Aggregators can collect and classify the great amount of information in basically each sphere of life. The absence of an aggregator in the market means only several things – this niche is too small or the creation of an aggregator will not bring any profit. In other cases, while searching for any kind of goods or news you will find some sites that gather information at the top of a search list. As is it rather convenient to have the possibility to compare similar items in one place without wasting time on search purposes.
The convenience of aggregating systems
A lot of companies tend to create their own aggregators to receive more users who would visit their site. Such a site will be more visible by search engine systems. That is because a lot of unique users come there every day and spend a lot of time observing numerous pages with various items. This situation leads to a fast burst of user quantity. From the marketing point of view, such a site will start bringing profit in 2-3 times faster than a classical blog or landing page. Though its creation is not such an easy thing as to deploy a blog.
Important steps for aggregator creation
As well as the development of other site types the creation of an aggregator takes similar steps. Though some specific points are crucial for effectiveness and viability.
Market research
Before starting the creation of an aggregator it is necessary to conduct market research. The assumed niche should be checked for competitors, their specialization, amount of users, the general impression from the site. Such evaluation will save money in the future and in some cases help to avoid money loss due to the development of the offcast product.
The second purpose of such research – define the features of the future product. That can be design and functional diversity for news aggregators or only functions for scientific ones. Such specialization will show what is important to reach the goals and how much time should be spent on the development of each element and save some money on custom application development services.
Database architecture construction
Well-designed architecture is important for any type of site, but the aggregators depend on its quality for too much. Each database should be able to take a high load and produce the maximal possible outcome. The modules should stay adjustable and substitutable to have a possibility to split it into several parts.
Calculation of the load
The possible number of users of the aggregator can define what coding method will be applied. If it is a specified site in one small niche – it will face up to 10 thousand users in a month. At the same time, the news aggregators can gather the audience of one million and more. The more users or sources of the data – the more complicated the structure of the final product.
After launch adjustments
After launch, the database modules of any aggregator should be constantly controlled. The developer should monitor the indexes and perform testing. The modules that hinder the proper operation of the entire system should be fixed or replaced. It is a long-term process of final adjustments and due to the constant expansion of the base, it can never end.
Not only the rectification of limitations should be done, but also the optimization of a properly working product. The developer should know how to develop high load applications to be able to find the weak points. Typically this process goes for query and code optimization, architecture scaling. Though each particular product is unique and can have its own places to be improved. The constant optimization can lead to the situation when the modules should be rewritten in a machinelike language – C or Assembler. That will help to accelerate the response speed.
In some cases when the quantity of users grows for too fast or crosses one million points front end and back end should be divided into several parts. Such splitting can become the only right decision when a project becomes too big. One database will not able to deal with such a huge data load without lagging. Under such conditions, the load speed depends not on the server, but on the code execution. Additionally, that will divide the load according to the type of works performed. For example, image processing or filtration can be performed on a separate server.
The never-ending task
For the initial development of the aggregator, several persons are needed – more than 2 developers, a quality assurance engineer, and an architect developer. But initial development is not the only thing to consider.
The main difficulty of aggregators creation – is the necessity to maintain development for the entire life of the product. Continuous tests and evaluations of the weak parts of code, creation of supplementary modules will become the everyday task of the developer. Moreover, such type of web products advances too quickly to have some moments of rest. The number of users will grow exponentially and the aggregator will arise in search lists. Such a situation is similar to the snowball effect. If it is uncontrolled – nothing good will happen.
Ready to start your own aggregator? Contact us and we assist you with this task.