I've been a web designer, developer, and project manager for about eight years now. In that time I've seen many trends come and go; whether it be plain html sites, sites in Mambo or Joomla, or blogs and static sites in WordPress, I've built and managed sites on many different platforms - mostly open source.
With all of this experience I have noticed that while the fads do indeed come and go some things have been around from the beginning and will likely BE around as long as I am working on web sites. Three of these things includeSEO (search engine optimization), converting site visitors into your desired result, and they never ending focus on web standards. Indeed, there are lots of other things that you can work on and focus on when building a web site, by these are three things that I have noticed pop up a on almost every single the project.
While the game of search engine optimization (SEO) seemingly changes on a daily basis, this does not mean that it has ever not been a focus of ours. Even within SEO there are some things that we have always worked on. Title tags have always been important and likely will be important for the foreseeable future. Also, the text used in your URL has always been important and likely will always be important. While Meta keywords are a thing of the past, Meta description still play an important part as they often show up under your link in the search engine listings. New focuses of ours include the long-tail, social media and networking, and link bait.
Another item that we always seem to focus on his conversions. Whether you run an online store, a blogs, or in information site, you always have a singular goal for a random site visitor. Do you want them to become a customer? Do you want them to become a repeat visitor? Do you want them to click on ads? Do you want them to stick around and read more of your website content? These are serious questions that you need to ask yourself and your client as you go about designing the web site. The total user interface should be designed around what you want the visitor to end up doing on the web site.
Web standards have always been very import important on the web. The importance of web standards can be seen simply by looking at how many different browsers there are right now. From Firefox to Internet Explorer to Safari, the your site can be looked at using many different web browsers. As such, to ensure that your site looks the same across all of these different browsers, it is important that you use standard compliant code. Not only to standard compliant code improve your site's consistency across multiple browsers, but search engines also love standards compliance and will reward you with better rankings.
So, as you can see, some fads come and go but there are some things in web design and development that have been true since the beginning. Search engine optimization, conversions, and standards compliance will always be important to you when working on a web site.
With all of this experience I have noticed that while the fads do indeed come and go some things have been around from the beginning and will likely BE around as long as I am working on web sites. Three of these things includeSEO (search engine optimization), converting site visitors into your desired result, and they never ending focus on web standards. Indeed, there are lots of other things that you can work on and focus on when building a web site, by these are three things that I have noticed pop up a on almost every single the project.
While the game of search engine optimization (SEO) seemingly changes on a daily basis, this does not mean that it has ever not been a focus of ours. Even within SEO there are some things that we have always worked on. Title tags have always been important and likely will be important for the foreseeable future. Also, the text used in your URL has always been important and likely will always be important. While Meta keywords are a thing of the past, Meta description still play an important part as they often show up under your link in the search engine listings. New focuses of ours include the long-tail, social media and networking, and link bait.
Another item that we always seem to focus on his conversions. Whether you run an online store, a blogs, or in information site, you always have a singular goal for a random site visitor. Do you want them to become a customer? Do you want them to become a repeat visitor? Do you want them to click on ads? Do you want them to stick around and read more of your website content? These are serious questions that you need to ask yourself and your client as you go about designing the web site. The total user interface should be designed around what you want the visitor to end up doing on the web site.
Web standards have always been very import important on the web. The importance of web standards can be seen simply by looking at how many different browsers there are right now. From Firefox to Internet Explorer to Safari, the your site can be looked at using many different web browsers. As such, to ensure that your site looks the same across all of these different browsers, it is important that you use standard compliant code. Not only to standard compliant code improve your site's consistency across multiple browsers, but search engines also love standards compliance and will reward you with better rankings.
So, as you can see, some fads come and go but there are some things in web design and development that have been true since the beginning. Search engine optimization, conversions, and standards compliance will always be important to you when working on a web site.
About the Author:
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