The best time to think about SEO is from the moment a website is launched or the time when you want to start a website. It will help you put your best foot forward, thus saving you from trouble later on, leading to saving your precious tome.

Want to know what is SEO and its importance? 

Please read it here https://shivila.com2021/11/08/what-is-seo-and-why-is-it-important/

SEO strategies have moved a long way from just keywords. Gone are the days when writing content around the keywords the customers are searching for used to be the norm. Content that is stuffed with keywords is also not the right way to improve SEO performance.

Google being the most used website for search-related queries, keeping yourself updated about the constant updates of its algorithm is essential. Though it may sound like a difficult task, but with practice, it can be achieved, and it will become second nature to you.

According to a survey in the U.S, 78% of people do Google search before buying any product. In a related survey, 75% of the people don’t even take the trouble to go beyond the first page of the search engine. 

Therefore, aiming for the first page of the Google organic search is essential to get higher rankings for the website.

There are three types of SEO that any person launching a new website should focus on:

• On-site SEO: This is used to optimize the website’s content mainly. This lifts the rankings of the websites in Google search.
• Off-site SEO: This aspect of SEO mainly focuses on the backlinks that the site has. It helps the search algorithms in trusting the websites.
• Technical SEO: This SEO focuses on the back-end architecture of the website. It covers the technical aspect of the website like site code, navigability, etc.

Here we will decode some of the strategies that will help you be on top of the game, thus increasing your chances to feature on the first page of the search engine results.

Have a clearly defined objective

Before even thinking about SEO strategies to implement on your website, minutely analyze your business website’s key goals. Understand your target audience and preferences. After initial analysis of these, draft your contents keeping in mind your objectives to provide your target audience with pertinent information regarding your products.

These clearly defined objectives will help you determine your KPIs objectively and base your strategies on those KPIs. Therefore, take time out to define your goals and objectives.

Invest your time in proper keyword research

Keyword research forms an integral part of any SEO strategy. The keywords should be properly aligned to your website and should be able to represent your company adequately. After proper research and analysis, make sure that you are incorporating those keywords into your content. Make blogs, landing pages and include the keywords in meta tags, title tags, etc.

Aim for long-tail keywords to gain higher rankings. There are a lot of tools available nowadays that help in keywords research, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, etc. Use these to research for the keywords.

Keep track of your peers.

Your peers are those who are in the same industry as you. Diving deep into their websites and keeping track of them is vital to understanding what works in the virtual world.

After proper examination of their strategies, you could implement the best of their ideas in your own way and improve on your lacking areas. Keeping track of your peers will give you an overall view of the do’s and don’ts and help you better grasp the opportunities.

Write for humans and not algorithms.

Gone are the days when keyword stuffing was the norm. Nowadays, search engines focus more on content that is engaging and naturally written. Make sure that your blogs or any other such content are more human-centric than algorithm-centric.

Stuffing your keyword in every part of your content can even lead to Google penalizing you for it. Therefore, while writing, keep a human approach and human touch to it because at the end of the day, your content is for humans and not search engines.

Make your sites mobile-friendly

Mobile users are constantly increasing. Everyone now wants that the information regarding any product should be available to them on the go. Keeping this crucial factor in mind, make your sites mobile-friendly.

According to a survey, in the year 2020, more than half of the searches were done by using mobile, excluding the tabs. This data implies that your websites should be working on mobile speedily and efficiently. 

Do not clutter the website with unnecessary images and graphics. Find the middle path and stick to it.

Optimization is the key.

Optimization increases your website’s chance to be SEO- friendly. Keep your title tags short and relevant. While using the images for SEO, make sure that keywords are inserted correctly. 

In the blogs, ensure that proper headings are used. This helps the search engine know what you want to convey through your content easily. The text in your website should not be stuffed with keywords, but rather it should be easy to understand. 

Optimize everything in a way that makes the website presentable and enhances the SEO performance.

Conclusion

These are some of the strategies you can use to make your website feature on the first page of the Google organic search. The results of utilizing SEO strategies take time to show. Therefore, incorporate these from the first day to reap the benefits later.

We have often come across SEM, SMM, SEO, and others that sound similar to us. If you have come across the word SEM and scratched your head in confusion, this post is for you.

We will analyze the SEM in simple and easy laymen’s terms and its importance in digital marketing practices.

What is SEM?

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It encompasses the paid means to increase your brand’s visibility in the virtual world. Earlier, SEM was equated with SEO. Nowadays, it is mainly used as a standalone term for paid search engine marketing.

In SEM, brands pay for the ads of their products or websites to appear on the SERPs. With the help of targeted keywords, users are shown the ads of the products when they search the related keyword of the brand.

Though SEM is mainly used to refer to the paid results, it also includes the natural organic searches performed by the Google algorithm to display the brand’s online page. But nowadays, organic results, for all practical purposes, are associated with SEO.

Importance of SEM for your business

Increases your visibility and enhances the conversion rate

For any business, having visibility in its domain is of paramount importance. SEM helps you appear on the first page of the Google search page, thus increasing your visibility. It enhances your reputation as a leader or authority in your domain and helps build trust among the customers.

It also helps in better conversion rates and helps in gaining more customers for the business. Contrary to this, if your website appears on the second or third page of the Google search engine result, the chances are that very few users will visit your page.

Cost-effective solution

SEM is a cost-effective solution for companies of any size or scale. Be it a start-up or a multi-national company; it does not burn a hole in your pocket. It is economical as when someone clicks on the ad of your brand only then the payment happens.

Based on your needs and requirements, you can scale up your investments to reap benefits and maintain the flow.

Helps in providing quantified results.

Using the features like Google Ads for your SEM strategy will help you get the results in a measurable format. It provides you with numerous benefits to keep track of your campaigns. And if something is not going according to your plan of action, you can correct it.

That’s the best part of using SEM. It provides numbers (and who does not love the numbers?) to keep a tab on your performance.

Gives instant result

SEO and other related strategies of digital marketing practices take time to show results. You have to do similar things in a loop. This can be monotonous, and without the results showing quickly, it can lead to frustration.

On the other hand, SEM can give you instant results. The moment your ad is live, you can expect the customers or users to click on it to visit your website. 

Maintains consistency of traffic

Consistency of traffic coming to your website plays a significant role in maintaining high rankings in search engine results. Sadly enough, the ups and downs of the traffic happen regularly, and unfortunately, most of the time, these cannot be explained.

To get over this, search ads can come to your rescue. It will ensure the regular flow of traffic to your website and will also help in controlling the flow of traffic according to your needs.

SEM provides you flexibility

With SEM, you can adjust your ads according to your target audience, location, and other parameters. It gives you a greater option in customizing the ads keeping your budget constraints and other factors in mind.

It provides more options for your ad campaign without rigidity and helps in achieving success through marketing.

SEM helps to increase brand awareness

According to a survey by Google, search ads help to boost the brand awareness by up to 80%. This helps in generating interest in the brand, which is beneficial for it in the long run.

In case someone does not click on the ads, it is still visible on the top of the search engine results page, which helps capture the customers’ attention.

Wrapping up

SEM works and can be beneficial to the brands. It helps in giving instant results and acts as an asset for the business. You can use it for better analysis of the data and helps in greater conversion. 

“First impression is the last impression.” Most of us have heard this umpteen number of times in our lives. Be it an interview or the first day at the office; a first impression goes a long way in creating the desired picture that people want to convey.

It is true about the brands too. In the digital medium, the attention span of the customers ranges from a few seconds to a minute. Those few seconds are crucial to break or build a relationship with the customer. Those few crucial seconds can attract or distract the customer.

In recent times, businesses crave attention and reputation. With internet-related activities gradually increasing, the conventional methods have become antiquated. The creation of a brand reputation now requires new and innovative ideas. One such way is to have a logo.

The logo represents the visual face of the business. They lend credibility and help in garnering engrossment towards the brand. It acts as a mark of the said industry.

While designing a logo, some of the basic concepts should be kept in mind. Here we will try to analyze some of the critical factors to remember while designing a logo.

Research

Even before sitting down to create a logo, knowing the client and their target audience is essential. Proper research and analysis should be undertaken to understand the products or the services that the brand sells.

Proper audience personas should be created and all the relevant information obtained. This helps in the better presentation of the logo that conforms to the brand standard.

Back to basics- sketch

Before creating the logo, the ideas that are provided in brief must be implemented on pen and paper. This eliminates the need to make changes repeatedly in the final version (though sometimes it can’t be avoided).

Making at least 20/30 rough sketches help bring better ideas to the forefront. This helps in comparative analysis of every version till the time the final one is finalized.

A good designer ensures that enough time is spent on sketching before commencing with the designing aspect of the logo.

Simplicity and Proportion

A logo that incorporates all the design elements will be cluttered. It will not be able to hold the customers’ attention as it will lack the feature that attracts the attention of the users. On the other hand, logos that are simple and clearly convey what it wants to portray go a long way in capturing customer attention.

Logos of brands like Apple, Samsung are instantly recognizable because of their simplicity. A person who has never used the products of these brands also identifies them. All this is possible because of the modesty of the logo designed.

Simplicity also ensures that the logo is closer to the golden proportion, which is characterized by perfect balance and symmetry.

Font appearance

In any logo, the font has a very crucial role to play. It is a life-or-death matter for the whole logo design. Choosing the right font that complements the logo design is an essential feature to keep in mind while designing the logo.

A proper font helps build a positive perception of the business in the minds of the people. Fonts coupled with appropriate color combination helps in luring the customers towards the brand. It also helps the brand stay ahead of its competitors and helps in creating an identity of its own.

Uniqueness

Everyone is born unique. We are different from each other in various aspects like gender, height, weight, thought process, and other such parameters. Similarly, every logo is disparate from the other. This differentiates one brand from another though they may offer some services or similar products.

Brand logos should be unique, whatever the size of the business. It helps in imprinting a lasting impression in the customer’s minds with which they associate the brand.

Conclusion

A logo is the front feature of any business. People associate or remember the industry with the help of logos. Designing it simply and efficiently helps the brand in the long run. Invest your precious time in creating a logo that is best suited for your business.

Data is also called the modern-day treasure chest. Data is required for analysis, forming strategies, and assessing the end results of those strategies numerically. Data acts as a base around which all the subsequent decisions are taken.

With accelerated growth in data generation, approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes each day (a quintillion is represented as 1018), an effective solution is needed to sort and organize data so that insights can be extracted from the data.

The answer to all the above problems lies in Data Base Management System or more popularly called DBMS.

DBMS primarily means the software that helps monitor and maintains the data in an organized format in a data structure. It acts as a mediator between the database and the user so that the data is properly maintained and easily accessible. DBMS helps businesses store, optimize, retrieve, and modify the data in the database in a hassle-free manner.

A DBMS has several components to it which help in performing its primary function of modifying, maintaining, and managing the data of an organization.

Coming back to the point, DBMS serves as a solution to the enormous amount of data generated daily. The benefits of processing a large amount of data cannot be denied, and here lies the importance of DBMS. Some of the advantages of using DBMS are as follows:

Helps in improving efficiency

DBMS provides businesses handling a large amount of data efficiency while controlling the data. In an organization, multiple types of data are generated. Sorting the data helps arrive at decisions quickly and incorporate those in a timely way.

It also helps them in making informed choices while going through the data.

Helps in the categorization of data in an organized form

The structuring of data is vital to derive meaning from them. This reduces the time while accessing those data. It helps in faster implementation of any modification or deletion that is needed to be done.

E.g., a student database in a university can store all the relevant information in the database, and any required additions or deletions can be made promptly; without going through tons of files.

Provide easy accessibility

DBMS ensures that the data stored in the database can be accessed by using any platforms available like mobile, tabs, computers, etc. This helps in increasing the versatility of the data and speeds up the operational process of the organization.

Eliminate inconsistency

Data redundancy is a significant problem that organizations face in their daily operations. This problem arises if multiple forms of data are available in different locations. With DBMS, a crystal-clear copy of the data is available to the organization.

DBMS gives them an overview of how data is shared and helps solve any inconsistency of the data. Further, it helps in enforcing data security, thus reducing the chance of data breaches.

Multiple access of the data

A DBMS gives the facility of accessing the database from multiple authorized users for various intents. This helps in scaling up the adaptability of the business.

E.g., an employee database can be used by HR to calculate the yearly salary increment or by the IT team to temporarily replace an existing member who has fallen ill.

These functions can be performed on accessing the single database, thus reducing the operational cost associated with such operations.

Integration becomes easier

With the help of DBMS, an integrated and panoramic view of the organization’s operation is achieved. It helps get a clear picture of the organization’s processes and how one process affects another function.

Faster decision making

With data organized in an organized way, the decision-making of the organization is enhanced. DBMS improves the decision quality as it can be checked against different metrics, thus leading to faster decisions.

Epilogue

The post briefly describes the importance of database management systems. It is not a comprehensive list of benefits, but it will help you understand the significance of the DBMS in processing data.

The primary aim of any business is to engage with its customers. Creating a band of loyal customers by providing products or services information easily and simply is the end goal of any brand. To achieve this goal, providing top of the class customer experience is of particular interest to the company.

What is customer experience or CX?

Customer experience or CX, in a simple language, means the satisfaction that the customer derives when visiting the online or offline store for purchasing any product. Though the term may seem new to many people, it has existed since the time market places exist.

In the physical world, when a customer visit the store, they interact with the staff in the store. Before making any purchasing decision, they consult the staff about the pros and cons of the products. All these encompass the CX. Creating customer experience in a brick-and-mortar institution is comparatively easy as human interactions positively impact customer experience.

But post-pandemic, the world order has taken a 360o turn. All the businesses have shifted to online mode to survive in the market. In the virtual mode, creating a customer experience can be a hard nut to crack as the physical interactions are minimal.

In this context, it is essential that the websites that represent the business in the virtual world should give the user a flawless experience while using it. According to a study, a positive customer experience can lead to a higher reputation of the business and translates to better customer retention. Data also states that the customers consider CX before making any purchasing decision, bypassing the price and quality-related elements.

So, in the interest of the business, it is imperative that the companies invest a chunk of their time and revenue in enhancing customer experience.

Importance of customer experience (CX)

Enhanced revenue

A satisfied customer is an asset. They will keep coming to the business for buying purposes. It greatly helps in enhancing the revenues. According to a study, a seamless user experience helps increase sales by 300% in less than three years.

The numbers and facts that don’t lie. For any business looking for these facts are hard to ignore. A hassle-free customer experience helps in repeating the business and creating a loyal band of followers. All that the company needs to do is take regular feedback from its customers and make a genuine effort to implement any suggestions provided by the customers.

This helps in spreading positive vibes to the customers about the business. All this adds up and allows the company to expand and grow.

Helps in retaining the customer

With unlimited options available to the customers, winning the customer’s loyalty is like climbing a steep mountain. With better deals and price options and a plethora of choices available to them, keeping them happy and standing to their expectations is difficult, if not impossible.

The best and the cheapest way to accomplish this is by the help customer experience. A smooth customer experience while exploring the digital marketplace will help create a satisfying impression on the customer. This will lead to the customer coming back to the business and retaining them in the long run.

Helps in creating a positive brand image

Positive reviews about the brand on different social media platforms are a great way to improve the brand’s image in this digital era. Other than that, satisfied customers talking about the brand to their near and dear ones is another way of improving the brand image and presenting it positively.

In both of these cases, the underlying factor is the customer experience. With the increasing usage of the internet and technology, positive user reviews due to an enjoyable experience while using the website help create better rankings. It increases the traffic to the website and helps in achieving higher rankings in the search engine results.

Helps in building a customer-oriented approach

The customer is the center of the gravity of any company. A company that invests time in delighting its customers with new ways and means is sure to remain ahead of its competitors. Building a customer-oriented approach is a task that requires both time and energy.

Keeping the CX at the heart of the business module will help the company in the long run. It will enable the company to develop an environment where interactions with the customer happen regularly, and their feedback is incorporated promptly.

Better rendition of the business

Who does not like to have a better and more mature and evolved version of themselves? Brands that focus on CX as a parameter of their working standards gain enormously from it. They constantly evolve themselves and come out with new ideas and strategies to keep their customers happy.

This helps in constant metamorphosis leading to better prospects and allowing the business to spread its wings further.

Conclusion

Industries that make CX a part of their working culture gain immensely from it. They set new benchmarks which establish them as industry leaders in their field. CX should be part of the game plan of every business to scale to new heights.

Laravel is an open-source PHP framework that is scalable, robust, and easy to understand. According to a study, it saves the development cost of the software by up to 35%. It reduces the development time significantly and makes the website smooth and market-ready in half of the time.

It also helps in improving site security, making the site fluid and easy to handle. Many developers nowadays are leaning heavily on Laravel to get the work done in a short period.

Developed by Taylor Otwell in 2011, it continuously improves by incorporating new modules and capabilities.

It makes the web development process a pleasing experience for the developer easing the cumbersome process otherwise associated with it. It makes web development a gratifying and fulfilling process encompassing the creativity of the developer.

Reasons for the popularity of Laravel

Laravel has built-in functionalities for authentication, security, cross-site scripting, web routing, message queuing, and other functions. With these built-in functions, developers can build your websites with just a couple of lines of code, thus drastically reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Laravel modules can be easily integrated with other modules allowing it to communicate effortlessly with other mails and communications systems. This provides flexibility to the customer visiting your website seamless communication experience irrespective of which messaging platforms they are using.

Laravel has become the first choice of developers around the world with its various functionality and affordability. Its advantages are hard to ignore, making it a preferred back-end framework.

How is Laravel beneficial for your projects?

Seamless integration with different messaging platforms and mail services

User authentication, password reminders, and promotional emails are some functions that most sites need to perform. By using Laravel, and its build-in API services, this integration happens seamlessly. It can integrate with SMPT, Mailgun, Amazon’s SES, etc.

This helps your website send mails using local servers or cloud-based servers, and even through various messaging services like Nexmo and Slack.

Testing processes are automated.

Testing the software developed is essential for knowing about the shortcomings of the product created. It helps in knowing about system crashes, bugs, errors, or any other problem that the software may encounter. Testing allows the developer to know if the software is functioning correctly.

Laravel is designed to keep this vital aspect in mind. It has a built-in PHP Unit and a phpunit.xml file for testing purposes. It allows the developer to do testing of the whole site and every individual function. It also helps in replicating user behavior like making requests and seeing the results, filling forms, etc.

Helps in intelligent scheduling of the tasks

A website has to do a lot of work like sending daily messages, putting the new order requests, automatically cleaning up obsolete communication from database tables or email caches, etc. Prior to Laravel, developers used to do this by generating a Cron entry of each of these tasks to be performed. This was a time-consuming and monotonous process.

With the advent of Laravel, such tasks can be scheduled using the command scheduler. With the help of this module, all these tasks can be scheduled within Laravel itself, and only a single Cron entry is generated to the server.

Hassle-free user authentication and authorization

When a customer uses the websites for making purchases or for using the website, they not only want security that their transactions and personal information are 100% safe, they also want speed while using the website. A slow and hard-to-log-in system can lead to loss of customers and a bad reputation for the company.

With the use of Laravel, authentication and authorization systems have become more accessible and more superficial. Its plug-and-play authentication system is not only fast and intuitive but is also easy to use and user-friendly. This is a simple way to retain the customer and helps in better conversion rates.

Helps maintain security and safety of data

If your website deals with the users’ data related to payment or any other personal information, the safety and security of that data are one of your main concerns. Preventing any theft or unwanted access to this data is of paramount importance.

Laravel’s built-in system helps in preventing your web application. It provides security from potential thefts and attacks and saves precious data providing robust security.

It makes error handling easier.

One of the most complicated tasks for the developers can be the errors that the users give as input while filling up a form. Proper error messages should be generated to inform the user in an informative way to rectify their mistakes. A user can conclude that the site is out of service if errors are not handled properly. It can build a negative image of the company.

In a Laravel based project, error and exception handling are already pre-configured. Besides this, it is incorporated with the Monolog logging library, which is built to support many powerful log handlers. This makes handling the errors easier.

Incorporates MVC model leading to easy separation

Laravel’s MVC framework makes the integrations a lot easier, giving the developers a much-needed breathing space. Its line tool Artisan handles almost all the repetitive tasks making things simpler.

It helps separate the front-end and back-end programs, thus separating the codes at the initial level. This helps in faster problem detection and fixes if they happen, thus putting the website back into action in the least amount of time.

Conclusion

Developers all over the world love Laravel and use it for its numerous built-in features. It is a dependable and valuable framework that has made the life of developers more manageable and their works simpler. It is gaining in popularity and is sure to improve its scope in the days to come.

The front-end, as the name itself suggests, is the front-facing or customer-facing side of the business. The users or the customers engage with the front-end of the website. The graphics and typography, and visual arrangement make the front-end look appealing and visually attractive to the user. Besides all these, it includes making user-friendly interfaces and helps in presenting the data from the back end in an efficient manner.

Front-end frameworks are the platform that helps the developers build the front-end of the website. The front end should be visually appealing, uncomplicated, and simple to navigate to have a smooth experience while using the website.

A website that is simple to use, no matter how complicated the back-end be, helps get it higher rankings among its peers. Some of the top-performing websites like Facebook, Netflix, etc., have simpler interfaces, resulting in higher users. All this is possible because of the frameworks working behind the scenes to make it appealing to the users.

Using frameworks to build applications saves the precious time of the developers. Mobile applications also work seamlessly and look appealing if frameworks are appropriately utilized.

Though the debate can go on regarding the best frameworks, we try to list the best frameworks according to our preference.

React

React could easily be crowned the best of all the frameworks if a poll takes place regarding the best frameworks. Originally developed by Facebook for its constant modification and enhancement, it has captured the hearts of the developers by providing the facility of quickly modifying codes.

One of the striking features of React is the Document Object Model or more commonly called DOM. It ensures that even high load apps have a fast rendering.

Any new changes can be easily made using React framework resulting in high productivity and faster development. Its browser extension, React Developer Tool, creates a comprehensive analysis of the components and improves them.

React can even use the technologies of the native browser, thereby helping in implementing technologies like Web Animation or SVG efficiently, making the website robust compared to other frameworks.

Websites using React: Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb, Uber Eats, Netflix, and various other websites.

Angular

Any list of front-end frameworks is incomplete without the mention of Angular. Powered by Google, it is a Typescript-based framework that helps design efficient and scalable SPAs or multi-page websites. The best part of Angular is that it lets the developer design a website according to their choice without placing any constraints.

Another vital feature of Angular is its two-way binding process. It helps in making any changes in the model or view features of the app. This feature enables the developer to synchronize the model and view features of the websites.

Angular also provides the developer with the facility of reuse of the code, thus making it more flexible. It is beneficial while designing Enterprise Level Applications or large apps.

Websites using Angular: Upwork, Google, PayPal, Samsung, Gmail, etc.

Vue.JS

Vue was developed after mixing and matching the best features of existing front-end frameworks so that the new framework born is simple to learn and use. It lets the developer focus on their core area of operation without being bothered about the aesthetics of each project.

Some of the enhanced features of the Vue like Virtual DOM, component-based architecture, and two-way binding helps in enhancing the speed of the project. It helps in tracking in real-time applications and is comparatively smaller in size than other frameworks.

Vue is considered one of the beginner-friendly frameworks as it is easy to learn and integrate with other libraries. It is well documented and can be quickly understood by beginners. Its syntax is also easier to learn and put to use.

Websites using Vue.JS: Alibaba, Xiaomi, Adobe, BMW, and others

jQuery

Developed in 2006, it is one of the simplest and oldest frameworks. It is easy to learn and use. The best part about jQuery is that it is constantly updating itself with each passing day making it one of the preferred choices of the developers.

jQuery reduces the need to write extensive lines of code. Primarily a library, it manipulates the DOM and CSS to optimize the functionality and increase the web’s interactivity.

Another attractive feature of jQuery is its browser-friendliness. It can be used on any browser. Though simple to use and learn, it can be also be used in dynamic applications.

Websites using jQuery: Uber, Twitter, Google, IBM, etc.

EmberJS

Developed in 2011, Ember resembles Angular in some of its functionalities. Ember is a component-based framework and offers two-way binding. Designed to handle modern-day technologies seamlessly, it is used in creating complex mobile apps or websites.

It is well organized and has the fastest frameworks available at one’s disposal. It is also equipped with two-way data binding. Another feature of this website is its backward compatibility which enables it to work flawlessly with older versions of the apps.

Its fully developed package helps it to be a preferred framework to be deployed for websites which has a large number of users.

Websites using EmberJS: LinkedIn, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix, Tinder, etc.

Final words

Choosing a framework that best suits your project can be a tough job. It depends on the scope and the various other factors of the project. Giving the best tag to any framework can be a tough call by any developer. The project requirements make one framework best over another.

With technological development and its expansion, a presence online is a must. It can be either through mobile apps or web applications. Anyone having a mobile app or web page knows that the application can be broadly divided into two parts: front-end and back end.

The front-end is the front-facing side of the app. The customer or user deals with it. On the other hand, the back-end is the platform that provides ready-to-use components to build a website. These are server-side languages that help make the website robust, secure, navigable, and user-friendly.

While developing an app, choosing a back-end language depends on many parameters. Project requirement, scope, performance, and learning curve combined with the popularity and demand of a language dictate the criterion for choosing a language.

Today we will discuss some of the popular back-end programming languages that are pretty popular in today’s date and time. If you are a new developer, you can consider learning these languages to enhance your skills.

JavaScript

One of the most popular languages to be used by the developers. According to a study conducted by various popular platforms like Stack Overflow and others, JavaScript has been termed as a preferred and popular language. One of the features that makes it immensely popular is that it can be used for both front-end and back-end development. It enhances the speed of the developing process.

JavaScript is an open-source technology which makes it hugely popular. It is going through constant improvement, making it bewitching for developers. It is also helpful in improving the developers’ coding efficiency, making app development faster and easier.

It also provides features for back-end development such as Dynamic Typing, OOPs support, Client-Side Validation, Lightweight Scripting Language, etc.

Websites using JavaScript: Facebook, eBay, Google, Netflix, LinkedIn, etc.

Python

Created in 1991, Python has emerged as one of the most loved languages for back-end operations. Though compatible with advanced technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, etc., this language is also suitable for back-end programming. It provides a clean and easy-to-use back-end developing environment, making it one of the most preferred languages to be used by programmers.

According to a survey conducted in 2020, Python ranks third in the developer’s choice of language. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that even Google uses it as one of its three primary languages (JavaScript and C++ being the other two).

It is easy to learn as it provides a development language that is similar to writing English. This feature makes it popular. Python also has many libraries available that reduces writing thousands of lines of code. These libraries make Python cost-efficient and popular.

Additional features that make Python an attractive option for the programmers are better readability, portability, easier integration with other languages, GUI Programming Support, etc.

Websites using Python: Instagram, Spotify, Pinterest, Instacart, etc.

Ruby

Developed by Japanese experts in the 1990s, Ruby is a general-purpose programming language supporting various programming paradigms. With almost similar syntax like Python and Java, it is often used by beginners learning back-end operations. Its easy-to-learn features make it productive and speed up the development project.

Another desirable feature of Ruby that makes it attractive is metaprogramming. This feature allows the developer to modify data from other programs on the runtime. It has excellent automation facilities making it one of the most used languages for automation purposes.

The testing feature of the ruby also makes testing more accessible, giving a boost to the quality of the project developed. It is quick and reliable, increasing productivity by almost 40%.

Websites using Ruby: Fiverr, Airbnb, Shopify, SlideShare, etc.

PHP

PHP, the acronym for Hypertext Pre-processor, is one of the prominently used languages. PHP can run on significant platforms like macOS, Windows, Linux, and Unix as an open-source server-side scripting language. It does not need a compiler as it is an interpreted language.

It is easy to learn and use and can be used for purposes like database integration etc. Its cross-platform compatibility provides it with versatility making it one of the popular languages to be used. As a back-end development language, its built-in security makes it reliable and secure. 

Besides all these, it has other features like support to various standard databases like MySQL, SQLite, and OOPs features. It has a vast community of developers, making it one of the preferred languages for back-end operations. According to a survey, 79% of websites are built using PHP.

Websites using PHP: Flickr, Yahoo, MailChimp, WordPress, etc.

C#

Ranked as one of the top five programming languages for the last few years, C# (pronounced as C- Sharp) is one of the popular languages for back-end development. Apps built using C# can run on cross platforms.

C# is used in various areas of windows applications development or game development, etc. C# provides backward compatibility. It makes C# one of the preferred languages for the apps to be developed using older frameworks. 

C# also provides:

• The developer with various enriching features like faster compilation and scalability.
• Structured and component-oriented language.
• A rich library that helps in the more rapid and efficient development of the applications.

Websites using C#: YouTube, Firefox, GoDaddy, Stack Overflow, etc. 

Conclusion

The languages mentioned above are one of the most popular languages to be used for back-end operations. Though there are many other languages, choosing the language depends on the developer after considering different situations and the scope, feasibility, and goals of the project to be developed.

Framework and library, the two most used terms by the people in the field of technology, still confuse many people. Though many people spend their whole lives working with these two, most people can’t tell the difference between them. If you are also wondering after reading this and stressing your memory to find the difference, you are not alone.

Even after working with frameworks and libraries, dozens of programmers get confused with the two. Here we will try to differentiate between these two industry jargons.

If we have to explain it in laymen’s terms, a library can be compared to making a dress from scratch. You can choose the fabric of your liking, design it according to your choice, add pockets whenever you like. You can also add extra laces to it and create it just like you want the dress to be.

A framework, on the other hand, is equivalent to a readymade purchased dress. You don’t have to run from pillar to post to assemble every piece of item that the dress has, but you also don’t have the luxury to design it as you wish it to be.

Library and its function:

Libraries are generally used to do specific functions. It performs some well-defined functions and returns the control to the code. It can also be termed as a collection of class definitions.

The codes that other developers write can be reused again and again for performing similar functions.

As the scope of the library is already defined, its APIs are smaller, resulting in fewer dependencies of the project. Its set of helper functions can be called to perform a specific function.

Examples of libraries can be image manipulation, string utilities, network protocols, etc.

Library provides the developer the complete control of the code. You can add or delete whatever you want and even modify or write a new code depending on your need. You can even use the existing libraries if you like.

On the downside, if you are not careful enough while using the existing codes or even making your codes, it can sometimes ruin the system’s architecture. So, while incorporating them, one has to be doubly cautious.

Framework and its uses:

Framework, on the other hand, is built on low-level components. It includes libraries to make the life of developers easier. In the framework, the flow of control is already there. It can be defined as a wardrobe that you can fill with your codes.

As the framework itself is an application, it has an enormous scope of functionality. Frameworks incorporate the basic flow and can be plugged into the system to develop an application.

Frameworks are flexible and are characterized by their extension ability. It has everything to create large-scale applications and boosts the productivity of the developer.

On the minus side framework is created by writing a massive amount of code which in turn can translate to decreased performance and increased loading time. Besides that, with frameworks, you have to constantly unlearn and relearn new things with every new version, which cannot be possible due to our busy lives.

Examples of the framework can be GUI systems, web application systems, etc.

Inversion of Control

The fundamental difference between them is best defined by “Inversion of Control.” With the library, you are in control of the flow of the system. You can call the library wherever you want. It gives you more freedom.

But in the case of frameworks, the flow of the architecture or the system design remains with the framework. It calls the code developed by the programmer as and when required. The control here is inverted.

Conclusion

To conclude the advantages and disadvantages and differences between both the libraries and functions, it can be said that both come with their own sets of positives and negatives. To term one better or superior to the other is complex and not always possible. It depends on the situation and programming needs of the developer to choose one over the other.

With a vast majority of the population using mobile or desktop applications for everyday purposes, it has many users. With the massive popularity of these two platforms, most of the applications are designed to keep these in mind.

With people depending on these apps, the people’s expectations of having a hassle-free and smooth experience while using these apps are increasing. They want to spend less time while using the app to get things done in an instant. With the busy lives and overworked schedules of the people, navigating the complicated and haphazardly designed app can lead to user frustration. This can lead to reduced use of the app and, along with with-it lousy reputation to the company.

In this era of cutthroat competition and technological advancement, everybody wants to experience the best of technology. Other than that, they also want to experience it in the shortest time. If the apps that represent the consumer-facing side of the business are cumbersome to deal with, it will eventually lead to the loss of the customer. Customer satisfaction leads to improved sales and growth of the company.  

A good experience while using the app ensures more content customers. It helps in building a reputation for the brand, thus increasing both sales and customers.

Benefits of UI/UX

It gives the brand a boost

The app, be it for mobile or desktop, is what the customer sees when they search for the business’s services or products. It is the client-side or customer-facing side of the company. If the app is challenging to navigate or unmanageable, it leads to frustration for the user. There can be chances of the user giving bad reviews or not using the app in the future.

On the other hand, user-friendly apps lead to a happy experience for the customer. It translates into giving the brand the much-needed boost to spread its wings to fly to newer heights.

It saves time and cost.

An efficient website designed keeping user satisfaction in mind reduces both time and effort. It can work for many years with negligible maintenance. This reduces cost drastically and saves a lot of time. 

Contrary to this, if the site is unmanageable with buttons and links placed in a way that is difficult to locate, it requires frequent updates. The irate customers make sure to find flaws with the app. It leads to wasting money and time on periodic updates.

Enchants the user

An app that is beautifully planned and correctly executed according to the plan will bound the user with its interface. It encourages the user to explore the app further, leading to satisfaction. This can even lead to buying decisions in favor of the brand.

Contrasting this with the app that is difficult to explore leads to less user engagement. This can act as a detriment to the business.

It helps in identifying the target audience.

While developing an app, the primary focus is always the customer who will use the app. The initial research that goes on while developing an app is beneficial to know the target audience better. It helps in analyzing the market and catering to their needs.

Besides that, UI/UX helps to understand the audience. It also leads to better segmentation of the audience, which helps in captivating more customers. It helps in increasing revenues and more conversion rates.

Points to keep in mind 

• Simplicity: The more simple and easy to use the app is directly proportional to an increased usage of the app. It will attract more customers as it is clutter-free and works at minimal input. Therefore, before designing the app, simplicity should be the most critical factor to keep in mind.
• Speed: “Slow and steady wins the race” may be true for some areas but is a significant roadblock that can put the user off. Speed is an essential factor of UI/UX design. The page should be fast loading so that users can use it within seconds, saving time. This helps in achieving trustworthiness for the brand.
• Navigation: Apps that are easy to explore and use help in retaining the customer. It lets the user stay longer on the app and explore it further. This is essential for the business as it leads to buying the product, which is its primary aim.
• Responsive: Nobody likes a dummy app. The more interactive the app in terms of design, color, font, icons, the more it lures the user to probe the app. Using brand colors in the right places and making them prominent helps to make the app responsive. But make sure not to overdo it. Finding the balance is essential.
• Uniformity: While designing the app, the look and design of the app should be such that it appears uniform to the user. The colors, icons, buttons, fonts should be consistent throughout the app. It looks pleasing to the eyes and helps the customer spend more time in the app.

Conclusion

The UI/UX aspect of app development is an important area of focus. The only way to achieve a magnificently designed app that is aesthetically pleasing and well-crafted is a time-consuming task. It needs research and proper analysis. If done correctly, it can give rich dividends and help the brand prosper in innumerable ways.