Basic Web Site Primer
Talking with a co-worker the other day it dawned on me that many people do not know how websites work. So I thought I would take a few minutes to explain the very basic yet required knowledge if you are going to have a web based business.
First we all know that files are stored on the computer. These files may be data, music, pictures or programs. When we access this information we make a request to the computer by clicking on the file or typing the name of the file into one of the many programs that we use. The computer then finds the file in what is called a directory. The directory is a listing of the files and where they are stored. To make the directory a little easier to manage we use folders.
In the world of the Internet this is basically the same process. We make a request for a website by typing in the name of the website (it’s address), the computer goes to a domain name server or DNS which is a directory of websites and their location, finds the location or server that has the files and presents the information in that location to your web browser.
Each website is really nothing more than a collection of files that present information. The first file that is always returned will be an index file. These index files are usually the home page for the website. From there, the information displayed will depend on what you want to see next.
A very basic web page then is nothing more than a text document such as written in Word. In fact, you can use Word to create web pages. Now a days you can get as fancy as you want. Putting pictures, sound files, movies, automations, just about anything that you can create on a computer can be used on the web page. Once you are finished, simply save the file with the proper extensions (3-4 characters after the period) such as htm, html, php, or jsp and you have a web page. Put several web pages together and you have a web site.
Now that you have a web site, there are other things to keep in mind as well. You have probably heard of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. These are things you do to your web pages so that the millions of people on the Internet that are searching for you can find you. Let’s see what SEO really means.
We know that there is a directory (domain name server) that the computers use to find the server that stores your web site. But there are other directories on the Internet as well. These directories are kind of like the Yellow Pages. They are used to help humans look up website addresses so that they (the humans) can go to that site. The most popular web site directory is Google. These directories are called search engines. They consist of a set of databases. When you place web site on the Internet, eventually the search engines find out about your site and enter information into their databases. The information entered is based on what is found on your website, both visible and hidden. The visible information is what you typed on the page. Notice I said typed. Music, pictures, flash, etc are not stored in the database and can not be used to find your web site. Hidden information is the stuff that the search engines find that make up formatting, information tags about objects on the web page such as names of pictures, audio files and movies and specific information that we can add to the page to help the search engines catalog our web page. This specific information is called Meta tags.
When you create a web page then you are in fact deciding on what information will be in the search engine’s database. Now, let me make one point clear. When you search for information on the web, you are searching for ONE piece of information, a word or couple of words related to your subject. The search engines take that one or two words and use it to search the database, returning records (web sites) that match your request. So ideally, if your site has those words or terms typed on the page, your page should be returned when the query is run.
There isn’t enough time nor space in this article to cover every aspect of SEO, nor is that my purpose. So as the last part to this article, I want to discuss a very simple way to perform SEO for your web site. Here it is….
Every page for your web site should be related to one or two related facts, items or what the industry calls keywords. Keywords are the terms that you are going to type into the search engine to find the information you are looking for. So, if your site is about cooking in general, you have a lot of work to do. Because each page of your web site should be limited to one specific aspect of cooking. Too many sites try to cram baking, stews, cookies, cakes, spaghetti, etc into one or two pages. If you want your site to do well, each page needs to be specific in the topic. Then it will be easier to rank well in the search engines.