40 little web tips to help you optimize your site

I wrote this list of tips a few years ago, while composing a proposal for a government project. Most of the tips are still valid today.Click on the different tips to read the explanation…

1. Is your domain name easy to remember?
2. Have you checked that the information with your registrar is correct? Is it possible for your competitors to hack into your domain name server and change your web server address?
3. Did you know that you should avoid having too many host aliases such as http://somekeyword.yourdomain.com?
4. Is your sites accessible when you type http://www.yourdomain.com or HTTP://WWW.YOURDOMAIN.COM?
5. Will your clients find your site when they type http://yourdomain.com and http://www.yourdomain.com?
6. Will your clients be able to reach your web site from no matter which location or are some routes unavailable?
7. Have you checked your server for open security holes and other hacking techniques?

Not all tips have been put online yet. I’ll do so in the next couple of days, so make sure to come back and read the remaining tips.

• How secure is your mail server? Is it possible for other people to send mails from your domain?
• Have you encoded your e-mail address through-out your site so it can’t be extracted by spammers using e- mail harvesters?
• Have you got your contact information listed on all your pages?
• Do you use an e-mail address which includes your domain name or one which uses the domain name of your ISP?
• Does your company publish a privacy statement covering the data you collect through your web site?
• Have you installed a robots.txt file?
• Have you tested all your pages and images throughout your site? Have you installed a custom error file to help your visitors should they run into a broken link?
• Is it possible to browse all your file directories or is directory access blocked for security?
• Is your site’s navigation consistent and easy to understand and use?
• Is the design or look and feel of your site appropriate for the kind of visitor you’d like to attract?
• Does your web designer know that it’s easier to maintain a web site by using style sheets and macros or server side includes?
• Does your site work in all browsers and have you tested it on most major platforms and browsers? Is your site accessible without Java, JavaScript or browser plug-ins?
• Is your HTML free from errors or do you use non-standard tags?
• Do you check your log files to see if there is any major problem with your site or navigation?
• What is the deepest level of your directories and do you know what impact it has on your search engine listings?
• Did you know that using a counter on your home page makes it look very unprofessional?
• Have you checked the spelling of the text on all your pages?
• Have you removed all unnecessary HTML tags or comments from your web pages?
• Are your images optimized for the fastest download times? Do you know the difference between GIF and JPEG graphics and when to use which format?
• Have you considered using a special host name just for your images to facilitate mirroring of them?
• Do all your pages include a unique title tag for easy identification? Do all your pages include meta tags such as description and keyword tags? Is your web site ready to be promoted to the major search engines?
• Do you follow-up on all e-mails sent to your site?
• Have you installed basic HTML forms to allow people to get in touch with your company? When somebody fills out a form on your site do you send them an acknowledgment that their messages was received?
• When you send out an e-mail to your clients, do you include a tracking code for follow-up questions?
• Do you offer a web-based e-mail system to your clients?
• Is it easy for your online visitors to refer their friends or associates to your site? Do you publish a guest book on your site to let people show their support?
• Do you publish a newsletter to get in touch with your clients or tell them any news about your site? Do you personalize your company’s newsletters to achieve a higher response rate? Do you provide an archive of your previous newsletters to let people browse your back issues?
• Have you installed a web cam in your office or store to show your online visitors how you work?
• Have you considered creating a search engine for your industry to become a reference site?
• If you are not comfortable about paying online, how can you expect your clients to purchase through your online store?
• Did you know that you can get listed in more directories and search engines when you provide translations of your home page?
• Did you know that it is very easy to get a phone number in another city or country for your online store?
• Did you know that you can promote your site through many online services with very little effort and a small budget? Did you know that it’s impossible to guarantee a search engine ranking — even with cheating or trying to trick the services?