Well I've learned a thing or two about web programming since I started, and as at least one person here is starting a new website I figured I'd post some of the "Secrets" I've learned in my tenure as webmaster:
1. Always use the .PHP extention instead of HTM or HTML. Browsers won't know the difference, and someday when you want to put dynamic content on your site you'll kick yourself for not thinking of this earlier. Don't bother with ASP; most web hosts use Apache, which uses PHP. It's possible to use Apache on a Microsoft OS, but it is not possible to use IIS on a non-Microsoft OS. So use PHP instead of ASP.
2. Use directories to your advantage. Organize your content in a logical manner. It's a real pain in the ass to do a bunch of redirects when you want to reorganize your directory structure further down the line.
3. For better search engine results, make sure each page has a title and a description and use META keywords for terms not listed in your content. Check out my
robots.txt and view the source of the Lab 64 page to see a good example of a decent HEAD section.
4. Want Google to notice you? You need to be linked from bigger sites.
5. The .htaccess file can provide compression for some files. This effectively saves a lot of bandwidth. Here's an example of a good .htaccess file:
[code:1]RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP:accept-encoding} gzip
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.gz -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ $1.gz [L][/code:1]
6. Always assign styles that are used more than once to a CSS file. If you ever want to change the look of your site you can much more easily accomplish this by changing your style sheets rather than editing every single page on your site.
7. Submit your site to DMOZ (
www.dmoz.org) and other major search engines by hand. Don't pay a service to do it for you; it's a waste of money and the other 1200 seach engines don't matter.
8. If you have some money to spend and want to jumpstart your search engine traffic, buy some Google Adwords ads and some Overture ads. Don't bid too high as your account will be depleted quickly. Also put a Google search window on your site -- this will help Google notice you in a big way.
-Jem
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