WHY PPC IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR SEO CAMPAIGNS | 4 PPC TIPS
WHY PPC IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR SEO CAMPAIGNS
One of the most powerful digital advertising strategies is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. If strategically introduced, a PPC campaign will help you achieve more professional leads and sales in a short period of time.
The use of a mixture of PPC and SEO initiatives results in several indirect occurrences. If you want your marketing strategy to optimize your performance, it’s best to use these two strategies in combination with each other.
Therefore, here are few ways PPC affect SEO:
1. PPC helps you discover more valuable organic SEO keywords
A critical aspect of the PPC and SEO techniques is keyword targeting. You must target the right keywords if you want to appear in more important search results.
Since SEO takes time to produce results, the efficacy of your keyword targeting right off the bat can be difficult to calculate.
Luckily, PPC allows you to see immediate outcomes, so you can recognize which keywords drive traffic and which are less successful. This helps you to refine the targeting of your SEO to produce even better performance.
To inform your SEO campaigns, using PPC keyword data helps you to understand what your clients want and the keywords they use. You can use PPC data to find out faster and make appropriate tweaks to your SEO campaigns instead of waiting to see if your SEO keyword optimizations are driving results.
A critical aspect of the marketing strategy is to attract local consumers.
To locate companies that have the goods or services they need several individuals to perform local searches.
You will increase local leads on your website by using PPC ads in local searches.
The first thing they will see when users perform a local search is your PPC ad.
On mobile devices, several local searches are carried out so PPC ads fill the majority of the screen.
Placing your PPC ad draws attention to your company immediately. Somebody’s going to see your PPC ad and then want to press or miss it.
They’ll scroll down more to see your Google My Company page if they miss it.
If they skip past that, too in the organic listings, they can also find your website.
This creates three-fold visibility where people continue to see your brand. It will lead them to believe that the best option for them is your local company.
This will bring more individuals to visit your website, which will improve your organic rating.
3. PPC ads allow you to maximize real estate in search results
They appear at the top of the search results when you run PPC ads, and people see PPC ads first when they perform searches.
PPC ads, combined with SEO, help the company conquer more territory on search engine results sites (SERPs).
If anyone skips past the ads and goes to the results of the organic search, they can see the listing of your company there too.
This causes a two-fold exposure. Both your paid listing and your organic listing are revealed to others.
This effectively maximizes the chances that individuals will click on one of your listings and visit the website of your business to learn more.
The double exposure renders your audience “biased” towards your business.
They conclude that you would deliver reputable goods and services by seeing your company several times in the results.
It is extremely useful to combine PPC and SEO because it directs more traffic to your site and enables individuals to engage with your business.
Thus, here are 4 PPC tips necessary for your SEO campaigns.
1. Crowd the SERPs on branded searches
One of the easiest ways to improve your PPC SEO is to combine your content with a search engine results page.
Fewer than 10 percent of searchers will press for answers on Google’s second page.
On top of that, 91.5 percent of the traffic will get page-one results
So pursuing something other than page one makes absolutely no sense.
That apart, you can expect to catch a higher percentage of traffic if you crowd the SERPs on Google’s first page.
2. Move high-cost PPC keywords to SEO
Nobody likes to spend hundreds of PPC dollars to get nil conversions.
Some keywords just don’t pack the same intention to buy as others.
In the first place, you turn up. You’re paying money for a lot.
And still, where it counts, you don’t see the results.
People might have to click on your expensive keywords countless times. But they just don’t want to convert to a service yet.
So instead of tossing thousands of dollars down the drain, use this SEO opportunity.
You also want the traffic with targeted keywords. You may begin studying organic traffic and possible combinations of keywords that you can use to rate for it.
When there is far so much competition.
And because you are in a bidding war with the countless businesses that are also bidding on this phrase, you’re paying way above the average CPC.
Try to find keyword variants to organically rank with instead, so that you can still drive traffic from this keyword.
Matching the material in organic results with a PPC ad is one of my favorite ways to combine PPC and SEO.
Here’s how things work.
The purpose of a searcher is everything.
If the searcher isn’t ready to buy, no matter how awesome your headline or how amazing your bid, they’ll never click on your PPC ads.
They’re not ready if they’re not ready to buy. You can’t do a whole lot to change their minds.
Here’s what you should do instead.
Let’s say you wanted to show up for the search term, “top Phones 2018.”
But you notice that keyword is incredibly tough to rank for: What do you think this search query’s purpose is?
Are these people looking to buy a Phone or are they looking to compare?
That is right. They look to compare. They want to see how they stack up against each other with various laptops.
If they decided to buy, they were more likely to be searching for a “*brand name* laptop.”
If anyone looks for a “best___” variation, they search for articles that compare the items in question.
So, if you want to make PPC and SEO mesh, you can take advantage of this with one simple trick.
Match the searcher’s intent by comparing different products.
4. Reclaiming your paid traffic
We’re just about to start spending some PPC money.
You’ll want to make sure it gets cleaned up correctly before you can do that.
Sadly, the PPC traffic may be consumed by other networks.
You’ll be tossing money down here.
But Google Analytics won’t properly record it. So, you won’t have any idea how it works.
That’s why you need to be able to discover your real paid or organic numbers by filtering out your direct traffic.
Go to Google Analytics and click on the report “Acquisition”: Direct traffic should reflect only the individuals who directly type your URL into their address bar. However, it isn’t always the case.
you might be spending good money on ads that aren’t getting picked up properly.
Thankfully, you can fix this problem once and for all by using UTM codes.
Use the Google URL Builder to simply drop your URL in and customize the tags.
In Conclusion
While PPC doesn’t directly impact SEO, it does indirectly help you improve your SEO campaigns. By investing in both PPC and SEO, you’ll help create a cohesive marketing campaign that grows your business.
At ITIFIED, we have years of experience creating PPC and SEO campaigns. Our team of experts brings their knowledge and expertise to your unique campaigns.
If you’re looking for a company that drives impressive PPC and SEO results, look no further than ITIFIED.
Get started today
If you’re ready to start creating custom PPC and SEO campaigns that drive results for your business, contact us online to speak with a strategist.
We look forward to helping your business reach new heights!
ITIFIED has the best and qualified SEO experts in the Benin Republic with many years of experience in Digital Marketing and Web Design.
We focus on providing great services through excellent communication, we also work with you and your internal team to ensure that your business excels beyond your expectation.
To ensure that your business excels through the provision of superior SEO solutions
OUR VISION
To be No1 in terms of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Services, not just in the Cotonou Benin Republic, but the world at large.
With ITIFIED SEO services, your business gets a complete solution to SEO that includes:
On-page, off-page, and technical SEO optimizations
Dedicated account manager
Custom SEO strategy
Keyword research
Call, lead, and revenue tracking
Competitor analysis and monitoring
Quarterly and monthly reporting
And more
Since we’re a full-service agency, we can help your business with every aspect of optimizing your website and growing your online presence. For example, we offer web design services, content marketing services, and pay-per-click advertising services.
Are you ready to start optimizing your site for organic search? Contact us online to chat with an experienced strategist from our SEO team about not only improving your company’s search engine rankings but also earning more revenue from them
In 2021, business and website owners can not afford to ignore search engine optimization (SEO).
Almost all internet activity begins with a search: 93% of all internet interactions begin with a search engine and 39% of worldwide e-commerce traffic comes from search. Most organizations have identified this and adapted accordingly-last year, 61 percent of businesses named SEO as their biggest priority.
Fortunately for WordPress users, from the start, the CMS is already SEO friendly, but there are measures you can take and tools you can use to make sure you get the most out of your experience with WordPress Hosting.
With the help of SEO plugins, one of the simplest and most powerful ways to improve the SEO of your WordPress website is.
The marketplace of WordPress plugins is full of helpful SEO plugins with a number of advanced features that take the guesswork out of SEO best practices, but not all of them are designed the same.
Explore the below list of best 2021 WordPress SEO plugins that users can install to instantly improve their chances of improving their SEO rating.
For over a decade, the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin has been around. It’s been installed by over five million websites, making it one of the most popular solutions.
The ability to build and administer your XML sitemaps is one of the best components of Yoast SEO. This is much simpler than having to code your own sitemap, especially if you don’t have a great deal of technical background.
Yoast SEO helps you recognize and avoid duplicate content, so you don’t have to worry about Google penalizing it and it provides title and meta-description models that will make SERPs more attractive for your pages.
To access all of these features and advantages, you can install the Yoast SEO plugin for free. But there is also an $89 annual subscription edition that offers you upgrades like:
The SEO Squirrly is designed mainly for people who are not SEO experts.
There are various ways for other plugins to access and implement SEO proposals, but SEO Squirrly brings this to the next level. Take a look at its SEO assistant feature for life.
Here’s how things work. You just need to enter the desired keyword for which you are attempting to rank with the article you are writing.
Green lights and pop-up suggestions will appear in real-time as you write to explain how you can work that keyword into your content.
Imagine having an SEO expert standing over your shoulder while you’re writing. With SEO Squirrly, that’s what you get.
Another great feature is the content reports that are ideal if you outsource writers or use multiple writers across your business to produce content. Based on what they wrote, these reports give writers additional insight into SEO.
SEO Squirrly also has an instrument to analyze the content of your competitors, so you can find ways to outrank their pages. Every week, you’ll also be able to monitor your progress.
SEO Squirrly also has a variety of other built-in instruments, including…
Strategy Assistant Assistant (the engine that powers the entire Focus Pages section). Not only does Squirrly SEO provide new features, but it also introduces a new SEO experience, giving users a step-by-step framework for ranking their company via Focus Pages.
Setup Assistant to help correct your website’s SEO settings and set everything up correctly.
Blogging Assistant, which helps users without leaving their WordPress dashboard to write well-rounded, media-rich articles.
The Keyword Research Assistant, which keeps records, adds information to the keyword portfolio of users, and notifies them of better opportunities for keywords.
If you’d like to know the purpose of the SEO Pack plugin for All in One, it’s in the name right there.
It is the original SEO plugin and since its debut in 2007, it has been downloaded over 65 million times making it one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time.
It isn’t difficult to see why. With settings and tools that allow you to scale up what you control as you gain more experience, the All-in-One SEO pack is designed for both beginners and advanced users.
The plugin automatically produces meta tags right out of the box and optimizes titles for all search engines.
It also provides both Google and Bing with XML sitemap support, and also does the same for image sitemaps and RSS sitemaps.
Don’t like some settings of yours? The SEO Pack All in One gives users the ability to override any setting.
For those with e-commerce websites, this plugin is also a great choice, as it is the only free plugin for e-commerce sites, including WooCommerce, to offer SEO Integration.
Advanced Canonical URLs, the ability to redirect attachment pages to their parent post, and integrated Nonce Security are other helpful features.
With 40 percent of customers reporting leaving a website that took more than three seconds to load, it is difficult to overstate just how much your website’s speed affects your business.
One of the factors Google considers an SEO ranking factor is not only site pace, but it may be the difference between gaining a customer or losing one.
Caching is the method of saving copies in a cache of files or data, which then enables quicker access to the data than if the request was required to be downloaded directly from the server every time you browse a website. Caching, in basic words, makes the website much quicker.
W3 Complete Cache is probably the best caching plugin available with more than 1 million active installs and a solid 4.5-star ranking and is an instant way to maximize website efficiency and decrease load times.
With rich snippets, which are a quick and more interactive description of your website, All In One Schema Rich Snippets will enhance the way your pages appear in search engine results.
They include items like pricing, pictures, ratings of stars, or feedback.
This popular schema markup plugin can help you add things such as:
Events
People
Products
Articles
Videos
Articles
Recipes
All websites benefit from rich snippets, but they are particularly important for e-commerce sites.
To read a summary of your items, users won’t have to go through too many steps.
From the search engine results page, they will see the star ranking.
Adding rich snippets would tell search engines exactly what data to include in the results of the search.
Finally,
Keep in mind that time is required for WordPress SEO.
You need to give enough time to see the effects after implementing these WordPress SEO best practices.
Too bad we don’t have a solution for set-and-leave SEO yet.
Additionally, due to industry-wide shifts, you have to keep updating your WordPress SEO plan.
To escape fines, don’t forget to follow the established SEO guidelines. To sum up, produce content of high quality and promote your website like a crazy man.
We hope we’ve given you ample fodder; the ball is on your court right now. Did we leave out relevant SEO best practices for WordPress? What WordPress SEO best practices do you use? In the comments, please share this with us in our comment box below.
The Importance of Logos (and Why Your Business Needs One)
The Importance of Logo design | Cotonou Benin Republic
When you’re on the cusp of starting a new business, pursuing a passion project, or testing a concept, you may not think much about designing a logo.
And that makes sense considering all the other things you have to figure out, including what to call your new business, how it’ll operate, when you’ll find the time to do it, and so on.
As you inch closer to launching, the need for a logo will likely pop up, especially if you’re designing a website or business cards.
Even still, you might be thinking, can I put it off a little longer? How important is a logo, anyway?
Here’s the thing:
Putting a visual on what you’re doing brings your idea to life and communicates it in a way that words can’t.
And while delivering a fantastic product or service is your top priority, you can think of a logo as a support system, helping you gain visibility, trust, and goodwill.
Need more convincing? Here’s why a logo is important for small businesses, especially early-stage ones!
It gives your company identity.
The famous designer Paul Rand wrote, “a logo doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies.”
Let’s reiterate — the number one purpose a logo serves is to give your business (or organization, group, team, etc.) an identity.
Think about how most people will interact with your company for the first time. Whether it’s through your website, a social media channel, a business card, or a booth at a conference, you want to make a positive first impression — and it’s hard to do this with words alone.
The Importance of Logo design | Cotonou Benin Republic
By giving your company a mark that fits into spaces both large and small, you’re strengthening your business name (and overall brand) and providing a visual to your target audience. You’re saying “hi” without being pushy or obnoxious.
That’s not to say your logo has to explicitly identify what you do or sell — for example, if you’re a finance company, you don’t need to include dollar signs or piggy banks in your logo.
But what your logo does need to do is communicate your brand attributes (and personality!)using visual cues like colors, fonts, symbols, shapes, and slogans. And it needs to do it in a way that’s simple, straightforward, and adaptable across mediums.
How many times have you forgotten the name of something, but can describe how it looks? In a world where people interact with hundreds of brands a day, you have milliseconds to capture someone’s attention and stand out.
A distinctive logo makes your brand (and business) easier to recall because humans are wired to identify images and use them to derive meaning and stories.
According to Optimal Targeting, our brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than text, and people remember 80% of images (versus 20%)
You can see this visual recall in action when you look at the results of this experiment, where 156 people were asked to draw ten iconic logos from memory, including Ikea and Burger King. While the results vary widely, most people do a good job capturing aspects of these logos, especially brand colors.
When you’re designing a logo, think of the person who might see it on a sign, a social media ad, an event poster, or a sticker on a laptop — and then think about how you want them to remember it.
It communicates professionalism and builds trust.
When you’re starting a new business, it can be a challenge to get others— be it customers, vendors, or investors — to trust you. That’s why it helps to take the old-school advice of “dressing for the job you want.”
Before a person tries your product or service, they assess the appearance. Think about if you visit a mediocre website or get handed a business card that looks dated. It doesn’t instill trust or confidence, does it? You’re probably not going to jump to purchase something or contact someone for more information.
In contrast, a strong brand can inspire someone who doesn’t know anything about your business to start to gain trust and interest in what you deliver. It can also help build loyalty over time, as your business grows and gains fans — you need only think of your favorite coffee shop logo and how seeing it on someone’s cup in the morning makes you feel.
By designing a great logo and putting it on your website and other customer-facing materials, you can immediately convey that you mean business. And because 70% of companies say it’s cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one, the more you can do to build trust, the stronger your business will be.
Starting a business or big project is hard. And as mentioned above, it can be a challenge to persuade someone to take a chance on you — especially when
you when you’re not always 100% sure you have what it takes.
Because of the sheer number of obstacles to overcome when starting a business, it can be hard to feel confident in what you’re doing. So many unknowns! So many things to learn!
Though it sounds superficial, a logo can help with that. It makes what you’re doing (or trying to do) more tangible and gives you something to build on.
When you send out an email to a supplier, submit a proposal to a client, or start that crowdfunding campaign, your logo will subliminally send the message, “I’ve invested the time and energy into this project. It’s real. It’s happening!”
And it might be a stretch, but if you believe in the effects of clothing on cognitive processes, it may even help to get your logo printed on a shirt and wear it whenever you need a confidence boost.
It provides a foundation for your visual brand.
After you’ve designed a logo, you can confidently move on to other visual branding decisions because you’ll have chosen some key colors and fonts. When you buy a logo, you’ll usually get a set of brand guidelines that explain what your logo consists of and how it should be used to don different applications. This codified set of guidelines helps you build visual consistency (and brand memorability) as you grow your business and hire others to create assets for you.
Even if your logo doesn’t have a typeface that can be applied to headings or body copy, the style of your logo and font (e.g. sans serif, script, futuristic) will give you a basis for making those decisions. (Psst…Looka’s Enterprise Package includes brand guidelines to guide your future branding efforts.)
It helps you create online and offline branded assets.
The amount of to-do list items to tick off when you’re launching a business is daunting. Typical among them is “finish the website,” “get business cards,” and “start a Facebook page.”
These to-do items can easily get stalled or put on the back burner if you don’t have a logo. But remember: even if you’re launching the most basic of“Coming Soon” pages, a logo will put a professional stamp on what you’re doing and let you move on to other tasks.
In other words, by investing in a logo you love, you’ll be able to check off the essential marketing to-dos, choose the other branded applications that make the most sense for your business — and then create or outsource them accordingly.
It gives you something to put meaning into overtime.
As famous logo designer Michael Beirut points out, you have to think of logos as “empty vessels…and then you pour meaning into them.”
Even a super attractive logo doesn’t have meaning right away — it’s something that’ll grow stronger and more impactful as you gain the respect of users and customers over time.
To get started, do your research, consider multiple options, and think about the brand attributes you want to be known for (check out our ultimate guide to logo design for more details).
Then start brainstorming the awesome logo you’re going to create!
Why A Logo Is Important
When you’re considering all of the factors that go into building a business, creating a logo might not seem like a top priority. But it should be!
“Maybe I don’t even need a logo at all,” a little voice is whispering in the back of your mind.
Don’t listen to that voice; he couldn’t be more wrong. Your logo is an integral part of making your brand a successful one – right up there with having high-quality products and positive referrals.
So, if you don’t know just why a logo is so important – then read on to find out why.“A strong logo is the beginning of your company’s branding and conveys your business’s vision.”
The Importance of Logo design | Cotonou Benin Republic
1. Grabs Attention
Attention spans are short these days – especially consumers.
As things stand, companies have about 2 seconds to convince potential customers that their products are worth any consideration.
Enter: Your logo.
A logo can quickly grab viewers’ attention and communicate a company’s core values in an interesting way. That short attention span – you know, the one that causes consumers to judge your business by its appearance – can work to your advantage, if you have a solid logo to speak for your company.
“Most viewers take less than three seconds to scan a full web-page and form their first impressions. The next thing they look for? A company’s logo.”
2. Makes a Strong First Impression
You have one chance to get this right.
A logo is a company’s first introduction to consumers. If designed well, it can pique the interest of the public and invite them to learn more about the company; if not, you’ve just alienated a potential customer base and basically tanked your business.
(We’re kidding – sort of.)
This first impression is your way to immediately communicate ownership over the product(s) you sell niche you dominate.
Do you offer women’s basketballs with an enhanced grip? Is your financial advice particularly helpful for solopreneurs? Your logo introduces your company as an authority in your professional space from the get-go.
3. It’s the Foundation of Your Brand Identity
Successful branding is about telling a story that will influence customers’ emotions – plain and simple.
And, while it’s true that logo design is only a part of a company’s brand, it serves as the foundation for the entire narrative on which the brand is built.
Colors, tones, fonts – all of this is determined by the story you’re trying to tell, and your logo sets the stage for this story.
These elements will later translate from your logo onto all of your branding materials –letterheads, business cards, landing pages, you name it – creating a concrete, marketable brand identity.
4. Visual = Memorable
Your logo leads the horse (your audience) to water (your company).
Logos are a point of identification; they’re the symbol that customers use to recognize your brand. Ideally, you’ll want people to instantly connect the sight of your logo with the memory of what your company does – and, more importantly, how it makes them feel.
Because a good logo is a visual, aesthetically pleasing element, it triggers a positive recall about your brand that the name of your company alone might not.
And, if we’re all being honest, some of your audience will likely forget the name of your business (don’t take it personally – it’s human nature), but they’ll immediately associate your logo with their memories of your brand.
5. Separates You from Competition
Dare to be different with your logo, because your company logo tells consumers why your business is unique. Sure, maybe there are 50 other coffee shops in your city, but yours is the only one that’s committed to sustainability, and your green, earthy logo drives that message home.
A well-designed company logo can communicate everything from the company’s background (professional, relaxed, fun) to their mission(entertainment, efficiency, and innovation) through the right icon or proper font.
In other words, your logo is the forum to both convey your values and show consumers why you’re not like your competitors – you’re better.
6. Fosters Brand Loyalty
Say it with me: Consumers crave consistency.
As your brand grows, your logo is going to become more familiar to a wide range of consumers, and this familiarity creates the perception that you’re trustworthy and accessible.
Think about it: When you’re out shopping for workout gear and suddenly spot track pants with the Nike swoosh, you’re instantly ready to buy. Why? Because with Nike apparel, you know you’re in safe hands; Nike is a brand you trust. Trust is built on a well-designed logo, and brand loyalty is quick to follow.
Once they like you, your customers are going to seek you out again and again – and your logo is the thing they’ll look for first.
7 Your Audience Expects It
And, last but not least.
Your logo is the first thing that your audience will look for when they see any communications from your brand. It should be front and center of all your marketing materials such as business cards, flyers, advertisements, etc.
If you don’t have a logo (and one that stands out), then you are missing an opportunity to make your business stick in the minds of your audience.
5 Characteristics of An Impactful Logo Design
The Importance of Logo design | Cotonou Benin Republic
At first, logo designing seems like a fairly simple skill to acquire. But, that’s only until you get started on designing one! As David Airey puts it in his book-Logo Design Love,
“Anyone can design a logo, but not everyone can design the right logo”
A logo is not just an image, but also an introduction to a brand. And since first impressions matter, it is important to design a logo that inspires brand trust, loyalty, and admiration. Here are 5 important characteristics of an impactful and effective logo design:
Original:
Imitation is the best form of flattery, however, this is not the case when it comes to logo design. A good logo aids in creating a unique visual identity for a brand and helps it to stand out in a sea of competitors. While there is nothing wrong with taking a little design inspiration while creating a logo, it is important to push to be creative and as original as possible.
Relevant:
Sometimes, even the most beautiful and unique logos may not be successful. Why? Because they may not be appropriate for their intended audience. For example, using a playful, child-like font is great for a logo for a toy company, but for a bank? Not so much. It’s important to research a brand’s mission, value and target audience before designing a logo! – this will ensure that the logo is appropriate and effective for the brand.
Versatile:
From large banners and billboards to something small like business cards and websites! typically a logo will be put to several uses. So it is important to create a scalable logo that is legible and maintains detail at all sizes. Also, a great logo is versatile in terms of color – it should look great in black and white, as well as in color as the contrast will help emphasize the idea. A few things to consider while designing a versatile logo are:
Will the logo look good in reverse color? (light logo on a dark background)
Will the logo be clear when sized to fit a postal stamp or favicon?
Will the logo be clear when sized to fit a billboard?
*Will the logo be effective when it is printed in just one color?
Memorable:
Some logos are so iconic, that even toddlers can not only easily recall and recognize them! but also figure out what the brand sells just by looking at the logo. This is exactly what a great logo is – memorable. Iconic logos in vokee motion and hence make a permanent impression in the minds of customers.
Timeless:
Keep away from trends while designing a logo. An effective logo is traditional and timeless, not trendy. While creating a visual brand identity, it’s important to ensure that its effectiveness is long-lasting.
Conclusion
Finally, the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid) approach is the way to go in logo design. Simple logos are incredibly effective, recognizable, and versatile.
To summarize, here is a quote by Paul Rand, one of the world’s greatest designers:
“A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon, a street sign. it does not sell(directly), it identifies. The logo is rarely a description of a business. It derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. Important than the product it signifies; what it represents is more important than what it looks like. The subject matter of a logo can be almost anything.”
What is Web Development? | Web Development services in Cotonou Benin Republic
Web development commonly refers to the functions correlated with developing websites for hosting via intranet or Internet. The Web development process incorporates factors like Web design, Web content development, client-side/server-side scripting, and network security configuration, among other functions. Web development is also known as website development.
Web development is the coding or programming that accredits website functionality, as per the owner’s demands. It mainly associates with the non-design facet of building websites, which consists of coding and writing mark-up.
Web development ranges from generating plain text pages to complex Web-based applications, social network applications, and electronic business applications.
The Web development hierarchy is as follows:
Client-side coding
Server-side coding
Database technology
Web Development – An Overview
Web development mainly consists of building, creating, and maintaining websites. It consists of aspects such as web design, web publishing, web programming, and database management.
While the terms “web developer” and “web designer” are often used frequently, they do not mean the same thing. Technically, a web designer only designs website interfaces using HTML and CSS. A web developer may be muddled in designing a website, but may also write web scripts in languages such as PHP. Additionally, a web developer may help maintain and update a database used by a dynamic website.
What is Web Development? | Web Development services in Cotonou Benin Republic
Web development consists of many types of web content creation. Some examples include hand coding web pages in a text editor, designing a website in a program like Dream weaver, and updating a blog via a blogging website. In the last few years, content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla have also become crowd-pleasing in means of web development. These tools make it easy for anyone to create and edit their own website using a web-based interface.
While there are considerable methods of developing websites, there’s usually a trade-off between simplicity and customization. Therefore, most large businesses do not prefer content management systems, but instead, have a dedicated Web development team that designs and manages the company’s website(s). Small organizations and individuals are more likely to choose a solution like WordPress that serve abasic website template and simplified editing tools.
1. Definition of Web Development?
Web development is the process of building websites and applications for the internet, or for a private network known as an intranet. Web development is not concerned with the design of a website; rather, it’s all about the coding and programming that powers the website’s functionality.
From the most simple, static web pages to social media platforms and apps, from eCommerce websites to content management systems(CMS); all the tools we use via the internet on a daily basis have been built by web developers.
Web development can be broken down into three layers: client-side coding (frontend), server-side coding (backend), and database technology.
Let’s take a look at each of these layers in more detail.
Client-side
Client-side scripting, or frontend development, refers to everything that the end-user experiences directly. The client-side code executes in a web browser and directly relates to what people see when they visit a website. Things like layout, fonts, colors, menus, and contact forms are all driven by the front end.
Server-side
Server-side scripting, or backend development, is all about what goes on behind the scenes. The backend is essentially the part of a website that the user doesn’t actually see. It is responsible for storing and organizing data, and ensuring that everything on the client-side runs smoothly. It does this by communicating with the frontend. Whenever something happens on the client-side — say, a user fills out a form — the browser sends a request to the server-side. The server-side “responds” with relevant information in the form of frontend code that the browser can then interpret and display.
Database technology
Websites also rely on database technology. The database contains all the files and content that are necessary for a website to function, storing it in such a way that makes it easy to retrieve, organize, edit, and save. The database runs on a server, and most websites typically use some form of the relational database management system (RDBMS).
To summarize: the frontend, backend, and database technology all work together to build and run a fully functional website or application, and these three layers form the foundation of web development.
The Difference Between Web Development and Web Design
You might hear the terms web development and web design used interchangeably, but these are two very different things.
Imagine a web designer and web developer working together to build a car: the developer would take care of all the functional components, like the engine, the wheels, and the gears, while the designer would be responsible for both the visual aspects — how the car looks, the layout of the dashboard, the design of the seats — and for the user experience provided by the car, so whether or not it’s a smooth drive.
Web designers design how the website looks and feels. They model the layout of the website, making sure it’s logical, user-friendly, and pleasant to use. They consider all the different visual elements: what color schemes and fonts will be used? What buttons, drop-down menus, and scrollbars should be included, and where? What interactive touchpoints does the user interact with to get from point A to B? Web design also considers the information architecture of the website, establishing what content will be included and where it should be placed.
Web design is an extremely broad field and will often be broken down into more specific roles such as User Experience Design, User Interface Design, and Information Architecture.
It is the web developer’s job to take this design and develop it into a live, fully functional website. A front-end developer takes the visual design as provided by the web designer and builds it using coding languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. A backend developer builds the more advanced functionality of the site, such as the checkout function on an eCommerce site.
In short, a web designer is an architect, while a web developer is a builder or engineer.
What is Web Development? | Web Development services in Cotonou Benin Republic
2. A Brief History of the World Wide Web
The web as we know it today has been decades in the making. To help understand how web development works, let’s go back to where it all started and consider how the internet has evolved over the years.
1965: The first WAN (Wide Area Network)
The internet is essentially a network of networks, connecting all different WANs. WAN stands for Wide Area Network, a telecommunications network that spans large geographical distances. The first WAN was established in 1965 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later on, this WAN would be known as ARPANET. It was initially funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defence.
1969: The first-ever internet message
In October 1969, UCLA student Charley Kline sent the first-ever internet message. He tried to send the word “login” to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute via the ARPANET network, but the system crashed after the first two letters. However, about an hour later, the system recovered and the full text was successfully delivered.
The 1970s: The rise of the LAN (Local Area Network)
The early 70s saw the development of several experimental LAN technologies. LAN stands for Local Area Network, a computer network that connects nearby devices in the same buildings — such as in schools, universities, and libraries. Some notable milestones include the development of Ethernet at Xerox Parc from1973-1974 and the development of ARCNET is 1976.
1982 – 1989:Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), the Domain Name System and Dial-Up Access
In 1982, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) emerged as the ARPANET protocol, and TCP/IP remains the standard internet protocol today. While in 1983, the Domain Name System was established, providing a more user-friendly way of labeling and designating websites (i.e. career foundry.com instead of a series of numbers). 1987, Cisco shipped its first router, and in 1989, World.std.com became the first commercial provider of dial-up internet access.
1990: Tim Berners-Lee and HTML
In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) developed HTML — Hypertext Mark-up Language. HTML became, and still is, a fundamental building block of the internet.
1991: The WorldWide Web Goes Mainstream
With the rise of the visual internet browser, the World Wide Web made its way into the mainstream. As of 2018, there are more than 4 billion internet users around the globe.
3. What Does a Web Developer Do?
The role of the web developer is to build and maintain websites. Web developers can work in-house or freelance, and the specific tasks and responsibilities involved will vary depending on whether they’re working as a frontend, backend, or full-stack developer. Full-stack developers specialize in both the frontend and backend; we’ll go into more detail about what a full-stack developer does later on.
Web developers are responsible for building a product that meets both the client’s needs and those of the customer or end-user. Web developers collaborate with stakeholders, clients, and designers in order to understand the vision: how should the final website look and function?
A large part of web development also revolves around identifying and fixing bugs in order to constantly optimize and improve a website or system. Web developers are therefore keen problem solvers, regularly coming up with solutions and workarounds to keep things running smoothly.
Of course, all web developers are proficient in certain programming languages. However, different developers will work with different languages depending on their specific job title and area of expertise. Let’s take a look at the different layers of web development and the associated tasks in more detail.
Learn more:What is a typical day in the life of a web developer?
What does a frontend developer do?
It is the frontend developer’s job to code the frontend of a website or application; that is, the part of the website that the user sees and interacts with. They take the backend data and turn it into something that is easily comprehensible, visually pleasing, and fully functional for the everyday user. They will work from designs provided by the web designer and bring them to life using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS (more on those later!).
The frontend developer implements the website layout, interactive and navigational elements such as buttons and scrollbars, images, content, and internal links (links that navigate from one page to another within the same website). Frontend developers are also responsible for ensuring optimal display across different browsers and devices. They will code the website in such a way that makes it responsive or adaptive to various screen sizes so that the user gets the same experience whether they’re visiting the website on mobile, desktop, or tablet.
Frontend developers will also carry out usability tests and constantly fix any bugs that arise. At the same time, they will consider SEO best practices, maintain software workflow management, and develop tools that enhance how the user interacts with a website in any browser.
What does a backend developer do?
The backend is essentially the brains behind the face(the frontend). A backend developer is therefore responsible for building and maintaining the technology needed to power the frontend, consisting of three parts: a server, an application, and a database.
The code that backend developers create ensures that everything the frontend developer builds is fully functional, and it is the backend developer’s job to make sure that the server, application, and database communicate with each other. So how do they do this? First, they use server-side languages such as PHP, Ruby, Python, and Java to build the application. Then they use tools like My SQL, Oracle, and SQL Server to find, save, or edit data and deliver it back to the user in front-end code.
Just like frontend developers, backend developers will liaise with the client or business owner in order to understand their needs and requirements. They will then deliver these in a number of ways depending on the specifics of the project. Typical back-end development tasks include creating, integrating, and managing the database, building server-side software using backend frameworks, developing and deploying content management systems (for a blog, for example), as well as working with web server technologies, API integration and operating systems.
Backend developers are also responsible for testing and debugging any backend elements of a system or application.
What does a full-stack developer do?
A full-stack developer is someone who understands and can work across, the “full-stack” of technology: i.e. both the frontend and the backend. Full-stack developers are experts in every stage of the web development process, meaning they are well-equipped to get hands-on, but can also guide on strategy and best practices.
Most full-stack developers have gathered many years of experience in a variety of different roles, giving them a solid grounding across the entire web development spectrum. Full-stack developers are proficient in both frontend and backend languages and frameworks, as well as in server, network, and hosting environments. They are also well-versed in both business logic and user experience.
Mobile Developers
Web developers may also specialize in mobile app development, either for iOS or Android.
iOS developers build apps that run with the iOS operating system — the one used by Apple devices. iOS developers are fluentin Swift, the programming language that Apple created specifically for their apps.
Android developers build apps that are compatible with all Android devices, such as Samsung smartphones. Java is the official programming language for Android.
4. Programming Languages, Libraries and Frameworks
In order to build websites and apps, web developers work with languages,libraries and frameworks. Let’s take a look at each of these in detail, as well as some other tools that web developers use in their day-to-day work.
What is Web Development? | Web Development services in the Cotonou Benin Republic
What are the languages?
In the world of web development, languages are the building blocks that programmers use to create websites, apps, and software. There are all different types of languages, including programming languages, markup languages, style sheet languages, and database languages.
Programming languages
A programming language is essentially a set of instructions and commands which tell the computer to produce a certain output. Programmers use so-called “high-level” programming languages to write sourcecode. High-level languages use logical words and symbols, making them easy for humans to read and understand. High-level languages can be classified as either compiled or interpreted languages.
C++ and Java, for instance, are compiled high-level languages; they are first saved in a text-based format that is comprehensible for human programmers but not for computers. In order for the computer to run the source code, it needs to be converted to a low-level language; i.e. machine code. Compiled languages tend to be used to create software applications.
Interpreted languages like Perl and PHP do not need to be compiled. Instead, source code written in these languages can be run through an interpreter — a program that reads and executes code. Interpreted languages are generally used for running scripts, such as those used to generate content for dynamic websites.
Low-level languages are those that can be directly recognized by and executed on the computer hardware; they don’t need to be interpreted or translated. Machine language and assembly language are some common examples of low-level languages.
Some of the most popular programming languages of 2018 include Java, C, C++, Python, C#, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, and Perl.
Markup languages are used to specify the formatting of a text file. In other words, a markup language tells the software that displays the text of how the text should be formatted. Markup languages are completely legible to the human eye — they contain standard words — but the markup tags are not visible in the final output.
The two most popular markup languages are HTML and XML. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is used for the creation of websites. When added to a plain text document, HTML tags describe how this document should be displayed by a web browser. To understand how HTML works, let’s take the example of bold tags. The HTML version would be written as follows:
<b>Make this sentence bold!</b>
When the browser reads this, it knows to display that sentence in bold. This is what the user sees:
Make this sentence bold! Learn more: What is HTML? A beginner’s guide
XML stands for extensible Markup Language. It is a markup language very similar to HTML; however, while HTML was designed to display data with a focus on how it looks, XML was designed purely to store and transport data. Unlike HTML, XML tags are not predefined; rather, they are created by the author of the document. The point of XML is to simplify data sharing and transport, platform changes, and data availability, as it provides software and hardware-independent means of storing, transporting and sharing data. You can learn more about XML and how it works here.
Style sheet languages
A style sheet is a set of stylistic rules. Web developers use style sheet languages, quite literally, to style documents that are written in markup languages.
Consider a document written in HTML and styled using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), a style sheet language. The HTML is responsible for the content and structure of the web page, while CSS determines how this content should be presented visually. CSS can be used to add colors, change fonts, insert backgrounds and borders, as well as style forms. CSS is also used to optimize web pages for responsive design, ensuring they adapt their layout to whatever device the user is on.
Languages are not only used for building websites, software, and apps; they are also used to create and manage databases.
Databases are used to store huge volumes of data. The Spotify music app, for example, uses databases to store music files, as well as data about the user’s listening preferences. Likewise, social media apps like Instagram use databases to store user profile information; every time a user updates their profile in some way, the app’s database will also update.
Databases are not designed to understand the same languages that apps are programmed in, so it’s essential to have a language that they do understand — like SQL, the standard language for accessing and manipulating relational databases. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It has its own markup and basically enables programmers to work with the data held in a database system.
What are libraries and frameworks?
Web developers also work with libraries and frameworks. Despite much confusion,they are not the same thing — although they are both there to make the developer’s job easier.
Libraries and frameworks are essentially sets of prewritten code, but libraries are smaller codes for more specific use-cases. A library contains a collection of useful code, grouped together to be reused later. The purpose of a library is to enable developers to reach the same end goal while writing less code to get there.
Let’s take the example of JavaScript, the language, and jQuery, a JavaScript library. Rather than writing, say, ten lines of code in JavaScript, the developer can take the condensed, prewritten version from the jQuery library — saving time and effort. A framework contains ready-made components and tools that enable the developer to write code faster, and many frameworks also contain libraries. It gives the developer a structure to work from, and the framework you choose to work with will largely dictate the way you build your website or app, so choosing a framework is a big decision. Some popular frameworks include Bootstrap, Rails, and Angular.
The easiest way to understand libraries and frameworks is to imagine you are building a house. The framework provides the foundation and the structure, as well as for instructions or guidelines for completing certain tasks. Say you want to install an oven in your new home: you could buy the separate components and build the oven from scratch, or you could pick an already-made oven from the store. Just like building a website, you can write the code from scratch or you can take pre-written code from a library and simply insert it.
Other web development tools
Web developers will also use a text editor, such as Atom, Sublime or Visual Studio Code, to write their code; a web browser, such as Chrome or Firefox; and an extremely crucial tool: Git!
Git is a version control system where developers can store and manage their code. As a web developer, it’s inevitable that you’ll make constant changes to your code, so a tool like Git that enables you to track these changes and reverse them if necessary is extremely valuable. Git also makes it easier to work with other teams and to manage multiple projects at once. Git has become such a staple in the world of web development that it’s now a bad practice not to use it.
Another extremely popular tool is GitHub, a cloud interface for Git. GitHub offers all the version control functionality of Git,but also comes with its own features such as bug tracking, task management, and project wikis. GitHub not only hosts repositories; it also provides developers with a comprehensive toolset, making it easier to follow best practices for coding. Developers consider the place to be for open-source projects, and also provides a platform for web developers to showcase their skills.
What is Web Development? | Web Development services in the Cotonou Benin Republic
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