An ‘Independent Web Advice’ Blog

The OSWD is the Open Source Web Design organisation that provides a single resource for designs that have been released for public use.

Please remember to leave any requested credits in place. It is nothing to be ashamed of, be proud of your open source designs and let everyone else appreciate them.

Paul

Running a successful web site should ultimately be fun. When you have reached your goals you realise that the work you did, the people you met and the places you visited were all part of the wonderful journey. Remember to smell the roses on your way up because the climb is better than the view!

You work and work and work over the months and years and often wonder if you are wasting your time and efforts. You are not. You are learning, developing and creating a web site that is all yours. You are investing in your own skills and talents. You are presenting a site that you are in control of. You are doing it exactly as you want it, and what could be better than that!

One day something special happens. You discover that your turnover begins to grow all by itself. A critical mass of user involvement and search engine recognition is reached where your traffic generates it’s own traffic for you. Where your users become part of your success. This is happening every day to thousands of web sites and it will happen to yours one day too.

Others will say ‘how lucky were they?’, but you make your own luck with persistance and hard work. Enjoy it while it lasts because when you have made it, your website will no longer be yours, it will be everyone’s.

Enjoy the journey,

Paul.

I often get asked by fellow web developers how to create a succesful website. Here it is in black and white without any needless explanations.

If you are not a web developer and not used to these terms, then please ignore this post. Read a bit more from Independent Web Advice.

1) Keyword Research (difficulty 9/10)

2) Domain Name (difficulty 7/10)

3) Avoid the Sandbox (difficulty 4/10)

4) Create Content (difficulty 5/10)

5) Site Design (difficulty 9/10)

6) Page Size (difficulty 2/10)

7) Usability (difficulty 6/10)

On Site Optimization (difficulty 10/10)

9) Globals (difficulty 4/10)

10) Headers (difficulty 2/10)

11) Site Map (difficulty 3/10)

12) Content (difficulty 9/10)

13) White Hat Only (difficulty 2/10)

14) Competition Analysis (difficulty 7/10)

15) Submit (difficulty 1/10)

16) Blog (difficulty 5/10)

17) Links From Other Sites (difficulty 8/10)

18) Study your traffic with statistics (difficulty 4/10)
* Where are your visitors coming from?
* Which search engines do they use?
* What queries do they type in?
* What pages on your site do they visit the most?
* What are the entry pages on your site?
* What are the exit pages?
* What path do they follow when they browse your site?

19) Look Ahead (difficulty 2/10)

20) PR and Articles (difficulty 7/10)

Good luck everyone - let me know how you get on!

Paul Drewett

Independent Web Advice.