ToolBox

Grid Layout for Websites

Guide to Becoming a Better Web Designer

SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a marketing dicipline focused on growing visability in organic (non-paid) search engine results.Why do I need to know this?

    ♦ Improve rankings ♦ drive traffic ♦ Find the keyword(s) that generate traffic ♦ Majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines ♦Major Search Engines are Google, Bing and Yahoo ♦ Primary method of navigation for most web users ♦ Provides target traffic ♦ Helps to provide publicity, revenue and exposure ♦ engines employ mathmetical equations to sort and then rank by popularity ♦ If all else failes you can find a company that specializes in nothing but SEO www.bigoakinc.com source credit https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

    ♦ALT TAG: Tagging your photos with a proper ALT tag

    ♦QUALITY CONTENT: Write content for your visitors, not for the search engine. Search engines, like google, are moving toward being familiar with language meant for users.

    ♦SITE SPEED: The faster your site loads, the more search engines will pick it up

    ♦MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS: Responsive design is ideal for mobile optimization.

    ♦INTERNAL LINKING: Linking to other sites within your body copy gives users more reading material, improves your ranking for certain keywords, and helps make your site trustworthy by allowing Google to crawl and index the links on your site

    ♦META DESCRIPTIONS: Meta descriptions are short descriptions of a page that increase the chances people will click on your link.

    ♦TITLE TAG: Short description of your site within the head tags that are in the search engine results. These should be the most important words in your site description.

    ♦DOMAIN NAMES: It is best to have a domain free of hyphens, to use sub-directory root domains (tellygrobstein.com/prompts/seo) instead of subdomains (seo.tellygrobstein.com), and to make sure that if you advertise your site without the www. that your site is still accessible with it, otherwise it will be categorized as two different sites

    ♦HEADLINES: Be sure they are short, concise, and to the point. Avoid headlines that are "bait", or that promise content that isn't there.

    ♦SOCIAL MEDIA: Being involved in as many social media channels as you can keep up with is also vital. It's important to update these channels in a genuine manner instead of just having a presence, as it is more meaningful.

    Research credited to Telly source credit Telly's ToolKit

    Facebook link on your clients Website?

    YES ... Build a relationship with your customers. Drive sales using Facebook advertizing. Engage your customers and influence your prospects. Having a website link to Facebook is beneficial to keep people updated. What kind of updates are useful? - sale prices - showtimes for upcoming movies or performances - new products - new services building social proof.com YouTube Tutorial how to set up your facebook business page in 8 easy stepswww.businessbankoftexas.com

    Bootstrap

    Bootstrap is very similar to other web design programs. They have set templates or themes, you can source code it yourself or you can download Sass. I'm not sure about Sass. I feel I could customize my site better with source code. I also learned to download the 1.11 version is best for all digital devices.Common themed bootstrap website 1bite2go.com A customized bootstrap website yourkarma.com

    Simple and Complex CMS Sites

    Simple CMS Sites

    Surrealcms.com

    To sign up you must connect to the website using FTP. Clients' edits are tracked and they can only edit the portions that are labeled class="editable". Surrealcms.com

    GetKirby.com

    To many steps to list. This site was very confusing and messy code. You can store files on this site for free but once you enter production a $35.00 license fee will be needed before the site goes live. Getkirby.com

    Cushycms.com

    This site is a lot better. The Demo was easy to follow, no software to install and the editing reminds me of Word. Upgrade and go PRO for $28.00 a month. Cushycms.com

    Complex CMS Sites

    Drupal.com

    Suitable for advanced users, requires technical knowledge, not backward compatible and harder to troubleshoot. Drupal.com

    Typo3.org

    This site is free and great for large news sites. This comes with community support. The problems I have found are steep learning curve for begginers,not straight forward. Allow extra time for training. Typo3.org

    Silverstripe.com

    This site is best for experienced coders. They have a well documented code base, but you might have a steep learning curve with fewer plug ins and themes than most cms site choices. Silverstripe.com

    Wordpress Websites

    A new challenge. I am trying out a quicker way to build a website. This is not as easy as it looks. Check out my new site by clicking the link below to Grandmas Giggles.

    Grandmas Giggles website

    Responsive Websites

    While working on a responsive website, keep mind to have clear content, keep it simple, design for touch, keep download time in mind and DO NOT use HOVER options.

    Grid Layout

    Persona of a web designer

    Grids help with layout, flow and ORDER!

    PERSONA

    Persona of a web designer

    "A persona is a fictional, yet realistic, description of a typical or target user of the product. A persona is an archetype instead of an actual living human, but personas should be described as if they were real people."

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