Web site design

Web site design is a daunting process at first, but with time and perseverence is actually a fairly simple process that can be rewarding both financially and artistically. Yes, you can learn what you need to know about Web site design from home. No, you don't need to be an expert. Yes, the more you practice Web site design the better you'll get at it. No, you don't need to spend a fortune to do so. In fact, you don't really need to spend anything.

The nature of the internet is that information is free, so that with some time and effort you can find most anything you need without paying a cent. Well, without paying a cent beyond what you provider charges you for your monthly bill. I've searched, but I have yet to find a way around that particular outlay.

Anyway, if you're interested in web site design, you should begin by searching for information on what, exactly, a web site is. What is the mechanics behind the software - how does the technology work, what does "designing" it actually do, and where do you start?

For me, the beginning point for web site design was learning HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is the coding that's used in ninety nine percent of the world's web sites for designing and giving them functionality. In other words, HTML is what you use to talk to your computer, and eventually the server that hosts your web site, so that it understands the page you're designing and what it's supposed to do.

It's funny that something as momentous and important as HTML is so new. It was invented, more or less, by scientisst Tim Berners-Lee in 1990. That's only twenty years ago! Yet HTML is now as ubiquitous as the automobile or television. Every time you go on the world wide web, you're viewing web sites that use HTML.

From its origins in 1990 it took very, very few years to become the default hyper text protocol for the entire online universe. By 1994 or so it was clear that the world wide web was a communication phenomenon on the level of the telephone or radio, and within maybe two years after that folks who pioneered web site design were multi-millionaires. And it's still a growth industry today.

HTML finally became standardized in May of 2000. Though there are always tweeks being made by the technologically advanced among us, the basic principles have stayed roughly as they are since then. If you're interested in web site design you don't have to master those principles, but it's best to know what they are and why they exist in the first place.

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How to make the most of your website stats

One of the most crucial things about running a website is directing traffic to it. Without visitors and readers, your website will have little meaning or influence. A website with low traffic will only be able to turn over low levels of sales, or receive only small amounts in advertising and other kickbacks. Fortunately, today's technology allows website owners to track their website stats and use them to their advantage.

Website stats basically comprise information collected about the visitors to your site. They can range from very simple to extremely detailed and complex. The complexity of the stats that you can generate through your website depends partly on the stat counter that you are using, as well as on your website itself. Some sites are constructed in a way that makes it difficult to easily break down stats, while others make this a much easier task.

One of the most important pieces of information collected as part of your website stats is a keyword analysis. Key words are the words that people typed in a search box, which then led them to your site. These key words show what people are looking for when they come to your site. If the keywords match the type of topic that you are targeting, this is a good sign that you've positioned your website well. If the keywords don't seem to match what you think of as the theme of your site, perhaps you need to refocus your content, or move it in a direction to match these identified interests.

Website stats also let you know who is visiting your website. They can tell you where each visitor comes from, which can be a good way of helping you redirect the focus or topic of your website as necessary. If you run a company that only services a local audience, but you are receiving a large proportion of hits from overseas, then you may wish to consider expanding your operations to target this audience.

Another useful series of data that website stats can provide is the number of returning visitors, as well as your bounce rate. Returning visitors are those viewers who have previously come to your site, and who have returned. If you have a high number of returning visitors, this means that you have a loyal audience who is interested in your product or website. If not, you may need to rethink your website in order to entice people to come back. In contrast, the bounce rate measure the people who have left your website after coming to the home page. If you have high bounce rate numbers, you might need to analyze why this is, and respond accordingly. You may need to improve your content quality, or provide more frequent updates. It may mean that your site is too difficult to navigate.

Website stats are an essential tool for assessing the success of your website. By keeping track of your analytics, you can improve your website to keep people coming back time and time again.

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Tips for improving your website ranking

If you want your website to be able to compete against the millions of other pages out there, you need to make sure that your site shows up in search engine results. However, it's not enough to show up on the third or fourth of fifth page. Users today rarely look past the first page of Google results. In order to make sure that your website can stand out, you'll need to increase your website ranking. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can do this.

Website rankings are calculated using a variety of different methods. One important method is SEO, or search engine optimization. What this means is that the content on each of your web pages has been carefully written and designed to make sure that it's picked up by a search engine. A search engine optimized website will contain particular key phrases that are relevant to your topic of interest. The search engine will see that your site has listed these particular key phrases with a certain frequency, and will therefore decide that your website is highly relevant to users searching for that particular key phrase. Optimizing your website for search engines can go a long way towards improving your website ranking.


Another way to improve your ranking is to make sure that you link to other sites, and that you have many other sites linking to your page. By linking to related sites and having them link to you, you can indicate that you are a highly relevant player in your chosen topic. The particular words that you use when linking to something can influence the way that a search engine will rate your site. Use a key phrase such as “website ranking”, and highlight that particular key phrase with a link, rather than linking to a phrase such as “click here”. Note that links from popular and key websites will be more beneficial to your website ranking than links from smaller sites.

You can also improve your website's ranking by submitting its details to various directories. These directories contain links to and information about websites in particular subject areas. Search engines such as google consider these to be an important list, and will use inclusion in them when determining page rank. However, when submitting to directories, make sure that your submissions are targeted. If you submit to too many, you may be considered a spammer. This will be detrimental to your page rank.

One final way of improving your website ranking is to make use of social networking tools. Social networking tools have become vastly important over the past few years. It's in your interests to make sure that your website has some sort of presence on these tools and sites. Social bookmarking tools such as Digg and Stumbleupon are a good way to increase your page rank.

When optimizing your website ranking, there are a number of different options you can try. Using the suggestions above will not only help improve your ranking, but will help you narrow the focus of your website as well, and thus encourage more visitors.

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