Cosmic's Webmaster Tools Presentation

Webmaster Tools

Today we are going to be looking at some of the skills and tools you will need if you are going to run your own website successfully.
Although we will touch on SEO, this is more about the look and feel of your actual website.

What you need to have a website?

What makes a website?
Domain name
A domain name is what people type into a browser to find your website – it is commonly known as a website address
Eg www.cosmic.org.uk
Hosting
All websites are hosted on servers. A server is a computer you rent to store the code that makes your website, when people type in the domain, the computer ‘serves’ the site.
Code
All website are made using html code which an internet browser converts into a rendered graphical website.

Code example
<p>To order, phone +44 (0) 1784 450801 or <a href="mailto:enquiries@johnmillerupholstery.com">email John</a>.</p>
</div>
<div id="mainContent">
<p class="noTopPadding"><img class="mainPhoto" src="fusiondining.jpg" width="400" height="275" border="0" name="imgPhoto" alt="Main photo" /></p>
<h1 id="caption">Fusion Suite</h1>
<p id="price">Fusion Dining Set</p>
<p id="price">High quality specialists in antique & modern re-upholstery</p>
<p id="price">Manufacturers of fine furniture</p>
<p id="price">Loose covers, Sofas & Chairs, Wing Chairs, Corner Units, Headboards, Stools etc</p>
<p id="price">Boats, Cars, Pubs, Clubs & Restaurants</p>

Rendered website

Set up costs
£25,000 plus
£5,000 plus
£1,000 plus
Or look at web products that also include a shop function in their offering
£100 - £200 a page
£60- £100 a page
Free or up to £100 a year

Two ways to get a website
Get someone to build it
Something that is really different
Really technical
Consider updates and ongoing contract
Build it yourself
Online web builder – SitesPlus
Blog platform – WordPress

Email
When you buy website hosting, it often comes with free email hosting as well.
You can appear more professional by having emails linked to your domain name such as timevans@cosmic.org.uk and sales@cosmic.org.uk rather than mysales@hotmail.com
There are several ways to then access this email.
POP3, post office protocol, a piece of software on your computer connects to a box on the internet and picks up your email that is waiting there. (Can be computer or mobile based)
Webmail, your emails are stored online, you can access them from any computer to send and receive mail.
IMAP, a combination of POP3 and Webmail, where both are synchronised so can be accessed from any device and will look the same
Forwarding

Content

Content
It has been said that content is king.
Getting people to visit your site is all about marketing (online and off) and search engine optimization.
Once you get them to your site, it is the content that keeps them there.
People are looking for content rich sites.
Remember your keywords

Content
Types of content to think about
Text
Pictures
Video
RSS Feeds
Maps

Writing content well
Short sentences
Short paragraphs
Ensure consistency
Include your keywords
Paragraph headings bold

Enhancing scanning
Before
Ordering flowers online with us is fast, easy and secure. We use Google checkout for all payment processing so you can have piece of mind when ordering.
We provide a free delivery service on all products to anywhere in mainland UK, for next day delivery please order by 2pm.
Artificial/silk flowers can be used for all occasions from Weddings, Corporate events, birthdays, Christmas or as a Thank you.
Our funeral flowers have been thoughtfully designed and are available in a wide range of colours and shapes representing a feeling of love, peace and comfort at this sad time.

After
Flowers online
Ordering flowers online with us is fast, easy and secure. We use Google checkout for all payment processing so you can have piece of mind when ordering.
Flower delivery
We provide a free delivery service on all products to anywhere in mainland UK, for next day delivery please order by 2pm.
Artificial / Silk flowers
Artificial/silk flowers can be used for all occasions from Weddings, Corporate events, birthdays, Christmas or as a Thank you.
Funeral flowers
Our funeral flowers have been thoughtfully designed and are available in a wide range of colours and shapes representing a feeling of love, peace and comfort at this sad time.

Tracking views

Have a go
Have a go at re-writing your home page
Copy the text off your home page into Word
Separate out paragraphs
Highlight keywords
Look at what’s missing? (Review each others?)

Pictures

Pictures
If your site has a lot of text, pictures can provide a way to break this up while retaining interest.
It can also give a much better grasp of a product/room/view
When you take pictures remember to look at the background
If many pictures – consider www.flickr.com to create free slideshows

Have a go
Take one of the images from your website (right click – save picture as)
Go to www.picnik.com upload photo
Use the tools to improve a photo (add a frame and some text?)
Check out the stickers tool too
Remember to save once finished!

Video
Having video on your site can make it seem much more engaging
You can use YouTube to host and stream video’s for no extra cost
These video’s can then be embedded on your website
You can also gain extra traffic from YouTube

Movie Maker
Windows movie maker is a free video editing program that comes as a part of windows xp and newer.
With movie maker you can combine video clips, add captions and effects, to make your video more effective.
Lets edit some video.

Movie maker tips
To add some clips to work with, click import video clips and browse to where the files are located
You can now drag this video down to the timeline / storyboard
You can then import another video to add
Once you have arranged the videos in the order you want you can edit them
To clip parts of a video clip simply select the video in the timeline (show timeline if needed) and drag the ends of the video in
You can add video transitions between clips using the storyboard view
You can also add video effects to the clip such as blur and rotate.
Lastly you can add titles and credits (such as website address)
Once done be sure to click save to my computer

What to do with your movie
Once you have your movie you need to upload it to youtube
Sign up for a free account at www.youtube.com
Once verified, click upload then upload video and browse to your file
While it is uploading think of a good title (think keywords) and description including link to your website (it needs to be in the format: http://www.mysite.com )
When it is uploaded you can now embed your video onto your website (click share then embed, be sure to uncheck show related videos)
Be sure to check back on youtube every few weeks and look at the stats (click on small graph bottom right of video clip)

Have a go
Take the wildlife video clip, cut it into many parts, add some titles and save the video
Upload it to you tube

Really Simple Syndication
A good way to make your site look current is to embed some RSS feeds.
RSS or really simple syndication is a way of taking someone else’s content in a feed and displaying it on your own website.
Why not add the local weather to your website?

Embedding

Embedded example

Have a go
Using Google try and find an interesting rss feed or widget/gadget you can use
Eg type “traffic rss feed” and look at the results
What can you find?

Twitter feeds
In the same way you can have a twitter feed on your website

Maps
Lastly, why not have a real time map that clients can use to get directions to you.
Enter your postcode into maps.google.co.uk and click the paperclip top right
Copy the html code to paste into your website
http://www.digitalmentors.org.uk/contact.php

Update

Update your content
Keeping your website up to date is very important
This will ensure that Google has the most up to date version cached
You can see how often Google checks your site by clicking on cache when searching for your website

Content Plan
It is a good idea to plan out over a year what content you are going to add to your website
This way you can make updates to a schedule and keep people interested
Try and plan monthly or fortnightly updates and put them in the diary

New Content
Try to think of new content that you can add to your site to make it interesting
Having a blog, or using someone else’s (with permission) related to your industry
Adding reviews of local attractions or related equipment

Harvest information
Subscribe to newsletters, save interesting information, and recycle by reposting later
Create a Google reader account, and subscribe to relevant feeds, then use this current information to help you formulate new content
Gathering information from anywhere to help your content generation – leaflets, paper etc.

Web Critique

Web Critique
Use the following link to do a 30 second critique of a website:
http://bit.ly/webcrit
Think as a user not the creator

Web Critique
When you are looking at a website to critique it, there is almost an endless list of things to think about:
Do you feel an emotional connection?
Does the site replace the senses?
Does it tap into desires (wants not needs)?
Does it encourage you to buy into the lifestyle?
Are the images clear?
Do all the links work?
Is the text readable?
Are there any spelling mistakes?
Does the tone of the text sound right?

Web Critique
Are there any spelling mistakes?
Does the tone of the text sound right?
What would your next page be after this?
Does the website reflect the quality of the product?
Think of 4 words that describe the brand based on what you have seen on the website.

Web Critique
We are now going to do a web critique
We are going to pull up a website, and all critique it using the form.
Then using this information you will write a content plan to put these suggestions into practice

Keep your Aims
Think of the aim of your website constantly and keep thinking about it all through the process

If you want more
Why not check out Google Webmaster Tools
http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Other tools
Google Analytics (for stats on website access)
Google Adwords (pay by click for website traffic)
Google documents, free document creation and sharing (useful for harvesting details)
http://www.tawdis.net/ an accessibility checker (ignore that it is in Spanish!)
http://www.dmoz.org/ a human verified directory listing

Cosmic's Webmaster Tools Presentation

by cosmicuk on Jul 27, 2011

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Cosmic’s Webmaster Tools Presentation — Presentation Transcript