<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Reflects your Brand Identity</li>
<li>Enhances User Experience.</li>
<li>Increases Security and Privacy</li>
<li>Boosts your SEO Ranking</li>
<li>Gives you a Competitive Edge.</li>
<li>Saves Time and Money</li>
<li>Increases Customer Satisfaction and Retention</li>
</ul>
<h2>Relevance of this Topic</h2>
<p>If you're looking for a web design service, you might be tempted to go with a template-based option that promises a quick and simple website. However, this could be a costly mistake for your company. Template websites are frequently generic, boring, and ineffective for attracting and converting your intended audience. In contrast, a custom web design provides numerous advantages that can assist you in distinguishing yourself from the competition and achieving your online objectives. Here are some of the reasons why your business requires a custom web design:</p>
<h2>1. Reflect Your Brand Identity</h2>
<p>Your website serves as the online representation of your brand. It should communicate your distinct value proposition, personality, and message to potential customers. A template website, on the other hand, is designed to suit a wide range of businesses and industries, rather than your specific brand identity. A custom web design, on the other hand, is tailored to your specific business requirements and preferences. It lets you select the colors, fonts, images, layout, and features that best reflect your brand's image and voice. A custom web design also ensures consistency and coherence across your website and other marketing channels, promoting trust and recognition among your target audience.</p>
<h2>2. Enhances Your User Experience</h2>
<p>Your website is not only a representation of your brand, but also a tool for engaging and interacting with visitors. However, a template website frequently has limitations in terms of functionality, usability, and accessibility. It may not provide the features and options that your users expect or require, such as responsive design, quick loading, simple navigation, and a clear call-to-action. In contrast, a custom website is designed to enhance your user experience. It considers your target audience's behavior and goals, and provides them with a smooth and satisfying journey through your website. A custom website enables you to test and improve your site based on user feedback and data, thereby increasing your conversion rate and customer loyalty.</p>
<h2>3. Improves Security and Privacy</h2>
<p>Your website is also an important asset that should be safeguarded against cyberattacks and data breaches. A template website, on the other hand, is frequently vulnerable to hacking, malware, and phishing because it may be built with outdated or insecure software, plugins, or themes. Custom websites, on the other hand, upgrades security and privacy by utilizing the most recent and dependable technologies and frameworks. It also allows you to set up custom security features and policies, such as encryption, authentication, and backup. A custom web design also ensures that your website complies with applicable laws and regulations, such as GDPR, CCPA, and PCI-DSS, thereby protecting your and your customers' data and rights.</p>
<h2>4. Boosts Your SEO Ranking</h2>
<p>Your website also plays an important role in your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. A template website, on the other hand, is frequently not SEO-friendly because it may contain duplicate content, poor coding, and outdated practices, all of which can harm your search engine ranking and visibility. In contrast, a custom web design is SEO-friendly because it adheres to the best practices and standards of web development and design. It enables you to write unique and relevant content, use appropriate keywords and tags, and include technical SEO elements like meta descriptions, sitemaps, and schema markup. A custom web design also ensures that your website is compatible with various devices and browsers, which improves both user experience and SEO ranking.</p>
<h2>5. Gives You a Competitive Edge</h2>
<p>Your website can help you stand out from the competition and establish your authority and credibility in your industry. A template website, on the other hand, is often generic and does not highlight your unique value proposition or expertise. A custom web design, on the other hand, gives you a competitive advantage by allowing you to create a website that is unique, innovative, and unforgettable. A custom web design also allows you to highlight your portfolio, testimonials, awards, and certifications, demonstrating your professionalism and quality. A custom web design also enables you to integrate your website with social media, email marketing, and other digital marketing tools, thereby increasing your reach and influence.</p>
<h2>6. Saves Time and Money</h2>
<p>Your website is also an investment that should generate a positive return for your business. A template website, however, is often costly and time-consuming in the long run, as it may require frequent updates, maintenance, and troubleshooting. It may also incur hidden fees and charges, such as hosting, domain, and license fees. A custom web design, on the other hand, saves you time and money, as it is designed and developed according to your budget and timeline. It also allows you to have full control and ownership of your website, and to avoid any unwanted or unnecessary expenses. A custom web design also ensures that your website is scalable and adaptable, which helps to support your business growth and development.</p>
<h2>7. Increases Customer Satisfaction and Retention</h2>
<p>Your website is an investment that should provide a favorable return for your company. A template website, on the other hand, can be costly and time-consuming in the long run because it may necessitate frequent changes, maintenance, and troubleshooting. It may also include other fees and costs, such as hosting, domain, and license fees. A custom web design, on the other hand, saves you both time and money because it is created and developed to meet your specific budget and deadline. It also gives you complete control and ownership over your website, as well as the ability to minimize any extra or undesired charges. A custom web design also ensures that your website is flexible and adaptable, which is beneficial to your company's growth and development.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>A personalized website is an excellent investment for your organization. It may assist you in developing a website that reflects your business identity, improves user experience, raises SEO ranking, and gives you a competitive advantage. A custom website gives you complete control and ownership over your website, allowing you to alter and maintain it as your business develops and expands. If you need a custom website design, let the experienced crew at Wallaby Designs help! We are a team of professional and creative web designers and developers who can assist you in creating a website that meets your company's requirements and goals. Contact us today to receive a free consultation and price. We look forward to hearing from you.</p>

Stand out from the crowd! Here are seven ways that a custom website can help you stand out from the competition and achieve your business goals.

7 Reasons You Need a Custom Website for Your Business

7 Reasons Why You Need a Custom Website for Your Business

A quick reference guide to Google SEO ranking factors, what they mean, and how to improve these factors for your website.

Understanding The Primary Ranking Factors for SEO

<h2>Key Topics</h2>
<ul>
<li>Relevance of this topic</li>
<li>Understanding Responsive Web Design
<ul>
<li>Flexible Grids</li>
<li>Flexible Layouts</li>
<li>Media Queries</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Enhanced Accessibility and Reach</li>
<li>Improved User Experience (UX)</li>
<li>Challenges and Considerations</li>
<li>Conclusion</li>
</ul>
<h2>Relevance of this Topic</h2>
<p>The art of creating websites that adapt seamlessly to different devices, known as responsive web design, has fundamentally transformed the online digital landscape. It has a wide-ranging and profound impact on user experience (UX). We will delve deeper into the significance and nuances of responsive web design in this broad study.</p>
<p>Wallaby Designs builds custom websites that are not only responsive, but built to your specific needs. We take pride in providing excellent user experience and responsive, beautiful design for our clients. If you would like to learn more, be sure to read more about our <span style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;" href="/web-services/custom-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">custom web designs</a></span>.</p>
<h2>Understanding Responsive Web Design</h2>
<p><strong>Flexible grids</strong>, <strong>layouts</strong>, and <strong>media queries</strong> are used in responsive web design to ensure that websites function properly on devices of all shapes and sizes. Because of the spread of various platforms used for web browsing, this approach has become an essential element of present-day web development.</p>
<p><strong>1. Flexible Grids:</strong></p>
<p>A responsive web page's underlying structure utilizes a flexible grid, which is made up of columns and rows. These grids are designed to be fluid in their design, which means they can expand and contract to accommodate different screen sizes and resolutions. This adaptability ensures that content remains organized and visually appealing regardless of device.</p>
<p>Flexible grids employ relative units such as percentages rather than fixed units such as pixels. Instead of defining a column to be exactly 300 pixels wide, you could define it to be 33% of the available width. As a result, the column adapts proportionally to the width of the screen.</p>
<p><strong>2. Flexible Layouts:</strong></p>
<p>Flexible grids go hand in hand with flexible layouts. They entail adapting the various elements of a webpage to the grid's fluid structure. This includes resizing and repositioning images, text blocks, and other page elements.</p>
<p>Images and videos, for example, can scale dynamically within these adaptable layouts. This means that as the size of the screen changes, these elements can resize or reposition themselves to maintain a visually appealing and coherent layout.</p>
<p><strong>3. Media Queries:</strong></p>
<p>The responsive magic that holds it all together are media queries. These are CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) code snippets that allow web designers to apply specific styles or rules based on the user's device's characteristics. Screen width, height, resolution, and even the device's orientation (portrait or landscape) are examples of these characteristics.</p>
<p>For example, you could write a media query that says, "If the screen width is less than 600 pixels, apply these styles." This allows you to specify how your website should appear and function on smaller screens, such as smartphones or tablets.</p>
<p>Designers can use media queries to define breakpoints in their designs where the layout, fonts, and other design elements can change to improve the user experience. Designers can ensure that the content remains legible and the design remains visually appealing across a wide range of devices by carefully planning and implementing these breakpoints.</p>
<h2>Enhanced Accessibility and Reach</h2>
<p>The concept of accessibility in web design goes beyond accommodating people with disabilities. It entails creating an inclusive online environment that is accessible to all users regardless of device. Responsive design is critical to achieving this level of inclusivity.</p>
<p>Consider the following scenario: a user spends the day switching between a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone. Responsive design ensures a consistent experience, removing the need to adapt to various layouts and interfaces. This not only increases user loyalty but also broadens the scope of your website. Users are more likely to interact with a site that provides a consistent experience regardless of the device they use.</p>
<h2>Improved User Experience (UX)</h2>
<p>Responsive web design is at the heart of delivering an exceptional user experience. Let's explore this further:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Consistency Across Devices</strong>: The significance of maintaining a consistent look and feel cannot be overstated. Responsive design preserves brand consistency and design integrity, strengthening your brand identity. Users value familiarity, which increases trust.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Mobile Friendliness</strong>: The proliferation of mobile devices has altered the digital landscape. Responsive design makes your website mobile-friendly, providing an intuitive and engaging experience on smartphones and tablets. Touch-based navigation, button sizes, and readability are all optimized.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Faster Loading Times</strong>: In the digital world, speed is everything. A responsive website loads faster, which directly affects user satisfaction. Slow-loading websites are notorious for having high bounce rates, whereas responsive websites provide quick, engaging experiences.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>SEO Benefits</strong>: When ranking search results, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites. Adopting a responsive design can help your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, potentially increasing the visibility and organic traffic to your website.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p style="padding-left: 40px;">We have written a number of SEO related tips for business you may find useful. For more website SEO enhancement ideas, check out our article <span style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;" href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to Optimize your Website for Search Engines</a></span>. Additionally, you may also benefit from our article:&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/blog/four-types-of-seo-every-business-should-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;">Four Types of SEO every business should know</span></a></span>!</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Adaptive Content</strong>: You can serve adaptive content, tailoring information to specific devices, thanks to responsive design. This ensures that users are presented with the most relevant content and functionality, thereby improving their overall experience.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>Challenges and Considerations</h2>
<p>Navigating the realm of responsive web design isn't without its challenges. Here's a deeper dive into the considerations:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Content Prioritization</strong>: Prioritization is essential on smaller screens. It is critical to understand which content takes precedence. It may be necessary to rethink your content strategy in order to ensure that users receive the most relevant information on smaller devices.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comprehensive Testing</strong>: Extensive testing across a wide range of devices, browsers, and screen sizes is required. This process ensures that your responsive design works flawlessly across the board.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Performance Optimization</strong>: To achieve peak performance, image and code must be meticulously optimized. This can be time-consuming, but it is critical for fast loading times, which are the foundation of a great user experience.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Mobile Navigation</strong>: It takes a fine art to create an intuitive mobile navigation system. To simplify the user's journey on smaller screens, consider collapsible menus, user-friendly icons, and gestures.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>In conclusion, responsive web design has a significant and multifaceted impact on the user experience. It broadens your website's reach, improves accessibility, and significantly boosts user satisfaction. While responsive design presents design and development challenges, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. In today's mobile-centric digital landscape, adopting responsive design is more than just a trend; it's a strategic necessity. Websites that prioritize user experience through responsive design will thrive in an era where user expectations are rising.</p>

Explore how responsive web design enhances UX, from mobile-friendliness to SEO benefits. Elevate your website's performance

The Impact of Responsive Web Design on User Experience

<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>Relevance of this Topic</li>
<li>What is a Domain Name?</li>
<li>How do I get a Domain Name</li>
<li>Domain Names and Renewal</li>
<li>What is Web Hosting</li>
<li>Why do I need both Web Hosting and a Domain</li>
<li>How do Domains work with Web Hosting</li>
<li>Do I need a Domain if I already have Hosting</li>
<li>Can I move my Domain somewhere else</li>
<li>Is it important to keep hosting and domains together</li>
<li>Will moving my domain break my website</li>
<li>Final Comments</li>
</ul>
<h2>Relevance of this Topic</h2>
<p>As a web developer I have found that there is a lot of confusion related to web hosting and domains and how they differ. This guide follows a lot of common questions and misunderstandings that many users have with how the internet works and with domains and hosting in general. I will cover some of the basics of DNS, but will defer those wishing to understand it better to my other guide: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-dns" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Ultimate Beginners Guide To DNS</span></a></span>.</p>
<h2>What is a Domain Name?</h2>
<p>A Domain name is the name of your website as it appears in the address bar. For example, our domain is wallabydesigns.com. This domain name is used to identify your website on the internet and allow users to find your business more easily. For a breakdown on the anatomy of a domain and how it works, please check out our more in-depth guide: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-dns" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Ultimate Beginners Guide To DNS</span></a></span>.</p>
<h2>How do I get a Domain Name?</h2>
<p>Domain names are able to be purchased from companies known as 'Domain Registrars'. A domain registrar functions similarly to a bookkeeper for internet addresses. The registrar assists you in selecting and registering a unique name for your website. Once registered, the registrar saves your chosen name as well as the special code, or 'nameserver', that tells computers where to search for information about where your website is located. The domain is then yours to utilize so long as you keep up with domain renewals.</p>
<p>Domain renewals will vary in price often quite substantially, with many websites looking to charge a premium for domain 'services' that others offer for free, or charge for services that do very little. For comparison's sake, a leading domain seller at the time of writing this charges $21.99 for renewing a domain with a .com at the end, whereas Cloudflare charges $9.15 for the same renewal. The difference here is that Cloudflare, like a very select few domain registrars, does not earn anything for the domain registration.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another thing to note is that not all domain registrars support all top level domains (.com, .net etc.) so it might be a good idea to shop around to see who does and who has the best rates.</p>
<h2>Domain Names and Renewal</h2>
<p>A Domain name is like renting a home, it's yours so long as you pay the renewal fee. Unlike a rental, however, you can do whatever you want with it during that time. Your domain is a gateway to a wide world of uses, but it can't do any of this by itself. Domain Name System (DNS) records can be utilized to provide a wide range of functions to your domain, but they require a location to point to for these functions. This location can be a Web Host, or a locally stored one (unadvised). For a more in-depth look at DNS, refer to our handy guide: <a href="/blog/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-dns" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;">The Ultimate Beginners Guide To DNS</span></span></a>.</p>
<h2>What is Web Hosting?</h2>
<p>A Web Host at its core is essentially an external computer (server) that runs software, which allows website information to be stored and read. When you pay for web hosting, you are essentially renting an online space to store your web data so that it can be retrieved by someone visiting your website.</p>
<h2>Why do I need both Web Hosting and a Domain?</h2>
<p>When you buy a Domain, you buy a vanity name that can be used to access information. That information is unlocked using DNS, which we won't go into, but which you can read more about here: <a href="/blog/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-dns" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;">The Ultimate Beginners Guide To DNS</span></span></a>. Your Web Host on the other hand is the location where all of your website files are stored.</p>
<h2>How do Domains work with Web Hosting?</h2>
<p>Your Web Host provides an IP address as its digital location on the internet, which can be tied to your domain name for easier searching.</p>
<p>In the early days of the internet, IP addresses were used instead of domains, meaning you would type the IP address into the address bar for the website you wanted to visit. This was obviously not practical and opened the door for domain names to take the place of IP addresses in the address bar.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Do I need a Domain if I already have Hosting?</h2>
<p>Hosting only provides a server IP address, which by itself is not very useful. While you can add SSL to an IP address, it's not recommended, and without a domain, visitors would have to enter your server IP address in order to access your website.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Can I move my Domain somewhere else?</h2>
<p>Yes. The process is relatively painless. You can move registrars at any point you wish without repercussions. If you need help with this process, let us know!</p>
<h2>Is it important to keep domains and hosting together?</h2>
<p>It is recommended to keep your domain and hosting separate as you are able to be more flexible with your domain. You are also able to change hosts more easily in the future.</p>
<h2>Will moving my domain break my website?</h2>
<p>No. When moving to a new domain registrar, the receiving registrar will have a copy of your DNS records when you transfer. Simply put, this means that the same IP addresses and records that you used before will be immediately available once the transfer is complete. Domain transfer simply means that DNS servers retrieve your information in a new place. Once registrars are changed, which can take about a week, the DNS cache for external sources can take anywhere from 24-48 hours to recognize the new location of the DNS file. This may seem alarming, but it just means they are looking at the same DNS records as before, just from the prior source.</p>
<h2>Final Comments</h2>
<p>This article provides a handy resource, but is far from comprehensive. We will periodically update this article with more questions and responses as time goes on, but if you have a question that is not covered above, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217); text-decoration: underline;">let us know</span></a></span>!</p>

There is a common misunderstanding about web hosting and domain renewals. Explore how they work and why they are different

Domain vs Website Hosting, What's the Difference?

Domain Renewal vs Website Hosting, What's the Difference?

Changing your DNS settings can be a scary and stressful process, learn what to expect when you make changes!

The Ultimate Beginners Guide To DNS

<div id="malwarebytes-root" style="position: fixed; inset: 0px 0px auto; z-index: 2147483647; width: 100%;" tabindex="-1"></div>
<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>Introduction to the Topic</li>
<li>Assisting in Code and Autocompletion</li>
<li>Identifying and resolving bugs</li>
<li>Sharing of Information and Documentation</li>
<li>Developing Concepts and Prototyping Ideas</li>
</ul>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>Because of artificial intelligence tools, web and software development has undergone a revolution. This article looks at how AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are enabling programmers to improve their skills and propel software development forward. As machine learning and natural language processing technologies advance, artificial intelligence-powered tools like ChatGPT are proving to be invaluable resources for developers. OpenAI's ChatGPT language model has a number of features that help programmers be more productive, solve problems, and come up with new ideas.</p>
<h2>1. Assisting in Code and Autocompletion</h2>
<p>One of the main advantages of AI tools like ChatGPT for developers is their ability to provide code assistance and autocompletion. ChatGPT can examine code fragments, understand the developer's context, and make completion suggestions for code blocks or functions. They use a broad knowledge base and understanding of programming languages to assist developers in writing code more accurately and quickly.</p>
<p>ChatGPT enhances the coding experience of developers by providing real-time suggestions, allowing them to write cleaner and more effective code. This feature assists in avoiding common coding errors and significantly reduces the amount of time spent debugging. When a developer starts typing a function name or a code block, ChatGPT can make intelligent suggestions based on standard coding patterns and industry best practices.</p>
<p>In many cases, this can cut out a lot of boilerplate code and repetitive tasks that a developer has to do, allowing them to devote more time to their tasks. ChatGPT is not immune to error, however, and so cannot replace developers in their role entirely. For a more in-depth analysis of this, please refer to our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/will-chatgpt-replace-traditional-web-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Will ChatGPT replace traditional web development</a></span>.</p>
<h2>2. Identifying and Resolving Bugs</h2>
<p>Codebases can be analyzed to find bugs and potential problems. Many AI Tools like ChatGPT can recognize sections of code that could result in errors or cause system failures thanks to pattern recognition and its understanding of programming languages.</p>
<p>ChatGPT, for example, can inspect code for common errors such as logical errors, memory leaks, and null pointer exceptions. It makes it easier for developers to find and fix bugs by highlighting problematic code sections and suggesting potential fixes. This capability not only improves the quality and dependability of software but also frees up valuable development time for the creators by automating the process of bug detection and troubleshooting.</p>
<p>This is not always a simple cut and dry solution for developers as there are sometimes code complexities that can cause error loops where solutions either provide new errors or negate the purpose of the code entirely in order to resolve it. An example of this can be found in our article <a href="/blog/chat-gpt-working-together-with-an-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">ChatGPT Working Together With an AI</span></a>. In these situations, there is a necessity for the developer to have a sound understanding of the code, rather than simply acting as a copy-paste machine.</p>
<h2>3. Sharing Information and Documentation</h2>
<p>Developers frequently encounter difficulties when attempting to document code or locate information within existing codebases. ChatGPT and other AI tools excel at producing human-readable documentation by using code snippets as examples and justifications. ChatGPT can assist developers with code documentation by gathering relevant data and presenting it in a logical and understandable manner.</p>
<p>Furthermore, ChatGPT and other AI Tools can help developers find specific functionalities or solutions, browse large code repositories, and extract relevant data. Because of this capability, developers can benefit from each other's experience and accelerate the development process, which encourages knowledge sharing and collaboration within development teams. ChatGPT can provide precise and context-aware information in response to natural language queries, making it easier for developers to find what they need.</p>
<p>It is important to note here that these AI Models are not without error, which means that a developer cannot rely on an AI model to generate whatever documentation they require with the assurance that it meets production standards. All AI Generated code should be inspected and reviewed by a developer for accuracy.</p>
<h2>4. Developing Concepts and Prototyping Ideas</h2>
<p>AI tools with creative capabilities, such as ChatGPT, can be used by developers for idea generation and prototyping. Developers can use ChatGPT to generate unique ideas or strategies for problem solving by providing it with instructions or requirements.Because it understands natural language, ChatGPT can comprehend project requirements and suggest potential solutions.</p>
<p>For example, if a developer needs to create a user interface for a specific feature, they can describe the requirements to ChatGPT, which will then generate several design concepts. By considering different options and utilizing the insights provided by ChatGPT, developers can prototype and iterate more quickly, creating software solutions that are more creative and user-friendly. During the development phase, the interactive nature of the process encourages creativity and broadens the range of potential outcomes.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>In general, AI tools such as ChatGPT have greatly improved developers' abilities in a wide range of software development-related areas. These tools, which range from code assistance and autocompletion to bug detection and troubleshooting, streamline the development process, reduce errors, and boost productivity.</p>
<p>Developers can collaborate effectively and share knowledge because ChatGPT facilitates documentation and knowledge sharing. Additionally, its inventiveness aids developers in the exploration of new concepts and prototypes. Tools like ChatGPT are likely to become increasingly important as AI advances, empowering developers and spurring innovation in the software development industry.</p>
<h2>References</h2>
<ol>
<li>Brown, T. B., et al. (2020). Language models are few-shot learners. Retrieved from <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.14165" target="_new">https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.14165</a></span></li>
<li>OpenAI. (2021). ChatGPT: Engage in conversation. Retrieved from <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt" target="_self">https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt</a></span></li>
<li>Li, Y., et al. (2020). Exploring the limits of transfer learning with a unified text-to-text transformer. Retrieved from <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10683" target="_new"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10683</span></a></li>
</ol>

AI tools empower developers with code assistance, bug detection and resolution, information sharing, and idea prototyping to boost software development

4 Ways ChatGPT & Other AI Tools Push Developer Capabilities

Four Ways ChatGPT and Other AI Tools Expand Developer Capabilities

<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>How Do Search Engines Read my Website?</li>
<li>A Very Brief History of Search Engines</li>
<li>What is Keyword Stuffing?</li>
<li>What are Backlinks?</li>
</ul>
<h2>How Do Search Engines Read My Website?</h2>
<p>You might be wondering, how does a Search Engine 'read' my website? If you are a developer, this may be a simple explanation, but for the sake of any who may not dabble in the dark arts of web technologies, I'll attempt to explain it in simple terms.</p>
<p>Essentially, a website is built up of components that perform different tasks. There are a number of components that impact what you see, but there are also a lot of components that you will never see, but are used by search engine bots, otherwise known as crawlers. These components are fitted together in what is called a Document Object Model (DOM) and this is an important structure that crawlers read in order to understand your content and how it might be relevant to certain topics.</p>
<p>A search engine works by performing the following actions:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Crawling</strong>: As mentioned above, the crawler reads the content of your websites DOM and understands the content of your website. It follows all of your internal links and attempts to understand the navigational structure of your website.</li>
<li><strong>Indexing</strong>: The information that crawlers learn is stored in a database for easy retrieval. This forms the fingerprint of your website. Your site is able to show up in queries after it has been indexed.</li>
<li><strong>Site Ranking</strong>: The listings of a search are ranked based on relevance. Your website and its content are ranked based on how they are able to meet the needs of the request. This ranking is best understood by looking at some of the factors that make it up. Fortunately, our article: <a href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">How to optimize your website for Search Engines</span></a> goes over those requirements for you.</li>
</ol>
<h2>A Very Brief History of Search Engines</h2>
<p>A history Lesson? Seriously? You'd be surprised how important it is to understand this history in order to best understand how SEO works the way it does. The full story is long and fascinating, and perhaps one day I'll write it in longer and greater detail, but for now I'll keep it brief in the interest of relevancy!</p>
<p>To summarize: At one point, early on in Googles infancy, websites were indexed based on how they utilized keywords and not using the complicated algorithm we know and love today. This method gave rise understandably to a problem in the form of spam sites that simply posted an endless stream of keywords on their websites in order to rise to the top of search engine listings. A major problem that needed to be addressed. Google responded to this by penalizing keyword stuffing (see below) and introducing backlinks (also below).</p>
<h2>What is Keyword Stuffing?</h2>
<p>We could probably write an entire article on Keyword stuffing as it is a fascinating part of Search Engine history that helps us understand current practices. Simply put, keywords on your website drive traffic to it. Spam websites learned this early on and so had pages with nothing but spammed keywords in order to rank higher in searches. They did this not only with content that could be seen, but with hidden paragraphs that were invisible to all but crawlers and aimed to bring up their rank deceitfully.</p>
<p>Google made changes over time to determine if too many keywords were used too frequently in content. Keywords should make up 1-2% of content organically, anything beyond that is penalized or scrutinized depending on the context.&nbsp;They also introduced a link ranking system, now commonly known as backlinking, in order to help weed out disreputable websites from listings and give weight to higher quality content.</p>
<h2>What are Backlinks?</h2>
<p>Backlinks were introduced as a way to establish website authority through relevancy based on how many people linked to your website. When introduced before Christmas in 2003, the change destroyed a lot of small retailers in its wake and didn't prevent spam, however, as spam sites learned that they could simply link to each other to improve relevancy. This gave rise to modern backlinking that places greater weight of linking from trusted websites.</p>
<p>There are a number of ways to improve your backlinks, but one of the best lies in content creation. Fortunately, in our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/eight-benefits-of-blogging-for-your-small-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8 Benefits of Blogging for Your Small Business</a></span>, we go into greater detail on how blogging and content creation can raise this ranking.</p>

Understanding how Search Engines work enables you to best to take advantage of them to promote your business and optimize your search engine listing.

Why do Search Engines work the way they do?

<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>What is SEO?</li>
<li>What are the four main types of SEO?</li>
<li>Detailed Explanation of each type of SEO</li>
</ul>
<p>There are four categories of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and each one is important to your SEO marketing plan. Learn about the four categories of SEO and how to optimize your website.</p>
<h2>What is SEO?</h2>
<p>As has been mentioned in our article: <a href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">How to Optimize your Website for Search Engines</span></a>, a complete guide:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is a practice of optimizing content so that it shows up better on search engines. The goal of search engine optimization is to align your site with ranking algorithms used by search engine's so that it can be quickly found, crawled, indexed, and discovered. (<span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link</a></span>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While there are certainly some useful elements to that guide, and you should certainly look into that article if you would like to know more, this article aims to talk specifically on the four main types and their importance to SEO.</p>
<h2>What are the Four main types of SEO?</h2>
<p>Now that we understand some history, it's time to look at the four types of SEO. The four main types of SEO, which we will explain in more detail below, are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>On-Page SEO</li>
<li>Off-Page SEO</li>
<li>Local SEO</li>
<li>Technical SEO</li>
</ol>
<p>We will address each one of these in greater detail below, but you might also be best served understanding <a href="/blog/why-do-search-engines-work-the-way-they-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">why Search Engines work the way they do</span></a>, which will give context to them and help understand why they exist in the first place. Each one of these types of SEO impacts how you show up in search engines in different ways. We have numerous guides to help you improve your ranking in each one, or utilize our SEO Services to receive help for your business!</p>
<h2>First Type: On-Page SEO</h2>
<p>Our <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Engine Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a> article contains an excellent guide on how to improve this type of SEO, but does not explain what it is or why it is important. Simply put, On-Page SEO is based on your website and how it is interpreted by a search engine (see: <a href="/blog/why-do-search-engines-work-the-way-they-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Why do Search Engines work the way they do?</span></a>).&nbsp;</p>
<p>In order to make it easier for crawlers to read through your website content, you need to follow a set of best practices such as maintaining heading structure so that topics can be understood in context of headings and so forth. Doing this makes your website easier to 'crawl' for bots and therefore allows it to rank higher in search engines as the content is easier to understand. In a sense, you are rewarded for your discipline.</p>
<p>Another important part of On-Page SEO has to do with the way you word your content. Using your keywords in your main body content allows for better content matching.&nbsp;This is a major reason why our coding practices at Wallaby Designs lay a heavy emphasis on SEO Optimized Code, because we understand the importance of maintaining good content structure.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As was mentioned earlier, if you want to examine your On-Page SEO and see how it measures up, there is an excellent guide to On-Page SEO in our article: <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a>.</p>
<h2>Second Type: Off-Page SEO</h2>
<p>You might read the name of this kind of SEO and think 'duh'! Logically, it makes sense that external factors have an impact on your Search Engine listing, but how? For this, it's best to understand how exactly Search Engines work, and for that you need only to read above if you haven't already.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Off-page SEO refers to the activities you carry out on other pages of your website, other websites, and even other platforms to support the ranking of your page (<a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We spoke at length about backlinks above, so you should understand the importance of backlinks for your website ranking. There are a number of ways to improve this ranking, which we have outlined in our <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a> article.</p>
<p>Beyond that, the best way to help your off-page SEO is by producing good quality content. We have a few suggestions here, but blogging is the easiest way to help this ranking. Our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/eight-benefits-of-blogging-for-your-small-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8 Benefits of Blogging for Your Small Business</a></span> has some excellent advice on this.&nbsp;We also have another article: <a href="/blog/ten-search-engine-optimization-tips-for-bloggers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Ten Search Engine Optimization Tips for Beginners</span></a> that also gives great ideas on content creation and how it can benefit your SEO ranking.</p>
<h2>Third Type: Local SEO</h2>
<p>It may shock you to learn that approximately 46% of all searches have to do with location (<span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://www.safaridigital.com.au/blog/local-seo-statistics/#:~:text=46%25%20of%20all%20searches%20will,half%20of%20all%20Google%20searches." target="_blank" rel="noopener">source</a></span>). Since Google handles over 3.5 billion searches every day, that's over 1.6 billion searches which are intended for local content. Locally based SEO results, therefore, should be important to you and your business and there are a number of ways to do this, but some simple methods are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Creating and updating your Search Engine profiles - Having a Google Business Profile that you post updates to is a good way to stay current with Google and raise your local rank. Reviews on this profile, as well as images and map content, are tremendously important for success.</li>
<li>Ensuring your business is listed in local and online directories with correct NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data. This ensures that people not only can find you, but they can contact you. It is one of the most important factors of SEO since it determines how customers are able to interact with you.</li>
<li>Putting your company NAP data on your website for your customers to find. The best and easiest way to do this is by having your company contact information in the footer.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Fourth Type: Technical SEO</h2>
<p>Technical SEO relates not only to how search engines are able to read your website (see: <a href="/blog/why-do-search-engines-work-the-way-they-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Why do Search Engines work the way they do?</span></a>), but also the site architecture, security, speed, and mobile optimization, among other factors. Also, if your pages are not able to be easily crawled, they won't be ranked well.</p>
<p>Mobile friendly websites are especially important to google as they are one of the driving forces for internet access. In fact, in 2015 it was observed that more than half of all web searches were performed on mobile (<span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/8/9480779/google-search-mobile-vs-desktop-2015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">source</a></span>).</p>
<p>With mobile devices coming to the forefront of access, your website needs to be able to handle lower-bandwidth access and so needs to be optimized for mobile as well as desktop. Having poor mobile accessibility can severely impact your site.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to Optimize your website for Search Engines</a></span> has a list of search factors that can negatively impact your ranking.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

There are four categories of SEO, each one is important to your SEO marketing plan. Learn about the four categories of SEO and how to optimize your website

Four Types of SEO Every Business Should Know

<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>Why did I use ChatGPT?</li>
<li>The Scenario</li>
<li>Limitations experienced</li>
<li>The Resolution</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why Did I use ChatGPT?</h2>
<p>I found myself debugging an error in some code for a website I had been working on. It wasn't a complicated error, but I wanted to see how ChatGPT would handle it. I also thought it would provide an opportunity to better understand the benefits of ChatGPT in assisting developers with their code. For the purposes of this article, I'm going to assume that those reading are not fluent in web development technologies and so will spare the technical talk.</p>
<p>You may recall in a previous post, I wrote on the subject of <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/will-chatgpt-replace-traditional-web-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whether ChatGPT will replace traditional web development</a></span>, and my hope is that this article will stand as a use-case to strengthen the claims made there.</p>
<h2>The Scenario</h2>
<p>While working on some code for a website I was building, I found a fairly nuanced error message. I was drawing a blank for solving it and so decided to do as many of my colleagues do and ask ChatGPT. The error message, it should be pointed out, was not one that prevented the code from compiling, nor was it syntax related. For simplicity, the error had to do with assigning a value to something that expected a 'never' response. I could have probably ignored the error and moved on, but I'm a perfectionist at heart and decided this was an excellent opportunity to explore with ChatGPT. My thinking being that ChatGPT could serve as a sounding board for my errors and a case study for my earlier article.</p>
<p>To resolve the issue, I pasted the problematic code into the ChatGPT prompt and was met with a detailed answer that included a modified version of my code with the supposed solution to my error.&nbsp;Here is where the story takes a turn as the response I received from ChatGPT was able to solve my initial small issue, but presented several more.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Limitations Experienced</h2>
<p>In an effort to resolve the can of worms that I had now opened, I started essentially 'Pair Programming' with ChatGPT to see if doing so would resolve the error. For my non-software readers, Pair Programming is an Agile term that has to do with working with another developer to write code and is common practice in what is called 'XP', or 'Extreme Programming'. The problem however arose in that the responses from ChatGPT, rather than progressing with the conversation, became cyclical.</p>
<p>We were no longer progressing with the solution, but had started a cycle in which ChatGPT had no answers so continued to loop back to an earlier one. These earlier solutions notably had not worked, and so we fell into a repeated cycle, even when this was pointed out to it. The initial error, which was not major in any stretch, was now replaced by a different major issue that caused the program to no longer compile at all.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not all solutions, it should be noted, caused errors. There was some perfectly good segments of code that were given, but they only worked because they completely negated the initial code that needed fixing. They presented a working program that simply nullified the first error code and so 'worked', but did not fix the issue.</p>
<h2>The Resolution</h2>
<p>Fortunately, through the process, my brain was able to reboot sufficient enough to realize a simple solution to the initial problem. I shared my resolution with ChatGPT, who was pleased to have been a part of the process. The resolution to my error was not fixed by ChatGPT in this circumstance, but the conversation was able to inspire another direction that I had not considered unrelated to the solutions posed.</p>
<p>In answer to the question posed previously, <a href="/blog/will-chatgpt-replace-traditional-web-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Will ChatGPT replace traditional web development</span></a>? My thoughts are that they will not, at least in the conceivable future. In this scenario, the solution was found through creative means, not traditional ones. ChatGPT is an extremely useful tool for developers, but may not necessarily solve all coding problems, especially when they require a higher level of creativity to solve.</p>

Can ChatGPT help developers solve problems? What happens when ChatGPT is unable to help?

ChatGPT: Working together With an AI

Lesser known Search Engine Optimization methods to improve your SEO Ranking. On-Site and Off-Site methods for achieving higher search rankings.

Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals

<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>What is SEO.</li>
<li>The Benefits of SEO.</li>
<li>Different kinds of SEO</li>
<li>Ranking Factors for Search Engines.</li>
<li>What makes SEO work?</li>
<li>On-Page and Off-Page optimization</li>
<li>Technical SEO optimization</li>
<li>Best Practices</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why is SEO?</h2>
<p>SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a practice of optimizing content so that it shows up better on search engines. The goal of search engine optimization is to align your site with ranking algorithms used by search engine's so that it can be quickly found, crawled, indexed, and discovered.</p>
<h2>The Benefits of SEO</h2>
<p>Many different things, both indirectly and specifically linked to your business, are being searched for online. Knowing this, you can make yourself available to these people, assist them with their issues and inquiries, and establish yourself as a reliable resource for what they need. Specifically, SEO can benefit your business in the following ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>Higher Traffic: The primary goal of SEO is to increase traffic to your website, good SEO helps you achieve this! Higher traffic not only provides you with more potential customers, but also increases opportunities to build your brand and raise awareness.</li>
<li>Better Reputation: You can think of higher google rankings as being a higher degree of trust, not only from Google, but from internet users. The better your SEO, the higher you rank, and the more trusted your brand becomes to your potential customers.</li>
<li>Return on Investment: The work you put in to building your website is rewarded with higher traffic, more customers, and hopefully higher levels of success for your business.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Different Kinds of SEO</h2>
<p>There are a number of factors that popular search engines use to rank the content of your website, which means there are multiple areas that need to be addressed to improve your ranking. The main types of SEO are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Off-Site SEO: This is commonly referred to as 'Backlinks', and relates to how other websites reference your content. This might take the form of posts on social media that link to your website content, but also internal linking to other pages or articles on your website. Posting regular content can help with this internal linking and also provide further backlinking to your other content. Check out our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/ten-search-engine-optimization-tips-for-bloggers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ten Search Engine Optimization Tips for Beginners</span></a></span> to get some good ideas on content creation.</li>
<li>On-Site SEO: The content and quality of your website provide a good roadmap for web-crawlers to index and understand your content. Providing good heading structure and keyword usage increases topic relevancy and therefore SEO rankings. At Wallaby Designs, we write SEO optimized code, so you can feel assured in at least this form of SEO. For a good idea on on-site SEO factors, check out our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://wallabydesigns.com/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a></span>.</li>
<li>Technical SEO: How your site performs, UX, Security, accessibility and so forth. No matter how valuable your content is, if pages on your site are inaccessible to search engines, they won't show up or rank in search results.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Local SEO: Ranking as high as possible on Google Maps is another way to rank higher in search results. Reviews, Business Profile Optimization, and listings are very important here. Meta data and social signals also help.</li>
</ol>
<p>Other forms of SEO that you can pursue, depending on your content type, are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Image SEO: The goal here is to make your website images rank higher in Google Image Search. This is a mixture of good image optimization and well articulated image meta content.</li>
<li>Video SEO: Similar to Image SEO, optimizing images and using good descriptors can help them to rank higher on YouTube, providing further opportunities to advance your business listing.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Ranking Factors of Search Engines</h2>
<p>Numerous studies have been performed to determine what ranks highest in Google searches. Based on <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="https://firstpagesage.com/seo-blog/the-google-algorithm-ranking-factors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this </a></span>study by First Page Sage, the 2023 Google Algorithm Ranking Factors are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Consistent Publication of Engaging Content 24%</li>
<li>Keywords in Meta Title Tags 15%</li>
<li>Backlinks 15%</li>
<li>Niche Expertise 14%</li>
<li>User Engagement 12%</li>
<li>Trustworthiness 5%</li>
<li>Mobile-Friendly / Mobile-First Website 4%</li>
<li>Internal Links 3%</li>
<li>Page Speed 3%</li>
<li>Site Security / SSL Certificate 2%</li>
<li>Schema Markup / Structured Data 1%</li>
<li>Keywords in URL 1%</li>
<li>Keywords in Meta Description Tags + 19 Other Factors 1%</li>
</ol>
<h2>What makes SEO work?</h2>
<p>Knowing the factors, what exactly causes Google, and other Search Engines, to decide what websites rank above others?&nbsp;</p>
<p>The billions of internet pages that exist today are collected, categorized, and stored in Google's index by search crawlers that are constantly scouring the internet. When you perform a search, Google displays results based on its index rather than the actual web.</p>
<p>The results of this crawling is sorted using a complex formula, or Algorithm, to rank websites based on the factors listed above and determine what results are most relevant when a search is performed. More optimized websites rise higher based on these factors.</p>
<p>How users interact with your website also factors how Google ranks your content. If users are on your page for less time, you are ranked lower than someone who holds users attention for longer.</p>
<p>Essentially, websites are ranked based on how they not only fit the needs of the customer, but hold their attention, provide good content for them, and so forth. Optimizing your content can, therefore, go a long way to increasing your ranking.</p>
<h2>On-Page &amp; Off-Page Optimization</h2>
<p>A separate article has been created as this one of the most complex parts of SEO. To read more, check out our article: <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a>.</p>
<h2>Technical SEO Optimization</h2>
<p>Technical SEO is done on your website's back end to make sure it complies with Google's requirements for site security and user experience, as well as to make it as simple as possible for Google to crawl your website and perform its analysis and rankings of your site. There are a few different optimizations that are taken into account here, which are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Page Load Speed: Similar to Image SEO, the code and content of your website can impact load speed and therefore positively or negatively impact the SEO of your website. This is where image loading strategies can be implemented to optimize your content.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Mobile First: About 60% of internet traffic is on mobile, so simply making your content 'mobile friendly' isn't good enough. Google places a lot of emphasis on Mobile First, meaning you need to be completely responsive for mobile interfaces.</li>
<li>Security: Using Https over Http is an important, yet necessary change to secure your website content and the browsing experience of your potential customers. Most browsers will make it difficult to load Http websites, making them naturally rank lower.</li>
<li>Site Architecture: Just about any page in your site should be accessible in three clicks or less. If it takes more to get somewhere, there needs to be changes made to your site to provide a more streamlined process. This is where internal linking can play a larger role.</li>
<li>Core Web Vitals: There are three main metrics used to determine user experience on your website. They determine how fast users can access your website,&nbsp; the experience they might receive, and how easy your site is to navigate. The metrics are as follows: Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and First Input Delay. To learn more about these, see our article about <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a>.</li>
<li>URL Structure: The way your site structure is organized, especially when they follow a logical pattern of /blog, /post, /product, etc. allow for web crawlers to navigate your website easier and provide a clearer hierarchy for users to follow.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Best Practices</h2>
<p>There are a number of ways that you can improve your SEO ranking, but some of the best ways are the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Be Patient: This is number one for a reason. It takes time for a strategy to bear fruit. Improving your listing may take months before any real change can be seen, but the important thing to do is keep at it.</li>
<li>Focus on Quality: The Google search factors that make up the Google Search Algorithm are constantly being updated and changed. One of the best ways to stay ahead of the curve is to provide good quality content that is useful to your customers. Doing so will provide more views, leading to more trust, and therefore a higher ranking.</li>
<li>Search your Keywords: (click here to learn more about key word research). There is quite often a difference between keywords that the customer is searching for and what you are focusing on. The intent of keywords is important and so it's important to perform these searches yourself to keep your content relevant.</li>
<li>Maintenance: Don't rest on your laurels, consistent production of good content is not only important, but is the top ranked factor by Google. If you let your content grow stale, it becomes less important and your ranking lowers over time. It's good to refresh your content periodically, whether that be through posting blogs, or deals, in order to remain fresh.</li>
<li>Keep an eye on Traffic: It's important to analyze your customers as to what brought them to your website so you can see what is working and what is not. This is how your improve your SEO keywords and grow your ranking.</li>
</ol>

A Comprehensive guide to Search Engine Optimization: What it is, how to improve it, & ranking factors that impact how your website ranks in Search Engines

How to optimize your website for search engines

<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>The significance of ChatGPT.</li>
<li>Understanding what exactly ChatGPT is.</li>
<li>Comparing ChatGPT to modern search engines.</li>
<li>How does ChatGPT work?</li>
<li>Do Developers use ChatGPT?</li>
<li>What ChatGPT can do, what it can't do.</li>
<li>Will ChatGPT replace website development.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why is ChatGPT so Significant?</h2>
<p>Industry insiders predict that ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can replicate human speech and create code, will transform application development and the developer profession into a different species. This is a particularly interesting topic for me, as someone with degrees in both Software Engineering and Website Design and Development, and one that warrants further discussion.</p>
<h2>What is ChatGPT?</h2>
<p>Developed by San Francisco-based startup OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot. Elon Musk and Sam Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, and it is supported by well-known investors, most notably Microsoft.</p>
<p>It is one of many examples of what is known as 'generative AI'. Generative AI simply translates to tools that let users enter written instructions to receive new text that appears to have been created by a human being, as well as images and videos. An example of this is the image generating AI, Dall-E.</p>
<h2>How does ChatGPT compare to a Search Engine?</h2>
<p>On the surface, ChatGPT seems similar to a search engine. However, ChatGPT is a language model designed to hold a conversation with the end user. A search engine indexes web pages on the internet to assist users in finding the information they seek. ChatGPT generates a response using the information it learned from training data, which leaves room for error.</p>
<p>ChatGPT and search engines are two distinct types of information processing and access tools with distinct purposes and capabilities.&nbsp;ChatGPT is a language model that can generate natural language responses based on the text that it has been trained on. It is intended to understand and respond to human language in a conversational manner, and it can be used for a variety of applications including chatbots, content generation, language translation, and others.</p>
<p>A search engine, on the other hand, is a software tool that assists users in finding specific information by searching for relevant content across the internet. Search engines crawl and index web pages using complex algorithms, and then use these indexes to retrieve and rank relevant results based on keywords or search terms entered by the user. They are intended to assist users in quickly finding information on a specific topic or query, and can be used for a variety of purposes including research, information gathering, and more.</p>
<p>In summary, ChatGPT is intended to understand and respond to natural language queries, whereas search engines are intended to assist users in quickly locating relevant information on a specific topic or query. While their capabilities may overlap, they are fundamentally different types of tools with distinct purposes and applications.</p>
<h2>How does ChatGPT Work?</h2>
<p>The Generative Pre-trained Transformer, a language model architecture developed by OpenAI, powers ChatGPT (GPT). According to OpenAI, the particular GPT used by ChatGPT is customized from a model in the GPT-3.5 series. These kinds of generative AI models are trained using an insane quantity of online data. This data can be in the form of websites, books, articles, and so forth.</p>
<p>Both supervised learning and reinforcement learning were used to improve the language model. What makes ChatGPT particularly distinctive is the application of Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF). According to OpenAI, human AI trainers used RLHF to feed the model with discussions in which they acted as both the user and the AI aides. Here is a basic overview of how exactly it works:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Pre-training: ChatGPT is pre-trained on a large corpus of text data, such as books, articles, and web pages, using an unsupervised learning approach. During pre-training, the model learns to identify patterns and relationships between words, and to represent them as vectors in high-dimensional space.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Fine-tuning: After pre-training, the model is fine-tuned on a specific task, such as generating text in response to a given prompt or conversing with a user in a chatbot application. During fine-tuning, the model is trained on a smaller corpus of text data that is specific to the task at hand.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Generation: Once the model has been trained, it can generate natural language responses to input text. When a user enters a prompt or question, the model generates a sequence of words that it believes is the most likely continuation of the input text, based on its learned patterns and relationships between words. The model can generate responses of varying length and complexity, depending on the specific task and the input text.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Evaluation: Finally, the generated text is evaluated for quality and relevance, using metrics such as perplexity and human evaluation. The model can then be further fine-tuned based on the evaluation results, to improve its performance over time.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>In summary, ChatGPT learns patterns and relationships between words by pre-training a transformer-based language model on a sizable corpus of text data, honing it for a particular task, and then generating natural language responses to input text.</p>
<h2>Do Developers use ChatGPT?</h2>
<p>Since OpenAI released the chatbot on Nov. 30, 2021, more than 1 million people have signed up for ChatGPT's free research preview. Simple webpages and applications can be created by the bot using programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, and React. It can also detect bugs in code and aid in the development of new programming languages.</p>
<p>According to OpenAI, the model interacts in a conversational manner and can admit mistakes, answer follow-up questions, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.</p>
<p>Here are a few ways that ChatGPT can be used by developers:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Building conversational interfaces: ChatGPT can be used to build chatbots and other conversational interfaces that can understand natural language queries and provide relevant responses. This can be useful for a range of applications, such as customer service, e-commerce, and more.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Content generation: ChatGPT can be used to generate text content for a variety of applications, such as product descriptions, news articles, and more. This can save time and resources for developers, while ensuring that the generated content is high-quality and relevant.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Language translation: ChatGPT can be used to translate text from one language to another, using a technique called neural machine translation. This can be useful for developers who need to provide multilingual support for their applications.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Sentiment analysis: ChatGPT can be used to analyze the sentiment of text data, such as customer reviews or social media posts. This can help developers gain insights into customer feedback and improve their products or services.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Personalization: ChatGPT can be used to provide personalized recommendations and responses to users, based on their previous interactions and preferences. This can help improve user engagement and satisfaction with an application.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Overall, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for developers who need to process and generate natural language text data, saving time and resources while improving the quality and relevance of text-based applications.</p>
<h2>What exactly can ChatGPT do?</h2>
<p>I asked ChatGPT to tell me the answer to this question, and it told me the following:</p>
<p>As a language model, ChatGPT can be used for a wide range of applications. Some of the most common uses of ChatGPT include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Chatbots and virtual assistants: ChatGPT can be used to create intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants that can understand and respond to human language in a natural way. This can be useful for customer service, technical support, and other applications where users need assistance.</li>
<li>Content generation: ChatGPT can be used to generate high-quality written content, including articles, blog posts, and product descriptions. This can be helpful for businesses and individuals who need to produce large amounts of content quickly.</li>
<li>Language translation: ChatGPT can be used to translate text from one language to another. This can be useful for businesses that operate in multiple countries or individuals who need to communicate with people who speak different languages.</li>
<li>Personalization: ChatGPT can be used to personalize content and recommendations for individual users. For example, it can be used to recommend products based on a user's purchase history or to suggest articles based on a user's reading preferences.</li>
<li>Research and analysis: ChatGPT can be used to analyze large amounts of text data and extract insights and trends. This can be useful for academic research, market research, and other applications where large amounts of data need to be processed and analyzed.</li>
</ol>
<h2>What are the limitations of ChatGPT?</h2>
<p>Although ChatGPT appears to be quite remarkable, it still has limitations. Some restrictions include the inability to respond to questions that are phrased in a particular way since it necessitates rephrasing in order to comprehend the input question. A more significant drawback is the poor quality of the responses it provides, which occasionally sound reasonable but are overly vague or lengthy.</p>
<p>Unintentional responses to inquiries can result when the model assumes what your confusing inquiry implies rather than seeking clarification. As a result, ChatGPT-generated answers to questions have already been temporarily banned on the developer question-and-answer website StackOverflow.</p>
<p>Prior to mid March 2023, ChatGPT's data was restricted to anything posted on or before 2021. However, now ChatGPT has access to a live internet. Prior to that time, the chatbot was unaware of current news or events that have happened since then.</p>
<p>While ChatGPT is a powerful language model with many potential applications, it does have some limitations. Here are a few:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Biases and inaccuracies: Like any language model, ChatGPT is only as good as the data it has been trained on. If the data contains biases or inaccuracies, these can be reflected in ChatGPT's responses. Additionally, ChatGPT may sometimes generate responses that are factually incorrect or inappropriate.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lack of common sense: While ChatGPT can generate responses that are grammatically correct and semantically coherent, it does not have common sense or real-world knowledge. For example, it may not be able to understand jokes, sarcasm, or cultural references.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Limited understanding of context: ChatGPT may sometimes struggle to understand the context of a conversation, which can lead to responses that are irrelevant or confusing. It may also have difficulty understanding slang, idioms, or other forms of informal language.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Resource-intensive: Training and running a large language model like ChatGPT can be resource-intensive, requiring significant amounts of computational power and storage space. This can make it difficult for individuals or small organizations to use ChatGPT for certain applications.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lack of emotional intelligence: While ChatGPT can generate responses that sound natural, it does not have emotional intelligence or the ability to understand and respond to emotions. This can make it difficult for ChatGPT to provide effective emotional support or counseling.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>Will Developers be replaced by ChatGPT?</h2>
<p>ChatGPT won't completely replace programmers, but it might take the place of some coding tasks like writing boilerplate code or generic functions. That's because coding is only one aspect of a programmer's job. In fact, a lot of programmers are using ChatGPT to minimize tedious coding tasks. This could be compared to a mathematician using a calculator.</p>
<p>Developers can also use ChatGPT as a sounding board for debugging code. A great example of this comes from a <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/chat-gpt-working-together-with-an-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previous Pair Programming effort with ChatGPT</a></span> that perfectly illustrates this point.&nbsp;Developers are unlikely to be replaced by chatbots like ChatGPT, at least not in the near future. While chatbots and other AI-based tools can automate certain tasks and processes, they cannot replace developers' creativity, problem-solving skills, and human judgment.</p>
<p>Developers play an important role in the design, development, and maintenance of software applications, and their skills must extend beyond natural language processing and generation. They must be knowledgeable about programming languages, software design principles, testing and debugging, and other topics. They must also be able to effectively communicate with stakeholders, collaborate with other developers, and stay current on industry trends and best practices.</p>
<p>Chatbots like ChatGPT, on the other hand, are designed to automate specific natural language processing and generation tasks and cannot replace the broader range of skills and expertise that developers bring to their work. While they can be useful tools for developers to use, they are not a replacement for human developers.</p>
<p>In conclusion, while chatbots and other AI-based tools can be useful assistants for developers, they are unlikely to completely replace them. Developers will continue to play an important role in the development and maintenance of software applications and will be in high demand for the foreseeable future.</p>

An examination of ChatGPT and analysis of its role in web development. Specifically, how it measures up to human web developers.

Will ChatGPT Replace Traditional Web Development?

<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Compared to page builders like WordPress, custom websites have the potential to load up to ten times faster. Most visitors will leave your website if it takes longer than three seconds to load, costing you customers.</li>
<li>Google indexes your website depending on how effectively it functions on mobile devices, and page builder mobile sites are typically not as optimized, quick, well-built, or 100% responsive, which could hurt your search ranks.</li>
<li>Our websites are designed with mobile in mind from the beginning, not just after. The speed of your website on Google will improve as a result, giving users a better experience overall.</li>
<li>WordPress must be updated frequently to fix security weaknesses that hackers can use to infiltrate your website. WordPress is famously recognized for its vulnerabilities. Due to their simplicity and lack of hackable access points, hand-made static sites are virtually impermeable and cannot be readily infiltrated.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Website Categorization</h2>
<p>Static and dynamic websites are the two main categories in web creation. A static site is a website that simply uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as its primary programming languages. There are no databases, features, data manipulation capabilities, or other sophisticated things. Just the page as it was created is being displayed. Everything you see on a website is coded in one of these three languages, and in many situations, that's all you need. A static site loads instantly because your browser reads and builds the website's source code. The identical content is loaded by every user.</p>
<p>Wallaby Designs is proud to provide high-end dynamic and static websites to meet your needs. Our <strong>standard </strong>website package is 100% static, whereas our <strong>blogger </strong>and <strong>e-commerce</strong> packages are a mixture of dynamic and static. The dynamic pages allow for content updates such as new blog content or product updates, but this is not necessary for all pages. Furthermore, our websites are built following modern practices to minimize load and optimize performance. Notice how fast this page loaded compared to many other websites you may have visited? Chances are, you can tell the difference.</p>
<h2>Speed of Hand Coded Versus WordPress&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Consumers don't like to wait around for websites to load. In fact, Google started using page speed as one of its ranking elements for desktop and mobile because it is so crucial to the user experience. The key justification for integrating speed in its algorithm was that statistics indicated users spent less time on websites that loaded slowly. A Website Builder Expert survey from 2021 found that 1 in 4 visitors leave a website that takes longer than 4 seconds to load.</p>
<h3>WordPress Speed</h3>
<p>The influence on load time of a WordPress site requiring PHP and a database is a drawback. Your server must run the PHP code and retrieve data from your database each time a visitor comes to your website in order to show them the right information. This can lengthen load times and cause delays because it uses more server resources than an HTML site.</p>
<h3>Static Website Speed</h3>
<p>PHP execution or database queries are not necessary for static websites to load. This implies that static sites are quicker than WordPress sites right out of the box, especially if the code is optimized.</p>
<p>A static HTML site can be optimized in a number of ways to make it load quickly. Included in these actions are removing extraneous white space, removing comment sections, frequently caching your site's content, minimizing the number of inline scripts, minifying and compressing images, employing lazy loading for photos, and more.</p>
<h2>increased site speed and mobile-first programming</h2>
<p>Page builders are not capable of performing mobile first programming. In accordance with this design pattern, developers should begin writing code for mobile devices first before moving on to tablet and desktop screens as they proceed along the file. CSS files are scanned by the browser from top to bottom to determine how the page should be organized and decorated. If we start by writing desktop code at the top of the page, the browser will read it first and load it, then it will continue to the bottom of the page to check for rules for various screen sizes and load those designs, altering the desktop content to fit into mobile.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When viewing a website on a mobile device, if the mobile code is located at the bottom of the CSS file, the browser must first load the desktop code before checking the screen size requirement and confirming that the page is mobile-friendly. Then, everything from the desktop must be disassembled and crammed onto the screen of a mobile device. Time and resources are wasted on this.</p>
<h2>Why hire someone to create a website when I can create one myself using a CMS?</h2>
<p>Wix and WordPress, among other content management systems, promote the idea that anyone can create a website at no cost. This appeals greatly to small businesses who lack the funding to engage developers to create one for them, but can often produce clunky, cookie cutter themed websites. To stand out from the competition, we strongly suggest finding someone to create a completely custom website for you, especially if you want to have worries about page speed, loading times, security, converting more clients, and Google rankings handled in a website.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The cost of web development might vary based on its scope. Most US based web developers will charge between $100-250 per hour. Depending on intricacy, it can cost anywhere from $1800 to $5,000 to have a developer build a simple custom website. The more features you need, the longer it will take the developer to create your site and the more expensive it can become.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Understandably, In order to cut costs by doing it yourself, it is only natural to be drawn to page builders. Nothing is incorrect about this way of thinking and nobody can fault you for it, but if you want to advance your business, or the performance of it, consider having a custom website created. Let us build you something that will perform significantly better and surpass the competitors. Wallaby Designs will always be upfront about estimated costs and, because we want your repeat business, will work hard to stick to the development budget set during our website planning.</p>
<p>Some web designers create unique WordPress sites, and they do a good job and are passionate about what they do. We are not implying that WordPress website developers are con artists or produce subpar goods, they still have their benefits and are fine for many use cases. For example, WordPress is fantastic for users who want to edit their own material, create an online store, a blog they can write and edit themselves (we also offer this with our blogger package), create custom applications, or manipulate data, or do anything else that requires a database.</p>
<p>There's a good chance that WordPress is used by some of your rivals as well. Some developers or companies charge thousands of dollars to create these straightforward WordPress sites that could have been made static, and many of them are simply pump-and-dump template installations that they give to you without any maintenance. Therefore, it will be challenging to find a reputable developer or agency, but the effort will be well worth it. Just take your time to separate the undesirables from the desirables.</p>
<h2>A Website is an Investment</h2>
<p>When it comes to website development, there are two types of clients: Owners of businesses, and entrepreneurs. Considering a website as an expense rather than an investment is one of the biggest mistakes business owners can make. Entrepreneurs are aware that when they spend money on their company, it is an investment, rather than an expense, and they are able to defend the cost of their expenditures by pointing to the benefits they would receive in return. You might pay a developer $3000 to create a static website for you as an example.</p>
<p>It may seem like a lot, but if your website is more attractive and functional, you may be able to retain clients who might have abandoned it because it took too long to load or looked terrible, making you appear unreliable. You get what you pay for with websites since they are an investment. If you want something thrown together that appears generic or outdated, this might cause people to avoid you. If you want a cheap site, you can anticipate cheap outcomes. If you want it done right, let us help!</p>

An in-depth analysis of websites built with Content Management Systems such as WordPress and how they compare to custom built websites. 

The differences between Custom Website Development & CMS

The differences between Custom Websites and content management systems

<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Blogs drive more website traffic</li>
<li>Content for Social Media</li>
<li>More potential Leads</li>
<li>Builds consumer confidence</li>
<li>Improves your&nbsp;Link Building &amp;&nbsp;SEO Ranking</li>
<li>Long-term results</li>
<li>Method for providing company news</li>
<li>Potential Revenue</li>
</ul>
<h2>1. A Blog can drive traffic to your website</h2>
<p>If you are reading this, it means you were lead here by a question. A question you hope to learn from this article. Chances are, your clients also have questions, and you may have answers to those questions, or provide a direction to point them when they do.&nbsp;</p>
<p>You have an increased chance of appearing on the search engine results page (SERP) and attracting visitors to your website through organic search every time you write and publish a blog post. Google regularly has new stuff to index thanks to your blog. Each piece of content has the potential to rank for particular keywords that will draw your target audience to your website.</p>
<p>Businesses can target commercial keywords (those that draw customers) as well as non-commercial keywords by combining static web pages with blog entries (those that attract information seekers). Customers and information searchers can both generate new business.</p>
<h2>2. Posts can be shared on Social Media&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Blog entries are more likely to be shared on social media by users than adverts or sales pages are, and blog posts are also more likely to be read by social media users.&nbsp;By writing a blog, you provide yourself more content to post on social media and you give your website visitors something to post about when they visit. Your target audiences will see more of your material when it's shared on social media, which will also improve incoming traffic.</p>
<p>A non-sales method of promoting your company is provided through blog entries. You might easily respond with a blog article if someone asked you to do anything on social media. It will be perceived as more useful to respond with a blog article as opposed to a sales page for your goods or services. It will automatically direct the reader to your goods and services, particularly if you include a strong call to action at the conclusion of each of your posts.</p>
<h2>3. Blogs can increase number of potential leads</h2>
<p>Nearly 80% of businesses that blog reported that they acquired customers from doing so (<span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" title="HubSpot Marketing Statistics" href="https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">source</a></span>). A site receives more leads the more content pages it has. The end result of having a blog on your website is leads. These web visitors will be more likely to become clients if they have the opportunity to read a blog about your company. Additionally, when you produce blog entries, you open up the possibility of sharing the content, which may potentially draw in more clients.</p>
<p>Whether you're selling the newest shoes or SEO services, or operate a news-driven website that depends on more visitors for better advertising revenue, more traffic equals more leads. When compared to businesses that blog infrequently or never, those that blog frequently see tremendous advantages.&nbsp;More visitors to your website can only increase the possibility of bookings, contact form submissions, and queries from potential customers.</p>
<p>Any type of business benefits from increased website traffic, especially when those customers found your material while looking for a solution to their issues. Make sure the headlines appropriately summarize the material that follows and create content that appeals to the problems faced by your target audience.</p>
<h2>4. Blogs can build consumer confidence</h2>
<p>Do you have a business that you would like to expand? Why not grow it with a blog?&nbsp;A blog is a website or web page that is updated often and can be used for both personal and professional purposes. Dedicated to a certain aspect of your business, a blog post is a standalone web page on your website that can potentially drive traffic, or increase your credibility with your potential clients.</p>
<p>Search engine rankings for a number of keywords are possible with blog postings. People who find your blog post while searching for a subject you've written about can then access the remainder of your business's website. They might click "Product and services" after reading your post to look at the options your business offers.</p>
<p>People will start to regard you as an authority in the subject matter as you blog more frequently about it. Interviews, podcasts, eventually speaking engagements and book publishing deals may result from this recognition.</p>
<h2>5. Blogs are excellent for link building and SEO</h2>
<p>Obtaining backlinks&mdash;also referred to as link building&mdash;on other websites that point to your website is a key component of SEO. With the help of this SEO technique, your search engine rankings will rise as a result of increased search engine visibility. You might also be interested in our article: <a href="/blog/ten-search-engine-optimization-tips-for-bloggers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">10 Search Engine Optimization Tips for Bloggers</span></a>.</p>
<p>The most difficult aspect of search optimization, according to 41% of SEO specialists, is link building, despite the importance of obtaining inbound links. It would be simpler to obtain relevant connections if you wrote articles that were helpful not only to other businesses that your audience regarded as industry leaders but also to your potential clients.</p>
<p>Links from other websites act as a seal of approval or endorsement for reliable websites. Additionally, it tells Google that you are a reliable authority in your field. Building your domain authority, which enhances your overall discoverability in search engines, is another advantage of backlinks. Basically, Google will rank your site better in search results if many high-authority websites link back to it, assuming that this suggests your site offers important, relevant, and valuable material.</p>
<h2>6. Blogs can drive long-term results</h2>
<p>There are numerous future benefits of having a blog. The finest business blogs respond to frequent queries from followers and clients. You'll become recognized by your target audience as an authority in your field if you constantly produce useful material or articles for them.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What would happen if you sent a confused customer a helpful blog article you made to explain things? Or how many more sales would a salesperson be able to close if their leads came across blog posts that were written by them?&nbsp;Although building your authority is not a physical vanity statistic like traffic and leads, it is still pretty potent. It can be utilized to gauge sales enablement. Because many of your blog posts are ultimately just that.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, well written blog posts are what are considered to be a 'compounding' item, meaning that over time they are likely to continue to gain traffic.&nbsp;How many visitors visit your blog for the first time is irrelevant. You might think that a post is unsuccessful if it has 100 views today and 50 views over the course of the following week.</p>
<p>With that blog article now having a ranking, you can anticipate continuing to have visitors for the foreseeable future&mdash;for days, weeks, months, and even years. Contrary to popular belief, blogging actually serves more as a future advantage than a current one. Yesterday's work could result in hundreds of thousands of future views and leads in the future.</p>
<h2>7. Your Blog can provide a way to share company news</h2>
<p>Every big and small business can use blogging as a platform to disseminate news and tales about their operations.&nbsp;Blogs can include news on the activities of a firm in addition to articles.&nbsp;Expertise in online marketing and the sector been questioned? Write about it on your blog.&nbsp;Have a fantastic case study that illustrates how your goods and services benefit clients?</p>
<p>Share it on your blog, inform your readers about it. Are you putting on a regional trade exhibition or fair? Make noise about the event on your blog. Publishing company updates to your blog not only humanizes your brand but also demonstrates to your readers that you are not only in the business of selling.</p>
<h2>8. Your Blog can be a source of revenue</h2>
<p>Do you want to monetize your blogs? It turns out there are a variety of inventive ways to monetize your blog content. You can make money blogging about almost any topic you can think of thanks to business methods like affiliate marketing.</p>
<p>There are many different affiliate programs available where you can make money by directing customers to pertinent goods and services. When it comes to blogging, your earlier pieces will probably generate the majority of your blog revenue.</p>
<p><a title="Google Adsense" href="https://www.google.com/adsense/start/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Google AdSense</span></a> is a well known product for this very purpose and we at Wallaby Designs will provide you with all of the tools you will need to take advantage of AdSense with your blogs as part of our blogger development package.</p>

How does Blogging benefit your small business? Here are 8 ways that you can boost your online presence with blogging!

8 Benefits of Blogging for your Small Business

<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>The quality of content is important</li>
<li>Write based on anticipated keywords</li>
<li>Provide good titles</li>
<li>Use keywords effectively</li>
<li>Link to your own posts</li>
<li>Link to your blog from outside sources</li>
<li>Build a following of consistent readers</li>
<li>Make your content engaging</li>
<li>Load speed impacts your SEO</li>
<li>Optimize for mobile viewers</li>
</ul>
<p>For a more in-depth SEO optimization, be sure to check out our blog: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to Optimize Your Website for Search Engine Optimization</a></span>, where we dig deeper into SEO and how SEO is factored. The purposes of this article is to focus on blogging, as creating new content is the best way to raise your SEO rank. You might also be interested in knowing <a href="/blog/why-do-search-engines-work-the-way-they-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">why Search Engines work the way they do</span></a>.</p>
<h2>1. Produce good Blog Content</h2>
<p>The most crucial element in search engine optimization for blogs is the caliber of the material you produce. A reader who reads helpful content will frequently want to share it with others. Of course, they do this by sharing the post's link, and frequently they'll do it in a way that boosts your search rankings (i.e. on social media, or their own blog).</p>
<p>Blog entries should offer current data, another indirect SEO ranking element. Visitors receive current and reliable information thanks to new data, which improves the reading experience. By including a link to a reliable website with authentic, current information, you are signaling to a search engine that this website is beneficial and pertinent to your visitors. Additionally, you are informing the search engine that the content you post is somehow connected to this kind of data. Your viewers will grow to value the material over time, which may be seen in other metrics like higher time on page or a reduced bounce rate.</p>
<h2>2. Write Content based on anticipated keywords</h2>
<p>Every time you create an article, you should think about the keywords that readers might use to find that kind of material in search engines. You can position yourself for that search in a terrific way once you know what words they're using.&nbsp;If you don't start off with a plan, keyword research can be a challenging endeavor to take on. As a result, I advise beginning with the subjects your blog will cover before broadening or narrowing your focus from there.</p>
<p>It's not necessary (or recommended) to stuff your posts with keywords in order to optimize them for search engines. Search engines view this as keyword stuffing (see <a href="/blog/why-do-search-engines-work-the-way-they-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Why do Search Engines Work the Way they do?</span></a>), which damages your SEO. It also doesn't provide for a positive reader experience, which search engines now emphasize as a ranking factor (see <a href="/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-search-engine-optimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">How to Optimize your Website for Search Engines</span></a>) to make sure you're meeting your visitors' needs. As a result, you should incorporate keywords into your text without making them seem forced or out of place.</p>
<p>Our article: <span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);"><a style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);" href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Search Engine Optimization and Core Web Vitals</a></span> presents a great section on Creating Good Content that Utilizes keywords that you might find useful as you think about the best way to incorporate keywords into your content.</p>
<h2>3. Provide an effective Blog title</h2>
<p>The first thing a reader sees when they come across your article is the title of your blog post, which has a significant impact on whether they click or scroll down. A compelling title grabs the reader's attention by using information, posing a query, or arousing curiosity.</p>
<p>Powerful, emotional, unusual, and common words are characteristics of a captivating headline. When used in the appropriate combination, the words in the blog title will draw people in and keep them reading.&nbsp;When it comes to titles, there are several considerations. Make sure to use appropriate titles because Google pays close attention to them. Include the post's title in the title tags on your blog's back end. This is not only good practice, it's imperative to success.</p>
<p>Don't use your blog name in the title tags of individual entries if you're only considering SEO. This muddles your keywords. However, if branding is more important to you, using your blog's name in the title tags can be a good idea. Incorporate the keywords you chose into the headline of your post as well. In a title, the words you use first usually have more impact than the words you use afterwards.</p>
<h2>4. Use Keywords Effectively throughout your blog</h2>
<p>Include the keywords you chose in point #2 in your post as well. You must employ that term or phrase if you want Google to rank you for it. Use the words in your post's subheadings (where possible, use h tags), the text itself, the alt tags of your photographs, etc. Avoid going off subject, but do incorporate the terms where they organically occur in the post.</p>
<p>Our article: <a href="/blog/search-optimization-and-core-web-vitals" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: rgb(185, 106, 217);">Search Engine Optimization and Core Web Vitals</span></a> presents an excellent section on SEO Keyword research that will help you as you seek to find good quality keywords to bolster your efforts. It presents 3 steps to developing this list that may be particularly helpful.</p>
<p>In the headers and all through the body of your blog post, use keywords at a natural rate. Avoid overdoing it to avoid getting penalized for keyword stuffing. It's likely that you will consider how to use your keywords in your post before you begin creating a new blog post. That's a good notion, however it shouldn't be your exclusive or even main priority.</p>
<p>Your audience should always come first when you're writing content, not how many times you can cram a keyword or keyword phrase in there. Focus on being kind and responding to any queries that your customer may have had before finding your post. By doing this, you will inherently optimize for crucial keywords.</p>
<h2>5. Link your own Blog posts</h2>
<p>Both internal links from your blog and links from other websites are effective ways to raise the ranks of your website. When appropriate, interlink your posts to let readers know where they can get more information on the subject, but you should also think about linking to important blog entries from other locations.</p>
<p>When you link your other posts in the body of any relevant content, search engines will find yet another point of entry to your posts. This means that site crawlers will identify the post and any updates you provide to them more quickly. As a result, you may experience an increase in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) of those posts.</p>
<h2>6. Find ways to link to your posts from outside</h2>
<p>While important for SEO, links from other websites to yours can be challenging to obtain. Start establishing links from other websites you own or are active on to your blog. Although some of them (like on Twitter) have no-follow tags, they are all potentially effective ways for visitors to access your site, and some of them will aid in SEO.</p>
<p>Instead of becoming concerned with obtaining connections, focus on generating excellent content, and the links will usually appear in due course. But if you've published a fantastic article that you believe will be pertinent to another blog, don't be hesitant to let that blogger or website owner know about it; they could choose to link up.</p>
<p>Be sure to note the posts that are effective at attracting links from other websites. By doing this, you can pick up a lot of knowledge about creating linkable content and you can even discover a method that consistently produces quality material.</p>
<h2>7. Build a following of consistent readers to increase your listing</h2>
<p>The more readers you have, the more probable it is that new readers will discover your site. On a blog, there is a particular "snowballing" phenomenon that develops over time. As you get viewers, momentum rises as they recommend your site to others in their network. They mention you in blogs, emails, links, bookmarks, and search engine recommendations. They also link to you.</p>
<p>Even if not all of this contributes to SEO, some of it does, and its accumulation over time undoubtedly helps to increase both organic and search traffic. What I'm trying to imply is that you should focus on getting readers in general rather than just SEO specifically. All of it counts.</p>
<h2>8. Keep your content engaging</h2>
<p>Although dwell time is an indirect ranking element for Google, it's crucial to the user experience, and we all know that when it comes to SEO, user experience is king. The amount of time a reader spends on a page of your blog site is known as dwell time. The period of time between a visitor's click and when they leave your website is referred to as dwell time. This indicator infers from reader engagement with your content how valuable it is to search engines like Google. It seems sense that the content will be more pertinent to them the longer they are on the website.</p>
<p>This statistic is an indirect signal for SEO, though, because it is wholly arbitrary. The algorithms used by search engines are unaware of your content strategy. Your blog can be geared at quick reads that only require a few minutes. For the best reader experience and to ensure that readers spend as little time on the page as possible, you might also provide essential information at the beginning of your blog entries. Therefore, even if dwell duration can have an impact on SEO, if it doesn't make sense for your content strategy, don't distort your article to influence this.</p>
<h2>9. Page load speed impacts your SEO</h2>
<p>Overuse of plugins and unnecessary coding can both slow down blog sites. Your pages can load more quickly by removing unnecessary code, which can increase page performance. Page speed is threatened by plugins that have an impact on your site's front end, and chances are you can delete more of these plugins than you think to speed up your entire site.</p>
<p>Additionally, page speed affects dwell time as described in point #8 above, since visitors are less inclined to wait for a website to load slowly.&nbsp;We at Wallaby Designs don't use page builders, or plugins, so this is never an issue with any sites we build. What we build, we build for speed, so you can be sure that your page speed will always be fast.</p>
<h2>10. Optimize your content for mobile viewers</h2>
<p>Approximately 60% of all internet users are browsing on mobile. To assist mobile visitors, it is important to write your content such that it is easily viewable by mobile audiences. While this is not entirely a blogging issue, it's worth mentioning as some content you write may be impacted by these suggestions. Some excellent ways to optimize your site and blog for mobile viewers may consist of some of the following:</p>
<p>Resize graphics, pictures, and other content to fit various viewports or display screens (phone, tablet, desktop).&nbsp;An image that is larger than the viewport, for instance, might need the viewer to scroll horizontally in order to see the entire image. You would need to adjust the image to fit inside the viewport in order to prevent these situations.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To correctly scale media to fit device characteristics, employ media query syntax, or rules used to set distinct style rules for different media devices, through the back end of your website.&nbsp;If this syntax is used properly, it creates a responsive experience, which boosts the search ranking of your website by assisting in the implementation of a mobile-friendly website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Some easy Optimizations you can apply to your website today to help it rank higher in Search Engines. 

10 Search Engine Optimization Tips for Bloggers

<h2><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Before we write any code, we develop a plan based on your needs.</li>
<li>Depending on your needs, a package is recommended, if none were previously selected, or if needs exceed selected package.</li>
<li>Development is handled in phases, changes are made based on your needs.</li>
<li>Final product is given to you to either host with us or with your existing web host.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Planning</h2>
<p>In order to understand your needs, it is imperative that we meet to discuss the needs of your company. This meeting can be as long or short as it needs to be, and may take more than one meeting. A planning meeting's objectives are to establish a task list and make significant choices in order to produce a development schedule. These sessions may be repeated until you are pleased with the project scope because their goal is to determine the next steps.</p>
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<h2>Package Selection</h2>
<p>To best meet your needs, Wallaby Designs offers a variety of development packages. A custom plan can be created if one of the suggested packages does not adequately address your needs. Because the packages are not intended to be a one-size-fits-all solution but rather a comparable basis for development, your circumstance might differ from those outlined.</p>
<p>While the larger size of a website package necessitates greater investment on your part, these higher level packages include extra benefits. We offer this as we recognize that custom development has a higher price tag, so we offer these perks in good faith to help your business further without incurring any further expenses.</p>
<h2>Agile Development</h2>
<p>Because a software engineer created Wallaby Designs, the company follows the agile credo in all of its development procedures. These procedures are designed to provide you, the client, more supervision and control over the development process. Agile refers to the ability to create and respond to change. It is a strategy for surviving in an uncomfortable and difficult situation and ultimately succeeding there.</p>
<p>The term "Agile" represents adaptability and flexibility. It looks at how you may understand the situation you're in, acknowledge the uncertainties you encounter, and decide how to deal with them as you go. It places the client in control of the work they hire us to complete. As they occur, documentation of changes and requirements are made and checked off.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2>Deployment</h2>
<p>When a project satisfies every requirement established during the development phases, it is said to be finished. When everything is complete and you are ready to deploy, you regain control and have the option of using the code yourself or having us host and manage it for you. We offer top-notch hosting choices and would love the opportunity to manage your website on your behalf. You will always be in charge of your website as we give you access to your website's source code and a login.</p>

Would you like to learn about our Website Development Process? Look no further! See how we keep you involved in the development process!

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