FAQS – frequently asked questions

This frequently asked questions section is intended to help people who are just getting started on building a website. Think of us as a friendly service that is interested in understanding your needs and would like to help you meet your goals and objectives through the internet. In this section we provide some answers to questions you may have. The list of questions could be endless – we provide just a couple of tips on this site but we would be more than happy to assist identify your needs and answer your specific questions appropriately to your situation.

  1. How do I get Started?
  2. What kind of website do I need?
  3. How do I organize my website / What is website architecture?
  4. What content should I have?
  5. How do I get my website recognized?
  6. What is a search engine?
  7. Which search engines should I submit my site to?

1. How do I get Started?

  1. See Web Site Design Overview or contact us

2. What kind of website do I need?

There are many different types of websites. Some of the more common ones are listed below:

Type Purpose
Organizational The purpose of this type of website is to advocate an individual’s opinion or a group’s point of view. The Internet address often ends with .org
Commercial The purpose of this type of website is to sell products or services. The Internet address often ends with .com
Intranet The purpose of this type of website is to provide information and promote inter departmental communication within an organization. The Internet address often ends with .com
Support The purpose of this type of website is to support/sell products or services. The Internet address often ends with .com
Entertainment The purpose of this type of website is to entertain and provide amusement. The Internet address often ends with .com
Government The purpose of this type of website is to provide information produced by government agencies, offices, and departments. Usually, information provided by government websites is very reliable. The Internet address often ends with .gov
News The purpose of this type of website is to provide information about current events. The Internet address often ends with .com
Personal The purpose of this type of website is to provide information about an individual. The Internet address has a variety of endings
Educational The purpose of this type of website is to provide information about an educational establishment. The Internet address ends in .edu
Internet Service Provider The purpose of this type of website is to promote companies and services related to the Internet. The Internet address ends in .net
Military A portal site is a site that serves as the entry point for locations and sites all over the World Wide Web. The Internet address often ends in .net
*Table Footer here…

3. How do I organize my website / What is website architecture?

  1. Website architecture is exceptionally important – especially for the users experience. There are five main types of flow architectures; Linear, Hierarchical, Grid, Circle, Web.
  2. Linear Website Diagrams are designed like books. Access is sequential. Linear sites are preferred if you are presenting as series of steps or tracking a process from start to finish.
  3. Hierarchical structures or Tree-design website Diagrams have a Homepage that serves as the “table of contents” to other Webpages in the Website. Unlike the linear design, the hierarchical Website design provides more than one path that a user may take.
  4. Grid design websites provide self contained rooms of information. The structure allows for moving between rooms that most appropriately placed together such as a kitchen dinning room. The Dinning room may link to the living room room, but does not link to the bedroom.
  5. Circular sites provides a central point from which to reach all 360º of the content. All pages are linked in a circular or passage fashion to that the user can cir-cum navigate the entire site. This site provides the opportunity to travel round the entire site while providing immediate return to the start point at any time.
  6. Web In the way a spider weaves a web it is designed to catch the user and then provide easy access to the content the user is looking for. All the pages are inter-linked to allow direct access from one page to another.

4. What content should I have?

  1. Five evaluative guidelines from the School of Journalism & Library Science
  2. Up-to-date? One of the quickest ways to lose your reader’s interest is if your content is out of date. Make sure your date specific events, news items, indicate that the site is actively maintained.
  3. Coverage What is the focus of the site? Are there clear headings to illustrate an outline of the content? Is the navigation within the website clear? Review the header for a clear title and web site description and ensure the navigation reflects content within the web site.
  4. Objectivity
    Are biases clearly stated? Are affiliations clear? Check the content for statement of purpose, to determine the type of web site and potential audience for outside links for information external to the website for graphics and cues for affiliations.
  5. Accuracy Are sources of information and factual data listed, and available for cross-checking. Check the content for accuracy of spelling, grammar, facts(!), and consistency within website.
  6. Check content for a bibliographic variety of websites (external links), of electronic media (electronic databases of references, established (print & on-line) journals, of electronic indexes (ERIC), and of books for comparative/evaluative purposes.

5. How do I get my website recognized?

  1. You can get your website recognized by listing it in a search engine or a web directory.

6. What is a search engine/directory?

  1. A search engine is a tool that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Search engines use keywords entered by users to find Web sites which contain the information sought.

7. Which search engines should I submit my site to?

  1. Here is a list of 108 of the most common/popular search engines:About.Com, Aeiwi, Altavista, AOL Netfind, Ask Jeeves, Awesome Li, Bigfoot, BigStuff, Bomis, Buyers Index, ComFind, Data Bot, Dejanews, Dewa, Direct Hit, D.I.Y. Search, E Groups, Excite, Fast Search, Megaweb, The MiningCo, MSN Search, Music Search, FindLink, FindWhat, Forumone, Funky-Cat, Galaxy, Gee-Wiz!, GeneralSearch, Geocities, GlowStart, Google!, GoTo, Handilinks, Hotbot, Hot Lava, I Bound, Ioport, Identify, I-Explorer, Infohiway, Infoseek, Info Tiger, I-Sleuth, I Won, Jayde, Jump City, Lexiconn, Links 2 Go, Looksmart, Lycos, Magellan, Mall Park, National Dir., Nerd World, Netbreach, Net Crawler, Northern Lt, Netcenter, NewHoo!, One Key, Open Text, 100 Hot, PlanetClick, Point Guide, Point-Origin, Power Links, Pronett, Psych Crawler, Reference.CO, QuestFinder, Scrub the Web, SearchHound, Search King, Searchopolis, SimpleSearch, Site Shack, Snap, Splat, Starting Point, Rex, Study Web, Suite 101, Super Pages, Surf Point, Switchboard, The Net 1, Tribal Voice, Thunderstone, TVgen, Tripod, USA Online, W6 Search, Wadoo!, Wall Street, Webcrawler, WebSitez, Web-Search, Websurfer, Web Trawler, What’s New, What’s New 2, What-U-Seek, WHOW, Yahoo! Yeehaa, Village Links, Zens Search