Article URL: https://ambition.com/career/opportunity/full-stack-engineer/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405976
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
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Article URL: https://ambition.com/career/opportunity/full-stack-engineer/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405976
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
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Lewis Hamilton said he feels “grateful to be alive” after returning from a positive COVID-19 test to race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he finished third.
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The use of blog images in posts is a no-brainer.
Images are an easy way to break up chunks of text, add context, or give your readers a more accessible medium through which to digest your content.
With the growth of written content online, it’s harder to have your content be unique from others. Writers need to adapt to the changing landscape.
How can you continue to engage your audience when so many bloggers have written on the same topics—and will continue to do so?
The answer is original imagery.
With more content available on the web every day, it’s more important than ever to stand out.
While finding ways to put a unique spin on your blog post topics is critical, there are only so many angles on one subject. You need other types of content, such as photographs and illustrations, to make your mark.
Unfortunately, stock photos just don’t cut it anymore.
This reason is in part because blog images don’t only live on your blog. They make the rounds on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest whenever your posts are shared.
Chances are, your users have seen similar stock photos many times already, and they’re bored with them.
With so many articles to read, videos to watch, and social media news to ingest, the average reader won’t spend hours looking for the best article on your topic. They’ll choose the most visually appealing option nearly every time.
So before you use stock photography in your next blog post, ask yourself:
Will my readers interact with the same stale image they’ve seen numerous times when researching this topic? Or will they choose to interact with an original image that more perfectly captures the content?
Your goal as a digital marketer is to increase conversions.
So how do you do this even better than you already are, given the changing online landscape?
There are plenty of ways to drive traffic to your website. But what’s more important is driving the right traffic—the users who will engage with your content.
Images can help. According to BlogTyrant, images can up conversions by over 300%.
But keep in mind the kinds of images you use can have an impact on your conversions, too.
For years, stock imagery was the norm. But, it’s time to move away from those pictures.
Original images offer authenticity stock ones can’t provide. They offer your readers a peek behind the curtain, allowing them to see a deeper side of your content.
Unique blog image content can offer other benefits, including increased customer trust and brand recognition.
According to Brain Rules, a slogan alone only sticks in the minds of 10% of people. When related imagery is added, though, retention rises to 65%. That’s an increase you can’t ignore if increasing brand recognition is on your radar.
Original image content has an often-overlooked SEO benefit, too, and that’s the improvement of Google’s E-A-T score. The E-A-T score lets Google assess content quality based on these three standards:
How can original imagery improve your E-A-T rating?
Whether you shoot and edit photography on your own or you work with a digital illustrator, your unique imagery will have a personal spin. If done right, this will become a vital part of your personal brand strategy.
You show expertise by including images that clearly demonstrate you understand your content.
You show authoritativeness by having consistent, unique branding people recognize immediately.
You show trustworthiness by providing information through images that are accurate and increase user’s knowledge.
A strong personal brand will bump all three elements of an E-A-T rating.
Images, just like text, can also be perceived as “fluff.” Because of this, you need to know when to use pictures on your blog to optimize user experience and benefit your SEO.
You should use images to do three very specific things.
According to a study by Microsoft, the average attention span of heavy screen users is a mere eight seconds.
That means you have eight seconds to captivate your audience—and large blocks of text may make them click away pretty quickly.
However, you don’t have to write two sentence posts to make them take fewer than eight seconds to read. Instead, employ clever tactics to keep your readers engaged.
One tactic is to introduce other media, such as photos or digital illustrations. This creates a less intimidating reading experience while also making the post more visually appealing.
Some concepts are too abstract or complex to explain effectively in writing, especially if your audience isn’t strictly experts in your topic.
Custom diagrams and visuals can help readers understand the material.
As much as you like to think your content is witty and engaging, some topics just won’t interest readers for very long. You can use original visuals to add some life to otherwise “dull” content in these cases.
The cost of custom graphics may be prohibitive for some bloggers, but it is possible to find some middle ground.
Use custom illustrations and photography sparingly. Ask yourself where they make the most sense and insert them accordingly.
If you’re creating a landing page for a new product or service, for example, this would be the place to splurge. After all, you want this content to stand out from your competitors—what better way than with a custom graphic?
You can also utilize custom illustrations to drive a point home or explain data.
Whether a comic strip panel, a diagram, or a flow chart, you can use custom illustrations to share ideas with your readers in a way words simply can’t.
You can take your blog’s imagery one step further with interactive graphics.
Interactive graphics are custom graphics that support reader interactions like mouse pointer movement, clicks, or keyboard input.
This form of original imagery is commonly used in infographics, though other display types include side-by-side comparisons, flow charts, and graphs.
The most obvious use for interactive graphics is to catch the reader’s eye.
Perhaps more importantly, they can also be used to break complex information down into bite-sized chunks. For example, take a look at this nifty interactive graphic that shows users how Google search works without becoming overwhelmed.
There are plenty of ways to use images on your blog.
Here’s one creative example from Oberlo:
Instead of one lengthy infographic, the content creators chose individual infographic “slides” to answer each question on their post about social media statistics.
This use of graphics achieves two things:
As mentioned above, one of the benefits of original blog imagery is the personal branding aspect. When you use a particular style consistently, it becomes synonymous with your brand.
Copyblogger provides an excellent example of this:
Their featured images consistently use quotes overlaid on eye-catching images. They work as a watermark of sorts, as anyone who sees their imagery elsewhere will be able to identify them as belonging to Copyblogger immediately.
And what about interactive content? Your options are only limited by your imagination.
Take a look at this comprehensive timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
As you scroll through the timeline, new images and text content can be seen. This example tells a complex story in a linear, non-intimidating format.
It’s never been easier or more affordable to get original and interactive blog images.
When it comes to hiring a professional, you have options. You can easily find freelancers on sites like Fiverr or Upwork or use a service like Design Pickle.
If you know of a digital artist with a style you like, you may be able to commission them. They are often more expensive than the freelancers you’ll find on the websites mentioned above, but they’re great if you need a specific style.
For bloggers strapped for time, there are services you can hire to do the heavy lifting. The service may be a creative agency or a blog content specialist. Either way, you provide details, and they’ll commission work on your behalf.
Do you have more time than money? You can also create blog images using tools like Canva, Pixlr, or PicMonkey. For a more professional finish, you can invest in a creative suite like Adobe Creative Cloud.
As with most services, there are options for almost every budget.
If you hire a freelancer for a one-off gig, then the price varies based on the number of images, the complexity of the work, and how you plan to use the final product.
In some cases, you may be able to get a discount when you buy in bulk.
Commissioning a professional is likely to be the most expensive option. Unless you have money to burn, this should be reserved for high-impact projects, like illustrations for sales landing pages or campaign launches.
Whether you’re on a limited budget or just want to let the creative juices flow, you can opt to create your own images.
There are free and low-cost options, such as Canva and PicMonkey. These tools have limitations, including watermarks, if you don’t opt for premium memberships. You also need to be sure all assets used in your design are copyright-free.
For 100% original work, you may find creative suites like Adobe to be the best bang for your buck. With access to tools like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, you can create and edit various blog illustrations, diagrams, and original photography.
There are plenty of tutorials available online for creating graphics using Adobe Creative Cloud—so if you’re unable to pay a designer for their services, you don’t have to just guess about how to do this.
There’s no need to scroll through page after page of stock photos to find the right images for your blog post. You can create original blog images, whether by yourself or with the help of a professional.
Original blog imagery, including photography and graphics, can take your blog posts to the next level. It also helps build your overall brand and take your marketing to the next level.
With plenty of options at your fingertips, from free tools to freelance artists, there’s no reason not to use original images on your blog.
Which of the tools mentioned above are you most likely to use to create images for your blog? Or do you prefer ones we haven’t mentioned? Let us know!
The post Stock Photos are Dead: Create These Blog Images Instead appeared first on Neil Patel.
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Do you want to build a website? Luckily for you and the tens of thousands of online businesses out there, a digital website builder makes it easy to create professional sites that function beautifully in no time.
The best part? There are many free website builder options.
Website builders make it possible to create a responsive site optimized for SEO without having to invest a ton of money or time, which is perfect for small businesses.
But you have to learn what features to look for first.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best free website builders on the market today, as well as which one can build the best site in your niche—whether you’re selling painted rocks, are a freelance writer, or want to bootstrap a dropshipping business.
What is your site’s end goal? That’s the first and most important question you want to ask yourself when choosing a site builder.
Do you want to start a blog to share your extensive knowledge and thought leadership with the world?
Do you have a graphic design portfolio you want to show off to gain more freelance clients? Are you a non-profit that needs to display annual achievements and your mission statement?
When creating your site with a free website builder, your end goal will determine what capabilities you need. Once you have your site’s end goal in mind, here are additional criteria to narrow down your choices.
If you’re a freelancer, a designer, or a photographer wanting to create an online portfolio, consider the design capabilities of each builder.
When thinking about how to present your portfolio or brand, this is the site builder criteria you most want to pay attention to.
How fast do you need your website built? This determines how much time you’re willing to spend learning the ins and outs of your website builder.
If you’re pressed for time and want something built fast, you might not want to pick a hefty builder with lots of capabilities to learn. A more straightforward drag-and-drop builder can get the job done faster and easier.
As your business grows, your website will inevitably need to grow with it. Your site needs are going to change over time. When choosing your site builder, it’s a good idea to look into what their paid features include and if they fit the bill in terms of what your site might need as it grows.
These can be things like:
What type of website do you need to build? As mentioned, determining your site’s end goal and working backward can help you answer that.
To give you a better idea, the internet is generally made up of five kinds of websites:
For most businesses, the type of site you need is a pretty basic question. But an important one to answer.
For example, most site builders have blogging capabilities, but this shouldn’t be the only thing you base your decision on. Once you’ve figured out which type of website you need to build, then we can move on to learning about the different kinds of site builders on the market.
Now, there’s a slew of free site builders out there, and they tend to fall into three general groups.
I’ve yet to come across one good reason not to build a website for your business. Non-profit organizations, informational sites, and even public speakers with a personal brand can all benefit from creating a professional website found by anyone online.
Basic web builders tend to have multiple functionalities. They don’t cater to one specific category. For example, suppose you’re looking to set up a portfolio site that’s low maintenance and simple, with a general contact form, a home page, a portfolio page, and an about page. In that case, a general website builder can be a great option.
Are you currently selling products in a physical location? You’ll want to go with a website builder specifically made for e-commerce. Today, it isn’t enough to display your goods on a physical storefront. You need a digital storefront, too. Or maybe you want to open an e-commerce site without a physical storefront. E-commerce website builders make it easy to do that.
As an e-commerce business, you want capabilities that let you list products, accept multiple types of payments, categorize goods, and allow you to track backend inventory in real-time.
The web isn’t much without content. And if you want your site found by your audience, you want to make sure to use a website builder made to enable that end goal.
If you’re a thought leader, want to build your online brand, be an aspiring blogger, or create a community around a service or product, then a website builder geared for content generation is your best bet.
You’ll be better off in the long-term as your business grows, and you won’t run into the problems you’d have if you choose a web builder meant for e-commerce.
If you’re looking for a free website builder that does everything a real-life store manager would do and then some, Wix makes that a reality.
The thought of building an online store can be paralyzing. But once you create a Wix e-commerce site, you have access to perks like real-time tax calculations and adding several payment channels that you wouldn’t have with a builder geared toward content or portfolios.
As a product seller, Wix helps you create beautifully designed storefronts with a selection of over 800 pre-built themes and templates ready to personalize at the click of a mouse.
There’s no doubt e-commerce businesses are in good hands with Wix. It is a builder that goes out of its way to advertise themselves as such, instead of being a jack-of-all-trades. Still, as with every site builder, there can be some drawbacks. For example, if you ever want to move your site to another provider, you can’t do that with Wix’s builder because of how it’s configured. You’ll have to completely recreate it on a new platform.
Some of their e-commerce features designed to drive sales are:
To get started with Wix, visit their site and sign up.
Let’s face it. You might not need a free site builder with all the bells and whistles. And that’s okay. That’s why Weebly exists. It’s the best site builder for general sites that need to do their job well.
It’s perfect for information businesses, non-profits, small portfolios, mission statements, or landing pages. This is because they make it easy to bring your site together with a no-nonsense dashboard and with options like built-in image editors and professional design options that let you create video backgrounds.
As a general site, you don’t want to deal with the technical stuff like SSL certification, encryption, and often costly third-party domain shopping. Weebly integrates takes care of all that for you right on their platform.
One of their best features as a site builder is that you have the option to fully customize their HTML and CSS if you choose to do so. While it might not be something you need right away, it’s nice to know you have that capability as a future option. Weebly is built for site design with a more structured approach. If you’re looking for a builder with a bit more design flexibility and freedom, this might be a downside.
Their best site builder features include:
You can sign up with Weebly here.
If I had to introduce WordPress to you, I’d say that it’s the top contender for blogging and content creation.
Thankfully they provide a free site builder to get you started (in addition to paid options).
For years, bloggers and companies like Disney, Dropbox, Spotify, and NBC have leveraged WordPress.com’s powerful site-building features to build audiences, expand their brand, and drive sales worldwide.
If you’re looking to blog, share your knowledge with the world, or create loads of content around your business, you’ll want to start with their free site builder. It’s designed to be straightforward and easy to use without any confusing and unnecessary features. This way, you can get started creating and publishing your content in record time. To help you if you get stuck, they provide free webinars that walk you through creating your site step by step.
Their free site builder’s biggest downside is that you might grow out of its limited blogging toolbox. But if you want paid access to fully customize your site in the future, WordPress makes it easy to upgrade without the technical hassle.
Some of the WordPress site builder’s best content creation features include:
Sign up with WordPress and start building your website for free.
Easy and quick are the two best words to describe Site123. With its no-brainer features, it’s the best site builder for simple sites that don’t need many internal pages.
In other words, it’s great for landing pages.
Your business might not need a blog, robust e-commerce features, or top-notch design capabilities, but it’s still in need of a place online it can call home.
Site123 helps you check that off your list by being the most no-nonsense site builder possible. You can avoid frustration and a big learning curve with Site123’s optimally designed web building process, especially if it’s your first time building a site.
Their best landing page buildeing features include:
You can start creating your online presence with Site123 here.
That’s the perfect question to start and end with because it’s the best way to determine which free website builder you’ll want to use.
There’s no shortage of site builders in the market. What sets them apart is what they’re designed for and how you can use that to reach your goals.
Remember that many of them are geared for where you are now, but that can change when you think about how you plan to expand in the future.
Still, a detailed overview of each builder and what they offer will point you in the right direction.
After you determine your site’s end goal, pick the right free builder to start creating your masterpiece from one of the options on this list.
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SEEKING WORK | Peoria, IL | Remote
Hi HN. We’re Nerevu Group, a distributed team of data gurus that help organizations uncover the insights hidden in their real-time data. By creating interactive dashboards, developing web applications, and integrating disparate data silos, we usher our clients into the data-driven future.
Contact me at rcummings at nerevu dot com
Our tools:
* Languages (Python, CoffeeScript/JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3)
* Frameworks (Flask, Mithril.js, Node.js, Express, Ghost, CKAN)
* Libraries (Brunch, D3, Leaflet, SQLAlchemy)
* DB (PostgreSQL, SQLite, Memcache, Redis, MongoDB)
More info:
* https://www.nerevu.com/blog/category/Case+Studies
Raft (https://goraft.tech/) | Multiple Roles | Remote (US Citizen Only) | Full time | https://www.indeedjobs.com/raft-c8bb7a6/jobs
Raft is a niche consulting focused on building cloud native solutions that make a positive impact on wide ranging users. We work in the Govt. Tech space at the intersection of Technology, Data, and Policy. Most of our work is done completely in the open source [0], [1], and [2]. We are looking for like minded folks who want to work on systems that serve a bigger purpose. We are always looking for folks who obsess over automation, want to try new tools, like to dig deep into problem solving, can troubleshoot from logs, and like building inclusive frontends.
Apply at https://www.indeedjobs.com/raft-c8bb7a6/jobs or careers@goraft.tech
[0] https://github.com/cfpb/hmda-platform
[1] https://github.com/raft-tech/TANF-app
[2] https://p1.dsop.io/
Diane asks Richard Hasen, professor of law and political science at U.C. Irvine. The post Is This The End Of Trump’s Fight To Overturn The Election? appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
Article URL: https://jetpackaviation.com/career/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25399846 Points: 1 # Comments: 0