|
GamblingDo You Want To Save Time With Your Web Design?
by:
T. O� Donnell
It starts off simply; a few Hypertext mark-up language pages, a few hyperlinks, several affiliate links. Your parent is proud of her clever son. Then you install a forum, several more content, possibly consider exploitation a Content Management System (CMS).
Before you cognize it, you have a monster on your hands. This monster is feeding up your time and energy and money.
Here are a few tricks I've knowing to save you time and money with your web design.
1. Avoid Windows servers, if you can.
I'll admit I've ne'er
used one. I've had too more trouble with Windows on the PC, to risk it on my web site. Most geeks favour Unix. It's been about longer, and is more stable. Web hosts offering Operating system variants like Operating system have always been cheaper. They besides 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. Galore businesses use it, as it's compatible with their office software, they like that a major institution supports it, and they distrust thing
that's free.
2. Server Side Includes are the poor man's CMS.
Each web page can be 'stitched' together exploitation Server Side Includes (SSI). You can 'call' a header and footer Hypertext mark-up language file, exploitation SSI, in each web page. That way, you can do 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 quality
as a Hypertext mark-up language editor.
3. Which CMS to use?
A Content Management System is really handy if you have a community-based website, or want to let others add content to your site. It must have a Application (What You See Is What You Get) add-on. This means a novice can type in formatted Hypertext mark-up language the same way he could a formatted Word document. He presses on-screen buttons to bold or underline words, and do hyperlinks.
Another keyword to look out for is HTMLArea. This means person has ready-made an addon to cause all 'textarea' form boxes to have word-processor-style buttons above them. This allows person who doesn't cognize Hypertext mark-up language to add it to your CMS. Saves YOU having to do it, and that is good [grin].
Many are free. I can't actually recommend one at the moment, except possibly 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 side
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 activity properly.
A CMS is for geeks with time on their hands. I would-be dearly love to be able to point to one and say to the small man of affairs "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* pictures name, ALT tag, form field, bolded word or link
can have a keyword in it. So why not do it?
This is wherever
person who tweaks his Hypertext mark-up language 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 change your Search Engine Optimsation (SEO) efforts.
Use a text editor that can strip them out, like Editpad (http://www.editpadpro.com), or a Hypertext mark-up language optimiser. Broken lines are not ideal either. Dreamweaver can 'break' a tag or keyword at an inappropriate place. Why do 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 person 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 folk what THEY want, not what YOU think they should have.
This is most important. Before devising a site, go for a walk in town. Sit down on a park bench, and try to numbers out what folk actually want; not need, WANT. Then numbers out how you can get in on that business with your site.
People want sex, drugs, gambling, money, a house, a car, good food, good clothes, self esteem. The 1st three are disreputable. Promote them, and get cut off from sections of society.
It does me laugh once
I see pornographers expression 'it's just a business, I'm not doing any harm'. They're devising money *because* their subject matter is taboo. Most folk don't want to be associated with porno 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, support away from dubious content.
Look at what folk actually want, AND which wish do your family proud, and then proceed with gusto.
Just about the author:
Just about the author: T. O' Donnell (http://www.tigertom.com) is an ecommerce adviser in London, UK. His latest projects are a mortgage calculator and ebook, accessible at: http://www.tigertom.com/mortgages-uk.shtml
| |
