Here at justinarcher.com, I believe that if a customer requires a website, usability is key before design. The reason I say that, is because a website, whether static or dynamic, is built in two parts, Graphics and Code. It is the development of this code that is the time consuming part, and spending the time on getting it right is vital. When the code is right, changing the look and feel of a website is generally straight forward. Website Graphics are just pictures specially optimised for viewing on the web. So if you have a plain blue background to your headings, but would like something more stylish, it is purely a case of styling some graphics to suit your demands. It's like building a house, you always start with a good foundation. So in a nutshell, when having a website developed, worry about the layout and usability first, then we can style it up.
So what is the main difference between a static and dynamic website? Well it is simply as it states, a static site, is one that is built and does not change. If you require changes, you must ask your developer to make the changes for you. A dynamic website, will generally have its content stored in a database, with an admin area you can log into to change to the content of your website, no matter where you are, as long as you have internet access, your site can be updated and you should never need to go back to the developer.
What are the stages in having a website developed? Well first, we will discuss the layouts that suit your needs. Will a static site be enough for you? Or will you have the requirement to be able to change the content on a regular basis? I will then take that information, and put together visuals. Once the visuals have been approved by yourself, then I start to build the foundations for which the graphics will be laid on to. Giving you constant access to the development process, so you can see how your site evolves. Once you are happy, I then put the site live with a host of your choice, or I can host it for you with one of my partners.
Why is my site not showing up on the first page of Google?
This is one of the most common questions people ask once their site goes live. The reason comes in a number of factors. Firstly, it takes a long time to get there, don't expect this to happen overnight. There are a lot of other websites that have been about for a long time and have been working their way up the ranks.
So how do you get your site above them?
This comes from a number of key areas. First off, a well developed web site that is SEO (Search Engine Optimised) Friendly, that includes easy to read URL's, content that actually relates to your site, a sitemap, backlinks, and most importantly, NO illigitimate content just to try to boost your ratings... this can actually get your site banned from search engines.
As stated in Google's guidelines:
Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
Is there anything else I can do?
Yes. Google provides a number of tools to help improve your ranking, such as Google Analytics. One of the things this tool will do for you is let you
see what pages in your site are most commonly accessed, how long your viewers stay on your site, but also let you see which pages on your website are not creating a lot of attention, ie, time to make a few changes to those pages.