Transcript Web SEO and Ecommerce

CIT 256
SEO and Web Commerce
Dr. Beryl Hoffman
After you create a website
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Buy a domain name and rent web server space
or go for a free one if you don’t mind ads.
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business
/domain.html, http://reviews.cnet.com/webhosting-plans/
Upload the web site to the web server (use web
server’s ftp tools, or Manage Site with
Dreamweaver)
Submit site to Google
(http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/ )
or wait for bot to find it.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
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After you put up a website, make sure customers
can find it in search engines using SEO
techniques.
Getting a top Google ranking on certain search
keywords is big business!
People usually shop in the top 3 results for their
search!
Google Rankings
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Google uses a combination of on-page and off-page
elements for ranking your website in a certain keyword
search:
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On page: The keyword content on your page: title, meta
tags, H1/H2 headers, frequency of keywords on your site.
Off page references: how many and what kind of other web
sites link to your web site.
If you cheat (for ex. pay others to link to your site) ,
they will ban you!
You can pay for advertised spots (Google Adwords),
but still want “organic” top rankings.
Titles, Meta Tags, and Headings
Important first step, use unique title and meta tags,
headings and text instead of images for logo:
<title> SEO: CIT 256 Web Design</title>
<meta name=“description” content=“SEO tips for CIT
256 Web Design class at Elms College”/>
<meta name=“keyword” content=“SEO, CIT, web design,
CIT 256, Dreamweaver, Elms College”/> (not used as
much any more)
<h1>SEO: CIT 256 Web Design</h1>
In Dreamweaver, do Insert/HTML/Head Tags/Keywords
and Description
Other SEO tips
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Alt tags on images
Good URL and link texts
Breadcrumb trails
Use keywords frequently
http://www.sitepoint.com/six-must-have-seobasics/
http://www.polyseo.com/SEO/seo-tips.html
HTML Validation
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http://validator.w3.org or in Dreamweaver
(Windows/Results/Validation) checks your
HTML to make sure it follows the standards.
If you are using XHTML, you need to close all
tags, use lower case, etc.
Favicons
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Favicon: a favicon is a small image displayed for
your website on the address bar of the browser.
Create one at http://www.favicon.cc/ from an
uploaded image or design online.
Copy the .ico file into your main site directory.
In Dreamweaver, do Insert/HTML/head
tags/link and browse to find the .ico file and
type in “shortcut icon” next to rel.
Off-Site Links, Research, and
Advertising
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Rankings go up as others link to your pages.
Use http://www.opensiteexplorer.org to see
who links to your page.
Use https://adwords.google.com to see what
keywords have low or high competition from
other sites. Use these keywords on your site.
Use Google searches yourself to see if your web
site comes up.
Use advertising and social-media to promote
your site.
Maintenance Research with
Google Analytics
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http://www.google.com/analytics/
A free tool where you register your online site and copy
some code into your website.
Then, log in to view statistics on site traffic, e.g. how
many visitors you had, average length of visit, if they
bounced out right away, traffic source (where they
came from), etc.
See
http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/08/08google-analytics.php for interpreting analytics data.
E-Commerce/Getting Paid
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Many web hosts will have their own shopping cart apps
that you can use for free with your subscription.
Paypal and Google Wallet allow credit card or online
payment and take 2.9% + 30 cents for each transaction.
http://www.google.com/wallet/business/
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/merchant
Paypal recommended shopping carts:
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/shopping
-cart
E-commerce Sites with Databases
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Most E-commerce sites have a database to keep
track of their customers, products, etc.
Interacting with databases stored on the server
requires server-side programming.
To learn how to build sites using databases, take
the CIT Databases course and the CIT Web
Programming course to learn server-side
programming using JavaScript and PHP.
Uploading to a web server from
Dreamweaver
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Our department web server is:
http://elms.readyhosting.com/Classes/Web
Design/
Dreamweaver: Site menu/New site or
Manage Sites and Edit (pencil) button.
Server tab/ + button to add a server.
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Connect using: FTP
FTP Address: ftp.readyhosting.com
Username: elms
Password (keep this secret): CIT4ever!
Root Directory: Classes/Web Design/YourName/
Uploading to a web server from
Dreamweaver cont.
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Test. Make sure you get the right directory so you
don’t overwrite others’ work!!!!)
Upload: Select your root directory for your website in the
bottom right web site navigator in Dreamweaver and hit
the Up arrow to upload it all.
Test the uploaded web site at
http://elms.readyhosting.com/Classes/Web Design.
Click on your directory. Your index.html page will load
automatically.