What Is a "Page View"?

Each time a user visits a unique web page on your web site, a “page view” occurs.

The number of page views your web site receives within a given time period is recorded by your web site statistics control panel. Contact your hosting service to find out how to access your site statistics.

Page views are commonly confused with “hits.” A hit is recorded for each object that loads during a page view.  For example, if a web page contains two images and references two style sheets and three javascripts, a single viewing of the page by an internet user will yield one page view, but seven hits. If a page contains over two hundred images, one page view will record over two hundred hits.

If you want an estimate of how many different people have accessed your web site within a given time period, find the “unique page views” field on your site statistics control panel.

The number of unique page views that your web site has received within a given time period is determined by the number of unique IP addresses that have accessed your site. So, even though a user may access several pages of your web site several times within a given week, your site statistics control panel will only record one unique page view for that same user during that time period.

Standard site statistics control panels will only yield estimates of your traffic — do not assume that you are seeing exact numbers when you access your site statistics control panel.

Use your site statistics control panel to determine trends over time — not exact numbers.

Google tracking and Google Analytics can also be used to examine your statistics.

A dishonest link-exchange broker can shield a links page from the search engines, so that no one will ever see your link on their page. Meanwhile, you’ve done them the courtesy of linking to them on your Web site, and you have received nothing in return.

While there is no way to detect this, you can discourage link-exchange hoodlums by asking them the following:

“Please verify that the LINKS page where you post my reciprocal link does not block the search engine spiders from accessing the content on that links page through the use of any robot.txt file or “no follow” metatag element.”

If nothing else, the dishonest link-exchange broker will see immediately that you are no babe in the woods, and perhaps turn their attention elsewhere.

Also, as an added precaution, search the URL of the party linking to you in Google or another search engine, to make sure they are legitimate, and haven’t been penalized for unscrupulous behavior.

Remember: a Web site can be judged the the company it keeps. Linking to bogus Web sites or crooked organizations can backfire on you. Better to be the worst house in the best neighborhood than the best house in the worst neighborhood — location is everything!

Why Do So Many Web Sites Look Alike?

The answer is simple: accessibility.

Think of all the books that you have seen (or read) in your life, whether the books be on the library shelf, in bookstores, or in your own private collection at home.

Some books are large and some are small; some are thin and some are thick; some paperback, some  hardbound; but essentially, all books look the same: They are rectangular in shape and contain thin pages of paper printed on both sides, one after another, that the reader can turn as they read through.

Scrolls were popular in the ancient world and during the Middle Ages; but, with the advent of the printing press, the book became standard, and still remains today, unchanged for centuries. This is because humans being have found this is the best way to share large amounts in information in printed form.

While a triangular book, or a round book or a book in the shape of a pentagon would be unique, and certainly attract attention, it would not be practical for reading.

The same is true of Web sites. Having a universal banner (the “book cover”), a row or column of navigation links (the “chapters headings”), and then the page-specific text and/or images on each page makes the material accessible.

Take a look at all the big players — Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter: they all operate on the same principle.

Before you decide to reinvent the wheel, keep in mind that the basic format of a Web site is there for a very good reason: BECAUSE IT WORKS.

For $450 you can have your own WordPress blog with five separate links and the ability to make updates yourself.

A WordPress blog is the ideal solution for the individual or small business owner, allowing you to post regular updates that will keep your clients informed –  and helping you to develop a larger client base by boosting your rankings with the search engines.

With a WordPress blog, you can have the best of both worlds: strong visual impact AND the ability to make changes yourself.

For more information, contact Christopher Merrill at 773-755-2536.

Your new blog will be up and running in no time!

Emphasize your geographic area on your web site.

If the goods or services you provide are location-based (meaning you work within a specific geographic area), it is important that you emphasize your geographic location on your web site.

When looking for goods or services, many users will enter the name of their city or town into their search keywords or phrases. You can capitalize on this by combining the name (or names) of your geographic area with the goods or services your provide, and then indicating that phrase within the text of your web site.

So, instead of saying:

“I am a portrait photographer.”

say

“I am a portrait photographer in Jacksonville, Florida.”

(seeing as how most of your clients would likely come from the Jacksonville area if you were a portrait photographer in Jacksonville).

Posting Google and Mapquest maps to your business location can be helpful as well.

When deciding on which geographic locations to emphasize on your web site, be sure to consider not only the city or town in which you reside, but the neighborhood as well, since, for some users, the closer you are to their home or office, the more likely it is that they will follow up with you after seeing your web site for the first time.

Questions?  See search engine optimization tips.

My website ChristopherMerrill.com IS number one with some keyword phrases, and has strong rankings with others (I work regularly on my site to maintain my search engine rankings), and I still get these spam emails.

No one can guarantee a number one ranking with the search engines, and any one who claims they can do so is taking you for a ride.

Whatever decision you make regarding search engine optimization, be sure to choose carefully. See cautionary news article about SEO scams. Some so-called experts will get you high rankings for a few months, but then your site will drop down the list and eventually disappear, unless you maintain your website with legitimate search engine optimization techniques.

The image at right shows an optimized image, first at 118×136 (pixels), and then shows the same optimized image expanded to 207×243 (pixels). As you can see, the clarity of the second image has suffered because of the expansion. This is because the original small image has been optimized for quick download. Expanding makes it worse, not better.

The solution is to make sure that you have large-size originals so that you will not need to expand the images in size in order to increase their visual impact on the screen.

Most email programs limit the size of attachments to a total of 7-10 megs, which means you will either need to send your images to your web designer separately one-by-one (one image per email), or you will need to put the files on a disk and send them by mail to your web designer (or perhaps use FTP or a file transfer program like YouSendIt).

Failure to use quality images for websites is one of the most common errors new website owners make — be sure to take the time to select your images carefully and make sure they are of the highest quality possible.

Here is an example of a title attribute:

<a href=”attorneys.htm” title=”Our Attorneys”>Our Attorneys</a>

Adding the title attribute will generate a “tool tip” in major browsers, giving the user more specific information on what is contained in the link.

The title tag is also beneficial for handicapped users. See more about creating handicapped-accessible web sites.

Title attributes are a completely valid way to get additional content onto your pages that will attract the search engines to your keywords and phrases, allowing you to adjust the keyword saturation of your web pages.

Remember that users will see your titles tags in major browsers when they hover the mouse over the element, so be sure to choose the text for your title tags carefully.

For an example:

<META NAME=”keywords” CONTENT=”chicag web designers, chicago web desingers, chicaog web designers”>

The days of stuffing keyword meta tags with endless keywords and phrases are long gone; however, inserting intentional misspellings that users might enter when searching for your services can help to boost your rankings.

See more information about organic search engine optimization.

]]> http://www.christophermerrill.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1277 0 http://www.christophermerrill.com/blog/?p=1263 http://www.christophermerrill.com/blog/?p=1263#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:46:24 +0000 admin http://www.christophermerrill.com/blog/?p=1263 A common mistake is to assume that your Web site should be like an online brochure. There are fundamental errors in this line of reasoning that will come back to haunt the novice web designer.

First, a brochure is printed material that is meant to last for years.  A Web site is meant to be updated regularly (weekly, if not daily, if you wish to achieve strong rankings with the search engines).

Second, a brochure is a piece of graphic art which occupies a given, static set of dimensions (i.e.,  5 inches by 9 inches). No such given dimensions exist on a Web site; your Web pages will display differently depending on the browser and screen resolutions selected by the individual user.

Finally, each page of a brochure represents a completed graphic design within the given dimensions, giving relatively equal weight to the images at the top of the page and the bottom of the page; Web sites give high priority to the material at the top of the screen and far less importance the the material below.

A Web design is actually a FRAMEWORK through which users can NAVIGATE between pages of different lengths. No such FRAMEWORK or NAVIGATION structure exists in a brochure.

A Web site design is essentially ONE design which is echoed throughout the site; a brochure contains separate, completely designed individual pages, that stand alone as the reader turns from page to page.

If you are still certain that you would like your Web site to resemble an online brochure, consider converting your printed brochure into a pdf and the posting the brochure itself to your server.

Remember, PRINT is not the same thing as WEB DESIGN!