Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

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Another technology consideration is the use of Shockwave files. Shockwave files are based on a proprietary format that has been accepted as a web-standard to display and animate graphics on websites. “Flash” files, as they are also known, can add visual punctuation to a site that is unrivaled by other technologies, but can cause some problems as well. Accessibility is one of the main issues that the creators of Flash have faced though they are working to remedy the problems created by the new technology. While most “modern” web-browsers can read Flash files, there is still a small minority that cannot. Those users are left without access to the information unless an alternate website is developed. Very few search engines have the ability to index Flash content which makes it much more difficult to obtain the exposure that traditionally built sites enjoy. Flash is a good tool to create certain elements of a website, but generally should not be used as the format for an entire site.

One of the most important decisions in creating any webpage should be determining how large is too large with regards to file size. The size of a webpage will be the main determinant in how quickly the page downloads to a user’s computer. Re-using scripts and portions of a site where applicable will help to reduce page download time when a user is navigating from page to page on a website. Most users are still on dial-up connections and will become frustrated and leave a site if it takes too long to download. Ten to twenty kilobytes is a reasonable file size for just the HTML coding of a webpage. (See Appendix 2-7)

Keeping file size of a webpage small is very important. Unlike other advertising mediums there are many options available to webpage developers but only a limited amount of them can be used on a given project. These decisions should be made carefully. Google.com has surely demonstrated that “retro-simple” is popular with users. Making decisions for technology uses should be well thought out and planned before they are ever implemented. It can be quite expensive and time consuming to make these changes in technology if they are not made correctly from the inception of a site.

Appendices
(All in a single document) Appendix 1-1: Overture Search Term
Research Tool

Appendix 1-2: Wordtracker Search Query Research Tool

Appendix 1-3: Google Sets Website Theme Research Tool

Appendix 1-4: Reach/ Acquire/ Convert/ Retain

Chart Appendix 2-5: Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Information Architecture Flowchart

Appendix 2-6: Search Engine Themes Pyramid Information Architecture Example

Appendix 2-7: Webpage Download Time by File Size Chart

Appendix 2-8: Expected Locations for Common E-commerce Elements

Appendix 2-9: Website Usability Checklist

Appendix 2-10: Text Vs.Code Ratio/ Content Near the Top of Souce Code Examples

Appendix 3-11: Overture Bid Price Tool

Appendix 3-12: Webalizer Website Visitor Tracking Tool

Appendix 3-13: AW STATS Website Visitor Tracking Tool Appendix

3-14: Clicktracks Website Statistics
Analysis Tool

References
Author Notes

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Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites Table of Contents

Planning, Developing, and Promoting a Successful Small Business Website

Technology Planning File Size Considerations Page 15

Is Flash a Good Website Option

Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

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