Color
- Color and Web Design
- Less is More
- Importance of the Color
- Set the Mood in Web Design
- Color Psychology
- Choosing a Color Scheme
- White space
- Web Design Color Resources
Content
- Writing for the Web
- Scannability
- Writing to be Found
- Terms to Avoid
- Web Facts
- How to Write an "About Us" Page
- Five Usability Samples
- Special Characters
- Writing Content Resources
- Memorable slogan
Consumer concern
SEO
- Content Creation
- Choosing keywords
- Text and SEO
- Linking Strategies
- Custom "Error" Pages
- Keyword Ranking Factors
- Non-Keyword Ranking Factors
- Page Speed Factors
- Top Search Engine Ranking Factors
- SEO Resources
Bookshelf
- beginning a title with a generic term "Welcome to" or welcome users to a site. It's simply offers the user no value. Search Engines (SE) will never find this particular site. How many people will search fo "Welcome to..."? None, because those words have nothing to do with the business.
- choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page
- using the same description across the site
- writing a description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page
- using general descriptions like "This is a webpage" or "Page about ..."
- filling the description with only keywords
- repeating keywords more than 4-6 times per 350 words of content
- using blue color for words - that color is reserved for hyperlinks
- highlighting entire sentences or long phrases - scanning eye can only pick up 2-3 words at a time
- using ‹EM› tag for large blocks of text - italic typefaces are slower to read
- using clever or cute headings - users rely on scanning to pick up the meaning of the text
- using of metaphors, particularly in headings - users might take you literally
- centering text - it's harder to read
- using all capitals. It is poor technique, is difficult to read, means nothing to SE, looks lousy. Also, many users will read uppercase as shouting. When people resort to shouting, it indicates either a weak position or an inability to articulate ideas in a cogent, intelligent manner.
- duplicating content. Avoiding duplicating content is critical to achieving long-standing organic SE rankings. Search engines award original content and penalize identical content, making it absolutely necessary to have a unique content for a web site. The discovery of duplicate content on a web site prompts search engines to penalize it with lower rankings or omit pages from search result.
- self-referential terms like "Click here", "follow this link","this Web site"
- poor grammar, slang, industry jargon. Keep your content accessible to average reader. Content that is too academic or esoteric in nature is going to confuse the average reader. Content that comes across as elementary is going to make your site look unprofessional.
Writing well for the Web means taking advantage of the options the Web offers, but at the same time, not calling attention to the Web. "Click here", "follow this link" and "this Web site" are just a few self-referential terms to avoid.
Generally, if the words or phrases are specific to Web use, then they are probably words to avoid. A good test of web-term overuse is to print the page out, read it, and ask yourself if it makes as much sense on paper as it does on screen.
You can't eliminate all references to the Web, especially when giving browser-related instructions. However, a common error to beware of is assuming that everyone reading the page uses the same browser. For instance, instructions on how to download a file are different from browser to browser. Make sure that your instructions are detailed enough to be understood without being specific to browser version or brand of browser.