Last week marked National Coding Week, so we wanted to put a spotlight on the world of computer science and code in this blog post. Coding may not be considered an intrinsic element of a marketer’s job, but a basic understanding can help in a myriad of ways.

At Hey Me, we’re always looking for ways to expand our tool set and broaden our knowledge. A basic grasp of coding terminology and mechanics can be helpful when navigating the intersection between communications and technology.

Collaboration 

Depending on your role, knowledge of coding may help you collaborate with co-workers and customers. For example, at Hey Me, we work with clients across the technology and innovation sector where coding is central to their business. We can better understand our clients and what they do through improving our knowledge of coding, and therefore communicate on their behalf more efficiently and effectively.

Terminology and processes

Learning more about code and computer science helps us to understand key processes, such as algorithms and analytics. This plays into an array of other benefits including, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), website construction and customisation, as well as collaborating with others in our field.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Particularly when it comes to technical SEO, even a basic knowledge of coding can be useful. Through comprehending the way search engine algorithm’s function, and how this results in how web pages are ranked, SEO can be understood and results improved. For instance, search engine bots will crawl your website’s content in order to categorise and rank it. In order to do this, you may need a ‘robots.txt’ file to direct the bots.

Website customisation 

A benefit of better coding comprehension is that you have more flexibility and control in terms of customising your own website and clients. You may not need to look outside of your company to make small changes to the website. For instance, you can learn how to audit your site to ensure the best SEO yourself.

You can also understand how alt text is an important component of your website in terms of accessibility and SEO, making it more readable for people and bots.

Coding also can impact the way your website is rendered, similar to the effect of large images. Web pages can load slower or render incorrectly on different devices depending on the coding.

Problem-solving skills

Coding is also known to help with overall problem-solving ability, which is helpful in all areas of life. A study of children learning to code by Okdo found that Computer Science lessons helped improve a range of skills from problem-solving to creative thinking.

Even developing a basic coding knowledge base can help with marketing, so we’ve listed below some helpful resources.

At Hey Me, we can help with your business’ communications from SEO to website development to social media. Find out more on our services page.

Coding resources:

• https://codingweek.org
• https://www.codecademy.com/learn
• https://academy.hubspot.com