Every website is different, but, there are some features and content every webpage should have. I have 26 of them. One for every letter of the alphabet. I know there are more than one for some letters but I have chosen what I think is the most important. And because this is my blog I get to decide what goes on : ) Feel free to complain in the comments box!
A is for Analytics: For any website it is important to know how it is performing: How many visitors the website getting, which pages are they looking at most, what is not popular. Without information such as this you have no idea if you website is having any effect. Analytics will give you this information. There are many free products out there. Google Analytics is an obvious example. It’s quite good as well!
B is for Browsers: There are many browsers out there now. The most popular are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. I use Firefox as I find it the best to develop websites in. Firefox and Chrome tend to display websites in a similar fashion (if it works in Firefox it will work in Chrome) Internet explorer can sometimes seem like law unto its own (especially IE 6 now almost gone thank God) so it is important that a new website is checked in all three browsers.
C is for Contact us: Every single website needs a contact page. This page should be clearly visible and easy to find. You want custom don’t you?
D is for Design: Obvious choice. The look of a website is what most users will base their decision on whether to stay on the website or not (for the first second). If the website looks bad the user will click on the back button and go elsewhere. It is no longer enough to have a website you need a website that looks good. DP Web Development can help you with this.
E is for Ease of use: One of the number one rules for any website is that it should be easy to use. A visitor will give this about 2 seconds. If they can’t see how a website works (clear links, clear text etc) they will leave. This should be thought about in the design phase of website development.
F is for Facebook: Like it or not Facebook is part of almost everyone’s lives and your website will need to have a presence on Facebook. This will serve a number of purposes. You can use this page to give your company a more “human” face. It can also be much easier to interact with you customer base on Facebook. Another important aspect is that search engines are now paying much more attention to Social media and a presence on Facebook will help in your ranking.
G is for Google: Still the number one search engine in the world. Get on the front page for your search key word and traffic will visibly increase. DP Web Development can help you with this.
H is for HTML: If you have a website HTML will be in use. It should now be in HTML5 the newest version of HTML and much more powerful.
I is for Images: Any good website will have images on it. Care should be taken with images. Don’t use them to “pad” out a webpage. The image should serve a specific function. It should also be high quality and clear. Oh and get permission and give credit if you don’t own the image.
J is for JavaScript/ JQuery: A website should make use of JavaScript for many features such as form checking, animation and so much more. With the ever growing JQuery library this is becoming ever easier. Add a little sparkle to your website with JavaScript.
K is for Keywords: These are the words that visitor will use in a search engine to find your website. They should be repeated at various points in your text. Especially in headings and near the top of the page. Don’t use them too any times as a search engine may identify the page as ”keyword stuffing” and you run the risk of having your website black listed. DP web Development can help you develop content with the right amount of keyword d density.
L is for Links: A website should have a good number of internal links. These links help with ease of navigation around a site. Outbound links (links going to other websites from yours) are also a good idea. They help with SEO and help build the authority of your website. Try to linkup with blogs in the same niche as you. This will help you to attract targeted visitors to your website.
M is for Management: A website is never finished. It is like a living organism: it grows and changes. Links need to be checked. Content needs to be checked and sometimes rewritten. New content should be added at a consistent rate (at least weekly if not more). A clear management plan needs to be in place for when a website is completed. DP Web Development is able to maintain a website at very reasonable rates. Save the hassle! Contact me today!
N is for Navigation: It should be made as easy as possible to find any page on the website as quickly as possible. Consider adding a search engine if your website is large. The easier a site is to navigate the longer a visitor will stay and the more likely it is they will return. Thought should be given to how navigation will work at the design phase.
O is for Old Content: Your website will age. Pages will become out of date. If they serve no purpose they need to be removed quickly. Just one old, out of date page can make the whole website look out of date and useless. Get rid of old content! This is especially true if you use dates. Too many poor websites talk about a past dates as if it is in the future.
P is for PHP: This is my preferred language for getting even more interactive with the web. It can be used to create member areas of a website, connect to a database (with MySQL, a database language) and pretty much anything you want. With PHP the webserver is able to dynamically generate HTML web pages on the fly!
Q is for Quality: A good web developer will adhere to a set of standards. Be the best. I do what’s in the users’ best interests and ensure what I produce meets every single requirement. Anything less is not acceptable.
R is for Readability: Content is king. Without interesting, useful and easy to read (Think design, layout, font) content the website will serve no purpose as no one will visit more than once. Each webpage needs engaging copy. DP Web Development can help you with this.
S is for SEO: Search Engine Optimisation is possibly the number one issue for websites today. All websites want to appear on the first page of all search engines. There are many strategies to use. DP Web Development can help you with this. Please note, getting to the first page is not an instant process. Anyone who says otherwise is, quite frankly, wrong!
T is for Twitter: Link your website to a Twitter account. Good for SEO. Good for to the minute news. Great for connecting with customers. Maximum of 140 characters a tweet does not take long. What’s there not to like?
U is for Usability: It is important to make every webpage as user-centred and user-friendly as possible. This means the every visitor does not have to think how the website works: it is intuitive. This can take quite a lot of planning at the design stage if the target group is a diverse range of people. Usability encompasses interaction design, accessibility, information architecture, user experience, human factors and more.
V is for valid code: Write valid code. HTML is pretty forgiving but that’s no excuse. Also there is a suggestion that correct code works better with SEO. Incorrect code will break more easily. Get it right!
W is W3c Markup Validation Service: Luckily you can check any web page with this address: http://validator.w3.org/ this will check if the code on any URL you type in.
X is for XML (map): To help with SEO a sitemap in xml should be submitted to search engines. This should be done on fairly regular intervals as you website evolves and changes.
Y is for YouTube: It is a good idea to have a video on your website. It can be hosted on YouTube and embedded on your website. This again helps with SEO and research shows videos are very popular with visitors. It can be about virtually anything from giving a human face to your organisation to a purely informational piece.
Z is for Zipping: zipping (or file compression). The ability to reduce bandwidth consumption has many benefits, including reduced data transfer costs, faster page loads for the visitor and, when combined with caching, reductions in HTTP requests.
