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  • Website Tools & Utilities

    The following are tools and utilities used to analyze different aspects of a particular website…such as page rank, meta tags, visits and user behavior, search engine rankings, etc.

    PageRank Checker

    Google has developed an algorithm called PageRank that is used to rank websites on their platform. It essentially allows Google to determine the importance of a website and in turn affects the position in which a website will show up when performing a particular search query. All details on how Google calculates this are not revealed, although webmasters generally have a good idea of what to focus on and what to avoid.

    Use the following site to get your website’s PageRank score (0-10) for free: www.InstantPageRankChecker.com

    Meta Tags Analyzer

    Meta Tags are an element of HTML coding on a website that is used by search engines to index a website. These tags are not intended for users to see, however they pass information to search engine crawlers. The most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain and how they should be formatted.

    Meta Tag Analyzer Tool

    Widexl designed this search engine optimization tool to help webmasters analyze their web pages. This script analyzes not only the meta tags but try to use the same spider technology as the spiders them self.

    Search Engine Position Check

    To track the position of your web site for certain keywords over a period of time is crucial in order to determine what search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are effective and which ones are not. A search engine position checker will allow the client to view the ranking of their site in the top search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.

    Search Engine Position Check

    Use the Search Engine Rank Tool to check the search engine result pages (SERPs) of Google, Yahoo, MSN and more to see what position (if any) your site holds for a particular keyword phrase.

    Web Site Statistics

    Statistics inludes information regarding visitation to a website including the number of visitors, pages visited, web robots visiting, pages visited, bandwidth used and search engine referrals. This allows clients to focus marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.
    Google Analytics – Web Site Statistics Google Analytics

    This free utility tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site.

    Google Analytics has the enterprise level capabilities you’d expect from a high end web analytics offering and also provides timesaving integration with AdWords. Of course, Google Analytics tracks all of your non-AdWords initiatives as well.

  • Static vs. Dynamic Websites – What’s the Difference?

    Websites fall into two different major categories; static or dynamic.

    Dynamic Site

    These sites are database-driven, in terms of retrieving and updating content. For example, a user is able to login and edit most of the information throughout the site without the assistance of a website developer. This type of website is generally more expensive than a static website and is ideal for larger websites, including ecommerce sites. E-commerce sites allow business owners to manage thousands of products on their website effectively.

    Static Site

    Once a static website is created, any information presented on the site cannot be edited without the assistance of a webmaster. This type of website is usually less costly than a dynamic website to build but can end up costing more in the long run to maintain it. This type of site is usually ideal for businesses that have a set line of products and/or services and not interested in a large website.

  • Additional Costs to Consider When Developing a Website

    Domain Name Registration
    A domain name is essentially the internet address linked to your website. For example, “www.hotweazel.com” is the domain name you entered to access our website. You can check for the availability of a given domain name and register it using the following website. Domain names cannot be purchased, however, they may be rented yearly.

    GoDaddy.com
    Offers domain names for sale, starting at $8.95 per year for a “.com” address (without any promotion). If you currently have your domain name registered with another registrar, you may transfer it to GoDaddy.com for $6.95 (includes 1 free year).

    Certified Offer Service
    Is the domain name you want already registered? The Certified Offer Service offered by Network Solutions presents an instant offer, on your behalf, to the owner of the domain name. They charge a $19 flat non-refundable fee and 5% of the transaction (if the sale is successful). In addition, you receive any existing years on the domain name registration transfer for free and Network Solutions will add a free additional year to the registration.

    Web Hosting Service
    Web hosting is a service that provides a physical location in which a website resides. Customers’ websites are stored on computer servers located in secure and climate-controlled environments and permanently connected to the internet through high-speed data lines. Programmers can work on webpage files and upload them to the server, where they become live and visible to anyone surfing the World Wide Web.

    Hotweazel.com offers hosting services for its clients. Depending on what type of website you will have created and the needs of the business (number of e-mail accounts, bandwidth, etc.), the price will be determined accordingly.

    Photography
    In order to enhance the look and feel of your website, you may want to take advantage of professional photography. Below, we have listed companies which offer their images for sale. Please be aware that “rights managed” images are very expensive (we suggest searching through “royalty-free” images). Furthermore, websites do not require anything more than the lowest quality images available (which are also the least expensive).

    iStockPhoto.com
    Extremely cheap, high quality, royalty-free photo images starting at about $1 each
    Hotweazel.com’s highest recommendation based on price, quality, and selection

    123RF.com
    Extremely cheap royalty-free photo images starting at about $0.21 each

    AbleStock.com
    Subscription entitles you to unlimited downloads of royalty-free photo images
    Images are also sold individually

    CorbisImages.com
    Offering a vast selection of royalty-free and rights managed photo images

    Photos.com
    Subscription entitles you to unlimited downloads of royalty-free photo images
    We recommend purchasing the 1 month subscription and downloading all necessary images within that timeframe

    ClipArt.com
    Subscription entitles you to unlimited downloads of clip art and photo images

  • Useful Tools for Webmasters

    The following are tools and utilities used to analyze different aspects of a particular website, such as page rank, meta tags, site visitation, search engine position, etc.

    Web Page Rank
    PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a web page is on the internet. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes that are cast for a page, the more important the page must be. Also, the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a page’s importance from the votes cast for it. How important each vote is is taken into account when a page’s PageRank is calculated.
    Google Page Rank
    GoGoRank.com
    Calculates the page rank of any particular page for free. A page rank of 4 is great and anything more than that is fantastic. Usually, average sites do not reach the high numbers, which are usually assigned to companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Yahoo! and most importantly…Google (which is a perfect 10)!
    Meta Tags Analyzer
    Meta Tags are an element of HTML coding on a website that is used by search engines to index a website. These tags are not intended for users to see, however they pass information to search engine crawlers. The most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain and how they should be formatted.
    Meta Tag Analyzer Tool
    Widexl designed this search engine optimization tool to help webmasters analyze their web pages. This script analyzes not only the meta tags but try to use the same spider technology as the spiders them self.
    Search Engine Position Check
    To track the position of your web site for certain keywords over a period of time is crucial in order to determine what search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are effective and which ones are not. A search engine position checker will allow the client to view the ranking of their site in the top search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.
    Search Engine Position Check
    Search Engine Position Checker
    Use the Search Engine Rank Tool to check the search engine result pages (SERPs) of Google, Yahoo, MSN and more to see what position (if any) your site holds for a particular keyword phrase.
    Web Site Statistics

    Statistics inludes information regarding visitation to a website including the number of visitors, pages visited, web robots visiting, pages visited, bandwidth used and search engine referrals. This allows clients to focus marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.
    Google Analytics – Web Site Statistics Google Analytics

    This free utility tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site.

    Google Analytics has the enterprise level capabilities you’d expect from a high end web analytics offering and also provides timesaving integration with AdWords. Of course, Google Analytics tracks all of your non-AdWords initiatives as well.