Web Design for Business by Sindy Whitehead

In Today’s Presentation Hiring a Web Developer Prevent Being Ripped Off Web Site Features Web Development Process Web Site Hosting Hosting Jargon SEO Accessibility Programming Languages Questions

Hiring a Web Developer SEO W3C Validation Accessibility

Prevent Being Ripped Off Average price ~ $2,500 (depending on needs) Get detailed Bid Sheet Get official contract Get separate contract for maintenance Bring a deadline to the table & include in contract consequences of missing deadline Most of the time don’t trust friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. You register for the Domain

Some Web Site Features Blog – basically an online journal/article Podcast – your own online radio/TV program Newsletter – usually a regular Shopping Cart – how your customers buy your goods Image Gallery – like your own photo album Flash – can be animation, interactivity, video, etc.

Web Development Process - Before the First Meeting Know what you want before you go Look at competitors sites Look at similar sites to what you want The more you decide beforehand, the better Decide how much money & time is your limit If you want a shopping cart, have your credit card processing account set up

Web Development Process - At the First Meeting Make sure the Developer understands what you want and what you don’t Schedule other meetings and checkpoint deadlines Decide on a payment schedule and method

Web Development Process - After the First Meeting The Developer should draft a contract including: Requested features Costs Deadlines Meetings Payment Schedule Etc. If the Developer is doing the design as well, unless you are very specific, they should get you three or more mockups for your approval and comments

Web Development Process - During the Site Building Stay in contact with your Developer. Make sure they are on schedule and not making choices that they shouldn’t Make sure to have regular meetings

Web Development Process - After the Site Building At this point the site should be completely done and the Developer completely paid as per the contract agreement Have another meeting just to make sure all is done If a maintenance agreement hasn’t been written, then it should be discussed at this time Enjoy your new site!

Payment Methods Hourly Per Project Pay Schedules: All up front – good for them, not you Part up front, part at end – maybe, but still can be bitten All at end – good for you, not for them After checkpoints – my favorite, good for both

Hosting Jargon Bandwidth – essentially how much traffic your site can handle Domain – what your customers type into their browsers Statistics – information about your site’s traffic SQL – databases, good for collecting and storing information (like product or customer information)

Comparison of Hosting Companies GoDaddy.com bluehost.com 1and1.com Easy CGI PowWeb

SEO Link Ratings (PageRank) – how many quality links link to your site Attracting Links Affiliate Programs Web Lists AdWords Selective Wording Keywords – in URL & page titles

SEO Don’ts Meta tags help very little No hidden text No repeating words Don’t add irrelevant keywords

Accessibility No Flash for navigation Alternative text for images Text & audio alternatives for videos Test with screen readers and multiple browsers

Programming Languages HTML/XHTML – basic Web language CSS – the design PHP, JavaScript, Perl, ColdFusion, etc. – the extra features DHTML – basically the combination of XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript Flash – not actually a language, but an important Web method

Time for your Questions!

My Contact Information Sindy Whitehead Web Sites: SindyWhitehead.googlepages.com VacancyComics.com