Internet Marketing Library
» Web Site Design & Development
» Search Engine Marketing & Positioning
» Web Site Design & Development
Builder.com: Beyond the Code
Builder.com is an excellent resource for the more experienced on-line businessperson offering up-to-the-minute information on various platforms, business integration, project management and what you should look for in the way of support services. This site also offers impartial, informational articles written by e-commerce professionals that will help you avoid common (and costly) mistakes, low-cost site optimization tips and suggestions on establishing productive, on-going relationships with outside providers. A good starting point for those looking to move to the next level of e-commerce, Builder.com will better equip you to present your business needs to your partners at W3 EDGE.
c|net
Cnet.com is an invaluable, on-line “newspaper” focusing on the world of e-business, providing reviews of hardware and software, updates on site development protocols, and the latest news on improving your site’s appearance, usefulness, PageRank and other ‘must-know’ factors to get more for your design and hosting dollars. Cnet.com also provides a forum for Web site owners, Web masters, ISPs and other industry players. Finally, this site offers special sales and great prices on the latest gadgets being used by your potential customers so that you can ascertain what steps are needed to expand access to your site — everything from bandwidth to the integration of cell phone technology and how it can increase your sales. Bookmark this site and visit regular for updates.
Digital Web Magazine
More a magazine than a website, Digital Web Magazine provides a fully-loaded archive of articles on topics of interest to the entire e-commerce community — from site owners to designers, hosts to optimizers. Recently, titles such as “The Zen of CSS Design” have been published for review. Think of it as a site for e-commerce insiders written by e-commerce insiders. Worth a bookmark and regular check in.
Dynamic Drive: DHTML scripts for the real world
The source for the latest on DHTML scripting, providing key information on this script format to enhance: site navigation and menus, visitor/user preferences, outbound links, easily-updated calendars of upcoming events, dynamic, interactive content, animated text and graphics and even DHTML-based games to keep visitors coming back. Dynamicdrive.com also provides recommended readings on development using DHTML scripting for do-it-yourselfers. A valuable resource for site owners to learn more about the options available to them for discussion with their site design partners at W3 EDGE.
webmonkey: The Web Developer’s Resource
Webmonkey is the place to start if you’re just starting out. This site offers invaluable info for the novice site builder. Want to learn how HTML works? What it is? How to write HTML scripting using nothing more than your word processor? This is the place to go. There are broad section heads on site design, integration of graphics and text fonts, programming ‘how-tos’, information on the latest versions of the most popular authoring software, info on DHTML, XML and other innovations being used by site designers today. Before you contract with any design firm, checkout Webmonkey to learn what you don’t know because what you don’t know can cost you $$$$$.
HotScripts.com
This site, plain and simple, is a time-saver for code writers. ASP, Java, CGI, Perl, XML, PHP — this site has thousands of scripts in a variety of formats for easy download. Moreover, new scripts are added daily so bookmark and drop by every few days. You’re sure to find something that’ll save some time on your next site or game design project.
SitePoint: Empowering Web Developers Since 1997
Want to go to Web site design school? Sitepoint.com is the place to go. This information-packed site offers tutorials on software development packs, HTML and XHTML tutorials, design and layout advice, the basics of design, tips and tricks and articles written by pros who are actually walking the walk and talking the talk. The tutorials are simple to understand and downloadable. The news is up-to-date and the interviews section contains feedback from readers, which adds different perspectives to each news article or interview. Highly recommended for the beginner who wants to learn the ABCs of site design and optimization without paying a bazillion dollars for the information. Also, this site provides the background information you’ll need to discuss your business and marketing models with your site design firm and ISP. Highly recommended — and it’s fun, too.
SourceForge: The world’s largest Open Source software development website
Sourceforge.org is the largest, open source software development site on the Web with over 1 million subscribers. For an annual subscription fee of $39, you can access the latest open source codes and applications for use on your site. In addition, Sourceforge publishes news from Web industry pros and impartial reviews of the latest software and updates. Well worth the price of admission for site designers and developers, though probably a little more technical than the novice designer requires. Still worth a bookmark.
TechRepublic: Real World. Real Time. Real IT.
Talk about one-stop shopping! Techrepublic.com has everything for the IT (information technology) professional. From this one site, you can link to 40 different newsletters delivered to your e-mail in-box. You can find the answer to just about any IT question anyone’s ever come up with. There are more than 1,200 downloadable tools to simplify the majority of IT tasks and links to more than 50,000 white papers and 10,000 articles by CIOs and IT professionals on the pros and cons of all discussion points within the IT arena. A ‘must-be-book-marked’ site for all IT personnel. You can also post your thoughts on what’s happening with IT today.
W3 Schools: The Best Things in Life Are Free
No need for expensive tutorials or school tuition for the latest in site design and development. W3schools.com is an on-line school with course descriptions and resources to match the best IT schools out there. HTML, XHTML, CSS, TCP/IP, XSL, XSLT, SOAP, RDF — even if this is nothing more than alphabet soup to you, it won’t be for long. The tutorials are top-notch, simple to understand and updated regularly. Without a doubt, one of the most helpful, educational and important Web sites for anyone thinking about site development for themselves or their clients.
The World Wide Web Consortium: Leading the Web to Its Full Potential
Open standards has become an important concept in recent years as the Web extends its global reach. Open standards are rules and regs of site design and implementation designed to bring uniformity to the Web. W3 has been at the forefront of the movement with the introduction of interoperable applications, standards, specifications and programming architecture. The importance of this, to the small (or large) site owner is adaptability — how easily you can update your site, move from one ISP to another, adapt to the next big thing (which should take place in, oh, 10 minutes, if history is any guide). The valuable work being done at W3.com is intended to avoid the VHS vs. beta fiasco that split the video market as two tech giants fought for market share. W3 is working to standardize Web design to avoid expensive re-dos down the line, to save site owners’ money and to provide uniform standards to enhance future software development. Lots of information, how-tos, discussions and more for those interested in the future of Web technology.
About.com
Webdesign.about.com is About’s webzine and, in fact is set up much like the traditional magazine. Targeted primarily at the beginner-intermediate Web designer, this site offers excellent webzine fare including: free web templates, free XHTML modules, buyer’s guides to help you choose the right design/development software and hardware — something you don’t see often. Are you going to need a gargantuan hard drive to be a Web designer? How about backup to avoid costly crashes? There are also free reference manuals (always good for the novice), new product reviews and articles taken from today’s headlines. Lots of free stuff, valuable information and the latest in design technologies and trends. Check it out now and then for some free downloads.
The Webby Awards
The movies have the Oscars, music has the Grammys, Broadway has the Tonys and the Internet has the Webbys where you can link to all the nominees and winners from last year’s awards. There are many different categories including: Humor, Activism, Living, Games (stay clear of this one or you’ll waste at least 2 hours), Music, Net Art, News, Politics — you get the idea. It’s great fun and you can see how the best are judged. These are the sites that set the bar, so know what you’re shooting for with a visit to this site.
» Search Engine Marketing & Positioning
Bruce Clay Inc.: Internet Business Consultants
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is absolutely critical to the success of your e-business. It’s how visitors find your site. Now, you can have the best site on the Web, but if nobody knows about it, what good does it do? This site offers suggestions and advice (free) and consultation ($$$) on this key aspect of Web success. What’s most critical is that, as a site owner, you keep up to date on the changes in search engine algorithms, the formulas used by Google, Yahoo, MSN and all other search engines to determine where your site will appear on the search results page. If your site’s buried on by 66, you aren’t going to get much traffic given that most users never get past the first page of search results. A niche site, but one you can’t afford to skip.
KeywordRanking.com
Keyword ranking continues to play an important role in determining the PageRank of your site. Keywordranking.com provides valuable information on keyword rankings and provides search marketing tips and services. From this site, you can analyze the keyword density of your site, develop a list of associated key words and, you can sign on for the site’s pay-per-click (PPC) placement and maintenance — an inexpensive means to increase site traffic in which you only pay for click throughs. Important stuff for the new site owner looking to aggressively increase PageRank without blowing the budget out the backdoor.
Google: Information for Webmasters
A small but useful site, this is Google’s answer to everything you ever wanted to know about Web site design but didn’t know who to ask. Very basic information on SEO, but the anchor text contains lots of useful links where additional and more detailed information can be found. A good starting point for those just starting out.
SEO Consultants Directory
A one-stop directory of companies that specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and SEM, Search Engine Marketing. Going to the local ad agency in town isn’t going to get you the specialized experience SEO/SEM companies bring to the table and you can find the best firms all in one place — on this site. You can search using a number of criteria: state, country, language, company name and so on. If you don’t use a developer/designer, but instead, decide to farm out all of the work yourself, this is the place to find the SEO company to fit your budget and your needs.
SEO Today
Seotoday.com is a repository of SEO-specific articles written by those in the trenches, SEO companies, SEO software tools for refining your optimization efforts and a discussion section on issues facing the SEO professional. If your business is SEO, book mark this site. If you’re just SEO curious, read a few of the archived articles for a quick overview of this new and flourishing business.
Search Engine Optimization Tips
An introductory site with information on common site design problems, the importance of keyword selection, title tags, meta tags and, most interesting, a lengthy section on the things you shouldn’t do in building and linking your site. You can find this information on other sites, but the convenience for the beginner can’t be beat here.
WebSiteOptimization.com: Higher traffic and speed guaranteed.
Websiteoptimization.com takes a different slant on optimization issues, examining the problems visitors encounter once they locate your site. For example, page weight — the amount of time it takes for your home page and other landing pages to download is an overlooked by undeniably important factor in just how many visitors will wait through the 30 second download time for your homepage to appear (approximately 5% — that’s all!). Tips, suggestions and services for reducing page weight and increasing your site’s conversion rate — the rate at which visitors become customers — by making your site comfortable, fast and easy to navigate.
WhosClickingWho.com: Pay-Per-Click Auditing Service
It’s a jungle out there in cyberspace and rip-offs and the complete moral breakdown of our society can be seen in this microcosm. Pay-per-click is a means by which start-up, on-line businesses gain rapid exposure by posting the site info on appropriate sites and paying that site for each ‘click through’ to your site. Sounds good and only costs pennies per visitor, right? Okay, but what if your competitors are clicking through, just to deplete your marketing budget. Or, what if the site owners where your site is listed are generating click throughs and income at the same time. This site offers audited tracking services for virtually every SE this side of Neptune so you can be sure you’re getting what you pay for with your PPC program.
WordTracker: The Ultimate Tool to Increase Your Website Traffic
You’ve got the best site on the Web, you’re linked to all the big SEs and still no traffic. It could be as simple as your keyword selection. Choose the wrong keywords and your site won’t even show up on the results page. This site provides keyword advice — selecting the right keywords, the keywords users are entering right now. Keyword searches change constantly which means you need to constantly check to make sure you’re using the optimum keywords for optimum results. You’ll find, suggestions and services at this site when you can’t figure out why your competitors are eating your lunch.