In this article I’ll explain what meta tags are, focussing on meta description and keywords. I’ll explain why it’s important to add these to every page, but why we shouldn’t rely on them as a magical solution for getting to the top of Google.
If you use any automated tools to test your website (Nibbler, SiteRay, W3C validator etc), many of them will pick up errors if you haven’t specified any “ALT text” on your images. “ALT text” is an attribute which should be added to any visual item on your web page. It’s mainly used on images to provide a text alternative to the graphical image, as not everyone can view an image. Providing an alternative allows all users to access the same information, whether they can see an image or not.
If you visit a page of a website that has been moved, deleted or renamed, you’ll see an error telling you that there’s no page at that address. The technical name for this is a ‘404’ error, and they’re very important to handle correctly.
A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from web designers (none of these are ours, we promise!)
In Part I we looked at how the Internet changes everything. This is how you can take advantage of it.
We meet a lot of big, established companies who don’t ‘get’ the Internet.
“We’ve got a guy looking at that.”
“Most of our customers don’t use the Internet anyway.”
“We’ve already got a website. I haven’t really used it, but it looks really nice.”
Many businesspeople dismiss the Internet as a place for their website and email. That’s equivalent to seeing the PC as a nicer looking typewriter, and about as dangerous. History is littered with the carcasses of once great companies that failed to embrace revolutions: from the combustion engine to the microchip. Just like these, the Internet changes the whole game.
Year founded: 1995 Website launched: 1995 NASDAQ: AMZN |
Year founded: 1917 Website launched: 1997 NYSE: BKS |
Which pretty much says it all.
For the full story, read this interview of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder.
99.9% of writing on the Internet is utter crap.
We’ve known £100 million companies with content that looks like it was excreted from the rear end of an illiterate baboon.
It’s the opening night of your dream nightclub. You’ve spent months picking out the right shade of pink for the carpet, the perfect umbrellas for your cocktails, the best bulldog statues for the toilets. It cost you every penny you have, but it’s perfect.
You invited everyone you know – of course – and it’s going pretty well. Word of mouth is sure to spread, and in a few weeks you’ll be packed.
Apparently doctors make the worst patients. As web designers, working on our own websites can be similarly life threatening.
We must be getting better at this though, because this was a cinch.
