Web Concepts

By Mitch "Self Helper" Keeler

The question is, "How do I make my web site better?" and the answer could be given to you many different ways by many different people.  There are often seven rules I tend to live by when it comes to webmastering, so I thought I would share them with you so that you too can learn from my own trial and error.

1.  Look towards your friends - Many people overlook their friends as people who can help with their web site.  You can use your friends to write up content for you, hire them for work (design, writing or other) or even just ask them to spread the word around about your online resource.

2.  Update on a schedule - You need to find a schedule for updating your web site and stick with it.  If your web site it static (not updated often) then you might be able to get away with checking up on things every two weeks or so.  If you have a lot of content being posted though, you need to set aside a certain time to work on the web site.

3.  Do it right the first time - Don’t half way do things right and then think, "well, if it becomes a problem I can always fix it later" because chances are later will never happen because you’ll find something else to fill your time with.  Even if it takes a little more time, doing it right the first go around might save you on time and aggravation later on down the road.

4.  Branch out your ideas - Don’t be afraid to branch out to related topics.  For an example, if you are running a web site about shoes and you want to add some more content to your web site, then why not talk about shoe laces or those gel thingies you stick in your shoes to make them feel better?  Find areas you can branch out in so your idea well never runs dry.

5.  Find others like yourself - You can’t run a successful site these days without socializing yourself.  Get out there virtually or in the real world and meet others who do the same thing that you do.  Talk about how they cover things, how you cover things and you might even build a business relationship that will benefit you later on down the road.

6.  Don’t waste time on design - Having a aesthetically pleasing to the eye is a grand idea to be apart of, but if you have all cosmetics and no guts to your web site, then you are left with 9/10 of the Baywatch life guards. 

7.  Features are nice, but content is king - I feel like I have given this last tip the most, mainly because I would consider it the most important and if you can hit this proverbial nail on the head with your webmastering hammer you don’t need me helping you.  Make sure the content you have is not just there to take up space.  Make sure it is both quality filled and that somebody is getting something out of it.  Check out each of your pages, and if you can’t say that somebody is better off by reading your page then you need to ditch it or re-work it till it is serving a purpose for the average user.

One more suggestion, not on this list, that I can share with you is have a passion for what you are doing.  If you are working on a web site of any kind, and you don’t care about it - it will show in your final product.  You have to think of your web site as a child of your own, and treat it as such.  Take care of it right, and it will grow to become a success, no matter what your final target might be.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

By Mitch “Forum Plugger” Keeler??

We are in the middle of bringing back an old favorite that many seemed to enjoy the Web Site of the Month. The Web site of the month forum is back open and running over at Lunarforums.com and now all we need is your vote. Here are the stipulations and rules:

1. You can submit your entries in for the web site of the month to me, via a PM here on the forums.
2. The web site in question must be hosted here at Lunarpages, either as a primary, subdomain or addon domain.
3. The final week of the month, I will put up a poll where you can vote out of 5 randomly drawn submissions.
4. Whoever has the most votes at the end of that week, will be our winner for that month!

Remember, if you submit one month - and don’t win, you can submit again the next month! Also, once you have won you won’t be able to re-submit yourself so you can win again. We want to have as many winners as we can!

Winners will get a special badge to display on their site, the honor of being our choice for a month and also a mention in our Lunarpages Newsletter.

Read more about it on the Lunarforums thread about it, and be sure to submit your own Lunarpages hosted site to me via the board’s personal message system or drop me an e-mail.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

by Mitch “Ain’t No Picasso“ Keeler

When working on your web site and trying to see what you could do to make it better, there is nothing at all wrong with looking at others styles and techniques to see if it inspires you to create a better look and feel for your own project.

Once of my new favorite resources to do just that is Best Web Design:

It is an “inspirational gallery site where we collect a wide range of quality design websites (Flash & CSS).” Translation? They have a lot of pretty layouts to go drool over.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch