Rocketface® Workshop
Webmaster's Tutorial - Index

Webmaster's Tutorial - Main Index

Website Analysis

How to Analyze a Website - How to analyze a website is the first, and most important step, in the website design process.

• Analyze audience
  The more that you understand your audience the better are your chances of capturing their attention.

• Analyze content
  This is the big job...gathering all the content that you want to include on your website.

• Website design tips
  What are the secrets of the successful websites? Why do some websites succeed while the others fail?

• Website journal
  It is important that you maintain some sort of journal for your website. If you don't have a method of recording your ideas they may be lost forever.

• Effective communication
  The primary purpose of any website is communicating ideas and emotions that lead the visitor toward a specific goal or action.

• Target audience
  Unless you know who is visiting your website your efforts will be less successful than if the site is focused on a particular audience.

• Demographics
  Demographics and marketing sources interact in the business world. Demographics allow you to find out about and understand your customers (your visitors/your market).

• Website goals
  In order for webmasters to convey their message effectively they must have a clear idea of what they wish to communicate.

• Types of Websites
  Basic website design types on the internet; their purpose, scope and structure

Objectives:
Analyze Website

• Understanding the meaning of audience analysis.
  
  
  
• Determining the purpose of the website.
  
  
  
• Identifying your visitors, their interests and lifestyles
  
  
  
• Communicating to your target audience.
  
  
  
• An overview of the types of websites on the internet.

Website Organization

How to Organize a Website - Creating a great website requires good organization. Take the time to organize your project and the rest will fall into place.

• Balanced Webpage
  The backbone of any website are the webpages that make it up. Study the basics of webpage design and your site will take on a professional appearance.

• Balanced Webpage Layout
  No matter which alignment style you are using, keep it consistent. If you want your website to have a professional appearance all of your pages should use the same rules of alignment.

• Database Navigation
  The database or grid design of website navigation is made up of multiple main divisions and each division is linked to its own database. This type of navigation can be used effectively when large amounts of data are required in the website design.

• Hierarchical Navigation
  The hierarchical design goes from the general to the specific; from a home page to main sections to subsections and databases. The goal of any hierarchical navigational system is to offer the user a clear and simple way to access all pages in a site.

• Linear Navigation
  Linear navigation is used for a website where you want the visitor to go from one step to another in a particular order. This is usually used within a website but seldom as a stand alone design.

• Focal Point
  You must present a focal point on each page that draws the eye to the main topic of the page and make it easy for your visitors to decide if this is the information that they are seeking.

• HTML Editors
  There are many HTML editors to choose from some of them are free while others cost varying amounts. But, it is best to learn the basics of HTML.

• Poor Webpage Layout
  Poor webpage layout will result in a poor website. Among the biggest mistakes webmasters make is the improper use of alignment.

• Titles Tags Links
  In your HTML coding, meta tags and links should always provide a descriptive title for your web pages. . .and they should reflect what's on that particular page.

• Unbalanced Layout
  If the arrangement of the text and graphics on a webpage is boring there is nothing to interest the eye. Even with good graphics it would be difficult to make this type of page look professional.

• Webpage Design
  You want to use contrast to guide the eye around your pages. And, to be effective, the contrast must be bold. Also, any good web page design must have a focal point.

• Webpage Hotspots
  When a webpage is being viewed there are some universal reactions by your visitors to be considered. Certain areas of a webpage stand out to most people who will visit your website.

• Webpage Layout
  If you follow certain basic rules for your webpage layouts both you and your visitor will be happy. Stay consistent with the following rules of page layout and your website will take on a professional appearance.

• Webpage Specials
  A webpage should not overwhelm the visitor with unnecessary animations, flash novelties or music. All of these things can detract from the content of your page.

• Website Basic Layout
  A website is composed of three main divisions. They are the homepage, main sections and subsections.

• Website Content
  Content can do more to build your business and profits than just about any other resource or service available. Content is the key to the perfect website.

• Website Navigation
  It is important to have a clear idea of your navigational system before you organize your website. Help your visitors find the information they need with the least number of clicks.

• Website Sections
  Determining and naming the main sections of your site is very important. Sections should contain material grouped according to visitor needs.

• Website Structure
  Now we're going to look at the overall structure of a website. This is different from the individual pages within the site (i.e. content). The structure of your site is composed of the different sections of your website and navigation within those sections.

• Website Theme
  What you are doing, with a theme, is providing cohesiveness to your site - letting visitors know they are still in the same place no matter what section they are viewing.

• White Space
  White space refers to the blank areas around your text and graphics. It is not the color white. It provides a way to group text and graphics into blocks so that the eye can follow the flow of information.

Objectives:
Organize Website

• Understanding the importance of organization.
  
  
  
• Determining the structure of a website.
  
  
  
• Designing website content.
  
  
  
• Organization of the website layout.
  
  
  
• Planning the website navigation scheme.
  
  
  
• Developing a theme for a website.
  
  
  
• Organization of the website content.
  
  
  
• Determining the web page layout.
  
  
  
• Learning basic webpage design.

Website Development

How to Develop a Website - The development of a website should be a complete and deliberate process. You will have many files and graphics that support your site and they need to be kept organized as you develop your website.

• Sitemap Construction
  By providing your visitors a sitemap you help them to focus on the subject matter that they are most interested in. Your sitemap is an important element of your website navigation scheme. Every website should have a sitemap.

• Webpage Construction
  To produce continuity on your website as well as make navigation easier, break what you see on the screen into areas such as header, footer, body, links, and images. Put the same information in the same areas on each page. This is a prerequisite to professional webpage construction.

• Website Assembly
  Website assembly is best performed in logical steps. If you keep the essential elements of your website design in an organized pattern the work will go much faster. Here is a list of such steps to get you started.

• Website Construction
  The techniques used in the constructing the physical site itself can add a professional touch to your work. This can be accomplished by the use of consistent elements throughout the site and the application of certain basic rules.

• Typography and Website Design - Fonts
  Using the proper type fonts to create a professional looking website

• Typography and Website Design - Style
  How to use uppercase, bold, italic, underlined, subscript and superscript text as well as font color and size.

• Typography and Website Design - Layout
  Arranging your web page text to make every word count

• Website Graphics
  When creating or selecting graphics, keep in mind that you want your pages to load quickly . Web users will not wait to see what's on your website if it takes over 30-45 seconds to load and display the first page.

• Web Safe Colors
  Limiting your graphics and text colors to what is called the saftey palette or web-safe palette.

• Website Templates - A great way to start your website is to use a ready-made website template. This is especially true if you are new to web page layout and graphics techniques in general.

• Writing for the Web
  Content is one of the most valuable things you can focus on during development of your website.

Objectives:
Develop Website

• Understanding the importance of the website outline.
  
  
  
• Review the basics of website construction.
  
  
  
• How to use website templates.
  
  
  
• Planning the website presentation.
  
  
  
• Creating a site map

Website Implementation

How to Implement a Website - Here we will be dealing with the final checkout and uploading of the website.

• Fine Tune Website - You've organized your files, created the directories and uploaded your web pages. Once your site is online, the first thing you should do is go through each and every page as a visitor would, checking to make sure all the graphics are displaying and the links work.

• FTP Final Checklist - Before you upload your web pages to the Internet, there are a few things you should check.

• FTP Website - FTP stands for "file transfer protocol" and it is a method of transferring files between two computers. FTP allows you to get access to files stored in the disk directory of a remote computer that is connected to the Internet.

• Upload Organization - When you are ready to put your site online, be sure and use directories to organize the different components of your website. If you are going to design/create more than one website, have a separate directory folder for each site.

• User Interaction - How will visitors interact on your website? Your first response might be that they don't really need to interact with you, this is not true. Interactivity is the key to engaging your guests in a dialogue, silent or active, that leads them in to taking an action.

• Implementing Website Links - It is a common practice for a webmaster to provide links to other sources of information. By so doing they expand the range of knowledge for anyone visiting their site and increase the value of their own website as a source of informational authority.

Objectives:
Implemant Website

• Understanding the meaning of user interactivity.
  
  
  
• Uploading the website to the internet.
  
  
  
• Implementing a final checklist.
  
  
  
• How to fine tune a website.

Website Maintenance

Maintaining a Website - Maintaining a website is just as important as building it in the first place! Unfortunately, most designers put much more effort into the initial design and launch of a site than they do in keeping the content fresh and keeping the site growing to best serve all visitors.

• Links Tracking - Tracking the visitors who surf you're website is essential if you want to provide them with the content that they are looking for.

• Marketing Website - Your website should not be a passive thing; Web sites should generate activity and this activity is the key to successful marketing.

• Viral Marketing - The term "viral marketing" refers to the idea that people will pass on and share with others content that is interesting and entertaining.
  
  
• Link Baiting - Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.
  
  
• Website Promotion - There are four main types of websites, each one gains traffic through a different method.
  
  
• Product Sales - Because of the reach and interactivity of the Web it has become possible for people like you and me to earn some cash right in the privacy of our own homes.
  
  

• Affiliate Programs - Affiliate programs are among the simplest methods to earn revenue with your website. Basically all you need is a website and some strategically placed ads provided by the sponsor and you are on your way.

• Online Services - Information is the number one best-selling product on the Internet. If you have developed an interesting or informative ebook, service or program then you should consider selling it on the Web.

• Optimize Website - Search engine optimization is crucial to your traffic flow. Having your website listed on the first page of a search engines results will give you maximum exposure. And, the closer you are to the top of the page the greater the number of visitors you will receive.

• Using Keywords - Keywords are truly the keys to being well ranked on search engines. These tips and tricks will help you use the right keywords in a way that they can increase your standings in on-line searches.
  
  

• Keyword Density Analyzer - Keyword density analyzer for webpage analysis. Analyze your webpages for proper keyword density.
  
  
• Content - The following guidelines are geared to the Internet and the visitors who will be reading your website content.
  
  

• Content Optimization - Using your website content to optimize for Web searches is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site. Content is the heart and soul of any website and correctly applying a few simple rules will make it more valuable to your visitors.
  
  

• Boost Traffic with Content - Content can do more to build your business and profits than just about any other resource or service available.
  
  

• Website Traffic Analysis - Every time someone visits your website information like their IP address, time and date of access and error messages are recorded into log files that are saved on your servers (i.e. your web hosts) computer. These files can be used to analyze your website traffic.

• Increasing Website Traffic - Are you aware of how vitally important and valuable CONTENT is to your online business? In fact, content can do more to build your business and profits than just about any other resource or service available.
  
  

• ROR RSS Sitemap Generator - ROR/RSS sitemaps describe the content and meaning of your website to the search engines
  
  
• Website Maintenance Plan - A recommended sequence of tasks, that if performed regularly, will keep your website vibrant and growing.
  
  

• Summary - Webmasters Tutorial - By now you have a good understanding of what it takes to create a website and the elements that make one up. If you apply what you have learned here you will have a website that is above the average. And, in time you will enjoy the bounties of the World Wide Web.

Objectives:
Maintain Website

• Understanding the importance of website maintenance.
  
  
  
• Selling the website.
  
  
  
• Optimizing the website.
  
  
  
• How to track your visitors.
  
  
  
• Summary