MindScape

Having discussed the overview of link popularity in our last post, we would now delve further into the challenges associated with development of that coveted link. Going by the adage that “a job well begun is half done”, the identification of the potential link page is imperative to the success of any link building campaign. In view of the fact that the identification of the links is the most time consuming and challenging part of the link development process, we would confine the purview of this post to this fundamental part of the Link Building process.

In the present context, link development has become more quality based and quantity of links is no more a determinant. This change is manifested by the higher ranking on SERPs of a lot of websites with fewer links, than those with scores of links. Thus, identification of the appropriate link page for link sourcing assumes further importance.

There are various factors that influence the identification of the potential web page for obtaining the link.

Links can be assessed on the basis of two broad parameters, and the link page should qualify on both these counts. The parameters to consider are:

Relevance

The relevance of the page from where the link is sourced is paramount, and the criteria for qualification are -

• The page to get the link from should be good for visitors of our site.

 

• The Links should be sourced from sub pages of the sites that have symmetry to the theme of our website. e.g. If a site sells high altitude shoes, then the extreme sports gear shop that could be a potential link partner, should place the link of the high altitude shoes, on the page that features the specialized footwear.

Authority

The next step after identification of the relevance is the authority of the respective website. The authority of the website page is determined by the number of times the pages of the website have been referenced by the search engines. Since such pages are often referenced, they are likely to get maximum traffic and click through as well. To qualify on the standard of authority, the links should -

• Be from the page that have the most external back links. This would result in more traffic arriving on such page, which would in turn benefit the page for which the link is developed.

 

• Another factor of consequence is to determine if the potential website is worthy of being linked to. This implies that when you link to a website, you are linking to everyone else that the target site links to. This assumes importance in view of the fact that Google does not punish for bad links from sites, but for links to bad sites. This contention is further corroborated by the fact that Google is not just looking at trusted link sources but, also ignoring sites that are getting an influx of unrelated, low authority links.

Adhering to these points while identifying the potential link pages would result in development of the link that has value, and which augments the authority of the website.

Identification of the ideal link page requires skill, objectivity and continuous research. These are traits that most available software are deficient in. The development of links manually, thus assumes greater significance. Link development is an art which requires a combination of SEO knowledge, analysis, and a penchant for deal making. These characteristics make link building a tedious exercise loathed by most webmasters.

Developing links manually delivers maximum benefits. The process would involve manual search, manual emails and manual checking. While this requires extended efforts, the benefits are worth it.

The points detailed in this communication are intended to provide a perspective on the way links pages should be identified. The identification of the link page is a continuous process and requires constant efforts and commitment.

It should be known that there are many resources, and pages where the links could be sourced from, and continuous research would help identify the best links from the best places. The only distinguishing factor is the knowledge of how to look, and how to choose the best pages to get the link from.

The conventional practice of searching for link pages that feature the competitors links is passe. This has become redundant and the present context calls for a smarter search requiring an out of the box approach, which expert agencies are adept at.

However, we hope that the points highlighted in the preceding paragraphs help you with your pursuit of the coveted link.

Business Software Development is essentially a branch of software development that concentrates on developing software applications primarily for commercial needs.

Being a part of the IT revolution that has redefined the way organizations functions and interact, Business Software is a huge resource for any firm that employs it. Over the past decade, this offshoot of Information Technology has dug itself in, so much so that it has established itself as the backbone of efficient functionality.

There is of course a difference in usual software development and developing business software.

• System software like an operating system (Windows, Linux) allows the user to interact with his system. Its features include system tools, utilities, drive management etc.

• Programming software helps the programmer write/create programs or software for various purposes. It includes tools like editors, compliers, debuggers, linkers, interpreters besides different programming languages to help the programmer achieve his target. er to write programs and software for varied needs. However,it is limited to developing software.

• Business software on the other hand is different in its field of application. It consists of several in-built modules like editing, accounting, resource management, inventory control et al that are meant to help the organization with the respective departments. It aims at synchronizing the operations of individual departments by bringing them under a centralized command.

Business software’s primary goal is to enhance productivity of an organization. Industries have come a long way from the days of rudimentary logistical requirements of trading agricultural produce. Up until the last century all businesses relied heavily on human control and supervision. Different divisions had individuals or trained groups looking over their operations. But just as the Industrial revolution changed the dynamics of the world forever, the coming of age of business software has been no less of a revolution.

Advantages of Business Software:

Although the possibility of absolute elimination of human inputs and supervision in business functions seems remote, what business software dies have to its credit is the immense increase in productivity and efficiency.

1) Reduced Time requirements : the ease of data creation and modification/editing/sharing/storage is phenomenally enhanced with the use of business software. Manual operations in comparison are time guzzlers.

2) Enhanced efficiency : The use of software is always preferred over manual work when it comes to commercial needs. This is simply because of the above mentioned time advantage and the numerous options that such software provide which make manual labor cumbersome in comparison.

3) Ease of Inter-departmental communication : many software meant for large scale business operations simplify inter-departmental communication and database management. This is a major advantage in large,complex corporate entities.

Types of Business Software:

• For small organizations/home users:

Many fledgling firms and/or individual entrepreneurs use software like Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org or simple accounting software for their daily operations. These are developed and priced in a way that makes sense to purchase for regular low-key business needs.

• For medium scale business enterprises:

These include a broader range of operations like Customer Relations Management(CRM), Inventory Management, Human Resource Management, shopping carts etc. These arms call for extensive database management and coordination. Such enterprises use software like NetSuite, Sage Accpac, SAP Business One, Sage Abra HRMS,Taleo Business Edition, ABS Accounting Systems etc.

• For large Enterprises:

Software packages like SAP All-in-One have become extremely popular with large corporate entities for the advantages they bring into everyday operations and the time they save in activities that are usually lengthy and tiresome. More examples of this type of software are Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Onyx Software CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV etc.

The Major Players:
The skills required for developing software that can take on the needs of a business organization, small or large, are immense. Therefore, there aren’t many scattered development centers that work to churn out such software. Instead, there are development firms that employ professionals to identify potential business sectors and develop software for them.

A few such organizations are SAP, Microsoft, Google(OpenOffice), Sage Group PLC, Agresso Limited and CedarOpenAccounts(COA). Most firms around the world use software released by these firms. The popularity of Microsoft Office is a fine example. So is the advent of SAP systems that has found decent success with organizations and industries alike.

Conclusion:
Business software development is becoming the nerve-center of businesses all over the world. Understandably so, with the priceless advantages of time reduction, efficient documentation and smooth database record management. The present trend is however toward online business software use. This has been prompted out of the necessity to cut costs further and avail the same services as a marketed software would provide. The fact that developers and vendors are turning to the Internet to market their products, albeit at a much lower price, shows just how popular and how important business software has become for individuals and conglomerates alike.

Alec, a young sprog in Firm A, hits upon a brilliant concept that could revolutionize the way his firm handles clients. The idea needs extensive web solutions to make sure it takes off and succeeds. He approaches his seniors and gets the nod to go look for a professional firm that’ll give them what they want.

Before leaving, Alec is mildly apprehensive about the idea. Although it looks grand, its details are foggy. “I’d better find someone good who know their craft”, he muses.

Scenario 1:

Firm Acme, well established and reputed in web solutions, accept Alec’s project and promise to deliver within a time-line of 4 months. Acme prides itself on its methodical, no nonsense or deviation approach to completing projects. And they have their stellar record of their past to back them up. So Acme proceeds with the project overflowing with self assurance , convinced it has understood Alec’s concept better than he could ever do himself. Alec is hesitant about voicing his concerns. “They’ve not earned a good name for nothing. Maybe they can grasp the unsaid as well”. “You’ll hear from us in 3 months, Sir” is all he is told.

Weeks later, with the project very close to completion, Alex and his boss are called for a demonstration. Acme wasn’t keen on this, knowing they were good with their work. But company policies stipulated it so they had to.

The demonstration proceeds and progresses well, until Alec’s boss comes up with an innocuous query. Innocuous to him, that is. Acme professionals look flabbergasted. “ Why would you want to do that?” they retort. “Why not ?” goes Alec’s boss. “Well if that’s what it is, you should have told us about this before !” Alec squirms in his seat, uneasiness dripping from his face. “You never even let us talk to you about the project while it was being drafted. You guys were so smug about your abilities you didn’t think it would be advisable to keep us in the loop!” was all he manages, afraid those were the last words he’d get to speak for his firm before being thrown out.

The whole debacle inflicts major financial losses on everyone, and a blow on the head for Acme’s tested work ethics.

Scenario 2:

Alec approaches a relatively inexperienced firm, The Upstarts, a young group of web solution experts. What draws him to them is their willingness to listen to him pour his heart out, allowing him to understand and define his idea even better.

“We’ll see it through in a month , Sir, and we’d like you to be in constant touch with us till we have it ready”. “Okay, that sounds fine” says Alec. “Infact I like it”.

Work at The Upstarts proceeds with gusto, with their small team of developers, designers, managers, technical writers and testers working simultaneously. What Alec notices surprises him. Instead of going for the whole idea at once, The Upstarts fragment his brainchild into small chunks. “We like it small”, they wink. They all sit together, with Alec in the middle, each one voicing his opinions and ideas, until everyone present knows precisely what is wanted and which way the spurt of action is to be directed.

This goes on everyday, with the testers rounding up each day’s produce with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Thumbs up, they hit the next chunk. Thumbs down, The Upstarts dash back to the drawing board. Finally, with a lot of re-working and intuitive improvisation, the whole project is pieced together, chunk by perfected chunk falling into place. On D-Day, exactly one-month from the start, the project is complete and comes out sparkling. It works flawlessly.

Alec comes up to his boss smelling like roses. Firm A has got its money’s worth (and how !), and hits industry folklore for revolutionizing client management. Needless to say, Alec does not remain a sprog in the firm for much longer.

For all you lesser mortals who haven’t already figured out what made The Upstarts beat Acme, it’s a dynamic web development approach called Agile Web Development.

What makes Agile web development successful is the way it goes about a project. Here are the aspects:

1) Manageable chunks: Agile web development breaks a project into fragments, each small but essential, and works on its every aspect, from designing to development to de-bugging to documentation, until it is fail safe and ready to be a part of the big picture.

2) Multiple Iterations: Each fragment is taken through multiple test sequences to make sure it is fault free. Every time a fault is encountered, it is re-worked, its guidelines altered, and its process of development re-visited to make sure it is improved upon.

3) Constant Interaction with the source: Having the originator of the idea in the loop at all times enables the developers to make sure their progress meets his approval and is headed in the way he’d want it to. This eliminates any last minute surprises and blame gaming, which could potentially cripple a project at the very last stage and ruin weeks of effort.

4) Extreme Flexibility: Rather than walking along a fixed path of pre-agreed steps, the key to Agile Web Development is its constant leeway to improvisation as and when needed. This effectively takes into account any sudden changes that might have to be incorporated into the scheme of things. Without this, crippling setbacks are an ever present threat.

Having arrived on the scenes almost a decade ago in the mid 1990s, Agile web Development has had its fair share of followers who swear by its practicality and resilience. Some of the well known Agile Software Development methods are :

i) Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
ii) Feature Driven Development (FDD)
iii) Agile Unified Process (AUP)
iv) Extreme Programming (XP)
v) Scrum

Criticism about Agile:

Puritans have nonetheless greeted Agile gruffly. Agile for them is equivalent to “Cowboy Coding”, signifying a lack of discipline, and the absence of a systematic, well defined approach to possibly complex assignments. Many argue Agile to be unsuitable for large projects, calling its methodology too shaky to encompass all the aspects of a complex task on the go.

Also, Agile’s minimal documentation, made so by constant actual contact with the client, has also drawn flak.

Conclusion:

Whether arguments put up by skeptics are valid remains to be proved or proved otherwise. But for now, web development solutions have a radical tool to help them along. So as long as Agile delivers, the only complaining will be from the ones who don’t get the contracts.

Even though it would be prudent to define Web 3.0 in concise terms that exclude uncertainty, it is not possible as yet. Precisely because Web 3.0 is not a definite product or service, or even a spectrum that has structured guidelines.

However, what Web 3.0 essentially is, is the next step in the evolution of the World Wide Web from a mere depository of information on interconnected networks, to the point where that vast repository makes sense to the primary agents that access it, viz., software agents.

Comparison with previous versions:

The World Wide Web when first launched, was just an interface to access data stored on standalone terminals or servers. Web 2.0 (a term whose validity is often debated by industry faithfuls) came out as a phoenix out of the dot com bubble burst. It was purported to be the re-birth of the Internet. However, it only added upon established underlying principles of the World Wide Web (eg: HTML as a base and use of AJAX over and above that).

Even so, Web 2.0’s contribution to the World Wide Web is a slew of services aimed at facilitating collaboration and sharing between users. Most notable in that direction was the advent of social networking sites, blogs, audio/video posts, podcasts, wikis, IMs etc.

It has also seen the rise of powerful search engines that can rip into the guts of a page and extract relevant data. Except that there is a catch to it. Even the most powerful search tool needs the brains and thought process of a human to guide it to the right page, or load it with a generous dose of keywords to empower it to come up with the intended results.

Web 3.0, on the other hand, aims to transfer that thought process directly to a search engine’s/software agent’s mode of operation. It aims at a World Wide Web where all data will be easily understandable by machines, like we humans presently do, thus ushering in the age of Intelligent Computing, and as an extension, Semantic Computing.

Benefits:

1) With Semantic computing as its soul and guiding light, Web 3.0 will open up the astronomical amount of data on the web to intelligent analysis.

E.g.: Let’s suppose that Eric, 22, wants to touch base with an old friend of his, Tracy. The problem is, they were both 8 years old when Tracy left their hometown of Auckland for Geneva. Having lost contact with her after that, Eric is not even sure if she is still there or if she has moved to another country. All he now knows is her age, her last name and the name of her mother, the name of the school they both went to and the year she left for Geneva.

A contemporary search engine employed for the task of looking up Tracy would probably draw a nil if Tarcy’s present information is not explicitly mentioned. Not because it does not have enough data to search with, but because it does not have the inherent capability of putting all of that data to intelligent use. However with Web 3.0, a search tool would co-relate all the data it digs up from school records, family names, immigration records and national/international travel logs, analyze and sift through the promising ones, and hit upon the one trail that will lead it to Tracy, through a maze of seemingly unrelated web content.

2) The second benefit, derived from the first, would be the possibility of delegation of the responsibilities of data searching and collating and analysis to computers themselves. This would leave humans to focus on the big picture, while the data and its logistics will be silently controlled by machines under constant interaction with each other.

3) It would also enable machines operating on and from different databases and platforms to successfully exchange information with one another, primarily because of the underlying artificial intelligence now possible with Web 3.0

4) Automation, as we know it today, is really a series of planned codes that machines are programmed to follow. But with semantical computing, computers will actually be able to take most simple decisions for themselves, and even complex ones if so possible, making commonplace human intervention redundant.

Limitations:

Industry watchers however, are skeptical. Their prime areas of skepticism are based on the following:

1) It is argued that it would be time -consuming for content to be published in two formats: one for humans and the second for machines. Unless a method is devised to automatically generate machine-friendly data formats, this concern is valid and critical.

2) Invasion of privacy and censorship : With an artificially intelligent Web, data creation/modification could easily be traced back to the originator(eg. : tracing of bloggers and webmasters). This could potentially violate individual privacy and may even lead to forced censorship.

3) Although Web 3.0 sounds great and one would expect it to go mainstream soon, how realistic it would really be to expect intelligent behavior from machines, particularly considering the whims and fancies of human expectations, is doubtful, if not entirely impractical.

Conclusion:

With Web 3.0 a real possibility in the evolution of the World Wide Web, one can look forward to a new array of web services, characterized essentially by a degree of artificial intelligence. The fact that the mammoth data archive of the web would be open to analysis across various platforms, would make online services much more resourceful. What does that mean to the common netizen? Lesser exercising of his own intellect in data mining, collation and decision making. In other words, a much faster, intuitive and productive web experience.