This script uses hostip.info to look up a user’s IP address and attempt to determine the city, state, country and geographical coordinates.

Hostip.info is a community-based project to geolocate IP addresses, but it requires that individuals in the area have put in their city and state for their IP address or IP range, so it’s not completely accurate unless people are involved. Go there and make sure your location comes up correctly, and if it doesn’t fix it, as this will help make the database more precise. Don’t worry, it’s just your city and state, not your address specifically.

Additionally, the site will offer online seminars and white papers similar to those that Magna already offers on our other sites.

Keep your eye out for InsideTheSchool.com

…it will take time and research, and no single source can provide all information necessary for your site to be successful [in search engines].

Let it first be said that no 300-word article can explain ALL aspects of getting your website listed in search engines, so to get indexed (be listed in possible results) and rank in search engines, it will take time and research, and no single source can provide all information necessary for your site to be successful. That being said, this article should explain the basics and at least get your site indexed if not ranking for select terms.

Myths:

Quite frequently, I have my clients approach me with a list of needs for their web presence, and while most of the items on such a list are accurate and necessary, sometimes I have to correct a few items and clear up some items that are many times cryptic. The following is a short list of examples of myths my clients have presented to me.

1. Submission to Search Engines
   My clients always make a big deal about making sure I submit their sites to search engines. This is thought by many to be a necessary step in creating a successful website, but in fact it is NOT. A well-placed external link (from another site) will get you indexed in usually about a week, sometimes less. Anyone who has submitted their website to a search engine has experienced issues getting indexed immediately, not as a result of submitting, but because in recent years, search engines have stopped trusting submissions (for reasons that include spammers and bots I would assume) and put more emphasis on links. If your site is connected by a link to another site, it will get indexed and
2. Rank me for a difficult search keyword
   Contrary to popular belief, there is no way to guarantee that a website ranks on the first position (or first page for that matter) on a search results page for a specific keyword. While there are more unpopular terms that are very simple to rank for, many competitive keywords are very difficult to obtain rankings for. To rank for such terms, there is much more involved than many think. Not only does your website have to be coded well and linked to, but your content has to be considered valuable by search engines. Search engines like Google are paying more and more attention to content, as that is why people search – to get meaningful information. If you have no content and great links, you wont necessarily rank as well as a site that has half the links and better content.

Page Creation Guidelines

If a search crawler (program that explores the web indexing pages for a search engine) can’t read your site, how do you ever expect to be indexed or rank? Make sure you know what to ask the designer for in order to accomplish this. Follow these simple guidelines when instructing your designer:

• Table-free design: If a site is made completely out of div tags and span tags instead of table tags, search engines have an easier time getting to the content since there will be less code in the page to read through. It’s also generally helpful to follow up-to-date coding standards.
• Text links: Make sure all pages are accessible by a text link. If you have a menu that has images in it, make sure the designer puts in a small text menu on the bottom of the page. Search bots can read images, so you are MUCH more likely to rank for terms if you use text links for pages on your site.
• URL Parameters: if there are too many parameters in your website, search engines often have issues with indexing the pages.
• Robots.txt: Use a robots.txt file to direct the bots on where they can and can’t go when they get to your site.
• No Duplication: Make sure you do a quick check over your site when completed to ensure that there isn’t any duplicate content. Engines have a difficult time figuring out which one is the original and one or the other of the pages will likely be removed from the index as a result.

Note: Part 2 of 3 in series ‘Making Your Website Great’.

The contract also included back-end interfaces where the client would be able to log in and submit projects to the database. It included features such as automatically resizing images that are too large to show on the page (creates both a thumbnail and a resized image).

Check out the project at www.staytunedaudio.com!

1. What information (products/services/resources) will you be providing?

Every website is different as no two businesses are the same. As the business owner, you know the needs of your company better than anyone else, so who better to develop the basic list of things you want accomplished with your online presence. The better you plan the contents of your website, the easier it is for the developer to implement according to your needs.

2. Think about how you want it to look and work.

You will never get the website you are looking for if you don\’t have a clear idea of what you want your visitors/customers to see. Take a look at the competition in the industry and see how they guide customers toward ordering. Do they use a shopping cart or encourage their customers to call or stop by to purchase products/services? How do they have it laid out? What was the first thing you looked at on the page?

3. Write your own content in advance.

Write your content before you have a designer. Be sure to write real content that has to do with your industry. With applicable and informative content, often called link bait, your website will rank better in search engines, thereby attracting more customers.

4. Check your budget and plan accordingly.

Determine how much money you have to spend on a website as it will have great influence on how you should approach hiring a designer or developer. Based on the needs and the developer you choose, a website can cost anywhere from $500 to in the neighborhood of $10,000. If you need a simple three page website with which to welcome and inform customers about the business, provide directions and a means of contact (known as a brochure site), you are looking at the low end of the cost spectrum, whereas if you are looking for an ecommerce solution or resource-driven website, development costs will range and likely be higher.

5. Find the right provider(s) and don’t commit until you’re sure!

If the needs of your project aren’t as great as most, there is a good chance you can find a local freelancer or small web development group to do the work and the price will likely be cheaper. If you have a bigger brand in the area, and your site will require extensive development, you may choose to go with a medium-sized development firm, but many freelancers or small shops can still provide the same type of solution. Make sure you know your budget going in, as the larger the development firm you choose, the more expensive the project will be.

Don’t be afraid to ask for quotes from multiple companies. Most development firms provide free estimates, so make sure you shop around. Some of you may be wondering why I’m pushing people away from buying my services right away. That’s not what I’m doing. You don’t purchase a used car without shopping around, and it would be bad advice to tell you not to do the same thing with an investment (a website) that could cost you just as much or more!

There are no shortage of badly-built websites out there. Make sure you lay out your plan, and that the designer understands your needs and can produce work similar in nature. Look through their portfolio of work to get an idea of their abilities. Check things like how the sites in their portfolio look, feel, flow, and if they effectively do their job.

Summary:

Getting your website created and launched can be a daunting task, but with effective planning and the right developer, it can be a very fast and easy process. I hope these items help you with your web development project. Make sure you check back for more help with ‘Making Your Website Great’!

Note: Part 1 of 3 in series ‘Making Your Website Great’.

Check out the final solution at hickorymeadows.net!