Top Five SEO Tips

Last week, we hosted a lunchtime q&a session on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) at THECUBE. SEO is a process which online businesses can use to maximise their site's visibility on search engines, and our co-workers had plenty of tips and experiences to share about it. I have summarized the main points that emerged from the session, which will hopefully give you an idea of how the process works. 

1. Identify the right keywords for your business.
   Search engines index sites by the text they contain, so it it is important that you should identify the key terms which define your business, as well as the words which will be entered into search engines by potential customers. Once identified, these words can be used to great effect, repeated throughout the site often and prominently (see point 2) enough for the search engines to register them. In order to compete with larger, more established companies on the keyword front, it is better to decide on a more specific set of keywords and target these on your site, rather than waging a hopeless battle for general terms. You can use Google's Keyword Tool to identify relevant keywords that have many searches but comparatively little competition.
2. Place keywords in the titles on your website wherever possible.
   Search engines prioritise the text in the title tags and in your headings and sub-headings, which are labelled as <h1>,<h2>, <h3>... in HTML, so you should make sure that you choose these words wisely and use keywords where appropriate. The words in the main body of the text are also taken into consideration, but less so than the headings. However, search engines can detect when websites repeat keywords endlessly out of context, so don't overdo it.
3. Try to get other sites to link to your own.
   Another factor the search engines take into account and consider important is the number of times other sites link back to your site. The more prestigious the site providing the link, the more credit your site gets from the search engine. For example, a link from a well-established site such as bbc.co.uk will count for more than one from a lesser-known, newer site. The links only work in your favour if your keywords are included fully in the link, so make sure that you always include keywords in the link when linking to other pages on your own site and try to ask others who link to you to use those keywords as well - being the destination of a 'Click Here' or 'Read more' link will not help you at all. For example, instead of saying The Cube, it would be more useful if the link included The Cube - Co-working Space in London - not only is this more helpful for the reader, but it also improves the SEO.
4. Maintain a steady flow of fresh content on your homepage.
   Search engines value fresh and original content, so it is in your interests to keep your website regularly updated. This can be done quite easily, for example, by posting a blog on your homepage.
5. Choose the right technology.
   Finally, search engines weight sites on the speed at which the pages load up. If your homepage is full of Flash and Javascript, it will take longer to load and count against you in the rankings, so it is generally better to use HTML (and keep Javascript to a minimum) where SEO is a consideration. On a further note, search engines find it harder to reach the text in a Flash format, so it is again advisable to work in HTML and only use Flash on a limited basis. 

By bearing these points in mind when working on your site, you will be making the most of search engines' potential to help you attract new custom and increase your company's profile.

We have created a short course on SEO for anyone who wants to learn more.

Bit Zesty Ltd is a web application development company.

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Posted 2 days ago by Emma Wright 

Document Stores vs Relational Databases for Domain Modeling

I am quite excited about the rising popularity of document stores, we have been using MongoDB and CouchDB for some time now, both for internal and client projects. Both databases are similar (although built on different technologies) as they are schema-free, scalable, document-oriented.

The concept of a document database isn't new. It was pioneered by MUMPS in the 1970s for health-care and financial applications and by IBM in 1989 with the Lotus Notes Database. It's interesting to see the main concepts behind these legacy databases evolve and reemerge in new open-source projects.

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Posted 1 month ago by Matthew Ford 

How to Get the Most Value out of Web Development

Increasingly, clients wanting an application built on a tight budget are drawing up extravagant feature lists which are incompatible with the amount they are prepared to pay. This tension between the client's budget and needs can lead to dissatisfaction with the end product or conflict with the development team. However, it doesn't always have to end in deadlock.

One way to overcome the issue is by building and releasing the application in stages. This method suits clients with a limited cash flow and has the additional advantage of allowing you to get user feedback quickly. This information can then be used to help you decide which features you need to build next.

Yet sometimes there's simply no need to shell out for a fully bespoke system, particularly when there are viable off-the-shelf solutions available at a fraction of the cost. But what do you do if an off-the-shelf system doesn't quite fit your needs and a fully bespoke one is out of budget? I see three options:

Open Source
Customizing an existing open source application (if one is available) will cost considerably less than a bespoke system, as you only need to pay for the new features.

API Extensions / Plug-ins / Widgets
It is possible to build bespoke applications which use third party APIs, a good compromise which not only saves on development time but also provides the client with a more feature-complete solution. For example, MailChimp can be added for email marketing, Intense Debate or Disqus for commenting, and Get Satisfaction or Zendesk for support and help-desk functionality.

Application Platforms
If you use an existing paid application platform, it may sometimes be possible to extend it with existing plug-ins or develop your own one to suit your needs. For example, Shopify allows users to customize their e-commerce sites with a range of additional apps, as well as giving option for developers to build custom features.

People beginning online business ventures rarely have money to spare, so there is no point in pushing the boat out on bespoke applications when the same results can be achieved for much less. The existence of open source applications, plug-ins and API extensions on the internet is a gift to clients on a tight budget, and it should be exploited accordingly.

Bit Zesty - Ruby on Rails app development London

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Posted 1 month ago by Matthew Ford 

What are the Advantages of Scrum for the Client?

Scrum clearly provides many benefits for the developers, but what are its advantages for the client and other stakeholders? This is a question I faced recently in a client meeting, and to answer it I first need to define Scrum itself. In layman terms, it is a project management technique that is used with agile development projects. It aims to make projects more effective by defining the roles of team members and by providing a specific way of organising the workload over a series of short development cycles (sprints).

Benefits for the client:

Scrum's main advantage is the way it facilitates changing customer requirements. It does this by providing a flexible framework wherein new features can be added and re-prioritizations can take place without negatively affecting the project flow and team's morale.

Secondly, the system of sprints encourages regular feedback, as each sprint is followed by a review. These reviews provide opportunities for the entire team to reflect on the previous sprint and discuss improvements for the next.

Thirdly, by defining roles for team members it promotes collaboration as well as clear and open lines of communication between the developers, the client and other stakeholders.

Finally, Scrum provides a framework for work estimation, where features are estimated in units of points: each point represents a relative amount of effort required. This technique is flexible enough to allow for changes in requirements as well as changes in the development team's velocity.

However, Scrum is not suitable for all projects and has certain limitations:

It does not work with traditional software development methodologies such as Waterfall.

It cannot be fully adopted if a team is too small or too big - an ideal team would consist of 4 to 6 developers.

It cannot work effectively unless it has have full management/client support.

It requires a Scrum Master who understands the Scrum practices and is able to apply them.

Bit Zesty uses scrum and agile for Ruby on Rails application development

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Posted 1 month ago by Laura Paplauskaite 

MongoDB with MongoMapper and Ruby on Rails

Summary
No migrations (yes!), storing arrays and hashes as attribute keys (sweet), and inplace updates (ftw). We're not going to use MongoDB to build transactional systems any time soon, but for the majority of web applications it's a perfect fit.

Bit Zesty - Ruby on Rails Development (and MongoDB) UK

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Posted 2 months ago by Matthew Ford 

Encrypting Data in your Ruby on Rails Application

Whilst searching for a gem/plug-in to help with storing encrypted notes in a Rails app, I found strongbox. It uses public key encryption to encrypt and store data on a ActiveRecord attribute - Spike has a great writeup on his blog. One limitation I encountered was that it only uses one key to encrypt the data, which wasn't going to work when I have multiple users, all storing private information.

So I wrote a wrapper around strongbox that I am releasing called Safe - a Rails engine for storing encrypted data. Safe handles the generating of the public and private keys and uses strongbox to encrypt and decrypt the data. It's still in early stages, and it doesn't support all of the options that strongbox does, but it is on the TODO list.

So let me know if you find it useful and don't forget to symlink the keys directory in your deployment scripts!

Bit Zesty - Ruby on Rails developers in London.
 

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Posted 5 months ago by Matthew Ford 

Better XML parsing with Rails

ActiveSupport::XmlMini.backend = 'Nokogiri'

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Posted 5 months ago by Matthew Ford 

Agile Web Development Process

Feature Planning Workshop

A feature planning workshop is essentially a brainstorming session. At a bare minimum, the group will consist of the developer's team manager and the person leading the project from within your own organization. the presence of other developers, software users and other stakeholders could also add value. During the workshop the identified requirements are captured in the form of user stories and prioritized.

Estimate and Schedule

After the feature planning workshop, the developers estimate how long each user story will take to implement. Work is divided into one or two week cycles (iterations) and resources are allocated accordingly.  You should then receive an estimate and an iteration schedule.

Weekly/Fortnightly Demonstration and Planning Meetings

Once the project is given the go-ahead, you may want to meet developers again to plan the first iteration cycle - that is, to define goals for the iteration and to clarify, detail and re-prioritize features. The development team will then go away and write the code and tests while all the time collaborating with you to make sure they are building what you want.

At the end of the iteration, developers should demonstrate the completed features for that iteration. Then you can provide feedback and proceed to plan the second iteration in more detail. The process should keep repeating itself until the application is complete.

Completion
Once all the iterations are completed and you are happy with the result, the developers should deploy the final version of the application to your server. But the relationship should not end here - make sure they are there to support you if needed.

For more information on how to make sure your project runs smoothly, read 5 Ways To Keep a Web Project on The Rails.

Bit Zesty - Ruby on Rails Development

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Posted 6 months ago by Laura Paplauskaite 

Web Development Terminology

While we are not big fans of technical jargon here at Bit Zesty, in some cases it is more helpful to use the correct term rather than rolling out a long and convoluted description of the thing in question each time. We use a few specific terms again and again throughout our site, so I have picked these out and expanded on them below to help new visitors understand what we do.

Web Application (webapp)

A web application is computer software which is accessible through the Internet. Social networks, e-commerce sites and wikis are all examples of web applications.

• Web applications enable you to deliver and update software without having to distribute and install it.  This makes it easier to reach new users as well as allowing you to maintain the software to a standard which keeps existing users happy.
• One big advantage of web applications is that they are not dependant on the user’s operating system. This means that you can cover a wider market without having to make changes to your software or release different versions.

Ruby on Rails (RoR)

Ruby on Rails is a framework for creating web applications using the Ruby programming language.

• We choose to use Ruby on Rails because it enables us to build applications more rapidly than on other frameworks, which means that the client receives more features at a lower cost.
• Another positive is that it encourages good development practices, resulting in higher quality code. This ensures your application is extendable and scalable.
• By providing excellent support for automated testing, it allows for robust code, which reduces the amount of maintenance required.

Agile Development

Agile is a development methodology which embraces collaboration with customers, face-to-face communication, self-organizing teams, frequent delivery, and the ability to respond to changing requirements.

• Agile enables you to re-prioritise or even introduce new features at any point. This allows us to react to changes in your business and thus ensure that application is tailored exactly to your needs.

Test Driven Development (TDD)

Test Driven Development is a technique wherein automated tests are created before the program code. This forces code to be written and improved upon until it passes the test.

• Test Driven Development helps to eliminate the majority of bugs, ensuring you get software that is robust and properly functioning.

This list is by no means complete and I intend to keep updating it, particularly when we add new terminology to our website.

Bit Zesty is a Ruby on Rails Company in London

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Posted 6 months ago by Laura Paplauskaite 

5 Ways To Keep a Web Project on The Rails

It is amazing how many things can go wrong during the course of a web project. Here, we focus on five problems which any project can encounter and explore how they can be avoided or solved.

1. Poor Communication

It is vital to establish a good line of communication between yourself and the developmentteam as soon as possible.  Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and slow the progress of your web project considerably.

SOLUTION:  Try to ensure that there is an assigned project manager within the development team you work. You should also appoint a dedicated person within your own company as a point of contact for the development team.

2. Requirements Not Met

At the end of a project, it is all too common for clients to be presented with a product which is very different from what they had envisioned at the beginning.

SOLUTION:  Have regular meetings with your development team and request demonstrations of the progress they have made as you move forward with the web project.

3. Undefined Priorities

When priorities become muddled, projects can drag on for long after the target deadline, with no end in sight. This confusion is often caused by the introduction of more and more requirements to the brief as the project progresses.

SOLUTION:  Be clear about your priorities. It is far more efficient to launch the product and then tailor further adjustments to specific user feedback than to delay the launch date indefinitely while making changes based on guesswork.

4. Inadequate Testing

Testing is usually the first corner to be cut when the budget is tight. However, it is a risky step which rarely pays off: inadequate testing can leave the web project vulnerable to many bugs, which in turn will slow down the project and result in greater costs in the long run.

SOLUTION:  Ask for automated testing as part of the development process, especially if the web project is complex. It is also good to have someone within your company testing the project throughout the duration, helping to identify bugs as early as possible.

5. Warning Signs

If you think that something might be wrong, the likelihood is that you're right. Trust your instincts!

SOLUTION:  As soon as you notice warning signs such as slow progress or poor quality work, get to work addressing the issues so that they don’t end up snowballing.

The best way to keep your project going along the right tracks is to fix problems as soon as they start to occur. Read on Agile Web Development Process.

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Posted 6 months ago by Laura Paplauskaite