change the date range to the last six months – or a year if you like. The list will update as a result.
- Scroll to the bottom of the grid where you will see the total number of pages. Change the number of “Show rows” so that it is greater than the total number of pages you have. This will load all the pages on your site into one long list.
- Observe the list. What do you see? What do you learn? Which pages are working? How long do visitors stay on a page?
- Now scroll up and find the “Export” option – just above the date selector. Export the results to an Excel file or a Google Sheet, depending on your preference.
- add a new column after the URL – call it “Action”.
- Go through your list of pages and decide if you want to keep, delete or improve each item. You can also choose to “redirect” to another page if it is a duplicate. Indicate your decision in the “Action” column.
- Make sure you save this file! We will continue to work with it!
Once you have edited the list, you will have a list of low traffic / non-functioning pages that you want to delete or improve. And a list of pages that are working that you want to keep as they are. Or maybe they work, but you see room for improvement, so you marked them “Improve”.
You can also go to Acquisition – Search Console – Landing Pages in Google Analytics and find a list of pages that show up in search results. You may not see all of the pages on your site here – and this can also give you a clue as to which pages are on the site but not showing up in search results!
Take the time to check this list over and over again. It is a treasure trove of insights!
Next time we will talk about your sitemap.
Advert checklist to consider before advertising with Bandsng
Here is short checklist to take into consideration before you starting advertising with Bandsng.
1. Website/Facebook page
You need to have a website that is responsive in order to advertise with us for link click. If you do have a website, which is not responsive or slow, we highly recommend to upgrade it or create a new one. Check on our web design team to work on your website or page.
You think you need a website?
You can create a website in a few clicks with our web design and development team. When you have your beautiful website set up, you can come back and start getting new customers with advertising.
2. Advertising Budget
You need an advert budget just like any other type of advertising, yes, online ads comes with a cost. See this as part of your investment. You will have to pay Facebook and Instagram to appear in front of their audience who suite your product or clientele. In the same vain, Google & Microsoft will take money for your product or services to appear on top of their search results.
This means that minus our cost for service rendered, a part of your budget goes for advertising.
You need to be prepared to unlock a monthly advertising (marketing) budget to start growing.
3. Right Expectations
When advertising online, you might get direct expected results for your business, but its not always the same for every products and businesses. for a majority it will take some time to grow.
To get the best out of your ads our team will have to continually optimize your ads. We keep improving your ads and audiences over time. The thing is, your ads gets better and perform better every day.
We do not promise you overnight success & hundreds of new buying or active customers after a few days. Some customers, clients and buyers need time to consider purchases or calling. Some will come back after a few week. Some others will bookmark your website and call you after a few days, just like that.
For these aforementioned reasons, we recommend our users to try running their marketing campaign for at least 3 consecutive months to see the full potential of online advertising with Bandsng.
Apple’s changes may negate significantly on marketing efforts
At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), held in June, Apple announced product and policy changes which in effect limits data sharing across iOS. How does that actually affect your business? In April 2017, 728 million iPhones were in use worldwide. I’m sure that data gives you a glimpse. The limits it places on advertising will harm the growth of small businesses and the free Internet.
According to Facebook, “free, ad-supported businesses have been essential to the growth and vitality of the Internet, and that personalised ads and user privacy can coexist. We support proactive privacy measures and data transparency, but we don’t agree with Apple’s policy changes”.
Impact on personalised ads
Apple’s proposed changes will limit your ability to effectively reach, understand and engage people on mobile devices and across the web. They will affect your ability to understand performance, control who sees your ads and make informed decisions about your advertising budgets. As these changes take effect, over time, you may see an overall decrease in ad performance and personalisation and an increase in cost per action.
Specifically, these changes will limit your ability to:
- Effectively deliver ads to people based on their engagement with your business
- Measure and report on conversions from certain customers
- Ensure that your ads are delivered to the most relevant audiences at the right frequency
- Accurately attribute app installs to people using iOS 14 and later
- Predict and optimise cost per action over time and efficiently allocate budgets
Apple’s policy will make it much harder for small businesses to reach their target audience, which will limit their growth and their ability to compete with big companies. Case in point, our studies show that when running ads on the Facebook family of apps to drive sales on their websites, small businesses saw a cut of over 60% of their sales, on average, for every dollar they spent when they weren’t able to use their own data to find customers on Facebook1. For example, currently, a local book shop could spend GBP 50 on a relevant and personalised ad and may win five sales. Without the use of their own data to personalise an ad, that business would spend GBP 50 and may only win two sales. We don’t anticipate the proposed iOS 14 changes to cause a full loss of personalisation, but rather are a move in that direction.
Without the predictable costs and personalised ads you’re accustomed to creating and running, many new products and services would never get off the ground. We believe in the opportunity for new ad-supported businesses to start and grow, but we do not agree with Apple’s attempt to disrupt the online ad ecosystem and the small business opportunities it makes possible and sustains.
Our response
We disagree with Apple’s approach and solution, yet we have no choice but to show Apple’s prompt. If we don’t, they will block Facebook from the App Store, which would only further harm the businesses and users that rely on our services. We cannot take this risk on behalf of the millions of businesses who use our platform to grow.
Our commitment to you
Our priority is to continue providing stability to small businesses and advertisers. We are doing what we can to help you prepare and mitigate the impact from Apple’s policy and changing guidance. We’ve provided more detailed guidance for our clients here.
We will continue to support your business through these changes, and will do our best to introduce new ad features and measurement solutions to offer the best ad performance and measurement we can despite the limitations announced by Apple. We will provide additional updates as Apple chooses to provide more transparency and makes more information available.
We encourage you to share this information within your organisation and develop a plan to address this disruption to your existing marketing efforts.
Is Search Engine Submission Necessary?
The simple answer is no – search engine submission isn’t necessary. The majority of search engines nowadays (most notably Google) crawl and index pages by following links. Using that logic, a single inbound link from any already-indexed page will identify your page to the engine. Subsequently, if that page links to other pages within your site, they will also be indexed… and so on.
For this reason, inbound linking is very important. In fact, acquiring back-links may be the most important of SEO. In theory though, a website owner shouldn’t have to ’scout’ or ‘hunt’ for links. If the presented content is of interest, useful, and/or important, there is a natural tendency among web users to link to information. This is the basis for the Google PageRank algorithm.
With all due respect, submitting your site to the search engines can’t hurt. Plus, it only entails about 5 minutes of added work assuming you only submit to the big guys. And once is enough… you don’t need to submit your site more than once. It doesn’t help or get your site crawled any quicker or more often.
It should be noted that submitting your site to Google, Yahoo, MSN, and many others doesn’t cost a fee. Many SEO companies assert that you need to pay to be indexed. This isn’t the case and I would stay away from these companies. They are money hungry and aren’t looking out for your best interest.
Would you ever consider going on a vacation across the country without bringing a map? It is hard enough to find your way in some places with a map. How hard would it be if you tried this adventure without one? Yet, this is exactly what people do every single day in the online world. They tried to build their own businesses online without having a roadmap to success. Then, after months or years of just wandering around online, they give up in frustration and quit. They walk away saying that the Internet doesn’t work for them. The reason it didn’t work is that they didn’t pick up a map and follow it!
You don’t have to end up lost in the online shuffle. Below I will give you ten steps to help you map out your course and get you started in the right direction. It isn’t everything that you need to know by any stretch of the imagination, but it will give you a basic foundation to build upon.
Consider it your beginner’s map to Internet marketing profits.
1. Choose a targeted market
The biggest mistake most people make when starting a business is that they choose a product and then try to find people who want to buy it. If that is the direction you are starting from on your journey, then you are going the opposite direction from your destination. Wise businesses operate from a different concept. They pick a market first, and then they pick a product those people are searching for. In other words, instead of trying to find leads to sell their product to, they find targeted leads and then ask them what they are wanting to buy.
Don’t even consider starting a business until you know exactly where you are going to get your leads from. Think targeted customers first. Then, you can come up with a product for those individuals. Would you rather have 1,000 hits a day at your site of a general audience OR 10 hits a day of people who are desperate and willing to pay any price to buy your products? If you are smart, you will choose the people who are ready to buy!
2. Develop a Product
Next, you need to develop a product or service for this market. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon of affiliate programs when you come to this step. There are three major ways to selling a product online:
a. You create your own exclusive product.
This is the best opportunity you have. If you develop your own product, you can pick it’s price, sell reprint rights to others, set up an affiliate program, etc. Don’t tell me you can’t do this. Tens of thousands of innovative entrepreneurs have used their own information products to get their careers started. You can to.
Throughout your life, I am sure that there is something you have learned that you can share in a How-To product. Maybe you know someone else who has the right knowledge for a How-To product and you could offer to help them create a product if you both shared the rights to it. Don’t just jump past this opportunity and say it can’t be done.
b. You buy the rights to a product or you JV for an offline product.
You can buy the rights to successful products for $500 – $20,000. If someone else has created a product that you know your targeted market is interested in, offer them a large up-front fee for the rights to it. This way you can get your own product and never have to pay a penny in royalties. You can also search through magazines your targeted market reads and look for products people are selling. Then, give them a call and ask for the exclusive Internet rights to their product for a certain percentage of the profits or an up-front fee.
c. You join an affiliate program.
If you are just starting out online, this can be a good choice. You do have to keep in mind though that it doesn’t offer quite the profit potential that creating your own product or obtaining rights to one has.When choosing an affiliate program, make sure that it is something your targeted market cannot be without. They absolutely have to have it. Also pay special attention to the profits you receive from each sale.
If you are only be paid 5% commissions on the sales of $10 books, you will only be making 50 cents per customer. It would take 2,000 customers just to product $1,000 in profits. You cannot make money like this online! Look for higher priced products and higher commissions…especially commissions in the 25% or higher range.
3. Create a USP
Create a Unique Selling Position for your product or service. Too many companies are just trying to be me-too companies online. You cannot be just like the next guy and expect to make a profit in a global economy. Just going to the next guy’s web site to order is too easy for your customers.
You have to create a Uniqueness to your product or offer. What can you offer that no one else can? Can you offer better guarantees, better customer service, more technical support, faster shipping, or lower prices. Think of something that will set you apart from all of your online competitors and tell in complete detail what it is.
4. Pick a Domain Name and Hosting Service
The next step is to pick a domain name that describes your company, USP, and offer. Try to keep them as short and descriptive about your business as possible. Avoid using dashes or misspellings of your product. Both of these things will cause people to leave out part of your domain if they type it in. Someone else will be getting free traffic that you worked hard to obtain.
For hosting, I personally choose to use Virtualis since they have the Fastest customer service and technical support in the industry. Test them out. They will respond to you within the hour…anytime 24 hours a day. No other company I have ever been with has even come close!
5. Develop a Customer Friendly Site
The next step in the process is to develop your web site and put it up for the world to see. If you are planning to own a full-time Internet business, I recommend that you learn how to design the site yourself using one of dozens of programs which are readily available at any software store.
You will save so much money if you can do the work yourself on just the editing alone as your site grows. If your main business is offline and you are just adding a secondary income, then you may want to consider having a professional do your site for you.
When designing your site, keep the customer in mind always. Provide order forms for online credit card orders. Make all of the links easy to understand. Try to keep your site simple. Think like a customer, not the business owner.
Your customers are not nearly as interested in your business as you are. Make sure to put the benefits of your site and your USP right on top of the site. More than half of the web surfers never drop down past the first screen full of information. So, you have to give them the information they need as quickly as possible. The rules for any type of business are Benefits, Benefits, and more Benefits.
6. Offer a Freebie
One of the major keys to developing traffic and sales at your site is to always offer some type of freebie as a drawing factor. For example, I offer dozens of free reports, weather reports, news, and more. My greatest drawing factor throughout the past 8 months though has been the two free e-books which we offer on our site to people who subscribe to this newsletter.
You need to come up with a freebie no matter what type of business you are in. Create a free report and give it away. Add in a message board or some other type of CGI program on your site. Give a free demo of your software. Create something that you can give away for free on your site to draw in the visitors.
7. Start Your Own Opt-In List
Almost every full-time Internet marketer I know has developed their own Opt-in email list of some type. For most of them, it is a weekly newsletter they send out by email. For others, it may be a Tip of the Day. Other people might just have a list that they send out important updates to.
No matter what you choose to do, odds will be on your side if you concentrate on building a list of loyal email subscribers. Very rarely do customers purchase from you the first time they visit your site. Most of them will get on your list, hang out for a few weeks or months, and then they buy from you. They have to get to know you before they are willing to spend their money with you.
I have found that the most effective leads come from offline advertising. For example, you could purchase ads in a popular targeted magazine for your business. You could also purchase a postcard in one of the card decks. Start up a co-op and get 10 other people to advertise with you and run your own ads for free. Offline leads which come to your site often turn out to contain a much higher percentage of buyers than any of the online advertising methods.
Once you put our short 10 step outline together you have a basic map to creating your own Internet success story. You wouldn’t consider going on a trip without a map. So don’t try to go it alone online without a map.
Terry Dean’s Brand New Fr-e eBook, “10 Quick and Easy Ways to Increase Profits to ANY Web Site Overnight!” Reveals More Time Tested Proven Internet Marketing Secrets Than 99% of the Paid Products Available…Showing You Step-By-Step How to Increase Your Traffic, Drop Your Expenses, and Drive Your Profits Through the Roof
Can Any Inbound Linking Hurt My Ranking?
The answer is simple – inbound linking cannot hurt your search ranking. How is this known for certain? Well, for one, if inbound were to hurt your rank, your competitors would continually link to your site from link farms. Such a scenario is beyond your control. For this reason, Google cannot penalize your site for any inbound linking.
On the other hand, you can be penalized for illegitimate external linking. It is highly advised that you not link to any website or group of sites that may be involved in shady or unethical search practices. Doing so could result in being black-listed by Google, ultimately ruining your SEO strategy. Avoid this situation at all costs and ensure that all external links point to trusted and reliable sources.
Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.
My personal perspective on e-businesses and their websites, is that if they don’t take pride in their websites and show to their customers a passion for what they do, chances are, they won’t take pride in their products, and the passion for providing good customer service will also be missing.
What you must remember, is that your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. The appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining your potential success rate. In short, if your site doesn’t look professional or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, the majority of people will assume your products and/or services to be of similar poor standard.
At the other end of the scale, you could fall into the trap of going overboard with the design and over complicate things with incorporating high costing flashy graphics. You may end up with a great looking and highly aesthetic web site, but the danger with this is that your site may prove unreliable and at times may take too long to load. There is nothing worse for a customer than trying to visit a slow loading site, and most will close the browser window in complete frustration. As i’m sure you will be able to work out, this will ultimately cost you business.
The other major consideration (if not the most important) when designing a website is your content. Not just links, but content with passion, relativity, and understanding to the customer. When someone is searching for something in particular and they visit your web site, they’re visiting for a reason. Your site has something they want, Whether this be your product, service, and/or information. If they are unable to obtain what they’re looking for, they move on to the next site and so on. To be able to get your visitors to stay and look around your website, you must give them a reason to. Providing them with quality content will achieve this goal.
There have been countless other lists and articles on the subject of website designing mistakes, but I have compiled my own list, from a designer’s perspective, of some pitfalls to look out for when considering either designing a website or purchasing a template. Remember that the simple, clear, informative and well designed sites are the most successful. If you are a current e-business and your sales aren’t what you had hoped, consider the above and take some time to look openly and honestly at your site. Spending money on improving your website is a much better investment than throwing money away on trying to advertise and market a site that just isn’t good enough to sell your product or services.
If you are looking for a template or a custom designed website, be aware of the above and be prepared to ask your chosen designer or template provider questions to ensure that your hard earned money doesn’t go to waste on an inferior design, which contains any of the above. Asking questions won’t cost you a penny, and in doing so could actually save you a lot of money over the long term. Getting your website right first time is vital in terms of saving money and time. The earlier your website is up and running properly, the quicker you will be able to reap the rewards of a successful e-business.
The prime mistake Newbies make is to put their website name into the Anchor Text. Unless your website contains your keywords this is a waste of a perfectly good link. Remember that Google puts a very big importance on those Anchor texts and they should always use your keywords.
The second mistake is trying to put every single keyword into your anchor text and give that to everyone. There are two mistakes with this technique. 1.) Google assigns weight to each word in anchor text so if there are a lot of filler words (common in long sentences), they will “dilute” your target words.
According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.
Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you’ve done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, “Building Your Site.”
Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well. Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based upon the type of effect you’re trying to achieve.
Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you’re offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential customer can’t find your product or service, they definitely won’t waste a lot of time looking for it. They’ll go on to the next site and probably never return. They’re visiting your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers. Whether it is information, a product or service.
Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text links to keep your load time down.
If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames. Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always have good navigational links on every page and place your company logo on each page.
Design a quality e-book to give to your visitors. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. If you can create a web page, you can create an e-book. The focus of your e-book should compliment your web site. Simply write about your passion. If your passion is sales, then you could share some of your knowledge and experience by designing your e-book to provide a complete sales training guide. If your passion is home based business, you could write an e-book about how to start your own home based business. If you’re writing about your true passion then you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with something to write about. For further information on e-books, read the article entitled, “How to Create an E-book and Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site by Giving It Away.”
Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.
The Importance of Anchor Text in Back-links
The importance of anchor text with respect to a linking strategy cannot be overstated. Back-links are a huge part of the search engine algorithm. When initiating a linking campaign, it is vital that external sites link using the appropriate keywords and terms in the anchor text.
Almost always, linking candidates will use the company name as anchor text. This does not provide any type of description of the target company’s products or services. Sure, it may be great for branding purposes, but it isn’t usually needed. In most cases, companies already rank very high (if not first) for searches that incorporate their brand.
Here is an example using fictional company “Acme Plumbing Supplies”:
Most people will link simply using the terms “Acme”. This is alright, but it does not describe the company’s products or services, nor provide any context. By adding the word “plumbing” or term “plumbing supplies” (i.e. “Acme Plumbing” or “Acme Plumbing Supplies”), you may be able to drive additional traffic that may not have otherwise attained the corporate site.
Absolute Links vs. Relative Links – SEO Value
The debate between absolute links and relative links continues to live on in the SEO world. The individual significance of each has been contested, but it is widely regarded that absolute links provide better SEO value on the whole than relative links.
Many believe that absolute links have less potential for getting messed up when search engines index your page. It shouldn’t really make a difference, but many conclude that this is reason enough.
Furthermore, content scrapers and RSS services may ‘repurpose’ your content legitimately (or not). In either case, shouldn’t a proper back-link be attributed to your site? This situation favours absolute links. Although this is a minor argument, it’s still worth considering.
