Claddagh Web Design
& Desktop Publishing

What is a domain name?

What is website hosting?

What is a home page?

What is a search engine?

What do you mean by "search engine friendly pages"?

What are keywords and meta tags?

What is search engine optimization?

What is a site map?

What are pop-up windows?

I thought pop-up windows were bad?

What is a domain name? - A domain name, also known as a URL (Universal Resource Locater) is the "address" for your website. For example, the domain name for Claddagh Web Design is www.claddaghwebdesign.com. You must have a domain name to house your web pages. If you have already registered your domain name, great! If not, you may want to research the name you prefer to make sure someone else has not already registered it. Domain name search and registration is part of the service Claddagh Web Design offers when you purchase a Web Design Package.

What is website hosting? - Once you have registered your domain name and your web pages have been created, you need a place to store them. Website hosting companies have computers called servers that have space they "rent" to you to hold your web pages and allow people to access or view them. Claddagh Web Design does not currently offer hosting services, but may in the future. We are happy to suggest hosting companies and discuss hosting plans with you. Consultation fees may apply.

What is a home page? - A home page is usually the first page (home base, if you will) of your website. Generally it is the first page people see when they visit you on the web.

What is a search engine? - A search engine is a tool used to find information on the internet or World Wide Web. Some of the more well known search engines are Google, Yahoo!, Altavisita, Ask, Netscape, Lycos, MSN, Hotbot, AOL. We could go on, but you get the idea. When you are looking for information on the web, one of these tools will help you. When someone is looking for you on the web, you want them to be able to find you.

What do you mean by "search engine friendly pages"? - When a search engine reads or "spiders" your website, it looks for information within the web pages that tell it what the website is about. Your web pages need to include this information in order to show up in internet searches. Page titles, page descriptions, keywords and meta-tags are a few of the ways your web pages are made "search engine friendly".

What are keywords and meta-tags? - Keywords and meta-tags are words or phrases used to describe your web page. Keywords can be anything a person would use to search for or describe the service, product or information you include in your website. (A ballpoint pen website might use the keywords: ballpoint pen, pen, ink pen, ink, marker, etc.) Meta-tag is a term used to differentiate between the information used to format your site, also known as an HTML tag, and the information used to describe your site (keywords, page titles, page descriptions).

What is search engine optimization? - Search engine optimization, or SEO, is making sure your website has as much information for the search engines to find in order to help boost your rankings in internet searches. Not only do your pages need to be search engine friendly and include keywords and meta-tags, they also need to be optimized, giving the search engines a reason to rank your pages higher than other websites with the same information. Claddagh Web Design can work with you to optimize your website. Please understand that it takes time to get to the top of the web searches. Simply providing the information does not insure your website will immediately be on the top of the searches. Search engines use a formula to decide which website appears at or near the top of a search. One of the factors is popularity of the site or how often the site or page is visited.

What is a site map? - A site map is a page within your website that lists all the pages within your website and how they all interconnect. This is helpful if a link breaks within your website (for example, you click on a hyperlink on a page and the page requested is not found). It is also helpful for people who prefer a more direct method of accessing pages. In addition, it helps with search engine optimization.

What are pop-up windows? - Pop-up windows are any windows that open other than the main window your browser is using. For example, when you clicked on the hyperlink for this Frequently Asked Questions page, a new window opened making this (technically) a pop-up window. Pop-up windows are also often used when you may click on a small (thumbnail) image to see a larger image in another window.

I thought pop-up windows were bad? - Some pop-up windows are bad. The advertising windows that literally pop-up when you visit a website are the pop-ups that are disliked and are annoying. These are the pop-ups that most "pop-up blocking software" was meant to stop. However, a legitimate pop-up window is generally accepted as a way to share information. Confetti Jewelry uses pop-up windows to show larger images of the jewelry they sell. If your pop-up blocker does not allow you to click and view a pop-up window link, usually you just need to press the Control (Ctrl) key before clicking the link with your mouse.