Did you know that the same global factories supply multiple brands with their items? For example, the same supplier in India, C.L. Gupta Exports, Ltd., provides products for Pier 1, Target, IKEA, Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, and Ashley Furniture.

The item itself is the same, but the label and pricing are entirely different. This is the essence of white label clothing—that is, the manufacturer that creates the product is very different from the one who sells it to the final customer.

But white label can apply to app development or software development as well. Read on to find out the basics of white label development and if it’s for you.

What Is White Label Development?

Perhaps you are thinking about creating an app or software, but you don’t have the team to create one. So what can you do? You find someone else to create the app for you, right?

Well, there are white label developers all over who specialise in doing just that. They are like the ghostwriters of the app or software development world.

Ghostwriters write a novel or article, but when the book or article gets published, it has an entirely different name on it.

James Patterson is well-known in the industry for being a prolific writer, but he doesn’t write a lot of his books himself. His ghostwriters do. Patterson just outlines them.

Sometimes ghostwriters are given credit on the book covers as co-authors. But in the case of white label app development, that never happens.

The white label developer will create the app, based on your specifications, and then you are free to market and sell the app as you wish. Your name, and no one else’s, appears on the app as the seller.

You are free to sell the app to other customers or other businesses. That’s your prerogative.

Advantages of Using a White Label Developer

As you can imagine, there are many advantages to using a white label developer rather than finding a team to create the software or app on your own. Let’s look at some of them below.

Quicker Turnaround Time

Because white label developers have a huge team who are focused entirely on the business of app and software development, you know that you are going to get what you requested in record time. It’s incomparable to how long it would take you to build a team of talented people and get them to build your app.

It’s also much better than hiring someone off Fiverr or some other freelance site and getting them to build your app. There are no communication problems, and everything is done up to your high standards.

More Cost-Effective

Since developers will take less time to build the app, you can start selling it sooner. Thus, you can start getting your investment back quicker. This makes the whole endeavor cost-effective.

Look at the big picture when hiring a white label developer. Even if they charge a higher up-front fee, they are much cheaper in the long run, as you will spend less time chasing them to get a quality finished product.

White Label Developers Have Immense Experience

White label development companies are experts in creating white label apps and software. They do this day in and day out for dozens of companies like you. This immense experience is something that you will appreciate when the entire buying process from start to finish is seamless.

No Need to Worry About Maintenance

The white label developer is responsible for updates, upkeep, and upgrade of the white label app. They will also host and monitor the app on their servers. This means you don’t have to worry about all this, and you can focus entirely on marketing and selling the app to your customers, either B2C or B2B.

Minimises Stress

The entire white label development process is stress-free for you as a customer. This is not their first turn around the merry-go-round. They have done this before for many other companies, so they have honed and perfected their process to a T.

You can benefit from all that experience. In no time, you will have the app that you wish to sell to your customers, and you don’t have to worry about legal complications or anything like this, since the app was yours from the moment they started building it.

It All Starts with a Consultation

When you decide that you are interested in creating a complex app, the first thing you need to do is have a consultation with a white label developer. During this consultation phase, a bit of brainstorming will happen to delineate exactly what you wish for your app to do.

Some things that will be outlined are:

• The best features you wish to include
• The target users of your app
• What you want the finished app to look like

With all this information in mind, the white label development team will know if their team is best for what you are looking for. If it is, then they will go off and start their work, once the contract is signed.

The app development process will depend on how many features you want and how complex the app is. Everything within the app will fit your company’s aesthetic and branding. This is ensured from the very beginning.

You are not alone when it comes to the app launch either. With the assistance of the white label developer, your app launch will go glitch-free. The app development team will support you even post launch to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Ready to Hire a White Label Developer?

When you search through all the development options you have and look at the advantages of using a white label developer, the choice is absolutely clear. If you already know what kind of software or app you wish to create, then contact us today. The Web Ally Development Studio is ready to become your invisible partner in building your dream app.

Website visitor tracking has become an essential component of any marketing strategy nowadays. But why use a website visitor tracker when you can use Google Analytics for the purpose?

That’s a question worth asking, considering the fact that Google Analytics comes free of cost, in contrast with the tracking software available in the market.

In this article, we’ll look at the differences between Google Analytics and website visitor tracking software. We will also try to explain why a tracking software is still needed, even after the working of Google Analytics.

Why Google Analytics Isn’t Enough?

As of now, the internet contains more than 2 billion websites.

So for obvious reasons, a website needs to continuously update itself in accordance with the user interests if it wants to thrive in such a competitive environment.

And since the user interests vary from one organisation to another, using visitor tracking software can help a website identify which companies are visiting it. That’s something Google Analytics can’t help with.

Google Analytics & Visitor Trackers Aren’t Same

Google Analytics and B2B website visitor trackers aren’t a substitute for each other. Both platforms work differently and focus on different areas.

Google Analytics provides you just statistical data. Whereas B2B tracker helps you figure out which companies are visiting your website.

And if you are a sales website, using B2B tracker software becomes essential as it helps you with direct sales prospecting and lead generation i.e. attracting prospects and cultivating them into your potential clients.

The workings Of Google Analytics

Google Analytics monitors website traffic and report the figures to the web owner.

It assembles the information into various categories so that the web owner could assess their website from all possible aspects.

To put it simply, Google Analytics answers three queries:

• How much traffic is observed on your website and at what time?
• Where are the visitors coming from? Or more explicitly, from which site most of the visitors got your website’s link?
• On which page/ areas of your website, people are staying the most?

Google Analytics employs the following styles to report the figures of your interest:

• Acquisition
• Real-time
• Conversions
• Audience
• Behavior

A Critical Analysis Of Google Analytics

Google Analytics offers unlimited customization options to its users, allowing them to interpret whatever is happening on their website in a handy manner.

However, there’s a catch.

Since these endless options allow the user to design the platform as per convenience, it also increases the complexity.

So, to utilize the benefits of the platform to the fullest, one has to spend a lot of time in understanding a lot of complex features.

To summarize it all, Google Analytics just provides statistical data to be visualized by the web owner. It doesn’t take any measures to help improve the web experience for users or to convert visitors into customers.

Website Tracking Software (B2B IP Tracker)

Website tracking software/ B2B IP tracking software traces the IP addresses that visit your site and figures out which organizations or businesses these IP addresses belong to and reports in a simple dashboard which companies have visited your website.

As a result, the tracker helps you outreach the companies that visit you and allows you to interpret their activity on your website. You will then be able to outreach to these companies already knowing what they are interested in!

Benefits Of Using A Website Tracking Software

A B2B visitor tracker does a lot more work than Google Analytics. Here is an overview of what it can do for you.

1. Sales Prospecting

The software helps recognize the businesses and companies that visit your site.

By helping you identify the relevant businesses and their activity on your website, the tracker helps with sales prospecting.

2. Locating Relevant Market

You can’t just hope and wait for people to find your website.

To make you proactive in attracting traffic, a visitor tracking software helps you identify the most prospective locations where you can target your marketing efforts.

3. Boosting Conversions

A visitor tracking software increases the odds of converting your visitors into customers.

Since you have an idea about which companies are visiting your site, you can communicate and follow up with them to boost conversions.

Major Website Visitor Tracker Features

The website visitor tracking software provides data analytics in an easily comprehendible manner. The major analytics it provides are as follows:

• Hits
• Source
• Keywords
• Total Visits
• Total Page Views
• Total on-site time
• Entire Visitor Journey
• Companies by Channel
• Companies by Search term
• New vs Returning Table & Graphic

The tracker works to enhance sales by helping you with:

• Triggers
• Categories
• Social Integration
• Real-Time Notifications
• LinkedIn Plugin of Company
• Contact Information – Phone Number, Website, Email

A Common Misconception

Though website IP tracking software can match IP addresses to the organizations, they can’t help you identify the individuals who are visiting your site.

The reason is that it is considered an information breach and a purely illegal practice, according to the internet protocols and GDPR.

Google Analytics focuses on quantitative analysis in an anonymous form.

It just reports numerical data related to traffic and website hits. It can tell you how your website is doing and how much progress you have made over time.

On the other hand, the B2B visitor tracker focuses on qualitative analysis.

It allows you to identify at least the organization that is behind your frequent visitors. Moreover, it helps you with measures to boost the visitors’ experience at your site, while also helping you turn your web hits into customers.

Which Tool Should Be Used?

Google Analytics and B2B visitor tracking software perform two different kind of tasks.

While Google Analytics helps you with quantitative analysis, the B2B IP tracking software works on qualitative side of things.

So, if you want to truly enhance the performance of your website and ultimately increase sales leads, consider using the two tools together.

Contact us today for a FREE NO OBLIGATIONS 15 Day Trial of our tool

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If you want to create a website, mobile application, or management software for your business, you might be confused about whether to perform the task in-house or acquire outsourcing services. It’s indeed a never-ending dilemma.

When it comes to developing software, the topmost priority of every firm is to produce the highest quality product within the shortest span of time. However, hiring personnel who possess the desired level of skill set and talent isn’t a feasible choice every time.

First of all, the probability of having employed just the right person is quite low. Second, the chances that the selected person will get along with the company’s budget and culture are even lower.

These are some of the many reasons behind the rapid rise in the number of companies that prefer to outsource software development. It may come to you as a surprise but more than 50% of the businesses in Europe hire external help for developing websites.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: isoc_ske_fct)

To Outsource Or Not To Outsource?

Though outsourcing has become a widely used practice in the software industry, a hard-and-fast rule on whether you should go for this approach or not cannot be defined.

Every business has to take this decision themselves after considering their budget, time requirements, product expectations, and any other limitations.

In case you’re also facing the dilemma of choosing between in-house or outsourcing, we are listing the pros and cons of the two approaches to help you make your decision.

In-House Production

As the name suggests, in-house development refers to when you develop a product within your company, using your own equipment and workforce. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this approach:

Advantages

• More Control: In this approach, you enjoy full control over the development process. You have the liberty of guiding and coordinating your team members as you want.

• Better Communication: In-house development enables you to readily communicate any suggestions or issues with the developers. When you have all of your employees working under the same roof, you can assess their performance as well as address any matters within no time.

• Rapid Modifications: Since your staff is always there with you, you can make alterations and modifications to your project immediately.

• Company Culture: In-house working allows you to develop your company’s culture. A healthy work culture ensures greater project success due to better engagement of employees with the company’s goals.

• Enhanced Company Profile: A good company profile can only be built by the company’s internal expertise and experience. A stronger profile that is created as a result of in-house working can act as one of your biggest competitive advantages in the long run.

Disadvantages

• Recruitment Delays: Building an efficient in-house team requires you to take time-consuming tests and interviews for hiring the best talent out there. According to Glassdoor, the average period for hiring a software expert is around 30 days. And it is expected to increase with time. So, the process of selecting the right individual wastes a lot of time. And it’s something you can never ignore while meeting strict deadlines.

• Adjusting New Hires: To build an in-house development team, you can’t just hire an employee and sit back. You have to help them adjust into your company’s culture while making sure that they fit into your budget umbrella as well.

• Management: Management can sometimes become difficult when you establish an in-house team. As a manager, you probably lack the software skills that are required to oversee your technical developers. Supervising them would also divert your time and your core management would take a hit. So, you need an expert team lead to supervise your techies.

Outsourcing

As mentioned earlier, outsourcing refers to a company seeking the services of a third-party vendor to do projects that can’t be completed in-house. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this approach:

Advantages

• Time-Saving: The biggest advantage that makes outsourcing a popular choice is time-saving. The moment you decide to outsource your project, you have at your disposal countless experienced professionals from around the world. You don’t have to spend time in recruitment, training, and helping the recruits adjust. The time that you have saved can be invested in a lot of other profitable ways.

• Skill And Experience: Outsourcing allows you to readily access skilled and experienced workers. In most of the cases, the third-party professionals would have previously completed projects similar to yours. So, after getting product specifications from you, chances are, they would turn it around quickly and with the best possible results.

• Improved Efficiency: Most of the small companies resort to outsourcing since they lack the required resources, be they equipment or technical knowledge. So, by outsourcing, they achieve the efficiency that they could otherwise never acquire.

• Expert Consultancy: The professionals you access through outsourcing can help improve your product. Since the third-party developers are constantly in contact with other businesses, they’re better aware of what’s going in the market. So, the modifications proposed by them can make your product both unique and competitive.

Disadvantages

• Loss Of Control: The biggest disadvantage is that you lose control when you outsource a product to a third party. In contrast to the people working under your roof, you can’t access the external developers at all times.

• Lack Of Communication: Communication with an outsourced partner comes with its own challenges. No matter how frequently you follow up with your instructions, there’s always going to be a communication gap when you choose to work with an external vendor.

• Security And Other Risks: Since the outsourced partner has access to your sensitive data, there’s always a risk of security breach, corporate espionage and intellectual property theft.

Does Outsourcing Save You Money?

You’d have often heard that outsourcing saves you money. However, this isn’t correct in all cases.

It’s true that you don’t have to spend money on advertising vacancies, conducting interviews, making workspace arrangements, and purchasing software and hardware. Still, outsourcing isn’t a cheaper substitute every time.

When you acquire the services of a software house, you pay them for their work, equipment as well as the expertise they have developed over the years.

Outsourcing providers continuously invest in keeping their teams updated with every latest innovation there is. And this is something that also reflects in their invoices.

The Most Important Thing: Choosing The Right Software House

The importance of choosing the right outsourcing partner can’t be overemphasized. Working with a reliable outsourcing provider is important because:

• They would make sure that you don’t suffer any delays.
• They would keep updating you time to time about their progress and any changes that they made in your instructions.
• They would make sure that their product is sustainable and has what it takes to compete in the market.

Conclusion

While in-house development helps you build a competitive profile, it creates problems like:

• Recruiting the right talent
• Possible employee turnover
• High equipment costs
• Long-time results

On the other hand, outsourcing ensures a faster delivery, a wide pool of talent to choose from, and indirect access to the latest technologies.

However, it poses concerns like:

• Loss of control
• Lack of communication
• Security and other risks

It can be hard to decide whether to follow the in-house or outsourcing approach. The truth is, both approaches work fine in different settings.

Outsourcing is the best approach when you’re up against a one-time project. It is absurd to invest in hardware, software, and personnel that may not be needed in the future.

In case of ongoing or long-term projects, it is generally preferable to do it in-house.

However, there’s one more option. You can go for a hybrid approach by combining both outsourcing and in-house development.

At The Web Ally we offer development staff augmentation whereby our developers will essentially become a part of your in-house team.

If you lack expertise for a project, you can seek external help while continuing to develop an in-house ability. If you are concerned about security and control, then this hybrid approach is probably the most fitting for your business.

On the other hand, if you would like to consider outsourcing, give us the chance to explain to you how we operate and explain the procedures that we have in place to overcome issues of control, communication and security.

Contact us today, to discuss how outsourcing can benefit your company

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Many software companies find it difficult to retain a skilled and updated workforce at all times.

And why is this? A workforce that adapts itself to the market fluctuations and develops its skills accordingly comes at a hefty price.

That cost is paid by the employer in the form of human resource management, continual training, cultural development, and more.

Thankfully, there’s an easy and effective way to address this problem: You can outsource some of your work to the people who have both experience and expertise in it.

In case you’re not well aware of outsourcing software development, here’s everything you need to know about it.

Outsourcing: What It Is?

Outsourcing means to obtain the services of an external company to get a specific task done for you.

The practice allows you to concentrate better on your business fundamentals.

When a company lacks the capacity of doing a certain piece of work, the external help it gets through outsourcing enables it to easily manage the troublesome parts.

In the software domain, outsourcing enables a company to temporarily hire software development services from an external party.

Why You Might Want To Outsource Software Development?

Outsourcing software development:

• Saves you time
• Saves you the hassle of recruitment
• Gives you a better cost control
• Allows you to focus on your core areas
• Increases the efficiency of your workforce
• Gives you access to all the latest technologies
• Gives you access to professionals skilled in every niche
• Diversifies your portfolio
• Allows you to upscale or downscale your business, as per your needs

To give you a better idea of why you might consider outsourcing IT services, here’s a detailed insight into how outsourcing can help your business.

1. Cost-Efficient & Time-Saving

Most software firms operate by outsourcing because it saves them a considerable amount of both time and money. According to research conducted by Deloitte, nearly 59% of software development companies outsource their services to minimize their expenses.

And that makes perfect sense!

You will have to spend more money if, instead of outsourcing, you hire programmers for a short duration. Likewise, training the already-present workforce to the new standards will consume a large sum of capital and time.

So, by outsourcing, you don’t just save your money, but also your time – that can then be utilized in other profitable ways.

Outsourcing increases your working capability without having you to waste any time and effort in the recruitment process.

2. Increased In-House Efficiency & Greater Emphasis On Core Operations

Outsourcing facilitates productivity without tarnishing the quality of products. Through outsourcing, you have the opportunity to fully concentrate on your core business.

Hiring external help eradicates the need of overloading your employees with work that demands from them a new skill set – enabling you to use their potential in their specialized fields.

And it goes without saying that handing over the non-core tasks to the experts of respective domains results in improved efficiency and better results.

Another big advantage is that you can re-prioritize, upscale, or downscale your business activities without disturbing your core operations.

For instance, to follow up on a strict deadline, you can have a part of your project done by the external hiring. It is surely the best way to do so!

3. Instant Access To Latest Technologies & Skilled Professionals

It is impossible to have every latest piece of technology and people of all expertise in the rapidly evolving software market. But by outsourcing, you can access any talent, any technology present across the world.

Doing so, you can enhance your technical capabilities, introduce new aspects to your products and improve your overall service quality.

This explains why the outsourcing companies that hire experts from various sources enjoy the freedom of taking on as many new projects as they want.

4. Diversification Of Portfolio

Software companies should try to diversify their services to have a better edge over their competitors. And outsourcing does just that.

Instead of having you put all your eggs in one basket, outsourcing allows you to diversify your portfolio, ensuring better risk management.

It won’t be an understatement to say that outsourcing has become somewhat vital for a software firm to maintain its existence over a long period.

Are There No Cons At All?

Like every business model, outsourcing software development has its disadvantages as well, the most important of which is the loss of control.

In addition to that, the lack of communication is also a challenge.

However, the difference can be bridged by scheduling regular meetups so that you can inspect and monitor the outsourced task from time to time.

Models Of Outsourcing Software Development

There are various models of outsourcing based on the agreements between the clients and the outsourced firms.

These models are mainly based on the level of involvement of the outsourced partner, their job responsibilities, and the expectations their clients have of them.

It must be noted here that no model can be declared to be the best one as all of them work differently in different settings. You must understand all the models to decide which one is suitable for your particular project.

The three most commonly used outsourcing models for software development are as follows:

1. Project-Based Model

In this type of model, the outsourcing firm has to manage and execute the designated project on its own. They have to strictly adhere to the desired specifications and product timeline, as issued by the client company.

The outsourcing company has full liberty over product management and execution. However, their operations are regularly monitored by the client through progress reports and meetings.

This model is suitable when the scope of work is clearly defined, project timelines are fixed, and there is no need for modifications throughout the process.

The project-based model is often used by medium and small-sized businesses. The pros of this model can be summarized as follows:

• Clear deadlines
• No hidden charges
• Minimum involvement of the client
• Complete transfer of responsibility/ risk
• Well-determined and easy-to-assess outcomes
• Opportunity to see different viewpoints

2. Staff Augmentation

In this approach, the employer evaluates the technical abilities of their existing workforce to identify the skills they are lacking. The in-house staff is then augmented by the people with the desired skillset so that the knowledge and experience gap can be bridged.

The outsourcing company enhances the capacity of the core team for a limited period, until the execution of the project they were brought to help with.

In addition to being cost-effective, the staff augmentation model relieves the outsourced company from the hassle of the recruitment process.

The biggest benefit is that you still have control over your project’s working despite getting it outsourced.

The staff augmentation model is suitable for medium and small-sized businesses. The pros of this model can be summarized as follows:

• Very convenient
• Improved communication
• No recruitment hassles
• High flexibility
• Better control over the product development

3. Dedicated Team

In a dedicated team model, the outsourced partner is tasked with providing a specific set of services to the client. These services might include basic management, measurement and assessment of product quality, and efficient resource utilization, etc.

The outsourced partner has to figure out the optimal process that should be used by the client’s original team for product development.

They also have to continuously supervise the original team to make sure they are properly executing the project. Moreover, they are also responsible for suggesting changes and improvements.

The dedicated team is the most suitable model for outsourcing dynamic projects where the scope isn’t clearly defined and is usually a preferred choice of big corporations.

The pros of this model can be summarized as follows:

• Cost-efficient
• Highly flexible
• Get talented professionals within a short time
• Most suitable for projects where the scope is susceptible to change

To Sum It All

Outsourcing software development has become the need of the hour.

From diversifying your portfolio to saving you both time and money, it helps you maintain the competitive edge that you need to thrive in the rapidly changing software market.

Outsourcing sure has its downsides, but its pros easily outweigh its cons.

Contact us today, to discuss how outsourcing can benefit your company

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When it comes to site optimization, numerous strategies can be used for the purpose.

Though you can get your desired results by any method, the question that which strategy is the ‘best’ is subjective and sometimes debatable.

There’s just one distinction that you must fully know: White hat SEO v. black hat SEO.

Below, we will have an in-depth look into all the differences present between these two approaches of site optimization. We will also describe the practices involved in the two methods along with a few examples to give you a better understanding.

In addition to that, we will also get to know a lesser-known midway approach, known as the grey hat SEO. So keep reading to learn it all.

White Hat SEO

Let’s first understand what white hat SEO is.

If we were to summarize it in one sentence, white hat SEO is the ethical and correct way for the optimization of a site.

To help you better understand the concept, an SEO strategy is white hat if it fulfills the following 3 conditions.

1.     It follows Google’s guidelines

If your site optimization strategy is in accordance with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines (or the guidelines of the search engine you’re using) then it’s safe to assume that you’re using white hat SEO.

Google and other search engines have laid clear rules regarding how to optimize your site.

These rules, describing the tenets of ‘ethical’ site optimization, are extremely comprehensive. However, they can easily be summarized into one simple tip, and that is, don’t manipulate.

It means, if you are not trying to manipulate your organic rankings or deceive Google in any way, you’re most probably following their SEO guidelines, i.e. white hat approach.

2.     It targets humans, not bots

If your SEO strategy adds value to your site’s visitors, you’re using white hat SEO.

The top priority of Google and other search engines is to give their customers the best results whenever they search for anything. That’s why if you make your site beneficial for users, the search engines will reward you with higher rankings.

You can improve the user experience of your site by various techniques.

For instance, you can enhance the loading speed of your page to give them a better experience. Or you can provide them with quality content, relevant to their search keywords.

When your SEO strategy targets humans in a bid to provide them a great experience, you’re doing exactly what Google wants from you, i.e. using white hat SEO.

3.     It takes more time and effort

An SEO strategy that’s in line with Google’s site optimization guidelines and that gives a great user experience takes more time and effort as compared to black hat techniques.

However, your effort will be worth it, because white hat techniques always have a long-lasting impact on your site.

Since you invest in your content and you don’t use any manipulative tactics that can cause penalization from search engines, white hat SEO is a long-term approach for site optimization.

Black Hat SEO

As you can guess, black hat SEO is 180o opposite to that of white hat SEO.

To give you a better understanding of the concept, an SEO strategy is black hat if it fulfills the following three conditions.

1.     It goes against Google’s guidelines

A black hat SEO strategy violates Google’s site optimization guidelines.

In most of the cases, the black hat practices have been clearly described in search engine guidelines as the tactics you must avoid in all circumstances.

2.     It uses manipulative techniques

A black hat SEO strategy uses manipulative techniques to deceive Google’s algorithm in a bid to get higher rankings.

In contrast with white hat SEO, black hat doesn’t provide a good user experience.

However, it uses deceptive tactics to trick Google into believing that the site is providing a great experience to its users.

3.     It tries to get ‘quick wins’

A black hat SEO strategy tries to exploit the loopholes present in search engine algorithms to get higher rankings without putting in much effort.

Even though black hat tactics can improve the ranking of a site, the result never lasts.

Google and other search engines constantly improve their search algorithms to prevent the sites that don’t provide value to users from ranking higher in search results.

It means if a site gets good results due to black hat tactics, it would lose its ranking every time Google updates its algorithm.

To put it simply, black hat SEO is a myopic approach with short-lived success.

Difference Between White Hat And Black Hat SEO

The biggest difference between white hat and black hat SEO is that the former gives a great user experience and complies with Google’s guidelines, while the latter has no regard for user experience and violates Google’s guidelines.

Examples

Since white and black hat approaches are the exact opposite to each other, the tactics deployed in both the strategies are also entirely different. Here are the most notable techniques used in both these approaches, as per Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

What To Do: White Hat SEO

Google lays out a framework of basic principles that site owners can consult while optimizing their site. Here are a few of those principles:

• Never try to deceive users.
• Make your pages for humans, not for bots or search engines.
• Try to make your site unique, engaging, and valuable. Your website should stand out in the crowd, at least you should aim to make it stand out from competitors.
• Don’t rely on tricks to enhance your search rankings. If you’re not sure about something, ask yourself if it would help your users. Another great test is to think if you would find it comfortable to explain your site optimization approach to a Google employee, or any of your competitors.

Google also makes it clear that the rankings of site owners who resort to deceptive practices would be poorer to those who act in accordance with “principles.”

So, if your efforts are intended to provide a great browsing experience to users, you can rest assured that your site optimization approach is in total compliance with Google.

It means, writing relevant and quality content, enhancing page loading speed and making your site mobile-friendly are all white hat tactics since they improve user experience. These ethical, Google- compliant techniques will have a positive and long-lasting effect on your search rankings.

What Not To Do: Black Hat SEO

In contrast with the general and broadly defined things Google recommends you to do, the tactics that you shouldn’t use (black hat) are specifically pointed out.

According to Google’s guidelines, the following (black hat) practices can cause penalization:

• Webpages with irrelevant keywords
• Malicious pages, containing trojans, viruses, or other badware
• Hidden links or text
• Pages with scraped content
• Doorway pages
• Pages with cloaking
• Pages with sneaky redirects
• Sending automated queries to Google
• Abusing rich snippets markup
• Pages with automatically generated content
• Pages with little or no original content
• Participating in link schemes with no value
• Participating in affiliate programs with no value

It must be noted here that this list isn’t comprehensive. There might be more tactics that violate Google’s guidelines but aren’t listed here.

Grey Hat SEO

You might have sometimes heard the term ‘grey hat’ SEO, even though it’s not a very common concept.

As you can probably guess from the name, grey hat SEO refers to the strategies that lie in between black hat and white hat SEO.

The grey hat practices can be manipulative in the majority of cases, but they are not specifically labeled by Google as something one should avoid.

It means they’re less risky as compared to the black hat practices, which are strictly defined as a no-no by Google. But they could still lead to negative consequences, though the risk might be less.

To give you a better understanding of the concept, practices like submitting to link directories, building microsites, and creating doorway pages all fall under the grey hat umbrella.

The Risks Involved In Grey Hat Or Black Hat Tactics

If you use grey or black hat tactics in a bid to trick Google’s algorithm, you can face any of these two possible consequences.

Google can either manually penalize you, or you could lose your rankings after an algorithm update. Let’s have an in-depth look into both.

Manual penalties

Google has clearly specified that it will take Manual Action against the sites that use black hat practices.

Once a site is flagged for violating Google’s guidelines, Google’s team members review it and issue penalties in accordance.

When a manual action is taken against a site by human reviewers, it fails to appear in search results in all subsequent searches.

It means the result of using black hat practices is the exact opposite of what the site owner used them for in the first place.

Algorithm updates

In order to improve their search results, Google and other search engines regularly update their algorithms. And most of the updates are aimed at addressing the loopholes that are exploited by black hat SEO users.

For instance, the ‘Penguin’ update of 2012 was one of the most noteworthy changes. This update targeted the sites that bought links or used spammy link tactics.

As soon the update was out, tens of thousands of sites that were using the aforementioned link practices lost their rankings.

Google has since then released numerous updates to target deceptive SEO practices.

Even though the algorithm updates don’t try to target or penalize a specific site owner, they dramatically affect the search rankings of site owners who rely on black hat practices.

Is Link Building A Black Hat Practice?

A common question that may arise in your mind could be whether link building also falls under the umbrella of black hat practices?

It’s a well-known fact that a majority of site owners try to build links to improve their rankings. Regardless of the user experience, their sole aim is to enhance the credibility of their site with Google or other search engines.

So, should you or should you not try to build links to optimize your website? Fortunately, link building is not prohibited by Google – but you must be very careful about how you earn links to your site.

According to Google’s guidelines, you must not participate in affiliate programs and link schemes that don’t offer value. Besides that, you must never ever try to buy links.

To put it simply, earning links is not a black hat tactic until and unless you don’t try to manipulate the search engine algorithms with spammy and unnatural links.

The Takeaway: Adhere To White Hat Practices

White hat practices take effort. You will also have to invest a notable amount of time, and often some amount of money as well, to achieve your desired outcome.

So, you might see black hat SEO as a shortcut to achieve your desired results.

But the truth is, the risks the site owners face when they resort to a black hat SEO strategy are simply too much, and definitely not worth the probable rewards.

If you want to be successful in the longer run – without ever worrying about potential penalties or algorithm updates – you must invest in a white hat SEO strategy.

Conclusion

White hat v. black hat SEO is a debate you may often come across as you explore the best ways for site optimization.

And when it happens, remember that this debate isn’t worth investing your time.

Using white hat practices is, without a doubt, the approach you must take as a digital marketer. Don’t even bother hearing if anyone tries to convince you otherwise.

Black hat practices may help site owners in achieving quick wins, but they rely on deceptive tactics in clear violation of Google’s guidelines and lead to penalization, sooner or later.

On the other hand, white hat SEO takes a long-term effort, focuses on humans, and complies with Google’s guidelines — leaving a positive and lasting effect on your rankings.

Contact us today, to help you rank your website

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Selecting the right content management system (CMS) is not an easy task. No matter if you’re a web designer, a marketing professional or a front-end developer, it’s something you’ll have a hard time with.

There are plenty of amazing options around, with each having its pros and cons. And, of course, who can dare to not consider everyone’s favorite ‘the mighty’ WordPress while choosing the CMS for their website.

While WordPress might be the go-to solution for many, there are some other CMSs as well that are worth giving a shot. Top of the list is Craft – an economical, modern, open-source content management system with exceptional security and first-party support.

Here’s a detailed developer’s perspective on why Craft can be a suitable option for many web projects.

Never-Before-Seen Content Editing Experience

The content editing experience offered by Craft is practically one of its kind. Craft strives to make things simple and easy for the user. Here are some of its features that are worth mentioning.

• Craft is crazily fast. No matter if you’re dealing with its control panel or working on its front end, Craft will top almost all older CMSs in terms of speed.
• Craft has one of the best UIs. You can easily learn its control panel without any training.
• Content managers can easily preview custom page layout building and updates in real–time by Craft’s Live Preview feature. It is understandably something that sets it apart from other CMSs.
• You can easily publish workflows across various individuals and departments, thanks to Craft’s fine-grained group management and user permissions. And guess what, you don’t even require a plugin to do all this.
• Each and everything can be accessed in just one place. This feature helps editors to quickly find what they were looking for and is one of the reasons they love this CMS.

Unparalleled Out-Of-The-Box Features, Without Plugins

Craft offers scores of features that aren’t available with many other CMSs without plugins. These out-of-the-box features are readily available to users soon after installation and are extremely useful not only for web designers but also for developers.

While there are plenty of such features, here’s an incomplete list for you as a tip of the iceberg.

• • Freedom to build any kind of page layout. Editors can build sections of one-off pages by adding any kind of content blocks while ensuring consistency with their branding and custom design.
  • Multilingual and multi-site capabilities. You can also use any of their combinations. This amazing feature enables you to manage your brand websites under one roof and localize them as per your need.
  • Full control over your design and content with robust custom fields.
  • The Live Preview feature allows real-time editing (Though few CMSs implement it but not as beautifully as Craft).
  • Updating is just a single click away, just like in WordPress. You just have to click a button to update Craft core and plugins.
  • Full control over HTML/JS/CSS by PHP templating language ‘Twig.’ It allows front end developers to bring their own markup instead of using built-in or pre-designed themes.

• • An incredibly easy-to-use image editor that allows you to resize, re-crop, and rotate an image among other controls. You can even have automated image crops and transformations by setting an image focal point.

A Huge Store With Tons Of Amazing Plugins

As if Craft isn’t amazing enough with its out-of-the-box features, you can make it even more amazing by using its plugins or add-ons. Craft has a store containing hundreds of plugins, most of which are developed by globally leading developer agencies. Pixel and Tonic, the firm behind Craft, has also developed dozens of first-party plugins.

While all these plugins are exceptional in quality and features, what makes them even better is how you can acquire them. You can manage their payment/ licensing by Craft ID – the same spot you go to manage Craft license. It means, you no longer have to worry about renewals and expirations from an assortment of vendors. And you can just forget about third-party systems.

The plugins available in the Craft store are truly splendid. Some of them, such as the ones mentioned below, are popular with everyone.

• Super Table for matrix-in-matrix inception on your website
• Freeform Pro for web form building and form management
• Feed Me Pro for content migration and feed
• SEOmatic for SEO implementation

First-Party Help & Community Support

Another huge benefit you get with Craft CMS is the first-party support that you get from Pixel and Tonic. As soon as you get your license, you can have any issued resolved by turning to the support team using your control panel.

You can also rely on community support from Craft’s Stack Exchange forum or the company’s Slack, both of which have thousands of active users. The Craft community isn’t only helpful but also very kind and welcoming.

A Modern Solution For Modern Times

Craft is relatively modern as compared to other major content management systems. It uses the latest PHP development and is built on the Yii framework. Since it was developed at a time when web CMSs got established for good, Craft is free of all issues that usually plague the older content management systems.

Craft doesn’t face the issue of backwards compatibility for millions of websites. The modern technologies used in its development make it extremely secure, amazingly flexible, highly customizable, and ridiculously fast.

To give you a perspective about the age difference in leading CMSs: Craft was launched in 2012, WordPress in 2003, and Drupal in 2000. Craft’s young age makes it attractive to countless organizations and that’s exactly why brands like Netflix, Salesforce, Duck Brand Duck Tape, PBS, and Moz have been running Craft sites.

The Final Word

To summarize what has been said above, Craft is a modern, secure, and affordable content management system. Its flexible and unparalleled out-of-the-box features make it the go-to CMS for countless developers.

If you want to learn more about Craft CMS, feel free to contact us.

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You got your site off the ground the right way, gained momentum with your content, and amassed a huge online following. However, somewhere down the line, you lost direction and decided to decrease or stop your SEO efforts entirely.

You may decide to stop SEO possibly because it’s too expensive or you’ve been taken in by misinformation about SEO.  It’s also common for people to abandon SEO because they expect incredible results in the short term.

If you’re asking, “Why is SEO important?” read on to get the answer.

Why Is SEO Important?

The main objective of any SEO campaign is to get the site to the top spot on the SERPs. In doing so, SEO drives traffic by exposing your site to more web users.

SEO helps to generate revenue for ecommerce sites, by making products more visible on the search engine results page.

One thing about SEO campaigns is that you have to keep constantly improving them. That’s because Google analytics are continually changing, meaning you have to adapt your SEO to the ever-changing analytics to retain your site’s ranking.

What Happens If I Stop Doing SEO?

Since SEO is so important, there are probably consequences for stopping your SEO campaign. On the other hand, maybe you’ve done enough to get you’re a high-ranking site and stopping your SEO efforts could be harmless.

Let’s boil down to what exactly happens when you stop paying attention to your SEO campaigns. It’s normal for your site’s traffic to remain consistent for a couple of months after you stop SEO, but you’ll notice some decline sooner or later.

Here’s what happens when you:-

Stop Posting Quality Content

Quality content is essential for your site’s success. That’s why most web designers and marketing agents emphasize on quality content for your SEO strategy. So when you start slacking off on posting quality of your content, you should expect:-

• Slower traffic because you aren’t continual targeting new keywords, which is essential for your site’s ranking
• Your content is no longer worthy of sharing in social media, which also translates to lesser traffic influx
• Your frequent visitor stop visiting as often because there’s no fresh content on the site
• The number of backlinks on your pages drastically means, which hurts your online income

When you stop posting fresh quality content, Google will think your site is inactive. It’s only logical for Google to lower your rankings because your site no longer adds value to the web users.

Stop Updating Pages

Nothing screams my site is no longer active than static content. If your last post was in November 2017, then it beats the point of having a website in 2020.  We get it, sometimes there’s simply no fresh content to add to your site, but here are some ways to always keep your pages fresh.

1. Make your previous text longer- You don’t necessarily need new topics for fresh content. You can simply add on to your current content. Always remember to notify your visitors of any changes through newsletters or your email list.
2. Add Some FAQs- Adding more FAQs to your FAQ page counts as a page update. So add a few FAQs to your site for both you and your web visitors’ sake.
3. Add links to other articles- When it comes to adding links to other articles, ensure what you’re linking to is relevant content. That way, you’ll also be adding value to site visitors apart from just updating your pages.

Of course, the best way to keep your page up-to-date is by adding fresh new relevant content. Don’t be too lazy, scout around for new content and keep your site updated.

Neglect the Technical Issues

Managing a website isn’t the easiest thing on earth because apart from worrying about rankings, you also have to deal with a heap of technical issues. Choosing to ignore these technical problems only spells disaster for the site.

The best approach to fixing technical issues is solving them as they occur. These technical issues may include stuff like duplicate content and site clutter, among others. If you let these issues pile up, they may overwhelm you when you finally decide to solve them collectively.

Plus, remember that the more the issues pile up, the costlier it will be to solve. Keep that in mind the next time you want to put off fixing your website’s technical issues.

Stop Adding New Pages

Adding new pages is more difficult for some sites than it is for others. That’s because some niche sites can’t add new pages since they can’t segment their sites any further. Regardless of the niche of your website, do your best to add some new pages to the site.

Remember, these new pages should coordinate with your overall site’s structure and organisation. You can make these new landing pages if you aren’t keen on boosting your SEO. Make sure these landing pages target keywords for an even greater effect on SEO.

However, remember not to clutter these pages as they might hurt your loading speeds, which is bad for SEO.

Stopping Your SEO Campaign Is Never a Good Idea

From the above, we can conclusively establish that stopping SEO works to the detriment of your site. Plus, having answered the question, “Why is SEO important?” you should be focusing your full attention on SEO.

The effects of good SEO takes some time to pick, but eventually, you will have a high-ranking site with a massive online following.

Contact us today, and we’ll see how we can help refine and streamline your SEO strategy for more traffic and a successful website.

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Why has agile methodology proven to be such a game changer in the software world? It all started way back in the early 2000s when there was a realization that applying waterfall methods to software projects was neither efficient nor effective. The practice of tackling tasks in series i.e. first analysing requirements, then designing a solution and finally developing the solution and delivering the results, had many limitations. Whilst this waterfall approach was well suited for projects which were more of a manufacturing nature, and you had to wait for one step to complete before embarking on the next step, it proved to be very ill suited when developing software. Because software can be complex, making it difficult to estimate when the code can be delivered, software projects running in water fall methods often result in very long delays and lack of functionality.

Analysis, development and testing in one cycle

As a result, agility in software projects is all about a continuous cycle of analysis, design, development and testing. That’s right – analyse, design, develop, test …and repeat!

This iterative approach ensures that the problem is being broken down into parts which are manageable and can be worked upon within a shorter timeframe. Agile is all about defining the minimum viable product which will deliver enough functionality and value to drive product uptake, in a fast and efficient manner. Once this MVP is deployed, then the aim is to incrementally deliver more value in the form of either more features, which translate into more functionality directly to the customer, or else more technical robustness such as security and hardening of the software itself. Although this might not be considered as delivering value, it is essential to have a sound product.

Focus on Test driven development

One of the core fundamentals of agile is test driven development i.e. to build software starting with its test first. This is absolutely crucial because it allows the testing of this software to be built inherently into the system, allowing for test automation and the possibility for continuous deployments. This is such an important feature that Robert Martin, one of the founders of the agile mindset, argues in his book Clean Agile, that developers should refuse to develop code any other way.

Agile methodologies

There are different agile methodologies such as XP, Scrum etc. They vary in their implementation of the agile principles, yet at their very core they all implement the fundamentals. One of the most popular methods is Scrum which implements a number of ceremonies to ensure good governance, transparency and collaboration. It starts with the principle that the scrum team is capable of handling the task at hand, but largely allows the team to self-organize. Two important roles in a scrum team are the product owner and the scrum master.

The product owner is the person representing the business function of a company, understanding the high level requirements as requested by non-technical counterparts and translating them into user stories which the development team can then translate into workable tangible tasks. These tasks need to clearly define the definition of done to ensure that both developers and the product owner have agreed upon what the results of this tasks should look like.

The scrum master plays an important role of ensuring that there are no impediments in the paths of the developers, and that each person is capable of handling the tasks he has committed to deliver.

Scrum requires the implementation of sprint cycles, which are typically one or two week development cycles. Each scrum team plans for the sprint cycle through planning meetings, daily stand-ups to assess progress and sprint review and retrospect meetings to show the work delivered to business users.

Better planning

As a result, agile does require better planning, because the team needs to know what they are expected to be working upon throughout the sprint cycle. Questions which arise throughout the development phase should be tackled immediately, and hence it is important that key stakeholders such as business analysts or owners ensure that any queries and doubts are clarified as early as possible.

It is important to maintain a healthy backlog of tasks such that developers can pick up additional tasks in case they have spare capacity or are stuck with some other tasks.

More visibility

Agile delivers better visibility of how a software project can be delivered. After only very few sprints, scrum teams learn how many tasks they are able to deliver in a given sprint. Coupled with techniques such as scrum poker, whereby developers vote and agree on the complexity of tasks and the effort needed to deliver each task, the team learns to commit to the right number of deliverables. As a result the business knows when it can expect to deliver particular products, what the first deliverable will look like and how incremental deliverables can be deployed.

Agile methodology for software can be compared to planning a trip from one city to another. If you were to travel from Paris to Rome, you’d look at the map and decide your first next destination, and focus on getting to that destination. It is however important to keep the end goal in mind. You definitely don’t want to end up derailed in Berlin!

At thewebally, we use agile to deliver software solutions incrementally and efficiently, always iterating to take customer feedback into consideration. We help you assess what your minimum viable product should be, by prioritizing what you deem as most important and crucial.

Contact us today to see how The Web Ally can help your business succeed.

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With hundreds of options to create and host your website, not to mention design tools, plugins, and website analyzers, what do you choose?

Is WordPress good for your specific purposes?

WordPress is an ideal option for everyone in need of a custom-designed website, no matter if your goal is building a business, increasing sales, starting a blog, or building a professional portfolio.

Keep reading to learn more about why WordPress is the perfect choice for your website.

What is WordPress?

The WordPress platform  allows you to build and host your website. It’s extremely customizable and is ideal for any number of purposes.

Over the years, WordPress has evolved from a site on which to blog, to a full-grown hosting platform where you can run a blog, website, or eCommerce store.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

As you begin looking at website options, you might come across both WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

So why do these three little letters make a big difference?

WordPress.com is a free platform that you can use to create your own blog. You’ll have very limited materials to work with compared to those who host with WordPress.org, with one major difference that stands out.

Your website will be followed by “.WordPress.com” instead of just “.com”.

For example, imagine your domain name is Epic Cake World. If you decide to go with the free option when clients type in your web address it will read www.epiccakeworld.WordPress.com instead of epiccakeworld.com.

It’s worth purchasing your own domain name! It makes you seem more serious and professional.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com has quite a few drawbacks beyond the domain name, the only real pro being that WordPress backs up your site for you and it’s free (but limited). Some of the negatives include:

• Limited storage
• WordPress places their own ads (you don’t make money and can’t set up your own ads)
• No custom themes
• You can’t upload your own plugins
• No eCommerce features

WordPress.org

WordPress.org has so many pros in comparison to WordPress.com, it’s hard to see why you would choose any other option. Just a few of the advantages are:

• You own your website and all of its data
• You can earn money from website ads
• eCommerce abilities
• Ability to create membership platforms
• Your site is completely customizable

Why Choose WordPress?

WordPress is ideal because of the flexibility it offers. If you’re not quite sure what coding or HTML is, you’ll still be able to build the site of your dreams.

But beyond choosing WordPress.org over WordPress.com, why go with WordPress at all?

Open Source Software

WordPress offers open-source software which means that you’ll have access to a huge database of free plugins, themes, and resources.

Reliability and Ease of Use

WordPress has long been a pillar of the website building community.

It is known by everyone who builds websites and there are many resources and help guides available to make your WordPress journey easy.

There are even Facebook groups out there, created with the sole purpose of WordPress support from other users.

Features Galore

WordPress is constantly growing and changing. Features are always being added, plugins are frequently updated, and if you can’t figure out how to change something, there’s definitely a feature for it, you might just have to dig.

SEO Friendly

Search engine optimization is a business in and of itself, and while it takes time to understand and master, know that WordPress is SEO friendly. With a bit of elbow grease, you’ll be able to start ranking on the first page of search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Is WordPress Good for Businesses?

If you’re not sure if WordPress is good for businesses, why not look at what some of the biggest businesses in the game use. Some companies that use WordPress include:

• Tech Crunch
• The New Yorker
• BBC America
• The Official Star Wars Blog
• Variety
• Sony Music
• MTV News
• Beyonce
• Microsoft New Center

WordPress is ideal for businesses because of its incredible potential. Anything you can dream can be done on WordPress.

But what about small businesses?

If you don’t have millions as part of your website budget like many of these brands, don’t fret!

WordPress is a great choice for small businesses as well.

Is WordPress Good for Professionals?

Almost everyone has a website these days. A website is the new resume. Whether you’re a business mogul, an artist, or anything in between, you should build a professional website to showcase your work and skills.

WordPress is ideal for professionals because it requires zero coding skills! All you need to do is find a theme you love and start writing!

You’ll also find a huge variety of free add-ons (such as plugins) that can help you modify your website.

WordPress websites are also easily mobilized without you having to do any work on your end.

With just over half of all web traffic being generated from mobile devices, you need to have a website that can be accessed and look great when someone is on their phone. Plus, mobile marketing could mean double your profits.

WordPress also provides easy social media integration. Clients and employers want to know what kinds of people we are online.

Linking to your socials from your professional website means that you direct them there, presenting an air of honesty and openness.

If you’ve got clients, you might just turn them into followers too!

Get Started Today

So is WordPress good for professionals and businesses?

The answer is a resounding YES!

There’s no doubt that WordPress can handle the need of every individual and business.

Now, we know that you’re busy, so why not let us do the work for you.

Do you need to redesign your website? Our team is here to help you!

Contact us today to see how The Web Ally can help your business succeed.

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