Let us dedicate a few minutes to investigate the two most popular web development platforms PHP and ASP.NET. Frankly, we are not trying to establish that one is better than the other. This is just a comparative analysis. All web development languages work on one basic concept – to query the database server and provide the output to the web server and finally to the web browser. Similarly, access the file system for content and images, and interact with the OS on the web servers. Now, with this basic in mind, choice of programming language is up to the skills of the developer and the favored technology of the organization. However to make your decision easy, here are a few comparisons.
PHP
• PHP is very stable hence efficient.
• PHP is easy to work with.
• PHP being open source, does not have loads of updates so developers can work this robust platform.
• Runs on Apache Server – which is also very stable.
• Compatible with IIS 6 and 7.
• Has a huge and passionate development community.
ASP.NET
• Well supported due to the fact that it is proprietary software.
• Well maintained with regular updates.
• Works on a Microsoft OS platform, hence performance can be tuned at OS level and improved.
• Runs on IIS.
• Provides for better separation between design and application logic.
This is a very basic attempt to compare the two. After all the decision lies with the firm who wish to implement a technology.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is a single file that contains all the styling factors of a website such as layout, positioning, font, color etc. This file can be referenced as and when required by the HTML code. The basic purpose of this file is to separate the document content and document presentation. This makes it easy for the web developers and web designers to change their code or layouts without getting in each other’s way.

Advantages of Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

• Less Code and Easy Maintenance: CSS are global settings. We define styles at a common place so that whenever any changes need to be made, to the styling factors of a page, we need not mess with the code every time! Because styles are defined by a common style – class, and the class is used at various locations, the actual written code is less and thus is easy to maintain.
• Speed: The sites using CSS load faster, because table layouts are not used in CSS. This means that they do not require as much memory and hence enables us to navigate faster from one page to another.
• Search Engine Results: With all the styling separated from the code, we are able to incorporate more content and reduce the code on a webpage. This presents the search engine crawlers with more content than code. This in turn increases the chances of a higher ranking in search results.
• Bandwidth: With CSS sheets stored externally, these files are requested only when a visitor requests for your webpage. Hence reducing bandwidth.

Cascade Style Sheet has it’s own advantages. It’s good to see many web developers preferring this style of coding. It serves multifold purposes. And everyone is happy – the developers, the designers, the SEO experts and the website visitors!

The latest buzz in the search engine world that created an active movement amongst online business owners and SEO’s – Google’s Panda algorithm was launched in February this year. With the aim of providing quality search results for end users, Google has made substantial changes to it’s search algorithm. Users now experience search results that are relevant and the target sites have quality content.  Google’s panda algorithm returns high quality results, thus diverting quality traffic to appropriate pages.
On the other hand this modification in algorithm created some amount of apprehension amongst online business owners and SEO’s. Some websites lost their rankings, hence affecting business. Some sites faced traffic depletion. It created an outrage amongst the website owners who felt that they were mislabeled as having low quality content.
On the whole we can analyze for ourselves, and use the changes to our benefit. Here are some of the things to remember:

1. Create a strong and strategic business model for yourself. Dependency on a single strategy (optimizing the search engine) is like stepping on thin ice – any changes from the search engine developers, poses high risk to your business.  Plus, search engine is a third party. You do not have any say in the type of changes they make. That is to say, diversify your visibility strategies. Use paid services, videos, Google Ads. Etc.
2.  Secondly, instead of tweaking things here and there, make your website a “quality” website to begin with. Minimize duplicate content, avoid excessive ads. Again, its for you to decide the appropriate word count to ad ratio.
3. Use Google as one of your resources to get online visibility for your business. Ofcourse search engine optimization is a must, and one of the major factors affecting all online businesses. But use it prudently. Maintain around  40% of traffic via search engine optimization and remaining from other sources.
4. Do not let the panda update or any further updates to any search engines baffle you. Work along with it – not against it. Harness the strength of search engines and their updated algorithms to your benefit.

With all this said, the Panda algorithm from Google after the initial ripples that it created, proved to be a boon and on the whole a success. It helped provide relevant and quality results to users who are searching specific products with very specific requirements in mind. It also has encouraged website developers and online business owners to rethink and modify the content on their website so that they are labeled as “quality” sites by Google’s search engine crawlers hence improving their rankings. On the whole, Google’s panda update is here to stay –it’s up to us how we utilize its potential.

In continuation of our SEO techniques for website analysis and reporting here we present a detailed study on the overall HTML and web design of the website to be optimized.

1. Page Size. Page size is defined as the sum of all the files combined that are displayed on your web page. The size is inclusive of the text content, images, graphics, flash, and every single component of the webpage. More the size the more time the page takes to load on a browser. The page has to be optimized and all unwanted things are to be removed to get the minimum possible page size. Flash and other animations take the most of the page size, so they ought to be used only when required.
2. Header Tags. All contents need a heading to give the reader an idea about what is to follow inside the main content. HTML allows webmasters to put headings for their content in between the Header tags. The size of the headers range from H1 to H6, H1 being the biggest and H6 the smallest. These headers not only help the human reader, but also help the search engines to understand the content on the page and what is important.
3. ALT Tags. ALT Tags are associated with the images that you use on your webpage to glorify your content. These are an important aspect of website accessibility. When a browser is unable to load an image or for some reasons the user is unable to view these images, alternatively an ALT tag text is displayed on the screen if the image is assigned one. Most importantly, search engines not only index webpages, they index content within too, so it becomes easier for any search engine user to come by your image on the image SERPs.
4. Images. ALT tags are of no use if there are no images to display. Images catch the imaginations of the viewers. The content comes alive through the images as they summarize the message to be portrayed. Albeit search engine spiders do not consider the links and the keyword rich content on the images.
5. Anchor Texts. An anchor text is the visible part of a hyperlink that the viewer reads in the content. Good practice of using proper anchor texts shows a good page relevancy to the search engines and helps in getting higher ranks for desired keywords. Anchor texts are used to guide the users to navigate through your website or the entire Internet.
6. Hidden text or Links. Hiding text and/or links or writing content that is meant to be read by the search engines only and not the visitors or vice versa may prove your site to be untrustworthy and result in downfall of your website. Simply avoiding these techniques is the foremost practice in SEO.
7. SEO Friendly Page Names (URLs). URLs are the addresses of your webpages. Your URLs should be rewritten to be readable, understandable, and even recallable from the human perspective. SEO friendly URLs are sure to spread the wave and catch popularity quickly.
8. CSS and HTML Code Validations. HTML code should be written with the W3C Markup as a guideline. The W3C Markup is the set of standards that all web browsers follow while deciphering the HTML code of the webpage. Any glitches or variations for the standards in the use of the HTML and CSS codes for web designing will result in critical errors as the browsers would not be able to read the code and hence won’t display it. Form the search engine point of view bad HTML code means confusion and difficulty in reading the content.
9. Frame Structure. If your webpage is structured in frames, i.e. all the content, links, and images are displayed in frames, your webpage becomes of zero importance to the search engines as the search engine spiders are programmed not to read any frames.
10. 404 Custom Page (Page Not Found). Optimizing a custom 404 page that matches your website design is one of the most overlooked SEO techniques. A 404 error message is a response delivered via HTML document, indicating that the request was unable to communicate with the server. Usually this is caused by a request not being able to locate a file or a link is broken on a site. It can cause a novice user to get frustrated and abandon your site.
11. Broken Links. Broken links are an indication of a website with poor usability. Broken links refer to the requested pages on the server that are not found on the server. Search engine spiders when they do not get through to the pages sue to the broken links, they devalue your webpage.

The future is here. The technology is here. Its time to go with the new technology instead of staying with the old one. Its time to redesign your website, its time to enhance your website. Have you ever tried opening your website in mobile phones? You must find it very slow, very tiny (as your browser may try to fit everything in the screen). Guys, its time to create a new mobile website. Is it simple? yes it is very simple.  But what is the benefit of having a mobile site. Well there are many, here are some -

Internet usage on mobile is up – More and more people are using smart phone or phone with internet connectivity. Those who do not have mobile site, will stay last in search engine.

Higher ranking in search engine – Mobile websites are getting priority in mobile search

Higher speed – If users are browsing your main site from mobile, it must be very slow and not up-to-the mark. Mobile site with less graphic can open faster than a normal site.

Appeal to wealthy, tech-savvy clients – Affluent and tech savvy users are usually the ones that spend the most when they come into a spending money on buying goods or services. Giving this demographic of users the ability to shop a retail site at any time and in any place will definitely boost sales.

Do you think you business will grow with a presence of Mobile site?

Do you think  you will reach to more hands with a Mobile site?

Do you think its necessary to go with technology?

If the answer to any question is ‘yes’ then there is no need to wait any more. Mobile site is very simple and we can get it done for you within 2 working days. GO with time, go with technology. Get your Mobile Web site design done as soon as it possible. Its just a matter of $200 and you will get a lot more exposure.

7th August, 2009 – The day we started Elite Infoworld.

2nd June, 2010 – The day we started blog for Elite Infoworld.

The first question in your mind is – why 10 months to start the blog, where a general trend for any web outsourcing company is to launch blog as soon as they start their business or website. And frankly, I really don’t have answer.

So, what I do for this 10 months – Working? Setting up things in new office? Enjoying my position as a boss? Or spending time on social networking? Well, basically nothing but everything. But now a bit relaxed and mainly willing to spend time on search engine promotions of my site and blog is always helpful to promote your business. Thanks to wordpress for making a wonderful application.

Since 11 years I am working in designing field whether its graphic or web. Though, I still believe I know very less. Apple and Windows change the design perceptions of the web. Adobe gave the best design softwares over the years, which helps both photographers and designers. Just look at the below image, do you think it is real and even if it is do you think the effect is direct from the digital camera. It looks stunning because of the touching job in photoshop.

Remember, the old style of web design, much before era of Apple (the glossy style of designing arrived from apple and Windows Vista more zing to it). The solid bg color and left aligned website with thick stone based buttons and sometimes with twinkle effect. Look at the current style of web design. Everything seems elegant. I am sure after 10 years someone will comment on current (may be myself) style of web designing and make fun at these sites. But I think its process, we are living in a technology world where things changes faster than you change TV channel.

Yesterday, it was laptop and now it is smart phones. Website and browsing is not limited to computers or laptop. The world and technology is shrinking. Now, you can browse in your hand. Mobile website is in thing, Mobile search engine optimization is in-thing. Forget the days when you are developing application for desktop, now people are developing applications for Mobiles. You name it and they give it to you.

Elite infoworld also launches its mobile site today – http://mobile.eliteinfoworld.com. I remember it was challenge to create mobile sites before 6 years and developers have to do some research to make site for mobiles. Its very easy now. You can create a small information based mobile website in few hours.

If you read this, thank you very much for your time.

Digant Bhatt

For, Elite Infoworld