Why is Web Development Not Just for the Web Business and Its Visitors?

"Web development is a key that unlocks a site's search engine ranking."

First, web development refers to any design and/or programming that is not copy or images. It is not just an ecommerce retail store, website with CMS, or interactive system, but it is... custom web work that can include graphic design, web design, Flash animated movies or contact management systems.

Many times, custom development covers both design and programming. But web development refers to the programming and how web site programming causes the page to display to visitors.

HTML and PHP are web site programming languages intended for publishing web pages on the Internet. When written properly, your web page interacts with the browsers your visitors choose to display your web page content. When your programming is up to date, your page displays correctly as you planned.

(In case you were unaware, browser standards change and programming needs to be updated or your pages will not display as you planned for all viewers - and you won't even know it.)

We also use other languages, such as JavaScript, Perl and XML to enable your site to be as creative and unique as you and your business. A variety of programming also allows for different and various interactivity. Not all programming can accomplish the same result. So different programming languages are used for different outcomes.

The programming on your web page also has a conversation with search engines who spider your web page to display in the search found listing.

HTML Explained . . .
HTML is the lingua franca for publishing hypertext on the World Wide Web. HTML can be created and processed by a wide range of tools from simple plain text editors - you type it in from scratch - to sophisticated WYSIWYG authoring tools. HTML uses tags such as <h1> and </h1> to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links. It is used by web browsers to present text and graphics. HTML documents are often refered to as 'web pages'. The browser retrieves web pages from web servers that are located anywhere in World.

Visitor Viewing . . .
The most significant issue regarding the current HTML standards is the way your web site displays in the browser window when your web visitor tries to read your web page content. If it is displayed garbled, you lose an opportunity that you might have invested highly in to obtain. You may even damage your image and credibility as a trusted service provider.

Search Engine Crawlers and Your Ranking . . .
Another reason to revise your web site pages to comply with current HTML 4.01 code is to provide your site with the highest opportunity to be indexed by search engines and rank high enough so web traffic finds your web site title, description and link in the free found list.

You increase your opportunities to attract traffic without investing in pay-per-click ad campaigns or at least by reducing your investment.

Google, Yahoo, MSN and many other search engines need to be able to read your web pages - not the way the public views your text - but the way search engine spiders and robots read text when they crawl your site pages. Why do you care if site code you can't see is garbled?