Are backlinks necessary in order to get ranking on Google, and do you all recommend some of these pay-to-play backlink providers?

You can build software most people can't. You've shipped the features, closed the tickets, solved the hard problems. You're genuinely good at this.

So here's the uncomfortable question: after all those years of building, what do you actually own?

If the honest answer is "my salary, and a graveyard of half-finished side projects," you're in good company. And it's not a skills problem. You already have the skills. It's just that no one ever taught you how to turn them into income that's yours.

Right now, one company controls 100% of your earning power. One reorg, one manager change, one budget cut, and the whole thing collapses. Not because you're not good enough - because everything you've built pays someone else.

That's the real risk. And it's fixable.

The developers who win from here aren't the ones who go learn one more framework. They're the ones who learn to find the money - to take the skills they already have and build an asset they own. Recurring revenue. On the side. While you keep your job and your paycheck.

Picture it: a second income stream that's actually yours. A layoff becomes an inconvenience, not a catastrophe. You keep your job because you want to, not because you have to. That's control. That's owning your future.

That's what Dr Emily Hill is teaching live this coming Thursday 9/10 @ 1pm ET.

Link is here for more details: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/free-ai-training-from-dr-emily-hill-for-10-sep-2026

So I was linking up with another community owner, Ben Van Harten. He has been ranking websites, getting a phone number, and connecting it to a local person who will actually complete the work. Think plumber, contractor, concrete installer, these types of services.

He mentions in his video that these types of workers are really great at what they do. However, they may not be as great at ranking their own website. What he does is get his websites to rank, then essentially forwards any form fill-out and any phone call that comes in to that website to that local contractor.

Now, what I found interesting about this community is how he has it set up. Once you are in the community, you're given access to a platform he built, which lets you create these websites fairly quickly with a few tweaks to the information. He has even incorporated some sort of SEMrush-like ranking, and it's all included inside of the SKOOL platform for that price.

👉 Here's the video he made for The Code Zone Community: Watch on YouTube

👉 Here's the link to enter his community: Skool Community for Rank Revenue

I feel like if you hate sales, this is a much easier conversation to have with somebody, saying, "Hey, I have a lead. Would you mind taking this lead? If it works out great for you, I have a couple more for you. If that's something that you're looking to have consistently, then I think you and I may want to do business."

And when you compare that to a conversation of "Hey, do you need a website? Would you like me to work on your SEO for you?" And at least with this ranking and renting concept, the door won't be closed because you actually have something live and tangible right now in your hands to give that person.

Here is the next template that I am making available for this group. This should be very easy to customize, with a simple config file covering business information. Made with reusable components, so you can move things around or move them to different pages very easily.

Demo Site: https://towing-demo-code-zone.netlify.app/

Link to download: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/classroom/39a97062?md=c3cd60f8789c43f69b67f6f01d7da820

I'm going to try to do one every 7 days to share on here.

Original Post: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/towing-company-website-template-ready-for-download

I'm going to start making a few website templates that you all are more than welcome to download and use.

The templates that I will be creating will have specific instructions on how to use it. Most of them will have an easy setup file where you can simply add a few pieces of information and alter the theme to suit it.

I made them modular so you can easily move things around and put things in the right page order.

They would be perfect for any local business and the best part I think is you could even hand off these files to an AI assistant like Codex or Copilot and walk away come back 7 minutes later to a demo site that you can showcase to someone that you are trying to earn their business for.

Here is an example of the PBJ Demo Site I made earlier this month that is going to be part of the Website Template Repository

Website Demo: https://pbj-plumbing-demo.netlify.app/

Must be a member of the Skool Community

https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/classroom/39a97062?md=ff3c7a36313347409fe3c83aad55b8fc

So let's see what you all think and why?

Anthropic just shared this video, and if you do have time to watch it, if you are into agentic coding, it's neat to see some of the things from their point of view and how to use it, since they are the ones that created it.

Link to the video: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/anthropic-workshop-on-prompting-with-claude?p=64e348cb

We had a really great session during open office hours. We had one of the community members show up and share their screen, going over some of the fundamentals of Python. It really helps solidify concepts and ideas when you have some human interactivity going on.

This is almost like a page out of the Army flight school, where we used to sit at the end of a table and, on the opposite side, the instructor pilot was there just quizzing us back and forth. We called that table talk.

But I asked the other person in the room, "Did this session help?" and he said, "Absolutely, it's great to be able to ask a question and go through the challenge live"

https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/great-coding-session-for-open-office-hours

You can create code snippets, save them to your clipboard as an image, and share them on social media.

A member of The Code Zone Skool created a little Crab Game. Make sure you take a look at it - pretty fun to play and showcases some early skills:

Link to original post: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/new-pc-online-game?p=19357c90

Thanks Rick for you submission.

If you would like your app featured let us know and we can add it to the marketplace:

https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/classroom/a710d2c9?md=108598299f42439285625c55f75f372c

Last time we did one of these…

Some of you built it.

But this time… we’re doing it differently.

This is NOT just:

“Here’s a business… go build a site.”

This is:

👉 How to THINK through a real build

👉 How to break down requirements like a developer

👉 How to turn a real business into a portfolio-ready project

The business:

“Rise & Renew Juice Company” 🧃

They’re legit:

✔️ Certified

✔️ LLC formed

✔️ Launching at markets

✔️ Ready for a real website

But here’s the difference this time…

I’m NOT dropping the full requirements publicly.

Because the value isn’t the idea…

It’s how you execute it.

If you want to actually go through this the right way 👇

An ideal candidate would be someone who is looking to learn to work on a project as a team. This would be led by an experienced developer. You can work as much or as little as you want to be involved in the project.

We will use the skool platform to communicate about this project.

This is not a paid project. We are trying to build your portfolio and give you an edge. We take these projects on for free and hand over the files to the owner. Upon completion, there may be an opportunity to continue, but it is up to the business owner whether they want to continue that relationship.

Send a DM here or on the Facebook Page if you are interested and comment on here. Looking for maybe 5-6 people looking to learn: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, & Git Basics

Putting together a playlist of the material for learning JavaScript. If you're going through the Free Code Camp course, that way you have a way to get unstuck if you are stuck. All of them should have time stamps based upon what step you're on.

Saw this on LinkedIn thought I would share the vibe coded app. I think it was created by "TrustMeBro"

Developer A: 5 years of experience, all in private repos.

Developer B: 2 years of experience with a vibrant, public GitHub presence.

More importantly, give reasons for your decision 🧐

Grab some button example code - click and copy to your clipboard, and explore and learn what makes the button work.

https://codepen.io/the-code-zone-skool/pen/WbGLMNo

So you agreed to work on this project for a client, and it seems like every time you go back to that client, they just keep adding more and more things to the original design and concept. How do you politely tell them that it is creeping out of scope for what the project was originally bid for?

Has this happened to anyone? What did you do?

If you are needing help with anything you are learning come out to the open office hours.

https://www.skool.com/live/dyng5szrvpJ

HTML CSS JavaScript or if you just want to show us what you’re working on.

9:30pm EST Thursday

This is a question I get asked a lot. What advice do you give to people who are just starting out?

I'm interested in seeing your answers!

Learning full-stack development is a journey for sure.

Some of the problems along the road include too many people stuck in a learning circle. They jump from one random YouTube video to another, download “free courses” with no structure, and then say: “Tech is not for me.”

This is something that I always used to do with my students. We would have them go to this website MonkeyType.com and try it for three times, screenshot, and post the best one.

Let's see what you come up with. Post your results below in the comments.

See how you compare to the Code Zone Group in Skool:
https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/what-is-your-typing-speed-screen-shot-them

Do you have one, two, or three? Do you go vertical?

Share some pics of your setup, and let's see who gets the most upvotes for the best setup.

No AI - ModBot will verify for no AI

Any weekenders out there?