Websites are essential for businesses in the modern world

Open source tool specialist DRUD Tech is launching a new tool called ddev which is designed to do away with the complicated steps and disparate components of website development.

Using a simple interface, ddev manages many complex technologies, including industry standard components like MySQL, NGINX, and PHP, with the ability to extend to include Redis, Apache Solr, memcache, Varnish, and more. For experienced development teams this means ddev can eliminate unnecessary delays, errors, and inefficiencies common throughout the traditional development to deployment and hosting lifecycle.

It delivers consistency because by using ddev all resources perform the typical local environment management tasks in the same way and with the same outcome, resulting in a reduction in setup time, task switching, and reworking inefficiencies. The company reckons the time taken for developers to complete tasks can be reduced by as much as 20 percent, leading to cost savings and improved efficiency too.

“Web development teams are all-too-familiar with the hours lost due to slow setup, task-switching between projects, and lack of tooling consistency, whether it’s for a client website client or a project for an internal department,” says Rick Manelius, chief product officer at DRUD Tech. “Using DRUD Tech’s ddev, development teams can see an unmatched reduction in process and cost inefficiencies all while delivering a superior quality of work. ddev is a critical, must-have new solution for web development teams of all sizes to achieve nearly instant benefits through much more simplified and automated development processes.”

DRUD tech is releasing ddev as the first of several products in a suite of tools and services created to improve the end-to-end experience from web development to deployment and hosting. Developers can download ddev from today at GitHub.

Search engine optimization (SEO) means different things to different people.

Some people understand SEO as managing a relationship with Google through Adwords, Search Console and Analytics. Some understand it as the content you produce, as well as your ability to get other sites to link to that content. Others think SEO is some kind of black magic that only “SEO experts” can do.

In reality, SEO is a combination of content, technical fundamentals, user experience and helping Google help you. When we help businesses and organizations with their SEO, we take a technical approach, helping them better implement fundamentals that Google and other major search engines recommend for a great user experience.

Consider these three technical fundamentals that your website needs for better search engine optimization:

Responsive Design

Every website we build now is responsive, meaning that the design and experience respond to the size of the user’s device. This provides an optimal layout for websites on mobile and tablet devices that may have otherwise shown up as the desktop version of a site.

In 2015, Google announced that it would use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in search results, making it “easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for [users’] devices.”

Responsive design is the preferred way to develop a mobile website compared to a separate mobile site, as responsive design keeps your content at one URL, as opposed to mobile site URLs like “m.site.com.” If you’re building a new website, it needs to be responsive. If your current site is not mobile-friendly, you can retrofit responsiveness or install a mobile-friendly plugin. And If you’re not sure your site is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to find out.

Security

Earlier this year, we added an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to our site, making it completely secure. We don’t process transactions on our site or collect private user information, but switching to HTTPS still made a lot of sense. HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, uses SSL to encrypt information being sent and ensure that information travels securely.

Not only does having an SSL certificate bring more security to our users while they’re on our site, it actually helps with SEO. In 2014, Google announced that they would begin using HTTPS as a ranking signal when displaying search results.

It’s not a big factor, but it does act as a sort of tie-breaker when there’s a lot of competition for placement. If two sites are otherwise similar and one of them is secure, it’s more likely to come out on top in search results than the non-secure site. We didn’t switch to HTTPS just for the SEO boost, but it’s definitely a bonus in addition to all of the other benefits the security provides.

Accessibility

We’ve focused a lot of on accessibility recently, working to make more of the websites we develop inclusive for all users. Many of the fundamentals that are implemented when a site is accessible are cross-beneficial for SEO.

For example, accessibility requires ALT (alternative) text on all images, which appears in a blank box where the image would normally be to tell viewers the content of that image. That text will get crawled and is more likely to be displayed in search results. Proper use of header tags (H1 for main headers, H2 for sub-headers, etc.) not only helps users with screen readers understand the importance of content, it also helps search engines prioritize the order of the content by boosting SEO for the header tags.

Breadcrumbs are a navigational aid in user interfaces that help disabled users understand where they are in the hierarchy of your website, and at the same time breadcrumbs help search engines find and promote “buried” pages. A sitemap that lays out all of the pages on your site makes it easier for all users and search engines to get a complete view of your site.

Accessibility not only makes your site more inviting to users with disabilities, but it also improves the entire user experience. At the end of the day, that’s what Google cares about. Google wants your site to be useful and user-friendly, and making your site accessible does just that.

SEO Is Everything

These are three of the big technical fundamentals you need to improve your search engine optimization, but don’t assume that once you implement these tips you’ll suddenly start ranking No. 1 for your desired search phrases. SEO is a combination of your technical fundamentals, the content you produce, your relationship with Google, your site marketing strategies and your user experience.

There’s no silver bullet with SEO, but start by making your website fundamentally sound and you’ll be on your way to improved search results.

In today’s world, the trend towards e-commerce has become significant as more entrepreneurs try to create their own online stores. The hard part is knowing which potential factories are most important to focus on in the early stages of your online store.

To address these questions, events such as eCommCon, the first ever eCommerce virtual summit, have started to spark. These events provide attendees with countless hours of interviews from six-, seven-, and even eight-figure e-commerce sales and marketing experts.

When finding a good mentor can be hard, events like these enable entrepreneurs to gain instant insights into what makes a million-dollar e-commerce brand work.

For those with limited time on hand, below you will find the top 3 pieces of advice from some of the biggest names in the e-commerce industry:

1. Nathan Resnick: Build a foundation

Nathan Resnick is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Sourcify, a platform that makes e-commerce manufacturing easy. He used to live in China and speaks Mandarin fluently. As a supply chain expert, Nathan advises e-commerce entrepreneurs to ensure they work with a scalable factory.

“When starting off, it’s crucial to go directly to a factory in order to increase your margins. Though they may not have as many product category offerings as a trading company, they’ll often have much better pricing. As you scale, you’ll also want to work with a factory that can help you cut costs over time.”

There are a number of tips and tricks that can be learned over time as an e-commerce entrepreneur. Not everything happens overnight, and it may take time to find the right product/market fit for your online store.

Once things align, however, scaling can happen rapidly, and that’s really where you need to have the right mentors to fall back on.

2. J. Trevor Chapman: Idealize, then get to work

From $200 to over $1M in sales after only three months, J. Trevor Chapman is an online business pro.

At 33 years old, he decided to start working on the life he always imagined for himself.

“Until this generation, it was likely that your life would look very similar to that of your father’s, and his father’s, and on and on for a thousand generations,” Trevor explains.

“Of every conceivable idea, invention, and ideology that our species could bring forth … out of infinite options, a cosmos of potential … we have birthed the Internet. Nothing has ever been crafted by the human mind that can so radically change the lives of those that use it as the internet.”

“Don’t sit idly by while others gain their freedom.”

3. Chris Vitalis: Time is valuable

As the founder of E-Commerce Ninjas, Chris Vitalis has spent years working with a team of seasoned e-commerce store owners, digital architects, strategists, and creatives, helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses, while making them successful in the process.

Throughout this time, he has realized one very important thing …

“Time is valuable; protect it at all costs.”

Chris Vitalis spent years attending a university to study business and marketing, striving for financial freedom. In the back of his mind, however, he always knew that he was wasting his time …

If he didn’t make a change, he was going to end up working a nine-to-five job just like everyone else.

So, rather than do what he was expected to do, he chose to forge his own path and start a business. A place where he could actually utilize his skills and education as an entrepreneur to help others launch their own companies.

Wrapping Things Up

Does Chris’ story sound a bit familiar? Did one or two of the points presented here strike a chord with you? The takeaway here is simple: do not wait until it’s too late to follow your dreams.

The time to start your e-commerce journey is now; don’t let another moment pass you by.