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Intermediate Section |
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GETTING ON THE WEB |
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| Free HTML Tutorials • CSS • Popups tutorial • Frames Tutorials • Forms Tutorials • Beginners HTML Tutorials • Advanced HTML Tutorials • JavaScripts • Free Web Page Tutorials • Free Downloads |
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Intermediate Section |
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GETTING ON THE WEB |
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META TAGS
There are a few more bits of code you should know before posting your page to the web. When you put your new creation on the Web, you should add META tags so that the various search engines can figure out what your page is all about. META tags should be placed between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags of your document. Here are two almost essential META tags - description and keywords. In your page META tags look like this:
<TITLE>Your page name</TITLE> <META name="description" CONTENT=" "> <META name="keywords" CONTENT=" "> </HEAD>
As you can see, there is a description of your site within the quotation marks. Some search engines will display this information about your page. Ten to 25 (max 200 characters) words would be OK. The other META tag we will look at is the META "keywords" tag which informs a search engine that a group of descriptive keywords should be in this tag. The descriptive words go within the quotation marks, separating words or phrases with a comma. Think of all the words or terms you can to describe the subject of your Web page. They should be ones that people looking for information on your subject would use. Even common misspellings can be used. Thirty to 100 is a good number to try for, but there is no real limit. Here's an example:
Be careful not to repeat exactly the same thing here, and be sure the keywords are relevant to the content on your page. The search engines have got wise to people who use repeat tags, using the same word over and over to try to get a better listing, or using keywords that have nothing to do with the content of the page. They will drop your page completely. As an example, these are some of the possible Meta tags for these pages:
<META name="description" CONTENT="OzWebWeaver, the free HTML tutorial with Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced sections. Easy step-by-step instructions to help you create your own web page. Lots of sample pages, graphics, tips and links included. Learn how to modify commercial web page creation programmes."> There are lots of other META tags you can use. These are some of the ones appearing in the HEAD section of this page:
Most of these are fairly self-explanatory. The "robots" META tag tells search robots to list all pages following the index page for this website. This saves you submitting all the pages to a search engine, a great help if you have dozens or hundreds of pages. The "14 days" tag in theory means that any changes you make in your pages will be refreshed, though that doesn't always seem to work. It largely depends on which search engines pick up and list your pages. Don't expect to see them turn up for some weeks as thousands of pages are added hourly to the internet. POST YOUR PAGE The moment has finally arrived. Your pages are finished, everything works, all the spelling is checked and friends have cast their critical eyes over your masterpiece. If you are creating a site for your business you should have a domain name and a host. More on that later. Some points to note:
The following applies mainly to personal pages. The first thing to do is to contact your ISP to see if they provide free personal web space. If so, ask for FULL INSTRUCTIONS on how to upload your page. Each has its own preferred method but generally speaking they all use some form of FTP - File Transfer Protocol, though some of the bigger ISPs have their own methods. Some ISPs will do the uploading for you, but most don't or charge a fee for it. To upload your pages you need a bit of software. The most popular one is WS-FTP, and another is Cute-FTP. I can only recommend WS-FTP, the one I have used for some years. It is often available on cover CDs or from their website, www.ipswitch.com, though I don't think the free version is available any longer. Rather than go into details here, read the help files. Some programmes have a built in FTP client. Basically, what you are doing with FTP is connecting DIRECTLY to the ISPs server at their personal home pages location. You will first create a profile name - anything that will identify it easily - then you enter the host name (your ISPs address where it stores personal home pages). You then enter your own user name and password. Click OK and hopefully, you will be into the screen where you can upload your files. Your ISP can give you the precise directions on what they require to be entered. If your ISP does not provide space, or wants to charge you for it, try one of the freebies, GeoCities, being the largest and best known, or Bravenet, who have started offering free space quite recently. They each have their own methods - read all their information first before deciding which is the best for you. When you have uploaded all your files, you must check each one for errors you may have missed. Try opening them in both Netscape & Internet Explorer to see if there are major differences in appearance. Check any links you have. It's amazing how frequently sites disappear, so make sure you check them at regular intervals and update your pages if necessary. SEARCH ENGINES Once your pages are posted to the web, you will want people to be able to find them. If your META tags are well-chosen and relevant, you may get listed eventually. A good idea is to submit your site to a number of the most popular search engines.Some search engines, spiders and crawlers don't accept submissions and will list your site eventually (or not). And just like everything else these days some will want to charge you. This sound silly, but try a Google search for search engines. You can also find pages of explanations of how the different types work, tips on how to get a better listing and how to do better searches. Another handy thing to have is a visitor counter. If you would like to put one on your page check the Tips Page for freebies.
Intermediate Index
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