Introduction to running a website
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The document provides a comprehensive guide for setting up a website, covering essential topics such as choosing a domain name, selecting hosting options, and improving search engine visibility. It highlights the importance of web accessibility and usability, referencing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and testing tools. The document also underscores the need for user testing and understanding the target audience to optimize website performance.
Introduction to running a website
- 1. Introduction to running a website Adam Lake Where do I start? What should I think about?
- 2. Setting up the best website
- 3. Choosing the right domain name
- 4. Domain names • These are the names associated with websites (eg. bbc.co.uk) • Can be registered for a fee via a number of registrars (eg. 123-reg, GoDaddy, UKReg, 1&1, Easily, DNSimple) • Consider the most appropriate extensions for your site • A lot of new TLDs are being released by ICANN (eg. .shop) • Consider protecting your brand with defensive registration • Check the renewal fee • Consider the most appropriate registration period • Check for similar names to avoid trademark infringement • Ensure that your domain makes sense when you read it • Avoid words or phrases that may have alternative meanings • Register your domain before publishing it anywhere!
- 6. Hosting… Getting your website online
- 7. Hosting… • Think about the type of hosting that you require • Will you be using a content management system (CMS) or blogging platform such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal? • Or will you be creating a series of static pages using a website creation program installed on your computer? • Using a CMS means that you can update your site from anywhere that has access to the Internet. • If you choose to use a CMS then make sure that your choice of hosting package is suitable for the system that you’ve chosen. • Many hosting providers offer “one-click installers” for popular CMS applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Umbraco an Drupal. • Speak to the supplier if you have any doubts/questions.
- 8. Hosting… • Alternatively, you could use a SaaS platform where the application is fully managed by the supplier. Simply sign-up and create a site in minutes! – WordPress (wordpress.com) – Google Sites (sites.google.com) – Blogger (blogger.com) • Managed services mean that everything is taken care of for you. You won’t have to worry about keeping the CMS up-to-date, or creating back-ups. • Some SaaS platforms provide ‘apps’ to remotely manage your website.
- 10. Search engines
- 11. Search engines… • An increasing number of users begin their journey at a search engine – Google is the most popular but there are others, eg. Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo • In order to be found, your content must perform well in search engines • Search engines use a lot of factors to evaluate your content, including: – Domain name and URL – Metadata ‘description’ – Title and headings (h1 - h6) – Regular text and ALT (alternative) text for images – Links from other websites (quantity and quality) • Google gives web pages a score out of 10 known as PageRank • Your pages should contain relevant keywords and phrases – Use the Google Keyword Planner: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner – Your content needs to be unique, relevant, informative and natural
- 12. Google search results for Amazon Page title tag Page meta description
- 13. Search engines… • Google and Bing provide some useful tools to help you manage the search presence of your website: – Google Search Console https://google.com/webmasters – Bing Webmaster Tools https://bing.com/webmasters • Simply sign-up for free using your existing Google or Microsoft accounts • You’ll need to verify ownership of your site using one of these method: – Add a <meta> tag to the homepage – Upload a small file to the root of your site – Add a DNS record to your domain (via your registrar’s control panel) • You can verify the location of your organisation using Google My Business – Sign-in to Google My Business using your Google Account to ‘claim your business’ https://www.google.co.uk/business – You can then influence how your business is listed on the Google search results page…
- 15. Search engines… • Where to find further information: – Google AdWords Keyword Planner https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner – Google Webmaster Academy https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6001102 – Google Webmaster Blog https://webmasters.googleblog.com – Follow Google Webmasters on Twitter @googlewmc
- 18. What is web accessibility and why is it useful?
- 20. Web accessibility… • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – Published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20) – Three different levels of compliance: Level A, Level AA and Level AAA – Government websites must adhere to Level AA • Some aspects of WCAG can be tested automatically using free tools – Test your website markup using the W3C Validation Service (https://validator.w3.org) – Test your website accessibility using the WAVE Accessibility Checker from WebAIM (http://wave.webaim.org) – Analyse colour contrast using the Colour Contrast Checker from WebAIM (http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker) – Use plugins/add-ons for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer • Remember to review your content manually and test with real users
- 21. What are web standards?
- 23. Who is your target audience?
- 24. What devices do they use to access the internet?
- 25. Guess how many mobile users? Desktop: 30% Mobile: 54% Tablet: 16% To most visitors, the page looks like this
- 26. User testing – What is it and why should I do it?
- 27. Questions
- 28. Adam Lake Thank you for coming