Backyard Aquaponics
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Thanks chilli, I am starting work on your list right now - how do I get the site indexed by google in the first place?

OBO, if you don't have any sort of account with Google then you will need to set one up and then track the links for Webmaster Tools. This will lead you to a page where you can submit your site URL. Yahoo has a similar function that is also worth using. Presumably Bing does as well, I haven't looked as they seem to have found me anyway.

Just updated site to add clients and safety. I have a google account, looking at that now.

Hi OBO,

Just a few of bits to help:

1) Google indexing spiders will visit in accordance with some schedule (known only to Google and a few other, no need to worry yourself as it will eventually visit and index your site). To speed up the process, you can submit your site top-page to Google, Yahoo and others to encourage the spiders to visit (sort of like attracting beneficial insects to your garden ). To ensure your site is indexed precisely how you want it to, use a robots.txt instruction saved to your account root on the host server.

Have a look at these for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_exclusion_standard
http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html

Make sure you build a site-map for the spiders too!

2) Learning to build web pages properly from the very start is easier than trying to unlearn bad practices. Best practice for formatting web sites is to use style sheets (CSS) to control the layout and formatting of the site. When making a site look and feel the same on each page, it is much better to use a single style sheet and import this on every page instead of embedding the style information on each page.

To learn more about CSS:
http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/learning

Of course the easiest way to write your own style sheets is to visit a site you like and "borrow" theirs!

3) A final(?) thing to remember for now is, the client; especially where they live and their internet connection. Too many people these days design and test their sites on their own computer; of course their site loads quickly as the images and all the fluff is already in cache on their machine. Some people test their sites using their cable internet and their pages download in a flash. It is really unfortunate though, when, the target client is in the middle of the bush on a tenuous (at best) wireless or satellite connection, or, at university sharing the limited bandwidth with many thousands of other users and your site takes minutes to download. Thoroughly test the download times of your site using the slowest internet connection you can find on the other side of the world and see how long it takes for a prospective-client to download your page. An old "standard" that seems to be forgotten, is no page should take longer than 7 (seven) seconds to download and fully render on the client computer. As internet connectivity has improved, unfortunately some designers have thought this gives them carte-blanche permission to waste bandwidth by adding massive quantities of useless fluff. IMHO, less is more.

Consider finding/using speed testing services such as:
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

4) HTML-Tidy: http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/



Don't be shy to ask for more help if needed.

Scott

P.S. Use validation services to check your work and maintain web-standards!

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldfieldsmc.com.au%2F
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css21&warning=0&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldfieldsmc.com.au%2F

Spiders are on their way

Site Optimiser says:





As for the validator errors - I have no idea how to access the html part of the site, it is all made using WYSIWYG

I made all the pics in the gallery smaller to make it quicker, apart from that the site loads really quick, even with an empty cache.

Thanks heaps for the info, and taking the time to post it

Look at it go

I assume you have a copy of the .html files on your computer as well as the copies which have been uploaded to the web-host?

Use notepad, wordpad or something similar to open, view and edit the actual HTML. (Avoid using MS Word or similar as it will add heaps of other markup crap and make editing by hand almost impossible!). Save the work when you're done. Run HTML-Tidy over the file(s). Check the pages again, then if happy, upload; repeat as necessary.

I do just about all my coding use notepad, but sometimes I "regress" and use a simple (but powerful) studio application : http://www.chami.com/html-kit



Scott

Was easy, used the sites control panel and edited code directly



Thanks

You've added a link from within your control panel; noone can see it except you! Unless we hack your account and password



Scott

aaaw crap it pops up a tab all the time

re: the control panel image -- the mods will pobably have to edit this for you.



I have just visited your web-host and noticed they also support PHP: A really good idea for sites such as yours is to exploit a very simple PHP trick to import the "common" markup from a single source. Use these as your headers and footers, then all you have to do is write the text which is different on each page -- this making changes soooo much easier.

Also, I suspect from their advertising that your host allows you to have s number (unlimited?) mailboxes? I would strongly suggest that you create your business email addresses and use these in preference to gmail and other free-mail accounts. Now you have an email host, you should be able to have full control over your accounts, so you might like to create something akin to:
accounts@
enquiries@
support@
sales@

This can give the impression your business is larger than it actually is! Of course, what the client doesn't see is that all of the emails received are just being forwarded to you



Scott

P.S. If you need to discuss this more, get skype and call me at : wabbit.com.au

Yep - agree wholeheartedly on the email suggestion.

Less perceived risk dealing dealing with a perceived company compared with an obvious sole trader (no slur intended OBO)

Emails setup

I like being a sole trader chilli, got a decent amount of interest today while visiting local companies.

I thought you were looking for clients? hold off on the photo

Good stuff so far OBO, I personally wouldn't bling it to much, your trying to sell what you do and not your site, I agree with the email addresses make you look big until you get big, just search for google submit url and enter your address, and that will work, did for me, also maybe an about us page using heaps of key words and also your qualifications and experience, (any cowboy can set up a site, let them know your *frack* ing good), but good luck Col, business is a battle to start, email companies in your field and let them know what you do, is cheapest form of advertising, and don't get disheartened, it may take a couple of months