Valid and Top Ranked?

I'm beginning to believe the blurb out there on search engines and now I'm worried.

Blurb #1 says that all my code has to be 100% perfect (even Google's own website recommendation say this) before my site can be top ranked.

Blurb #2 says exactly the opposite - be as slapdash as you like - and you can be on a winner.
Just look at the pages that the search engines produce - many of them have horrendous errors in their HTML code.

Do I follow Google's recommendations:

• Only valid HTML allowed
• No covert keyword areas
• No link farms
• No duplication of pages
• No overloading of key phrases
• Every page to be indexed must have a clear link to it
• Use google meta tags to help promote the correct navigation
• Include a Robot.txt file

If I do this - will I get a good ranking? Unlikely - but it could well be an easy site to maintain!

I really must get a good book on search engine optimization. Trouble is - the big three have completely different ideas about what makes a good page - and then they keep on moving the goal posts.

I guess I will keep on trying to do my best and see what happens!

Website Development

I spend hours trying develop sites that work - and nothing happens. Trouble is, my clients don't have the money to spend on their web sites - and to pay for back links and advertising - no way!

Yes, I know about keyword strategies and good content, and finding links from good sites.
So what do I do?

• I build the site well.I try to run as many HTML and XHTML validation tests so that no errors, warnings and comments are found
• I use CSS for all my formatting - mainly to ensure consistency - and only use the attributes that a cross-browser.
  This can be a real pain - but in the end getting the DOCTYPE right and using consistent CSS does mean that the site is easy to maintain - and can easily be changed if the client has second thoughts about his/her design.
• I try to make the site fast loading.All graphics (where used) are optimized to load quickly. I do not use graphical menus or tables unless I really have to. All in all, the sites load fast. I also place them with a host that will do the site justice - and seems to be reliable.
• I eschew things like Javascript
  Some people dont allow it - and others use versions of Java that we just don't want to think about! If I do any scripting I tend to do it in PHP. This still leaves me with some problems (like a Back button - but sometimes we just have to let the user use the Browser back button).
• I create site maps
  This will be an HTML site map as well as a google site map.
• I promote the domain and submit the google site map to google.

So there you have it. And people say that anyone can do it… Well they can - but have you seen some of the websites out there? And I have to say - it's galling to find that they have got a better ranking than I have.

Vista for Breakfast?

I wonder how many people are now using Vista?
I spend my life using computers and some of them have fairly old versions of operating systems. Nearly up to date now - but some will never become Vista solutions!
Yes - I have taken the plunge - and the main development computer is now running both Vista and Office 2007. Nothing really radical - since I had been using the release candidate installed in a seperate partition so there was no problems with hardware compatibility. However XP and Office 2003 were getting flaky - updates were not always installing properly and I did not want to go for a complete rebuild.
So there we are - upgrade worked successfully - and I did not have retype all my passwords etc again!
Do I like the interface? Yes, I do. But then I like the latest and the best. And I’m different from my neighbours - so I can crow for a little while! Does it make my computer work better?Not really - I think it is a much bigger operating system now - and even needs a DVD to do the install and as such there is quite a lot of “bloat”.

So there you are….