Web Site Creation - pg 8 - Site Maps and Search Engines

By talking about site map, we are skipping ahead a bit, but it is important to have some other things in mind before you get down to coding, or WYSIWYG’ing, your web page. After promising to talk about "site map" I have done research and found out that you site map your site AFTER you create it. So, for now, we will discuss getting your site found by Search Engines. This is something to consider during every step of your page creation.

Note: I have substituted the word carrot for the <> for each page, don’t say “page 1,” “page 2,” etc. Do use very descriptive sentences, like: “Painting information from SaVanVleck” or “Native American characters in the Moon Tree books.”


2. And, don’t forget that detailed ALT text for all images, we have discussed.


3. Use your (carrot) meta name="”keywords”"> to good use with detailed information. If you will look at your WYSIWYG editor's HTML, you will find the "keywords" and "content" at the top of the page. These are two very important keys to being found by search engines.


4. Use CONTENT => also The CONTENT can also be used by search engines as your site’s description when displaying search results. These are where the lines that you see when you google come from.

Below is the AOL Google search for “www.vanvleck studio.” I do not find the AOL Google to be as thorough as a straigh search with:http://www.google.com/, but it was handy.

a href="http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/" target="_blank">pottery, painting, drawings, fairy, doll sculptures, by Sher...carrot /a>
Welcome to VanVleck Studio on-line ... Link to pottery and sculpture by Sheryl VanVleck ... Link to 2-dimensional work by Sheryl VanVleck ...www.vanvleckstudio.com/ - 11k - Similar pages

AND

http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/
Welcome to VanVleck Studio on-line
VanVleck Studio and Gallery is located in a quiet rural area in Brown County, Indiana, USA. ... On the left will be VanVleck Studio, 7873 N. Oak Ridge Road. ...
www.vanvleckstudio.com/4studio.html - 8k - Similar pages
[ More results from www.vanvleckstudio.com ]
http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/4studio.html

My INDEX page is the top search for vanvleckstudio. So, it is saying welcome (probably unnecessary and certainly non-descriptive) Link to pottery and sculpture by Sheryl VanVleck is okay. “Link to 2-dimensional work by Sheryl VanVleck” really does not tell anything about my portrait paintings in three medias. That should be more descriptive for full affect.

a. A caveat here is that search engines will ignore keywords if you repeat a given keyword too often. That means any word used more than seven (7) times, in some search engines, will be ignored.

5. I read some advice in my CoffeeCup HTML, to check out your site on Lynx, and you will see the text only version. This is good to see what the visually handicapped will see, but also good to see what words will pop-out on search engines. My vanvleckstudio.com came up thus (it is too long to copy all in here, so here is the link) seebot.org text view of http://www.vanvleckstudio.com. Suffice it to say that it is a lot of words, but perhaps not what I would intend to point out as the most important information on my site.

6. It is also said that some “well-known free hosting services” are ignored by the search engine. So, if you are serious about marketing from your web site, you should consider having it hosted. It costs me $100 a year for a basic service package from Gold Rush Hosting Solutions. There are cheaper options for hosts, but I got tired of not having someone to email when I got into trouble.

Hey, what can I say? "I got people, now."

WebPage Design for the Writer - lesson 2 - Access

When J.K. Rowling’s new site was created, it was created byAward winning website design and build, Flash design, e-commerce design and build, digital strategy, analytics consulting, se... , to be accessible to those who are disabled, blind, partially sighted, mobility impaired, deaf and cognitively-disabled.

Now, while I have not contacted Lightmaker about my site, I am pretty sure they are beyond my budget. Heck, the guy down the street is beyond my budget. But there are some things we can do to make our sites more user friendly to all. And, did you know that there is actually are guidelines ADA Home Page - ada.gov - Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The website Internet Navigation by NetNav has tips of the day and examples. Now, on dial-up, that pdf may be too much for me to wait to upload, what with my slow dial-up, so Cynthia Waddell, JD has a very straight forward section on Web Accessibility: Websites Must Be User Friendly, Handicap Accessible and Meet the American's with Disabilities Act

But, what can you do, if like me, resources are limited and you are designing the website yourself.

1. Make sure you have Alt Text for your pages. Tell your reader what they would be looking at, if they could see better, AND what you would expect them to do. This might be “Welcome to my garden. Please explore the flowers and objects you find in it.”

2. Then, every time their cursor lands on something you add, “You have entered the Marigold section. This is a link to “a game for finding gold.” Or “Collect pill bugs to get into the secret garden.”

3. Sounds can be confusing for some disabilities and for screen readers, so be sure your site allows muting the sound. Make captions for the audio too for those who are hearing impaired. This is especially important if the sound is saying something important to your site. I personally turn off sounds on my computer, normally, so I would miss these clues also. Any time I need high speed, I work at the library and it’s either turn it off or wear headphones.

4. Another thing is to make a “text only” alternate to your site. The link for this should be on your opening screen. It will not take that long to just copy the words, without the coding, that you want your viewer to read. White page, black letters make it all the easier to see and there is a site, I will give you the link next post, that can convert your site for you.

I have barely touched the surface. My site will be the best I can do, with the help of my CoffeeCup HTMLHTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software software and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). More on this next post

Next, CSS and me.