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Taking a Website Live

Based on slides from Alex Loddengaard

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What’s after CSC309? n  Continue practicing Web Programming

n  What if you want more? n  What if you want your own .com name? n  What if you want to make some money? n  What if you want to take web development

to the next level?

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The Truth n  The gap between a legitimate website and a personal

project is small - this is the beauty of the web n  All of you are capable of making something that

people will use n  Examples:

n  Facebook.com n  Craigslist.org n  You name it…

n  All websites started off simple

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The Next Level is Hosting n  Buy a domain name

n  Example: mydomain.com n  Buy web space from a hosting company

n  They provide you with Python, MySQL, etc n  You can buy a domain name and web space from the

same company n  A few companies:

n  Namecheap.com n  Dreamhost.com n  Godaddy.com n  Westhost.com

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OK, you’re live

Refine your website

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Research n  First step to refinement is research

n  Research will tell you more about the problem you’re solving n  Understand your users n  Understand use cases

n  Research by interviewing, surveying, etc n  Solve a real problem n  Research increases the likeliness of your website

being used n  It’s more fun when your website is used :)

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Focuses n  Where to focus?

n  Add more functionality or a few core features? n  Open vs. closed source n  Develop API framework? n  Look-and-feel? How important is it?

Make decisions – Take risks

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Privacy n  Be upfront with your user

n  Specify your privacy policy in a “Terms” page n  Facebook’s “Terms” page is over 10 pages n  Twitter had issues with this recently

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You got a good idea

Track and evaluate your website

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Website Analytics n  What’s this?

n  Follow your website visitors by website Analytics n  Google Analytics n  Statcounter

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Google Analytics (GA) n  Sign up here: http://www.google.com/analytics n  Then just install the JavaScript they give you n  GA gives you insane statistics about your site

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Revenue Models

Make some money

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Advertisements on Your Site n  Google AdSense

n  Automatically displays relevant ads n  Paid per click (usually ~$.10-3.00) n  Customizable look and feel n  Anyone with a website can install these! n  Just sign up and install the JavaScript n  www.google.com/adsense

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Cellarspot AdSense Example

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Referrals n  Website owner gets commission from

referred sale n  Many e-commerce sites offer this n  Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com, etc n  Commission ranges between 5-10% n  Look for “Join Associates” on

Amazon.com

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Cellarspot Referral Example

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E-Marketing

Market your site and get users onboard

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Google AdSense and AdWords

n  Google AdSense n  Google pays you for showing third-party ads on

your website n  www.google.com/adsense/

n  Googel AdWords n  You pay Google for advertising your website

n  in relevant Google search results n  in relevant third-party pages

n  www.google.com/adwords/

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Remember <meta> tags? n  Did you use those? n  Let’s learn about SEO …

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But first n  If you were Google, how would you

determine if one website was better than another?

n  Do you determine the most popular person by what they say about themselves?

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) n  The way your site performs in search engines n  Learn more here:

n  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank n  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow n  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Search_engine_optimization n  Include the appropriate <meta> tags

n  Description, keywords, etc n  Use a descriptive <title>

n  Look at Amazon’s title -- it’s long Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more

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SEO (cont.) n  See each search engine’s recommendations

n  Yes, they specify them n  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/

n  Most important: n  Get people to link to you n  Get bloggers to blog about you

n  Google likes bloggers

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Google PageRank n  Bubbles are websites, arrows are links

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SEO (cont.) n  Typically your website will be

keyworded based on the anchor text of incoming links n  Also keyworded by <title>, <meta> and

content

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Google Bombs n  Before Google got smart, they keyworded

mostly by anchor text n  Bloggers linked to whitehouse.gov/president

with anchor text “miserable failure” n  Googleing “miserable failure” showed

whitehouse.gov/president as the first link n  Google has since fixed this n  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb

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A Useful SEO tool n  Google Webmaster Tools

n  http://www.google.com/webmasters n  Useful information about your site in

Google’s search engine

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Legal Info

Don’t get shutdown or sued

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Intellectual Property n  Copyright ©

n  Establishes ownership of content n  Images, reviews, etc

n  Trademark ™ n  Establishes exclusive usage of a logo, name, or

phrase n  Patent

n  Establishes ownership and exclusive usage of a product, algorithm, etc

n  Very complicated

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Copyright n  Don’t violate it n  Don’t use someone else’s

n  Images n  Code snippets

n  Unless the license agreement says you can n  Any other data on any website

n  Copyrights don’t need to be specified n  They are implicit

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Protect Yourself n  As an individual running a website, your

private assets are not protected n  Protect your private assets by either

n  Registering a Limited Liability Company n  Becoming incorporated

n  Dependent on the state you operate in n  http://www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/

n  This probably isn’t necessary unless you’re doing something that might be borderline illegal

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Software Development n  Make good code decisions

n  Will make improving / fixing your code MUCH easier

n  Try to build a team of developers, because multiple heads are better than one

n  Review each other’s code

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Conclusion n  Making your own site is an indefinite success n  Your CSC309 project…

n  Can be used in every single one of your interviews in software companies

n  Can prominently sit on your resume n  Can make you (some) money n  Can be an overall great experience

Enjoy the winter!