Website and Video Design, page Design, Facebook Content Generator and Provide, Video Production, Software Design, Software and Hardware Computer Repair
Over 25 Years of High Tech Experience "In The .DOT COM Industry", Over 15 Years In National International and Other Various Video Creation and Production. Web Site Development Checklist
(This is a generic development checklist only;
it is not part of the specification Exhibit B)
Indio Interactive Design Group’s Website Design Tips
1.) Plan on a periodic update schedule. The less frequent the updates the more general the content should be & make more use of DHTML randomizing techniques. Also reduce the number of outside links to prevent broken links.
2.) Surfers won’t usually wait more than 20 seconds for a page to load and generally only stay 20 to 60 seconds. Home pages and index pages must load quickly. Large downloading pages and cutting edge technologies should be buried a level in the site rather than kept in the home page or primary index pages. For example, a full screen photograph should be accessed by clicking a 2nd image which is a much smaller and faster loading thumbnail. A large Java applet should be accessed by clicking a link to it while first telling the surfer what to expect and how long to wait.
3.) Studies show that the most important things to your visitors are fast loading pages and useful information. The least important things are “bleeding edge” technologies, flashy animations and non-functional eye-candy (unless that is what you are selling and what your buyers are looking for). Know your intended target audience. Learning web programming is very easy, the hard part is learning how to do it right, learning what not to do and usually learning the tasks that normally are performed by a whole team of specialists (designer, copywriter, marketer, programmer and graphics artist to cover just the basics). Never play music files, music is very personal in taste, and most surfers hit the back button rather than the volume. They will count in your logs as a hit but you still lost them forever.
3.) Flashy animations and eye-candy usually are only interesting once. You must rely on fast loading useful content. Allow visitors to bypass your Flash animations and splash screens.
4.) Do not use frames, they cause more problems than they solve. Unless you really know what you are doing.
5.) Every page of the site must be consistent and intuitive to navigate. More and more web surfers are computer illiterate. Make it easy for everyone to understand and use. If you are selling something you must remove all obstacles to the sales process and make it easy for customers to do business with you (prices must be easy to find, the order form must be easy to find and use). Commercial sites must do everything possible to establish trust (full disclosures and policies, contact information, secure ordering, professional look, third party endorsements and testimonials).
6.) The best sites on the Internet contain lots of useful content. Content being useful information freely distributed. To get the best return for your investment you must include information relevant to your audience (i.e. how-to articles, tips and tricks, industry related news, etc.). Your most qualified leads will come from non-web advertising first and/or highly targeted on-line advertising, links from related web sites secondly and from search engines thirdly. You must take advantage of all of these marketing methods and keep up with trends in the industry. Push content has come and gone, banner advertising is on the way out, pay per click programs are on the way out, affiliate programs are now in. Keep up with the changing face of the Internet as it changes rapidly. What works today may not work next month. Web site traffic starts slowly for a new site, builds up, plateaus then declines. To get the best results from your web site you must market constantly and update regularly to build the traffic and prevent it from declining. If selling something you must make it as easy as possible for the visitor to make a decision and make a purchase at that point in time without having to contact the company. Many sales are spur of the moment and will be lost if you don’t allow a visitor to immediately order a product at 2am with a credit card. Many people will not buy only on price; they will look around and return to the sites they feel they can trust the most. Customer service is imperative to your success. Gather opt-in e-mail contacts however many ways you can with their permission so you can follow-up.
8.) Your site must be designed with your visitor’s needs and capabilities in mind. Pages must be fast loading and contain useful and relevant content. Products must include full disclosure of information and provide a quick and convenient method of purchasing without requiring the visitor to have to call or mail the company when possible. Slow loading, flashy eye candy, animations and music are the least important things to your visitors unless you are selling tools to create these effects. If you must use them then they need to be optional components the visitors have the option of turning on themselves. The best way to turn away your visitors is to make them wait or make them listen to your musical preferences.
9.) Make the links in your site informative. Let your visitors know what to expect and give them a compelling reason to want to click your buttons and hyperlinks. If it is a link to a download or a large photograph, tell them how big it is first.
10.) Design the web site with room for future growth without requiring major changes to the navigation systems.
11.) Design the site so at least people on 56.k modems and those that may be behind corporate firewalls can quickly view the major sections. Some technologies like Java Applets and pages without RSACi ratings may be filtered out and unavailable to many users even if during your testing it works just fine. RSACi ratings (which are just single meta tag lines in your page header) can allow your page to pass parental control filters as well.
12.) Be careful of using frames to frame other sites pages or content within your site. It can be construed as a copyright violation. Even linking into some sites sub pages has been known to get the linking site in trouble. Study and emulate other successful techniques and tactics. Do not copy other people’s work, be unique, stand out and do it even better. Study catalog design, while printed catalogs are better suited for easily flipping through a lot of product choices you can get valuable tips on how to write short ad copy, layout photographs with bullet points, list prices, special offers, etc. Did you ever notice how catalogs tend to have a special deal or closeout price on almost every page to entice people to order?
13.) Do not add visitors or customers contact information (names, e-mail addresses, etc.) to your contact lists without their expressed permission. Do not grab visitor’s e-mails from their browser as it is commonly considered to be a violation of privacy.
14.) Write positive statements about the products and services, not what they do not do.
15.) Personalize your messages to your visitors and customers using mail merge templates. You can give automated immediate e-mails during interactions with the web site (opt-in, ordering, affiliate sign-up, etc.).
16.) Include calls to action to prompt visitors to order, give them reasons to act soon like expiring offers and discounts. Up sell accessories or higher priced items. Use lots of bullet points for people to quickly scan and longer sales copy for extended reading. You should study the Internet marketing manuals listed in the Appendix of Resources for more in-depth coverage.
17.) Design your site the way people are used to processing information. People read from left to right, top to bottom (assuming you are reading in the same language this kit was originally written in). The most likely places to be looked at are the top left corner, the top header line, the left or right top sidebars, the bottom trailer and the bottom right hand corner. Write bold headlines that can grab someone’s attention. People recognize shapes first and actual words last and the mind narrows its focus on each page. The eye is drawn to sharp contrast and distinct patterns. Use animation, large fonts, red highlights, etc. sparingly and only to draw attention to something specific.
18.) Study the Web Style Guide by Harvard Press (see the Appendix of Resources). This is a great resource for human interface design issues. Remember that a large number of web users are new to computers and the Internet. Many people have a hard time with basic tasks that web designers take for granted like scrolling a web browser, changing screen resolution, installing a screensaver and clicking a graphic with a hyperlink. Who do you think will be more successful, the designer who accepts the abilities of their audience and works with them or the designer with a condescending attitude to new computer users who figures that it is “their problem”.
19.) The most important way to market a business may be with non-web advertising using the domain name. This is entirely the client’s responsibility. We can only give the tips above for the client to pursue as they see fit. Each site has it’s own best way to market it, what works for one won’t always work for another. Next is getting other sites to link to the clients. This is facilitated by having an open site and giving a graphic and link information for other sites to use. It is very time consuming to pursue other sites for links and is entirely the client’s responsibility.
20.) The 3rd important method of marketing is to get listed in the various search engines. Cyber Sea will create pages optimized for search engine placement and will submit the site per the specifications. The final results will vary over time. Search engine rules, rankings and listings vary over time and are out of our control.
21.) No matter how good a web site is, you must get it in front of people to get them there. Nobody will instinctively know you have a great site and just look you up out of the blue. If you only put up a web site and submit to the search engines the site will most likely fail to generate significant traffic and results.
23.) Remember that the Internet is just a new communications medium that adds interactivity. As a business on the Internet you are still bound by the laws of supply and demand and it still takes marketing to be seen and salesmanship to sell. Concentrate on customer service and personal service. Use the Internet as a tool to communicate rather than a tool to isolate yourself from your customers.
24.) Use advertorials and endorsements to market other sites affiliate programs that you really believe in. Make sure they can fit within the context of your site rather than being just a list of affiliate banners (commonly referred to as a banner farm).
25.) Consider studying photography. Photography is a subtractive process whereas web development is an additive process. Too many people do not know when to stop adding to a web page. Photography will teach you to remove elements that are not necessary and that detract from the subject, a very useful tactic for developing a web site.
26.) Concentrate on useful content and information instead of hype and fluff. You should still follow the basic marketing guidelines that have always worked (benefits, features, solving peoples problems, using the right words and images to invoke the desired feelings, calls to actions, etc.) Give your audience what they are looking for which is usually information that will help them.
28.) Join the major web design and marketing newsletters (see the Appendix Of Resources) and keep up with the latest tips from the web development communities. Find out about new trends, tools and resources.
29.) Think in terms of end results and simple goals. Guide your visitors when possible and desirable to the end result you are after. No matter which page of your site a visitor enters, can you guide them to the pages you want them to see first such as product information then guide them through the ordering process while still allowing the immediate links to other pages. For example, if someone first enters your newsletter signup page can you get them to look at your main information page which then guides them to the ordering page and from any of these pages can they immediately get to your contact information page.
30.) Test multiple designs and pick what works best. The overall infrastructure and design for the sites developed by Cyber Sea, Inc. have been tested and changed constantly to arrive at the designs we use today. The http://www.cyber-sea.com/ web site itself has undergone three major revisions to get to the design you see today. Do not be concerned about not doing things right the first time, a complete redesign can also refresh your site and improve your results, even when the last design was great. It takes time to learn the nuances of good design. When creating a great photograph the difference between a good shot and a great one is many times due to the subtle nuances. This applies to web design as well. When you see a great image or web site you first instinctively just know it. When you look at a good one a few mistakes catch your eye and slightly distract your attention. When you look at a bad one you know it quickly and it is usually obvious where the mistakes are.
31.) Consider using an on-line database of information also as a set of static web pages. Static pages will add more pages to your site, which allows them to be indexed by search engines and easily bookmarked and linked to from outside sources.
32.) In general you should not use free services in a serious commercial web site. Would you be comfortable ordering from a company that has not invested $35 a year or even $20 a month to run their own web site. Would you be comfortable ordering from a company that did not offer even a simple secure on-line order form? There are always exceptions to these rules and you will hear arguments on all sides. Use what works for your business and your clients. Use the right tools for the job. If you are selling business to business you should be as professional as possible, if you are selling business to consumer it will depend on your business.
33.) Design your site from your customers or audiences perspective. Topics should be tailored to them, not to you. For example, a major telecommunications company made the mistake of dividing their major web site topics around the divisions of their company, which was not customer, oriented. It was subsequently redesigned based on how customers broke down what they were looking for.
34.) Use powerful words in your copy such as: you, your, money, save, free, now, how-to, quick, new, exciting, love, secret, reveal, discover, improved, guarantee, latest, amazing, offer, important, revolutionary, powerful. Read some catalogs and study the copy on the products you buy every day to see how they use calls to action, buzz words and power words to effectively communicate. Just like animation and red highlights use power words one at a time and sparingly, they loose effectiveness when used in excess. Do not forget that on the Internet you also need to also concentrate on more real information. Most people do not buy on first contact, sell to them on first contact when you can and try to get information from them (with permission) so you can follow-up and close even more sales.
35.) Avoid using words and phrases with negative connotations such as: but, try, could have, would have, should have, cannot, not. This can put the reader in the wrong frame of mind. They human mind is also much better at resolving concepts with fewer choices. A good example of this is to tell someone to picture a rose that is red vs. a rose that is not white. Give your visitors a mental picture of a clear goal to reach in the present. If you speak in the past tense it can sound old and out of date, if you speak in the future tense you may invoke feelings that you are not quite there yet. Read your copy carefully to make sure it invokes the feelings you intended. Read your site multiple times over the course of a few days or weeks. You will find things you overlooked when you were “too close to the chalkboard”.
36.) Use a common frame of reference to introduce a new concept. It is easier for someone to understand a new idea or concept if they can relate it to something familiar. For example, if you are trying to explain how having your own affiliate program or network marketing program can create generational residual income relate it to something familiar such as: Elvis’s family will be always be wealthy because every time a song is played they get paid, ever y time a new media comes out his songs are reproduced and resold again and again, each time paying a royalty/residual income to the Elvis estate. The songs were recorded once and they get paid each time they are played or sold.
37.) If you are renting a house at the time you leave you have nothing to show for it except a stack of receipts, the owner holds all of the assets, you built wealth for the owner. If you work only for a paycheck you are renting your body to your employer and when you quit or leave you have no assets to show for your work, you built wealth for your employer. If you own the house you have an asset that can appreciate in value and generate income, it can be passed on to future generations (generational wealth).
38.) If you own the business, affiliate program and/or business it can increase in value creating residual income for you, it can also be passed on to future generations. These are concrete examples that can be related directly to a new concept such as an affiliate program being an income-producing asset. Consultation Phase
Determine the clients site development and marketing budget. If you are approached by a business to do a project in return for a percentage of sales or other compensation tied to the success of the site you will be business partners. Make sure to review their business and marketing plans. Can they compete? Will you have visibility into the sales generated to make sure you get fairly compensated? These can be risky deals. Show sample sites and photos. Determine purpose of site & sites sections. Make money
Promote company
Information resource
Determine client’s goals, needs & expectations. Improve customer service
Improve sales
Save time, increase productivity
Reduce inventory
Reduce costs
Lead generation
Determine audience and sites sections. Buyers
Sellers
Surfers
Existing customers
Prospects
Determine voice (conservative, hip, humorous, etc.) Determine components and page counts. What are short term and long term needs and goals of client? Go over standard contract, payment options, sample proposals for similar sites (if available). Go over generic development checklist. Determine site maintenance frequency, number of times to update site per year and which pages to update. Generate storyboard with 8 main indexes maximum and 3 levels deep
Determine the hardware and bandwidth requirements for the web site (peak and off-peak seasons)
Answer these and other questions in the Information Worksheet
Larger projects may require a more detailed design and analysis before an estimate can be determined (especially when the system has to interface with external systems, involves more e than 3 developers, etc.). Consider payment up front for the design and analysis first, then offer a proposal for the development of the site based on the design and analysis. If customer doesn’t accept the proposal they can use the design they paid you for. Generate estimate from checklists and storyboard that fits budget and needs. Send proposal to client. Modify proposal as needed, negotiate the contract. Once signed and up-front payment and fixed costs received start project. Start Execution of Agreement (Milestone 1)
Setup Timeslips and accounting system for new client. Log all time spent in timeslips including storyboard creation and up front time spent on the proposal. Create directory structure for project. Have client start gathering information for this and future milestones as defined during the information gathering process. Domain name options. Existing marketing materials, photos, text, brochures, business cards, flyers, product shots, product samples, press releases, etc. Price and part lists. Frequently Asked Questions. Web sites they want links to. Get idea of client’s vision for the navigation look and feel. Shipping and handling charges and constraints (domestic and international). Guarantees, warranty, privacy and return policies. Which credit cards and payment options do they accept on-line? Have them check with bank for restrictions. Testimonials, credits, bios, history, education, certifications, awards, industry recognition, etc. Contact information: name, address, phone, fax, 1-800, e-mail addresses, Expedia map URL. Hours of operation and days closed. Contact names for development questions (art director, technical contacts, etc.) List of competitors web sites. List of keywords client wants to be found by in search engines. Register domain and setup ISP account (retain userid and password), register domain in clients name as bill to and registrant. Create hierarchy of pages & sections, ordered most important (i.e. money making ones) first. Determine font’s and color scheme
Create navigation system graphic and front page mockup, group main indexes from most important to least, left to right. Have customer sign off on Milestone 1. Start Execution of Milestone 2
Create robots.txt file excluding entire site from all spiders. Setup FTP directories for internet/intranet directories. Setup e-mail addresses. Perform a competitive analysis (find keywords, site sections, etc.). Determine how to build a better site than the competition. What makes client better than the competition. Compile key word lists from client and competitive analysis (make sure to NOT use competitors trademarks). Create template page, rollovers, headers, trailers, copyright notice and credit links. Obtain RSACi ratings so site can pass some corporate firewalls and parental control filters. Add meta tags (Author, Description, Keywords, RSACI, ROBOTS, etc.). Add hidden tags and links to track copied pages in case of page theft. Match rollover alt tags on images to page descriptions. Add developer site links in library header spacer gifs. Complete home page skeleton page with complete navigation systems and graphics. Each page header/trailer to include (title, logo/name, home link, home URL)
Create I.E. 5 branding logo & 2 bookmark logos & integrate with I.E 5 support or CTRL-D, prompt your visitors to bookmark the home page as easily as possible. At this point you have created a skeleton home page with navigation links to the main site sections and a navigation scheme that will be consistent across the entire site. Have customer sign off on Milestone 2. Start Execution of Milestone 3
Create main index skeleton pages by making empty skeleton pages for each main page of the site. Set title & descriptions to be unique, short and meaningful. Page Title “Company - Page Description”
Page Description “Company - Longer Page Description”
Page Header H1 tag “Page Description Headline”
Create site map (if needed). Create help page (if needed). Fill in home page; add creation date and “New” topic list with release date of the site. As the site is updated in the future all new additions are listed on the home page so repeat visitors can quickly see what has changed. Create main splash page with preloading of menu graphics (if needed). At this point you have a complete skeleton site with no broken links. All pages are empty of content and ready to fill in. Have customer sign off on Milestone 3. Start Execution of Milestone 4+
Create additional keyword splash pages, interlink splash pages to home and main index page. Create final content and series pages. Add body content (text, images, checklist components) to pages. Check each content and series page for required navigation scheme links. When pages complete:
Update robots.txt with specific files and folders to exclude from spiders as needed. Run final LinkBot test to make sure no links are broken and all-important pages will load quickly. Spell check each page and upload. Create Wisebot hidden test sitemap and hook pages (or create manually)
Test each page using the appropriate web browsers (at least the current version or last 2 versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape on a PC platform)
Perform usability tests on the pages and forms. This can be as simple as having a few non-technical people use the site. Can they understand the purpose of each section and do what you intended them to do. If not determine what changes can be made. Have customer sign off on Milestones every 40 hours until complete. Once all pages are created create the doorway and hook pages and add hidden links into the index page. When last payment received on final milestone and acceptance by customer. Turn off robot.txt file full domain exclusion. Create WebPosition profile and run initial WebPosition report. WebPosition reporter report
WebPosition Page Critic & Doorway pages (as needed)
WebPosition submitter (run submissions daily until all pages submitted) or use a submitter service. Submit manually to any additional web sites like Yahoo! Submit to affiliate directories if using an affiliate program, see AffiliateAnnounce in the Appendix of Resources
Hand submit or use SubmitIt! Setup WebTrends report for monthly stats. Use the Swiss Army App (See Appendix of Resources) to do an FFA blast to over 1000 FFA sites, award sites, search engines and directories. Give approval to client to add URL to marketing. Send press releases and announcements
Start marketing web site and business together. Copyright owner of the site should register the site with the US Copyright Office (use form TX)
Start Maintenance Cycle
(After completion of specification Exhibit B)
Enter maintenance cycle and maintain site per clients requests and bill hourly. Site updates, monthly stats, rebuilding of doorway pages, engine resubmissions. Periodically test the on-line ordering, affiliate and other forms (daily or weekly as needed)
Check web site space to make sure sites with data files, self replicated pages, etc. stay within site limits. Marketing Tips for Client
Create a Battle Plan using the 1001 Killer Marketing Tactics program (See Appendix of Resources)
Study additional Internet marketing courses (See Appendix of Resources)
Put URL on absolutely everything
Answering machine/voice mail
Front door of business
Business cards
Mini CD-ROM interactive business cards
Letterhead
Invoices, packing slips
Coffee mugs, pens, other giveaways
Brochures/flyers/posters
Ads – Yellow Pages, Classifieds, Magazines, Radio, TV, Newspaper, etc. Vehicles
All documents
Clothing (hats/shirts)
Portfolios
Contact other sites and offer link trades (tell them what’s in it for them and give them a reason to help each other)
Give incentive for others to link to you
Envelopes
Screensavers/wallpaper
E-mail signature files
Consider registering a new DBA of the domain name. Participate in related newsgroups (become a resident expert)
Manuals/books
Create an on-line newsletter (use Mailloop to send personalized bulk mailings to your opt-in list)
Send automated press releases using a press release service. See the various Internet marketing courses like Declan Dunn’s, Michael Campbell’s and IMC for in depth information on writing press releases. Answer e-mail within 24 hours
Do not send unsolicited e-mail (i.e. SPAM or UCE). Only send e-mail to people who expressly give you permission, give them an easy way to unsubscribe and a way to contact you directly including a real return e-mail address. In addition to submitting to search engines use them to search for potential customers and affiliates to contact directly
Commit to updating site periodically
Product packaging
On-line coupons, printed coupons with URL
Provide full contact information (name, address, e-mail, phone, 800 #, fax)
Make products easy to purchase on-line (give prices, on-line ordering, full disclosure of information). Register URL with at least the top 10 search engines. Consider paying the $199.00 Yahoo fee for them to look at your site within 7 days (as opposed to 7 months). Be careful doing this if it appears that the company is already listed in Yahoo (even under a different domain) as they will consider it the same company and decline to list it. It’s happened to us. Register with gte.com, Dun & Bradstreet, uswestdex.com, www.alexa.com
Market via an affiliate program
Advertise in targeted e-zines and opt-in mailing lists. Find related sites and offer sponsorships or partnerships. Consider purchasing keywords on Goto net or Microsoft real names. Write letters to the editors of major search engines requesting a review and addition to their preferred listings. If you run an affiliate program find qualified affiliates personally rather than relying on random sign ups. Offer special limited time offers only to your opt-in lists
Time your special offers to coincide with common pay periods. Are you more likely to purchase a day or two after you are paid or a day or two before? Test your marketing copy, newsletters and ads constantly, keep using what works and change what does not work. Invest small amounts of money on small tests before committing to more expensive advertisements. Consider spreading your advertising budget over multiple campaigns rather than one quick and expensive shot. Study the Internet marketing courses listed in the Appendix of Resources. E-Commerce Tips for Client
Use designated account for internet orders (check with bank for restrictions)
Consider not accepting credit card orders from people using free e-mail ([email protected]). 90% of fraudulent orders come from free e-mail addresses. There is a higher risk for non-tangibles (software, etc.). Subscription services are also high risk. Verify manually if bill to and ship to are different. Use a traceable shipping method. Use manual credit card processing with AVS verification for least risk. Tell customer who the charge on their credit card will come from when they look at their monthly statement in html and e-mailed receipts
International orders are the highest risk of all. Request phone # on back of card and manually verify. Once the product is out of the country, it’s gone. Phone the customer back on large orders, especially on 2nd day or overnight shipping
If you take Internet checks consider using the iCheck service. We wary of breaking your policies for customers on payment issues, it can be a fraudulent order (i.e. shipping to a 3rd party address that doesn’t match the credit card billing address because it is a gift). Since the merchant is the one most at risk for Internet fraud and charge backs since you do not get a signature try to get backup information. Only give your free offers and bonuses upon receipt of a filled out warranty card or have some other way to get confirmation back from the customer that they received your product. Try to resolve any problems in favor of your customer, reduce your changes of getting bad word of mouth advertising. Design Guidelines
Guidelines are only suggestions. Use what works for you and in the appropriate context and see your web development documentation for details where needed. While the systems can get complex underneath they must still appear simple on the surface. The best designs are the ones that are not noticed and do not detract from the message of the site. Background color that doesn’t obscure any text, most successful sites use a white background and black text. Put pricing on each product on that page and download document and pricing page. Use VCARD=”vCard. # # #” tags on appropriate input form fields. Keep notes on accounts, font sizes, effect settings, filter settings so you don’t forget when you have to come back and maintain a site. Keep original Adobe PSD graphics files for headers, menus, animations, etc. Do not use borders on images or most tables
Display size of all downloads such as large images, documents, java applets, executables, etc. Don’t use alt tags on visually unimportant images to assist text readers and visually impaired users. Use standard fonts like Arial or Helvetica. If using other fonts use them sparingly as graphics files. Complementary color scheme. Use Dreamweaver suggestions for complementary color schemes for text and backgrounds.
595 or 590 page width using tables centered (or even smaller to support WebTV). Use 535 pixel widths for pages intended to be printed. Do not make people scan left to right with the bottom scroll bar with wide pages. If you design on a Macintosh, test your pages using a PC. Test with as many browsers as possible (at least use Netscape and Internet Explorer). Use long and short pages in the appropriate context. Sometimes you hear that you should never have more than 1 page of text (this is more of a purist viewpoint). Some content should not be broken into multiple pages like articles, pages designed to be printed, etc. A lot of marketers swear by long sales letters and it seems to work. Just remember to know your audience and use each design as needed. Internet savvy users can easily deal with long pages, beginners generally can’t. Use 1 block quote within main table to define text margins
Spell check all text and read back for grammar
Use ALT, WIDTH, HEIGHT tags on images
Use basefont tag in page headers
Use keywords in your URL links and domain names to potentially improve search engine rankings
Automated tools like Wisebot and WebPosition can create doorway and hook pages that can improve search engine rankings. Use 1x1 pixel hidden image file on each page to hide indexable links to other pages. Use doorway pages to increase search engine ratings and use hallway pages and cross links to make sure each page of your site can be reached from each other page. This will increase the changes that search engines will spider more of your site. Add search CGI engine to each large site (optional)
Put URL in all Word/PRF documents and bottom of each web page. If someone prints a page, let them know where it came from
Put contact information on every page (web site URL, 800 #, e-mail address, postal address)
Use image slicing on large images with animated parts, only animate the portions that actually change. All pages should use appropriate templates to remain consistent. Total size of all graphics/components on a page should be 30kb or less optimally (with exceptions for important content pages). Most pages should load in 15 seconds on a 28.8 modem. With exceptions for high content pages. Specify exact pixel width of all tables
Short descriptive title on each page header (depending on site)
Use meta keyword, description, robot & author tags
Add credit card logo to front page, pricing & ordering if a commercial site depending on client. Let people know it is a commercial web site and remove all obstacles from the purchase process. Create short descriptive description tag. Create short titles consistent across site (if someone bookmarks a page make it a meaningful description)
Optimize graphics with Fireworks or ImageReady. Make link graphic use transparent gif for use on other sites with colored backgrounds
Text
Body, Arial, font size 2 or 3 (don’t use too small for main text for people w/ poor eyesight)
Headers, Arial bold, font size 2 or 3
Use tables to control text positioning & white space. Do not underline text if not a hyperlink
Page header text must be in
tags at top of page working with nav bar. Don’t upper case text; it’s hard to read. Study the “Web Style Guide” for page and text layout and design. Keep blocks of text within 9 to 12 words long. It is easier on the eye than text that goes across an entire page. Check spelling and grammar. Try writing in a way that results in an 8th grade reading level or lower when grammar checking with Microsoft Word’s spell checker. Use short words in place of long words. It makes for easier reading for everyone. Template headers
Description
Title
Keywords in library. Site Modification Tips
Adding a new page:
Start with appropriate index or content page as a template. Add content to middle table abiding by design guidelines. Update keyword list library
Update page description
Update title. Set revision date
Modify index and content pages to link the new page (see modifying below)
Update site map
Run spell checker
Upload all related page changes, graphics and components. Rebuild WiseBot search applet and upload
Test page modifications (see below). Add page to WebPosition submission mission. Modifying a page
Check out the page to be modified (i.e. don’t modify a pageif someone else has control over it, otherwise changes may beoverwritten and lost). Make modifications abiding by the design guidelines to keepthe design consistent. Update the home page new section for important additions. Run spell checker
Update revision date
Upload all related page changes, graphics and components. Test page modifications (see below). Deleting a Page
Web pages should never be deleted.Change them to redirect to another page.They may be bookmarked or indexed by external sites. Intranet pages may be deleted. Notify web master, as links may be broken. Upload all related page changes, graphics and components. Testing Pages
Test with latest versions of appropriate browsers. Test all forms
Test all plug-ins
Use LinkBot for link testing
Test for failure conditions (does it work when presented with information you don’t expect when filling out forms, does it work with cookies turned off or JavaScript disabled, etc.) Background color
Color Scheme (3)
Graphics Font 1 & Effect Settings
Graphics Font 2 & Effect Settings
RSACI Content Id
PointCast UserId/Password
Web Ring UserId/Password/SiteId
ListBot UserId/Password
FTP UserId/Password
URL
Secure URL
E-mail 1
E-mail 2
E-mail 3
E-mail 4
E-mail 5
LinkBot report location
WiseBot data file location
WebPosition profile location
WebPosition report location
Contact Info
Technical Lead
Art Director
Owner/Operator
Copyright 1999-2010, Indio Interactive Design Group
http://www.facebook.com/indiointeractivedesigngroup
Like · · Share · Delete
Press Enter to post your comment.
