Zach Edelstein, Author at ProdSens.live https://prodsens.live/author/zach-edelstein/ News for Project Managers - PMI Sat, 25 May 2024 13:20:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://prodsens.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/prod.png Zach Edelstein, Author at ProdSens.live https://prodsens.live/author/zach-edelstein/ 32 32 Mastering Design for Developers: Crafting User-Centered Experiences🚀 https://prodsens.live/2024/05/25/mastering-design-for-developers-crafting-user-centered-experiences%f0%9f%9a%80/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mastering-design-for-developers-crafting-user-centered-experiences%25f0%259f%259a%2580 https://prodsens.live/2024/05/25/mastering-design-for-developers-crafting-user-centered-experiences%f0%9f%9a%80/#respond Sat, 25 May 2024 13:20:51 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2024/05/25/mastering-design-for-developers-crafting-user-centered-experiences%f0%9f%9a%80/ mastering-design-for-developers:-crafting-user-centered-experiences

1. Basic Design Theory UI Design Fundamentals Contrast Definition: The difference in luminance or color that makes an…

The post Mastering Design for Developers: Crafting User-Centered Experiences🚀 appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
mastering-design-for-developers:-crafting-user-centered-experiences

1. Basic Design Theory

UI Design Fundamentals

Contrast

  • Definition: The difference in luminance or color that makes an object distinguishable.
  • Example: Using a dark background with light text for readability.

Typography

  • Definition: The art of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and visually appealing.
  • Example: Choosing a clean sans-serif font for body text and a serif font for headings to create a clear visual hierarchy.

Visual Hierarchy

  • Definition: The arrangement or presentation of elements in a way that implies importance.
  • Example: Larger, bolder headlines at the top of a webpage to draw attention first.

Scale

  • Definition: The size of elements in relation to each other.
  • Example: Using larger buttons for primary actions and smaller buttons for secondary actions.

Alignment

  • Definition: The placement of elements so that edges line up along common rows or columns.
  • Example: Left-aligning text blocks and images to create a clean, organized look.

Use of Whitespace

  • Definition: The space between elements in a composition.
  • Example: Providing ample space around text and images to avoid clutter and improve readability.

Color Theory

  • Definition: The study of how colors interact and the visual effects of color combinations.
  • Example: Using complementary colors to create vibrant, eye-catching designs.

Use of Images

  • Definition: Incorporating visuals to enhance content and convey messages.
  • Example: Using high-quality images to support the text and provide visual interest.

Resources

  • Fundamental Text and Font Styling: Explore resources like Google Fonts for choosing and styling type.

2. User-Centered Design

Understanding the User

Everything We Do is for the User

  • Definition: Prioritizing user needs, preferences, and experiences in design decisions.
  • Example: Conducting user surveys to gather feedback on a new feature.

User Research and Testing

Intro to User Research/Testing

  • Definition: Gathering data about user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation and feedback.
  • Example: Performing usability testing to identify pain points in the user journey.

User Requirements

  • Definition: Understanding what users need from a product to ensure it meets their expectations.
  • Example: Creating user personas to represent different segments of the target audience.

Design for Accessibility

Consider the Target Audience

  • Definition: Designing products that are usable by people with a wide range of abilities.
  • Example: Ensuring all interactive elements are accessible via keyboard navigation.

Inclusive Design Principles

  • Definition: Designing for the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age, and other forms of human difference.
  • Example: Using high-contrast color schemes for users with visual impairments.

Design Patterns

Common Patterns Used on the Web

  • Dark Mode: Providing a dark-themed UI option to reduce eye strain.
  • Breadcrumbs: Navigation aids showing the user’s path within the site.
  • Cards: Container elements to organize information visually.
  • Deferred/Lazy Registration: Allowing users to explore the app before requiring them to sign up.
  • Infinite Scroll: Loading content continuously as the user scrolls down.
  • Modal Dialogs: Overlays for important alerts or actions.
  • Progressive Disclosure: Revealing information as needed to avoid overwhelming users.
  • Progress Indication on Forms/Registration/Setup: Showing users their progress in multi-step processes.
  • Shopping Cart: Feature for e-commerce sites to store items for purchase.

Resources

3. Design Briefs

Communicating with Designers

Speaking Design Language

  • Definition: Understanding design terminology to effectively collaborate with designers.
  • Example: Discussing “margins” and “padding” when reviewing layouts.

Interpreting Design Brief Requirements

Producing an Implementation

  • Definition: Translating design specifications into functional code.
  • Example: Implementing a specified color palette and typography in CSS.

Tools Designers Use

Typical Tools

  • Figma: A popular interface design tool for creating and sharing design prototypes.
  • Example: Using Figma to view and implement design specifications provided by designers.

Conclusion

Design for developers goes beyond writing code—it involves understanding basic design principles, putting the user first, and effectively communicating with designers. By mastering these concepts, developers can create products that are not only functional but also visually appealing and user-friendly. Leverage resources and tools to continually improve your design skills and contribute to creating exceptional user experiences.

The post Mastering Design for Developers: Crafting User-Centered Experiences🚀 appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2024/05/25/mastering-design-for-developers-crafting-user-centered-experiences%f0%9f%9a%80/feed/ 0
ORM vs No ORM: Which to Choose? https://prodsens.live/2024/03/05/orm-vs-no-orm-which-to-choose/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=orm-vs-no-orm-which-to-choose https://prodsens.live/2024/03/05/orm-vs-no-orm-which-to-choose/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 22:20:07 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2024/03/05/orm-vs-no-orm-which-to-choose/ orm-vs-no-orm:-which-to-choose?

ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) Choose to use an ORM, like Sequelize, Django ORM, Hibernate, or Entity Framework if: You…

The post ORM vs No ORM: Which to Choose? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
orm-vs-no-orm:-which-to-choose?

ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)

Choose to use an ORM, like Sequelize, Django ORM, Hibernate, or Entity Framework if:

  • You Need Rapid Development: ORM allows you to generate database code more efficiently.
  • Your Data Is Structured and Relational: Perfect for applications with clearly defined data models.
  • You Prefer to Focus on Business Logic: ORM handles database queries, letting you focus on the application.
  • You’re Looking for Easy Maintenance: Updating data models is simpler, facilitating maintenance.
  • You Want Database Portability: It makes switching between different database systems without altering the application code easier.

Ideal for: Business applications, inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, fast web applications.

No ORM (Pure SQL or Direct Queries)

Opt for not using an ORM and prefer pure SQL or direct queries if:

  • You Require Total Control and Optimization: Direct database access allows for specific optimizations.
  • Your Queries Are Highly Complex and Customized: Ideal when ORM abstractions limit your query capabilities.
  • Performance Is Critical: In high-volume applications where every millisecond of latency counts.
  • You Have an Experienced SQL Team: Who can handle complexities and optimize data access directly.
  • You Need Maximum Flexibility in Data Handling: Especially in systems with non-traditional or highly dynamic data structures.

Perfect for: High-load systems like online games, financial applications, big data analysis, high-performance platforms.

In summary, choose an ORM if you’re looking for rapid development, easy maintenance, and portability between databases. Opt for pure SQL if you need total control, query optimization, and are working on high-performance projects with complex or dynamic data. The choice depends on your project’s needs, team skills, and performance goals.

The post ORM vs No ORM: Which to Choose? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2024/03/05/orm-vs-no-orm-which-to-choose/feed/ 0
How Will SGE Impact Your Organic Traffic? https://prodsens.live/2023/12/12/how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic https://prodsens.live/2023/12/12/how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic/#respond Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:24:31 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/12/12/how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic/ how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic?

Zach discusses Google’s Search Generative Experience, including a step-by-step template that will allow you to estimate the traffic…

The post How Will SGE Impact Your Organic Traffic? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic?

Zach discusses Google’s Search Generative Experience, including a step-by-step template that will allow you to estimate the traffic losses or gains your site may experience.

The post How Will SGE Impact Your Organic Traffic? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/12/12/how-will-sge-impact-your-organic-traffic/feed/ 0
What Is Bounce Rate, and Does It Matter in 2023? https://prodsens.live/2023/10/23/what-is-bounce-rate-and-does-it-matter-in-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-is-bounce-rate-and-does-it-matter-in-2023 https://prodsens.live/2023/10/23/what-is-bounce-rate-and-does-it-matter-in-2023/#respond Mon, 23 Oct 2023 23:24:25 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/10/23/what-is-bounce-rate-and-does-it-matter-in-2023/ what-is-bounce-rate,-and-does-it-matter-in-2023?

Unravel the mystery of bounce rate as we explore its evolution from Universal Analytics to GA4. Discover why…

The post What Is Bounce Rate, and Does It Matter in 2023? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
what-is-bounce-rate,-and-does-it-matter-in-2023?

Unravel the mystery of bounce rate as we explore its evolution from Universal Analytics to GA4. Discover why Google redefined this metric, how to interpret it, and practical strategies to optimize your website’s engagement.

The post What Is Bounce Rate, and Does It Matter in 2023? appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/10/23/what-is-bounce-rate-and-does-it-matter-in-2023/feed/ 0
Choosing dev.to: My Perspective on Blogging Platform Preference https://prodsens.live/2023/08/15/choosing-dev-to-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=choosing-dev-to-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference https://prodsens.live/2023/08/15/choosing-dev-to-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference/#respond Tue, 15 Aug 2023 12:25:50 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/08/15/choosing-dev-to-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference/ choosing-dev.to:-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference

As a passionate blogger seeking the ideal platform to share my thoughts and connect with a like-minded community,…

The post Choosing dev.to: My Perspective on Blogging Platform Preference appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
choosing-dev.to:-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference

As a passionate blogger seeking the ideal platform to share my thoughts and connect with a like-minded community, my journey has led me to explore two distinct options: dev.to and usiic.co. While both platforms offer unique opportunities, I’ve found myself gravitating towards dev.to for a variety of reasons that align with my blogging goals and preferences.

1. Niche-Focused Community

One of the standout features of dev.to is its specialization in catering to developers, programmers, and tech enthusiasts. As someone deeply immersed in the tech world, I appreciate the laser focus of the community. The discussions, articles, and interactions revolve around topics that resonate with me on a professional level, creating a sense of belonging and shared passion.

2. Robust Engagement and Interaction

Dev.to’s interactive features, such as the ability to comment, react with emojis, and engage in meaningful discussions, foster a vibrant and dynamic environment. I’ve found that the conversations sparked by my posts on dev.to often lead to valuable insights and connections with fellow tech enthusiasts, enhancing both my understanding and my network.

3. Code-Friendly Formatting

For a platform aimed at developers, dev.to’s formatting capabilities are a game-changer. The ability to seamlessly embed code snippets, share GitHub repositories, and showcase programming projects in a visually appealing manner sets dev.to apart. This functionality not only enhances the readability of my content but also enables me to communicate technical concepts more effectively.

4. Tech-Driven Analytics

As an analytical thinker, I appreciate dev.to’s data-driven approach. The platform provides detailed analytics that shed light on how my posts are performing, which topics resonate the most, and the geographic locations of my readers. This information empowers me to tailor my content strategy and make informed decisions to continuously improve my blogging efforts.

5. Thriving Open-Source Culture

Dev.to’s commitment to open-source culture is commendable. The platform itself is open source, and this ethos aligns perfectly with the collaborative spirit of the tech community. The accessibility of code and the opportunities for contributing to the platform’s development add an extra layer of engagement that resonates with my values as a tech enthusiast.

In Conclusion

While both dev.to and usiic.co offer valuable platforms for bloggers to express themselves, I’ve chosen dev.to as my primary platform due to its niche focus, interactive features, code-friendly formatting, tech-driven analytics, and vibrant open-source culture. These factors align seamlessly with my blogging goals and resonate with my passion for technology. As I continue my blogging journey on dev.to, I’m excited to contribute to the tech discourse, connect with fellow developers, and explore the ever-evolving world of technology through the lens of this dynamic platform.

The post Choosing dev.to: My Perspective on Blogging Platform Preference appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/08/15/choosing-dev-to-my-perspective-on-blogging-platform-preference/feed/ 0
6 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve Your SEO https://prodsens.live/2023/07/24/6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo https://prodsens.live/2023/07/24/6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo/#respond Mon, 24 Jul 2023 20:25:10 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/07/24/6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo/ 6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo

Most of the discourse surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on SEO has been about content creation.…

The post 6 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve Your SEO appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo

Most of the discourse surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on SEO has been about content creation. This makes perfect sense. Large language models (LLMs) have fundamentally changed the speed at which businesses and individuals can produce blog posts, marketing copy, social media posts and much more.

I am not the first to provide the caveat that while AI tools can help you speed up your writing process, they can also open up your site to a variety of SEO risks including duplicate content, violations of Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines, generally robotic copywriting that is devoid of brand voice and personality, and a host of other issues.

AI content generation is certainly something that can help SEOs and businesses in moderation. Google itself has essentially okayed the use of AI, as long as it is with intent to produce “helpful content”. This can be easier said than done.

In this article, I want to highlight some ways that free AI tools like ChatGPT can help SEO’s with all sorts of other tasks, other than creating content. There are a wide range of things that SEOs do everyday that can significantly be sped up or even completely done by free AI tools like ChatGPT. These can range from On-Page SEO optimizations to Technical SEO projects.

Let’s get into it.

1. Create Schema markup

Perhaps the most straightforward way in which tools like ChatGPT can simplify our work as SEOs is by writing schema markup for us. I will keep this section short, as the process in itself is fairly straightforward.

How to Use AI to Create Schema Markup

  1. Write a ChatGPT prompt that describes the schema you want to create, and for which page.

  2. QA the results and run them through a Schema validating tool.

  3. Implement the schema. Submit your URL to Google.

  4. That’s it!

Remember, ChatGPT typically will not visit a URL for you, so you will need to paste the entire text of your page in the prompt.

The response is a block of schema code that you can paste into a validator. Note that the response was not 100% perfect, hence the need to QA. ChatGPT missed the name of the publisher organization. Before dropping this code onto the published page in our CMS, I would change the name of the organization from “Example” to “Moz.”

2. Keyword clustering (sample python code)

Another time-saving SEO task that you can jumpstart with ChatGPT is the semantic grouping and categorization of keywords. This can be done within the user interface (UI) of GPT, or through a python script that utilizes OpenAI’s API.

Using the UI, I have had success grouping around 100 keywords at a time. The output will typically be an indented, bulleted list of all your terms categorized into buckets.

A python script gives you more flexibility to increase your number of max tokens and allow you to work with longer lists of keywords.

Below is an extremely simple python script that prompts OpenAI to come up with categories for a list of keywords.

import openai


# Set up OpenAI API key and model ID
openai.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
model_id = "text-davinci-003"


# Define the prompt to use with the OpenAI API
prompt = """
classify the following keywords into semantically related groups:
apple
london
banana
train
car
pizza
sicily
pasta
"""


# Use OpenAI's API to generate text based on the prompt
response = openai.Completion.create(
   engine=model_id,
   prompt=prompt,
   max_tokens=1024,
   n=1,
   stop=None,
   temperature=0.7,
)


# Extract the generated text from the response
generated_text = response.choices[0].text


# Print the generated text to the console
print(generated_text)

The output will look like something like this. You can use this output to modify groupings in your keyword tracking tool of choice, such as Moz Pro. If you are familiar with using Pandas, you can turn the generated_text output into a dataframe for an easy CSV export.

Fruits: Apple, Banana
Cities: London, Sicily
Transportation: Train, Car
Food: Pizza, Pasta

3. Generate meta descriptions

ChatGPT is exceedingly good at taking large amounts of text input and summarizing it. What better way for SEOs to utilize AI’s summarization capabilities than generating meta descriptions? Since meta descriptions are inherently summaries of pages, natural language processing (NLP) models do a good job of extracting the main ideas from multiple paragraphs of text and condensing them into one.

When feeding ChatGPT with text to summarize, you can also include a few keywords that you want it to include in its output. This is another instance where you will need outside data from a tool such as Moz Keyword Explorer to help you find focus keywords. Once you have an idea of the main keyword(s) of the page you want to optimize, you can include those in your meta description prompt. That prompt may look something like this:

“

Summarize the following text in 60 words, and include the following keywords: seo, content strategy
[full page text]

”

In my experience, however, ChatGPT is not very good at limiting its responses to a certain word or character length. You may get something like this, and need to change or remove a few sentences.

Still, this simple task could potentially have saved you 10–15 minutes of working with a blank page (or CMS field) and given you a starting point for your meta description.

4. Create FAQs (and tag them with schema)

Another task that leverages ChatGPT’s summarization capabilities is the creation of frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Prompt GPT to create FAQs for a section of page copy that you paste into the tool, and AI will generate some sample FAQs for you. The responses it gives tends to be brief, which is ideal for tagging them with FAQ schema.

After you’ve reviewed and edited the FAQ suggestions that ChatGPT provides, circle back to tip #1 and paste them back into ChatGPT to generate FAQ schema that you can add to your page.

5. Topical research

While OpenAI’s free ChatGPT tool does not provide Keyword Volume or other important SEO keyword metrics, it can still be an effective engine for generating content ideas related to a given keyword.

When paired with a tool like Moz Keyword Explorer, the results can be powerful.

Begin the process as you would normally approach keyword research. Identify a list of keywords that you want to include in your page. Then, ask ChatGPT to create topic ideas related to these terms.

I find that prompting the tool for around 50 topics gives you a good sample of page ideas without repetition.

The results are not all going to be perfect titles for you to copy and paste into your CMS without reviewing them, but they can rapidly (and I mean RAPIDLY) give you a sense of direction for your editorial calendar, content marketing strategy or even social media posts. Each of the concepts identified here about SEO, focusing on the specified keywords, has the makings of a well-intentioned blog post topic.

6. SEO content briefs

Once you have done your keyword research and compiled terms that you would like to include into a new page on your website, try asking ChatGPT to use them to create a page outline for you, along with a possible page title.

This can serve as a great jumping-off-point for your editorial team (or you) to work with to write your full article. An outline or content brief for a page about keyword research may look something like this:

As is a recurring theme with the use of AI for SEO, the results are not perfect, but they can generate ideas for you to take and run with. For example, you may realize that this outline does not get into the concepts of Search Volume or Keyword Difficulty, which you wanted to address on your page. You can tweak your prompt to specify a few additional keywords that you’d like to include, or manually edit ChatGPT’s output to suit your needs.

My guess is as good as any regarding the direction AI will steer the digital marketing industry, and more specifically SEO. What I do know is that right now, there are so many ways in which AI can make tedious aspects of my job less time consuming, so I can focus my attention on more strategic and big-picture problems. Hopefully this list helps you do the same.

The post 6 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve Your SEO appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/07/24/6-ways-chatgpt-can-improve-your-seo/feed/ 0
Project 1: VProfile Project Setup Local https://prodsens.live/2023/07/07/project-1-vprofile-project-setup-local/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=project-1-vprofile-project-setup-local https://prodsens.live/2023/07/07/project-1-vprofile-project-setup-local/#comments Fri, 07 Jul 2023 22:24:46 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/07/07/project-1-vprofile-project-setup-local/ project-1:-vprofile-project-setup-local

This is a multi-tier web application stack setup to be run locally. The first project will set up…

The post Project 1: VProfile Project Setup Local appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
project-1:-vprofile-project-setup-local

Image description

This is a multi-tier web application stack setup to be run locally. The first project will set up the basis for the following projects. This post documents the manual process of the setup, which can be long but will give you a good idea of the flow of information. You can find the automated version as well as the source code here.

IMPORTANT

Some commands require the use of vi or vim. To save some time, here are the basics:

  • :q: quits the program.
  • :wq: saves and quits.
  • esc: normal mode, when you can save or enter insert mode.
  • i: enter insert mode, to paste you can try ctrl + shift + v.

You can check this cheatsheet for more information.

Table of Content

  • Stack
  • Requirements
  • Understanding the process
  • Setting up the VM
  • First Boot
  • Configuration

    • Database
    • Setup
    • Dependencies
    • Services
    • MySQL
    • Source and Database
    • Memcache
    • Setup
    • Dependencies
    • Services
    • RabbitMQ
    • Setup
    • Dependencies
    • Services
    • Tomcat
    • Setup
    • Depedencies
    • Configuration
    • Deployment
    • NGINX
    • Setup
    • Depedencies
    • Configuration
  • Validation

Stack

  • NGINX
  • Apache
  • RabbitMQ
  • Memcached
  • MySQL
  • Linux

Requirements

  • Oracle Virtualbox
  • Vagrant and Vagrant plugins
  • CLI

Understanding the process

The user will access the web app. It will create a load balancer using NGINX in our server. The requirest will be sent to the Apache Tomcat service.

Apache Tomcat is a Java web application service. RabbitMQ is a service called message broker or queueing agent. It is used to connect one application to another.

RabbitMQ is connected to Tomcat. In this project, we won’t be using it; it is for practice. The user will log in with credentials that will be searched in an SQL database. Before searching, it will use Memcached to cache the database that is connected to the MySQL server.

The first time a request comes, it will be sent from Tomcat to the MySQL database to search for the user credentials, and then it will be cashed by the Memcached cache service.

We’ll be using Vagrant to set up the virtual machines via an automated process. Vagrant will connect to Virtualbox for the virtualization process. Each of these services will have their own virtual machine.

Setting up the VM

First, we will set up the virtual machines. In our working directory, we will create a file called Vagrantfile without any extension. This will be a multi-vm vagrant file with five virtual machines. The contents of the file should be as follow:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.hostmanager.enabled = true 
  config.hostmanager.manage_host = true

### Database ####
  config.vm.define "db01" do |db01|
    db01.vm.box = "eurolinux-vagrant/centos-stream-9"
    db01.vm.hostname = "db01"
    db01.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.15"
    db01.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
     vb.memory = "1024"
   end

  end

### Memcache #### 
  config.vm.define "mc01" do |mc01|
    mc01.vm.box = "eurolinux-vagrant/centos-stream-9"
    mc01.vm.hostname = "mc01"
    mc01.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.14"
    mc01.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
     vb.memory = "1024"
   end
  end

### RabbitMQ ####
config.vm.define "rmq01" do |rmq01|
    rmq01.vm.box = "eurolinux-vagrant/centos-stream-9"
    rmq01.vm.hostname = "rmq01"
    rmq01.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.16"
    rmq01.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
     vb.memory = "1024"
   end
  end

### Tomcat ###
   config.vm.define "app01" do |app01|
    app01.vm.box = "eurolinux-vagrant/centos-stream-9"
    app01.vm.hostname = "app01"
    app01.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.12"
    app01.vm.provision "shell", path: "tomcat.sh"  
    app01.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
     vb.memory = "1024"
   end
   end

### NGINX ###
  config.vm.define "web01" do |web01|
    web01.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"
    web01.vm.hostname = "web01"
    web01.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.11"
    web01.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
     vb.gui = true
     vb.memory = "1024"
   end
end

end

Each VM is configured to use 1 GB of RAM, and the minimum should be around 800 MB. All of them have a specific IP assigned, and the web app will be deployed to the web01 IP address. Almost all of them will be running Centos Stream 9, while only the NGINX is an Ubuntu machine.

We will use the Vagrant Host Manager to manage the hostname and IP addresses of the VMs.

Before continuing, make sure to install the host manager previously mentioned. You can install it by running vagrant plugin install vagrant-hostmanager. Check their Github for more information.

First Boot

To boot up the machines, run vagrant up on your working directory and wait for the setup to complete. As we are using provisioning to automate scripts, it can take some time. If the Ubuntu virtual box pops up, minimize it, DO NOT CLOSE IT.

To make sure all VMs are working, run vagrant status, and it should list the five machines with running (virtualbox) as the status.

Let’s ssh into the first one, called db01, and check the host file. For this, run vagrant ssh db01, then run cat /etc/hosts, and it should display all VMs and IPs.

[vagrant@db01 ~]$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4
::1         localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
127.0.1.1 db01 db01

## vagrant-hostmanager-start
192.168.56.14   mc01
192.168.56.15   db01
192.168.56.12   app01
192.168.56.11   web01
192.168.56.16   rmq01

## vagrant-hostmanager-end

We can ping one machine from another to test if all are connected and can see each other. We run ping web01 -c 3 from another VM. Here we are pining the web01 VM to check if we can see it. To access any specific VM, run vagrant ssh db01 or the name of any machine. This should be done for every VM in order to ensure they are all working.

A successful ping would be:

[vagrant@db01 ~]$ ping web01 -c 3
PING web01 (192.168.56.11) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from web01 (192.168.56.11): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.12 ms
64 bytes from web01 (192.168.56.11): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.664 ms
64 bytes from web01 (192.168.56.11): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.585 ms

--- web01 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.585/0.790/1.122/0.236 ms

Now that we know that all the VMs can talk to each other, we can move to the configuration of each VM.

The following section is long and full of commands

Configuration

Now we are going to configure each independent VM.

Database

First, let’s ssh into the VM by running vagrant ssh db01 (db01 is the name of this particular VM). Then change to the sudo user and run sudo -i. Note that this is the first thing we’ll do in every VM.

Setup

Once as sudo, we’ll update the system and also install the EPEL repo (EPEL stands for Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux). To do this run yum update -y && yum install epel-release -y.

Dependencies

We’ll install MariaDB and git into this VM. Run yum install git mariadb-server -y.

Services

Let’s start and enable the services. To do so, run the following commands: ‘ systemctl start mariadbandsystemctl enable mariadb. Now let's check the status to see if we successfully started and enabled the service. Runsystemctl status mariadb`, which should be green and active.

MySQL

Now we are going to configure the MySQL database. It will ask a few questions. To keep it short, here are my answers.

  • Set root password? [Y/n] Y
  • New password: admin123
  • Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
  • Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] n
  • Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
  • Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y

Now, we are going to finish the setup for the database. Access MySQL by running mysql -u root -padmin123. And run the following commands:


mysql> create database accounts;
mysql> grant all privileges on accounts.* TO 'admin'@’%’ identified by 'admin123' ;
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> exit;

Source and Database

Clone this repo by running git clone -b main https://github.com/dariusbarbus/vprofile-project.git. cd into the folder and run the following commands, first mysql -u root -padmin123 accounts < src/main/resources/db_backup.sql and second mysql -u root -padmin123 accounts.

Memcache

Setup

Let's start by updating the system and installing EPEL, as before ,with the command yum update -y && yum install epel-release -y.

Dependencies

We'll install only memcached in this VM by running yum install memcached -y.

Services

Start the service and check its status by running:


sudo systemctl start memcached
sudo systemctl enable memcached

And after that run:


sed -i 's/127.0.0.1/0.0.0.0/g' /etc/sysconfig/memcached
sudo systemctl restart memcached

Again, check the status with systemctl status memcached.

RabbitMQ

Setup

You know the drill, update the system by running yum update -y && yum install epel-release -y.

Dependencies

So far, we have been using yum to manage package installation on our Centos machine. There's another package manager called dnf. It is to be a more modern version introduced in Fedora to replace yum.

We are going to use it now for a few things.

First, install RabbitMQ and Wget by running dnf -y install centos-release-rabbitmq-38 wget. Then, enable the RabbitMQ repo via dnf --enablerepo=centos-rabbitmq-38 -y install rabbitmq-server.

Services

Start the rabbit server service by running systemctl enable --now rabbitmq-server. Check the status with systemctl status rabbitmq-server.

Now do a little configuration by running:


sh -c 'echo "[{rabbit, [{loopback_users, []}]}]." > /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.config'
rabbitmqctl add_user test test
rabbitmqctl set_user_tags test administrator

And restart the server with systemctl restart rabbitmq-server. Don't forget to always check the status.

Tomcat

Setup

Update the system and install EPEL with yum update -y && yum install epel-release -y.

Dependencies

We are going to install the Java SDK as well as git, Maven ,and Wget by running dnf -y install java-11-openjdk java-11-openjdk-devel git maven wget.

Configuration

Start by moving into the temp directory with cd /tmp/. From there, download the tar file of Tomcat with wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-9/v9.0.75/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.75.tar.gz and extract it with tar xzvf apache-tomcat-9.0.75.tar.gz.

Add the Tomcat user, copy some data, and change the ownership of a folder, all with the following:


useradd --home-dir /usr/local/tomcat --shell /sbin/nologin tomcat
cp -r /tmp/apache-tomcat-9.0.75/* /usr/local/tomcat/
chown -R tomcat.tomcat /usr/local/tomcat

Create a file called tomcat.service that will setup the systemctl to work with Tomcat. Start by runnin vi /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service to create the file and populate it with the following:


[Unit] Description=Tomcat
After=network.target
[Service] User=tomcat
WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/tomcat
Environment=JRE_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jre
Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jre
Environment=CATALINA_HOME=/usr/local/tomcat
Environment=CATALINE_BASE=/usr/local/tomcat
ExecStart=/usr/local/tomcat/bin/catalina.sh run
ExecStop=/usr/local/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
SyslogIdentifier=tomcat-%i
[Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload the systemd files with systemctl daemon-reload, then systemctl start tomcat to start the service, and systemctl enable tomcat. Don't forget to check the status.

Deployment

Clone this repo git clone -b main https://github.com/dariusbarbus/vprofile-project.git and cd into the folder. If you have made any modification during the setup, like using a different password for MySQL, you have to edit src/main/resources/application.properties.

Now, install Maven by running mvn install,we are still inside the vprofile directory.

For the few final steps, stop the tomcat service with systemctl stop tomcat. Remove the ROOT directory and replace it with the VProfile one.


rm -rf /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ROOT*
cp target/vprofile-v2.war /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ROOT.war

Start the Tomcat service systemctl start tomcat and check the status systemctl status tomcat.

Give the tomcat.tomcat user ownership with chown tomcat.tomcat usr/local/tomcat/webapps -R and restart the service with systemctl restart tomcat.

NGINX

Because this machine is Ubuntu-based and not Centos, the commands will change.

Setup

To update the system, run apt update && apt upgrade -y.

Dependencies

Install NGINX by running apt install nginx -y.

Configuration

Create a vproapp file by running vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/vproapp and populate it with:


upstream vproapp {
server app01:8080;
}
server {
listen 80;
location / {
proxy_pass http://vproapp;
}
}

Remove the default website, create a symbolic link, and restart the service.


rm -rf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/vproapp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/vproapp
systemctl restart nginx

Validation

The deployment of the web app is also automatic.

Now that we have our web app deployed, we need to test it. For that, go to 192.168.56.11, the IP address of the web01 VM. It should show the following login screen.

Image description

To log in, use the username admin_vp and the password admin_vp. And after that, you are into the VProfile web app.

This is the screen once you log in.

Image description

Now you should have the project running locally in your machine.

This project was based on hkhcoder VProfile Project.

Thank you for reading.

The post Project 1: VProfile Project Setup Local appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/07/07/project-1-vprofile-project-setup-local/feed/ 1
Build an SEO Report in Seconds with Domain Overview https://prodsens.live/2023/06/15/build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview https://prodsens.live/2023/06/15/build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview/#respond Thu, 15 Jun 2023 22:25:36 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/06/15/build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview/ build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview

How to generate a snapshot SEO report in seconds with Domain Overview Time. Resources. No matter the day,…

The post Build an SEO Report in Seconds with Domain Overview appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview

How to generate a snapshot SEO report in seconds with Domain Overview

Time. Resources. No matter the day, month, year, or algorithm update, these are 2 commodities of which SEOs will never have enough! We are perpetually searching for ways to systemize, automate, and simplify so that we can spend more time with the fun stuff – brainstorming and strategizing.

One of the most time-consuming SEO tasks is gathering all of your key metrics into one place. There are countless data points to consider when evaluating a site’s current SEO performance, from top keyword rankings to Domain Authority and link metrics.

Many SEOs will create custom SEO reports that are dedicated to tracking keyword rankings, technical SEO, and link signals over time. Creating a Campaign in Moz Pro is a great way to accomplish this! However, a Campaign is meant for the long game – you’ll conduct research, gather data, and discover actionable insights that shape your SEO strategy.

But if you’re looking to create a one-page report – within seconds! – that evaluates the SEO performance of a client website, a potential agency prospect, or a competitor without investing a significant amount of time and effort, Domain Overview is the answer.

What is Domain Overview?

Domain Overview allows you to enter any website domain and immediately understand the current state of a brand’s SEO standings. With this tool, you’ll be able to see key data points from tools within Moz Pro – all in one view – divided into 4 sections: Summary, Rankings, Competition, and Links.

During the beta phase, 91% of users found Domain Overview valuable, stating that it improved workflow efficiency, provided valuable insights of the most important metrics, and supported auditing websites for potential clients.

Image of Domain Overview metrics

How can you use SEO snapshot reports?

A snapshot comes in handy in a variety of situations! Let’s say, for example, I was in the market for a new home. A photo of the house, along with the square footage, bedrooms/bathrooms, address, and price would help me understand whether or not it’s worth my time to schedule an appointment with a real estate agent.

Similarly, Domain Overview will help you gain an understanding of a site’s basic yet holistic SEO performance, revealing whether or not a website is worth further time and research. You’ll quickly discover which keywords they rank for, what their Domain Authority and Page Authority scores are, domains the site has acquired backlinks from, and more.

Below are some potential use cases for the SEO snapshots that Domain Overview can provide:

Client prospecting

As an agency or SEO consultant, when you’re gearing up to pitch a new client, it’s important to prepare yourself with a baseline of their website’s data. Create a one-pager that you can share during a pitch or kickoff meeting and save time and impress your potential client!

Looking for more data than what a snapshot offers? The Domain Overview report provides links to the appropriate areas of Moz Pro where you can view the full and detailed data. For example, you can view all of the keywords that a site is ranking for in Keyword Explorer. This will give you a jump start on gathering data to uncover keyword and competitive SEO opportunities for your new client.

Image of site overview in Moz Pro

Competitor research

Competitor research is an effective method for generating content ideas, discovering link gaps, and ideally, stealing traffic from your competitors! With Moz Pro, you can create a Campaign for your domain or clients that you’ve onboarded, and track up to 3 competitors’ SEO efforts over time. Campaigns produce insights that allow you to spot trends and opportunities from collected data.

However, let’s back up just a bit (cue semi-trailer truck beeping). Before you dive into creating a Campaign, you may want to get a snapshot of a competitor’s current standings. How are they performing? What’s their DA? What do their keyword rankings look like? Are they worth tracking? Domain Overview answers all of these questions in seconds.

Or perhaps you find yourself in a situation where you need to demonstrate a competitor’s current standings to a client. This report will give your client a clear picture of what they’re up against, and empower you to make decisions on your strategy moving forward.

A quick SEO report for your domain

Domain Overview is like a launchpad. It organizes a preview of metrics from different areas of Moz Pro into a single view, which can be helpful to run for your own domain as well as competitor sites.

It can be a helpful way to find quick opportunities. Even while writing this post and punching our domain into the tool, I found a new 404 error that needed to be addressed with a redirect in the Links section of the tool.

Image showing the Links section of the Domain Overview tool

Start creating snapshot SEO reports

We created Domain Overview to gather all of the key metrics that can be helpful to SEOs and website owners into one place, and to create a launchpad into the various set of tools within Moz Pro. I know that I have already gotten value out of the ability to analyze domains so quickly. After a report is generated, I browse the data at a 30,000-foot-view and begin my investigations into SEO opportunities.

In my opinion, Domain Overview effectively mirrors the early phase of the SEO process: allowing you to assess data at a high level, and dig in deeper where you suspect there could be opportunity.

The post Build an SEO Report in Seconds with Domain Overview appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/06/15/build-an-seo-report-in-seconds-with-domain-overview/feed/ 0
7 Incredible Communities That Will Change Your Life Forever https://prodsens.live/2023/04/28/7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever https://prodsens.live/2023/04/28/7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever/#respond Fri, 28 Apr 2023 10:05:41 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/04/28/7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever/ 7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever

In a world where we are more connected than ever before, being a part of a community can…

The post 7 Incredible Communities That Will Change Your Life Forever appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever

In a world where we are more connected than ever before, being a part of a community can be the key to unlocking new opportunities and achieving personal growth.

Communities bring together like-minded individuals who share common interests, passions, and goals, creating a sense of belonging and providing a platform for collaboration and learning.

Let’s dive into 5 communities that being a part of will give long-run benefits, whether you’re looking to expand your professional network, explore a new hobby, or simply connect with others who share your values.

There’s always a community out there for you.

The Power of Community for Growth

To truly thrive within a community, it’s important to contribute and give back in ways that go beyond your self-interest. High-value communities often attract people who are willing to invest their time, energy, and resources to create a collective impact that benefits everyone involved.

When you’re part of a community, it’s not just about what you can get from it – it’s about what you can give. By taking action and doing things that are bigger than yourself, you can make a meaningful impact and inspire others to do the same. So don’t just limit yourself to your immediate network – leap and explore new ways to contribute to the larger community.

In short, being a part of a community can be a powerful catalyst for personal growth and development.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is more than just a professional networking site – it’s a community-driven platform that brings together individuals from all corners of the globe.
With over 700 million members, LinkedIn provides a space for people to connect, share ideas, and collaborate in ways that can lead to powerful professional and personal growth.

From joining groups and participating in discussions to sharing thought-provoking content and attending events, there are endless ways to tap into the collective wisdom and experience of the LinkedIn community.

Moreover, LinkedIn’s unique algorithm ensures that your content and engagement are shown to the right audience, allowing you to build meaningful relationships and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field.

So if you haven’t already joined the LinkedIn community, now is the time to do so – the opportunities for growth and impact are endless.

 

DEV / Hashnode / Medium

Dev, Hashnode, and Medium are not just typical blogging platforms, they are thriving communities that offer a plethora of resources for developers and writers to learn, grow, and connect with others who share their passion for technology and creativity. These platforms empower individuals of all levels to collaborate, engage, and make their voices heard on a global scale.

While Dev and Hashnode cater specifically to the developer community, Medium is a more general platform that welcomes writers from all backgrounds and industries. Each platform has its unique features and benefits, from Dev’s built-in code editor and easy integration with GitHub to Hashnode’s emphasis on community-led learning and Medium’s sleek, user-friendly interface.

That being said, as a developer, I highly recommend using Dev as your primary platform. Dev’s unique algorithm gives equal visibility and weightage to all writers, regardless of their follower count, ensuring that every voice has a chance to be heard and recognized. Its user-friendly interface and supportive community make it an ideal platform for new writers to start building their brand and expanding their reach.

Don’t let your voice go unheard – become a part of these dynamic communities today and start making an impact.

 

GitHub

GitHub is more than just a digital storage locker for code – it’s a bustling hub of innovation and teamwork where tech enthusiasts from all corners of the globe unite to create, learn, and build together.

With over 70 million repositories and 56 million developers on the platform, GitHub offers a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, collaborate on projects, and showcase your skills to a wider audience.

But GitHub is not just for developers – it’s also a hub for designers, writers, and other creative professionals looking to build their portfolios and connect with potential clients and collaborators.

Over 2.9 million organizations and businesses, including NASA, IBM, and Google, rely on GitHub to build and innovate. Additionally, more than 72% of Fortune 50 companies use GitHub Enterprise to accelerate software development and improve collaboration.

Join the collaborative community on GitHub and unleash your potential today.

 

Product Hunt

Product Hunt is a bustling community of tech enthusiasts, where makers, investors, and entrepreneurs alike converge to discover the latest and greatest products in the market while fostering a spirit of creativity and community.

With over 5 million monthly active users, Product Hunt provides a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, share your ideas and products, and get feedback from a global audience.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned product manager, or simply someone who loves discovering the latest tech trends, Product Hunt has something for everyone.

By listing your product on Product Hunt, you can tap into a network of passionate individuals who are eager to help you grow and succeed. The feedback and insights you receive can be invaluable, and the supportive community will give you the boost you need to take your product to the next level.

 

Showwcase

Showwcase is a tech community platform that connects like-minded individuals, from coders and developers to engineers, makers, hackers, data scientists, and designers. Unlike other networks, Showwcase was designed to provide a fresh, beautifully crafted platform where the community is built from the bottom up.

Showwcase allows you to build meaningful connections, network to showcase your work, collaborate, share knowledge, and grow in a safe and secure environment. You can showcase your passion and work on Showwcase, from blogging and YouTube to side hustles and mentoring, to a wider audience, creating more exposure and increasing potential opportunities.

Showwcase is a great way to build meaningful connections and networking, opening doors to discussing ideas, building communities, creating products, providing services, generating revenues, and fueling your passion.

In addition, Showwcase offers a feature to create a professional development portfolio, which conveniently consolidates all of your career, passion, work, and shows in one place, saving you valuable time and effort.

 

Daily

Daily is the ultimate hub for developers who want to stay current with tech news and trends, connect with peers, and showcase their work to a global audience. Reading articles is a great way to boost productivity and acquire new skills by staying updated on the latest industry trends and learning from experts in our field.

Daily takes this one step further by promoting active engagement with shared content. By sharing and commenting on other users’ posts, we expand our knowledge and contribute to the community’s growth. Daily’s unique feature of disallowing self-promotion ensures that the focus is on quality content and genuine interaction.

In summary, reading articles on Daily can increase productivity and foster a sense of community and collaboration.

 

Meetup

Beyond being a social networking platform, Meetup is a community made up of individuals who come together to learn, grow, and share their experiences. With Meetup, you can discover local events and connect with people who share your passions and interests. From hiking groups to book clubs to tech meetups, there’s something for everyone on Meetup.

Meetup is especially useful for those who are looking to expand their social circle or explore new interests. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people who share your hobbies or professional goals and to connect with them on a deeper level. Whether you’re new to a city or simply looking to branch out, Meetup can help you find your tribe and build meaningful relationships.

 

So what are you waiting for? Whether it’s joining a local club, attending industry events, or even engaging with online communities, there’s no shortage of ways to get involved and start reaping the benefits of community life.

Who knows? You might just discover new passions, make lifelong friends, and achieve personal growth beyond your wildest dreams. So take the first step and explore the endless possibilities that come with being a part of a community. The world is waiting for you.

If you enjoy my content, show your support by following me on GitHub – Keep building and creating!

The post 7 Incredible Communities That Will Change Your Life Forever appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
https://prodsens.live/2023/04/28/7-incredible-communities-that-will-change-your-life-forever/feed/ 0
How to Create an SEO Strategy [Plus Free Tools & Templates] https://prodsens.live/2023/04/18/how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-plus-free-tools-templates/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-plus-free-tools-templates https://prodsens.live/2023/04/18/how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-plus-free-tools-templates/#respond Tue, 18 Apr 2023 21:02:55 +0000 https://prodsens.live/2023/04/18/how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-plus-free-tools-templates/ how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-[plus-free-tools-&-templates]

Starting as Moz’s SEO Director has been a bit daunting. As a search engine marketer, how can I add…

The post How to Create an SEO Strategy [Plus Free Tools & Templates] appeared first on ProdSens.live.

]]>
how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-[plus-free-tools-&-templates]

Starting as Moz’s SEO Director has been a bit daunting. As a search engine marketer, how can I add value to an organization that has been a thought leader in the search marketing space and built industry-defining SEO tools for over a decade?

When taking on a new role or client — from local businesses to niche online retailers to enterprise-level Fortune 500 companies — the first thing I do is put together a new SEO strategy and organic search measurement plan. I lead this process with data, which highlights opportunities for improvement and instantiates goals to rally your organization around common objectives. Even with Moz being the team of data-driven SEO rockstars it is, strategy is still where I began my new role, And today, I’ll share the process.

What is an SEO strategy?

An SEO strategy aims to improve a website’s visibility in search engines such as Google and Bing. An SEO action plan, on the other hand, typically involves a combination of on-page optimization, technical SEO fixes, content strategy, link building and SEO reporting.

A strong SEO strategy will:

  • Improve your website’s rankings for any existing keywords for which you are currently ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

  • Increase the awareness and influence of SEO within your organization. Consider budget and resource challenges to get the most value and SEO improvements out of your team.

  • Prescribe some combination of SEO initiatives, potentially including:
    • Widening the scope of your ranking organic keywords through content marketing.

    • Fixing any technical website issues that could be negatively impacting page load times (ex. PageSpeed), search engine crawlability or user experience.

    • Increasing the number of backlinks from high quality domains to your site, through effective social amplification and digital PR strategies.

  • Imply or explicitly state priorities or beliefs that guide future action — especially what you will not do.

    Whether you’re a website owner that is new to search engine optimization or a seasoned SEO taking on a new project or client, creating and following a clear SEO strategy is absolutely crucial for improving your site’s organic traffic and conversions.

    10 steps towards a better SEO strategy

    Like any other kind of strategy, to form an SEO strategy you need to understand the state of the game, set attainable goals, and plan to iterate. Below is a 10-step plan for finding those opportunities and insights to get you started.

    1. Crawl your site to identify on-page and technical SEO issues

    The best place to begin an SEO strategy is by initiating a website crawl to see if there are any issues that you need to remedy in order to maximize your SEO visibility.

    There are many options for technical auditing tools that will emulate a search engine crawl of your website, and most SEOs have a favorite. Of course, here at Moz, we have our On-Demand Crawl. Moz’s tool will allow you to view all detected technical SEO issues on your site, and all of the impacted URLs. The data you will get from the On-Demand Crawl can be viewed within the UI of Moz, or exported into a CSV. This focuses on essentials to help kickstart your SEO strategy.

    Initiating your site audit is a good place to start because it can take some time to complete. While your crawl is running, you can begin your competitive research.

    2. Assess your competitors’ SEO strategies

    This is crucial, and often overlooked, at least this early in the process.

    Analyzing competitor SEO strategies will help you set realistic goals for your website. After completing this exercise, you’ll have a sense of your competitors’ most valuable keywords. These are some of the search terms you’ll want to compete for by optimizing your key site pages. This step can also be thought of as a “market analysis” task.

    You’ll also want to leverage a research tool for competitive analysis. I recommend an SEO tool that offers a “gap analysis”’ functionality, Which will be the backbone of comprehensive SEO competitive research.

    Within Moz Pro, the Keyword Gap feature will highlight prominent competitor keywords for which you have room to improve in the rankings. Keyword Gap will automatically sort the results to prioritize the keywords where your site has the highest traffic opportunity if you were to overtake your top-ranking competitor.

    Once you’ve identified some keywords where the competition outranks you, investigate why that might be. If you were Google — or better yet, a searcher — which site would you prefer to see?

    In addition to looking at the keywords that competitors are ranking well for where you have opportunity to improve, examine the types of content they are regularly producing. Do they have a blog? How much content are they publishing on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? How are they showing their expertise?

    When it comes time to align the necessary teams within your organization and rally them around your SEO goals, you’ll need to understand the competitive search landscape of your company. How much effort are your competitors putting into SEO? If they don’t appear to be optimizing their site for search, you’ll have an opportunity to pull ahead. If they have been actively involved in content creation and their core technical SEO is solid (you can even audit their sites to determine what they’re doing well), then you can use their strengths to guide your SEO roadmap.

    3. Create SEO goals and align your teams

    Despite the fact that there are professional SEOs who specialize in driving business goals via organic search optimization, SEO is a team effort. A good SEO strategy builds buy-in from web developers, content teams, and company leadership, as SEOs often straddle the intersections between teams. For example, you may need to collaborate with your editorial team to create a blog post that was ideated by data-driven research, and your web development team to create the page. Or, after you conduct your SEO audit, you may realize that you need the assistance of your developers to remedy several technical issues.

    As mentioned in the section above, even if SEO is not a new endeavor at your company, I recommend thoroughly investigating competitors’ SEO strategies before attempting to get buy-in from other teams. If you can frame the need to optimize your site for organic search through the lens of deficiencies your site has against your competitors, you’ll be able to make a more powerful case to your leadership and cross-functional teams.

    4. Create an effort vs. impact matrix [FREE TEMPLATE BELOW]

    Now that you’ve completed the research steps of your SEO strategy, you’ve reached a good point to create an itemized list of all of the tasks you want to accomplish. These can include on-page or technical SEO fixes resulting from the audit you did at the beginning of the process, blog posts to write, existing site pages to optimize for search, and more.

    My recommendation for outlining these steps is to create an effort vs. impact chart that organizes each item. Nobody knows your business better than you, so the effort required to complete each item will be highly personalized to your company. Sometimes finding the internal resources to write and publish a new piece of content can prove to be a larger endeavor than, say, fixing a redirect loop, or vice versa.

    Whatever the dynamic of your business, an effort vs. impact matrix can help you organize your seo strategy into tactical jobs to be done. Here’s a link to a free template.

    More often than not, running a crawl of your site using a tool like Moz Pro will highlight a ton of SEO issues you probably weren’t aware of, which can be overwhelming. Moz Pro can offer some guidance on working through these issues by flagging certain items as “critical”.

    If you’re looking for a place to get started on prioritizing your SEO action items, I always recommend looking at your site’s meta titles first. Meta titles are one of the primary factors Google considers when deciding where to rank a page, with respect to how relevant it is to a given keyword. They’re also what users read when they’re deciding where to click on the SERP, and thus can have a significant impact on click-through rates. Moz Pro will find pages for you where meta titles are missing, or below Google’s recommended 60-character length.

    If you’ve never optimized your meta titles, I recommend manually reviewing all of your core site pages to ensure that your titles are optimized for the keyword you want to target with each page. After you’ve done the keyword research and determined what your meta title should be on core pages, they’re typically relatively easy to update in your CMS or the backend of your website.

    5. Build an SEO report or dashboard

    After thinking through your priority list for optimizations, you’ll want to establish a baseline of current SEO performance and create a method to track your progress.

    Moz’s Campaigns feature allows you to track a list of keywords for your site on an ongoing basis. Moz Pro will automatically build a dashboard for you that visualizes position improvements for your key organic search rankings. Google Analytics can also be integrated into this dashboard so that you can monitor your site traffic along with rankings and your site’s Domain Authority.

    Setting up a Moz Pro Campaign will also automatically run a site crawl for your domain once a week so that you can track the number of outstanding technical SEO issues on your site as you work on fixing them.

    6. Iterate through technical SEO fixes

    The SEO process is a bit like building a house. There will be plenty of time to add window dressing and furniture, but first, you start with the foundation. Your website’s solid foundation is its technical SEO frame.

    Using the SEO audit you completed in step 1 and your effort vs. impact matrix, begin identifying issues that are contributing to critical crawl issues (as identified by Moz’s Site Crawl tool, for example).

    This is also a good point in the process to establish a baseline of your site’s PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals (CWV) scores. After running your domain through Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool, you’ll be presented with a list of opportunities to speed up your website. These can include tasks like image caching and JavaScript reduction.

    PageSpeed Insights is an important tool to leverage because:

    1. It’s free.

    2. The recommendations on improving your site health and technical SEO foundation are coming directly from Google.

    7. Optimize existing content for search engines

    Now that you have your progress tracking infrastructure in place and your list of SEO opportunities to attack, it’s time to start optimizing your content. Use the effort vs. impact matrix to guide your priorities, beginning with low-effort/high-impact items such as meta title optimization.

    After completing this work, I also recommend taking a closer look at all of your sites’ core pages. A tool such as Moz’s On-Page Grader will help provide even more detail on how well-optimized a page is for a given keyword. For example, AT&T is doing an above-average job at optimizing its wireless page for the “cell phone” keyword, but there are still optimizations that can be made:

    8. Identify new content opportunities through topic research

    The best way to close keyword gaps is by publishing targeted, SEO-driven content on your site. The list of keywords that you get from a tool like Moz Pro’s Keyword Gap can be used to ideate on topic ideas.

    Hub-and Spoke content model

    A good SEO strategy will often use a hub-and-spoke content model. This is the practice of creating “hub” pages that will rank for high-volume keywords and convert Google searches into customers through CTAs. These hub pages will be supported by “spoke” pages containing related content, generally living on a blog or resources section of your site.

    For example, let’s say one you’re AT&T, and one of the keywords you want to improve rankings for is “cell phone”. Your first step is creating a URL on your site that targets the “cell phone” keyword. After this page is created, SEO focused, and conversion-optimized, you will want to create a series of supporting content pieces that link into your main ‘cell phone’ page.

    Using a keyword research tool such as Moz Pro’s Keyword Suggestions feature can help you quickly identify topics related to your primary term. As opposed to guessing at topics that people might be interested in, dedicated SEO tools allow you to use data to power all of your decision making. For example, these are questions that Google searchers have related to “cell phone”.

    Even in 2023, high quality backlinks are an important part of SEO. The number of backlinks a site is receiving from high authority pages is a major component of Moz’s Domain Authority score, which is the industry-standard KPI for measuring the overall ranking ability of a domain.

    The best way to increase your Domain Authority is by creating high quality content that people want to share. In addition to creating the content and publishing it on your site, creatively promoting it on social channels such as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, or additional platforms where your customers (and prospective customers) spend their digital time will help drive brand awareness and can increase branded search volume.

    There are also ways to engage in manual link building efforts that aim to gain links to your site from high-quality site publishers. This is an especially important exercise for newer domains with low Domain Authority scores.

    10.  Measure, optimize, and test

    Your competitive landscape will evolve, and so will your company. Even within the scope of a year, an SEO strategy for 2023 may involve unexpected priorities in November that you didn’t account for in March.

    But despite the constant state of change in the digital world, it’s important to continually track your high-value keywords using an SEO tool like Moz Pro, and to monitor the traffic growth of your content in platforms like Google Analytics. Over time, you’ll notice areas of topical strength and weakness for your site. You can continue to play into the strengths of your site and publish content related to your strongest topics, while simultaneously identifying keyword gap opportunities and improving areas of weakness.

    Get started on your SEO strategy today

    There are several free SEO tools on the market that can assist you in kickstarting your search engine optimization strategy. Moz even has free versions available of our own Keyword Explorer and Competitor Research, which can help you find opportunities for your site’s search engine visibility and help you set SEO goals.

    Whether you’re an experienced SEO taking on a new client or a website owner approaching SEO for the first time, it’s crucial to create a roadmap of defined tasks and actionable goals. Having an action plan will help keep you focused on your goals, and prevent aimless work and incomplete projects. In search engine marketing, it pays to be methodical, yet adaptable.

    The post How to Create an SEO Strategy [Plus Free Tools & Templates] appeared first on ProdSens.live.

    ]]>
    https://prodsens.live/2023/04/18/how-to-create-an-seo-strategy-plus-free-tools-templates/feed/ 0