Web site
optimisation falls into three main areas:
- Browser compatibility
- Security compatibility
- Search engine optimisation
Browser compatibility:
Web browsers are the pieces of software used to
view web sites on computers. The most common browser
in the world is Microsoft's Internet Explorer
but there are a number of others such as Opera
and Netscape.
Not all browsers support all the technologies
that can be used in the creation of web sites.
In order to make web sites work correctly for
users of all the common browsers it is important
to choose the technologies used with great care.
We are acutely aware of this issue and will always
aim to deliver a web site that both meets the
client's requirements and remains fully functional
with all common browsers.
Security:
During the last couple of years security has become
a major issue with the internet. Microsoft and
others have put in place a large number of safeguards
to protect the computer users from attacks from
computer hackers, viruses and spam. The downside
to this is that some technologies that are used
by web designers for perfectly legitimate reasons
are now able to be switched off or affected by
the computer user as they can be exploited for
malicious purposes by computer hackers. Amongst
these technologies are Javascript and Flash animations.
We do feel that this is a great pity as Flash
for example can add very rich audio-visual content
to a web site. To address this issues we have
adopted a policy which is that we will use these
technologies if there is a good reason to do so.
We will however always try to provide an in built
back up within our designs so that whatever a
user does, your web site will remain fully functional
in all important aspects. Here's are an example
of what we mean:
Q. What could happen if your web site used Javascript
buttons for navigation between pages (quite a
common situation)?
A. If the computer user turns off Javascript they
will not be able to access any part of your web
site but the Home page (not much use but many
do it yourself site builder packages use this
method, we never do).
Search Engine Optimisation:
This is a complex issue but to avoid wasting your
money please read the following:
- Anybody who contacts you guaranteeing you
first page positioning on Google for a few hundred
pounds is not telling the truth. Nobody but
Google can make those sort of promises so if
you want that sort of guarantee contact Google
direct (be warned the cost of this can be very
high). The only exception to this might be if
your product or service was virtually unique
and you weren't competing for business with
thousands of others. In this situation, with
a carefully written web site, you should get
good search engine positioning without paying
anything.
- Getting good search engine positioning takes
time, luck and careful web site design. It can
take months or years to reach your optimum position
in the free rankings.
- Try to establish links from as many other
web sites as possible (known as inward links).
Google in particular rates the importance of
a web site by how many inward links it has.
- Having a news page can really help you to
make friends with search engines (they love
sites that have regular new content)
- Never try to fool search engines - they are
very clever at spotting any attempts to do so.
Your ranking can be badly affected and it is
even possible to be banned for good from Google
if you commit what they consider to be a serious
offence. An example of this is people who set
up a site that purports to sell one thing when
actually they are really trying to sell something
totally different.
These are just a few tips but there is quite
a lot more to it than that. We will always be
happy to discuss in detail the various ways of
tackling this issue. We always do our utmost to
get you good results with Search Engines by incorporating
the most up to date, legitimate practices in the
design of your web site. |
