It starts off simply; a few HTML pages, a few hyperlinks, some
affiliate links. Your mother is proud of her clever son.
Then you install a forum, some more content, maybe consider using
a Content Management System (CMS).
Before you know it, you have a monster on your hands. This
monster is eating up your time and energy and money.
Here are a few tricks I've learned to save you time and money
with your web design.
1. Avoid Windows servers, if you can.
I'll admit I've never used one. I've had too much trouble with
Windows on the PC, to risk it on my web site. Most geeks favour
Unix. It's been around longer, and is more stable. Web hosts
offering Unix variants like Linux have always been cheaper. They
also seem to offer a wider range of toys. I need SSI (Server Side
Includes), SSH (secure Telnet), 10 MySQL databases, Cpanel,
PHPMyAdmin and a UK IP number. And you can get this for $15 a
month.
If you're in business for yourself, consider Unix/Linux. If you
want to be a full-time employee, consider Windows/Microsoft. Many
businesses use it, as it's compatible with their office software,
they like that a major company supports it, and they distrust
something that's free.
2. Server Side Includes are the poor man's CMS.
Each web page can be 'stitched' together using Server Side
Includes (SSI). You can 'call' a header and footer HTML file,
using SSI, in each web page. That way, you can make site-wide
changes in an instant. For example, you can add Google Adsense to
the top or bottom of your site immediately.
Dreamweaver (http://www.macromedia.com) can display SSI pages
correctly. This is another reason, one of many, for its
popularity as a HTML editor.
3. Which CMS to use?
A Content Management System is very handy if you have a
community-based website, or want to let others add content to
your site. It must have a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
add-on. This means a novice can type in formatted HTML the same
way he could a formatted Word document. He presses on-screen
buttons to bold or underline words, and make hyperlinks.
Another keyword to look out for is HTMLArea. This means someone
has made an addon to cause all 'textarea' form boxes to have
word-processor-style buttons above them. This allows someone who
doesn't know HTML to add it to your CMS. Saves YOU having to do
it, and that is good [grin].
Many are free. I can't really recommend one at the moment, except
perhaps Mambo (http://www.mamboserver.com). I've tried quite a
few others, especially PHPNuke.
A CMS allows you to set up a website with professional features
in a day. The downside is you can spend weeks customising it. You
may find, as I did with PHPNuke, that it's unsecure, that it can
behave eccentrically, and that essential third-party addons may
not work properly.
A CMS is for geeks with time on their hands. I would dearly love
to be able to point to one and say to the small businessman "Put
your trust in this". I can't yet.
4. Put keywords in the HTML.
Fairly obvious, but webmasters don't go far enough. *Any* image
name, ALT tag, form field, bolded word or hyperlink can have a
keyword in it. So why not do it?
This is where someone who tweaks his HTML code by hand gains a
great advantage. Newlines and double blank spaces are redundant
in HTML. A large document can have thousands of these. They
obfuscate your Search Engine Optimsation (SEO) efforts.
Use a text editor that can strip them out, like Editpad
(http://www.editpadpro.com), or a HTML optimiser. Broken lines
are not ideal either. Dreamweaver can 'break' a tag or keyword at
an inappropriate place. Why make it hard for a search engine to
promote your page? Strip out the junk, and put in the keywords.
5. Put at least 500 words of paragraphed text in.
If your web pages have the same header, footer, left side-bar,
right side-bar, and only a small bit of text in the middle, you
may suffer a duplicate content penalty. This means a search
engine deems your site has duplicate pages. It considers it an
attempt to spam its database, and so shoves it way down its
Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).
If you can't write your own articles, get someone to do it for
you at a freelance site like ScriptLance
(http://www.scriptlance.com). You can get free articles at sites
like EzineArticles (http://www.ezinearticles.com).
6. Offer people what THEY want, not what YOU think they should
have.
This is most important. Before making a site, go for a walk in
town. Sit down on a park bench, and try to figure out what people
really want; not need, WANT. Then figure out how you can get in
on that business with your site.
People want sex, drugs, gambling, money, a house, a car, good
food, nice clothes, self esteem. The first three are
disreputable. Promote them, and get cut off from sections of
society.
It makes me laugh when I see pornographers saying 'it's just a
business, I'm not doing any harm'. They're making money
*because* their subject matter is taboo. Most people don't want
to be associated with pornography or pornographers. Likewise, a
bar owner isn't welcome everywhere, and casino bosses rub
shoulders with the underworld.
If you ever want to be on the school board, or run for local
office, keep away from dubious content.
Look at what people really want, AND which will make your family
proud, and then proceed with gusto.
|
