6 Best Practices for Modern SEO

Google’s search results aren’t what they used to be. Need proof? Just look at its results page. No longer solely comprised of traditional, organic site matches, Google now lists local maps, images, videos and social cues as well — and it’s affecting more than just what you see.

If you rely heavily on search engines for pageviews and sales, as many businesses do, Google search results will drastically affect how your customers find you. If your business needs to be seen and clicked, take into account the following six search engine tips.

1. Local SEO Is Taking Over

There’s a good probability that a large chunk of the Google searches you perform will display Google Places listings – and consumers are taking notice. SEO software firm SEOmoz did some eye-tracking case studies on Google’s SERP (search engine results page). The results show that users heavily gravitate toward any of Places’ listings, whether they’re mixed into organic lists, concentrated in a group of seven or even listed in the middle of the results page. The heat map above shows the activity around a Google search for “pizza.”

If your business relies on local listings, concentrate on scoring a seat at Google Places. You can do this by using:

• Citations: Ensure that your correct business information is listed in as many (reputable) sources as possible around the Internet. As always, consistency is king. If you write “Blvd.” instead of Boulevard on your Google Places page, make sure your other listings reflect the same.
• Google Places page optimization: Just like your website, make sure your Places page is properly optimized. Include categories that match exactly, and point your Places page back to a city-specific landing page if applicable.
• Reviews: Google will only display reviews from Google, but getting reviews from aggregators like Yelp, Superpages or Trip Advisor will help increase your presence.

2. You Can’t Have Search Without Social

The separation of search and social has officially ended. Social cues such as Twitter shares, Facebook likes and social bookmarking heavily influence search rankings. Essentially, search results are personalized for each person. With any SEO campaign you put into motion, include a social aspect to it to facilitate information sharing.

3. Think of People, not Robots, When Optimizing Keywords

People search in Google because they have a question. Anticipate those questions — whether about the best style of yoga pants or where to get the lowest mortgage rate. Your keywords and the content on your pages should reflect the answers to those questions. Keyword research is tedious, but it’s arguably the most important aspect of SEO. Transition away from thinking of keywords like data, and put more of an emphasis on the person who will be typing in that keyword.

4. Content Links Are King — Good Writers Are Sorcerers

Google is not stupid — it can spot paid and spam links. For the most effective long-term SEO strategy, move the focus back to great content, both on your website and across other sites. Guest blogging is great, for instance, but to get a leg up on your competition, target blogs that aren’t direct matches to your industry.

For example, a client of my company sells golf carts, so we wrote a blog post about the most tricked-out golf carts for tailgates, and the link we got back was one their competitors didn’t already have.

5. Check your Backend: Schema.org, Microformats and Rich Snippets

The Big Three (Google, Yahoo and Bing) have worked together to develop Schema.org, a set of website standards that will tell search engines what your site is about, making it easier for those engines to read the site’s data and index accordingly.

By using rich snippets, for example, you’re able to tell Google what information to feature in SERPs: product reviews and prices, upcoming events, recipe cooking times, etc. The added data will increase your click-through rate because users are able to preview more about the link before they commit to the click.

6. It Doesn’t Mean Anything Without Data

Whether you’re a one-man SEO show for your company or working in an agency with several clients, your site needs to see results. While ranking reports of keywords is still a great indicator of progress, personalized searches make it difficult to get the most accurate readings. Plus, when Google defaulted to private searches for users signed into their Google accounts, the company made it harder to track how people arrive at your site.

Start relying more on simple key performance indicators (KPIs) to show results, for instance, the number of landing pages you have, the bounce rate of those pages, and the number of keywords driving traffic to each of those landing pages. Google Analytics displays all of this data.

What are some other things you see that are affecting searches, and what are you doing to improve your rankings in these areas?

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Steve Jobs: 11 business secrets to know

Steve Jobs will be remembered as one of the greatest visionaries of our times. What he did for the technological as well as entrepreneurial world, cannot be easily forgotten. 

 Here are 11 business secrets from Steve Jobs:

People matter, not features

Everything Jobs built made life easier for you. It was rare to ever hear him babbling about features he created, instead he focused on how these products made life easier for others. 

For example, the iPhone enabled you to talk on your phone, watch movies, record movies, and listen to music. As simple as that may sound, without an iPhone you may have to had to carry around a cell phone, mp3 player, and a video recorder. Because of him your pockets are much lighter. 

He taught me, along with many others, not to focus on just adding features or creating products. First and foremost, you need to focus on solving problems that people are experiencing. If you can do that, you'll stay ahead of the curve.

There’s nothing wrong with pre-selling

Most companies launch products and then sell them. Jobs didn't do that with Apple. He let the public know what he was going to sell them, how it solved their problems, and that they could pre-order the product online. 

You can do the same thing. Don't wait for your product or service to be released. Start selling it now. The money you earn today will help cover your costs and it will help solve any cash flow issues you may encounter during distribution.

Keep it simple, silly

I switched from a PC to a Mac because Macs are much easier to use. Or at least they are for my dad and 1-year-old nephew. Every Apple product I bought during Steve's tenure was simple to use. 

He also created cool looking devices, but above all else his products were simple to use. For example, the iPad was the first device I was ever able to give my dad that required little to no instruction. There are no shut down or start options, you just click on applications and start using them. 

If you want more applications, you just go to the App Store and download them. 

Don't try to make your solutions complicated. Keep it simple... even if that means you have to strip off the bells and whistles. If you aren't creating usable solutions, it will be harder to gain traction.

Think big

If you are in business, you are there to make money. If not, you shouldn't be an entrepreneur. If you are going to create a business, create one that changes the world.

Apple isn't just a technology company, Steve Jobs changed the world. His products are used all around the world and by everyone. This is why Apple is the largest company in the world. 

You won't be able to create a big company unless you solve big problems. Although you can make a nice living by conquering a small niche, you wont make billions doing it.

Focus, focus and focus some more

When you look at Apple's website, it seems like they have a lot of products, right? Well, for being a hundred-billion dollar company, they actually don't. 

Jobs was smart, he always focused his energy on a few big products instead of trying to create thousands of small ones. In other words, he went for big wins instead of looking to hit singles and doubles. 

With your business you shouldn't try to do multiple things. Just focus your time and energy on one product or service. As long as your core business continues to grow, you shouldn't do anything else. The moment your growth slows down and flattens, that's when you should expand.

Create an ecosystem

I never really understood the power of creating a platform until the iPhone was released. When the phenomenon hit the market and companies started to create applications, Apple grew to have a huge ecosystem. 

Not only were they selling their products, other companies started to build products on the Apple platform and their customers were encouraged to buy and use Apple products. 

By this point Apple didn't have to sell their products, other companies were doing it for them. 

Steve Jobs created an ecosystem and he was able to do it around Apple products. If you want to grow a brilliant idea, you have to create an ecosystem for that idea to flourish.

There’s always room for innovation

The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player. There were hundreds of others that were already out before Apple released the iPod. That didn't discourage Jobs from entering the space... he just one upped everyone by creating a better product. 

These days if you are looking to buy a music player, the first thing comes to your mind is the iPod, right? And what's the second brand that comes to your mind? Ummmmm... That's right, they demolished all of their competitors. The only other device that I can think of is the Zune, which kind of sucks. 

Don't be afraid to enter a saturated market... you just have to be willing to stir things up. If you can innovate, you will win. If you decide to create another me-too company, expect to be crushed.

Be passionate

Did you know that Steve Jobs had a salary of $1 a year? That's right, he didn't care for money and he stated it publicly. He cared about the company, their products, and changing peoples' lives. 

If you love what you are doing, you are going to work harder and be more likely to succeed. Heck, Jobs even worked hard when he was sick... that's how much he loved what he was doing. 

Don't just do things for the money, do things because you love what you are doing. You aren't going to live forever, so enjoy your life while you can.

Ummmmm…

That's right, they demolished all of their competitors. The only other device that I can think of is the Zune, which kind of sucks. 

Don't be afraid to enter a saturated market... you just have to be willing to stir things up. If you can innovate, you will win. If you decide to create another me-too company, expect to be crushed.

Never lose your investors money

Although Steve Jobs wasn't the CEO throughout all of Apple's history, he always took care of the company. He came back, and turned the company around. In other words, he grew shareholder money and took care of his investors. 

As I stated earlier, Apple is the biggest company in the world. It's very difficult to create a decent size company without taking money from investors... so make sure you take care of them. And if you do so, they'll always take care of you. 

Another great leader who also has a very similar rule is Warren Buffett. If you can take care of the people who are feeding you, they'll constantly be willing to reciprocate.

You’re nothing without your team

Apple has a ton of benefits: from onsite fitness centers to tuition assistance, they even have cafeterias with organic food. Why did they do all of this? To take care of their employees. 

A big part of being a good leader is realizing that you have to have a good team. It's impossible to do everything yourself. If you don't take care of your employees and show your appreciation, you'll quickly lose them. 

If you take care of your employees they'll put their blood, sweat and tears into your company.

Don’t Forget about your friends and family

As an entrepreneur when you work so hard for so many years, you tend to forget about your friends and family. All you do is live, sleep and breathe business. 

At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with that, but you also have to spend time with your friends and family. Money will always be there, but your friends and family won't.

When Steve Jobs got sick, he left Apple to spend his final moments with his friends and family. He knew what was important to him. You too need to figure out what's important to you no matter how much time your business or job takes from your life, don't forget about what's important.

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Create Jobs in the US for a Faster Green Card

A US visa category offers you quicker route to a Green Card. But you have to make an investment and staff people.

If you don’t want to wait years on end for a Green Card in the US, there is a quicker route -- the EB5 immigration visa. But it comes with a rider, you have to create jobs and invest money in the US.

The EB5 is an immigration visa that gets families a permanent Green Card in return for an investment of either $500,000 or $1 million and proof that the investment has created 10 direct or indirect jobs. It provides a short-cut to a conditional Green Card – a permanent resident card that allows an alien to live permanently in the US -- within a year of applying, which can take about three years to convert to a permanent one.

“The programme facilitates foreign entrepreneurs’ capital investment that creates or preserves US jobs by supporting the establishment of new commercial enterprises or assist troubled US-based businesses in economically distressed areas,” Stephanie Ostapowich, public affairs officer, Office of Communications, Media Relations Division, US Citizenship and Immgration Services (USCIS) said. 
A Green Card through other visa categories can take up to several years. Recent reports by the National Foundation for American Policy, which tracks immigration data, show that getting a Green Card for Indians who have received a university degree from the US can even take up to 70 years given the large number of visa-seekers and the limited number of visas available. Indian Green Card seekers who have a degree from an American University need to apply in the EB3 visa category.

THE PROSPECTS 
“Failure to retain these talented individuals in the United States means they will go to work for global firms in other countries or US businesses will need to place them abroad, pushing more work outside the United States,” Stuart Anderson, the author of the report released earlier this month said. 
Though the EB5 visa was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, lack of awareness and the complexity of the investment has kept Green Card seekers away. Investment experts like Greg Wing, the managing director of Green Card Fund, have now recognised this as an option to help start-ups in the US get funds.

However, things are changing with the visa gaining attention of both American businesses and government. Since the spectre of a global downturn resurfaced, Wing has been getting calls from businesses who would like to get EB5 funding several times a day.

Which is also why Wing is now visiting Indian shores, to create awareness about the mechanism and raise millions of dollars from Indians in return for giving them a chance to live the American Dream.

“Since the economy worsened, I have been getting several calls for this route of funding. I just tell most of them not possible that businesseses are too risky,” he said. In the past 3 to four years the US government too has been promoting the EB5 visa actively by bringing in more clarity on regulations around the investments.

Investment under the EB5 category can be made in any project in the US, across industries. Visa-seekers can buy an existing business and run them, help troubled businesses, start their own business or give the money to regional centres like Wing’s that can identify the projects and make the investment for them. Applicants get a temporary Green Card after applying for an EB5 visa and making the investment and this is converted to a permanent Green Card once the applicant can prove that the investment has created jobs.

If the investment is made through a regional centre which takes up projects in areas where the unemployment rate is 150% of the national average, the required investment has to be $500,000 while a direct investee would have to invest $1 million. 
The visa category though has seen a tepid response from Indians. Globally there are 10,000 such visas available but not more than 50% of them have been utilised in any year with the maximum being snapped up by wealthy Chinese citizens.

Last year, 900 Chinese applied for this visa, pumping in $400 million into various businesses in the US, while the total count for India stood at 60. The businesses that have attracted these investments range from real estate firms making high-end condos and resorts to IT firms and steel companies. 
Wing, however, says during his visits to India he has seen the highest level of interest from high net worth individuals whose primary motivator has been getting their children educated in the US. Other reasons include starting a business or retiring near family that might already be in the US. “In India, the reasons for wanting to live in the US are very benign compared to some other countries.”

Centres like Wing’s are reaching out to these industrialists and businessmen through industry bodies.

In one city they went though the chamber of industry and commerce while in the other they did an awareness session with a group of chartered accountants who will pass on the message to their clients. The centre has seen the maximum interest in Surat, 85 people showed up at one such awareness event. In Nashik it met sugar industrialists. While the return on investment is minimal and investors get back their money within 3-5 years, Wing sounds a note of caution.

THE CHALLENGES 
“It is very important to have done proper risk analysis around the investment. You don’t want your money going down the drain and not even get a Green Card at the end of it because the investment failed to meet norms,” he said.

Data from the USCIS says rate of rejection for granting the visa has been declining. In the first three quarters, only 7% of the application for converting the conditional Green Card to permanent Green Card has been declined.

Wing’s Green Card Fund only invests in healthcare and education firms, which the organisation believes are two of the safest sectors and that too those that have some form of government funding. Wing has been able to return investments within 28 months on an average. Apart from the risk on the investment, immigration experts also point to other challenges like documentation and a lengthy process. There has also been lack of clarity on the visa so far.

“The economic analysis required for this is not easy and there are simpler visas if you are eligible where you do not have to make any investment and get a Green Card quickly. EB5 makes sense if you are not eligible for other visas,” Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at The law offices of Rajiv Khanna, a Washington-based law firm. In the past one year, Khanna has helped two India citizens with get a Green Card through the EB5 route. 
Pathway to the Big Beautiful American Dream

WHAT IS IT 

• The EB5 visa is an immigration visa that gets families a permanent Green Card in return for an investment of either $500,000 or $1 million and proof that the investment has created 10 direct or indirect jobs 

• The EB5 visa provides a short-cut to a conditional Green Card – a permanent resident card that allows an alien to live permanently in the US -- within a year of applying, which can take about three years to convert to a permanent one 
HOW IT HELPS 

• The programme facilitates foreign entrepreneurs’ capital investment that creates or preserves US jobs 

• Investment under the EB5 category can be made in any project in the US, across industries. 

• Visa-seekers can buy an existing business and run them, help troubled businesses, start their own business or give the money to regional centres that can identify the projects and make the investment for them

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The growth of the mobile web

Mobile web is not just about mobile phones anymore.

The mobile web has matured in the last few years, not just in terms of users, but also in terms of use cases and the technologies employed. Let’s chart its progress story over the years.

Nowadays, the mobile web’s uses have grown by the dozen. From downloading wallpapers or ringtones to search information and stay abreast with the world, keep track of match scores, stay in touch with friends, the list of uses seem to be endless. Mobile web can even fuel protests and revolutions. However, this was not always the case. The mobile web has somewhat humble beginnings.

The early days: A misstep

Today people use social networking, search, location based services, and more through mobile web. However, there was a time when none of that was practically possible, because mobile phones simply were too underpowered and incapable to display normal web pages properly. In addition, mobile browsers which could make this possible did not exist.

However, the biggest problem was the direction taken to implement the web on mobiles. A technology called WML (Wireless Markup Language) was proposed, which was vastly different from HTML (the language we use to display web pages normally). This meant creating a different web, just for mobiles. The WML sites mostly functioned as stripped down versions of the html sites, with poorer graphics, and a very barebones UI.

Most content developers did not take the effort to implement a separate version of their site in a different technology just for mobiles, and the ones who did quickly found out that most users did not like it and wanted to experience the same kind of web pages they viewed on their desktops. Thus, WML proved to be a failure for the mobile web, and we needed to start again, this time in a more familiar direction.

Going back to the start

After the failure of WML, people started to look into bringing normal HTML into mobile devices. This was aided by fact that mobiles had started to become a bit more powerful now, and development of mobile browsers was happening at a much aggressive pace. Opera Mini started out as a pilot project in 2005, and launched publicly in early 2006. In 2007, the iPhone was released and showed just how much deep integration the world wide web could have with mobile phones. Since then, there has been no looking back.

The era of growth

There are number of factors behind the explosive growth of the mobile web in recent years. Some of that has to do with the increasing ubiquity of the World Wide Web in general, from everything like leisure and social networking to job hunting and email. It has become an essential part of many lives around the world. Another equally important factor is the ubiquity of mobile phones themselves. It has quickly become quite literally the most prevalent computing device of all time. 

The mobile web is the marriage of these increasingly important and extremely ubiquitous technologies. Other very important factors included the increased capability of mobile phones, with more powerful processors and better memory giving more complex applications like mobile web browsers the ability to run better and lastly, mobile web browsers themselves became more and more capable over time. 

Browsers such as Opera Mini were designed to run on the lowest as well as the highest performing mobiles in the market, thereby increasing the reach of the mobile web. All of these factors ushered in a new era of growth for the mobile web and it will continue for the next few years to come. 

Cisco reports that global mobile data traffic increased by 2.6 percent in 2010, nearly tripling for the third year in a row. Furthermore it states that global mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015 by which point it will reach 6.3 exabytes.These are staggering numbers, but the mobile web has indeed being growing at a staggering pace. 
Our own usage figures for Opera Mini (the world’s most popular web browser for mobiles) confirms this tremendous growth in usage and uptake for the mobile web. 

According to Opera’s “State of the Mobile Web Reports”, data consumed through Opera Mini servers has increased by 526% since April 2009. Total monthly page views have increased by 587% since that period. Opera Mini users viewed over 59.7 billion pages in March 2011 and Opera Mini users generated over 946 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Globally, Opera Mini surpassed a milestone by crossing 100 million users mark. In march 2011, Opera Mini has 102.4 active monthly users. Since March 2010, the number of unique users has increased 85.4%.

However, these are not the only figures to go by for tracking the mobile web growth. Google reports that the number of YouTube videos delivered to mobile devices tripled in 2010, reaching 200 million video views per day. Google also reported India having around 40 million mobile internet users. This is quite a feat coming from a country which is just a decade ago, barely had a mobile industry of value. On a global level, usage is increasing too, with a Morgan Stanley report indicating that the number of mobile internet users will outnumber desktop internet users globally in just five years time.

What are people doing on the mobile web?

However, the next question which arises is: What’s going on in the mobile web? What are people doing there and what kind of mobile devices are they using?Who are they?In some ways, the answer is deceptively straight-forward: They are doing the same things that they do on the desktop web. With modern mobile browsers capable of displaying web pages quite similar as in a normal desktop browser, people nowadays are accessing their favorite sites all the time, irrespective of the device being used.

However, Opera has again some interesting data to share using its State of the Mobile Web reports. One of the things to look at is the countries most active on the mobile web.
With regards to Opera Mini, the countries using it the most were Russia, followed by Indonesia and then India. In fact, in the top ten list of countries using Opera Mini, most are developing countries with the Russia and United States the only exception.This means that developing counties are showing a lot more enthusiasm for the mobile web than most had previously assumed. Global trends for usage of sites point out to increased usage of search engines and social networking sites. 

The average Opera Mini users in India views around 442 pages per month and transfers around 7MB of data. India has grown in unique users by 231.9% since March last year. The top sites include Google, Facebook and Youtube. Other sites in the top 10 used by Indians include other social networking sites like Orkut, Wikipedia, Zedge.net and getjar.com.
The presence of such sites point to the fact that Indians use mobile web more for leisure and entertainment rather than for work or shopping related activities. This trend is true for most other countries as well.

Another key activity trend is use of mobile web in times of emergencies or crisis. Usually in these situations, using mobile web is more apt. We have seen people use the mobile web to stay in touch with friends and relatives, and keep abreast of the latest news in times of crisis. Two recent examples include the political revolution in Egypt and the earthquake crisis in Japan.

In Egypt, an increased usage of social networking sites, especially facebook and twitter was noticed. Opera Mini servers received the biggest spike in facebook usage from Egyptian users when Hosni Mubarak resigned. One of the Egyptian protestors said, “The key success for the revolution was the way we connected, via Facebook and other social media via Internet, to mobile phones. It was a revolution based on communication.”

In case of Japan earthquake Opera Mini servers detected an increased usage of twitter as well as various meteorological sites from Japanese users. People were checking details about the earthquake as well as informing friends and relatives about their current situation using the mobile web. In the following days we observed an increased usage of news sites by Japanese users, along with an increased traffic to the website of TEPCO, the company behind the nuclear reactor in crisis. 

This proves that in terms of crisis and national emergency, usage of mobile web to connect, gather information, often in real time is much higher.

What is next for the mobile web?

Quite simply put - Video. Youtube is already the third most popular site visited by Opera Mini users in India. According to Cisco, two-thirds of the world's mobile data traffic will be video by 2015. With the emergence of 3G in India and other countries, viewing video clips using the mobile phone will not be something extraordinary in the next few years.Online video hosting sites, as well as social media sites which allow users to easily share videos with friends will benefit the most.

Video is not the only thing to watch out for in the future. Till now, phones and mobile web browsers have been increasing in capability. But the technology behind the sites just increased in capability only once when people shifted from WML to HTML. 

HTML5 and related technologies like CSS3 etc will allow developers to create better and more adaptable web technologies which utilize the inbuilt capabilities of the device in a better degree. Now developers will be able to create applications for the mobile web which can serve video in a more efficient manner, have programmable graphics, device adaptive user interfaces which look much better and could even work offline. 

Modern mobile browsers for smartphones are also providing support for geolocation, which opens up possibilities for various locations based services for mobile web developers. 

The technologies for all of these are very new and are being integrated into the newest versions of mobile web browsers. The products which take first mover advantage of these technologies will likely have an edge over other competing products. Developers will find support for these technologies very encouraging in order to create the next level of great mobile web experiences.

Besides technologies driving mobile web experiences, the devices used to access the mobile web are changing too. Till recently, we assumed the mobile web to be all about cell phones. However, today we are seeing increased usage by small netbooks as well as tablets like the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. 

Portable media players like mp3 players and portable gaming consoles are now generating considerable usage. The mobile web is not just about mobile phones anymore. Various other devices have joined this arena too, and more will do so in the coming future.

Endnote

The mobile web has come a long way since its humble beginnings more than decade a ago. Its usage is increasing massively all over the world, and especially in developing countries which do not have as much connectivity with traditional desktop internet. Moreover, as the quality and quantity of applications, as well as the usage of mobiles phones itself (especially in developing economies) increase, it’s prominence in the lives of mobile users is set to grow further.

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Why engineering grads go for MBA

Every year lakhs of Indian students apply for admission to engineering colleges. And a large majority of graduating engineers apply for admission to business schools. 

It is as if the realities of yesteryears, when medical and engineering careers used to be the top two priorities, has not entirely rubbed off but has been slightly modified. With more and more engineering graduates turning towards managerial careers, it is no wonder that some of the top Bschools, such as IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, have more than 90% MBA students with engineering backgrounds. 

What is the reason for the same? Are engineers not excited about a technical career anymore, or is it the demand of the workplace that drives them towards management careers? 

Vijay Mhaskar, Vice President, Information Management Group, Symantec elaborates the job market situation. "With increased pace of innovation and global competition, technical talent in India has been groomed to meet the requirements of global coordination and collaboration. 

The demand for managing large scale projects required technical talent to take on the role of project managers. This eventually led to the need for management skills and people were hired for their technical knowledge coupled with management skills. The Indian software industry, for instance, has witnessed a tremendous evolution - from piece-meal development to complete product ownership." 

While engineers have shown an increasing preference for managerial roles, at the same time the need for technical expertise has not diminished. In fact, it has increase further as countries, including India, are realising the importance of developing innovative engineering solutions indigenously. 

For this reason, engineering talent must not completely be devoted to managerial positions. "The industry requires both - technical and management talent. In order to encourage engineers to follow their passion for technology through a career on the technology side an eco-system needs to be established. 

From the colleges where engineers learn, to the software firms where they put learning to practice, should provide guidance that moving to the management track is not a default option. With great compensation in technical profiles, engineers can pursue careers without giving up their passion for technology," adds Mhaskar. 

The other side of this debate is that engineers who turn into managers and leaders in organisations need not completely give up their technical creativities. Often, it can be a mix of both. A high ranking manager can also be a technology expert. This is the exact basis of Symantec's Techtracs programme, in which they encourage and build upon technical talent of engineers. In this programme, they have very senior positions for Distinguished Engineers and Fellows, apart from Senior Technical Directors. 

Mentoring and guidance, whether for a managerial or a technology based career, is a critical success component. An engineer, who is capable of giving an organisation or a country the next breakthrough in technology or in an architectural design, should not be wasted on a pure management role. 

At the same time, one cannot follow a deterrent approach where you stop them from completely moving to management. Instead, it should come more as an encouragement to pursue engineering roles. Higher designations and pay packages is only one side of the coin. Engineers will only be truly engineers when they are in it for the love of it.

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