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Web Site Management
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Introduction
Before you leap into creating a Web site, it is essential that you spend some time thinking about your goals and what resources you have available. It's never too early to begin to manage expectations and create a realistic workplan for yourself and your colleagues.
A Web site is the product of the entire organization and requires integrating the knowledge and skills of all staff - not just those in a communications or technology department. Therefore, a Web site can communicate effectively with the world outside your organization only if you have good communication and co-ordination within your organization.
Some important questions to ask yourself include:
- Why do I need a site?
- What do I know about my audience?
- What staff do I need to create and to maintain it?
- What equipment do I need to have access to?
- Where will content for the site come from?
- What organizational communications policies might facilitate work on the site?
- What resources have been set aside for ongoing tasks like marketing, evaluation, and maintenance?
- How can I ensure that search engines are able to find and index the site?
Adding a Search Engine to Your Site Is Easier than You Think
Developed by: TechSoup
Type of resource: Web article
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
"Navigating a Web site without a search engine is like trying to drive a car in the dark without headlights. Though driving sans headlights may be considerably more dangerous, a site without a search engine can leave your visitors in the dark, making it nearly impossible for them to find the information they need." Yann Toledano looks at who needs a search engine, the types of search tools available, and at free and low cost hosted search services.
Dhttp://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding
/page4899.cfm
Robots.txt Tutorial
Developed by: Search Engine World
Type of resource: Web guide
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
Using a "robots.txt" file enables you to prevent search engines from indexing particular pages or directories on your web site. This Search Engine World guide explains the basics of robots.txt files.
Dhttp://www.searchengineworld.com/robots/robots_tut
orial.htm
Search Engine Optimization and Spam Discussion
Developed by: Bruce Clay
Type of resource: website
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
Though geared to consultants, the information in this article is helpful to understand key principles around Search Engine
Optimization (SEO). In addition to giving the basic guidelines common in SEO articles, it explains "players", "processes" and
"methodology", so that one can see how different tips might work in different ways. It also clearly spells out spam practices and how sites might get de-indexed unintentionally due to what different search engines perceive as spam.
Dhttp://www.bruceclay.com/EmergingStandards.htm
11 Search Engine Optimization Tips
Developed by: Gerry McGovern
Type of resource: website
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
This article gives helpful hints to improve search engine results for your site. In addition to examining tags - the importance of title, description, and alt tags - the article examines other website design elements such as frames or Java that can limit search engines' ability to index your site.
Dhttp://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2005/nt_2005_04_11
-11-SEO-tips.htm
Web Log Analysis Tools
Developed by: About.com
Type of resource: Web site
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
Articles and links to tools and resources on analysing web site traffic. Topics covered include "How to Use Web Analytics Effectively", "Web Analytics Basics" and "Tracking Web Page Views".
Dhttp://webdesign.about.com/od/loganalysis/
Intranet Review Toolkit
Developed by: Step Two Designs
Type of resource: Web site, MS Word document
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
"This intranet review toolkit provides intranet managers and designers with an easy-to-use method of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of their intranet. It contains a substantial set of heuristics (guidelines or criteria), allowing a detailed intranet review to be conducted that focuses on a wide range of functionality, design and strategy."
Dhttp://www.intranetreviewtoolkit.org/
Reading Web Statistics
Developed by: Lasa Information Systems Team
Type of resource: Web article
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
This article by the Lasa Information Systems Team will help you understand your web site's usage statistics.
Dhttp://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/webanalytics
A Few Good Web Analytics Tools
Developed by: TechSoup
Type of resource: Web article
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
"How many people visit our Web site every day? What are visitors doing when they get there? Which features are most popular? Was that big redesign worth the money? If these types of questions keep you awake at night, you may need a good Web analytics tool". This article will help you decide what to consider when choosing a web analytics package, and will also introduce you to some of the options available.
Dhttp://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/pa
ge6760.cfm
Planning a Database-Driven Web Site
Developed by: Tech Soup
Type of resource: website
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
This article offers the steps you need to follow to go from the idea of a database-driven Web site to actual design, development, and implementation, in step-by-step format.
http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articlepage.cfm?Arti
cleId=375&topicid=13
Commissioning an open source content management system
Developed by: Steve Cowie
Type of resource: Web article
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
Steve Cowie looks at key issues to take into account when adopting an open source content management system, and offers an overview of some of the most popular systems.
http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/commissionin
ganopensourcecms
Comparing Open Source CMSes: Joomla, Drupal and Plone
Developed by: idealware
Type of resource: Web article
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
"Open source content management systems can make creating and managing your website a lot easier - and there's no licensing fee involved. But which should you use? We look carefully at Joomla, Drupal, and Plone to compare their strengths and weaknesses."
http://www.idealware.org/articles/joomla_drupal_pl
one.php
Content Management Problems and Open Source Solutions
Developed by: Optaros
Type of resource: PDF
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
This white paper explores content management systems (CMS) available from the open source community to fulfill a variety of information scenarios: the online brochure, the news periodical, collaborative spaces, wikis, and online communities. The paper also examines support solutions and why one would want to chose an open source CMS. One big advantage of open source CMS is that the offer the opportunity to deliver tailored content management solutions without the high licensing or management fees associated with commercially-licensed or hosted software. This paper from Optaros White Papers and Reports, available in PDF format, provides an excellent basis for choosing the most appropriate CMS for your needs.
http://www.optaros.com/pdf/optaros_cmsReport_01220
6_sgg.pdf
Drupal
Developed by: Drupal
Type of resource: Software tool
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
Drupal is an open-source platform and content management system for building dynamic web sites offering a broad range of features and services including user administration, publishing workflow, discussion capabilities, news aggregation, metadata functionalities using controlled vocabularies and XML publishing for content sharing purposes.
http://drupal.org/project/drupal
How to Evaluate a Content Management System
Developed by: Step Two Designs / James Robertson
Type of resource: web site
Target audience: General
Cost: Free access
A comprehensive document from Step Two Designs detailing all angles of content management considerations: technical specifications, authoring needs, content management, publication and presentation, and more. The article does not suggest a particular CMS, and is written for organisations or businesses who might be hiring a developer or vendor for their specific CMS needs. It's objective is to help organisations assess CMS needs in a systematic way, before approaching vendors or adopting a system that will not grow with them, or does not prioritise the content creation needs.
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_evaluate/
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