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7
Promoting and
Maintaining a Web Site
Web Design,
3rd Edition
Chapter Objectives
 Explain how to test a Web site before it is published
 Describe how to publish a Web site to a Web server
 Identify ways to promote a published Web site
 Discuss the importance of maintaining and evaluating
a published Web site
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Testing a Web Site Before Publishing
 Self-Testing
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Page display – different browsers and platforms
Image display – verify file names and locations
Alternate text descriptions – display when images turned off
Internal links – functional before upload
External links – WYSIWYG can check automatically
Satisfy WAI guidelines – HTML validator
 After conducting self-testing, correct any identified
problems
More on Web
Web Site Testing
Group Testing
– Group - people representative of target audience,
take notes on the following items
1.What appeals to group
2.What disinterests group
3.Time spent on various pages
4.Visited / ignored links
5.Ease of navigation
6.Demonstration of confusion or annoyance
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Testing a Web Site Before Publishing
 Questionnaire
– candid opinions about experience on your Web
site
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Did find site interesting and content valuable?
What could improve the Web site?
What should be added or deleted?
What helped or hampered navigation?
Would they return to the Web site?
Your Turn! (page 185)
Exploring How to Organize a Test Group
1.
Review the audience profile you developed for your Web site that should
include age range, gender, educational background, geographic
location, careers, income levels, and lifestyles. Review the identified
target audience needs, wants, and expectations for site content.
2.
Identify individuals you know who match your target audience’s profile.
Ask the identified individuals and other interested parties, such as
friends, family members, and fellow students to participate in the group
testing of your Web site.
3.
Develop a questionnaire for the testers in which they can express their
candid opinions about their experiences on your Web site.
Note: Classroom Students: Print out 4 hard copies of your
questionnaire to share with the other members of your assigned
group.
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More on Web
Publishing the Web Site
3 Things Required before making Web site live
1. Acquiring server space
2. Obtaining a domain name
3. Uploading your Web site
Acquiring Server Space
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
All files must be uploaded to a Web server
Client-side vs. server-side functions
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client – take place in user’s browser
server – take place on remote server (script)
Server space is available from
–
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ISPs and OSPs
Free hosting services
1.
2.
3.
ISP – advertisements
College web server
Online communities
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MSN Web Communities
Yahoo! GeoCities
Acquiring Server Space
 Consider the following
– Monthly fee
– Server space allotted, additional space cost
– Naming conventions for files
• .htm or .html, home page called index or default
– Downtime for maintenance / backing up
– E-commerce / Multimedia / SSL support
• additional fees
– FTP software
– Extra capabilities
• FrontPage or Office Server Extensions, CGI or ASP, mailing lists
– Technical Support
Acquiring Server Space
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Uploading Your Web Site
 Transmitting all files that comprise your Web
site to the Internet
 Three methods
1. FTP applications
2. WYSIWYG software
3. Web folders
More on Web
FTP Client
 Used to transfer files
using the FTP protocol
 Provides a familiar GUI
 Must add the name and
URL of the remote
computer, plus your
assigned username and
password
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
Local
computer
remote
computer
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FTP Applications
 Used to transfer files on
the Internet
 FTP Requires
1.
2.
3.
4.
Site name
Host/IP/URL
Host type
Username and password
 do not upload unnecessary
source files
–
image or word processing
files
typical information
needed by FTP
applications
WYSIWYG Editor
 Allows you to upload
your Web site directly
from within the program
– Microsoft Expression
Web
 Eliminates the need for
a separate FTP client
 FTP program is built in
– can identify specific files
to publish
– can publish only files that
have changed
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Command-Line Interface
Non-graphical
window
Opened by typing
the cmd command
in the Search box
Type the FTP
commands
necessary to log on
and upload
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Retesting Published Pages
Confirm that all images display properly.
Make certain that no broken links exist
Ensure all interactive elements, such as forms,
are functioning properly
If any changes are necessary, correct the page
file(s) on your local computer and then upload
the corrected page file to the server
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Web Site Promotion
It is important to announce your presence on
the Web
– Online promotional techniques
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Search tools
Search tool submission services
Affiliate programs
Link exchange programs
Online advertising networks
Web-industry awards
Opt-in e-mail advertising
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
 Search Engines
– Maintain a database of sites on the Web
– Equivalent of having your name and number listed in the
Yellow Pages
– Meta tags increase the chances of your site appearing in
search results
– Spiders and robots search the Web for new sites
periodically
– You can register with some search engines free of charge
– Search engine optimization (SEO) increases the possibility
that your page will appear as a search result
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
 Search Tool
Submission Services
– Business that will register
your site with multiple
search engines
– Pick one that registers
your site with the most
frequently used search
tools
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Your Turn! (page 193)
Exploring Paid or Sponsored Placement Online Advertising
1.
Visit the Web Design Chapter 7 Online Companion Web page
(scsite.com/web3e/ch7/ ) and click links in the Your Turn section to
review three paid or sponsored advertising programs:
a. Google Adwords
b. Yahoo! Small Business Search Advertising
c. Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions
2.
Assume that you are part of the design and development team for a
midsized e-commerce company. Your manager instructs you to
recommend a paid or sponsored placement program for the
company. Using your research, draft a recommendation based on
price, services offered, and other significant program features and
submit it to your instructor.
Note: A table in Word, or a spreadsheet in Excel, might be the
easiest way to do the comparisons.

More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
Affiliate Programs
– Advertiser pays a fee
on sales generated
by visitors driven to
the site by links on
publishers
– Affiliate management
networks
• DoubleClick
Performics
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
 Link Exchange Programs
 Reciprocal Links
– Two Web site owners
informally agree to put a link
to each other’s site on their
Web pages
– Link exchange sites allow
you to choose other sites
with which you can
exchange reciprocal links
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
Online Advertising Networks
– Brings together companies that want to purchase
online advertising and companies that want to sell
ads on their sites
– Banner ads and Sidebar ads
• Click-through
– Pop-up ads and pop-under ads
– Floating ads, Flash movie ads, and rich media ads
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Web-Based Marketing
Banner Advertising
– Intent is to motivate viewers to click the ad, which
takes them to an advertiser’s Web site
• Two methods of fee determination
– Click-through – number of times ad clicked
– Impression – viewing of Web page on which banner ad is
placed
– Banner Exchange Sites
• Similar to link exchange sites
• Usually a free service
More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
Banner ad’s link
target page
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
Floating ad
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Online Promotional Techniques
Web-Industry Awards
– Winners’ pages are
featured on the
sponsoring site
– Beneficial to Web sites
only if they come from a
credible source
• Webby Award
• Web Marketing
Association
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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More on Web
Online Promotional Techniques
Opt-in E-mail Advertising
– Also called permission-based e-mail advertising
– Recipient must formally agree to receive
advertising
– The recipient gets information he or she wants,
and the advertiser can send a targeted message
– Unsolicited e-mail advertising is called spam
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Online Promotional Techniques
E-Mail Newsletters and Mailing Lists
– Have potential to market your Web site easily
– Inform visitors of new products and services
– Newsletter should be personable, engaging, and
free of errors
• Always provide a way to unsubscribe from the e-mail
newsletter
– Mailing list collection of e-mail names and
addresses given a single name
• LISTSERVs – named given to lists, well-known mailing
list software product
More on Web
Traditional Promotional Methods
Word of mouth
– Telling people about your site
Print
– URL appears on printed materials
Promotional Items
– Magnets, coffee mugs, coasters, pens, etc.
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Web Site Maintenance and
Evaluation
More on Web
 Ongoing Maintenance, Updating, and Retesting
 Evaluating Web Site Performance
– Add changing, timely content
– Check for broken links, and add new links
– Document the last reviewed date on Web pages
– Include a mechanism for gathering user feedback,
and act on that feedback
– Identify benchmark and resource Web sites
– Evaluate and implement new technologies
– Retest site features periodically
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Maintaining and Updating the Web
Site
 Steps for updating
1. Download the desired Web page from the server
to your computer
2. Update the downloaded Web page
3. Load the Web page into a browser and check the
changes and the page display
4. If the changes and the page display are
acceptable, then upload the updated page to the
server
Web Site Maintenance and
Evaluation
Evaluating Web Site Performance
– Benchmarking
– Web server log analysis
• Web server log analysis software
– Web analytics (also called Web metrics)
• Unique vs. repeat visitor
• Page views – determines page popularity
• Click-stream analysis – how a visitor moves through a
site
• Conversion rate – rate at which a visitor becomes a
buyer of site’s products or services
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Indicators reported by most web
log analyzers
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Number of visits and number of unique visitors
Visits duration and last visits
Authenticated users, and last authenticated visits
Days of week and rush hours
Domains/countries of host's visitors
Hosts list
Number total page views
Most viewed, entry and exit pages
Files type
OS used
Browsers used
Robots
HTTP referrer
Search engines, key phrases and keywords used to find the analyzed web site
HTTP errors
Some of the log analyzers also report on who's on the site, conversion tracking and
page navigation.
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
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Chapter Summary
 Explain how to test a Web site before it is published
 Describe how to publish a Web site to a Web server
 Identify ways to promote a published Web site
 Discuss the importance of maintaining and evaluating
a published Web site
Chapter 7: Promoting and Maintaining a Web Site
34
Case Study # 7
Case Study Page 209
Do steps 1-5 test, publish, and promote your
own Web site.
See assignment web page for details.
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Promoting and
Maintaining a Web Site
Web Design,
3rd Edition