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Web development trends are uprising in the marketplace. There has been a huge demand for web developers in the market. Now the question is, what should be the career path of an aspiring web developer? As a beginner, one must have a lot of questions in mind. What are the skills required? From where can one learn the skills? How long would it take to land a job? Is freelancing an option? 

So, in today’s article, we are going to talk about the basics of web development and what should be the career path of a web developer in 2022. If you are looking for frontend web developer jobs or backend jobs, this article will clear out a lot of your queries. 

Who is a web developer?

A web developer is someone who builds websites. There are different roles that a web developer can have. For example: 

1. Front End Developer
2. Back End Developer
3. Full-Stack Developer

Career Path of Web Development – How to become a Developer?

The steps to becoming a web developer are not very complicated. All that you need is time, effort, and patience. Overall, it is your journey of becoming a web developer right from scratch. 

1. Learn the basics of Web Development

You need to know the basics of frontend development. Having sound knowledge of HTML and CSS are also necessary. Learning these is quite easy. You would need a week to brush up on the basics. So, one needs to know how to frame the web page’s structure so that it is clear how to create a great interface. 

It is also essential to know about the working of the web. Many materials and resources will help you learn about it. 

2. Select a kind

So once you are aware of the basics, you will be curious to know how to build a website. At this point, you will have to face questions such as whether you want to be a frontend developer or a backend developer. By now, you should know the difference between a front-end developer and back end developer. So you will have to decide whether you want to be involved in designing an interface or if you want to work at the backend. It is considerably easy to work in the front end, but you must know about user experience and ways of improving user experience. Again, if you are working as a backend developer, you have to know everything about the backend servers and other relevant operations of scripts. As a full-stack developer, you must have sound knowledge about both frontend and backend development. Basically, a full-stack developer has complete knowledge about building a website. 

3. Select a Language

Now before we talk about the list of programming languages that have applications in web development, we would like to talk about the various markup languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. These are the most common programming languages, which makes them suitable for one to build projects. An ample number of languages are available, and each one comes with a set of features. These languages are: 

1. Javascript
2. Python
3. PHP
4. Ruby
5. C#
6. Swift
7. Kotlin

Your primary focus needs to be on CSS, HTML, and javascript. Once you gain enough knowledge and have got a few demos, you can move ahead for specialization. You also have to know about SQL if you have to work with databases at the backend. It is not difficult, and many courses can help you learn about databases.

4. Process of Learning Web Development

Now comes the real question of learning about web development. There is no end to the courses that we need to learn as a part of web development implementation. While most of these courses are free, though many offer certification programs, you can get them as a token of appreciation or referral from employees. However, what mainly matters is your knowledge. So, there is no problem as long as you have enough knowledge. You can learn and implement it through your work. 

5. Build Projects on Web Development

Once you know about the basics of web development and languages such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, and other design and structures, you need to start working on various projects. It does not have to be something very complicated. But one must emphasize trying out something new. As you keep learning, such projects will become a part of your portfolio. You can present these during your interviews which will help showcase your talent. You will be sure that your interviewers would like to know more about your specialization and development process. As you keep learning, try working on real-life projects. This will help you build a handful of projects and take up challenges. As you keep solving these, you get to learn more and more. So, basically, you will be honing your skills with every new project and every new challenge. 

6. Apply for Positions

Once you have got a portfolio of projects, you do have a good chance of getting recognized in the web development industry. You can apply to every small and large business. But always remember to keep learning on the go. As you keep working on projects, there is no end to learning as new developments happen every now and then.

How to Become a Web Developer in a short duration of time?

There are a number of platforms where you learn coding in the minimal time possible. Most of these have different teaching methodologies and provide you with hands-on experience for an easy learning process. So as you keep learning, you will, by default, get ready for a job in less than three months. Most people come from a technology background or have a high degree before coming to this field. However, it might be possible that you come from a completely different background. The good thing is you can still excel in this domain. You can either learn in a self-paced environment, or you can learn from scratch or take up courses and degree programs.

Conclusion

So, if you seriously want to be a web developer, you will have to hone your skills first. Prepare yourself and gain enough experience before you look for clients or sit for an interview. If needed, work with experts for no payment just to learn. This will give you a chance to improve your skills and land a good job.

The post The career path for a web developer in 2022 appeared first on noupe.

Businesses aim to establish enduring relationships, particularly with customers. Believingly, if you are managing it well, then you surely will grow. In the era of digitization, CRM software has marked its presence. The reason is simply its features that confirm its positive outcome for businesses.  It has the magic that manages customers efficiently and assures higher ROI. 

What is CRM software?

CRM is Customer Relationship Management software that enables businesses to handle, organize and track their connections with customers.  The system assists them to store the data, like customer behavior. From here, you can have an idea of how long they are with you, what they have purchased, what their feedback or reviews were, etc. In addition to this, you can find out the areas of improvement for more sales, higher transactions, etc. Collectively, all these practices tend to enhance the marketing and sales process. The software functions by keeping track of the actions and behavior of existing and probable customers from the email marketing campaigns, social media, and business sites. Moreover, it directs the customers via buying or sales funnel with emails or notifying the salesperson regarding customers’ preferences.

Effective Features of CRM Software

Customer Management

The major benefit of customer relationship management software is that it enhances the relationship of businesses with customers. From simply keeping a tab on the general contacts, it saves the essential data such as previous interactions, buying history, and demographics on every channel.

Moreover, it authorizes the others in the businesses to use the information when required. Every single communication of staff members with customers ensures customer satisfaction. If you are able to provide the best services, then, they could be your loyal customers. 

In case there is a higher turnover in business, then, it can harm everything from brand value to sales, etc. While using the CRM solution, there will be automation in customer support, sentiment analysis and behavior tracking, etc. From all these provisions, you can find out and acknowledge the queries beforehand so that they should not be problems in future.  Hence, a CRM system helps you to boost customer satisfaction and confirms their future visit. 

Business process automation

There are many benefits or features of CRM software that make it a valuable asset. However, the most important one is automation. Basically, it is the benefit that streamlines the business processes. To give you a glance:

• It saves the time that is spent on emailing and lead nurturing with SMS campaigns. 
• Regular and customer-oriented communication considering commerce, sales, marketing and service via personalized automation. 
• Capturing leads with customer metrics you fix. Therefore, you can give priority to the terms for confirming the leads to work on.

The CRM software allows the business to spend extra time on generating campaigns that keep well with the audience, monitor data and strategies according to analytics, etc.  

Reports and Analytics

There are several reliable CRM software in the market that let you eye on business insights. Of course, checking them the other way around is not authentic. Additionally, with this, you can compute almost everything regarding customer sentiments, whether you are able to fulfill their expectations or not or if the performance of the sales team is up to the mark or the outcome from the last organized campaign. 

The software lets you make dashboards for customer data management according to various demographics, characteristics and lead qualification automation. However, it lets you target particular parts of customers with various marketing campaigns for higher influence. 

What’s more? The reports will support businesses to understand the forecast accurately and eliminate the guesswork. From insights of customers to sales performance, pipeline, and forecast from data reports, you can make the next right movement, and therefore, boost customer service. 

Integrated Calendar

Nowadays, almost every CRM software has a feature of calendar integration. It believes to transform the sale process into effective and easy.  Indeed, calendar management is absolute to manage meetings, events, schedules and resources. Additionally, with this feature, you can integrate the customer’s profile details with events to check when and with whom you are scheduled next. 

There are systems with a feature of meeting schedules with which a convenient time can be finalized. Rather than long emails, various dates and times can be proposed to various customers by email. However, let them choose a convenient time.  When the date is confirmed, a confirmation email will be received by all and the meeting schedule can be added to the calendar in simple one click. 

Easy email integration

You can send multiple customers or leads simply from your CRM solution effortlessly.  Several software providers in the market integrate an email integration feature into the system.  However, its benefit is not only limited to messages. But, the email correspondences are connected with the customer’s profile. This act quickly shows when the customer is approached and who has done this. 

Few customer management software is there that have email customer integration such as Gmail and Outlook. Email synchronization among the email services and Customer Relationship Management Software results in satisfied customer communication. 

Lead Management

The right method of lead capturing and nurturing, examining their behaviors and services, authorizing them and giving the required attention to turn them into business opportunities is what we call lead management. 

The feature supports the businesses to manage and classify the leads to control the follow-ups and boost engagement.  Usually, the process begins with automatic lead capturing data. Then, the solution starts tracking the behaviors and activities of the lead, such as the website page they have searched and communication you have lately.  Later on, the leads distribute to the suitable department or sales executive, according to their interest, location or other defined factors. 

Concluding Remarks

While looking for the suitable features of CRM software, you may come across some that you have not known before. See, not every business size is the same; some businesses require a comprehensive set of features. 

With so many options out there in the market, look out for the software that has the required functionality you require. Pick the one that fits your budget, business niche, customer base, etc. 

So, have you used any management software before? What difference do you think it has given to your business? Are you satisfied with it? Let us know your thoughts on it!

The post How does CRM software manage your business? appeared first on noupe.

Digital calendars, while extremely useful, can be underutilized. This is largely due to there being an overwhelming amount of digital calendars, each with their own uniquely efficient features. These features may include software integrations, personalized customizations, automated scheduling and shared calendars.

The efficiency features below are discussed in detail to give you a better understanding of just how helpful each of them can be. Besides easing the stress that busy schedules can cause, these features will also help you get more out of your digital calendar. After all, spending less time on scheduling gives you more time to do the things you love. So, here are a few simple ways to use your digital calendar more efficiently.

Utilize Software Integration Features

Software integration features are a must if you want to make the most of your digital calendar and free up some time. In a world of software integrations, why not utilize all that is available at your disposal? The more you can take advantage of automation, the more time you can free up for yourself and others.

Let’s say the calendar you use is Outlook Calendar. Microsoft Cortana, an AI software that is included in many Microsoft devices, integrates with that. Furthermore, by integrating Cortana, you can verbally schedule events to your Outlook Calendar. There are many other software integrations that are compatible with Outlook Calendar as well, like ScheduleOnce, Calendar, and QuickBooks. 

Implement Customizations

For the same reasons we adjust our rearview mirrors, we should also adjust our calendars so we can see what we need to in order to navigate successfully. Calendar customizations are a creative way to combine your schedule with your personal preferences so you can have what you need to be successful. 

Many digital calendars offer unique customizations; like being able to set color themes, customize notification settings, and even view the weather. These are just a few of the many customizations a digital calendar could offer. Honestly, customizations can really be a game-changer.

Consider Collaboration Options

Collaborating with others by means of sharing your schedule, for example, allows you to dodge the communication mishaps altogether. When you share your calendar, others can see your availability, and vice versa. Shared calendars are great for large-scale scheduling purposes, like work meetings, sporting events, class schedules, and other recurring events that thrive on successful collaboration.

Shared calendars are also useful for the times you’re only scheduling events with one or two other people. This is because you can simply see when they are busy and won’t need to ask. Just as you can see when they are busy, you can also see when they are free. This way, you can easily coordinate events with them during a mutually convenient time slot to avoid scheduling errors. Being able to share your calendar enables planning to go so much more smoothly.

Wrapping Up

No matter which type of digital calendar you decide to use, there are always some hacks to help you streamline events with ease. Moreover, by implementing the seemingly endless quantity of features available to you, you will be well on your way to utilizing your digital calendar more efficiently.

Overall, just know the impact your calendar has on your time, and understand what it is capable of when used to its fullest. While there are many digital calendars available to choose from, the most important thing to consider is how to choose one that will enable you to be as efficient as possible with your time. 

The post How to Use Your Digital Calendar More Efficiently appeared first on noupe.

Great HR departments do a little of everything— they coordinate with the CEO on salaries and hiring, pick out the snacks in the break room, help the new hire who’s relocating find a house, and a lot more. They’re the architect of the company’s culture, a sympathetic ear for the kid in Marketing who’s having a bad week, and often the only thing protecting employees from their horrible bosses.

So how do they do it? Like any kind of success, HR success is built on habits. Let’s go over some of the habits that can make — or break — your HR department.

Culture is key

So much of an HR department’s work depends on company culture. A healthy, well-defined company culture only needs a light touch from HR, while an ambiguous or unhealthy one is going to generate friction, discontent, and inefficiency — making everyone’s job a lot tougher.

So how do you define and build a company culture? First, you have to understand the values, goals, and beliefs that define the company. If you’re a tech company, maybe you want to chase innovation and disruption; if you’re a real estate company, maybe you’re trying to save sellers and buyers money. This is where the company’s vision and mission statements come in. These documents are like a country’s constitution; they lay out the rules and structures. 

Once these are defined, HR’s job is to make sure these values are built-in to everything they do. For example, hiring impacts company culture — candidates should be evaluated on their ability to add to the company’s existing culture and share a similar vision.

Get leadership on board

It’s a lot easier to build a thriving company culture when you’ve got buy-in from the top. A savvy HR department works closely with upper management to coordinate on company policies that reflect company values, as well as peripheral issues like compliance. A supportive and unified front from management will make sure things run smoothly, and encourage buy-in at the employee level.

Listening solves a lot of problems

When employees come to you to complain, always listen to them — and listen well. Often, employees will tell you exactly where the friction points and problem areas are in your workplace, essentially helping you do your job. Whether it’s just one or several employees sharing a complaint, be mindful of the long-term ramifications of not taking action. It serves a company well to engage with employees’ pain points regularly to maintain employee wellness and prevent burnout.

On the other hand, sometimes employees just want to vent. In these cases, listen, sympathize, and acknowledge. You may not need to take any further action; often, the mere act of listening is enough to dissipate an employee’s discontent and prevent the situation from escalating. Be sure to ask employees what a solution looks like for them.

Remember that rules are made to be broken (occasionally)

Which philosopher said, “there can be no justice without exceptions”? Whoever he was, he must have worked in HR. While one of HR’s most important responsibilities is to enforce company policy, a smart HR executive knows when to bend the rules and make an exception. Employees don’t like to feel subject to arbitrary, inflexible authority, and in times of high stress, like product launches or right before big deadlines, a few small exceptions can cultivate a lot of goodwill.

That being said, every company has fundamental policies that, if broken, should always lead to consequences. A smart HR executive knows when to make an exception and when not to.

Keep an eye on the big picture

Successful HR departments don’t restrict themselves to reductive definitions of HR— the minutiae of hiring, payroll, culture, and training. While those are all vital to the smooth functioning of a company, a great HR department has the vision to match the company’s. 

That means you should have a general understanding of how each level of the company operates, who its most important clients and customers are, the various products and services offered, and even an idea of the market landscape. The better you know the company, the more effectively you can help achieve your collective goals. And exhibiting this kind of deep knowledge is one of the most effective ways of exhibiting your department’s value.

Don’t withhold praise

Company culture exists to produce positive outcomes — so when you see those positive outcomes happening, make sure you acknowledge them! Your top sales leaders may be raking in the commission, but a pat on the back from HR is arguably just as meaningful for their job satisfaction.

Praise makes employees feel good, drives their motivation and morale, and lets them know you notice their good work. It draws a straight line between company culture and its benefits — for everybody. Acknowledging employee accomplishments with praise is the secret to turning your company culture into an organic, self-sustaining organism.

Act as a role model

The best way to encourage positive employee behaviors is to demonstrate them yourselves. Employees look to HR for leadership, so HR professionals should make a conscious effort to embody the behaviors and values they’re trying to cultivate. 

On the other hand, if they fail to exhibit the behaviors they’re trying to encourage, they could seem hypocritical — and employee morale and buy-in will surely remain low.

Don’t overlook your fellow employees when hiring

When a position opens up, always begin your candidate search internally. This is important for two reasons.

One, your employees will notice if you begin your search externally. It will make them feel that you don’t value them and that you don’t have their interests in mind. This can hasten talent loss. On the other hand, if they feel appreciated and have a sense that there’s the possibility of upward mobility, you will retain that top-quality talent.

The second reason is that, unless you’re looking for a candidate with very specialized skills that can’t be found within the company, your best candidate is almost certainly in-house. If you’ve cultivated a strong company culture it’s extremely unlikely that anyone from outside the company will have a better appreciation for and understanding of that company culture than someone who’s already under the same roof. 

Hold everyone accountable

The other side of praise is accountability. Just as employees who exemplify or uphold company values deserve recognition, ones who undermine policies or break regulations should be held fully accountable for their actions. Your workforce will notice when you let a transgression slide, and if they sense you’re not committed to a rule or policy, it will be hard to make them respect it. 

Accountability especially applies to upper management. If employees sense there’s one standard for the employees, and another standard for management, morale will quickly decline.

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A slow-loading page is not just frustrating– it also directly impacts advertising conversions, bounce rate, user experience, and engagement. 

According to research conducted by Portent, the first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates. The study also found that the highest ecommerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0-2 seconds.

Page speed is also a primary ranking factor in Google Search, and its importance to your site’s SERP positions is paramount. In 2021, Google rolled out the Page Experience update to enhance its algorithm, drawing even more attention to the importance of a fast-loading page. 

These facts make the significance of fast-loading pages undeniable, especially when coupled with Google’s Mobile-First Indexing, which considers mobile sites before desktop sites for indexing and ranking. 

So, what exactly is page speed, and why does it have such an important impact on almost all aspects of your landing page and website? Let’s find out. 

This post will break down the importance of a fast-loading page, how fast your page should be, what slows it down, how to measure page speed, and ways to ensure a fast-loading page.  

Why page speed matters

By definition, page speed is a measurement of how fast the content on your page loads. It can also be referred to as “page load time,” i.e., the time it takes to fully display the content on a specific page. 

Page speed matters because the average users nowadays have dwindling attention spans. This makes it harder for advertisers to convince prospects to consider their offer—it becomes nearly impossible on a page that doesn’t load fast enough. 

So, how fast is a fast-loading page? 

What is a good page speed? 

Though common practice dictates it should take less than 2 seconds for your page to load, there is no absolute “good page speed” number. The page speed depends on the type of page you have and how you measure it. In some cases, the important factor is time to interactive (TTI). For others, it’s the time it takes to load the first bits of content (FCP). 

According to Microsoft speed specialist and computer scientist Harry Shum, a 0.25-second difference in page load time—faster or slower—is the magic number that gives brands a  competitive advantage.

When Mozilla increased its page speed by 2.2 seconds, Firefox downloads increased by 15.4 percent, translating to 10 million more downloads per year. Also, Walmart saw a 2 percent increase in conversion rates for every 1-second improvement in page load times.

The bottom line–the faster your landing page loads, the better. If you want lightning-fast pages, you need to optimize all elements that slow down your landing page. 

Why is your page slow? 

These are the common culprits that may be slowing down your landing page. 

1. JavaScript issues. JavaScript plugins help add dynamic content to your pages. But when incorrectly implemented or overused, JavaScript can result in a significant delay in page load times.
2. Too much flash animation. Flash makes your landing pages more interactive, but it can also slow down your page load speed. The bigger the Flash file size, the more it will contribute to your page speed issues.
3. Unoptimized images. Beautiful, high-resolution photos may look impressive, but they require lots of bandwidth to load. However, image size isn’t the only issue– file formats can impact your site’s images’ loading time. 
4. Large media files. Loading large media files is challenging for mobile devices. Large media files always take longer to load on smaller devices and mobile networks.
5. Too many HTTP requests. Whenever a user comes to your page, the web browser sends a request to your website’s server for information on the page. This file may contain text, images, or multimedia elements. When the server has fewer HTTP requests to make, the faster the site can load. 
6. Lack of caching techniques. Caching allows you to store frequently used data points in the ”cached memory.” The cached content gets served from the cached memory on subsequent requests, speeding up the entire data retrieval process.
7. Bulky code. Bulky code, full of excessive white spaces, lazy inline CSS, empty new lines, inline styling, and unnecessary comments, make your website stylesheet unnecessarily larger and slow down your page.
8. Too many plugins. Every plugin on your page initiates separate file requests, which can slow down the load time. Too many plugins can delay loading time and lead to crashes or even security breaches on your site.

How to check your landing page speed? 

To perform a full landing page speed audit, you can use the following tools. 

1. Google Mobile Speed Score. The Score lets you quickly see which landing pages provide a fast mobile experience that may require your attention. Mobile speed score ranks mobile landing pages on a 10-point scale.
2. PageSpeed Insights. The free Google page load speed tool gives recommendations for page speed improvements and scores your page from 0 to 100 points. The higher your score, the more optimized for speed your site is. A score above 85 is a positive indication that your page is performing well. Anything lower indicates you have some work to do. 
3. WebPageTest. The open-source website performance monitoring tool allows you to test connection throttling and run customized tests. You also can save and view your test history later if you create a free profile on the website. 

How to create a seamless, fast-loading landing page experience

To get visitors to move beyond the ad click and convert, marketers need to create a seamless landing page experience. 

Google recommends using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to create pages because the framework provides a faster, smoother, and more engaging mobile experience. 

What is AMP?  

AMP loads quickly because it’s designed for speed. Browsers have an easier time interpreting AMP HTML because it’s more streamlined and is specifically designed to help developers avoid common coding issues that lead to slow page loads.

AMP pages can also be served directly from Google AMP Cache. Whenever possible, Google will choose to serve the cached copy of the landing page, ensuring the page loads fast. Your AMP landing page can load from your web server when unable to serve from cache (due to feature incompatibility or other technical reasons). Although this is not as fast as serving from the cache, it is still much faster than the average non-AMP landing page.

Though AMP landing pages typically load 85% faster than the average page, the framework has Javascript and CSS limitations. This is not the case with Instapage’s Thor Render Engine™.  

What is the Thor Render Engine™?

Instapage’s Thor Render Engine is the platform’s proprietary back-end technology that ensures your post-click pages load quickly so you never lose a lead to slow-loading pages.

The Thor Render Engine delivers 3x faster-loading landing pages without Javascript and CSS limitations, so you can easily capture visitor attention with responsive lightning-fast landing pages.

The best part is that you don’t need to do anything because the Thor Render Engine works silently behind the scenes to make your pages lightning fast. To create an optimized, personalized, fast-loading page, all you need to do is sign up for Instapage—the most advanced landing page platform. 

Conclusion 

Don’t miss out on advertising conversions and a high return on ad spend because of slow loading pages. Utilize solutions that allow you to create seamless, fast-loading landing page experiences for all your offers.

The post How Fast is Your Landing Page? Why Page Speed Matters and How to Improve It appeared first on noupe.