In the process of building your website, you’ve probably heard a lot of web mumbo jumbo – it can make anyone a little dizzy.  Fortunately, there are some universal standards that can help you determine if you’re getting your money’s worth out of your site.

1. W3C Compliance
   I may get some phone calls from some angry web designers on this one. The W3C is a governing body who began creating standards for the code behind websites. Gone are the days of taking your web developers word that your website’s code is clean. Now you can go to http://validator.w3.org/ and copy the url address of your site to see if your site passes or fails.
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   You may hear some excuses when you bring this up like “many websites aren’t complaint.” While it’s true that even some big companies don’t have compliant code, there is no reason your site shouldn’t. Adhering to standards means our beloved Googlebot will have an easier time finding content on your site.
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2. Cross Browser Test
   Your website may look great on your computer, but what does everyone else see?   A number of great tools have recently been released to help you in your quest for consistency.   One of the best is Litmus App.   They offer a one week free trial, and you can test your site on nearly every browser.  They also have an email testing tool for various email clients, so you can see if your HTML emails are rendering properly as well.
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   Screenshot of Litmus App

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3. Avoid table based layout
   Tables can make it difficult for search engines to read your content.  I wish I could provide you with a handy little tool to test whether or not your site uses a tabless design, but the best way to find out is to ask.  A great resource is the AllExperts.com.  They have several web design guru volunteers who will answer any web design question you may have free of charge.  You can also shoot me a quick email, and I’ll be happy to let you know.
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4. It’s the little things that count
   Many web development groups will skip the small things that can significantly increase your site’s visibility, since most of their clients don’t know to ask for it.  Here are a few things you should look for:
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   • Title tags: At the very top of your browser window you’ll see some text with the title of your page.  These title tags have a lot of weight on what keywords Google associates with your site.  Each page title should be unique, and should relate to the content on that page.
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   • Alternate Image Text: This text provides a description of what that image is to the visually impaired and Googlebot . Every image should have alternate text that preferably uses relevant keywords.  To read alternative text in Internet Explorer: hover over the image.  To do the same in Firefox: right-click on your image, and select “Properties”.  You’ll see “Alternate Text” on the bottom of the window.  (This only works for non-link images)
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   • Text as images: Sometimes we want a special font in certain areas of our site and need to embed that font as an image.  However, for Google to index text it needs to be in plain old HTML.  If you’re not sure, try selecting text on different areas of your site.  If it’s not selectable, it’s probably an image.

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Have more questions? Send me an email.