I don’t really like paying for things. Actually, that’s not quite true, I’ll pay for things if I need to but I’d rather get it for free (or at least at a discount price). Some of the best free stuff comes off the internet so rather than pay for some expensive software, why not do it the EWD way: for nothing. Here’s my handy-dandy guide to all the free stuff you can use to build and maintain your website. Read the rest of this post…

I like being outside in the fresh air. In fact most of my holidays are spend wandering around varoius countries in thew world. But there are occasions when I need to communicate with the rest of the world. And a mobile phone or a PDA helps. The problem is, many websites don’t work too well on a mobile device. And with an increase in the number of mobile internet users, that’s a big potential market you can’t really ignore. So here’s a checklist for getting mobile:

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There are certain topics and concepts that keep cropping up during discussions about search engine optimisation (SEO). One of these is the use of metatags. Let’s get one thing clear, there is no SEO advantage in the use of metatags – the search engines may index their contents but they won’t help to improve your ranking. So why bother? The answer is simple, to increase the number of visitor to your website. Let me explain.

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Without really trying I have managed to achieve a very good ranking for the keywords ‘website navigation guidelines’ and it’s variants. I was quite pleased with my achievement until I carried out some analysis on the site. Despite the great ranking, most of the traffic arrives via a strange mix of search terms. Which has led me to out of my keyword comfort zone and into the unknown world of user behaviour.

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An question was asked recently on the Cre8asite forum about some of the Acronyms used relation to search engines. It made me think again about the terminology I use daily and realize that not everybody speaks the same language when it comes to the subject of SEO.

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Do you use forms on your website? Are they the only way to get to the content? Even a simple dropdown list of categories will stop the indexing robots in their tracks. Matt Cutts offers some advice on how to unlock your content and allow the spiders to do their business:

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I’ve climbed and walked along some pretty treacherous pathways over the years but this is somewhere you really don’t want to be unless you really need to go there:

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When I’m not busy doing all the other stuff that fills up my day, I like to play adventure games. I can’t shoot, I’m rubbish at kicking and catching so the adventure game is my thing. A much more sedentary but cerebral activity. It is something you can do at your leisure, picking up where you left off and trying that locked door again in the vain hope it has become unlocked since you last played.

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The whole aim of this site is to help people build effective websites. But do you really know what an effective website is? Is is the design, the coding, the technology, the images, the copy? The answer is much simpler, an effective website is one that meets the customers needs. A visitor to a website is looking for information about products or services, to be entertained or to socialize. The layout, the colours, graphics and even the speed of loading are secondary to these needs.

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Somebody asked for a review of their website the other day. The site itself was fine but all sorts of alarm bells started to ring when I investigated their domain. What we had was a UK based site with a .tv TLD, hosted in the USA. The result was that the site didn’t appear in UK only searches.

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